On the dark sea, the light cruiser "Hertha", which belonged to the 4th Reconnaissance Fleet of the German High Seas Fleet, was like an armored soldier trapped in the depths of the dense forest, holding a sword in one hand and a shield in the other, and marching quickly with 12 points of vigilance. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 info At the top of its mast, the Black Eagle cross flag was uneasily rolling, and in the fortress-like enclosed lookout, four sailors were each looking in one direction, and the bearded senior sergeant walked between them, sometimes communicating with the bridge through a microphone.

On the port side of the Herta, the faint light appears and disappears, like a ghost fire in the wilderness, but if you look closely, you will see that it is actually beating regularly.

With the jump of the lights, the sailor in charge of observing the situation on this side reported to the sergeant: "Flagship light language: pay attention to the northwest...... Enemy ships approaching the mid-...... 6 km ......"

At this time, looking to the northwest, the line of sight was chaotic, and there was no trace of the ship at all, but not seeing it did not mean that it did not exist, and the sergeant did not hesitate to quickly relay the light signal sent by the flagship to the bridge.

Under the command of the captain, the "Hertha" began to turn left, and the nine 150-mm naval guns arranged on the fore and aft decks in the form of a triple turn turned to the right, and the muzzles of the guns pointed to the northwest, and the searchlights on the platforms on the side of the main and auxiliary bridges and chimneys were also aimed in that direction under the control of the sailors.

Or, the disappeared light signal reappeared, but before the complete signal transmission was completed, the "Hertha" was illuminated by the sudden appearance of a beam of light on the sea, and then there was almost no interval, and the blazing cannon flames bloomed on the northwest sea, and the dense artillery fire immediately smashed down the head and face......

Throughout the 10s and most of the 20s, the U.S. government pursued an isolationist policy, trying to avoid alliances with political and military obligations to foreign countries, in order to preserve and expand American interests, but was deterred by the rapid expansion of the German Reich, especially as German power approached the American mainland from the Atlantic, Pacific, and South American directions, while the United States helped Britain rebuild their Royal Navy while also stepping up its own maritime power. By the end of the 20s, the shipbuilding race had become the ultimate sprint to the triumph of Germany, the United States and Britain, with an almost astronomical amount of investment in exchange for newer and stronger warships, and under the fluttering ribbons, people could already predict that the future war would be more fierce than before.

At this moment, about 500 nautical miles east of the Azores, the attack on the German light cruiser "Hertha" is the American Brooklyn-class light cruiser "Nashville" built in this special period, its firepower configuration is the same as the Brooklyn class, which is known for its combat power in history, and the design of five triple 6-inch guns pushes the surface attack power of a light cruiser to the extreme - this 47 times the diameter of the naval gun has a range of nearly 24,000 kilometers, with advanced mechanical auxiliary loading means, The maximum rate of fire is up to 8 rounds per minute.

Corresponding to the powerful firepower output, the Brooklyn class is equipped with advanced optical ranging equipment and a fire control command system, so as to ensure that the shooting accuracy of medium and long distances reaches the first-class level.

Relying on terrifying firepower alone, the Brooklyn class was not given the honor of "the strongest light cruiser" by the Americans, and its turret frontal armor was 6. 5 inches, that is, 165 mm, far exceeded the turret armor of an ordinary light cruiser of about 60 mm, plus the adoption of 2. 5-4 inch main armor belt, 4-inch mine protection belt, 2. 5-inch steering room armor, as well as 1. With 5 inches of horizontal armor, the overall level of protection is comparable even to many active heavy cruisers.

In the face of the German ship "Hertha", which was also a light cruiser, the "Nashville" showed its hideous fangs in the dark, and after a fierce artillery fire, the German light cruiser more than 1,000 meters away was hit and caught fire in many places, and the commander of the German ship saw that the situation was not good, and on the one hand he sharply turned to evade, and on the other hand he fired torpedoes at the enemy ship, and sent a signal to the flagship "Luger": Our ship was hit by a bullet and caught fire, and the enemy ship was 1,200 meters northwest of our ship.

Combined with radar detection data, the "Ruger" fired at the "Nashville" 5,500 meters away, and it was equipped with twin main guns with a maximum rate of fire of 5 rounds per minute, and the firepower output per unit time was inferior to the Brooklyn class, which had a tonnage one-third less than its own, but its 203-mm shells were enough to penetrate any part of the American cruiser at such an engagement distance, and the destructive power of a single shot was more than twice that of its opponent.

The Nashville, which was also equipped with radar facilities, of course, knew who was shooting at it in the dark, and it turned to deal with the fast-approaching "Ruger" after setting aside its weak prey, while another Brooklyn-class "Honolulu" was turning back and preparing to flank from behind the Irish heavy cruiser.

As long as the largest sheepdog is eliminated, two American cruisers can storm the sheep and slaughter them.

From a philosophical point of view, the strongest light patrol does not go beyond the scope of light patrol, and it is still "inferior" in front of heavy patrols, but from the perspective of actual combat, as long as the tactics are proper and the luck is not bad, it is entirely possible for a light patrol to kill a heavy patrol.

But also from a philosophical point of view, no one can build a perfect battleship. The Brooklyn-class has outstanding advantages and shortcomings: first, it is slow, although the main engine power of the Brooklyn class reaches an astonishing 100,000 horsepower, due to the standard displacement of 10,125 tons, it is a full 35% higher than the Irishman's proud Explorer-class light cruisers, and its maximum speed at sea trials is 32. 5 knots, the cruising speed under combat load is only 31 knots, ranking last among the light cruisers built and put into service in the 20s, and the tactical mobility is far less dexterous than that of ordinary light cruisers of 6000 tons; The second is that the air defense capability is weak, because the five triple main turrets occupy a lot of deck space, the Brooklyn class carries fewer anti-aircraft weapons, except for four 28 mm quadruple machine guns are handy close defense weapons, whether it is four single-mounted 127 mm high-level dual-purpose guns or eight 12. The 7mm Browning machine guns are very weak, and the Brooklyn class uses a single horizontal deck, and the ability to deal with vertical attacks is very weak, you must know that during the Battle of the Azores, more than sixty percent of the results of the air forces of both sides were achieved by aerial bombs; In addition, the Brooklyn class protected the battle bridge with armor steel plates 25-40 mm thick, while the German light cruisers had the thickest protective armor in this position, usually above 100 mm, in order to protect the commander as well as possible in the heat of battle; Finally, the Brooklyn-class were rare light cruisers that were not equipped with torpedo weapons, meaning they had little to do with enemy capital ships and could not cover or jam in close combat......

Before the friendly ships arrived at the firing position, the "Nashville" adopted a flexible strategy of fighting and walking, not engaging the opponent in close combat or distancing itself from the enemy ship, and it sometimes launched a storm of rapid fire with 15 main guns, and sometimes attacked the opponent with 6 rear main guns, calmly controlling the pace of the battle.

As a heavy cruiser with balanced performance, the speed of the "Luger" did not have an advantage over the US ships, so it did not chase after the opponent, but covered the withdrawal of the wounded friendly ships from the battle while firing. Before the second U.S. ship arrived in the enveloping position, the Irish heavy cruiser fired 64 main shells and 48 secondary shells, while the opponent fired 215 main shells and 16 secondary shells. None of the shells achieved a direct hit.

Seeing that the two-on-one strategy of encircling the enemy ships was about to succeed, the Americans had already begun to sharpen their fists, but on their radar screens, the target suddenly changed course and moved at a sudden increase in speed. At this time, the "Luger" became like a tiger descending from the mountain, and pounced on the US ship "Honolulu" with great vigour.

In just three minutes, the distance between the two ships was shortened from more than 7,000 meters to 3,000 meters.

Despite being a contemporaneous heavy cruiser, the Honolulu did not evade the battle, but steadily adjusted its course, all 15 152mm guns pointed to starboard, ready to crush the opponent's spirit with a dense and fierce fire.

The Brooklyn class was designed and built without radar equipment at the beginning, until 1932, when it was learned that a large number of German and Irish ships were equipped with radar, and the Americans, who had deep pockets, quickly carried out a large-scale technical upgrade of their own navy, and ships above the light cruiser level were almost without exception equipped with radar. These radar devices, which go directly from the laboratory to the factory production line, are still not practical and stable in their own right, but in any case, the application of radar is fundamentally changing the traditional mode of naval warfare. Looking back at the eyes, although the detection accuracy of the American-made radar of the "Honolulu" is not as accurate as that of the Irish MC-IIB, and it cannot be used for fire control at all, it is still competent to detect the position of enemy ships, guide searchlights, and correct the angle of naval guns in advance in night battles.

The moment the six high-power searchlights were lit, the sharp bow of the Irish heavy cruiser and its white waves were clearly reflected in the sight of the officers and men of the American ship, its tower bridge was not as majestic as the North Carolina-class battleship, and its twin naval guns did not have the mighty and domineering spirit of the Lexington-class battlecruiser, it was so ordinary and ordinary, it was difficult for people to regard it as a solemn opponent, but behind this simplicity, there was a fierce momentum like the wind, a force like fire, and a solid bottom like a mountain. The towering mainmast and the transom mast on the upper part of the mainmast for hoisting the signal flag resembled a huge cross facing the US ship "Honolulu", and in the tense atmosphere of battle, few people noticed this strange sight, or just regarded it as an accident, but they did not know that the thunderous hammer was about to fall......

(End of chapter)