"It is 12,850 meters from the enemy's lead ship and 9,200 meters from the last ship. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ”

Observing the current position of the "Tiger", it was already possible to see clearly the situation of the pilot ship of the German capital ship formation through the cover of the smoke screen, and the large amount of black smoke on the ship did have obvious flaws, and what made Betty feel even more bad was that the flagship of the German fleet and the flag of the admiral were proudly hung on the flagpole of the third battleship -- although the guns of the British fleet had been concentrated on it, the "Tiger" and the "Royal Princess" were sunk, the "Tiger" and the "Royal Princess" were out of array, and most of the remaining dreadnoughts and super-dreadnoughts were hung up. The intensity of firepower is far from comparable to that of the beginning of the battle.

Betty whispered, "Contact the 'Royal Princess' and continue to attack the penultimate ship of the enemy's main fleet." ”

10,000 meters away, the four dreadnoughts in the back row of the German main fleet were smaller than the previous ones, and the target of the "Tiger" and the "Royal Princess" was the Nassau-class dreadnought "Rhineland". The four Nassau-class dreadnoughts of the German Navy are named after the four provinces of the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Rhineland is located in the middle reaches of the Rhine, bordering the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg, and Silesia is an important industrial area of the Second German Reich.

Among the invincible dreadnoughts of the German Navy, the Nassau-class was the first class designed and built, with the weakest firepower, the slowest speed, and the thinnest armor, but in the First Jutland War, they did not become the shortcomings of the German High Seas Fleet, but in a face-to-face battle, they beat the British dreadnought detachment commanded by Bernie together with four Helgoland-class. In fact, the thickness of the armor in the main protective area of the Nassau-class was 1-2 inches more than that of the "Tiger", and the defense capabilities of the main turret and conning tower even exceeded that of the British's Iron Duke-class super-dreadnoughts!

In this era of giant ship cannons, protection capability is obviously not the only criterion for evaluating the strength of a capital ship. The Germans attached great importance to defense, and the British valued firepower, so at the outbreak of the war, the British Navy had 13 super dreadnoughts and battlecruisers equipped with 13.5-inch guns, and the latest battleships in service of the Germans were still using 12-inch guns, and the main armor belt of the British capital ship stayed at the 11-inch level, and the Germans had already installed the Caesar class with 13.8-inch thick Krupp armor.

After a few moments, the "Tiger" launched a salvo of main guns at the target. The 12 13.5-inch naval guns of 45 times the diameter roared in unison, and the deafening sound of the cannons echoed on the sea, which also stimulated the fighting will of the officers and men of the ship like war drums. At this time, the captain of the ship, Rear Admiral Onuoha, maintained a posture with his head held high in front of the observation window, looking full of ambition. Although the new Ranger was still in service, most of the officers and sailors were experienced veterans, and the Tiger had already been fitted with a Scott Shooting Commander while in service. This kind of firing control equipment invented by Rear Admiral Percy Scott, an officer of the Royal Navy, is installed under the firing command post of the foremast, and controls the firing and aiming of each gun on the ship through the fire control center.

The British Admiralty had the opportunity to equip all capital ships with this fire control system before the outbreak of war, but due to the short-sighted, opinionated bureaucracy, the complex and expensive Scott Shooting Command was only experimentally installed on two capital ships by the time the war broke out. It was only after the crushing defeats at Jutland and Flanders that the British Navy realized what a mistake they had made, and managed to equip each of their remaining capital ships in the shortest possible time. Before heading north to the Faroe Islands, the officers and men of the British ships had conducted a great deal of operational training on the Scott firing commander, but the unsatisfactory performance of the British capital ships in the battle so far has only proved one truth: The combat quality of the army must rely on the accumulation of little by little and down-to-earth work, and sharpening the guns in battle will only be a showmanship.

A dozen seconds later, the Nassau-class dreadnought, the target of the "Tiger," almost disappeared behind the huge, divergent column of water that was blasted by the heavy shells. To the heartbeat of the British officers and men, their salvo again formed a straddle fire at the enemy ship, and two shells landed on the enemy ship's near side, most likely inflicting close damage on the older German dreadnought. Maybe the German crew is already in a hurry to plug the leak and repair it!

These columns of water, which had reached a height of nearly 100 meters, had not yet dissipated, and a German dreadnought behind it flickered with flames and smoke, which made the atmosphere at the British exhibition instantly change its taste, and a few pessimists even closed their eyes. It is said that in 1912 the German Navy began to secretly equip and use the unified command system for the firepower of the whole ship, and it has been two or three years since then, and both the operation of equipment and the use of tactics have been very mature. In the Battle of Jutland, the German fleet had a hit rate almost a percentage point higher than the British one. In the two naval battles of Flanders, the German fleet gave full play to the accuracy of shooting at medium and long distances, and the hit rate of the capital ships was 1.2 percent higher than that of the British navy.

Suddenly, the piercing sound of explosions came as scheduled, and the hull of the "Tiger," which was more than 30,000 tons, trembled twice in succession, which was a direct reflection of the enemy's artillery fire hitting the hull. The captain, Rear Admiral Onoha, remained immobile, but his subordinates did not show such composure, and almost all of their voices seemed alarmed.

"We were hit! One shot from amidship! ”

"No, damn it, it's two! One shot was bounced off by the broadside armor, and the other hit the amidship deck and exploded, the damage is unknown! ”

"The No. 1 communication line is interrupted, and the stern main turret cannot be contacted for the time being, but I hope the No. 2 line can still work normally."

The handsome and temperamental David Betty stared at the sea with a cold expression. If the "Royal Princess" can hit the enemy ship this time, severely damage it or even sink it in one fell swoop, the battle formation of the German main fleet will be cut into two parts, and then Betty can advance or retreat, continue to use the speed advantage to attack and contain the German main fleet, so as to turn the tide of the battle step by step. Thus Betty chose to ignore the officers' words about the damage to the ship, and his deep eyes revealed the deep expectation of an opportunist—in this case, he was indeed like a desperate gambler, betting on a fate that no one could control!

Exhaling, inhaling, Betty waited quietly at a normal breathing rhythm, and the dozen seconds of the cannonball flying across the battlefield were fleeting, and he suddenly narrowed his eyes......

'Oh!' The Royal Princess's hit the enemy ship, and the explosion was very violent! The dreadnought, designed seven or eight years ago, was supposed to be aimed at 12-inch guns with a caliber of more than 13 inches, and at such a distance, it should have suffered a lot of damage! ”

Seeing the scene of the German ship being hit by a cannonball, listening to the analysis of the officer next to him, Betty felt that the evil qi that had been blocked in his chest had finally found an outlet for catharsis, in the spirit of his original very disdainful opportunist mentality, how he hoped that the German battleship would capsize and sink in a violent explosion in the next second, but this expectation did not come true. After the flame disappeared, a large amount of black smoke was filled with the front of the German ship, and sporadic fire could be seen, but its speed did not decrease, and the ship's secondary guns were still firing, and after about half a minute, except for the first group of main guns in the bow, the remaining three groups of triple main guns were again powerful......

"German dreadnoughts are really solid! It's so hard to sink them! ”

Hearing the other officer's depressed exclamation, Betty frowned and gritted her teeth. In the line of sight, the group of large torpedo boats that had been killed from the rear of the German fleet was rapidly approaching, the secondary guns on the starboard side of the "Tiger" and the "Royal Princess" had been fully mobilized, and the four light cruisers were also firing at full strength, but the bad sea conditions had a great impact on the secondary guns of the battleships and the guns of the light ships, and the interception and firing of more than 50 medium-caliber naval guns was delayed for a long time, and unless they retreated immediately, otherwise, the Betty detachment would have to face the deadly threat of the German large torpedo boat group in five or six minutes.

Thinking of this, Betty was troubled.

"Sir, look, our destroyer is coming!"

Hearing the words of this staff member, Betty quickly turned and walked to the other side of the conning tower, and looked to the port side, the British main fleet lined up in a column still maintained its original course and formation, and the change was that the British destroyers that were galloping were comparable in number to the large German torpedo boats that attacked, and they were strong enough to fight against them. In Betty's opinion, this reinforcement was not only here to relieve his detachment, but also to show the position of the fleet commander, Sir Jackson, - whether he agreed with Betty's adventurous strategy or not, since the sword was out of its sheath and the arrow was off the string, it was time to go down and see which side the Goddess of Victory favored today.

Betty obviously didn't figure out Jackson's thoughts thoroughly, and Jackson only knew a little about Betty's thoughts. As a result, Betty's wishful thinking was quickly poured cold water on Jackson, and the "Iron Duke" sent an order to the "Tiger" to immediately concentrate fire on the third capital ship of the German fleet, the King-class dreadnought, which was identified as the German flagship.

Judging from the battlefield situation, the "Tiger" and the "Royal Princess" are only more than 10,000 meters away from the German flagship, and the horizon is less affected by the artificial smoke released by the Germans, as long as they can play normally, the shooting hit rate should be higher than that of the British dreadnoughts and super dreadnoughts in the rear, but Jackson obviously ignored one point: no matter how strong the battle cruiser is, it is not their strong point to confront the enemy battleship in a fixed position, and the eye-catching performance of the German battle patrol in the late stage of the Battle of Jutland is just a special case, after all, the night was dark and the wind was high, and the scene was chaotic, In broad daylight, even a fierce general like Hipper would not have the audacity to engage in a close confrontation with the British dreadnought.

(End of chapter)