The bombardment of Pachner's cruiser at 4,000 yards startled the British, who feared that they would be torpedoed, and turned all their attention to the darkness in front of the side where the muzzle flames of the small and medium-caliber naval guns had flashed. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

The British, who were preoccupied, were suddenly blinded by the 24 pillars of light that pierced the darkness from behind the flank, and before the British sailors could react, they heard the roar of large-caliber naval guns that made them scatter.

Dozens of orange-red fireballs flashed in the night, and the glow of the muzzle flame made the huge figure of the battleship faintly visible, like a monster lurking in the darkness.

At a distance of 3,000 yards, there was no need for fire control, no salvo, and all the still working guns in the German-Collak Combined Fleet were aiming at the target illuminated by the searchlight not far away after receiving the order for free fire from each gun position, and the shells were frantically poured.

Dozens of bands of light crossed the sea, and the British didn't even have time to adjust the muzzle of the guns, and the German shells smashed over their heads and faces.

The Hyberia at the end of the formation was baptized by a terrible rain of steel, and before the officers and men of the Royal Navy could turn off their searchlights, they were destroyed by flying shrapnel and violent impacts, but the Hyberia did not return to the cover of night, and the explosion of the 120mm shells made her more conspicuous!

The night breeze on the Ionian Sea in October was already a little cool, but the Tyrol's main turret was like a steamer. Every time the bolt was opened, the choking smoke and billowing heat wave would sweep through the turret, and the sweaty German gunners seemed to be unconscious, and in their excitement they had only one thought: to shoot the shells out as fast as possible!

The explosion caused by the enemy ship being hit in the dark is clearly visible, and every time the figure of the enemy ship is illuminated by the fire of the explosion, the excited cheers of the aiming players will make the guncrew members move one point faster! Even if they can't see the outside scene, they can still paint that gorgeous picture in their minds!

Under the influence of this total frenzy, the Tyrol fired a total of 117 rounds of 305-mm shells and more than 400 rounds of 120-mm shells in just 5 minutes!

Even if the Tyrol did not slow down at this time, even if there was no fire control equipment to calculate the firing parameters, even if the shelling in the night was not very accurate, in the face of such artillery coverage, Hiberia was still hit by 9 305-mm shells and more than 30 120-mm shells

At such a close distance, the armor of the British King Edward VII class was as fragile as paper paste, and a 450-kilogram shell tore through the 229 mm main armor belt of the Hyberia as if it had entered no man's land, and then smashed through the 51 mm thick armor of the inclined section of the protective deck, and the shell that changed its trajectory under the positive effect then passed through the 9 mm longitudinal partition and exploded in the rear boiler room of the Hyberia, and the hot high-pressure steam instantly filled the entire boiler room. More than a dozen boiler soldiers were scalded into cooked meat before they could even scream.

During the day, the Hyperia, which had been slowed down by 12 knots due to the bow being penetrated into the water, immediately dropped to 9 knots, which meant that it was impossible for the battleship to leave the Ionian Sea.

In the face of the sparse shells from the British's slow-firing main guns, the Tyrol, which maintained a speed of 18 knots, immediately dropped the Hibernia, which had begun to slow down and fall behind, and began to turn its guns to aim at a new target.

The stragglers of the Hyberia would be warmly welcomed by the would-be dreadnoughts that would follow behind, and the German officers and men on the Tyrol wanted nothing more than to leave all the five British former dreadnoughts in front of them!

The Tyrol, which had caught up with the lead ship of the British former dreadnought fleet at a speed of 18 knots, had not yet lowered its speed, and the already prepared gun crew fired a salvo that was not a salvo. The German sighters, who themselves felt that the first shot that they had taken by feeling were unlikely to hit the enemy, shouted loudly, "Reload!" Hurry up and ............", the huge ball of fire that erupted from the shadow of the ship on the opposite side made them hold back their shouts like ducks choked by the neck.

A shell hit the middle secondary main gun turret of the Commonwealth by faith, and the shell easily penetrated the 229mm armor on the front and effortlessly ripped off the 127mm back plate, fortunately, the second stage of the British King Edward VII class was a single turret, at this time there were only 6 groups of sensitive Cordite propellants in the turret, and the propellant detonated in the collision lifted the top plate of the secondary main gun turret, although the fire of the explosion was extremely conspicuous in the dark, However, the damage caused by the explosion itself to the USS Commonwealth was not serious.

However, the fire caused by the explosion on the middle deck of the ship was spreading wantonly, and the burning deck completely pulled the shadow of the Commonwealth out of the darkness like a huge bonfire, and the crew members who did not want to become a target ran out of the cabin to join the fire, but the several water dragons sprayed into the fire looked particularly slender against the background of the raging flames.

The captain of the Commonwealth, who was worried that the fire would spread downward to the secondary main gun ammunition depot and cause the same result as the Lord Nelson, ordered all three secondary main gun ammunition depots on the side to be filled with water, and the Commonwealth, which had already damaged the rear main turret in the afternoon, suddenly lost the firepower of two secondary main guns because of the water filling of the ammunition depot, leaving only two 305 mm primary guns, two 152 mm secondary guns, and several 76 mm and 47 mm rapid-fire guns still fighting back.

After the three secondary main gun ammunition depots were filled with 400 tons of water, in order to maintain balance, the Commonwealth had to reverse inject tons of water, and in the afternoon, the upper armor belt on the side of the hull was pierced by the Alsace 2 breaches, resulting in more than 100 tons of water, at this time, the total sea water in the ship was close to 1,000 tons, and the speed of the Commonwealth, which was depressed and increased the draft on the freeboard, plummeted to 12 knots, and the Commonwealth's attempt to turn away had been completely shattered.

Pinch the head, remove the tail, it is impossible for the 5 former dreadnoughts to leave completely at this time, seeing that there is no hope of escape, in order to cover the follow-up ships, the captain of the Commonwealth issued an unusually decisive order - to crash into the Germans!

"Damn it! Are these Brits crazy?! Right full rudder! ”

At this time, the frightened changed to the Germans, and the officers and men on Tyrol, including Didrichs, watched in amazement as the battleship on the opposite side suddenly turned sharply with its right rudder full and crashed straight towards the Tyrol! And when the Commonwealth turned its hull and cut its course into the Tyrolean route, the German officers and soldiers also saw two white tracks under the water!

"10 o'clock! Spot the torpedo track! Quantity 2! ”

Germany's capital ships had long since been equipped with torpedo tubes, which had to be adjusted to the course of the hull to obtain the ideal launch angle, and even at the 6,000-yard engagement distance required by the German Navy's gunnery standards more than a decade ago, torpedoes were of little use. Therefore, under the influence of His Majesty the Emperor back then, the German Navy recognized it as a useless thing that would only destroy the neatness of the battle line. The officers and men of the German Navy had even forgotten that the battleship could also have such equipment as underwater torpedo tubes, but in today's special situation, the two 450-mm torpedoes launched from underwater by the Commonwealth caught the German officers and men on the Tyrol by surprise!

Even though the huge hull of the Tyrol in the right rudder had begun to tilt due to the rapid turn, the officers and men on the ship still felt that the battleship under their feet was clumsy like a lead block when they looked at the rapidly approaching torpedo track!

The ship's 88 mm rapid-fire guns and 37 mm rapid-fire guns roared wildly at the sea, and the water columns raised by the shells on the sea surface formed two corridors around the torpedo track, but the rapid-fire guns that fired on the inclined hull were obviously not accurate, even though the two snow-white tracks were almost surrounded by splashing water columns, the officers and men on the Tyrol still watched in horror as the tracks got closer and closer!

Fortunately, the Commonwealth's Mark-VI torpedoes had a speed of only 28 knots at a distance of 4,000 yards, giving Tyrol, who was already at full right rudder, more time to turn, and the two torpedoes brushed past the bow and stern of the Tyrol by a fraction of a second.

Although it was not hit by a torpedo, Tyrol had deviated more than 40 degrees from the original course at this time, and regardless of the Commonwealth that collided with it, the Tyrol had to continue to turn the rudder to keep a distance, and all the subsequent ships followed the Tyrol and were forced out of the original course!

The heroic actions of the Commonwealth played a role, and the next three battleships disbanded their formations and turned to flee, and the distance between the combined fleet of Dirk, which was also in turn, quickly closed to the enemy, and soon the shadow of the British disappeared into the darkness.

Didrichs watched his prey slip away from under his claws, and in a fit of rage, he ordered the two dreadnoughts and four quasi-dreadnoughts to set fire to the superstructure of the Commonwealth!

The Commonwealth was hit by more than 20 large-caliber shells in a very short period of time, and the front main turret that could still shoot was scrapped after 5 minutes, and the entire superstructure was riddled with holes.

The hurricane of death created by the high-explosive bombs that exploded on the Commonwealth swept across the deck, tearing apart everyone exposed on deck, and the last resistance of the Royal Navy officers and men was completely crushed!

Soon, the Commonwealth fell completely silent, and the hull of the ship, which had been turned into a flare, was still stubbornly paralyzed on the sea. Seeing that the battleship, which was already destined to be burned to the ground, and that it would be a waste of shells to continue fighting, Diedrichs finally ordered the ships to cease fire.

The captain of the Commonwealth had already been killed in a direct hit to the conning tower, and none of the Royal Navy officers and sailors on board had escaped by jumping into the sea. The fire was already uncontrollable, and there was a danger of reaching the main gun ammunition depot at any time, and at this time, the captain who was already the highest-ranking captain on the ship issued the order to abandon the ship.

The dinghy on the Commonwealth had been destroyed by artillery fire, and the officers and men of the Royal Navy huddled on the side deck, jumping into the cold waters of the night, and the seriously wounded who were carried out of the cabin by their comrades sat on the deck, leaning against the bulkhead, watching their comrades swim away.

The flaming hull lit up the sea, which was filled with Royal Navy officers and sailors who were rising and falling on the sea.

Although Diedrichs wanted to leave these British people behind, even if he pursued them now, he might not be able to find the scattered and fleeing British warships in the dark. The battleship at the end of the British fleet had also capsized and sunk by this time, and there were a large number of Royal Navy officers and men soaked in the sea, and most of them were wounded, and if left alone, God knows how many people would be seen alive after dawn. And if only the 4 Croatian destroyers following the rear of the fleet want to salvage the drowning people at night, they will not be able to catch it.

Eventually, Didrichs ordered the fleet to turn on all its searchlights and lower its dinghy to help salvage the Royal Navy officers and men who were immersed in the sea.

The Commonwealth opened the sea valve, and the seawater filled all the ammunition depots accelerated her sinking, and the flames were extinguished, and the Royal Navy officers and sailors of the German-Kerk Combined Fleet watched as the heroic battleship slowly sank underwater.

The fire vanished, and in addition to the pillars of searchlights that still swept across the sea, the Ionian Sea fell into darkness again.

The night was still long, Didrichs thought as he looked in the direction in which the three British former dreadnoughts had finally disappeared.

The cruiser fleet in front of the original fleet flanked was now left with only three Sparato-class light cruisers and the destroyer Hussar, and the lead ship was still faithfully carrying out the task of the advance of the battlefleet.