"Sir, the reconnaissance plane has just discovered the enemy's situation, and the enemy fleet in the east has two high-speed capital ships, and the preliminary judgment is that it is an admiral-class battle cruiser, with two light cruisers and seven destroyers, and the scale and strength are very close to the British fleet in front of them, and it is estimated that it is a sister fleet operating separately. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info”

After listening to the report of the staff officer, William August mused: "It doesn't matter, as long as there are no enemy aircraft carriers nearby, we still have a chance to achieve an important victory." ”

Rawls, the chief of staff of the fleet, pondered: "So, general, we continue to attack now?" ”

August nodded resolutely: "Continue the attack, be sure to sink the enemy flagship that has been heavily damaged!" ”

In view of the current battle situation, Rawls pondered: "In this way, we can decisively break through to a firing position about 10,000 meters away from the enemy, concentrate our firepower to bombard the enemy's flagship, sink it as soon as possible, and immediately turn to withdraw from the battlefield." What do you think? ”

William August raised his right hand and drew an arc counterclockwise in the air with his index finger, then looked at Rawls.

The chief of staff of the fleet understood that he calculated the appropriate route of his own fleet based on the distance and speed of the three fleets, and after obtaining the approval of the fleet commander, he passed on the new combat order.

At this point in the battle, although the "Count Tirpitz" and the "Prince Heinrich" were damaged, their overall combat strength was not greatly affected. Had it not been for the sudden change in the situation on the battlefield, they should have easily used long-range artillery fire to eliminate their opponents, but now they had to abandon their T-shaped positions and turn to the north decisively and quickly. For the next five minutes or so, they were only able to attack the British fleet whose flagship had been damaged and its speed had been drastically reduced, while the rear main guns were able to disrupt fire at another British fleet more than 20 kilometers away.

After a nearly straight advance, the distance between August's fleet and the target was reduced to 12,000 meters, and the British fleet, which had been fighting for a long time, was trying to move eastward, and the intention to cooperate with the friendly fleet was unmistakable. As the German fleet turned again, the "Hood", which was seriously damaged by German fighters, and the entire battle formation in which it was located were exposed to the enemy's salvo fire.

"Understood! Three armor-piercing shells, three standard base ******. ”

In the ammunition depot deep below the No. 4 main turret of the "Prince Heinrich", a sweaty German naval non-commissioned officer vigorously hung the small trumpet-shaped earpiece back to the rudimentary but sturdy telephone embedded in the bulkhead, and turned to his companions and shouted:

"Three armor-piercing shells, three standard base ******!"

In this place, where there is no sunlight all year round and the air is filled with strange smells, heavy steel walls separate the various bullets from the medicine packets, and the storage rooms are connected by fixed lines similar to tram tracks and flat trolleys common at railway stations. As soon as the order to transport the ammunition was issued, the sailors, under the command of the non-commissioned officer, would use the lifting machinery to pack the nearly one-ton armor-piercing warhead and the accurately measured propellant into the cartridge transporter, and in a screech of chain friction, the deadly ammunition was lifted into the main turret by the gunner, and then the gunners above used the loader to send the bullet into the rotating magazine, and the propellant pack was fed into the cartridge, and then they were filled into the gun chamber in turn.

"The direction angle of the fire is 266 degrees 12 minutes, the elevation angle of the shooting is 012 degrees 25 minutes, and the salvo is rounded!"

After the firing commander gave instructions, the four massive turrets began to adjust, and the thick, cold barrels lowered the elevation angle. A few seconds later, a roar resounded across the sea, like a thunder in spring reminding all things to recover, and like an invisible hammer striking people's hearts.

After a salvo, the officers on the bridge were preoccupied with the sea in the distance, whether it was breech guns, breech guns, or steam engines, the hit rate was always an important factor in the victory or defeat of the sea. Although there have been many people in history who have turned the tide and turned defeat into victory, in the case of similar strength, tactical and battlefield adjustments are still extremely important to commanders -- even junior naval academy cadets can find relevant lesson plans in their textbooks.

The muzzle velocity of the German Navy's 50 caliber 16-inch twin gun was 860 meters per second, which meant that a 955-kilogram armor-piercing ejection would take place in 2. Flying to the target at a speed of 5 times the speed of sound, the British naturally did not hear the sound of cannons in the distance before these shells fell, but the sound of shells rubbing against the air during high-speed flight had to arrive one step ahead of the shells, and most of the old sailors were very sensitive to this special sound between a whistle and a whistle, and some of them could even roughly judge the caliber of the cannonballs just by listening to the sound!

"Hidden!"

On the battle cruiser "Hood", one of the most powerful British warships, with a full load displacement of 53,000 tons, in order to defend against the incoming German bombers, hundreds of officers and men fought on dozens of anti-aircraft gun positions on the front and rear decks and on both sides, most of them wore steel helmets and life jackets, but such seemingly neat equipment was not enough to resist shrapnel attacks from close range, when the strange screams from the air sounded, some officers and old sailors immediately called on others to pay attention to concealment, But the cannonballs approached and fell at the snap of a finger, before more people had time to react. One after another, the shells fell like meteors, stirring up columns of water that were not inferior to towering trees on the originally calm sea, and once those falling shells exploded under the action of the fuse, a large area of the sea instantly boiled.

The rise of the air force has had a transformative impact on the traditional mode of naval warfare, but the scene before us brings us back to the Battle of Jutland and even earlier the Battle of Tsushima, where the battle between two groups of giant ships was enough to make the blood of any giant ship artillonist boil.

At a distance of slightly more than 10,000 meters, the power of large-caliber armor-piercing shells can be fully exerted, and the artillery battle between warships has many similarities with the close-range combat of tanks, and the winner is not necessarily the thickest armor and the most ruthless artillery.

On the bridge of the battle ship of the "Count Tirpitz", William August, with the coldness of the adjudicator, ordered: "Turn a compass point to the left of all the people, and all the artillery will concentrate on the enemy flagship!" ”

The captain and chief of staff who was standing aside immediately repeated loudly: "Turn a compass point to the left and attack the enemy flagship with all your might!" ”

Not long after, in the emergency turn of the dripping electric bell, a large white wave appeared in the lower left of the bow of the ship, and the wave in front of the ship also shifted significantly to the left, all of which meant that the "Count Tirpitz" with a full load displacement of more than 55,000 tons was making a rapid turn, and the four huge main gun turrets on the front and rear decks were also turning to ensure that the powerful 16-inch main gun was always aimed at the enemy ship!

In the distant sea, the flickering light of fire was the signal for the British battleship to open fire. Such a sea fight is like a fight between an old lion who has long occupied the throne and a male lion who is trying to replace him, and no one is 100% sure until the dust settles!

In the armoured command room aboard the Count Tirpitz, which was strong enough to withstand large-caliber shells, William August's composure was more than superficial, he already had the situation on the battlefield in his mind and tried to see the whole situation from the perspective of a bystander.

As the distance between the fleets of the two sides continues to close, the secondary guns on the warships of both sides also join the battle, and for a time the cannonballs on the sea surface are as dazzling as the fireflies in the dense forest on a summer night, and within the effective firing range, the gunners of both sides also continue to make the opponent's battleships rise up one after another large or small fireballs through their own efforts, and this naval battle has unconsciously risen to a climax.

The two German battle cruisers fired four volleys at a stormy pace, and at that moment someone shouted: "Look! The enemy ship was hit! ”

A huge column of smoke rose high above the "Hood"!

William August saw this scene in his binoculars, which was both startling and exciting, and as a veteran career officer, his first instinct was that at least one armor-piercing projectile had accurately hit the British battleship, and from the position of the smoke column it was the front of the battleship, the turret or the bridge.

The smoke cleared. The "Hood" continued to maneuver at high speed on the surface of the sea as if it had not been affected by the explosion just now, but just half a minute later, the "Prince Heinrich" launched another salvo of its main guns.

After a dozen seconds, two plumes of smoke rose again from the "Hood", and at first, the familiar and abominable silhouette of the battlecruiser emerged from the smoke and dust, and the lines were clearly distinguished. 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, more than a dozen larger columns of smoke rose from the ship. The smoke stretched out with the wind, gradually joining together. A huge cloud of smoke was formed, which hung over the warship. Under the smoke cloud, a slender chimney looms. In an instant, the entire battleship trembled violently, and strangely shaped objects from the deck and bridge flew in the air. Some hit the surface of the sea like shrapnel, while others rose high into the air, even higher than the smoke cloud that emerged from the first eruption and barely rose again.

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 was seen for a moment, and the truly earth-shattering scene was yet to come: a moment later, smoke rose from the numerous cracks in the hull of the Hood, and the cracked, already 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.

(End of chapter)