At about 3 o'clock in the morning, more than 100 nautical miles southwest of Pico Island, a fierce night battle at sea was underway. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 The belligerents are the joint operations forces of the United States and the United Kingdom, with 1 combat cruiser, 2 heavy cruisers, and 4 light cruisers, with a total combat tonnage of 113,000 tons, and the theoretical firepower output limit is 31,320 kilograms per minute, and the ultimate speed is 30 knots; On the other side is the Allied fleet composed of German, Estonian and Austrian ships, with a strength of 6 heavy cruisers and 2 light cruisers, with a total combat tonnage of 120,000 tons, and a theoretical limit of 35,280 kilograms per minute of artillery shells and a maximum speed of 32 knots.

In terms of technical data, the Allied fleet undoubtedly had the upper hand, but the actual battle was not a simple comparison of numbers. A 44,000-ton battle cruiser, both strategic deterrence and tactical value is stronger than several ordinary heavy cruisers, which has been the consensus of most people in the naval circles, and more importantly, the British admiral class has an excellent protective design, even in the case of close shooting, no Allied heavy cruiser can penetrate its key protective area with naval guns, which is a kind of advantage in quality in fleet engagements, and it is also the greatest spiritual reliance of British Admiral Chatfield at this moment.

However, as the battle progressed, Chatfield began to discover that the opponent's lineup was not simply a patchwork, and five of the six Allied Heavy Cruisers were highly similar in silhouette, suggesting that their synergistic operations were likely to be much more efficient than ordinary fleets. No, the two British light cruisers that broke ahead were covered by heavy artillery fire five or six kilometers away from them, and in just a few minutes, the two ships were shot one after another and caught fire.

In fact, these heavy cruisers, with very similar profiles, belonged to the standard military salute class of joint German-Irish design. At that time, the international naval treaty in Limerick stipulated that the standard displacement of heavy cruisers under construction and to be built by various countries should not exceed 12,500 tons, and the caliber of the main gun should not exceed 203 mm. The basic version of the armament configuration is 8 high muzzle velocity, high range Krupp 55 times diameter 203 mm naval guns and 2 sets of quadruple 533 mm torpedo tubes, plus 6 L/50 twin 88 mm guns, 6 twin 37 mm guns, 12 20 mm machine guns, has a very strong sea and air combat capability. In terms of power, the standard military salute class uses 12 Wagner heavy oil boilers and 3 royal-Shuo efficiency geared turbine engines, with a maximum power of 12,500 horsepower, a maximum speed of 32 knots, a capacity of 4,000 tons of heavy oil, a cruising range of 7,500 nautical miles/15 knots, 3 seaplanes, and 60 officers and 1,070 sailors under conventional circumstances.

Before the outbreak of the war, a total of 11 standard military ceremonial heavy cruisers were built and put into service worldwide, namely 4 in Germany, 2 in Ireland, 2 in Italy, 2 in Austria-Hungary, 1 in Spain, and 1 in the Ottoman Empire. In the late 20s and early 30s, Germany, Ireland, Italy, and Austria-Hungary successively upgraded their own standard military salute-class heavy cruisers, and the maritime strategies of these countries were different, so the modification program had its own focus, Germany and Ireland invariably strengthened the air defense capability of the warship, and replaced the 88 mm secondary guns with a new 60 times diameter 105 mm high-level dual-purpose gun, and the number of twin 37 mm guns increased to 8-10 units. The number of 20-mm guns has been increased to 16-18 units, and electronic equipment has been added accordingly, and the overall performance has been improved by about 20% on the basis of the original; Italy and Austria-Hungary valued surface warfare and night warfare, with the former importing the Lorentz-I shipboard radar from Germany and changing the torpedo tube configuration from two quadruples to four triple, while the latter purchased the MC-IIA radar from Ireland and changed the four twin 88mm guns to single 127mm naval guns with auxiliary loaders, while enhancing the protective armor.

Unfortunately, the five standard Salute-class heavy cruisers encountered by Chatfield's fleet in the waters southwest of Pico Island were all technically refitted, led by the Irish heavy cruiser Ruger, the most experienced in actual combat, plus the German Navy's Arcona and Elisabeth, the Italian Navy's Marco Polo, and the Austro-Hungarian Navy's Ferdinand-Maximilian, all of which had pre-arranged tactical routines. Under the direction of the "Ruger", all the main gun fire was concentrated on the two unlucky British light cruisers, and every hit was a heavy blow. Although every minute of holding on was able to provide their own ships with an extra minute of fire reconnaissance, the commanders of the two British ships did not show the courage to fight to the death, and after the battleships were hit by bullets and caught fire, they invariably turned around, and the Allied warships turned off their searchlights in unison when they were attacked, so that the American and British warships in the distance lost the reference for visual aiming.

Looking at the two flames swaying on the surface of the sea that had returned to darkness, Admiral Chatfield, who was sitting on the British battle cruiser "Howe", had a particularly solemn face. Suddenly, his staff officer reported: "Sir, the radar has detected six large enemy ships heading west in battle columns, and two small ships are rushing towards our 'Fearless' and 'Immortal'!" ”

Another British staff officer frowned and said in a deep voice: "They are going to launch a torpedo attack on 'Fearless' and 'Immortal'!" ”

After being beaten in the face and slashed on the head, the two British light cruisers were basically in a half-dead state, and they would definitely not be able to outrun the two intact Allied light ships, so the plan for now was to use searchlights or flares to light up the attackers and use the artillery fire of the ships behind them to drive them away, but once the "Howe" and its entourage opened fire, the cannon flames would become the aiming reference for those Allied heavy cruisers, and then they would be fiercely attacked.

Quickly reviewing the battlefield situation and weighing the pros and cons, Chatfield ordered flares to be fired at the enemy heavy patrol formations and light ship formations that were operating separately, and used searchlights to radio notify the approaching enemy ships such as "Fearless" and "Immortal".

Using the radar to detect the direction of the target, the first round of flares fired by the American and British ships reflected the outline of the enemy ship, and the six Allied heavy cruisers were at a distance of 8,000 meters, while the two Allied light ships were at a position of about 6,000 meters. The "Howe" immediately fired a round and a half salvo at the enemy heavy cruiser with its main guns, and the two heavy cruisers and two light cruisers accompanying it opened fire on the enemy light cruiser. Although the victory in the Battle of Jutland allowed the German Navy to conduct night combat research and training with greater enthusiasm after the war, the results were also not obvious. In fact, unless rigorous night combat drills are carried out in an almost paranoid manner, the only way to break through the visual constraints is to develop radar fire control technology.

The two US-British heavy cruisers opened fire in succession, and the northern sea rose like a column of water, and the two Allied light cruisers, the German light cruiser "Storth" and the Irish light cruiser "Gower-Mona," immediately evaded it with high-speed maneuvering. At this time, the two British light cruisers were not fully under control, and the open flames and thick smoke guided the attackers to approach. At a distance of about 2,000 meters from the target, the German and Ai light cruisers fired the first wave of torpedoes on the port side, and then turned quickly at about 1,500 meters and fired the second wave of torpedoes from the starboard side, and a full 24 533 mm torpedoes sped towards the two British light cruisers, either of which could easily sink the British battleships that had been damaged in battle!

At the critical moment, the two British light cruisers desperately avoided on the one hand, and launched blocking shots with all the weapons they could use, coupled with the continuous artillery fire of the ships in the rear, the sea suddenly rolled and almost boiled, but all of this did not stop the torpedo attacks of the two Allied warships, and the 5,500-ton British light cruiser "Fearless" was hit by a mine in the stern, and the powerful explosion instantly destroyed its power system, and the next efforts of the crew were only to slow down its sinking speed.

Another British light cruiser "Immortal" was much more fortunate than its companions, it dodged all the torpedoes flying on the sea without danger, and the fire on the ship was completely extinguished after more than ten minutes, but the short exchange of fire directly caused 32 people to be killed and 63 injured, and then 7 crew members were killed in the process of damage management and rescue, the communication lines and precision instruments on the ship were all damaged, and only less than half of the weapons could still operate normally, plus a large amount of water in the watertight compartment, the maximum speed was sharply reduced to 20 knots. Such a state of affairs is completely unsuitable for further combat.

Seeing that the enemy light cruiser formation had succeeded, Chatfield was annoyed but could not do anything, and to his horror, the six Allied heavy cruisers had completed their tactical adjustments, and according to the radar detection, they were attacking the left flank of the American and British fleets from the northwest in a single goose-shaped array.

Recently, Chatfield has experienced the pain of the former commander of the main fleet of the United States and Britain, Shandley, and a series of defeats caused by errors in judgment made him anxious and haggard, but he is a veteran of the navy who has seen the big battles, and followed the "lion" David Betty to experience the baptism of the Battle of Jutland and the Second Battle of Flanders, and knows what it means to be unfazed and not chaotic. He decisively ordered the accompanying light ships to cease fire, made every effort to deal with the threat from the left flank, and used the "Howe" as a beacon on the battlefield - only when the enemy ships approached to 5,000 meters, the British battle cruiser immediately turned on 7 of the 9 120cm searchlights (two of which were located on the right side of the bridge and could not illuminate the port direction), and the 7 strong lights instantly illuminated the northwest waters of the American and British fleets, and the shadows of those Allied heavy cruisers then entered the field of vision of the shooting control personnel, and it only took more than ten seconds. A group of firing Zhu Yuanbai was passed from the firing control room to the main gun battle positions.

"What the hell, they're all standard military salute grades?" The Admiral beside Chatfield exclaimed softly, and then he muttered to himself, "Damn, Joachim wants to crush us with his triumph as proof that he is the best ship-building expert on the planet?" ”

Chatfield ignored the colonel's speculation, and silently observed the shadows of the ships in the distant sea. In fact, there was an "alternative" among the six Allied heavy cruisers, that is, the "Friedrich Karl" belonging to the German Adalbert class. This class is often regarded as a close relative of the standard military salute class, with a difference of only 500 tons in displacement. Compared with the standard military salute class, the Adalbert class has reduced the aspect ratio of the hull, simplified the protection design, and still uses the Krupp 55 times diameter 203 mm gun with mature technology and excellent performance, thereby reducing the construction cost and facilitating large-scale streamlined construction. Its main gun adopts a triple configuration, with two main turrets in front and one in the rear, which correspondingly increases the aggressiveness, so it is more in line with the strategic situation of the German Navy. By the outbreak of the war, the German Navy had built a total of 4 standard military cruisers and 6 Adalbert class, and among the 16 heavy cruisers planned to be built during the war, 12 were of the improved Adalbert class, which shows the German Navy's recognition of this class of heavy cruisers.

In the interval between turning on the searchlight and the sound of the cannons, it was only forty or fifty seconds, and the most basic combat qualities of the officers and men of the American and British navies were satisfactory, but Chatfield was very unhappy to see that the silhouette of the enemy heavy cruisers changed before the shells fell, which showed that they changed course very quickly, and this was the most obvious advantage of the heavy cruisers over the battle cruisers and battleships.

From Chatfield's point of view, the impact point of the main gun of the "Howe" seemed to be very close to the target, but the report from the firing control command room showed that the deviation of the first half salvo from the enemy fleet was four or five hundred meters, that is, they did not even touch the opponent's hair. As for the four winged ships that joined the bombardment -- the British heavy cruiser "Shropshire," the American heavy cruiser "Houston," and the American light cruisers "Santa Fe" and "Miami," the results of the night artillery battles were mixed, and some shells even landed on the side of the enemy ships in the first round of shelling.

Since the "Howe" had taken the initiative to expose its position, the Allied heavy patrol formation could complete the artillery observation and ranging without the use of flares or searchlights. By the time the U.S. and British fleets fired a second round of artillery fire, they also began to shoot. From day warfare to night warfare, the difficulty of observing and judging the impact point of the bomb through optical instruments increased sharply, and the six Allied heavy cruisers simply gave up the tentative adjustment of the half-salvo fire, and directly sent the ferocious main guns to fire three rounds in tandem, and the shells that rained down stirred up a column of water on the sea around the US and British fleets, which invisibly caused great psychological pressure on the US and British officers and men on the battlefield.

In order to improve the accuracy of his shooting, Chatfield slowed down his fleet slightly, and his opponent was clearly doing the opposite. After three rounds of rapid fire, the six Allied heavy cruisers turned again, and although the firing commanders of the American and British fleets tried their best, they still could not keep up with the opponent's snake dance, and to make matters worse, the radar found that the two Allied light cruisers acting alone took advantage of the exchange of fire between the two sides to detour back to the right flank, and could not determine whether they had the ability to quickly reload torpedoes on the battlefield, so they had to distract themselves to deal with the threat on this side.

(End of chapter)