"The target azimuth is 019 degrees 25 minutes, and the target distance is 9650 ......"

"The No. 1 and No. 2 main turrets, the firing direction angle is 019 degrees 24 minutes, the elevation angle is 11 degrees 40 minutes, the left and right alternate firing rounds, the armor-piercing shells are loaded ......"

"The No. 1 main turret is ready!"

"The second main turret is ready!"

"Corrected firing status, first round of shooting, fire!"

Short and effective firing information is transmitted back and forth between the firing observation station, the firing command room and the main gun turret through the ship's communication telephone, until the main gun is fired at at a powerful front. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

The burst of flames instantly illuminated a large area of the sea, and ships more than ten nautical miles away must have been able to see this flash.

The first round of fire from the two German Battlecruisers was slightly spaced apart, but they were aimed at the same target - enemy battleships slowly sailing across the sea in the light of flares. After the shelling, the sea fell silent, and all that was left was the peculiar sound of heavy shells cutting through the air. Just a few seconds later, flames flashed on the surface of the sea in the distance, judging from the time, it was not the sound of a cannonball falling into the sea and exploding, but the fire of an enemy warship!

The "Prince Heinrich" was illuminated by the flares projected by the enemy ships, and the enemy battleship opened fire so quickly, that William August, who was on the bridge of the battle, could not help frowning: this shows that the enemy was prepared, and may even have been premeditated.

At this point, we must either immediately turn around and retreat, or make a decisive assault, and we must not hesitate to procrastinate, wasting time in vain. Quickly clearing his mind, William August made a concerted effort to cover the surprise attack of the capital ship with all his might.

Now that the capital ships were exposed in the dark, there was no need for the escort ships on both sides to dodge, they quickly turned on their searchlights to search for and attack the enemy reconnaissance ships within range.

Seeing that the enemy destroyer had approached less than a kilometer, the German officers and men were shocked and angry, and the intensive artillery fire immediately smashed down on the British destroyer, and several kilometers away, the two heroic German destroyers were also fiercely attacked by the enemy ships.

Despite the fact that the "Count Tirpitz" was not directly lit by flares, and the hard-fought battle had already begun, William August put aside his luck and ordered the enemy destroyers to fire on the enemy destroyers in front with secondary guns - the Count Tirpitz class was equipped with eight twin 50x diameter 150mm guns, which were able to maintain a high rate of fire of 7-8 rounds per minute in battle, thanks to the well-established semi-automatic loader.

Gradually, William August could already see its rough outline through the fires rising from the opposing warship. It was a typical twin-smoke destroyer, and despite the incomparable strength of the enemy, the single-mounted guns on it continued to fire relentlessly, but with each hit or near-missed bullet, one or both of its guns stopped firing briefly - the fighters in the non-enclosed turret probably lost far more in such a battle than the enclosed turret.

Less than five minutes after the exchange of fire began, the British destroyer fell completely silent.

The first trouble was successfully solved, and the officers and men of the German battleship simply did not have time to rest a little. Under the command of William August, the fleet advanced at a rapid pace, and the distance to the enemy formation was soon reduced to 7,000 meters. During this period, through the silhouette of the opponent and the power of the artillery bombardment, the German officers who were very familiar with the American and British battleships came to the unanimous conclusion that it was a British Sovereign-class battleship.

Although the Earl Tirpitz class was a battlecruiser, it was built and commissioned later than the Sovereign class, and it overwhelmed its opponents in key performance such as firepower, protection, and speed, and now it had a two-to-one advantage, and the battle was basically a sure victory, but it was not only William August who was worried about the current situation, his staff officers and battleship commanders did not want a quick victory - as the captain of the "Count Tirpitz", Colonel Echneider, said: "Eat meat and avoid being beaten." ”

As the distance rapidly closes, the threat of artillery fire from both sides to each other increases. With about 6,000 meters to go of the enemy battleships, William August ordered his fleet to make the first tactical maneuver - each ship turned two compass points to the right.

After the steering was completed, the rear-facing main guns of the two Rangers gained a firing angle.

After two consecutive rounds of alternating firing, the "Count Tirpitz" took the lead in completing the straddle fire on the target, and then, the long-lost fireball broke the darkness's domination of the sea, and the rising fire ball illuminated a large area of the sea, and for the first time, William August, who was observing with the fixed high-powered telescope in the conning tower, saw the true face of his opponent in the firefight: a tall three-legged mast and a tall bridge similar to a cylinder, a huge main gun turret with two front and one back, and two thick and tall smoke, even if the hull was shot, The ship, facing this side on the port side, was still firing its shells with all its might.

"Hit, okay, keep it like that!" The captain of the ship, Colonel Erhardt Schneider, couldn't wait to praise the shooting commander by phone from inside the ship.

At this moment, in the No. 1 main turret in front of the "Count Tirpitz", the gunners who were sweating and loading the shells also received the news of hitting the enemy ship from the gun commander who was in charge of directing and observing through the turret rangefinder.

"Next shot, armor-piercing bullets!"

After another shell was sent into the turret by the loafers, the young gunner in charge of the delivery reminded his partner that it was an armor-piercing shell, and quickly made a cross on his forehead and chest, whispering: "Let our enemies see God!" ”

In a few moments, the shell, which was almost a man high, was filled into the chamber, and as the cartridge was filled, the gunner closed the door and shouted: "Loaded!" ”

The gun commander immediately reported to the firing commander via the ship's phone: "Turret No. 1 is ready!" ”

After another interval of about three or four seconds, a slightly hoarse voice came from the microphone: "Fire!" ”

In the deafening roar, a new round of salvo fire was carried out majestically. After the shells were fired, the gunners opened the doors as usual, and the residual gases from the ****** chambers poured in. Even though the temperature in the cramped turret rises rapidly, and the exhaust fan in the turret rotates erratically to expel the exhaust fumes reserved for the gun chamber and pour in fresh air from outside, the gunners work in one of the toughest positions on the ship.

At this moment, the hull of the ship suddenly trembled, giving people the feeling of a seven-magnitude earthquake. The gunners in the turret almost lost their balance and fell to the floor, and in less than two seconds, an even stronger vibration was heard, which made the gunners stunned.

The artillery commander, who had experienced many sea battles in the last war, shouted: "We were hit, but there is no need to worry, the enemy's shells are just tickling us!" To date, not a single German capital ship has been sunk by shells! ”

When the tremor was over, there was no obvious abnormality on the ship, and the gunners calmed down. When another shell was lifted up from the bottom ammunition compartment by the lifter, they were fully engaged in their work.

In the battle bridge, whether it was the commander of the detachment William August, the captain Schneider, or the ordinary officers present, they were all shocked by the scene just now: a shell from the enemy fell on the sea less than two meters from the port side, and its power was so great that the white water column rushed into the air tens of meters high, and the top of the water column far exceeded the highest point on the ship. This kind of near-miss may not have caused much trouble to the thick waterline main armor of the "Count Tirpitz", but at that moment, many people were indeed stunned. If the impact point of the enemy shells had been a little earlier, would it have had a fatal effect on the "Count Tirpitz" and the German Atlantic Detachment, which was in a delicate situation?

At this time, William August still pretended to be calm and kept calm, and the captain of the ship, Colonel Schneider, grabbed the phone in a panic: "Damage management reports losses!" Damage Management Report Loss! ”

Before there was a clear reply on the other side of the phone, someone on the bridge of the battle ship shouted: "It seems that the enemy ship has been hit again!" ”

A moment later, a call came from the firing command room, and they also observed shells hitting the enemy ship, and a large fire broke out in the amidships of the enemy ship.

In 1923, the Sovereign-class battleship was completed and put into service, and the protection and power were enhanced on the basis of the Queen Elizabeth class, and the key protection parts were made of 14-15 inches, that is, 356-380 mm thick Vickers carburized steel armor, which was basically the same as the German Bavaria-class battleships, and theoretically could effectively resist the bombardment of 14-15 inch caliber naval guns at medium distances, while the Germans began to use more powerful 16-inch caliber main guns from the Count Tirpitz class. The most immediate consequence of forcing the British Navy to coat the Britannia-class battleships designed and built in the late 20s with unprecedented heavy armor was that for the first time, British capital ships regressed in speed - the top speed was only 22 knots, even inferior to the Queen Elizabeth class, which was commissioned in the mid-10s.

If it was against the British Britannia-class battleships, the "Earl of Tirpitz" might not be able to take advantage of the speed advantage, but against the Sovereign-class battleships, the officers and men under the command of William August would not be soft. In sight, the fire of the British battleship was getting bigger and bigger, and the resulting fire and smoke became an excellent aiming reference for the shooting commander. At the critical moment, two British destroyers bravely rushed forward, allowing the fierce shells of the German ships to stir up a column of water around them - a method of warfare that was always hated and admired by the commanders of the large German warships.

Without waiting for the two British destroyers that had launched a death charge to approach, the order to turn and evacuate was issued from the "Count Tirpitz", and except for one destroyer, which was seriously wounded, the rest of the German ships turned course and fired at the enemy destroyers with accurate fire. William August chose to retreat without confirming the damage of the enemy battleship, not entirely with a catch-it-off mentality, but because the damage management department of the "Count Tirpitz" gave them a not-so-good damage assessment: a crack in the waterline armor belt on the port side was blown open, and emergency measures could only temporarily control the flooding, and it was necessary to reduce the speed of the ship and carry out emergency repairs before returning to the battle.

(End of chapter)