As a wounded in the previous artillery battle, the Rodney was struggling to move forward with the only propulsion shaft she had; Her right-hand engine room has long been swallowed up by seawater, and the ship's water intake has exceeded the 5,000-ton mark. Pen %Fun %Cabinet www.biquge.info Although the British stoker burned 100% of the good steam for the other engine, the giant ship could only sail slowly at a turtle speed of just over 13 knots. Faced with torpedoes fired at close range by German destroyers, the faltering Rodney could no longer effectively avoid it. Amid the terrified screams of the British sailors, the Rodney writhed its huge and clumsy sluggish body and collided with three white waterlines speeding on the sea!

"Boom! Rumble! Rumble! "There was a thunderous roar, a huge wave rushed into the sky, and the hull of the Rodney suddenly shook violently, and there were no fixed pieces of debris in the cabin, and they toppled and rolled over, scattering in a mess. The 490kg of high explosives exploded and the wave of frenzy destroyed and shattered all obstacles in front of them. Countless steel plates were reduced to dust and iron filings under this shocking blow, and the hull of the ship was watertight, and endless sea water immediately rushed in, raging in the internal compartments of the battleship, taking cubic and cubic meters of space as its own territory.

After receiving the desperate report of the damage management force's ingress, Captain Oakes' face turned pale, and his body couldn't help but start shaking violently. The breach caused by these three torpedoes not only could not be plugged, but the speed of water ingress was almost ten times that of the warship's displacement capacity; No matter how hard he tried, the Rodney would have sunk in less than 10 minutes, and there was no chance of survival. In a hoarse voice, he gave the order to abandon the ship, and at the same time asked the signalman to hoist the last flag to the Warrior on the already tilted mast: The mine in this ship is out of control, and the glory of the Royal Navy is immortal!

However, what Colonel Oches did not notice was that the battleship Warrior, which was not far from his flank and rear, was also in an unprecedentedly dangerous situation at this moment because it was also hit by a torpedo.

Facing the leading flagship of the British battlefleet, the German destroyers paid no less attention to the Warrior than the Rodney, and 16 torpedoes flew at the ship like a pack of wild dogs. Although the Warrior's power and underwater seals remained intact, its top speed of 23.5 knots allowed her to avoid torpedoes that were much inferior to her German counterparts, and she tried her best to dodge it, but was still hit by 2 torpedoes. The British officers and men only felt that the mountains below them were shaking and collapsing, and then there was a monstrous wall of water rising from the starboard side of the hull, and more than 20 sailors on the deck could not avoid it, and were directly swept into the sea by the turbulent tsunami, and disappeared in the world!

As the mainstay of the British Navy until the end of the 30s, the Warrior undoubtedly enhanced its underwater protection during large-scale refits: the overall width of the battleship was increased from 27.4 meters to 31.7 meters, which increased the displacement and significantly enhanced the depth of the warship's mine protection. For mines or aviation torpedoes with an explosive yield of about 200kg of TNT or less, the Warrior can finally get rid of the painful haze of its predecessor super dreadnought being sunk by an 80kg cotton mine, and confidently straighten its waist. Although her non-core module is still powerless in the face of underwater explosions, it is a blind spot that no warship can take into account, and it can rely on optimized compartment separation and enhanced damage management to achieve indirect defense.

This time, however, it was a super-powerful oxygen torpedo with an explosives load of nearly half a ton that hit her. After more than 5 meters of horizontal depth to consume the impact of the explosion, the remaining air waves are still violent and unstoppable. The TDS armor at the end of the depth was as fragile as a thin plate, and it was instantly twisted and shattered under the volcanic eruption-like air waves, and the blast wave was still unabated, roaring into the main generator room behind the TDS armor, bringing endless destruction and destruction. In an instant, the pipeline was torn in pieces, and countless broken parts flew like a storm. Before the sea could roar in, more than half of the Warrior's machinery stopped, and the inner cabin was pitch black, and panic and panic filled the hearts of every sailor.

At the same time, another torpedo hit the stern of the ship, and although it did not affect the lowest propulsion shaft, it blew up a huge breach of hundreds of square meters. The cabins within 5 meters of the explosion site were all twisted and broken, and the steel hull structure was like mud and paper paste, which was wantonly ravaged into various shocking shapes. The sea water poured into the ship like a frenzy, like the torrent of the Spring River that was difficult to contain, and the Warrior soon began to raise its head, and the aft deck, which was already one level lower than the rest of the ship, began to sink into the sea.

"I don't care what method you use, how many people you need, now you have to stop the water inflow for me!" Knowing the specific damage to the warship, Admiral Forbes's expression was so anxious that he distorted, and he almost roared to Captain Oakes in front of him. Two minutes ago, the Warrior was a nearly intact warship, unharmed except for one giant shell in the non-main area, but in just a dozen seconds, two torpedoes sliced through her arteries like scalpels, sending her on the road to death leading to the abyss of hell.

The power of German torpedoes was unbelievable: the sturdy watertight compartments that had been used to stop the spread of the water were violently destroyed by the shock air waves, sending seawater directly into the work area without any means of containment. To make matters worse, the collapse of the main motor room caused the ship's power generation to plummet by 70%, and even if all the remaining power was supplied to the drainage pumps, it would not be possible to get them all working at full capacity!

"Could it be that after the loss of the Rodney, the Warrior is going to sink?" Looking at the backs of a group of staff officers in the navigation room, who had all rushed to scoop water, Forbes's eyes gradually lost their brightness, and he sat down on his fixed seat and whispered in pain. At present, the number of existing capital ships of the British Navy is already countable, and if these two core main ships are lost, it will definitely not be able to grit its teeth and bear it like the Grand Fleet, which sank three battle cruisers back then. At this time, there was no news of the detachment of light ships that went to lightning strike the German battleships, and if they also returned, they would have to swallow the bitter fruit of the defeat in this battle!

"Your Excellency, we have received a telegram from the forward destroyer fleet!" In despair, a herald suddenly ran into the navigation room and handed him the telegram in his hand. Forbes's body shook, and he grabbed the paper with his hand and began to read. After a few seconds, Forbes let out a long sigh of relief, and even a little warm wetness appeared in the corners of his eyes. He took a deep breath before speaking, "Order them to move closer to the team." The German battleship, if not dead, had only its last breath left, and it was next General Tovey's turn to act. ”

The black smoke is faint, and the white waves are light. On the calm sea, the Bismarck-class sister ships were slowly heading south under the escort of five destroyers. None of them remained intact in appearance, with blackened post-explosion fractures on the sides and decks, with the Bismarck's freeboard being noticeably lower than normal, accompanied by a visible right forward headband.

The torpedo that hit the bow of the ship caused a lot of damage to the German ship, and the German sailors took turns fighting in the icy sea for nearly 15 minutes before finally plugging the leak inside the hull. Combined with the trauma suffered in the previous artillery battle, the Bismarck, which was wounded by 15 large-caliber shells and 4 torpedoes, was also poured 4,000 tons of seawater. Although her core compartment was not damaged, the ship's top speed was limited to 24 knots to prevent the plugged leak from bursting again.

In the bridge of the navigation ship, Karls and the others quietly listened to the signal corpsman read out the battle report sent from the cruiser Cologne. When he heard that the Rodney confirmed the result of the sinking of the mine, Colonel Lindemann on the side had a complicated expression, and his face was full of joy and regret.

As was the case on the last expedition, his warships were stuffed with the British guns at the beginning of the campaign; In the current situation of the broken ship, it is obviously not appropriate to continue the fight, and returning to port for repairs is her only option. To Lindemann's consolation, the Bismarck proved her strength today in a hearty frontal artillery battle; It was the battleship Rodney, which the British Navy had been so proud of for the past decade or so, that she was so badly wounded that she was able to send several of its own small destroyers to complete the final blow.

"It's 9:37, and it's been an hour since we spotted the enemy." Kars looked at the pocket watch in his hand and said calmly. At this time, the British fleet had just suffered a heavy setback, and it was inevitable that it would first start to manage its own damage, and at the same time collect the ships scattered in the surrounding seas; By the time they had done all this work and re-prepared for the attack on Bergen Harbour, it would be an hour and a half later, at least - by which time German carrier-based and land-based aviation would certainly be able to fly into battle.

Compared with the sinking of 1 battleship and 4 destroyers of the British Navy, the loss of 2 overdrive and 1 small drive of the German side is undoubtedly a big advantage, although the Bismarck was heavily damaged, but it was a good girl three months after returning to Hong Kong and entering the canal.

Lindemann nodded slightly, and he understood what Kars did not say. Although less than one-eighth of the day has passed today, most of their two battleships are nothing to do with them; Soon swarms of German planes would arrive from both north and south, defending the harbor and attacking British warships. In addition to the sunken battleships, several of the British fleet retreated with serious injuries, and with the planes 10 times the speed of the warships, there was almost no suspense in catching up with them.

"According to the report, the Tirpitz sent a signal to our ship, and a group of planes was spotted 120 kilometers west-northwest, with a number of 35 to 40 and a speed of 100 knots, and it was flying towards us." Just as his thoughts were racing, Lindemann suddenly heard the familiar voice of the flag sergeant major coming from the intercom microphone. He was stunned for a moment, and before he could react, Kars's face changed suddenly, and he lost his voice: "Is it west-northwest?" Could it be that the British plane came so soon? ”