"700 yards from the impact point!"

In less than 30 seconds, they calculated new firing data based on the impact point of the previous salvo and the course speed of the warships of both sides, and conveyed these data to the gunners in the main turrets as soon as possible.

"Turret 1 is ready!"

"Turret 2 ready!"

……

"Turret 5 ready!"

"The 'Oldenburg' signaled that all four of their main turrets on the port side were ready for firing!"

The signalmen quickly and accurately conveyed the information to the fleet firing commander.

"Shoot all in 10 seconds!"

Soon, the turret sirens began to sound, and at this time, the front and rear decks of the "Elector" and the corridors of the left and right ships were empty, and the sailors who were close to the main turret also covered their ears tightly, and the sound of the salvo of 10 305 mm caliber guns could be described as earth-shattering, and the shock wave and recoil generated by the shooting were also huge. At present, only the British unfinished "Queen Elizabeth" has a greater shock when the eight 380 mm main guns salvo are fired, but it is a pity that most of these giant ships have been fatally hit in large-scale German air raids and artillery bombardments, and the only two remaining ships are still undergoing final construction in Liverpool, and even after completion, the two battleships will have to undergo three months to six months of sea trials and refinement before they can be officially put into service. Most Britons were pessimistic that the super-ships would not have had time to fight before the end of the Battle of England, because the German army across the Channel was too strong.

Vice Admiral Sheppel, with a goatee, stood quietly in the command room, looking out at the sea in the distance through the thick tempered glass of the porthole, and at the edge of the distant sea and sky, the black clouds formed by the plumes of smoke from the chimneys of large battleships were clearly visible, and small white and blue-gray dots appeared faintly under the black clouds, which were some of the battleships that the British had obtained from the Americans with their colonies.

At the moment when the 10 main guns fired another salvo from the port side, the huge 25,000-ton hull of the "Elector" shook, and the strong shaking of the floor brought the German naval officers and men not dizziness, but the passion of battle. The white smoke has not yet dissipated, and everyone is fully engaged in their work.

Less than a second after the "Elector" fired, the "Oldenburg" behind it also let out the roar of a huge cannon, but unfortunately the unique main turret arrangement of the Osterfriedland-class battleship made it impossible for the six main turrets on the ship to fire in the same direction at the same time, but the eight armor-piercing shells weighing half a ton still flew towards the Churchill fleet with an initial velocity of more than 800 meters per second with the expectations of the officers and men of the whole ship.

As the British warships were already in sight, the generals of the raiding fleet, including Sheppel, and the observers on the five German battleships all focused on the British battle squadron to the northeast of the raiding fleet. The sound of cannonballs piercing the air grew farther and farther away, and everyone was waiting for the sight of the burst of fire.

"Oh......"

Before the tall column of water stirred up by the armor-piercing bullet on the surface of the sea had completely fallen, the German naval officers and men cheered at the exciting fire and smoke behind the water column. The second wave of artillery bombardment of the British battle fleet hit the target, and Sheppel did not have too many surprises and surprises, at a distance of about 15,000 yards, two salvos of 36 large-caliber shells hit one, and its 2.78% hit rate was only a moderate level in the daily training of the German Navy.

"Hit an enemy battleship, the front part of which was shrouded in fire and smoke, but the speed did not decrease for the time being!"

Schwell and his No. 1 reconnaissance plane, which had shot down two Aberdeen seaplanes and were hovering over the Churchill Combat Squadron at this time, confirmed the results of the German gunners, and it was Churchill's ship, the 23,000-ton Florida-class battleship "Utah," that was hit. After joining the British Navy's battle sequence, this battleship fired more than 30 ordinary high-explosive shells at the German freighter "Hill" at a distance of 15,000 yards to 11,000 yards, but it was despicable that none of them hit. However, even in the daily training of familiar ships, the main guns of British battleships, which admired large-caliber naval guns, barely exceeded 2%, and the hit rate was much lower than the 4.2% of German battleships of the same class. The Japanese Navy is said to have had the highest percentage of main gun hits in daily training, and the Japanese claim that their warships can hit 20% at a distance of 10,000 yards, but the navies of all countries are skeptical.

In addition to the fact that the Germans had school firing aircraft and a large number of well-trained and experienced sailors, the new ship-wide unified azimuth firing command system adopted on all heavy warships was also a very important factor. Before the British sailors had time to think about their poor gunnery, the German sailors taught them a vivid lesson with practical actions.

"Ahem......"

The grizzled Churchill coughed and climbed up from the floor, his conning tower not being hit directly, but the pungent smell of fire and burnt still filled the small space of the conning tower.

"Extinguishing the fire...... Exhaust Fan ...... "Churchill shouted with difficulty to the officers beside him, the air here subjecting his lungs to far greater irritation than a cigar.......

Despite the sudden blow to their flagship, the commanders of the other two British battleships ordered their ships to open fire on each other, but the "Florida" was only firing with four 305 mm forward guns at full speed, while the "Bend" had only two 280 mm front guns, and the six British shells only blew up six round columns of water more than 500 yards from the port side of the German battleship, and they did not even obstruct the view of the observers on the German battleship.

"Command...... Command the 1st Cruiser Detachment...... Break away from the combat detachment and advance at full speed towards the German fleet, with torpedoes...... With torpedoes! cough cough ......" just a few words caused Churchill to pour a few puffs of smoke that is not good for his body, perhaps these puffs of smoke have more toxic components than smoking a large box of cigars, but fortunately, Churchill's lungs have long been accustomed to this "poison". With the smoke and smoke extraction devices in the control tower in full operation, the command system of the "Utah" is gradually being restored, but the battleship is full of sailors busy fighting fires on and off the deck.

Seeing that their flagship was not signaling to abandon ship or hand over command, the other British officers in the battle fleet breathed a sigh of relief. Three Greenbay-class and one Buffalo-class cruisers increased their speed to 26 and 25 knots, respectively, and bravely rushed towards the German raiding fleet 15,000 yards away. However, this "bravery" was not due to the true will of all officers and sailors, and there were more than a thousand junior officers and sailors from the Commonwealth countries on the four cruisers, many of whom had come for the high salaries offered by the British government and the Admiralty, who had basically not experienced the cruelty of war until they encountered the German fleet.

Seeing warships being attacked by German submarines and planes, steel behemoths capsizing or sinking in violent explosions, hundreds of sailors on top had to jump into the icy waters, which were even more terrifying than sharks, and many were frozen to death before they could be helped, the hearts of these mixed sailors were gradually enveloped by fear.

"Where are we going? Why didn't the battleships rush to the front? In the rear deck of the cruiser "Knight", which had repeatedly caused problems for the special fleet, a single 152-mm main gun was mounted, and several Canadian sailors watched in amazement as the three battleships were gradually "retreating", and one of them was still billowing smoke.

"With just our cruisers, how can we confront the German fleet!" It was an older sergeant who spoke, and with only 4 single-mounted main guns of 152 mm caliber and 4 533 mm torpedo tubes on the light cruiser, the shells of German battleships and even cruisers could easily tear through the semi-enclosed turrets and weak armor of this warship. Ninety percent of the sailors on board the "Knight" were Canadians, many of whom had previously served in the Canadian Coast Guard, had participated in several battles against small groups of pirates and anti-smuggling, and had never dreamed of fighting German battleships.

"Like, I don't know what our captain thinks!"

In fact, at this time, the Canadian captain Lieutenant Commander Reeser could not go anywhere except to stay in the captain's room, and out of consideration for the morale of the sailors, Churchill did not directly remove the repeat mistake Reese, but sent a "support group" led by a British lieutenant commander to take actual command of the warship. For the order issued by the flagship "Utah", these British officers naturally carried out unconditionally.

"Let's ask for more blessings!"

Compared to the Canadian Army, which volunteered to fight, these Canadian sailors did not have such a glorious tradition.

Similar complaints were made by Australian and New Zealand sailors on the heavy cruiser USS Buffalo, on which the British and non-British were equally divided. These two Commonwealth countries are not small in population, but their standing armies are inconspicuous in size and equipment compared to the major powers of the world. Despite this, the governments of Australia and New Zealand have not been ambiguous in sending troops directly to the war. In addition to showing loyalty to the British government, it was these innocent and poor soldiers who suffered.

The Buffalo-class cruiser "Buffalo" is a heavy cruiser launched in 1909, the main firepower comes from 6 twin 152 mm main guns and 6 127 mm single secondary guns, the main turret is arranged in front of 2 rear 2 left and right 1, which has absolute deterrent and powerful firepower in front of the navies of various American countries, even in front of the three reconnaissance cruisers of the German raid fleet, they dare to speak loudly, but this kind of heavy cruiser against the German battleships, in addition to speed, I am afraid there is no advantage.

"Target, the cruiser in front of the opposing party!"

In the range-finding observation post of the "Elector," the rangefinders have been busy since the British battleship entered the line-of-sight, and they quickly and accurately convey important data to the firing command post, and the officers there convert these distance and azimuth data into firing data for the main guns, and from time to time use the calibration reports sent back by the reconnaissance planes for correction.

After the thick muzzle of the German battleship was lowered again, all 18 305-mm guns were aimed at the Greenbay-class cruiser "Arrow" that burst out of the front. With a huge roar, 18 heavy armor-piercing shells scrambled towards the British warship with a displacement of 8,000 tons, and after flying for 18 seconds, the sea water they roared completely enveloped the British battleship, and the St. George's Cross Navy on the mast disappeared without a trace in an instant.

After a few seconds, the splash of water mixed with fragments of various materials fell one after another. The "Arrow" had become unrecognizable, an armor-piercing bullet had penetrated its control tower from the front, the huge explosion had wiped out most of the buildings on the cruiser's deck, including the main bridge, chimney, and rear bridge, and the semi-enclosed No. 2 turret had cracked in the middle as if something had slashed it, and the blue-gray barrel muzzle was facing down and collapsed weakly; Whether it is the main gun position, the secondary gun, or the machine gun battle position, there is not a single person in sight, there is only blood and fragmented limbs, and all life on the deck seems to have been erased.

Although the smoke-emitting battleship continued to move forward, there was a deathly silence on the entire battleship, except for the crackling sound of the fire.

"Oh...... Hit the bull's-eye! In the firing command room of the "Elector," the officers and men high-fived each other, the British battleship had completely lost its combat effectiveness, and the battleship's main guns did not bother to shoot at it again, and it would become a "delicious dinner" for the other three reconnaissance cruisers in the fleet.

After putting back on the surface 4 refueled and ammunition water reconnaissance aircraft, the German reconnaissance cruisers "Frenburg", "Munich" and "Will" lined up 600 yards from the port side of the two battleships, and they were to escort the battleships with 120-mm guns and 533-mm torpedoes and even their own bodies. In the navies of various countries, it is a natural law to abandon the small and protect the big, but the premise is that it is a well-trained navy with one officer and men, and it may be difficult to do so with those warships in Churchill's hands.

When the rangefinder showed that there were still 13,000 yards away from the opponent, only three British cruisers could not wait to shoot at the German raiding fleet, which was also the maximum effective range of their 40 times the diameter of the 152 mm naval guns, and the British, Canadian, Australian, and New Zealand mixed sailors also began their clumsy artillery show.

Although the caliber of the main guns was smaller than that of the opposing cruisers, the German reconnaissance cruisers could more than compensate for this with their superiority in accuracy and rate of fire. As the guns of the cruisers of both sides joined the battle, the sound of this naval battle became less monotonous.