Flames of light erupted, artillery roared, waves rose on the sea, and almost every moment a column of silver-white water stirred up by cannonballs roared into the air. Harwood looked at the German fleet 14 kilometers away with red eyes, and in addition to anger and hatred, there was already a little hesitation and fear in his heart.

After ten minutes of engagement, the situation at sea had become more and more unfavorable for the British fleet: the Orion Light Cruiser was seriously wounded before it could close the distance, and could only relieve its own pressure by releasing a smoke screen. Although the Ajax light cruiser poured tons of revenge ammunition on the German ships, the 152-mm shells did not cause fatal damage to the target; The Germans' 210mm shells were still fierce and accurate, and almost every hit caused the Ajax to break its flesh and bones. The truth that caliber is justice has once again been most fully interpreted in the artillery battle of warships, and the light patrol will not have a good result if it challenges the heavy patrol!

And in the confrontation between the two sides in the heavy patrol 2V2, the British fleet also obviously fell into disadvantage. The York was hit by 7 shells, and a large area of the interior, including the engine room on the right side, was turned into a hell of heat destruction; The flames on the deck are getting more and more abundant, and they have the same uncontrollable tendency as the flooding. Although the German Heavy Cruiser Karlsruhe was also observed to have six hits, she did not seem to have been harmed at all in the core area: not only was the main gun fire as fierce as ever, but even the secondary negative states of reduced speed and hull tilt did not appear.

The only thing Harwood was thankful for was the condition of his ship, the Exeter. Shortly after the battle broke out, the Exeter was extremely lucky enough to destroy the top bridge of the enemy ship in the distance, which is usually the location of the warship's central fire control room. Due to the destruction of the fire control equipment, the German gunners had to rely on the 6-meter baseline rangefinder on the main turret for observation, and at the same time relied on the gun table and personal experience to determine the shooting parameters, which greatly reduced the accuracy of the artillery fire. So far, the Exeter has only been hit by 2 shells, all of which are located in the non-core area, and the battleship has maintained almost complete combat effectiveness. However, the Exeter's victory was not an overnight success: although the Königsberg was hit many times, she was no less strong than her sister ship Karlsruhe, and she was completely brave!

"Something is wrong, the core capsule of the Germans should have been pierced into a beehive by our shells a long time ago!" Seeing the fiery German battleship on the sea in the distance, Harwood couldn't help but roar in anger. With no substantial threat from enemy ships, the fire control crews on board the Exeter performed at a very high level in previous battles, with a total of 8 shells hitting the target directly; Even if you are unlucky, you should have 2~3 shots hitting the core cabin area. With the power of his own 203-mm shells, Harwood had every reason to be sure that German battleships from afar would be vulnerable - no post-treaty cruiser had ever been able to withstand 8-inch shells, let alone a K-class cruiser with small ships and cannons, while also balancing speed and ocean-going performance.

Could it be that there was a problem with their own shells, and the detonation fuse failed after penetrating the armor? Harwood thought distraughtly. This scenario is not out of the question: with the end of the world war and the arrival of naval holidays, the Royal Navy inevitably loosens the long-strained strings of war; According to the Navy's regulations on the acceptance of artillery shells issued in the mid-20s, as long as one of the three sampled shells can penetrate the corresponding thickness of armor and successfully detonate, then all 100 shells of the same batch will be considered qualified and accepted by the Navy. Such a loose standard undoubtedly gives a lot of loopholes for those arms dealers in China who only put money first. Although the Navy has raised the threshold for acceptance since the mid-30s, there are still a large number of previously produced shells in stock, and the reliability of these shells is undoubtedly questionable!

On closer thought, however, Harwood dismissed his own speculation. The German warships in the distance were also in flames under their own bombardment, apparently due to the high-energy explosives contained in the shells. If it is said that there was a problem with the fuse of the shell, then you should not see any damage from the German battleship. Faintly, a terrible thought crossed Harwood's mind: could it be that because the German warships had perfect core compartment protection, the effectiveness of their shells was limited to arson, and could not cause damage to their central equipment?

"It can't be!" Harwood hissed and roared, a hint of madness in his voice. As an elite who had served in the navy for half his life, he knew how difficult it was for treaty cruisers to have perfect protection in pursuit of high-speed heavy artillery attributes: in order to reduce weight, the 13 British heavy cruisers of the first 2 classes ran naked in the waterline section, giving only the main gun ****** compartment, which was the most prone to explosion, a weak defense that could barely resist direct fire from 152 mm shells. The later construction of the Exeter and York ships had slightly better defense, but only a short 76 mm armor was added to the power compartment, which could roughly resist the attack of destroyer-class shells from a distance of 7 km. As for the weapons system, all British heavy cruisers are treated equally, even the main gun with gun mount is only 25 mm - not to mention the destroyer, even the anti-aircraft machine guns on the patrol boat can wear this big crispy layer to the heart!

The tonnage of the German K-class cruisers was inferior to that of Exeter, and the start of construction was a year earlier, and it was simply impossible for its important parts to be immune to 203-mm shells. Harwood gritted his teeth and decided to keep playing for a little longer. The good fortune of the Germans will eventually run out, and perhaps the next round of attacks will lead to decisive results?

"Boom!" There was a sudden violent tremor from the bottom of the battleship, which was like thunder, and Brigadier General Miller, who was caught off guard, lost his balance and staggered to the ground. The elbow collided violently with the hard floor, and there was a sharp pain that pierced the bone. However, he was anxious and didn't care about his possible bone fracture injuries, and hissed in the scramble of the officers: "The explosion just now seems to have come from inside the ship, immediately contact the damage management department to confirm the situation!" ”

As a people with strict and rigid attributes in their genes, the Germans can definitely be said to be meticulous in the key area of warship damage control: the battle patrol that was devastated in the Battle of Jutland in the past, but returned safely, is the best embodiment of the outstanding damage management ability of the Germanic people. Due to the scarcity of ships in the German navy after the war, they also inherited this key skill that could turn decay into magic in battle.

At this time, it took less than two minutes for the well-trained German sailors to present an accurate report to Miller: "The 67th rib on the left side of the battleship was hit by a water-borne bullet and exploded, the three watertight compartments under the hull were destroyed, the fuel tanks were ruptured and leaked, but the forward ammunition depot located in the deep area was still unharmed. ”

"The luck of the British is really good, if the defense of this class of battleship is a little weaker, now we have all reported to God in Heavenly Mountain!" Miller wiped the cold sweat from his forehead with his cuffs, his eyes full of fear and happiness. At the beginning of the design of the K-class cruiser, in order to ensure the survivability of the warship, Fang Yan greatly thickened her TDS armor to 40~100 mm; This terrifying thickness, which even surpassed that of all battleships of the same period, greatly improved the warship's ability to resist underwater bullets, making the shells from underwater lose their due sharpness.

Now, this armor did its job, successfully isolating the incoming underwater bomb from the core compartment. Although the latter still caused serious damage to the deep part of the warship's TDS, compared to the destruction of the core cabin, it is now the best situation! In addition to the shock and trembling, Brigadier General Miller's heart was filled with a strong confidence in battle. Even the nirvanal water bullets were blocked by themselves, so what else is there to be afraid of in other artillery fire? As long as you persevere, the final victory will definitely belong to you!

The red rays were blooming, the thunder was roaring, and the Königsberg, which had been bombarded by shells continuously, was like a wounded beast, and its madness was even stronger; Six 210-mm shells were like thunderbolts, and shortly after the ship was hit by a bullet in the water, it exploded rapidly towards the British heavy patrol in the distance. Although the central fire control was destroyed, the German gunners gradually found their target in round after round of fire and formed a straddle fire on the enemy ship.

Amid the piercing screech of the shells cutting through the air at high speed, a 210-mm semi-armor-piercing shell finally slammed into the stern waterline of the Exeter; The shells easily tore through the thin steel plates of the shipbuilding, and there was a violent explosion inside the hull. In an instant, countless shrapnel rushed in all directions under the coercion of the surging air waves, and the waterline without armor defense at the stern was pierced through countless irregular holes like beehives when it landed. Raging waves poured through the holes, flooding the ruined steering room and power distribution room, and the Exeter slowed down and lost almost complete control of its course.

Amid the screams of British sailors, a new round of shells whistled in just 20 seconds. The Exeter's rear bridge was blasted open with a large hole in the flames, and several large pieces of metal were stuck deep into the 25 mm turret armor of the rear main turret, rendering the turret unable to turn. Flames were billowing, poisonous smoke was filling, and the high explosive reload factor of the semi-armor-piercing shells destroyed large swaths of the cabin space at the same time, killing and wounding British sailors. In a very short period of time, the last bit of superiority of the British fleet on the battlefield was lost, and then, their end was already sealed! (To be continued.) )