At the final stage of the battle, the British fleet completely lost its discipline and was not able to form effective combat strength at all, and the result can be imagined.

After destroying the "Queen Elizabeth", the "Nanning", "Guangzhou" and "Guiyang" first concentrated their fire on the No. 2 enemy ship, that is, the "Balham". The ship is the third battleship of the "Queen Elizabeth" class, which has also undergone several improvements during its service, and its combat effectiveness is not much different from that of the "Queen Elizabeth". At the time of the breakout, the battleship could only fight with the four main guns in front, and although it was not hit at the initial stage, its final moment came when the guns of the three "new provincial capitals" were aimed at the hapless battleship.

At 5:36 a.m., the "Nanning" had already shifted its target and first began to bombard the No. 2 enemy ship. The first three rounds of shelling were all in vain. In this battle, the "Nanning" actually did not play very well. In the duel with the "Iron Duke", only 4 shells were hit by the opponent, and then in the battle against the "Queen Elizabeth", only 2 shells were hit by the opponent, even if the 3 shells that hit the "Rodney" were calculated, the "Nanning" fired a total of more than 300 armor-piercing shells, and only 9 hit the target, which was the lowest hit rate among the five battleships. In the battle against the "Barham", this situation still did not change much, and the reason for this is probably that in order to ensure the safety of the commander, the captain of the ship had to constantly issue orders to maneuver and evade, which affected the accuracy of the shelling.

Comparatively speaking, the performance of the "Guangzhou" was much more courageous. The battleship opened fire on enemy ship No. 2 from 5:37 a.m., and in the first three volleys, the lookout on board the "Canton" reported three hits, while the spotter on the "Nanning" also recorded two hits. At that time, the distance of the engagement was already within 10,000 yards, and the first hit should have been in front of the A turret of the "Barham". As for whether there is a penetrating armor. The lookout does not make a judgment. The second time it hit the secondary artillery group on the left side of the memorial bridge, and the shells exploded outside the battleship, destroying several secondary guns and anti-aircraft guns here.

The performance of the "Guiyang" was not bad at all. In the battle against the "Queen Elizabeth", the luck of the "Guiyang" was very good, and this good fortune seems to have continued. As a result, starting at 5:37 a.m., in five consecutive rounds of salvos, the "Guiyang" achieved results. The first salvo hit the bow of the "Balham", and the shell was supposed to explode in the anchor compartment, knocking the middle of the port side of the "Balham". The shell fell at a large angle and exploded on the port side where the lifeboat was placed after penetrating a secondary turret. The point of hit of the third salvo was supposed to be behind the mast of the "Barham", because it was blocked by the bridge, so the lookout could not accurately judge the point of hit. And whether this armor-piercing shell penetrated the armor of the enemy ship and exploded inside the hull.

In just three rounds of engagement, the "Barham" was hit five times in quick succession. This was still in the case of a frontal bomb, so you can imagine how dense the artillery fire was at that time. But the doom of the "Barham" did not end here, and it can even be said that this is only the beginning.

At 5:45 a.m., the captain of the "Barham" learned that the commander of the fleet had been killed in the battle, and that almost all the officers of the fleet command had been killed or wounded, in other words, the captain had already known that the fleet had lost its unified command. And according to the military order of the British Navy, after the fleet command loses the ability to command, the captain has the right to decide the actions of his battleship. It was precisely for this reason that the captain of the "Barham" decided to flee for his life at this time.

At that time, the "Barham" was only about 4 nautical miles away from the nearest "Guangzhou", which was extremely deadly. The course of the "Barham" is about 310 degrees, and the course of the "Guangzhou" and the two warships in front and behind it is 230 degrees, and the course of the two sides is basically vertical. If the "Barham" were to flee for its life, it would naturally not be possible to continue to the port of Pontesmouth. The ships of the Third Task Force had blocked their passage to the port of Phuntsmouth, and if they continued to advance, they would be dead. Therefore, at this time, if the "Barham" wanted to escape for her life, it would have to return to other British ports near the Strait of Dover, which would have to be turned.

It stands to reason that in order to avoid being hit by the other side. And to get rid of the enemy as soon as possible, "Balham" should turn to the right. Try to get close to the coastline so that you can get out of the battle as quickly as possible. On the contrary, in a hurry, the captain of the "Barham" gave the order to make a left turn, that is, "Balham" went deep into the strait, and as a result, when it turned, its course coincided with that of the 3rd Task Force, and not only could not quickly get out of the battle, but also exposed its wide flanks to the enemy's guns. At that time, the captain of the "Barham" gave the wrong turn order, perhaps to avoid the reef in the shallow sea and avoid running aground and sinking in a panic.

It was precisely because of this erroneous order that the fate of the "Balham" came to an end. When Chang Jianxin saw the "Balham" turn left on the "Nanning", he also couldn't believe it, after all, a naval officer with a little common sense knew that at this time he should turn right, not left. As long as the "Barham" successfully turns right, it will run against the Third Task Force, and by the time they turn around, the "Balham" will have run away, and when the two sides turn, the artillery battle will end temporarily, so that the "Balham" will have a chance to breathe. But now the "Barham" is turning left, not only can it not distance itself from the opponent, but the three battleships on the new side do not need to turn at all, they only need to slow down a little, and they can always fire at the "Barham"!

The enemy made a low-level mistake, but the captains of three battleships would not make the same low-level mistakes. When Chang Jian discovered the enemy's wrong move, the three captains also discovered this at the same time. As a result, the three battleships unanimously accelerated the rate of fire. At a distance of less than 10,000 yards, the shells fired by the battleship's main guns were almost always flying straight, although in this case the heavy armor-piercing shells were not as powerful as the light armor-piercing shells, because the muzzle velocity of the heavy armor-piercing shells was not high, and it was a bit difficult to deal with the thickest side main armor on enemy battleships. But at such a close distance, the Type 26 armor-piercing projectile was enough to easily penetrate the main armor of any battleship!

At less than 5:50 a.m., the "Guiyang" once again had a brave performance. At that time, the course of the "Barham" had turned about 30 degrees to the left, and its starboard side was already exposed to the guns of the "Guiyang", which was located at the rear of the formation of three battleships. As a result, in this round of salvo, 9 out of 2 shells hit the "Barham". The first hit the main armor belt in the lower right of the B turret of the "Barham", because the angle of incidence was too large, as a result the armor-piercing shell was not able to penetrate its main armor plate. The second shell hit the battleship between the bridge and the chimney. The shells were almost straight incidence, and the point of hit was just behind the secondary artillery group in front of the starboard side. This time, the main armor plate on the "Barham" was not able to block the armor-piercing shells. The shell exploded right above the boiler compartment!

Immediately afterwards, the shelling of the "Canton" also received results. At 5:53 a.m., the ninth volley fired by the "Guangzhou" hit the "Balham" once. The point of hit was at the base of its B turret, and the shells flew over the A turret. Directly hit this vulnerable position. Although the armor of the base of the turret of the "Barham" was up to 11 inches thick, the Type 26 armor-piercing projectile was enough to penetrate the 16-inch steel plate at this distance, and the ground incidence angle of the shell was almost vertical, and the good armor steel plate of the "Balham" did not work!

After the B turret was blown away, the course of the "Barham" had been adjusted to 240 degrees. At this time, the "Guiyang" had already shifted its aiming point to the rear of the battleship, focusing on the two turrets behind the battleship and the power system of the battleship, while the "Guangzhou" locked the aiming point on the bridge of the "Balham", hoping to kill the central nervous system of the battleship with one shot. The angle of fire of the "Nanning", which was located at the forefront, was still the most unsatisfactory, so the main could only continue to shell the bow of the "Barham". Because the distance is close to about 6000 yards. The flames produced by the explosion of the B turret of the "Barham" are very conspicuous, so the gunners on the three battleships no longer need to be provided by the gunners to provide the shelling parameters, but directly aim at the target with the secondary aiming equipment on the turret, so that the main guns of the three battleships are firing at the maximum firing rate, that is, two salvos a minute! (Fastest update: n).

In long-range engagements, because the gunners cannot directly see the enemy ship, they can only be provided by the gunners to provide uniform shelling parameters, which is basically blind shooting. It's all about firepower density and luck. So in such a battle, the rate of fire of the battleship's main guns could never reach the nominal maximum rate of fire. It takes time for a gun velocity officer to solve the parameters of the shelling, and it also takes time to convey the order. In real combat, being able to reach a salvo of two minutes is already quite good. And in many cases, in order to ensure the hit rate and to be able to have enough time to observe the point of impact and thus correct the parameters of the shelling, it is also common to make a salvo at a frequency of once every five minutes.

Only in close combat was it possible to bring the density of firepower of the battleship to the limit. When the gunner is able to directly observe the target. And when aiming is carried out using the sub-sight on the turret of each main gun, the speed of the battleship's shelling will change substantially. At this time. Shelling is no longer about firing at the same time from several turrets, but with the officers in each turret directing the battle individually. When using the secondary sight in combat, the observation accuracy is certainly not as good as the main sight, or even the radar, but in close combat, the accuracy is not a big problem, as long as the fire density increases, it can still ensure that the shells hit the enemy ship.

That is, at this time all nine turrets on the three battleships were fighting individually, and they all had a common goal, that is, the "Balham", which continued to turn. Because it was no longer a unified salvo, the shells were falling one after another. At a distance of up to 6,000 yards, any experienced gunner can accurately aim at the target and hit the enemy battleship!

From before 6 o'clock to 6:15 a.m., in just ten minutes, the "Southern Song Dynasty" fired at least 250 armor-piercing shells, and the "Guangzhou" fired more than 200 shells, and the "Guiyang" was even more brave; according to the records of the gunners on the battleship at that time, in 17 minutes, the "Guiyang" fired a total of 302 armor-piercing shells! That is, in these ten minutes, the "Barham" was attacked by more than 750 armor-piercing shells, and in close combat, the hit rate of the 400-mm caliber cannon was about 20%. Based on this hit rate, the "Barham" took at least 150 armor-piercing shells.

Because the frequency of hits on enemy ships was too fast at that time, the lookouts on the three battleships were not able to accurately record the number of hits, let alone each hit point. Judging from the reports submitted by the lookouts of the three battleships, the lookouts of the "Nanning" observed 142 explosions, and the lookouts of the "Guangzhou" observed 158 explosions. The lookout of the "Guiyang" observed 149 explosions. Because the three battleships were located in different locations, and some of the explosions were not caused by armor-piercing shells, but by explosive materials on enemy ships, no one could say exactly how many shells the "Barham" was hit at the last moment!

Having been hit by more than 100 armor-piercing shells in a row, the end of the "Barham" was quite tragic. Not to mention that this is just a battleship built during the first global war, even if it was already in service at that time, the most powerful in the world, the newest of the US Navy. “

The Montana-class battleships were hit by so many shells in a row for more than ten minutes, and the results would not be much better. I'm afraid that there is no man-made warship in the world that can withstand the direct hit of more than 100 Type 26 armor-piercing shells!

There are not many records about the fate of "Balham" at the final stage. Perhaps there was a massive explosion at the end of the ship, but because the battle was too fierce and the battle situation was too chaotic, whether the battleship was finally sunk by shells or sunk by the explosion of the ammunition depot became one of the points of contention after the war. Because the "Barham" had disintegrated before it sank, and the wreckage of the battleship was scattered on the bottom of the sea, it was impossible to determine its final appearance by examining the shipwreck!