Boom! Boom!
On the sea, the warships of both sides were firing desperately, hurling heavy shells mercilessly at one another. Although both sides fielded battlecruisers ill-suited for a line-of-battle showdown, that only made this battle even more brutal.
"God bless the British Empire!" Vice Admiral David Beatty prayed to God without cease. Even though the British Navy held a numerical advantage in battlecruisers, he had no confidence at all in victory.
Perhaps God had heard Vice Admiral David Beatty's prayers.
HMS Queen Mary successfully achieved straddling fire during this round of ranging shots.
"Beautifully done!" Vice Admiral David Beatty cheered when he received the news.
Yet only two minutes later, Goeben also achieved straddling fire against HMS Queen Mary. The two sides were evenly matched, locked in a fierce and tangled struggle.
As time passed, more and more warships achieved straddling fire and shifted into concentrated salvo fire. That meant hitting the target was merely a matter of time.
The British seemed to have slightly better luck. Thus, the first hit was scored by the British Navy's HMS Invincible. A 305mm Shell struck the after deck of the battlecruiser Von der Tann, blasting a huge hole in it and setting off raging flames. Fortunately, it caused no further damage. Such a minor wound was utterly insignificant to a massive battlecruiser displacing twenty-six thousand tons.
But the German Navy soon returned the favor. Lothringen struck Indomitable. A 305mm Shell smashed viciously into Indomitable's bow. Its thin deck armor was pierced clean through, and the shell exploded inside the bow. Several compartments were destroyed in the blast, and flames began to spread.
The sailors aboard Indomitable immediately began damage control. Countless sailors wearing gas masks rushed toward the blaze with fire hoses in hand. They had to put out the fire at