How's it going for you there, man? From my point of view, your situation is not good. ”

"Yes, sir, we can't stop it from sinking, I'm going to let it run aground!"

"How's the fire on the ship?"

"It looks terrible, but it's just a skin wound and we're trying to put out the fire."

"Okay, I'll let two destroyers go over to help you put out the fire, I'm still busy chasing down the West Franks here, damn it, it seems that Tang Jinchao can't come over in time to stop them." According to the radar screen, the West Francians are fleeing towards the Danish Strait, and I will go around the coast to pursue them! ”

"Yes, sir. I wish you all the best! ”

"Good luck too, Major General Lin."

Two destroyers approached and sprayed water mist with their water cannons on the burning part of the "Songshan", and the fire on the warship was no longer spreading so rapidly, but the hull was still sinking slowly. With only two propellers, the old battleship moved slowly toward the shore.

Directly at the level ahead, Cape Codreux stood above the sea, and with the help of the searchlights on the destroyer, the dark coast could be seen. Now the warship has tilted to more than 15 degrees, and there are very few snowflakes on the sea.

Several kilometers away, the rumbling of artillery was still heard, and the naval battle continued, but this had nothing to do with the "Songshan".

Lin Taiquan descended to the heavily sloping main deck, which was covered with black, ankle-deep heavy oil, and a foul smell. Step by step, he slipped past the firefighters and walked towards a large breach in the aft deck from which the oil had come out. He poked his body out of the ship's side and could see the hole in the hull's steel plate turning outwards and reaching out into the sea, which had been torpedoed open. The edge of the black hole in the hull of the ship, the edge of the blasted steel plate, is like a tin can that has been opened indiscriminately. According to the report, the hole below the waterline is even bigger.

The distance of 5 nautical miles seems fast in normal times, but nowadays, the voyage seems extremely long.

The "Songshan" was slowly sailing towards the coast, accompanied by two destroyers, and Lin Taiquan had been worried that the warship would suddenly lose power, in which case he could only order the warship to be abandoned.

Thankfully, his worst fears didn't happen.

About an hour later, only a rattle was heard at the bottom of the ship, and the warship sank into the mud and sand of the beach, unable to move again.

"Okay, all the personnel pay attention, the fire brigade and the rescue team members stay, and the rest of the personnel are ready to leave the ship!" Lin Taiquan returned to the command room, raised the microphone and gave the order to abandon the ship to all the crew. Although the "Songshan" has run aground, for the safety of the personnel on board, it is safer to withdraw to land first.

The crews were concentrated on the deck, and the two destroyers came up. The davit hoisted the lifeboat full of wounded people out of the ship's side, and the lifeboat was so close to the surface that the sailors had to cut the davit rope. Hundreds of crew members slid along cables and davits to the deck of the destroyer.

Lin Taiquan stayed on board the ship with the officers and men of a volunteer rescue team of less than 200 people. He hoped that the warship could be saved, and now he needed to send a salvage ship from the country, perhaps with a cable tied to tow the warship away.

The rumbling cannon on the sea gradually faded away, and I didn't know what the specific battle situation was.

After a brief disengagement, the West Frankish fleet was soon overtaken by the Imperial fleet. The average speed of the West Frankish fleet was only 23 knots, while the Imperial fleet was able to run at more than 30 knots. Before the war began, I am afraid that the West Francians never imagined that one day their royal navy would be beaten and fled.

Now, the two of their quadruple 16-inch main gun turrets were all arranged on the foredeck of the "Cardinal"-class battleship, which was tragic, because of the lack of rear-facing main gun fire, the design flaws put the two capital ships in the embarrassing situation of being unable to fight back in this chase with only the beating.

And behind them, four more Don capital ships were rushing towards the battlefield at high speed.

In the high-speed and chase battles, the main gun hits of both sides decreased significantly, but one large-caliber shell still penetrated the power compartment of the "Jean Bar". The West Francians ended up paying a terrible price for their bizarre design. Due to the rear-mounted layout of the power system, the "Cardinal" class was not inferior to the "Brittany" class in frontal combat, but in the retreat, it still exposed obvious weaknesses.

As soon as the speed of the "Jean Bar" dropped to about 18 knots, Commodore Drimpel Schneider, the royal commodore of the Royal Navy, in the command tower protected by the heavy armor of the West Francian battleship, was very aware that he was probably doomed today. It was clear that another Imperial fleet was about to join the battlefield, and the slower West Francian fleet could not escape the pursuit of the Imperial fleet at all. If this continues, then the main fleet of West Francia is likely to be destroyed today.

If the main fleet suffered heavy losses, then the West Francians would not have had to fight any longer.

"Turn right 90!" Schneider decisively gave the order to turn to the warship, he was determined to sacrifice himself in order to preserve the strength of the main fleet, "send a report to the flagship, our ship has stalled and will fight with the enemy until the last moment!" Good luck to everyone! ”

The huge battleship slowly began to turn on the sea, and then the three imposing 16-inch main gun turrets on the ship rotated, and after all the adjustments were completed in an orderly manner, all the 16-inch giant guns began to fire at the flagship of the Imperial Fleet heading towards the starboard side of the battleship, and the "Qilianshan" could only face the enemy ship with the bow at this time - the advantages and disadvantages of this combat posture in the battle were obvious.

With a loud rumbling sound, the black hole hole cannon muzzle erupted with dazzling flames, and the cannonballs with huge kinetic energy and destructive power roared towards the target 16,000 meters away.

"Our task is to hold them down at all costs in order to ensure the safety of the main fleet!"

As soon as the sound of the cannon died down for a moment, Schneider turned to his staff officer and said that it was clear that he had set his mind on the purpose of sacrifice, and that he had initially achieved his goal—the Imperial fleet that was chasing behind him had begun to be forced to turn. He said this with a calm face, but his deputies had grim faces. Everyone understands that most of them may not be able to see the sun rising tomorrow.

The wind and snow on the sea had almost stopped, and through the pitch black sea, you could still see the flames spewed out by the Imperial warships in the distance when they opened fire, which was particularly conspicuous on the dark sea. Large-caliber shells emit a characteristic screeching sound as they pass through the air, and for any warship, even a close miss can cause damage.

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