Located in the waters northwest of the Faroe Islands, two of the most powerful and characteristic main fleets of the Dreadnought era fought fiercely in the midst of strong winds and waves. The www.biquge.info battlefield is like a boxing ring, and the two fighters who are familiar with each other omit the tentative part, and as soon as they come up, they throw heavy punches, and the atmosphere quickly heats up. No sooner had the British fleet fired than the German fleet returned the favor with swift artillery fire, and the sound of its guns and explosions completely overwhelmed all the sounds of nature......

The guns of the German battleships were all from the famous Krupp company, and these naval guns had very good accuracy and durability. In the face of a fierce shipbuilding race, the Germans did not blindly pursue larger caliber naval guns because of the rhythm of the British, they were fond of higher muzzle velocity and lighter ammunition, and were willing to move at their own pace. At the outbreak of the war, Krupp had raised the performance of the 11- and 12-inch naval guns to the extreme level of the era - equipped with the 50-diameter 11-inch naval guns of the Nassau and Helgoland dreadnoughts, which were comparable to the 12-inch naval guns of the British Navy, and equipped with the 50-diameter 12-inch naval guns of the Caesar and King classes, which were not inferior to the 13.5-inch naval guns of the British in actual combat.

The guns used by British ships came from a variety of companies, and the state-run Royal Artillery Factory was originally a monopoly, but from the end of the 19th century, two private companies, Armstrong and Vickers, gradually seized the market share of the Royal Artillery Factory, and the Coventry Ordnance Factory and Biedmore Company were also strong competitors. Whenever the British Admiralty decided to build a new capital ship of the first class, these gun manufacturers would rush to the top of the list for the manufacture of the main guns, which included 40% of the ship's main guns, in addition to the guns needed to be installed on the ships themselves.

As the battle progressed, half an hour had passed since the British fleet fired its first shells, and the scene of the two main fleets in formation and bombardment had changed suddenly because of the heroic bravery of the two British battle cruisers, and a considerable part of the attention of the officers and men of both sides had shifted from the wounded German capital ships to the battered British battle cruisers. Up to this point, the Germans had gained the upper hand in both fleets, but the tide of battle was still in a delicate balance, with each having a chance to win, and the key was to see who reached the flashpoint first.

Often, the most intense part of the battle is where the flashpoint of the battle is. If the British fleet were to take the lead in sinking the German flagship, the tactical deployment of the German fleet would be greatly affected, and the balance of victory would inevitably be tilted in favor of the British.

War is similar to competitive competition, fighting for strength, strategy, luck and other comprehensive factors, but war is different from competitive competition, here, victory and defeat is the only iron rule, no referee, no scorekeeper, no one knows when the flashpoint will appear, maybe this is a no flashpoint, cruel and direct war of attrition, fight to the end of both lose.

After the "Elector" and the "Frontier Governor" were hung one after another, the "King" was not "spared" after all, and it began to be cared for by the intensive artillery fire of the British fleet. Heavy shells rained down one after another, irritating people's eardrums, and the waves of water rushing into the sky washed the hull and deck of the German flagship over and over again, and this mighty battleship of nearly 30,000 tons stubbornly faced the waves, and the huge, angular main gun turret turned the thickest side of the armor towards the starboard side, and the thick, domineering main gun barrels proudly pointed at the opposing British capital ship.

"The elevation angle of the gun is 10 degrees 23 minutes, the horizontal azimuth is 57 degrees 40 minutes, and the loading of armor-piercing shells is confirmed ......"

The voice of the firing commander, Major Hans-Debreis, was heard through the horn to the enclosed main turret, and as soon as the extraction device had extracted the remaining smoke from the chamber, the sturdy gunners eagerly opened the bolts and took out the empty brass cartridges - the only Germans in the dreadnought era to use metal shells for such a large-caliber naval gun, and its greatest advantage was that the turret was less prone to detonation when attacked.

Heavy shells and propellants were transported from the ammunition compartment at the bottom of the battleship to the crane via suspension rails, where they were first placed on bogies and then raised to the gun chamber. There, shells and propellants were transported into place on conveyor belts, and in the process, all the hoisting structures were electrically controlled, which was an important reason why the German dreadnoughts had a higher rate of fire than the British dreadnoughts.

In case of emergency, the crew can use a block system for manual operation.

According to the prescribed operating procedure, the German gunners mechanically transported the shells to the position between the two guns, then manually placed them on the loading pallet, and finally stuffed them into the firing position by means of hydraulic chain mallets; Propellants, weighing more than a hundred kilograms each, were placed on the outside of the ship's guns, and the loading was consistent with the shells. Since the main gun can only be loaded when it is in a horizontal position, the turret is specially equipped with indicators for this purpose. When the shells and fired gunpowder are reloaded, two safety plates for each gun will appear on the left and right sides to protect the gun control personnel from the gun recoil.

After all four pairs of main guns have completed the parameter setting and ammunition loading, the shooting commander conducts the final calibration through the ship's unified firing command system. As the most technologically advanced active capital ship of the German Navy, the fire control system of the King-class consists of a remote rangefinder, a naval gun control tower, and a signal room. The basis of this system is a long-base rangefinder, in which the operator turns a handle until he finds that the position indicated by the ruler coincides with the target he is searching.

A total of six Carl Zeiss physical mirror rangefinders were installed on the King's class, which were mounted on the conning tower and all the main turrets, and the data measured by them was transmitted to the forward control tower, where the firing commander was responsible for determining the firing elements in the salvo. The system can be calibrated quickly, and it can easily re-bite the target when maneuvering to avoid a strike, and can range a vague target, whereas the British adversary needs a horizontally segmentable image. The fire control system is electric, and all the main turrets can fire at the same time through connected shipboard gyrocompasses and stabilizing elements, as well as the launch button controlled by the naval gun officer, and the naval guns can also fire individually and in pairs, so even if the bridge firing tower is damaged in battle, the main guns can still carry out relatively accurate aimed fire.

After praying "God bless Germany", Major de Blaise pressed the button for the salvo of the main guns, and the entire battleship immediately trembled with a deafening sound of cannons. Eight armor-piercing shells weighing more than 400 kilograms were fired from the muzzle of the gun at a speed of 855 meters per second, and it only took more than ten seconds for them to fly over a distance of 10,000 meters.

In the silent scene, several huge white water columns rose from the sea, instantly obscuring most of the lead-gray battleship. At that moment, Schell and his staff officers captured a surprising and exciting detail through the binoculars: flashes of light that were distinct from the cannon flames appeared behind the water columns, and when the flashes had disappeared, the black plumes of smoke from the explosion appeared......

In the brutal naval battles, the German officers proved to the world with their heroic and calm performances that the new navy may not have a superficial foundation and weak combat effectiveness, but can also be a super-first-class existence. Seeing the explosion scene on the enemy ship, they jumped a little, because it was certain that at least one armor-piercing shell had hit the British super-dreadnought.

Of course, a German-made 12-inch armor-piercing projectile does not have the terrible power of a one-hit kill, but if it hits the weakest part of an enemy battleship, such as an ammunition depot, it has every chance of becoming a "fatal blow". After all, the standard armor thickness of the main armor belt, conning tower, and upper and lower decks of the British capital ship was lower than that of the German dreadnoughts built at the same time, and at a distance of about 10,000 meters, the Orion-class 11-inch thick turret, conning tower, and 8 to 12-inch thick main armor belt were not enough to protect under the Germans' guns.

The smoke cleared, and the British battleship's sailing and combat state did not seem to be affected by the explosion just now, but only ten or twenty seconds later, a column of smoke suddenly rose from the front of its hull. At first, the familiar and abominable silhouette of the British battleship emerged from the smoke and dust, with distinct lines and clear discernment. Immediately afterward, a thick cloud of gray smoke erupted from the front of its chimney. Before the smoke began to form a mushroom-like cloud of smoke, several larger columns of smoke rose from the ship. The smoke stretched out with the wind and gradually joined together, forming a huge cloud of smoke that hung over the warship. After a moment of silence, the British super-dreadnought, with a displacement of only 2700 tons less than the "King", finally made a huge explosion. In an instant, the whole battleship trembled violently, and strange objects from the deck and bridge flew in the air, some hitting the sea like shrapnel, and some rising high into the air, even higher than the cloud of smoke that had barely risen from the first eruption.

Witnessed by thousands, the middle of the huge battleship bent downward in the explosion, but the bow and stern were raised high above the water, like a wayward child grabbing a toy in the water and suddenly breaking it off in the middle.

All this is only a matter of a moment, and the truly earth-shattering scene is yet to come. Moments later, smoke billed from the numerous cracks in the British battleship's hull, and the cracked, quiet toy was immediately engulfed in smoke and flames. It's just a blink of an eye. Nothing was to be seen except the countless columns of water that had been thrown high into the air in the explosion by the masts, decks, and armor fragments that had fallen into the sea. After a few minutes, the smoke rose until it faded, and the sea suddenly became empty, with nothing to see except a few bits and pieces.

This "disappeared" British capital ship has a domineering name, "Emperor", but it is a pity that since ancient times, emperors have been short-lived, and after this explosion, only 3 of the more than 700 officers and men on the ship survived.

(End of chapter)