Off the coast of Le Havre, five Deutschland-class battleships and five Braunschweig-class battleships of the German Navy stood in a single line, protected by numerous small and medium warships. Their broadsides were aimed at Le Havre, allowing them to unleash their maximum firepower.
On the flagship battleship Deutschland, Rear Admiral Richter Fiers observed Le Havre through his binoculars. He could clearly see large numbers of British Expeditionary Force officers and soldiers fleeing from the shore into the city. Many sailors were also abandoning the various ships moored at the docks. Clearly, they feared being shelled by the German Navy's battleships.
Earlier, the British had relied on the immense strength of their fleet to bombard the German military attacking Le Havre. Now, the tables had turned.
"What a pity. Even rushing here as fast as we could, we still failed to arrive in time. Those fellows from the Carrier-based Aircraft Unit struck far too quickly—they actually wiped out more than twenty British battleships and thirteen armored cruisers!" Rear Admiral Richter Fiers said with a regretful expression.
With the main fleet assigned elsewhere, these pre-dreadnoughts, originally intended for coastal defense, had finally found a use. Rear Admiral Richter Fiers had initially believed they might have a pre-dreadnought showdown with the British Navy. Unfortunately, before they could reach the battlefield, the battle had already ended. Under the attacks of the German Navy's Carrier-based Aircraft Unit, the British fleet had been beaten until helmets and armor were cast aside, left in a miserable state. Every pre-dreadnought and armored cruiser had been sunk. After taking a long detour to get here, they had ended up with nothing.
Of course, if the Carrier-based Aircraft Unit had not launched its attack, this German fleet might not necessarily have been a match for the British fleet even after