"Are the Croats crazy?" Looking at the enemy fleet that opened fire at a distance of 12,000 yards, Rear Admiral Trubbridge was dumbfounded. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

The shadow of the enemy's ships at this distance was already clearly visible, and the fluttering naval flag of the Kingdom of Croatia and Slovenia indicated that the opposite side was not the German Mediterranean fleet as they imagined, but the little brother of the Germans in the Mediterranean. The actions of the Croatian fleet made Rear Admiral Trubrich feel ridiculous and at the same time a little slighted and ashamed.

The Mark-X 9.2-inch 47x main gun on the Kent class armored cruiser also had a range of only 15,500 yards, and you light cruisers with only 150 mm guns started firing at a distance of 12,000 yards? Not to mention whether you can penetrate the 6-inch-thick main armor belt of the Kent class, can you hit it at this distance?

In Rear Admiral Trubridge's view, the stupidity of the Croatian fleet is a reflection of the immaturity of this navy, which has only been established for more than 20 years. , do they really think that they can defeat the Royal Navy at this distance with their own gunnery?!

When their fleet is turned, the officers and men of the Royal Navy will teach the Croats what it means to be superb with their 9.2-inch guns! At that time, the Croats could only take advantage of their little speed advantage to get away, hide far away with a frightened look, and then impotently call the dreadnoughts to save them.

However, Rear Admiral Trubridge's ease lasted less than five minutes, and the splash of water on both sides of the Berwick made his face change dramatically.

"Clip bombs?!" Major General Truebridge shouted in disbelief.

Franz? In the firing command room at the top of the King Ferdinand's sturdy main mast, the observer observes the shelling and errors through a periscope stereo rangefinder, and then transmits the observation data to the ears of the fire control operator with headphones in the fire control room under the bridge command tower through a telephone line, and a set of data is entered into a mechanical computer, and then the shelling elements calculated by the ballistic solver are transmitted to each turret through a microphone.

The officers and men of the Croatian-Slovenian Navy did their job as fast as they could, and then, nine volleys of 12,000 yards, slap the Royal Navy in the face.

"Pretty fight!" Major General Pachner was excited: "Shoot effectively!" Kill them for me! ”

The clipping bullet has appeared, indicating that the shooting elements are calculated correctly, and the next thing is to depend on luck.

God did not make Major General Pachner wait too long, because the gunners were too far away to play the ultra-high rate of fire of up to 8 rounds per minute. With the roll cycle, Franz? The King Ferdinand could only fire a slow salvo at a rate of 3 rounds per minute, but the observer still observed 2 dazzling fireballs on the hull of the British armored cruiser on the opposite side after the 14th salvo!

The middle and upper parts of the Kent-class main armor belt were solid 6-inch armor, and the 45.5-kilogram shells from 12,000 yards away could not pose a lethal threat, but Major General Trubridge's original confidence had evaporated. The Croats added weight to the scales of victory with precise shelling, and each explosion accompanied by the shaking of the ship's hull represented another wound on the Berik.

Although the solid armor protected the battleship from heavy damage, the deck was already in shambles, the bulkheads twisted after the explosion by shells, and the pitted deck smashed by flying fragments, all made the Berwick look miserable. While the shells that hit from time to time continued to expand the fire, the scattered shrapnel also made it difficult to sustain the damage management.

The Berwick's naval guns were also firing back with all their might, although the 9.2-inch guns were amazingly powerful, but only 4 of them could be put into battle, and although the 6-inch guns could also get the enemy, they could not fire a salvo with the main guns because they could not interfere with the observation of the impact point of the main guns, and the Royal Navy's pride of small and medium-caliber naval guns was useless at a distance of 12,000 yards, and the artillery bombardment in a separate battle situation was not accurate.

The efforts of the Royal Navy gunners, who relied entirely on experience to carry out the shoot-observe-calculate-correct-fire cycle using a conjunctive rangefinder, no shooting director, no mechanical computer, no ballistic solvers, and relying entirely on experience to carry out the shoot-observe-calculate-correct-fire cycle were far from effective at this time, and the shock of the hit, the burning smoke, and the splashing of water further affected the accuracy of the Royal Navy's shelling.

At this time, not only the Berwick was in a bad situation, but the three armored cruisers behind were also facing exactly the same situation as Berwick. And the situation became even worse when 4 light cruisers arrived after 20 minutes of engagement to join the battle group. Although the 4 Sparato class ships are the same as the Königsberg class of the Germans, the sighting equipment and fire control equipment are not suitable for long-range artillery battles of 12,000 yards, but relying on the artillery bombardment parameters transmitted by the Admiral Tegerhoff in front of them, coupled with the momentum of a total of 24 150 mm naval guns to kill the old master, the Cornwall at the end of the formation became the worst of the four ships.

"It's been so long, it's time for the final word." Pachner took the binoculars and looked at the armored cruisers at the end of the British formation in the distance, which were completely covered in smoke, and said with a relaxed expression that the British fleet seemed to him to be fish on the chopping block at this time.

The British made several maneuvers and changed direction, but in the absence of a speed advantage, neither attempts to close the distance nor attempt to break away from the engagement were unsuccessful. Pachner kept the distance between the two sides firmly at 10,000 yards, and the 10,000 yards became a trench that the British could not cross.

With the exception of a few 40-minute ceasefires to keep a turn of maneuver from the British, the eight light cruisers maintained a fairly efficient shelling during the two-hour engagement, and each British armored cruiser was greeted with at least 30 rounds of shells.

Their own fleet was not without losses, and the gunners of the Royal Navy fought back in such an unfavorable situation, and their rigorous training and extensive experience did pay off. Franz? A 234-mm shell opened a large hole in the bow of the King Ferdinand from the deck to the starboard side, the Queen Sophia was hit by two 234-mm shells, the reconnaissance aircraft catapult and crane were blown away, and the rear bridge was almost completely removed from the deck; The Admiral Taghoff was also hit by a 234-mm shell at the base of the rear chimney, damaging the flue and causing the port side boiler to stall, resulting in a reduction in speed.

The worst luck was the Zenta, she was not hit by the powerful 234 mm naval guns of the British, but a 152 mm shell miraculously hit the torpedo tubes at the rear of her side side, the two 450 mm torpedo tubes were detonated, and a 7-meter-long gap was torn between the side and the deck, and what was worse was that the violent explosion caused the hull to crack at the waterline on the side of the ship, and the swarming sea water made the Zenta tilt rapidly. The shock of the explosion also affected the engine room, and one engine was shut down. This made the Zenta the most damaged ship, and it could only tilt its hull crookedly out of array.

But that's all, although some of the boilers of the Admiral Tegerhoff were turned off, it was still able to sail at a speed of 17 knots without falling behind, and the combat effectiveness of the 7 light cruisers was still intact.

Although none of the British armored cruisers had been sunk so far, their own destroyer fleet suffered a small loss when intercepting the British destroyer fleet that was trying to attack and cover the armored cruiser, and the British destroyers did not have an advantage in performance, and with a numerical disadvantage of 1:2, they managed to play a 1:1 battle loss ratio, with 3 ships sunk and 2 seriously damaged on both sides. But anyone with a discerning eye can see that the balance of victory has tipped in favor of the navy of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slovenia. With the British Royal Navy as the opponent in the first battle, Pachner was already proud enough to be proud of the Royal Navy.

Admiral Diedrichs had already called, the battlefleet would arrive in two hours, the British fleet was about to be destroyed by the battleship's cannons, and their own fleet had done its job brilliantly. However, the miserable-looking armored cruiser on the opposite side looked like fat to the mouth, and Pachner felt sorry for himself at all if he didn't bite down on a piece hard.

"Before leaving, I'm going to take out an armored cruiser of them." Pachner looked at the Cornwall, which was slowly leaving the line with billowing smoke, and said lightly: "I can't go to see His Excellency Admiral House empty-handed after the arrival of the main fleet. ”

Although he was determined to be ruthless to the British again, Pachner did not underestimate the British in the slightest. Although the British armored cruisers had been battered by their own torrential fire, the 152mm secondary guns and massive 3-pounder rapid-fire guns on the Kent class were still a great threat to the light ships.

"Let the destroyers assault, take out the last one for me!" Pachna cautiously gave the order, after all, the main fleet was about to arrive, and it was natural to sink one of the opponent's armored cruisers, but it would be a bit more than worth the loss to increase the losses for this.

As soon as the order was given, the lead ship of the destroyer HMS Hussar rushed towards the British fleet from the flanks and rear in two columns with four destroyers.

Five warships with speeds of more than 31 knots had brought the distance closer to 7,000 yards in a very short time, and the officers and men of the Cornwall, who had been staggered by four light cruisers, were only then aware of the rapidly approaching small fleet.

The Cornwall was powerless in the face of the rapidly approaching enemy ships, the main guns were firing at the light cruisers in the distance, one of the five 6-inch secondary guns on the side was destroyed, and the one near the bow did not have enough range for firing backwards, and only three of the 11 3-pounder rapid-fire guns on the starboard deck were still usable, and such firepower was a drop in the bucket in the face of the two columns rushing at a high speed of 32 knots.

The 5 battleships that rushed to a distance of 6,000 yards could not exert their rear firepower, and the 6 105mm naval guns in the front still made the situation worse for the Cornwall, and the 3-pounder rapid-fire guns were destroyed 2 again, and the officers and men on the Cornwall could only watch in despair as the enemy rushed closer and closer!

Although the Hussar-class destroyer leader is modeled after Germany's latest American Eagle class, its weapon configuration is completely different. The 120-mm naval guns, which the German Navy had already equipped in large quantities as the secondary guns of the capital ships and the main guns of the destroyers, were not in demand in the Croatian-Slovenian Navy, and for the same reason, the Croatian-Slovenian Navy did not introduce 550-mm torpedoes.

Therefore, under the large tonnage with the standard displacement of 1,800 tons of the American Eagle class, the hussar class, which is only equipped with 5 105 mm naval guns and 450 mm torpedoes copied from Germany, has three 4 torpedo tubes installed along the central axis, and has the terrifying ability of a single ship to launch 12 torpedoes.

Despite being only a 450 mm torpedo, the imitation German C/11 450 mm torpedo had a range of 4,000 yards at 39 knots and 7,000 yards at 29 knots, which was more than twice as far as the old C/08.

In the face of such predators, the Cornwall is doomed!

"30 degrees on the starboard and port side! Target enemy armored cruiser number four! ”

"Targeted! The target course is 210 degrees, the speed is 14 knots, and the distance is 5000! ”

"Sail straight ahead to a distance of 3000!"

"Torpedo speed 39 knots! The launch angle is 40 degrees! The launch interval is 3 seconds! The first and second torpedo tubes, the number of torpedoes is 8! all for me! ”

"Distance 4000!"

"The torpedo tubes are ready!"

"Attack ready!"

"Distance 3000!"

"Torpedo launch!"

"Poof~哧~~" Driven by high-pressure gas, 8 450-mm torpedoes entered the water in turn, and then pulled out 8 white tracks on the sea surface under the impetus of the propeller!

As the Hussars turned the rudder, the two destroyers that followed it also fired 6 torpedoes, and 14 white tracks surprised the British.

"Starboard torpedo!" All the British sailors screamed, and three 6-inch secondary guns and only one 3-pounder rapid-fire gun were fired desperately at the approaching snow-white track, but it was useless, and the 14 white belts flew through the water jets of the shells.

In just about 2 minutes, the distance of 3,000 yards was easily crossed, and the 154-meter-long hull of the Cornwall was hit by five torpedoes in a row, and the violent explosion caused by the warhead weighing 145 kilograms of each torpedo carried the sea water along the side of the hull into the sky, like a wall of water!

The cameraman on the Hussar shook his camera and faithfully recorded the most astonishing scene of the naval battle.

The force of the explosion lifted the 13,500-ton heavy body of the Cornwall, and the entire battleship was pushed out as it tilted like a toy in a pool.

The splash of water fell back to the surface, and the upturned starboard side slammed into the sea. The bow of the Cornwall was completely blown away, and the officers on the Hussar, who had turned away, could clearly see through the telescope five huge breaches and horrific cracks on the starboard side of the Cornwall.

The ship was hopeless.

The icy waters poured into the ship's hull, and the officers and men of the other British battleships watched in shock as the Cornwall tilted rapidly, and only a few minutes later turned upside down to reveal the red bottom, and then slowly sank and slowly disappeared under the surface.

After the victory, the destroyer fleet did not take advantage of the victory, and the hussars with 4 destroyers fired all the torpedoes in a fan at a speed of 29 knots and began to withdraw. The snow-white track of 22 torpedoes fanned out forced the three armored cruisers in front of them to turn to evade, and Pachner took this opportunity to lead the light cruisers to distance themselves from the British and disengage them.

Trubridge watched as the enemy fleet, which had left range but was still in contact from afar, was about to collapse. He knew very well that the enemy would not withdraw from the battle without a reason, and this only proved that the enemy's dreadnoughts were coming.

Trubridge was already aware of his fate, but now that the battered fleet could hold out until the arrival of his own battlefleet under the guns of the enemy's three dreadnoughts, Trubridge had no confidence at all. You are not afraid of sacrifice, but if the enemy is able to calmly leave after taking out his own fleet, then his own sacrifice will be meaningless!

He could only continue sailing with his badly wounded fleet, hoping that he would be able to carry the enemy's dreadnoughts a few more nautical miles in front of his own battlefleet, and that his fleet would hold out in front of the enemy's three dreadnoughts for a few more minutes.

On the deck, which has become unrecognizable, the officers and men of the Royal Navy, who can no longer see their original spirits, are mechanically and dazedly carrying out damage management work, the fire has been controlled, the blood has been washed away, but the sailors covered in scars and numb faces make Trubridge full of depression.

When will the enemy's dreadnoughts come? How long can you last on your own? …… And how many people will make it back alive?

Just an hour later, dozens of thick plumes of smoke appeared at sea level.

"It can't be!" When the enemy battleship revealed itself, Trubridge could not believe his eyes: "13 battleships!" ”

"Immediately send a report to Admiral Milne that the enemy has 3 dreadnoughts and 10 quasi-dreadnoughts! It's not 3, it's 13! ”

"The radio is full of noise, and our telegram can't be sent!"

Hearing this, Trubridge could barely stand: "It's a trap!" ”