Chapter 161: I Was Clearly Chasing A Light Cruiser, So How Did It Turn Into A Battleship?
September 4, 1915, 3 PM.
In the temporary naval command post in the rear at Memel Harbor, Lelouch was helping Vice Admiral Hipper and Vice Admiral Scheer sort out the list of ships for tonight’s sortie and the deployment details.
In a certain sea area in the southern part of Riga Bay, a brutal melee had already begun between the cruiser fleets of the two countries.
No matter how ingenious the stratagem, no matter how insidious the baiting trap, they ultimately required real bloody battles with true steel to support them—
Just like even if Lelouch had the intellect of Zhuge Liang, he would still need a vanguard with martial prowess like Zhao Yun, bold yet meticulous, to help him feign defeat and lure the enemy.
If the vanguard responsible for luring the enemy lacked skill and courage, perhaps the stratagem wouldn’t even be executed before the bait was devoured by the enemy and they withdrew unscathed.
And at this very moment, the German general playing the role of “feigned defeat to lure the enemy” was the commander of this light cruiser detachment, Rear Admiral Friedrich Burdick.
This Friedrich Burdick had always been a capable right-hand man to Vice Admiral Hipper, previously responsible for commanding the light cruiser and smaller reconnaissance detachments for Hipper’s fleet, providing escort for the main force.
In Earth’s history, this man later led the “Moonlight Landing Operation” in 1917, helping the amphibious landing troops seize Hiiumaa and Saaremaa.
Now, by a twist of fate under Lelouch’s butterfly effect, these landing and island-seizing operations were advanced by two years, and the naval general responsible for escort and subsequent harassment remained Friedrich Burdick.
Looking at the enemy armored cruiser group growing closer through the telescope, Rear Admiral Burdick naturally knew he was no match for them.
His task was merely to delay time until dawn tomorrow, when their own battleships would pass through the Irbe Strait channel that had been quietly cleared of mines and secretly enter Riga Bay.
By the time dawn broke tomorrow and the enemy realized something was wrong, it would be too late.
So now, they absolutely could not engage in prolonged combat; everything must prioritize delaying time through hide-and-seek.
“The enemy has split into two groups to pursue us. One group calculated the lead time and anticipated our current westward course, so they went ahead to block us from the west. The other group is cutting perpendicular to our current course, slicing in from north to south to intercept us at the waist.”
Rear Admiral Burdick looked at the nautical chart, combining the enemy situation he had just seen with his own eyes through the telescope and prior aerial reconnaissance intelligence, and quickly mapped out the enemy’s intentions.
The enemy was coming from the north, and in the first two hours of the afternoon, Rear Admiral Burdick had chosen to flee south to buy as much time as possible and widen the distance.
But Riga Bay was less than 200 kilometers deep in total; they couldn’t retreat far south before hitting the end, and any further south would enter the range of the enemy army’s shore batteries on the south bank.
So in the end, they still had to flee east or west.
Burdick had previously pretended to flee west, which was spotted by the enemy’s aerial reconnaissance, so the enemy split into two roads, with one already cutting diagonally west ahead of him. （As shown in the diagram）
Now, Burdick had to make a decision: continue charging blindly west, or turn back.
“Commander! Let’s turn around! Since we know there’s another enemy group ahead intercepting us from the west!” His adjutants and staff officers urged one after another.
But Burdick’s face was ashen yet resolute; he did not make a hasty decision.
“No rush! Pretend we don’t know about the interception ahead, toy around with that enemy fleet to our north a bit longer, draw them closer to us and more clustered with their friendly forces, then we suddenly turn!
Otherwise, that enemy force to our north now only needs to veer slightly east to still cut diagonally and block our left front; it wouldn’t take one or two times before they catch up.”
Burdick’s orders were beyond question, and his subordinates said no more, executing them meticulously.
The Germanic soldier’s tradition of unconditional obedience to orders played a key role at this perilous moment.
Half an hour later, the two sides drew ever closer, and finally, on the western sea horizon, the other “iron pincer” of Vice Admiral Barylev’s “pincer movement” appeared.
2 “Rurik-class” armored cruisers and several light warships were blocking directly ahead of Rear Admiral Burdick.
Burdick immediately ordered: “Hard right rudder! All warships turn 180 degrees in place to starboard! After turning, course 95, then 85!”
This order was only for Burdick’s own flagship, the light cruiser “Regensburg”; the other ships would watch the “Regensburg”‘s signals and execute in sequence.
In the “Regensburg”‘s command room, several officers heard the order, relayed and executed it, but still had doubts and couldn’t help asking Rear Admiral Burdick:
“General! The enemy is directly ahead and to starboard; why not turn 180 degrees to port? Turning to starboard will only bring us closer to the enemy during the turn, right?”
Burdick: “That’s exactly the effect I want—when each ship is closest to the enemy, at slowest speed long-range mode, launch torpedoes from the port side of each cruiser; the torpedo boat units need not act rashly, conserve torpedoes for later opportunistic use!”
The officers then understood; many pondered briefly and admitted that though risky, this move could indeed achieve surprise.
No need for the torpedoes to actually hit, but it would absolutely scare the enemy into a cold sweat and greatly reduce their pursuit efficiency.
……
“The enemy is turning? They finally spotted our interception force ambushing from the west? Too late! They can’t escape! Course 115, block the enemy’s attempted route north!”
In the “Rurik” armored cruiser, Lusha side’s commander Vice Admiral Barylev, upon seeing Rear Admiral Burdick turn, realized the enemy had spotted the ambush.
But Barylev was not worried at all; discovering the ambush at this point was already too late!
His fleet also immediately turned; the western detachment that was originally blocking ahead now became the pursuit tail. The northern detachment that was originally cutting at the waist now shifted to parallel the enemy, blocking their path north.
Everything proceeded as orderly and beautifully as Vice Admiral Barylev had imagined. But this beauty lasted only 15 minutes.
15 minutes later, from a Lusha destroyer scouting ahead for the “Rurik,” came a horrified shout: “Torpedoes! Enemy torpedoes spotted starboard!”
“Torpedoes? Damn it! How could the enemy possibly attack us with torpedoes from that far away!”
To evade the torpedoes, Vice Admiral Barylev’s interception fleet formation quickly fell into chaos. Each ship had to maneuver independently based on the situation.
Most warships chose to turn north, presenting their sterns to the enemy to maximize distance from the torpedoes and minimize their silhouette on the torpedo tracks.
This frantic emergency evasion wasted nearly half an hour for Vice Admiral Barylev front to back. Finally, they realized it was a false alarm and barely dodged all the torpedoes.
“Why do the enemy’s torpedoes have such slow speed yet such long range? They must have set a special low-speed mode to conserve torpedo fuel!”
After reforming the formation, Vice Admiral Barylev angrily figured it out.
Germania warships’ low-speed long-range torpedoes were no surprise on the North Sea battlefield; the Britannia Navy had encountered them several times, extremely infuriating.
These torpedoes were slow, only around 20 knots, barely faster than warship speeds, hard to hit in good visibility.
But for harassment, forcing enemy maneuvers, and disrupting their formation, they were surprisingly effective.
In this era, torpedo weapons were already somewhat obsolete. With improving naval gun accuracy and range, most battles ended before torpedoes could be launched.
The Germanians’ desperate tactic of maximizing range truly squeezed the last bit of use from torpedoes that were half on the bench.
Vice Admiral Barylev had previously learned of these torpedoes from ally intelligence, but had never seen them used this way in naval battle.
Seeing it for the first time today, he still panicked.
Theory and practice are ultimately different.
After this disruption, catching up to Rear Admiral Burdick again became relatively difficult. After reassessing, Vice Admiral Barylev gritted his teeth and made another decision:
“All ‘Novik-class’ destroyers detach, full speed ahead to intercept head-on from in front of the enemy cruiser fleet! All cruisers maintain original course and speed!”
He knew cruisers lacked speed advantage, could only gradually close distance by cutting slightly inside. For direct head-on interception, only high-speed destroyers could do it.
But this order carried risks; destroyers were fast, but whether their combat effectiveness could stop enemy cruisers was another matter.
Those Lusha destroyers were not hesitant; upon receiving the detachment commander’s order, they immediately went to full speed for overtaking interception.
……
“The enemy is delayed by us, knows it will take much time to catch up, so detaching destroyers to accelerate for head-on interception? Charge to meet them! Engage at 30-degree relative course outside enemy torpedo max range! Ensure all guns on each ship have firing angles!”
After seeing the enemy’s moves, Rear Admiral Burdick also judged Vice Admiral Barylev’s intentions.
This battle was ultimately unavoidable; with the enemy forced to send destroyer groups out alone, it was a narrow road where the brave wins; first break the enemy destroyers. Even if the enemy armored cruisers closed distance again, there was no choice.
When engagement began earlier, it was nearly 3 PM; he delayed once with torpedoes, now nearly 4 PM. He bet that before nightfall, if he broke the enemy destroyer fleet, even if pursued closely, there would still be chances to escape in night battle.
Rear Admiral Burdick’s several “Bremen-class” light cruisers first adjusted course, full speed at the fleet’s forefront, closing to 6 km with Lusha destroyers before Germania light cruisers opened full fire.
“Bremen-class” light cruisers were first built in 1903; though called light cruisers, only speed met the standard, while firepower caliber was subpar—main guns only 105 mm, comparable to later destroyer main guns; some later destroyers even used 127 mm, an inch larger.
But “Bremen-class” excelled in main gun barrel quantity: 10 total, one twin turret fore and aft each, plus 3 single mounts per side in casemate deck. So one side could fire 7 guns simultaneously （4 fore/aft + 3 side）
Such firepower density was very effective for hunting Lusha destroyers. Destroyer armor couldn’t withstand 105 mm anyway; no need for 150 mm.
The rain of 105 mm shells soon poured onto Lusha destroyers; the Lushans quickly realized Germania’s “large numbers of small-caliber guns” light cruisers were a specialized counter.
Before entering torpedo range, several Russian Army destroyers were heavily damaged, scattered, with 2 severely flooding and maneuvering poorly, and 2 with core compartments penetrated, propulsion systems damaged, speeds dropping sharply.
During this, Lusha destroyers counterfired with their guns at Germania light cruisers, but “Bremen-class” 80 mm max armor belt greatly reduced destroyer small gun damage; only secondary areas penetrated on hits—
Don’t mock Germania’s early shipbuilding quirks of armoring light cruisers; the Germania Navy was groping blindly then.
They had tonnage but stuck to 105 mm instead of 150 mm on light cruisers, using saved tonnage for steel plate against destroyers, resulting in some odd hybrids.
But these hybrids were effective against enemy destroyers in gun duels. The only regret was this reinforced armor was useless against torpedoes.
Application scenarios were quite limited.
In the gunnery phase, the Germania fleet gained huge advantage, solidly sinking 4 Lusha destroyers; but as surviving Lusha destroyers pressed on despite massive losses, finally entering torpedo range with numerical superiority, the situation reversed instantly!
“Turn! Prepare to launch torpedoes!” The remaining Lusha destroyer group, seeing their moment, adjusted course to present broadsides, then “thud thud thud” launched torpedoes into the sea.
On the “Regensburg” bridge, Rear Admiral Burdick saw the distant enemy destroyer group’s actions and instantly judged they were launching torpedoes.
He gritted his teeth and immediately ordered: “All warships, form single column, course 335, follow advance! Ships fire freely with both broadsides!”
Upon receiving the order via flashing light signals, each captain was shocked but Germania Army’s strict discipline and efficient execution made them comply immediately.
Course 335 was almost perpendicular to the enemy destroyers’ recent dense torpedo launch direction—charging head-on, betting to dodge all torpedoes from the bow!
If dodged, lead ships could warn followers; if not… the lead ship would trigger all the mines! Too dangerous!
But at this moment, for the fleet to escape, this was the best choice.
Rear Admiral Burdick’s order wasn’t rash but decided after observing enemy torpedo launches.
Torpedo launches had several methods; one was mass destroyers/torpedo boats entering range almost simultaneously, then fanning toward a single target.
Against multi-point crossfire to one point, head-on charge was hopeless; only turn and extend distance, farther the better to dodge.
But another method, when ships couldn’t close, was firing from near max effective range then withdrawing, next ship advancing to fire—
Somewhat like ancient dragoon “half-wheel tactic,” each charging to arc apex to fire, then retreating. （As shown in the diagram）
In today’s battle, Lusha destroyers couldn’t press due to fierce enemy gunfire, so couldn’t use first torpedo tactic, chose second.
And this choice itself had no issue.
When they chose the second launch tactic, both sides were at ~30-degree angle, relatively parallel; each destroyer firing near half-wheel arc apex then withdrawing, fanned torpedoes could still cover multiple enemy tracks.
It was just that Rear Admiral Burdick decisively changed formation upon seeing enemy torpedo launch.
Lusha destroyers couldn’t predict this before launching.
One could only say Rear Admiral Burdick was too decisive.
Distances closed rapidly; Germania light cruiser group trained fore/aft main guns to port—Lusha destroyer approach direction—for sustained fire.
But as distances shrank, Lusha destroyers that had fired and were withdrawing gradually passed the Germania cruiser column axis, appearing on starboard—where Germania light cruisers’ previously idle 3 starboard 105 mm guns now had targets.
The battle had reached a point akin to classical tactics half a century earlier, like Lissa.
One side charged head-on like a dagger into enemy line center, enduring T-cross disadvantage.
If this were fair cruiser-vs-cruiser, Burdick doing this would be suicide.
Fortunately, it was currently cruisers vs destroyers; Lusha destroyer gunfire was weak, so T-cross and massed fire didn’t matter.
Lead “Bremen” cruiser soon took 7-8 Lusha destroyer shells but hit back with 4.
Then the torpedo swarm arrived.
Because Germania battleships chose single column breakthrough, most of Lushans’ fanned torpedoes from one point missed Germania cruiser tracks, wasted outright.
But the few central in the fan still covered, with much higher dodge difficulty.
Lead “Bremen” spotted torpedoes almost head-on.
“Bremen” captain instinctively ordered hard left rudder to evade, but too late.
“Boom boom”—two oncoming bow torpedoes, under emergency left rudder, merely exposed starboard. Projection on track lengthened; both exploded on starboard.
“Captain, torpedoed! Two! Major flooding starboard, ship out of control!”
“Bremen” heavily damaged; midship starboard exploded massively, bridge affected, command tower shaken.
“Bremen” Captain Johannes Valentin Lieutenant Colonel had both legs blown off; surviving helmsman, face bloodied, rushed for next orders; damage control seemed hopeless.
（Note: Historically, “Bremen” was torpedoed and sunk by Lushans late 1917, also after Hiiumaa landing; captain also lost both legs）
Adrenaline-fueled, Lieutenant Colonel Johannes Valentin gritted teeth for final order: “Don’t stop! Maintain hard left rudder!”
“What? We’re hit! Continuing left rudder will only lengthen projection on enemy torpedo tracks!” Helmsman hadn’t caught on.
“That’s exactly it! Immediately! Execute!”
Helmsman didn’t think; Germanic mechanical obedience made him execute first.
Under inertia, “Bremen” continued left drift, finally beam-on.
“Boom boom boom boom boom boom!” 100+ meter hull athwart torpedo fan; 6 Lusha torpedoes all hit starboard, ultimately 8 hits, all starboard compartments shredded and flooded.
But “Bremen” was beam-on track, while following 5 light cruisers bow-on lengthwise. Others hiding behind “Bremen” definitely dodged all.
On second “Regensburg” cruiser, detachment commander Rear Admiral Burdick saw lead mishap, greatly shocked.
“Commander, turn to bypass ‘Bremen’? She’s suddenly beam-on; not turning risks collision!”
“Regensburg” helmsman urgently queried commander.
“No turn! Emergency deceleration now! Dead-Slow!”
When lead ship had accident, Rear Admiral Burdick chose emergency braking over steering around.
“Regensburg” and following 4 cruisers also “braked,” slowing.
Burdick’s judgment spot-on: steering around might expose to more oncoming torpedoes—suicide!
Directly behind “Bremen,” all head-on torpedoes blocked by her—no more incoming.
Wait for this torpedo wave to pass.
Moreover, Burdick keenly judged: perhaps no need to turn at all, just decelerate.
Minutes later, fact proved him right; as “Regensburg” slowly drifted to “Bremen”‘s prior position, “Bremen” had sunk.
8 one-side torpedo hits: no light cruiser survives 3 minutes.
“Regensburg” etc. accelerated, passing exactly over “Bremen”‘s recent sink site, over wreckage.
Passing sink site, ships tossed lifelines for nearby swimmers to grab.
Fleet had no time for dedicated rescue—incidental only, as adjacent Lusha armored cruisers still pursued.
Rear Admiral Burdick chose this risky tactic precisely to seize breakout time.
Ultimately, “Bremen”‘s rated 240 crew: only 32 rescued; remaining 208 confirmed killed by blast or trapped/drowned.
“Avenge our brothers on ‘Bremen’! Open fire!”
Germania light cruiser fleet, past torpedo field facing Lusha destroyers out of torpedoes, was unconstrained. Post-torpedoes, distances under 3 km.
At this range, point-blank, both sides penetrated armor easily.
But Germania firepower density far superior; at this range, enemies both sides, all 10 105 mm per ship usable—rare in years.
Lusha destroyers typically only 2 main guns threatened Germania ships; per-ship at least 5x firepower density gap.
“Boom boom boom!” 105 mm and 150 mm shells hammered nearest Lusha destroyers, soon shredding several.
（Note: “Bremen-class” light cruisers only 105 mm, but Burdick’s flagship “Wiesbaden-class” has 8 150 mm; 1915 newbuild）
Lusha “Novik-class” destroyers “Zabiyaka” and “Pobeditel” directly on breakout path, exploded/sunk in minutes by sustained gunfire igniting magazines.
Other farther Lusha destroyers spared direct explosion but mostly crippled, slowed evading.
Rear Admiral Burdick carved a bloody path, full speed breakout.
Meanwhile, during Lusha destroyers’ melee with Germania light cruisers, Lusha main force under Vice Admiral Barylev closed some distance; Lusha armored cruiser 203 mm main guns began firing at max range on Germania ships.
Rear Admiral Burdick avoided entanglement, slight turn exposing other broadside briefly, then fired all torpedoes in slow mode.
Vice Admiral Barylev grew furious and rash, assuming bluff, continued pursuit.
Result: “Bayan-class” armored cruiser No. 3 “Lusha,” namesake of nation, hit torpedo bow during reckless chase, too late to evade.
Fortunately bow hit, limited flooding, no core damage; 10,000-ton armored cruiser not sunk by one. Bow wrecked/sinking slowed from 21 to 13 knots, fell out of pursuit.
Thereafter, Rear Admiral Burdick used high speed and occasional torpedo-feint poses to shake Vice Admiral Barylev’s pursuit until full dark.
Vice Admiral Barylev was spooked by his “boy who cried wolf,” unsure if Burdick’s large torpedo boats had expended all torpedoes or if light cruisers were out.
Like Cao Cao in Hanzhong facing Zhuge Liang’s midnight drums in Romance of the Three Kingdoms—even knowing night attack unlikely, dared not bet against a real one amid nine fakes.
Ultimately, most of the night was delayed by Rear Admiral Burdick’s flashy maneuvers and pulling.
……
When the first ray of dawn pierced the eastern sea surface, Vice Admiral Barylev was already weary and dazed.
He had pursued Rear Admiral Burdick all night, nearly chasing from Riga Bay’s south back to north entrance.
Actually, “chasing to” north entrance inaccurate.
Last few hours of rear half-night, he lost enemy track, unsure where they fled.
So Vice Admiral Barylev decided steady approach: since heading north back to Hiiumaa Strait exit not far, go straight there, block south exit—
Barylev feared enemy escaping original path—huge embarrassment.
He rushed to Hiiumaa Strait south mouth, plan post-dawn check if enemy really went that way; block best, if not, daylight better visibility, re-aerial recon find position, pursue later.
Whole day for pursuit this time! Bound to catch!
As sun rose, visibility cleared; Barylev spotted hazy ship shadows at north Hiiumaa Strait exit.
“Great! Enemy really circling us, planning escape original path! No way let them! Charge and annihilate!”
Vice Admiral Barylev ordered; Lusha fleet charged enemy rainbow-like.
But as distance shrank under 15 km, to 13, 12… sun higher, visibility clearer.
Suddenly, Vice Admiral Barylev’s pupils contracted sharply.
“Fuck! ‘Helgoland-class’ battleships?! I was clearly chasing several Germanians’ ‘Wiesbaden-class’ light cruisers!”
When 4 Lusha 203 mm armored cruisers thought pursuing only 150/105 mm Germania light cruisers,
Dawn revealed “light cruisers” as 2 battleships—what a mindfuck.
“Boom boom boom!” Germanians, via rising sun spotting Lusha armored cruisers not friendlies, 16 305 mm 50-caliber battleship main guns spoke.
Massive water columns fell hundreds meters from Vice Admiral Barylev; no splash reached him, but his heart thundered with ten thousand galloping mud horses.
Absolutely dog-fucked!
