"Young men, we are facing an unprecedented predicament, and if your hearts are filled with fear, fate will spurn you. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 infoIf you are strong in your hearts and believe that this mighty warship will survive the storm, fate will open its arms to you! ”

On the platform outside the bridge of the Count Tirpitz, the captain, Colonel Schneider, encouraged his crew with a loud voice. The morale of the officers and men on board the ship was indeed greatly damaged by the heavy damage of enemy planes one after another, coupled with the withdrawal of the fleet commander and his staff team, and what was worse was that this super battlecruiser could only retreat in the direction of Flores Island at a very slow speed, and enemy planes would come to bomb at any time.

As Colonel Schneider said, only those who are determined can control their own destiny, and the crews will either rush to repair their weapons or carry ammunition, taking advantage of the air raids of enemy planes to prepare as much as possible for the next battle.

"Attention! Second reserve, add two people to the third gun position, and three people to the fourth gun position! Act fast! ”

In the portside passage of the "Count Tirpitz", a second lieutenant officer wearing a German steel helmet shouted orders to his sailors, only to see two young sailors who were not very burly and fast running to a twin 88mm gun position near the ship's broadside - this kind of high-level dual-purpose gun was used against torpedo boats in the early days, usually equipped with high-explosive and grenade ammunition, and as aircraft gradually became an important role on the battlefield, the German Navy quickly discovered the anti-aircraft potential of this artillery. Surprisingly, since the era of dreadnoughts, the Germans have listed 45 times the diameter of 88 mm guns as standard equipment, and more than 30 years later, the Count of Tirpitz class battlecruisers still use the same type of guns, the difference is that in order to enhance the density of firepower and increase the rate of fire, the German Navy began to adopt a double configuration, and applied mechanical semi-automatic loading technology to this medium and short-range air defense weapons. Although the Germans were satisfied with the air defense system of the Count Tirpitz class, from the point of view of actual combat results, the traditional optical sighting and manual control could not keep up with the development of fighter technology.

The three sailors who rushed to the other anti-aircraft artillery position, one burly as a bear, one thin and tall, and one short pier, although wearing the same style of helmet and the necessary inflatable life jacket, looked uncoordinated. After arriving at the gun position, they each stood in position, and at this moment, the piercing air raid sirens sounded fiercely, and as far as the naked eye could see, a number of small black dots were slowly growing larger.

"Attention!" The captain blew his whistle and shouted: "All gunners, listen to my orders to fire!" No unauthorized fire without an order! ”

On the gun emplacements of several nearby guns that were slightly protruding from the side of the ship, there were also officers giving the same order. Under this atmosphere of nose swelling, the gunners began to constantly adjust the angle of the anti-aircraft guns as the target approached. In just a few minutes, the planes in sight were approaching, and their appearance changed from the size of mosquitoes to those of children's toys, when the officers left the place where the messengers were located, and after blowing the whistle again, shouted to their subordinates:

"Attention! This batch is our planes, don't fire! Note! ”

At this time, some people also noticed that another batch of black spots appeared at the farthest end of the line of sight, and the fighters of their own side who were on guard duty in the nearby airspace were meeting them in a flexible two-plane formation.

After a while, the officers received new instructions from the messengers, and one by one they blew their whistles and shouted to their gunners: "Keep the muzzle low, watch ahead!" Ammo loading! ”

The gunners quickly stuffed the heavy shells into the barrels, and at this time, a fierce air battle had broken out in the airspace less than 10 nautical miles in front of the fleet, in front of the fierce Grumman F3F fighters, the Fokker G-51 tried its best to give full play to its performance advantages, and taking advantage of the opportunity of the fierce battle between the fighters of the two sides, the US dive bombers and torpedo bombers rushed over without any scruples, and the subsequent cannon sound was more like military music played for their attack.

In response to the ferocious air attack of the enemy's fighters, the German fleet adjusted its large and small anti-aircraft guns to a combat state in accordance with the order of daily drills, and the ships quickly formed a circular defensive formation in accordance with the instructions of the flagship-the capital ships were in the center, the cruisers and destroyers were around, and the maneuvering distance between the ships was maintained at a distance of about half a nautical mile, and the speed of the ships was uniformly increased to 28 knots.

In the telescope, the fighters of the two sides chased each other, making various dazzling movements from time to time, and the fighters of the two sides continued to fall with black smoke in tow, or simply disintegrate in the air. It can be seen that the German fighter pilots have done their best to cover their own fleet, but when the previous batch of fighters has returned home and the latter batch of fighters has not arrived, there are currently only a dozen or so Fokker warhawks fighting here, and there are more than 20 enemy planes attacking. Soon, a group of American bombers with bombs in their abdomen broke free from the entanglement of German fighters and attacked at low altitudes.

The officers and men of the German fleet did not have time to think too much, and in the direction of the enemy aircraft, the outermost light cruiser opened fire first. The guns and shells that rained down soon bloomed into black fireworks in the air, and because the wind on the sea surface was not strong, the black gunpowder smoke was quickly connected into patches, and it seemed that a tight protective net had been formed from the sea surface, but those incoming American-made carrier-based planes still stubbornly passed through the artificial cloud layer and appeared in sight.

At a close enough distance, someone shouted: "Damn torpedo machines, don't let them get close!" ”

A group of six American fighters quickly lowered to an altitude of only thirty or forty meters above the sea, and several German warships nearby quickly suppressed the anti-aircraft fire on the sideboards, thus forming a dense barrage within a certain range. Such a stance made many crew members feel that they should be able to block the attack of enemy aircraft, but several white-painted TBD "Destroyer" wings flicked, bypassing the densest area of the barrage. While the Germans were speculating about their intentions, there was a whistling sound of planes diving overhead, and when they looked up, two SB2U "Guardians" swooped down.

"Oh no, my God!"

On the bridge of the battle ship of the German light cruiser "Vulture", William Auguste was so shocked by the scene in front of him that his eyes widened and he couldn't close his mouth, and ten seconds ago, a heavy aerial bomb landed accurately on the rear deck of the "Count Tirpitz", and the flames set off when the bomb exploded far exceeded the top of the mast, and the terrible impact swept across the deck, and many sailors who were fighting in the open gun position were actually thrown out.

Some people are lamenting bad luck, others are thinking about how to avoid bigger losses. Rawls, the anxious chief of staff of the fleet, immediately suggested: "Sir, quickly order the nearby ships to concentrate their anti-aircraft fire on the south side of the 'Earl', most enemy bombers are attacking from that direction!" ”

The sound of artillery and explosions made the commander of the German Atlantic Fleet, who had been full of ambition not long ago, frown, and he quickly ordered: "All ships concentrate their broadside artillery fire to strengthen the defense of the 'Earl' in the port direction!" ”

A few minutes later, the Germans watched as a small group of torpedo bombers ghostly cut through the dense network of fire and dropped torpedoes on the sea more than a thousand meters from the "Count Tirpitz".

In the face of the speeding torpedoes on the sea, the "Count Tirpitz", which was heavily flooded in the bilge, forcibly increased its speed, trying to evade the deadly attack with continuous turning, and several light ships around it desperately used naval guns to intercept fire, but such efforts still had little effect. At the last moment, the officers and men of the destroyers sailing nearby also tried to counteract with a high sense of responsibility and fearlessness, but the Americans apparently set the depth of their aerial torpedoes on the large ships, which caused them to go straight through the bottom of the German destroyer and eventually crash headlong into the armor belt at the bottom of the port side of the "Count Tirpitz".

"Hell, we're going to lose it!"

Watching the huge column of water rise from the side of the ship and continue to rise and spread out in all directions, William August cried out, and at this moment, the thoughts in his brain did not stop, but ran at a much higher speed than usual. When the loss of the ship was inevitable, how to retain more experienced fighters for the future became a top priority, so when everyone was still shocked that his flagship was torpedoed again, he hurriedly shouted: "Send a signal to the 'Earl', if the injury cannot be repaired, immediately arrange for the evacuation of personnel!" ”

Immediately afterwards, William August commanded: "Send a signal to the other destroyers in the vicinity to fully assist in the evacuation of the personnel of the 'Earl'!" ”

At this time, the other officers gradually recovered from their great surprise, and one of the staff officers asked in frustration: "Shall we just give it up?" ”

William August lowered his gaze in disbelief and squeezed out a sentence with difficulty and slowly: "Perhaps, the era of naval warfare in which artillery battles decided victory or defeat is over." ”

Although the Count Tirpitz class is a battle cruiser with a level of protection that surpasses that of most dreadnoughts, and it may be more appropriate to define it as a fast battleship, even with their excellent protection design, they are unable to withstand repeated attacks from large-caliber armor-piercing shells, aviation torpedoes, and heavy armor-piercing bombs. Due to the deterioration of the damage, the plugging and emergency repairs soon failed, and about twenty minutes later, the captain of the ship, Colonel Schneider, announced the abandonment of the ship, and the officers and crew working in the combat position and the lower compartment began to evacuate in an orderly manner.

By the time most of the crew had evacuated, the "Count Tirpitz" tilted more than 15 degrees to the left, by which time all the boilers had been turned off and the entire battleship was calmly floating on the sea. When the crew of the ensuing crew Anjin was evacuated, the accompanying German destroyers aimed their torpedo tubes at the trapped beasts at sea. Firing a torpedo at one's own capital ship is an extremely painful thing, no one wants to pull the launch lever, but the order must be carried out after all.

(End of chapter)