The rain became heavier and heavier, and the view of the sea became more and more blurred. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 info The raging waves crashed into the battleship's thick steel armor one after another, and then all of them turned into fragments...... After a lapse of 38 years, the Japanese and Russian warships once again engaged in naval confrontation, the Japanese Navy is no longer the fledgling Japanese Navy at the beginning of the century, the sixteen rising suns gathered the first-class main warships and heavy aircraft carriers of this era, the Russian Navy is no longer the Russian Navy of the year, the St. Andrew's flag is gone, replaced by a bright red battle flag, but they have never gotten rid of the image of a strong foreign force, they urgently need to find a big enough stage, by defeating a sufficiently important opponent to prove their strength now. On the land battlefield in Northeast Asia, millions of Soviet and Russian troops broke through the Japanese defense line like a rolling torrent, showing the terrifying attack power of the "European steamroller".

The steamroller was clearly only suitable for use on land, and the Russian navy had few victories in either the Tsarist or Soviet era, and perhaps its greatest moment was forever fixed in the Great Northern War of the early 18th century, when the rising Russian navy defeated the Swedes and became the dominant power in the Baltic Sea. In the Russo-Turkish wars since then, the Russian Navy has performed mediocre, and in the Russo-Japanese War, the Russian Navy has lost most of its wealth and all its honors in one go......

Looking back at the West Japan Sea in 1942, under the fierce and precise artillery fire of the Japanese heavy cruiser "Sanya", the large Soviet and Russian cruiser "Kirov" soon became full of smoke. Designed to attack enemy merchant ships and disrupt lines of communication at sea, the warship was not suitable for high-intensity head-on confrontations, and the slightest carelessness in a tentative exchange of fire turned into a fierce encounter. In less than 10 minutes, many auxiliary guns and twin anti-aircraft guns on the side of the Soviet Russian battleship were damaged, several compartments at the root of the main bridge were devastated, and almost all the communication lines on the ship were damaged.

Captain Colonel Cherov, who was knocked off balance by a violent explosion, barely managed to get up, and was shocked to find that he could no longer see the two turrets in the bow, where black smoke was billowing everywhere, and in the pungent smell of the battle bridge, the officers were as busy as headless flies.

"Damage Management Department! Damage Management Department! This is the bridge, please report the damage to each part of the battleship quickly! ”

The Chief of Staff, Major Vasilev, tore at the phone and tore his throat, but judging by his reaction, there was no response from the other side of the phone line.

Colonel Cherov staggered back to his right-hand viewing position, and through the cracked tempered glass, he could see the gray battleship in the distance constantly flashing with cannon flames. The Japanese shells were still falling, some far away, others close enough to threaten the sailors in the open positions on the deck.

For such a modern ship as the "Kirov", the ancient microphone still serves as a backup communication system to connect the main compartments on the battleship. In the event of a disruption in the telephone line, the officers quickly activated it. The microphone sounded chaotic, and just when people were feeling desperate, a stubborn voice came from it: "This is the damage management headquarters, the situation is very bad, no one can be contacted by phone, we have sent liaison officers to investigate the situation everywhere, and the fire brigade has been dispatched!" ”

Colonel Cherov didn't know what to say except to ask the damage management department to count the losses as soon as possible, after all, this was the first time he had encountered such a fierce battle. In contrast, Kane, the "British", has much more experience in this area.

When Colonel Cherov came to his side with a disgraced face, Major General Kane, the "British", said with a dejected face: "The enemy's combat effectiveness is beyond our imagination, and the most rational choice at the moment is to retreat at full speed, but ...... Another enemy warship is waiting on our way back! ”

Seeing that the development of the war situation was very unfavorable to his side, Colonel Cherov urgently asked: "What should I do then?" ”

Major General Kane muttered, "Release chemical fumes!" ”

The captain of the Soviet Russian ship was puzzled: "But the enemy ship is equipped with radar, what role can the smoke screen play?" ”

By this time, Rear Admiral Kane had no intention of selling off or preaching in the English style, and he replied bluntly: "Reduce their shooting accuracy, so that our battleship will be hit as little as possible, especially the power system, and there must be no problems at this time." From what I know of the Japanese Navy, they have the upper hand in the artillery battle, and their vision is disturbed in the middle, and in this case it is likely that they will approach us in search of a chance to win with one blow, and all we have to do is to suddenly burst out of the smoke screen after the two ships have become closer, and severely damage the opponent with naval guns and torpedoes, and then take the opportunity to leave the battlefield. ”

Colonel Cherov pondered for a moment: "In your judgment, how sure are we that we will succeed in getting out of danger?" ”

Rear Admiral Kane asked rhetorically: "With the technical and tactical level of the officers and men under your command, how sure are you that launching a surprise attack at a distance of two or three thousand meters will inflict heavy damage on the enemy ships?" ”

Colonel Cherov thought about it and found that he could not answer the question, but at this point, he could only take a chance.

Due to the serious failure of the ship's communication system at this time, Cherov had to send a competent officer to give orders. After three or four minutes, the fumes stored in metal containers began to release chemical fumes, and after a while, a thick gray-white fog also rose from the battleship's chimney, and these two conventional methods worked together, and soon a smoke screen large enough to obscure the view was formed on this sea, and coupled with the influence of the rain, the damaged "Kirov" quickly disappeared from the view of the Japanese ship.

The Japanese ships did not stop firing because of this, but their artillery fire did weaken much from the threat to the Soviet and Russian battleship. Not long after, the damage management department of the "Kirov" submitted a preliminary damage report to the commanders on the combat bridge - 6 of the 8 main guns were temporarily unusable, but 4 were likely to be restored to normal within half an hour, nearly half of the secondary guns and anti-aircraft guns were damaged, and the casualty rate of the front-line gunners exceeded 70%; The searchlights and auxiliary gun control room at the front of the bridge were completely damaged under the fire of the Japanese ships, more equipment and compartments were attacked by fire, and some new breaches were added below the ship's waterline due to near-misses, but fortunately, due to proper damage management, the ship's power system was not damaged, and the speed was still above 30 knots.

After listening to the damage management report, Major General Kane advised: "It is better to reduce the speed to about 20 knots, so that the enemy thinks that we have lost power and have no possibility of escape, in which case, they will relatively relax their vigilance, and we can buy as much time as possible to repair the damaged main gun." Also, have the sailors carefully check the torpedo systems to make sure they are ready to fire at enemy ships. It is recommended to have a fixed speed of 40 knots and a fixed depth of 5 meters. ”

As for the suggestions of the "British", Colonel Cherov took them one by one.

After the speed of the Soviet and Russian warships slowed down, the Japanese ships in the distance really slowed down the frequency of their attacks, and did not catch up, only to see that they adjusted their course one after another, apparently planning to bypass the smoke screen area and join the friendly ships by the way. The "Kirov" no longer buried its head in the northwest, but made an irregular movement around the smoke screen it had released, and due to the damage to its radar equipment, it was unable to detect the position of another Japanese ship, so it had to keep an eye on the powerful Japanese heavy cruiser in front of it through visual observation, while many Soviet and Russian crews raced against time to repair the weapons and equipment on the ship.

In order to confuse the enemy, at the suggestion of Major General Kane, Colonel Cherov further ordered to reduce the speed to 15 knots, and everything was going according to plan. As the distance between the two ships narrowed, the outline of the Japanese ship became clearer, and the Russians were able to confirm that it was a top-class heavy cruiser -- in this time and space, it was an out-and-out heavy cruiser, designed to perform various combat missions from the beginning, its tonnage exceeded that of the Kirov class by 27%, the firepower output was stronger, the level of protection was better, and the technical and tactical level of the officers and men was also difficult to achieve in the second- and third-rate naval countries, and more importantly, it was equipped with the No. 22 long-wave pulse radar with better performance than the original radar system. Thus reversing the technological disadvantage faced by the Japanese Navy in the Pacific War.

After nearly half an hour of waiting, the "San" and "Kirov" approached 6,000 meters -- 3,000 meters short of the Jedi counterattack envisioned by Rear Admiral Kane. Not long after, the second Japanese ship, Huo Ran, appeared in the northeastern sea, and the change in the battle situation forced Colonel Cherov to make a desperate bet and command the battleship to rush to the "Sanjia" at full speed.

As soon as the Russian battleship broke out of the smoke screen, the long-awaited Japanese heavy cruiser quickly gave it a merciless blow, the shells of the main and auxiliary guns hit the target one after another, and when it narrowed the distance between the two sides to 3,000 meters, at least four 203 mm and more 127 mm shells had already caused damage to it in the form of direct hits or close misses, and the ship was on fire in many places, and the bridge was once again covered in thick smoke.

As soon as the "Kirov" projected six 533-mm torpedoes at the Japanese ship, bad luck befell it. One armor-piercing shell of the "Three" easily penetrated its broadside main armor belt, penetrating two layers of armor partitions in succession and falling into the boiler room, causing the "Kirov" to lose one-third of its power in an instant, and it also caused a fire.

Having successfully evaded the opposing torpedoes, the Japanese began to inflict heavy blows on the Russian battleship, knocking out the four main turrets in the front and rear of the 203-mm armor-piercing shells one by one, and then concentrated their fire on its forward bridge, completely destroying its chain of command with only two salvos. In the final stages of the battle, the crew of the "Kirov" showed amazing tenacity, and after losing all 8-inch guns, they continued to fire at the Japanese ships with a variety of weapons on board, including anti-aircraft guns on the side of the ship.

The final salvo of the Japanese ship finally silenced the Russian cruiser completely, and there was no longer a single moving figure on its deck, which was reduced to a purgatory of flames and smoke......

(End of chapter)