Waves were surging and showers were intensive, and in the central fire control room below the main rangefinder of the mast, Otto was staring intently at the figure of the three warships that greeted him in the distance. As the distance closes, the outline of the large warship becomes clearer to Otto's eyes: her bridge is low and simple, and the mast is still the triangular mast that prevailed during the last war. Based on its size and the fact that it did not have an enclosed turret, Otto was 80% sure that the other party was the Hawkins-class cruiser built by Britain at the end of the World War.

"The commander of this British fleet is truly a brave warrior." Otto muttered to himself. He is well versed in gunnery, and he is very aware of the gap between this old cruiser and his own ship, which is not only reflected in the huge disparity between 7 190 mm guns and 8 283 mm guns, but also in the fact that there is an era gap between the fire control of the two sides. The light cruisers of the last World War could only achieve effective hits on targets within 8km at most; Even though the current stormy weather has limited the sight of the Scheer to a certain extent, at a distance of 14km, Otto is confident that he will turn the target into a floating torch!

19,000 meters...... 18,500 meters...... Every minute, a set of up-to-date real-time data is reported from the rangefinder on the mainmast. Based on this observational information, the officers and men in the central fire control room entered the distance of the target and the navigation parameters of both the enemy and the enemy into the huge computer in front of them. With a brief screech, an accurate shooting parameter was quickly calculated; The Scheer's main gun was fine-tuned in terms of level and pitch angles, keeping track of the target at all times.

"Feuer!"

When the distance between the two sides was reduced to 17,000 meters, Otto suddenly gave the order to open fire. Everyone in the central fire control room felt the excitement contained in his deep voice. A moment later, a roar that was far greater than thunder suddenly exploded on the stormy sea: the top of the front main gun group of the Scheer instantly burst out with a brilliant red wave of fire, and the brilliant muzzle flame rapidly extended and rolled up and down in all directions. Just one breath swept through the sea and air at hundreds of feet. Four 283-mm shells whizzed through the air at a speed of 762 m/s and thundered towards the British battleship in the distance. At this moment, all the heroic spirits of the High Seas Fleet in the past seemed to be united with this warship in the name of the commander who led them to Jutland, and they crossed the long river of more than twenty years, sending out a wind roar full of vengeful fury to the distant British enemy!

Half a minute later. Four stout water columns more than 30 meters high rose into the air on the sea nearly 300 meters away from the cruiser Hawkins, and the majestic pure white water waves flew and burst out, making the British sailors who witnessed this scene weak in their legs and their faces turned pale. At this time, the vast majority of those who served on this old ship were only reservists, and they not only did not have the quality of regular soldiers, but also lacked the courage to be fearless. In the face of the imminent threat of the 11-inch cannon, their hearts were already trembling: for a moment a prayer to God sounded on the sea, and only in this way could the fear and fear in the hearts of these second- and third-rate personnel be slightly relieved.

Inside the command tower of the USS Hawkins. The elderly Rear Admiral Amos was also sunk: he could not have imagined that the German surface ships would slip into the Atlantic Ocean so quickly and intercept the path of his fleet in the vast ocean with great accuracy. And what is even more deadly is that the incoming enemy turned out to be a Deutsche armored ship! No matter from which point of view, the old ship, which has a seriously low quality of members and hardware equipment, will not have any chance of winning, and the difference in firepower between the two sides is too great!

However, Major General Amos understood. There is no way back for me at this moment. Because there were as many as 18 transports behind him, he couldn't have done it anyway by abandoning them and running away alone. He had to entangle the powerful German armored ship. In order to find a way out for the ships laden with the goods that Britain desperately needed. It was approaching dusk and there were less than two hours to go into complete darkness, and as long as it lasted until night, the convoy at least had to worry about the threat of German surface raiders.

"Boom! Rumble! "The flames were blazing and the waves were rushing, just as the column of water stirred up by the German bombshells had just dissipated. The cruiser USS Hawkins also opened fire. As a heavy artillery light patrol that started at the end of the war, the Hawkins has been endowed with the artillery attributes of a salvo: the firepower of six 190mm cannons on a single port even today, more than 20 years later, has a prestige that ordinary light cruisers do not have.

However, the fly in the ointment is that these guns are equipped in the open air in the form of single-armor plate gun mounts. After the first round of firing, the British loaders and their comrades jointly picked up an armor-piercing shell weighing 90.7 kg, and they moved back to the gun position from the mouth of the bomb loser with red faces. Then he pushed the cannonball in his arms into the chamber of the cannon. After doing this, the British loader only felt a faint swelling of his arms, and wanted to rest; However, the current situation of the war is that they must not slack off in the slightest, and must not stop the loading of artillery shells.

Artillery fire roared, flames burst out, and in the blink of an eye, five minutes flowed through the fingers of both warring sides. Due to the huge congenital disadvantage of the fire control equipment, the Hawkins fired more than a dozen rounds of fire, and not even a single shell fell within 500 meters of the German battleship. The Scheer's gunfire, on the other hand, became more and more precise, and each time the column of water it stirred up was closer to the British battleship than the last. In the sixth half salvo, the Scheer successfully achieved a leap of fire against the enemy: 4 huge water columns sandwiched the target warship, which meant that the hit was coming soon!

"Boom!" The front and rear turrets of the Scheer erupted simultaneously with a thunderous roar that resounded through the sky; The spectacular scene when the eight main guns fired in a salvo made Otto, who had watched it many times, enthusiastic and excited. Having found the target with a half-salvo, Otto immediately ordered to switch to a full salvo in order to deliver a fatal blow to the enemy ship in the shortest possible time. At this time, the enemy ship is only 14km away from you, and the impact point of your own shells can be clearly seen in the rangefinder, which means that even if the opponent implements steering evasion, you can detect it at the first time and correct the shooting parameters to always cover the correct range of the enemy ship.

The pocket watch ticked, and Otto counted the time silently in his mind. Towards the end of the 360kg bomb, which required 24 seconds to cover a distance of 14 km, Otto couldn't help but hold his breath and stare through his telescope at the British cruiser and the surrounding waters. After a moment, a series of distinct white columns of water rose and rushed around the target; And in addition to 7 such water columns, there was also a brilliant orange-red flame that burst out in the front of the British cruiser!

"The main gun enters the stage of full effectiveness salvo!" Otto, who was overjoyed, grabbed the microphone in front of him and said loudly.

With this order, the German officers and men in the two turrets began to move as fast as they could. The cannon that completed the shooting lowered the elevation angle under the action of the hydraulic system, and at the same time the ammunition loser quickly lifted new shells and ****** from the ammunition magazine; The moment they were fully delivered to the exit of the bomb loser, the German soldiers waiting there immediately rolled it into a track. Under the action of gravity, the shells and ****** rolled down the track on their own into the delivery grooves, and in the process the German soldiers did not need to spend any effort at all. They were then pushed into the chamber by a long iron rod, and the locked guns were raised again, aiming at the British battleship, which had already pioneered it, according to the previous parameters.

Just 20 seconds later, the entire main guns of the Scheer erupted in a deafening roar in unison; The excellent quality of the German naval officers and men was vividly displayed, and the large-caliber shells roared down towards the British battleship. Accompanied by layers of surging waves, the British battleship burst out one after another with dazzling waves of red purple light. The roaring flames soon burned violently on her hull, and even the wind and rain at this moment could not weaken it in the slightest!

At this time, on the cruiser Hawkins, it was already a catastrophic scene of fire and smashing the hull. In just one minute, four 283-mm shells hit the poor warship one after another; The massive charge of nearly 18 kg of semi-armor-piercing shells caused almost ten times as much devastating damage to the interior of her hull as her own 190-mm armor-piercing bullets. The steel armor of the cabin within a radius of seven or eight meters from the explosion point was torn apart by the vast and surging violent air waves, and the engine room on the left side of the battleship was devastated. The cannonball that hit the bow of the ship also blasted countless shocking dense holes from the inside out, and a large amount of seawater immediately began to pour into the ship. The deck was also in disarray, with gun emplacement 6 and the rear bridge nowhere to be found; The flames produced after the explosion spread out more than ten meters away, as if a red glow cloud appeared on the deck of this cruiser.

Hearing the damage officer report the damage in an anxious and trembling voice, Major General Amos, who was standing in the command tower, was discouraged. He originally thought that even if his warship couldn't beat the other party, it would be able to hold out for a lot of time with its 9,400-ton size; However, after the battle, he realized that the strength of his opponent was far beyond his imagination, and it was simply a confrontation between a child with a stone in his hand and a Templar with a spear and heavy armor! Now that they have been defeated, who will be able to save those transport ships?

"Send a signal, let the fleet disband, and now one can escape." Amos closed his eyes and said in a dumb voice. (To be continued.) )