"We've got to do a good job, Colonel!" Kumetz turned sideways, faced Hintz and said: "If I guess correctly, this should be a 10,000-ton treaty cruiser, which cannot be shaken off by speed!" ”

After discovering that the Scharnhorst was aiming its offensive firepower at itself, the Newcastle finally no longer hidden, but concentrated its firepower-for-tat - the Scharnhorst had the advantage of artillery power, and the Newcastle had an accuracy advantage because of the fire control radar command shot, and the third salvo at a distance of 13,400 meters had another hit, hitting the tail turret, and the 152mm shell could not break through the defensive armor of the Scharnhorst turret, but the explosion power was equally terrifying. At this time, the Scharnhorst had completed its turn, parallel to the course of the Newcastle, and after six volleys, a single shot finally hit the latter, completely blowing away its two secondary guns and two anti-aircraft guns.

At 1:13, the German North Sea Fleet completed the right rudder 170 degrees, took the correct north course, and increased the speed to 31 knots, and the Scharnhorst could finally withdraw while fighting, but the Newcastle had another L52mm shell from above the starboard armor belt of the Scharnhorst, which not only successfully blew up a secondary gun, but also caused a fire on the deck of the seaplane hangar, and the fire exposed the whole ship in the dark night, although it was extinguished by the sailors in less than a minute. But this was enough time for the British fleet to take a closer look.

Upon learning of the successful retreat of the aircraft carrier formation, Kumetz ordered the Scharnhorst to retreat at maximum speed, and the bow of the ship slowly moved to the right, struggling to ride up the waves. At this time, a 356mm shell hit the port side, and the steel fragments flew all over the sky, hitting the bridge with a choked sound. Suddenly, another shell pierced the bow of the ship and burrowed into the crew's cabin, but in the end it did not explode, it was actually a dud! The Scharnhorst, which had already turned and was ready to disengage, could only return fire with its tail main gun, but still managed to make several hits against the Newcastle 14,000 metres away, leaving the latter in disarray on the starboard side.

Britain and the United States have a comparative advantage in the field of fire control radar, and the accuracy of long-range shooting in the dark night is much higher than that of their German counterparts, but the level of optical rangefinders of the German fleet is unique in the world, and it has an advantage in visual combat at medium and close ranges, but unfortunately the gap in strength is too large, and the Scharnhorst does not dare to fight at all - if there is only one Newcastle today, it will never be so rampant.

Kumets sent a telegram to Machar: "Exchanged fire with enemy battleships and cruisers, and the enemy ships were equipped with artillery aiming radars, which were very accurate. ”

At the same time, the second officer reported that the main radar antenna was so badly damaged that it could not be repaired at sea, and Kumets complained even more, "We are really blind bats!" ”

Just when his words fell, only a loud "boom" was heard from behind, and everyone in the command tower only felt that they had been pushed hard, and many people stood unsteadily and rushed forward, Hintz turned his head to look back, and gasped - the triple 283mm main gun at the end was pierced by a 356mm shell and caused the ammunition to detonate, and the violent explosion after the superimposed power completely blew the entire turret away, and dozens of German officers and soldiers died in an instant.

He was so shocked that he could barely speak, and Kumetz yelled: "Damn it, retreat at full speed!" ”

The chief of staff repeatedly looked at the charts, measured the distance with a two-foot gauge, and comforted everyone: "The enemy can't force us, and we can get rid of the enemy smoothly by keeping this course for 20 minutes." ”

At 1:37, Newcastle's radar showed that the opponent's warship was more than 40,000 meters away from its own battleship, far greater than the firing distance, and the speed was 7-8 knots faster than its own side, so it could only give up in a daze, but in less than 5 minutes, the radar soldier shouted again, "Destroyer!" Destroyer! A large number of destroyers are coming! ”

If you look closely at the screen, it makes your scalp tingle, and there are a lot of bright spots on it, although they are very small, but they are extremely fast.

"The Germans could not have so many destroyers, there must be something wrong with the radar."

"Sir......" the radar soldier was almost crying, "they are all moving, it is unlikely to be a false alarm, let the lookout post take a look." ”

"Good! Good! Flares! Flares! ”

Since the enemy was far away, the three warships no longer cared about the shelling of the German warships, and in less than half a minute, 18 flares were fired in order, and the lookout posts of each ship exclaimed: "Destroyer! Torpedo boat! ”

The destroyer is okay, hearing the word "torpedo boat", Rear Admiral Lewis feels that his scalp is about to explode, if you want to select the most feared enemy ship in the dark: the submarine may be in the first place, the torpedo boat is probably the second, and the two have one thing in common, they use the most powerful weapon - torpedoes!

The ship's secondary guns were in full swing, but this was clearly insufficient to withstand the German destroyers and torpedo boats that were converging from all directions and going all out. Although the tonnage of these warships is very small, especially the S boats, the 356mm main gun salvo does not need to hit, as long as it is within 50 meters, it may overturn the torpedo boat, but the number is too much. Now the entire W fleet had finally learned the horror of the destroyers of the cruiser Loyalty against 50 torpedo boats—they thought the Germans had gone mad at first.

More than 50 torpedo boats and destroyers braved dense artillery fire and bravely assaulted forward at a speed of 37 or even 43 knots. Although the dense enemy close-quarters artillery fire continued to hit the destroyers or torpedo boats, the rest of the ships remained unmoved and still launched a decisive attack.

"Torpedo launch!" As the command was issued, most of the torpedo boats and destroyers fired the powerful G9 oxygen torpedoes at a distance of about 4,000 meters, and a few did not launch until about 3,500 meters. After firing the torpedoes, the surviving torpedo boats and destroyers did not look at the results of the battle, and turned around and left the battlefield north without hesitation.

Now, this batch of torpedoes swooped down at a speed of 52 knots with a thunderous momentum.

"Searchlight! Searchlight! ”

"Hell, I can't see the torpedo track! What the is this! ”

The British were still shouting about these obviously different torpedoes, and the American officers were the first to react - these were probably the powerful, long-range, and inconspicuous torpedoes used by the Japanese in the Battle of Savo Island, and it seems that the Germans had also obtained this secret weapon.

But this awakening came too late, and in front of the net of more than 100 torpedoes, there was simply no good choice. The Newcastle, which rushed to the front, circled left and right, dodging five torpedoes, but it still inevitably hit the sixth, and before the officers and men of the ship could recover from the violent shock, the seventh torpedo hit the warship fiercely. In a violent explosion, the light cruiser, which was less than 10,000 tons, finally could not withstand it and began to sink.

What's even more terrifying is that these torpedoes, which were dodged by the Newcastle, continued to pounce on the British fleet behind them with undiminished momentum and speed - their range was as high as 20,000 meters. (To be continued.) )