The cannon roared like thunder, the explosion was deafening, and the surging water column was like a silver mountain intercepting the sea, and after climbing to the highest place, it collapsed in all directions, stirring up stormy waves, which was spectacular and terrifying. In the overwhelming waves, several clusters of orange-red flames that burst out one after another were particularly eye-catching. They are like huge volcanoes erupting in the dark night, and the flames and smoke they inspire can easily soar into the night sky hundreds of meters high!

"Boom!" A huge fireball suddenly exploded from the towering forward bridge of the Hood, and the crimson flames burst into the sky, engulfing the entire forward bridge in an instant. Countless shrapnel crashed into the Panzer Tower's Tower like a torrential rain, and the scraping sound of metal was heart-wrenching; A heat wave poured in from the observation port, and the two communications officers who were close to them were immediately burned and screamed, and their hair and eyebrows were instantly scorched. Seeing that the 279 mm thick conning tower actually appeared inward, Cole felt like falling into an ice cellar: the opponent's shells could have such terrifying lethality, I am afraid that now all the cabins around the conning tower are completely finished!

"Ahem...... Strong-charge shooting! The re-tour continues to ...... Cough...... Go ahead and seek the lightning strike! The rapid influx of high-temperature poisonous smoke made Tovey cough violently, but fortunately, the ventilation and electricity of the command tower were also provided by the heavy armor-protected lower passage, so that Tovey and the others did not die due to poisoning and suffocation. The adjutant grabbed the microphone to speak, but found that there was no response in the communication room, so he could only grit his teeth and open the well of the command tower, first descend to the depths of the hull below the main deck, and then climb back to the middle bridge to relay it directly to the light signalman.

After nearly 4 minutes of fierce firefighting, the battle between the capital ships of both sides has begun to tilt more and more towards the German side. The Hood was hit by three bullets, the flames soared into the sky, and two near-misses caused more than 1,000 tons of water, but the British sailors only observed one of their own achievements.

Although the Devonshire Heavy Cruiser succeeded in causing several fires on the Bismarck, the 203-mm shells were of limited power against a 50,000-ton battleship, and most of the time they could only scratch the itch. Due to the age of the fire control hardware, the Hood was really incapable of fighting at night. Tovey had no choice but to recklessly get close to his opponent, and used a strong charge that greatly damaged the life of the barrel, and relied on increasing the muzzle velocity of the projectile to eliminate the impact of ranging errors as much as possible.

The Prestige in the rear has undergone two rounds of large-scale renovations, and the fire control facilities have been fully upgraded, but its 32,000-ton size and the firepower of six 381-mm guns are too big for the new German battleships. Even with the heavy patrol of the London desperately supporting, it was still tilted by the Tirpitz, and the fire was rushing, and the wind was lost. In contrast, on the contrary, the fight between the other two British heavy cruisers and the Spee was flesh and blood, fist to flesh. At the current distance, the British Heavy Cruisers were strong enough to penetrate the armor of the German Pocket Cruisers, while the former had the advantage of firepower density, and even gradually gained the initiative in this suffocating exchange of bullets.

"7,000 yards (6,400 meters)!" When he heard the gunslinger report the distance between the enemy and the enemy, Tovey's fists in his sleeves couldn't help but clench again. It was an unprecedentedly insane engagement distance, and even a light cruiser should have decided the battle from 8 kilometers away. At this time, the Hood's armor was already as fragile as tissue paper, and even if there was a course angle of more than 20 degrees between itself and the opponent, the German battleship would be able to penetrate any corner of the old battle cruiser with large-caliber armor-piercing bullets. However, Tovey was convinced that this defensive reduction would inevitably have an effect on the German warships as well. As long as you fight close enough, Bismarck-class armor will also become a vegetarian in front of the 381mm heirloom main gun!

"Wow!" The two 102-mm anti-aircraft guns on the starboard side of the Hood had only time to let out a few screams before they were swept away by the tsunami that swept them over, and disappeared in an instant. However, Tovey, the commander of the tower, could not hide his surprise, because he was surprised to find that only two cannon light waves lit up on the opponent's battleship just now. In a few moments, the report from the fire control mast confirmed Tovey's judgment, only 6 water columns had risen around the Hood, and a third of the main guns of the opposing battleship were obviously dumb fire!

"The spear chief of the Devonshire has done a great job!" Tovey was ecstatic, grabbed Cole's shoulders and shook him violently several times. A few minutes ago, the Hood only hit the stern of the opponent's ship, so the weakening of the German ship's main gun fire just now must be the masterpiece of its own heavy patrol. When you think about it, this is a completely reasonable situation: the 203mm gun has more than twice the rate of fire of the 381mm gun, and the Devonshire is standard post-war fire control equipment, so it is obviously normal for the 203mm gun to have a far better number of hits than the Hood in a well-ordered fire.

Cole, who was shaken by the commander and was slightly dazed, immediately sobered up, and the impulse of life surged out in his heart, which was gradually despairing. He realized that this was a great opportunity for his side: the weakening of the German ship's firepower would give the Hood the opportunity to advance closer to the target, so as to completely compensate for her weakness in the field of penetration and armor. Without this harassment of the Devonshire, the Hood would soon be mortally attacked by the enemy's complete firepower, which was far from being able to match its own single-shot power and fire control accuracy.

And if the distance can be successfully reduced to less than 4 kilometers, the British fleet will have an important weapon that can come in handy: torpedo tubes. As a battleship built during the World War, the Hood was armed with a total of six 533 mm torpedo tubes. The Devonshire also had two quadruple torpedo tubes of the same caliber on both sides. Kohl thought very clearly that as long as the superstructure of the German battleship was destroyed with artillery, killing and wounding a large number of its personnel in the open air, the enemy's early warning capability for torpedoes would be greatly reduced. By that time, no matter how strong the battleship is, it will not be able to get rid of the sinking of the gun!

The turbines are spinning, and the giant ships are cleaving the waves. The value of the Hood's high speed was most evident in this battle, as the Bismarck's compact hull became clearer through two layers of heavy waves. The Hood immediately turned one compass point to the left in order to allow all of its guns to be fully fired. With a roar of wind and thunder, 8 heavy armor-piercing chambers shot out angrily, and at a distance of more than 4 kilometers, even if there is a 10% ranging deviation, its hit rate can basically be compensated by the speed of the shell itself!

"Boom!" There was a loud bang, and the waves rushed and danced, and the Bismarck was hit by two shells in an instant. The heavy boom on the left side of the hull collapsed heavily in the fire, and together with the 1 auxiliary gun and 2 anti-aircraft guns next to it, they were torn and melted into a pile of scrap metal, and more than 20 sailors were killed almost instantly, with severed limbs flying sideways and flesh spraying into the sky.

Another shell smashed through the main armor, and the quilt defense system could no longer save the situation at such a close distance. The blazing air wave mixed with sharp shrapnel swept through the engine room of the No. 3 ship like a hurricane, and a large amount of high-temperature steam was spewed out from the cut pipe, and the precision impeller was directly twisted into a ball of scrap metal. In just moments, the 35,000-horsepower machine stopped working with a terrifying roar that almost tore apart.

"Target distance 4600, azimuth 257, free fire!" On the tower of the Bismarck's fire control mast, Otto, the chief of gun, was shouting orders to the turrets on the phone. In the past few minutes, the British heavy cruiser in front of the Hood has caused too much trouble for itself: its semi-armor-piercing shells not only shattered the hydraulic gun pitching mechanism of the "Bertha" turret, but also a shrapnel that cut off half of the scalp of the forward bridge commander, causing the main guns to be unable to fire a salvo and have to fight independently, which greatly affected the accuracy of the shooting. If this had been the case, Otto would have taken out the disgusting trash fish first, even if the Hood had preempted the artillery battle.

Now, though, it doesn't matter. The Hood has entered within 5 kilometers, and even relying on the turret self-aiming alone can ensure a sufficient hit rate, not to mention its own transmission of information in the fire control mast. In a maximum of ten minutes, the battle between the two sides will be decided. Although the penetration depth of the main guns of the British heavy cruiser at 5 kilometers is extremely impressive, enough to threaten the core area of an ordinary capital ship, it is still a delusion to try to penetrate the armor of the Bismarck-class!

"Boom!" Bismarck's six 450-mm cannons erupted into an earth-shattering roar again, and the extremely brilliant muzzle fire instantly illuminated the surrounding thousands of meters of sea red, and the giant cannonballs broke through the wind and roared, and the thunderbolts pierced through the Y turret seat at the tail of the Hood. The 48,000-ton hull shook the sky violently, and the violent shaking made Tovey's face pale, and he instantly thought of himself following in the footsteps of the three battle cruisers in the Battle of Jutland that year.

To Tovey's great thanks, the catastrophic scene didn't happen seconds later. Drawing on the experience of the war, the newly designed turret was put to the test, and even the shrapnel and flames produced by the 18-inch shells were kept out of the blast doors. However, the rest of the people in the Y turret were not so lucky. The 83 gunners and auxiliary mechanics were all engulfed in flames, and the entire turret was completely shattered and melted into a mass of scrap metal, and the fierce and unrivaled air wave even twisted the impact of the turret into a twisted shape, and it was impossible to see its original shape.

In addition to a cold sweat, Tovey couldn't help but be a little puzzled. It seems that the tremor just now is not only coming from the stern, but there is also an obvious source in the front part of the hull, but I did not hear the explosion. Just as he was about to order the damage management team to investigate, a report from the chief commander of the army who was short of breath had already come from the intercom microphone: "There is a large amount of water in the main motor room on the starboard side, and two oil tanks close to the TDS are leaking. We're having trouble draining. ”