"Boom!" The earth-shattering explosion once again resounded in the night sky, and half of the hull of the British destroyer "Gurkha" was suddenly swallowed up by the surging waves, and the crimson glare bloomed like a blazing sun. The warship, with a full load displacement of more than 3,000 tons, was suddenly bounced upwards by more than 1 meter, and a large number of metal fragments flew like a storm to the other side of the warship.

After a while, with the piercing "creak" sound of the steel beam breaking, the sailors on the battleship next to him were horrified to see that the hull of the Shepherd was rapidly breaking from the middle. In less than 1 minute, the entire ship completely disappeared into the sea in a whirlpool, and the traces of the existence of the people on it were completely wiped out!

"It's a torpedo! Watch out for torpedoes on the surface of the sea! The experienced officers reacted and shouted loudly to warn the sailors to be on alert. However, their hearts were filled with horror, and their eyes were wide open, and they couldn't believe what they were seeing. The Germans' torpedoes were too powerful to blow up a large Tribal-class destroyer! Combined with the phenomenon of the Newcastle after the light patrol of the mine just now, the caliber of the other side's torpedoes is estimated to be at least 700 millimeters, or even larger. Once the destroyer is hit, there is not even a chance for the members to escape!

In the face of the great threat posed by torpedoes, the British sailors who were responsible for the second-line work no longer dared to hide in the cabin to avoid the baptism of shrapnel and water waves. They ran to the side of the boat in life jackets, their eyes wide open to search for white waterlines in the nearby sea. In the darkness of the night, the afterglow of the searchlights reflected the sea in a slightly dull blue-purple color, and the water column constantly rose into the air, and the waves swayed, as if it were the same as in a normal artillery battle.

Scott, a British sailor, touched his chest with his left hand and took a deep breath of cold air with the smell of gunsmoke, and after a few moments, his thumping heart gradually recovered. The scene of the explosion just now was so terrifying that hundreds of people and warships were swallowed by the ocean in an instant; Even though he had just been motivated by his superiors before the battle began, his heart was now full of fear. Fortunately, the enemy torpedoes sank his teammates and not himself, and at the moment the sea around the destroyer "Mohawk" is pure in color, and there is no nightmarish white line.

"Wait, what's that?" Scott's eyes swept over, and he suddenly saw that something seemed to be disappearing under the waves in the direction of 130. His heart pounded, and he hurriedly looked in that direction. As a veteran of the casino, Scott often uses some inconspicuous glass or metal objects to reflex to peek at cheating, and has full confidence in his eyesight. Scott was sure he wasn't dazzled, but he wasn't sure if the object that had just flashed through the water was the fragment of a friendly ship or a deadly torpedo.

The cold wind howled, the waves rolled, and as the crest of the target area swept by, Scott finally saw what he had missed a few seconds ago. A faint white streak of water was like a sailfish, speeding at a speed far faster than a warship, and the Mohawk was less than 300 meters away from meeting in the course it was about to pass!

"Torpedo! Torpedoes are found in the direction of 130, and the right full rudder is quickly hit! Scott's eyes widened, and he shouted wildly at the top of his lungs. Unfortunately, there are very few people who can have the same eagle eyes as him. Under Scott's anxious, almost desperate fingers, the panicked first mate of the warship stared at the surface of the sea for another seven or eight seconds, and by the time the latter determined the situation and hit the rudder sharply, the final result was unavoidable......

"A bunch of waste from the lightning strike detachment! Are they all blind? Seeing an Optimus Pillar rise again in the sea ahead, Captain Cole of the Hood could no longer control his anger and dropped the telescope and scolded angrily. According to the normal script, the 40,000-ton light cruisers should sweep through the German frigate group like a sharp knife splitting butter, and send all the non-mainstream light ships built by the Germans with ingenuity to the bottom of the sea. Even if they couldn't defend themselves against the 210mm shells of the German cruisers, at most 2 of them would be destroyed by penetrating the core compartment, and if the ammunition depot exploded, there would only be 1 at most, and they would not be fired again like their predecessors.

You must know that since the sinking of three battle cruisers in the Battle of Jutland, the British Navy has made the protection of the safety of the main gun propellant the top priority of the warship's defense. The main launch bay is a separate defense unit that can no longer be easily detonated by fire in other parts. If an enemy shell can accurately hit the propellant bay located in the deepest part of the water on a huge warship, and successfully detonate through the armor, this in itself is a very low probability!

Therefore, Cole had absolute confidence in his 10,000-ton light patrol's night melee ability, and after they broke through the defensive line, they would deliver a wave of deadly lightning strikes to the isolated German battleships. However, now our fleet first ate a wave of German torpedoes, and the Newcastle, one of the four pillars, broke and sank before the warm-up was completed, and became the soul of the deep sea along with the other two destroyers. This time, the British fleet brought out not many destroyers, and not long ago, in order to catch up with the German aircraft carriers, two more were separated. Now there are only 12 of these little guys with heavy mine suits, and if the number continues to decrease, it will be difficult to succeed in lightning strikes!

Tovey pursed his lips tightly, and there was a strong vibration and self-reproach in his heart. He suddenly realized that he had overlooked an important factor in his pre-war plans: the Germans' torpedo tracks were so stealthy that they could hardly be detected during night battles, and that they could be decisive for the death of their own warships.

Because the British Home Fleet had lost ground early on under the attack of German carrier-based aircraft, and because all the ships sailing in the Atlantic had been reflagged under the American flag, British ships had not been torpedoed by their opponents for a long time. Although there had been more than one report of an anomaly of German torpedoes in the early stages of the war, in the face of the adversity of the overall collapse of the overall situation and the need to rack their brains to plug and make up for the leaks, this "little trouble" was quickly put aside by the anxious Admiralty officers and did not pay further attention to it. Even Tovey ignored it in his mind about how to intercept the German carriers. And the explosion just now is a huge price!

"Although torpedo tracks are difficult to detect at night, it is extremely difficult to achieve accurate fire control calculations as well as during the day, right?" Tovey, who was in a hurry, calmed down and thought quickly. Although more than 20 years have passed since the Battle of Jutland, Tovey understands that the torpedo fire control equipment of various countries has not been greatly innovated, and it is essentially the same as it was back then. As for the possibility that the Germans secretly developed a device capable of accurately measuring parameters at night, they should also sink into the sand themselves; But the point is that now there is no way back for the British fleet.

"The fire control room reports the distance of the enemy battleship!" Tovey yelled in his thoughts. There was silence in the microphone for a moment, and soon the gunnery officer reported to him the data: the radar detected the enemy ship about 10 kilometers away, and the rangefinder was extremely inaccurate due to the lack of light sources. Tovey silently estimated the tracks of both sides, and then gave the battle order: the team turned right 3 compass points, returned to the course after 6 minutes, and then turned on the searchlight to shoot with all its might.

"The British are going to fight hard." Receiving feedback from the radar room, Kars instantly understood his intentions. The British fleet suddenly moved closer to itself, and its purpose was necessarily to close the distance and bayonet red; Ten minutes ago, they were still cautiously keeping their distance, wanting to wait for the lightning strike fleet to make a contribution, and use torpedoes to wash themselves before using artillery fire. At this time, the only option left for the German battleship team was to engage in battle. If Kars also turned to the right to get away, the British fleet would be able to catch up with the tail of the German frigate group in front of it and swallow the German frigate in one gulp with its lightning strike group. At that time, the battlefleet will definitely not be able to stand alone.

Thinking of the battle that was about to break out, Kars felt a thorn in his back for the first time. Depending on the situation on the field, the distance between the British capital ship and its own would not exceed 8 kilometers, which was an extremely close figure that no German commander had imagined since the advent of radar. The Bismarck-class's armor that had been stronger than the mountains would no longer be reliable, and the core module would face a great threat of being pierced for the first time.

Soon, however, Kars laughed at his cowardice. Looking at Lindemann and the officers in the command tower, who were in full swing and ready to fight, some of his negative emotions instantly dissipated without a trace. I have really enjoyed it in a comfortable environment for too long, and I don't even dare to face the danger of battle calmly; In terms of firepower, your own battleship has an absolute advantage, and only the opponent who falls in this boxing ring can be!

With a clear telegram command, the port lights of the Bismarck suddenly turned on, and after a few seconds of adjustment, the faint outline of the other party appeared on the sea. Although the British Heavy Cruiser also had four turrets, the Germans were all too familiar with the Hood: they only recognized in an instant that the other side was the heavy cruiser at the head, and the large ship with two chimneys behind it was the target. In less than 20 seconds, the first round of three shells burst out from the rear turret of the Bismarck, and in an instant, huge waves on the sea took off one after another, and its momentum seemed to be no weaker than the previous torpedo explosion!

Faced with the first firing of the German ships, the British fleet immediately responded with the most violent lights and cannon roars. Their guns were well distributed: the Devonshire Heavy Cruiser and the Hood attacked Bismarck, the London Heavy Cruiser and Prestige attacked Tirpitz, and the Norfolk and Dorsechshire heavy cruisers fought against Spee. Due to the close distance, the secondary guns of the warships on both sides also joined in the shooting, and the sea suddenly rose in all directions, and the battle soon entered the white-hot stage.