Southwest of Portsmouth Harbour, in the waters of the English Channel. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

For thousands of years, this strait, which was neither too wide nor too narrow, built a unique barrier for the Anglo-Saxons, except for the failure to prevent the invasion of the Romans and the attacks of Vikings, it helped the island nation with limited manpower to defuse almost all foreign threats, and thus determined the survival and development model of Britain.

On the rough sea, a brand-new lead-gray battleship, a seven-eighty-new light-gray battleship, and two medium-sized cruisers sailed in a straight course. With the exception of the second ship, which flew the German Black Hawk Iron Cross naval flag, the other three ships all had the St. George Cross flag flying on their masts. A flock of white ship-shaped floats can be seen in the sea in the far right foreground, and their outline in the telescope resembles a fleet sailing in the shape of a geese-shaped battle formation, which is actually some old ships and wooden floats.

Boom...... Boom...... Boom......

A thunderous roar suddenly rang out, and the lead gray battleship was filled with fire, and the gushing gray-black smoke filled its entire starboard side, and this scene made people suddenly return to the era of sail warships fighting on the side of the ship. Although the number of guns on the lead-gray battleships was far less than that of the sail ships with breech guns, the destructive power was ten or a hundred times greater than that of their predecessors.

In just a few seconds, eight 12-inch naval guns mounted in a twin mounted system in the huge main turret opened fire one after another, and the majesty of the sound had never been seen in the previous single-ship shooting. Moments later, the whistling of heavy shells breaking through the air and falling brought a sharp and stimulating sense of hearing, and the rising columns of water on the sea instantly formed a fence without crossbars—a direct expression of the ship's might, and it is no wonder that British naval officers who had witnessed the Intrepid before hailed it as a revolutionary advance for the main warship.

On the German battleship "Alsace", about a kilometer behind the British "Dreadnought", officers, naval officers and engineers were all engrossed in observing the shocking shelling of the British all-heavy gun battleship. Putting aside the difference in caliber between the British ship's 12-inch guns and the ship's 11-inch guns, the "Alsace" had only four main guns, and the firepower output of the main gun salvo was only half of the former, and the firepower density was directly related to the combat hit rate, and there was obviously a multiplier gap in the combat effect of the fleet's artillery battle. The only consolation is that the Brunswick-class 40x gun has a maximum range of 18,830 meters, which is farther than the British battleships built at the same time, and is not inferior to the new naval guns equipped with the intrepid.

The earliest exchange of gunnery between the British and German navies began during the Bismarck period, but this had nothing to do with the brilliant political skills of the "Iron Prime Minister", and it was initially purely the result of the efforts of the naval personnel of the two countries to develop and consolidate friendship, just as the British Navy must send ships to the Kiel Harbor Festival and German ships to visit Britain every year. In this resumption of artillery exchanges, which had been interrupted for three years, the British side only made some minor adjustments to the original mode of exchange, and the German side did not feel that it was inappropriate. After the formation of the Dreadnought, the Alsace, and the British cruisers to carry the officials of the German Prince Heinrich and the British Admiral Mountbatten left the port, the fourth unplanned British cruiser entered the spectator position, which made Natsuki start to worry about the real intentions of the British in arranging all this, and he felt that the British cruiser was probably carrying some special people.

Natsuki lowered his head and pinched the seconds, and 55 seconds after the first round of artillery fire, a second deafening roar came from the Dreadnought. Next, it was the turn of the "Alsace" to conduct live firing from approximately the same position.

"That's not right!"

Xia Shu's cold voice made the officers in the command tower who were busy preparing for shooting instantly "froze" their movements, and the naval officers and engineers present also turned their heads to each other.

"We were calculated by the British!"

Natsuki said to Captain Reinhardt-Scher, and at the same time did not shy away from everyone present.

"The purpose of this artillery exchange was to demonstrate the great superiority of the Dreadnought over the Alsace. Although this advantage existed objectively, it would prove the strength of the new British warships while proving the strength of the new British warships, and it would certainly greatly detract from the image and reputation of the German Navy. ”

Hearing Natsuki's words, Scheer frowned, his expression already indicating his deep concern about this speculation. At the moment, it was impossible to temporarily withdraw from the artillery exchange, and with two minutes to go before the Alsace arrived at the firing position, they had little time to properly consider countermeasures.

Just when many people still had no clue, Natsuki suggested to Scheer: "We can't lose to our opponents, let the secondary artillery also join the shooting, and have a 30-second rapid fire on the single side!" ”

A few seconds later, Scheer's frowning brows suddenly relaxed, and his deep eyes instantly bloomed, he looked at Xia Shu, and ordered very firmly and loudly: "The second-level artillery is loaded with live ammunition, the firing command is ready, and the first-level and second-level guns will conduct rapid fire on the starboard side for 30 seconds!" First mate, the battleship turns continuously - 10 degrees to the right with full rudders, and then immediately 25 degrees to the left with full rudders, execute! ”

With a rumbling roar, the second salvo of the Dreadnought launched a column of water in the distant sea. In Natsuki's view, the two salvos of British battleships destroyed no matter how many target ships they destroyed, and such a dense and fierce artillery fire was bound to leave an extremely deep impression on the first viewer, and the resulting psychological shock was even more powerful than the actual power.

As soon as the captain's order was given, the hundreds of officers and men on the Alsace sprang into action like a sophisticated machine. Driven by the massive rudders, the 10,000-ton battleship began to turn rapidly, its razor-sharp bow cutting through the waves, and the sound of the rapids could be heard on the foredeck as loudly as the sound of a waterfall.

At the same time, another rattling sound was heard near the ship's twin main turret and secondary guns, with the barrels of the 283 mm main gun and 170 mm secondary guns constantly raised to the maximum elevation angle, making the battleship look like an angry hedgehog, and in the firing command room above the command tower, experienced officers were calculating the firing parameters as quickly as possible.

"Full rudder right turn 10 degrees completed, now full rudder left turn!" The first mate made a report with an uncompromising shout, and the state of full immersion brought the people into a realistic fighting atmosphere.

Immediately after, the report of the shooting commander came from the tube microphone. The combat staff officer of the same rank and rank as Natsuki loudly relayed: "The real-time orientation of the target...... 029 forward on the starboard side, 10800 at a distance! ”

Reinhart. Scheer calmly ordered: "All first-class guns and starboard second-class guns 30 seconds rapid fire!" ”

In the shooting command room, the major officer with a short beard squinted his eyes, he quickly opened the covers of all the microphones, and quickly reported the shooting parameters: "The vertical firing angle of the front and rear main guns is 015, the horizontal firing angle of the front main gun is 030, and the horizontal firing angle of the rear main gun is 210; Starboard 2nd class gun has a vertical firing angle of 018, a horizontal firing angle of 030, and a rapid-fire ...... for 30 seconds Prepare ......"

The atmosphere froze, the sound of waterfall was heard again on the empty foredeck, the bow moved rapidly to the left from the starboard side of the Dreadnought, and when the proudly erected bow flagpole crossed the port side of the Dreadnought, the heralds in the turrets and gun frames heard a sonorous and powerful command from the microphones: "Shoot!" ”

"Shoot!"

The two main turret heralds and the seven secondary gun heralds made this unmistakable communication to their comrades in charge of the guns at about the same time.

Rumble...... Rumble...... Rumble......

The starboard side of the Alsace was thundering, and after a flash of light, a thick gray smoke erupted from the muzzle, which spread with the wind, eventually forming a ribbon of smoke behind the ship.

The so-called 30-second rapid-fire is the designated gun position to fire at the fastest speed according to the same firing parameters within half a minute, on the Alsace, the main gun fire rate is 15-20 seconds per round, two shots can be guaranteed in half a minute, and the second gun fire speed is 8-10 seconds per round, at least four shots in half a minute.

The first round of fire was followed by a second roar from the starboard secondary guns located in the gun shaft, and a little later a second roar from the four main guns of the two main turrets, and almost at the same time, the starboard secondary guns roared a third time, followed by a fourth. As a result, the Alsace fired a total of 36 shells at targets 10,000 meters away in half a minute - 8 for the main guns and 28 for the main guns, which was far more than the two salvos fired by the Dreadnought in one minute, and the roar of the guns and the whistling of the shells sounded no less impressive. As for the destructive power of live fire, the accurate judgment of the firing commander clearly played a key role, large and small shells fell around the target, and one of them hit the target directly.

Seeing such a result, the officers in the Alsace Command Tower all breathed a sigh of relief. Captain Scheer turned his head to look at the prominent staff officer, and Natsuki also turned his head to look at Scheer, who had not yet become famous at this time, and their eyes were not only pleased with the outstanding performance of all the officers and men of the ship, but also appreciated and recognized each other: at the critical moment, under heavy pressure, one of them came up with a brilliant suggestion, and the other made a wise decision to resolve this sudden crisis together. Although the shooting of the Alsace did not conform to the gunnery exchange plan formulated by the British side, it did not create irreconcilable contradictions, and it defended the honor of the German Navy on the scene. However, those who have insight can see the situation of this artillery exchange very clearly: no matter how good it is, it is not enough to go against the trend of technological development, and the appearance of all-heavy gun battleships heralds the dawn of a new era of naval warfare, and at the same time announces that battleships with traditional designs, even if they cost huge sums of money and have specialties in some areas, are all outdated almost overnight.

(End of chapter)