Chapter 688: Peak Duel (Medium)

Since the retirement of the Kaiser's brother, Prince Heinrich, and the departure of the Kaiser's youngest son, His Royal Highness Joachim, from the German Navy, Wilhelm August von August, as the second heir to the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg, has been regarded as the outstanding representative of the German imperial family in the naval circles. During the First World War, this brave and warlike commander served as the captain of the new light cruiser "Grindenz", and became famous in the Second Battle of Flanders, and then rose to prominence, at the end of the war has been promoted to the rank www.biquge.info of brigadier general, transferred from the light ship force to the main fleet service, soon served as the captain of the new battle cruiser "Hindenburg", in 1926 promoted to vice admiral, as commander of the second reconnaissance fleet of the German high seas fleet, Four years later, he served as commander of the German Atlantic Fleet, a position he held until the outbreak of World War II.

In the waters northeast of Flores Island, the determined and ambitious William August met a fierce enemy from the British, Vice Admiral Dudley Pound, who gave the Grace "Cunning Old Badger", who had been the captain of the British Navy's capital ship "Giant" during the previous war, and who had crossed paths with William Auguste on the battlefield. Although Britain lost the war and the country's prestige plummeted from the peak, Dudley Pound's performance was still remarkable, and after the retirement of a number of veterans such as Jericho, Weems, Jackson, and Bullock, the "post-70s" generals represented by Chatfield, Pound, and Buckhouse have become the mainstay of the new generation of the Royal Navy.

Nearly 20 years after the war, the development of military aviation technology is more rapid than the traditional land and naval warfare weapons, many people realize that the value of aircraft carriers and carrier-based aviation in naval strategy is increasing day by day, but the almost crazy "obsession" of the great powers on battleships and battlecruisers makes many people still regard heavy artillery warships as the decisive force for victory or defeat at sea, so every country's navy has a battleship faction and an aircraft carrier faction, the difference is which faction is relatively dominant, in Ireland, the aircraft carrier faction is undoubtedly the orthodox mainstream, and in Germany, The United States, Great Britain, and Japan are very active in the aircraft carrier faction, but in general, the battleship faction is more marketable.

In terms of strategic leanings, William August and Dudley Pound both belong to the battleship faction, but in this simmering naval battle, the former has the advantage of having a medium aircraft carrier to support him, while the latter can expect another small group of two Admiral-class battlecruisers to arrive on the battlefield at a critical moment.

The German fleet sailed ahead, and the experienced William August knew how to turn this situation into the initiative on the battlefield, and after making the decision to meet the battle, he did not let the fleet turn directly to meet the opponent, but led the fleet to turn sharply to the south, and when the British fleet adjusted its course accordingly, he ordered the fleet to turn continuously and circled around the sea, in order to seize the T-shaped head in front of the British fleet - this is the most classic and effective fleet tactic in the era of giant ships and cannons, The side that is able to fully exert the firepower of the main gun will gain an advantage in the battle.

Through continuous reconnaissance by seaplanes, Dudley Pound maintained a clear understanding of the movements of the enemy fleet, how could he allow his opponent to easily seize the T-shape? Before engaging the enemy, the British fleet turned four times to track the enemy fleet while avoiding a sudden shortfall in the distance between the two sides, thus ensuring sufficient tactical maneuver space.

The Germans always put themselves in a position where they could advance or retreat, the British followed in no hurry, and neither side sent their wingmen to carry out fire reconnaissance, except for the ship's water reconnaissance planes.

In this delicate confrontation, the officers and soldiers of both sides ushered in the sunrise of a new day, but neither of them had the heart to admire the beauty of nature. Such a stalemate would be a great risk for both sides - the British were afraid of the German air forces deployed on Flores Island and the German aircraft carriers that had not yet appeared, and the Germans were worried about the enemy's reinforcements coming to kill them, so as time went on, the mentality of the commanders on both sides quietly changed. The distance between the two fleets slowly narrowed, from the naked eye to the distance, the German fleet suddenly exerted force, and the ships turned as a whole at high speed, and when the British fleet adjusted accordingly, the Germans had already set up a posture at a position of 20,000 meters: two Earl Tirpitz battlecruisers entered the standard port side to meet the enemy, two light cruisers were in the sea area on the left side of their battle cruisers, so as to confuse the enemy's ranging in the battle, and the other three destroyers followed closely behind the light cruisers, You can attack or defend at any time with high speed.

In the previous confrontation, the British fleet saw the move, fully demonstrated the maturity and calmness of the commander Dudley Pound and the excellent technical literacy of the officers and men of the fleet, and the sudden change in the situation in the last few minutes showed the cunning and acumen of William August, although the German fleet failed to seize the T-shape, but firmly grasped the opportunity in the timing of the attack, considering the traditional advantages of German battleships in optical ranging and ammunition technology, such an opportunity is likely to become the key to open the door to victory!

It was dawn, the enemy ships were in sight, and there was no need for the Germans to continue to maintain radio silence.

In the firing command room of the Count Tirpitz and Prince Heinrich, the technical officers in charge of radio communications were busy with the radio, which was not a backup means of communication on board, but had a special technical purpose.

In the past fleet artillery battles, each ship usually observed and aimed at each ship, and the firing effect depended on the performance of the firing command department of each ship. Foreseeing that the distance of the armillary artillery battle would become farther and farther, the German Navy's gunnery experts created a new set of tactical theories -- in a long-distance battle between the fleets, if there is not much difference in strength between the two sides, it is not necessary to stick to the previous one-on-one heads-up mode, and two or three warships can be arranged to attack one of the enemy's warships, so as to form a local advantage, severely damage or sink one and then deal with the next, and finally disintegrate the combat effectiveness of the enemy fleet. Throughout history, the British Navy has long been aware of the advantages of this tactic, and has tried in the Battle of Jutland and the Battle of the Faroe Islands in the north, although both naval battles ended in the defeat of the British fleet, the German officers who are good at learning and summarizing have discovered the potential value of this tactic, and after repeated research and delay, they have figured out the mystery, and the solution to the problem is to adopt the so-called "many-in-one tactic" to transform the numerical superiority of warships and firepower into attack efficiency. Through extensive live-fire exercises, the German Navy was confident that their "many-in-one tactics" could increase firing efficiency by more than 50 percent......

"Yes, sir, concentrate your fire on the enemy's lead ship!"

In the firing command room of the "Count Tirpitz", the firing commander received a clear instruction from the combat bridge, and on the one hand, he arranged for the officers to measure the range and calculate the shooting elements, and on the other hand, he ordered the communications officer to use radio to contact the firing command room of the "Prince Heinrich", and the two sides reported their respective ranging and calculation results. The first set of correction data was obtained, which was used to carry out the second round of alternate firing, and the projectile point approached the target and quickly switched to a full-fire salvo.

"All the main guns, the firing direction angle is 277 degrees, the elevation angle is 028 degrees 30 minutes, the left and right alternate firing rounds, the armor-piercing shells are reloaded......"

The sonorous command of the firing commander was transmitted to the main turrets through the communication lines in the ship, and the gunners adjusted the firing angle and loaded ammunition according to the standard range, and the eight 50 times the diameter of the 16-inch main gun proudly raised their muzzles, and the thick barrels almost reached the maximum elevation angle. With the order to "open fire" was issued, four of the main guns instantly let out an earth-shattering roar, and then the "Prince Heinrich", located 300 meters behind the "Count Tirpitz", also roared in unison with half of the main guns.

The roar of the loud heavy artillery still echoed on the sea, and the officers and men of the German ships cast their eyes to the far end of the sea, and the enemy ships were only a group of hazy black shadows in the eyes of the naked eye.

Witnessing such a scene, ordinary sailors were either enthusiastic or full of emotion, and in the firing command room of the two German battle cruisers, the officers were almost busy with spinning tops. Every minute and every second on the battlefield is worth cherishing, and the main artillery firing is an extremely demanding job, which cannot tolerate negligence at any point, and only those who are proficient in artillery skills are qualified to do it. Although the mechanical shot control calculator can greatly improve the calculation speed, it is still in a relatively primitive stage and still requires a lot of manual calculations as an aid.

The British fleet adjusted its course slightly later than its opponents, and despite the full efforts of the officers and sailors on board, the two Admiral-class battlecruisers were still a beat slower than the Germans in completing their firing preparations. When the orange cannon flame flashed for the second time on the two German battle cruisers, the flagship "Hood" hurriedly fired the first round of fire - because it was equipped with three triple guns, its rotation firing fired three rounds each time, which could save a lot of ammunition in the test firing and adjustment stage, and in the salvo stage, it could burst out with dense and powerful firepower, and it had a significant advantage over the twin main guns in terms of fire output and impact point concentration, but the triple main guns were by no means flawless, and the cautious and shrewd Germans have been able to upgrade the caliber of the naval guns to 12 inches. It is back to the route of the double-mounted main gun, because the triple-mounted main gun has a lot of hidden dangers in terms of protection, survival and mechanical reliability. Dramatically, since the Queen Elizabeth-class battleships, the British have used triple guns on all their capital ships, but despite being equipped with an American-style semi-automatic reloading system and naval guns of the same caliber, the British Navy's rate of fire is still inferior to that of its old rivals.

(End of chapter)