"Target azimuth 057, distance 5500 to 6000, number 20, five rapid-fire main guns ready!"

As the firing command was issued from the bridge, the five 50 times diameter 127 mm main guns of the Irish destroyer "Sligo" were aimed at the starboard sea in a unified manner, and the momentum was majestic and domineering. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 infoIts fire control system is not directly related to the radar, but the semi-automatic fire control mode of mechanical and manual connection was already advanced in the early 30s - after receiving the order to fire, the gunners have turned on the firing safety on the gun position, and under the condition that the fire control system is operating normally, the five main guns are fired by the firing command room in a unified manner, so as to minimize the dispersion of the impact point and ensure the shooting hit rate.

The biggest technical feature of the Irish destroyers built after the war is the use of a mechanical semi-automatic loader, the principle of which is to lift the ammunition in the ammunition depot to the loading track of the gun position by a mechanical device, and then the gunner manually pushes the shells into the latch, locks and fires. Traditional naval guns of the same caliber usually require 8-12 gunners, and additional replacements are required in wartime, while naval guns using mechanical semi-automatic loaders only need 3-4 gunners, and the rate of fire is increased by more than 40% compared with pure manpower.

In terms of rate of fire, naval naval guns were originally superior to army artillery, but in real battles, naval naval guns rarely had the opportunity to fire at full speed, because before the advent of electronic computers, whether it was manual observation and ranging measurement or mechanical calculation of parameters, it took much more time than gunners to load ammunition.

After the first round of fire, the gunners mechanically repeated the reloading action, with some positions reloading slightly faster and others slower, and the salvo rate following the shortboard effect. In the case of no need to adjust the firing elements, it is basically a round of artillery fire in 7-8 seconds, and five rounds of artillery fire, which takes less than a minute.

The compact and loud sound of artillery still echoed in the ears, the rumbling explosions were already heard thousands of meters away, the sea under the moonlight rose like a forest of water, those black shadows galloping on the crest of the waves were already visible to the naked eye, none of them were blown up by artillery fire, but it did not mean that this heavy shelling did no damage to them, the momentum of the explosion and the attack of shrapnel could cause damage to the weak body of the torpedo boat.

As soon as the sound of the cannon subsided, a new battle command came from the bridge: "Target azimuth 069, distance 4200 to 4600, quantity 20, five rapid-fire shots of the main gun ready!" Free fire from the cannon! ”

The main gun firepower of the Feng-class destroyers is the same as that of the Agni-class, and the secondary gun firepower has been strengthened, the number of 40-mm single-mounted machine guns has been increased to six, the number of four-mounted 13-mm machine guns has increased to five, and four single-mounted machine guns have been installed on the ship, and the short-range defensive firepower is even more powerful than that of earlier cruisers.

The 60 times diameter 40 mm cannon is the ace product of the Swedish company Bofors, which has not been developed and put into production for a long time, but it has come from behind, and has gained a place in the international arms market with its excellent performance, among which the contribution of the Swedish prince Gustav cannot be ignored. At present, this type of cannon is loaded with 8 rounds, with a continuous rate of fire of about 100 rounds per minute, and the effective range of sea attacks is 3,500 meters. With the assault speed of the torpedo boat at least 30 knots, it was a matter of time to enter the range of cannon fire, so before the second rapid fire of the main guns began, the machine guns of the "Sligo" were already roaring hoarsely.

Suddenly, the sea was covered with bullets and thunder.

The British torpedo boats were not only blocked by the "Sligo", but also the adjacent Irish Navy's Agni-class destroyer F1 "Roth Conmanand" and two German destroyers lined up in an arc of defense, and the German light cruiser, the second-generation "Bremen", provided fire support behind them.

The five main guns of the "Sligo" were again put into battle, and a clear flame soon began to appear on the sea. When attacking surface targets, both 127 mm naval guns and 40 mm cannons use trigger ammunition, and open fire usually means that a shell has hit the target, but the number of black shadows speeding over the sea surface has not decreased significantly.

"The target azimuth is 077, the distance is 2500, and the No. 3, 4, and 5 main guns have lost their firing range against some targets."

In the command bridge of the Irish destroyer, whenever the ranging situation was transmitted from the radar room or the observation post, the atmosphere was always strangely solemn - the battle with real guns and ammunition was far more difficult than the situation of training exercises.

The captain in a double-breasted military uniform calmly ordered: "Free fire of the main guns!" Turn on your searchlights and keep an eye on the sea. At this distance, enemy ships can throw torpedoes at any time! ”

Four high-power searchlights illuminate the surrounding sea, which has the advantage of being able to detect incoming torpedoes in time, but the disadvantage is that it exposes the position of the battleship and is easy to attract enemy ships like magnets.

Within a minute, an exclamation came from the observation post on the upper part of the bridge: "30 degrees to the right front, 200 meters to the torpedo track!" ”

A searchlight column locked onto the white track, and a 40-mm cannon and a quadruple 13-mm machine gun were put into close defense at the first time, but small-caliber shells and machine-gun shells had only a small chance of detonating a torpedo at a depth of three or four meters.

The captain looked at the sea with a telescope, and after a moment, he calmly ordered: "Right full rudder, turn 2 compass points!" ”

"Full rudder right! Turn the compass point 2! The first mate repeated the order as he spun the rudder quickly.

In an instant, an exclamation came from above the bridge again: "30 degrees to the right front, 200 meters to find the second torpedo track!" ”

The angle and distance are only estimates by the naked eye, and there are certain discrepancies with the actual situation, and the commander must guide the battleship to turn according to his own judgment. With the mobility of a destroyer, it is not difficult to avoid one or two torpedoes, but the difficulty is to detect incoming torpedoes in time, and when the density of torpedoes reaches saturation, it will not help that the commander is talented and the battleship has excellent performance.

The destroyer quickly completed the tactical maneuver of turning right at 22.5 degrees, and not only successfully avoided the first torpedo, but also staggered the trajectory of the second torpedo. The situation on the battlefield was changing rapidly, and as the enemy torpedo boats attacked, the efficiency of radar detection seemed to be unable to catch up with visual observation, and the captain realized that seven or eight British torpedo boats were rushing towards the "Bremen" in the port direction, and if they fired a salvo of torpedoes within the danger range, the German light cruiser was likely to encounter an accident, and if they used their superior maneuverability to rush through, they could threaten the four German dreadnoughts that had just finished shelling!

So, the captain directly ordered the firing command room: "Five rounds of mobile rapid-fire on the 20-degree target on the port side!" ”

This azimuth was beyond the firing range of the two aft main guns, and without explanation, the order was naturally understood as a partial salvo of two forward guns and one amidships. Under the control of the firing command room, three 127 mm caliber Krupp naval guns were again pointed in the same direction. After about 20 seconds, the three main guns lowered their muzzles in unison, and then suddenly roared in unison.

Thanks to the efforts of the gunners, the five salvos of the three main guns took only more than half a minute, and the gunners loaded the shells and the firing control room adjusted the firing elements without interfering with each other, and from the point of impact closely following the movement of the target, the shooting accuracy was impeccable!

In the midst of the sirens one after another, the captain observed the changes in the battlefield situation with great calmness, and he commanded the battleship to turn three compass points to the right at full speed, and Qiang Qiang avoided several torpedoes fired one after another, and then ordered all the main guns to carry out five rounds of mobile rapid fire on the target at 40 degrees on the port side -- those British torpedo boats had already advanced to the front right of the "Bremen", and the German light cruisers' guns were fired in unison, and the flickering fires were densely distributed throughout the ship.

"A torpedo boat rushed over from the starboard direction!"

The report from the observation post on the bridge was so quick that it didn't estimate the distance or bearing, and when the officers on the bridge turned their eyes to starboard, everyone couldn't help but gasp: how did this guy get under his nose through the net of fire?

The lead-gray painted torpedo boat was small and low, with a smooth foredeck and a wheelhouse in the middle and aft part of the hull, with two torpedo tubes swinging forward and backward on the side of the boat, which could fire four torpedoes at the same time to form an attack fan, or to project torpedoes while turning, so as to shoot four torpedoes at the same target.

At this moment, it was only a little more than a thousand meters away from the Irish destroyer, which was already within the effective range of the ship's torpedoes, and the British torpedo boats did not fire torpedoes but risked approaching, obviously trying to kill them with one blow.

Detecting the dangerous enemy's situation, there were two searchlights on the ship at the same time to lock on to this brave and abnormal British torpedo boat, and the main gun attacking the port target did not have time to call back, and the 40-mm machine gun became the main firepower of the enemy at this time, and a series of machine gun shells fired fiercely, stirring up countless water columns around the British torpedo boat. Through the binoculars, the officers of the Irish Navy saw that the windshield of the cockpit of the British torpedo boat was shattered, and the cockpit must have been in a mess, but the torpedo boat did not turn around and escape, and what was even more shocking was that when it was still about 500 meters away from the "Sligo", the four torpedo tubes on the boat spewed white gas one after another, and one after another the pitch-black torpedoes jumped into the water, and the sea surface suddenly blistered.

"Turn right at full speed!" The captain yelled, this is an order without measure, avoiding the torpedo is a success, otherwise it will be a success.

The first mate turned the rudder almost at the moment when the captain gave the order, and the rudder oar, which was more than one person high, immediately turned to the maximum angle of the battleship to turn sharply without capsizing, and the hull leaned to the right in the process of rapid turning. The officers' eyes followed the searchlight beam and locked on the trail of the rapidly approaching torpedo.

"Left full rudder!" The ship suddenly shouted.

The first mate turned the rudder very fast and replied "full rudder left".

The destroyer passed through the middle of the four torpedo tracks.

Watching the torpedo grazing the side of the ship, many of the crew's hearts almost jumped out.

Narrowly escaped the catastrophe, but the friendly ships around him may not be so lucky. The German light cruiser "Bremen" exploded violently one after another, presumably suffering torpedoes in succession, and almost at the same time, the destroyer "Roth Conmanuel" of the Irish Navy also exploded violently, and the hull of more than 1,300 tons could hardly withstand the blow of a 533-mm torpedo, and the lives of more than 100 crew members were in danger!

(End of chapter)