The De Fllinger, the newest capital ship of the German Navy to serve before the war, temporarily served as the lead ship of the German battle patrol group before the return of the Seydlitz to the battle ranks. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 In order to avoid the incoming torpedoes on the sea, following the pre-arranged combat plan, it raised the signal flag of "turning right at full speed and 2 compass points" on the signal line, and led the entire single-line combat column to turn collectively, and "Moltke", "Goeben", "Blucher" and the four light cruisers accompanying it made evasions in an orderly manner. As soon as they had left their course, a number of British torpedoes slid through the water with a long trail, a strange sight that no German sailor would have appreciated, and they had no time to relax, but continued to devote themselves to the fierce battle that could not be neglected for a moment.

In the 150-mm twin auxiliary turret at the rear of the port side of the "De Fllinger" adjacent to the sub-bridge, the young gunners were sweating and carrying shells and propellants. Different from the main turret with a large rangefinder and independent combat capability, the secondary turret of this specification only has a simple optical observation and sighting equipment, and the shooting at long-distance targets mainly depends on the combat parameters of the ship's firing command system -- the early warships transmitted the parameters by telephone, and with the development of electrical technology, some new warships began to be equipped with parameter instruments, and the gunners adjusted the naval gun shooting elements according to the parameters displayed by the instrument, and fired the artillery manually or by the command department in a unified manner, so as to achieve preliminary unified shooting, The German Navy's ship-wide unified azimuth firing command system is an improvement and refinement of this model. When the construction of the "De Fllinger" began in early 1912, the accumulation of technology in the early stage had enabled the German Navy to make more proficient use of this "high-tech" combat system.

As the croaking electric bell rang, the blond non-commissioned officer with a two-eight-minute hair and a thick beard fixed his eyes on the parameter gauge in the turret, and when the pointer was completely still, he gave a loud reading:

"Attention! Horizontal target 262. 27, shooting elevation angle 3. 40, ready to shoot ......"

At the same time, the status of the guns was also transmitted back to the main control drawing room through the microcircuit signal, which was reflected on the corresponding parameter display instruments of each gun position, and the technicians of the drawing room carried out the final proofreading.

When everything was in order, the electric bell in the turret rattled again, the blonde non-commissioned officer shouted "fire", and the two gunners on either side of the division pressed the firing pedal at the same time, and the two 150mm guns of 45 times the diameter of the gun made a deafening roar for almost a short time.

The firing distance was less than 2000 meters, and the disemboweled shells simply fell to the target area in the blink of an eye. The blonde non-commissioned officer peered ahead through the viewing window at the front of the turret, and the British battleship, which had been caught in the water column, exploded several times as the ship's three twin secondary turrets on the same side of the ship, as well as the 88 mm single secondary gun firing at the enemy. The light of the sea was dim at dusk, and the flames from the explosion of the cannonballs were particularly striking, and when the flames were gone, a large amount of black smoke rose from the British battleship in a tumbling motion, and from time to time orange tongues of fire burst out. It is conceivable that the crew members who survived the explosion had to fight against the blazing fire and suffocating smoke.

The rapid electric bell rang unexpectedly, and the blonde non-commissioned officer hurriedly looked down at his parameter meter, and the pointer seemed to be attracted by a magnet, still staying in the position just now. Just when he hesitated slightly, the voice of the shooting commander came from the loudspeaker in the turret: "Shoot sharply in two minutes from the port gun position!" ”

This means that within two minutes of the firing order, the main and secondary guns firing at the port side will be shelled with full force. Unless there are special circumstances, there is no need to make temporary adjustments to the firing parameters - the speed of the battleship itself plus the movement of the target, the shells naturally do not fall in the same position.

"Come on! Guys, shoot in two minutes and get our best out! ”

The blonde sergeant let out a cry as he rolled up his sleeves. Upon hearing the clear battle command, the gunners quickly opened the bolts and filled the chambers with the shells and cartridges to be fired, while in order to ensure the maximum rate of two-minute rapid fire, the ammunition depot personnel sent additional shells and propellants to the turret via electric loaders, and the gunners sorted the brass cartridges containing the shells and cartridges to the ready position according to the operating procedures.

When the third standby was in the standby position, the hull trembled with one loud bang after another, and the blonde non-commissioned officer, who was helping his companion carry the cartridges, suddenly looked up and shouted "fire" to fire the starting gun for the two-minute race.

As the gunners decisively stepped on the firing pedal behind the gun emplacement, the two 150-mm naval guns roared without hesitation. Before the tremor subsided, the gunners waiting by the bolt quickly opened the bolt valve, and the smoke of the propellant remaining in the chamber of the gun poured in instantly, and the well-designed ventilation facilities could expel the pungent smell of gunpowder smoke out of the turret in a relatively short time, but the continuous rapid fire was still a big test of the gunners' willpower.

With the sound of coughing one after another, the German gunner reloaded the two guns in less than 10 seconds, and if someone had been pinching the second, he would have been depressingly surprised to find that the interval between the first two rounds was only 8 seconds, which in 1914 was definitely a speed close to the limit!

During the firing, a steady stream of shells and cartridges was delivered from the single-mouth hoisting cartridge to the turret, and the gunners transferred them from the sloping hoisting muzzle to the inclined tray, where they were manually loaded. A 150 mm armor-piercing shell weighed 36 kilograms, and the total weight of the cartridge was 27 kilograms, although it was within the reach of manpower, but the physical exertion on the gunner was obvious, and the interval between two rounds of shelling dropped sharply to about 12 seconds after more than half of the 2 minutes of rapid fire, and the whole process, the double auxiliary turret where the blonde non-commissioned officer was located fired a total of 12 volleys.

The "De Fllinger" fired sharply from the whole side of the board for 2 minutes, and each main gun fired an average of 5 shots, while the 88-mm single secondary gun fired between 14 and 15 rounds, from the scene, this can be described as a crazy display of artillery fire, a number of British ships at a distance of 1500 to 1700 meters behind the port side of the ship became the first victims, the light cruiser "Argyll" was so badly wounded that it not only lost most of its power, but also turned into a floating torch, the destroyer "Lawford" The ship did not survive a minute and a half before a massive explosion occurred, and the destroyer "Louise", whose hull was hit one after another, capsized due to its injuries......

At the same time as the "De Fllinger" went on a killing spree, the two Moltke-class battlecruisers also launched a merciless slaughter of British light ships with the intensive fire of their triple main guns. Against targets less than two kilometers away, the 45 times diameter 280 mm naval guns they carried have been reduced to a depression angle, and the shells almost fall to the surface or hit the British ship at a speed of discharge, even ordinary shells that do not have special armor-piercing capabilities can cause structural damage to a British light cruiser or destroyer. Most of the 24 main guns of the two ships fired four rounds in two minutes, and like the "De Fllinger", they were equipped with six twin 150-mm secondary turrets and 12 single-mounted 88-mm guns.

As for the "Blucher", which has played a god-level role from the beginning of the battle, the accuracy of its close-range shooting is still breathtaking, but at the same time, danger is quietly approaching this glorious German battleship. Because it was at the end of the battle patrol formation, after it followed the three battle cruisers in front of it to turn, there were still six British-made torpedoes that were coming quickly in the port direction, and the nearest one was only more than 100 meters away. At the critical moment, the "Blucher" port side secondary guns and machine guns were in full swing, and in the sound of fried beans, dense shells stirred up a column of water on the sea. Theoretically, these shells could have destroyed the torpedoes or changed their course as long as they landed close enough, but the German crew's efforts had little effect, and only two torpedoes were detonated before they approached, and the greatest hope was pinned on the ship's own maneuvering evasion, which was under the command of the captain, Colonel Edelman.1 The 80,000-ton quasi-battle patrol danced tango on the surface of the sea at a speed of 22 knots, trying to dodge these annoying things with agility. On the high auxiliary mast of the battleship, the two lookouts looked at the torpedo wake that was getting closer and closer to the ship and raised their hearts to their throats, in their sight, the first white line extending under the water finally passed more than three meters from the stern, and it was enough to break out in a cold sweat when looking at it, and the second one was even more hanging, it almost clinged to the starboard side of the battleship, and the black torpedo was clearly visible under the sea surface, and the third torpedo trail also slipped over the starboard side, and finally missed the target and sailed to the empty sea, fourth, The fifth deflected away from the stern of the ship from a relatively safe distance, and the sixth torpedo not only evaded the interception of all the naval guns, but also pierced the side of the "Blucher" as if it had the ability to accurately predict it, and seeing that it was speeding towards the warship at an angle that the battleship could not avoid in any way, the watchmen gave up the idea of luck and shouted hoarsely: "The torpedo hits the starboard ......"

Before hearing the warnings of the lookouts, many sharp-eyed crew members were already running in the direction of the starboard side, but no matter how fast the people ran, they could not compare to the steam gas torpedo that swam nearly 20 meters per second, and in the blink of an eye, there was a muffled sound of hard objects colliding under the side of the ship, and when people thought it was a stinky mine, a violent explosion arched the starboard side of the battleship, and at this moment, the angle of inclination of the battleship's deck was so large that almost no one could continue to stand firm, A large wave of water accompanied by the black smoke from the explosion of high explosives jumped up, easily exceeding the height of the mast, and the vibration that spread throughout the ship instantly lowered the mood of more than 800 crew members to freezing point.

After a few seconds, the concussion of the torpedo explosion gradually subsided, the inclined hull was also in the middle of the center, the shout of "starboard midmine" revealed the obvious, the fastest reacting officer had already run out of the battle bridge under the protection of the armor, he leaned out from the open observation platform to observe the situation on the side of the ship, and then reported to the officers in the bridge: "The starboard aft midmine, the bulkhead is broken, the fuel tank is leaking!" ”

(End of chapter)