"Look at that, our battlecruisers!"

"They look so pretty!"

"Are you going to copy the enemy's back path?"

"Naval warfare also has a tactic of taking a back road? I've heard of 'T' prefixes and wrestling duels. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ”

"I think it's a two-sided attack."

"Look, they're firing again, they're shooting neatly, it's spectacular!"

"Aha, hit, you see, hit an enemy ship, the third ship from left to right, it caught fire and smoked, our fleet hit really accurately! Awesome! ”

"Ho...... The enemy's shells were also very close to our battleships, and the fire seemed to be fiercer than ours! ”

"There is no way, the enemy has many more warships than us, and it is not easy to win this naval battle...... Come on, German Navy! ”

"The German Navy will win!"

"Germany will win!"

……

At a position in the northeastern corner of the island of São Miguel, young soldiers belonging to the 449th Infantry Regiment of the German Army chattered as they watched the battle at sea. In the line of sight, three slender and towering German battle cruisers headed north at high speed in a standard one-line column, they concentrated their main gun fire on the starboard side, fiercely bombarded the American and British ships 20,000 meters away, and quickly achieved a hit, but the capital ships in the rear of the American and British fleets were the British Navy's Great Britain-class and Sovereign-class battleships, they were rough and thick-skinned, fierce firepower, and there seemed to be no big problem with a few large-caliber armor-piercing shells, they looked a little clumsy, but the main gun shooting was not dull at all, and several rounds of salvos came down, He has made his opponent feel his power unmistakably.

At this moment, in the battle bridge of the German battlecruiser "Mackensen", Vice Admiral Max Bastian, known to his colleagues as "Hipper II", is standing in a commanding position. The German cruiser's arrival from the north side of the island of San Miguel, with three Mackensen-class ships as the main force, was a handsome and handsome scene, but in fact it was a sword attack and a dangerous victory, because the enemy in front of them was far more ferocious than the British home fleet that had fought in Jutland in 1914 - the British capital ships were equipped with 12 inches and 13 inches in the Battle of Jutland. The 5-inch gun did not possess the terrible power of a fatal blow to the German battle cruiser, as evidenced by the combat experience of the "De Fllinger"; By 1933, the 50-fold diameter 16-inch guns used by the main warships of the United States and Britain had reached the level of technical perfection, and they were able to deliver 1-ton armor-piercing shells at a speed of 853 meters per second to twenty or thirty kilometers away, and their muzzle kinetic energy was 142% of that of the German-made 15-inch naval guns. Since the Mackensen-class protective armor can only barely withstand the attack of a 50-caliber 15-inch gun, it is very likely that a 16-inch armor-piercing shell will directly penetrate its waterline armor, and when the shell is fired at a large angle, the Mackensen-class horizontal armor is even more powerless to resist.

The battle between a battlecruiser and a battleship was never a direct PK of firepower and protection. Every three or four minutes, Bastian would give a new turn command to his battle patrol formation, and in long-range artillery battles, the frequent maneuvers of the battleships were undoubtedly a great headache for the shooting commanders. The enemy needs to observe the range again and again and then adjust the shooting parameters, and the own shooting commander also needs to repeat these procedures, there are no shortcuts.

"Three shots are close, five shots are crossed, and the closest shot to the impact point is about 30 meters away from the target, which is already very good."

Hearing the staff officer's comment on the "Mackensen" just fired a salvo, the captain of the ship, Colonel Gautier, did not have a trace of pleasure, but a hint of an elusive smile appeared on the corner of Bastian's mouth.

"This is not live-fire training, the accuracy is good, the hit is the score, the sink is the victory. Understand, Mr. Major? ”

The staff officer suddenly looked ashamed: "Yes, sir, I understand!" ”

Then Bastian threw him a meaningful remark: "Pray instead of expecting." ”

At a short interval of 60 seconds, the eight 15-inch guns of the "Mackensen" fired a salvo again, and the eight armor-piercing shells crossed a distance of more than 22,000 meters, two were close, four crossed, and two hit the target impartially. It was a behemoth with a standard displacement of 45,000 tons, which was 9,000 tons more than the Mackensen-class - the Britannia-class battleship "Saxon" of the British Navy!

Regardless of tonnage, size, armament, power or cost, the Britannia-class is a well-deserved epoch-making work, but what makes the British ashamed to say is that their local shipyards do not have the conditions to build this kind of super battleship, so three of the four Britannia-class are built in the United States and one is built in Canada, and the "American gene" on the battleship accounts for more than 40%, which can be said to be a hybrid of the American and British shipbuilding industry. This is not a bad thing for the battleship itself, considering that the United States has been ahead of European countries in large-caliber artillery and armor steel technology since the early 20th century, while the British mechanical fire control and marine technology have been leading the way. It is precisely because of the combination of the strengths of the two schools that the Britannia-class was named the "strongest battleship" when it was completed and put into service, which directly prompted the Germans to build the 54,000-ton Germania class when the technology was not fully mature.

The "strongest battleship" is indeed unprecedented on paper, but the Britannia-class is by no means an unsinkable ship or an invincible battleship. The day before, the US and British fleets were bombed indiscriminately by Allied aircraft groups, and the Britannica-class No. 4 ship "Judt" was seriously damaged by enemy aerial bombs, and the two main turrets could not work normally, and more than 4,000 tons of seawater were poured into order to keep the ammunition depot and maintain the balance of the ship's hull, and the number of casualties was close to a quarter of the crew, and the condition of the retreat was very embarrassing. Now, the two armor-piercing shells of the "Mackensen" almost caused the third ship "Saxon" to follow in the footsteps of the friendly ship "Hood" - one of the 15-inch armor-piercing shells actually penetrated the top armor of the rear main turret, and the explosion instantly killed the 94 crew members working in the turret****** Will turn the "Saxon" into a giant powder keg in a matter of seconds.

Another 15-inch armor-piercing projectile that hit the Saxon hit the outside of the conning tower, but failed to penetrate the armor, killing and wounding more than thirty British sailors in an open anti-aircraft gun position. The sight of the flames and billowing smoke at the back of the British ship, the Allied combatants on the sea and the spectators on the island of San Miguel cheered, and although not many people took it for granted that the British battleship was finished, the scene still greatly encouraged the officers and men of every German battlecruiser to see that a formidable enemy could also be defeated.

In the midst of a crowd of jubilant officers, Bastian maintained his graceful coldness. The Mackensen's blow to destroy the rear main turret of the Saxon was a stroke of luck, the British battleship's power and chain of command did not appear to have been seriously damaged, and in addition to the Saxon, two Britannica-class and one Sovereign-class battleships locked their fire on the German battlecruisers, while the remaining eight American-British battleships went all out against seven German battleships - the American and British fleets maintained a numerical superiority of one capital ship on both fronts, The battle situation on the sea is still in their favor.

Since his own battle patrol formation entered the battlefield, the pressure on the main fleet under the direct command of Beinke has been reduced a lot, but after half an hour of artillery battle, his battleship group still suffered considerable losses, and the flagship "Deutschland", "Hanover", "Hesse", and "Saxony" are all emitting black smoke, and the "Saxony" is particularly seriously injured. The Bavaria-class battleship was built with an unrivalled protection system and was a first-class capital ship capable of surpassing the British Queen Elizabeth class and the American New Mexico class. The precipitation of time did not make the Bavarian class an immortal classic, but gradually made it a reference for measuring the combat effectiveness of the new capital ships, the German class was built according to the standard of twice the combat power of the Bavarian class, and the Germania class on the slipway will reach three times this standard!

Three large-caliber shells were fired in succession, the "Saxony" lost one main turret, the waterline armor was pierced in one place, and half of the starboard secondary guns were destroyed, so that it could not withdraw from the battle, and in the first half of the artillery battle, the Bavaria-class battleship contributed two hits and several close misses, successfully damaging the opposite Colorado-class battleship.

According to the current trend, the battle between the two main fleets is likely to result in a defeat for both sides, but these 22 capital ships are not all of the battlefield, and the light ships on both sides are eager to try, ready to seize the opportunity to deliver a beautiful torpedo strike to the enemy. However, it is the "off-the-field factors" that really determine the direction of this naval battle. Fighter planes from Allied aircraft carriers and the field airfield on San Miguel Island launched air strikes on the US and British fleets again and again, and the aerial bombs that fell from the sky and the aerial torpedoes that jumped into the water made the US and British officers and men more worried than artillery shells.

At the end of another round of heavy air raids, the British-class battleship "Angla" was lame, the Queen Elizabeth-class battleship "Malaya" was half-disabled, the Colorado-class battleship "West Virginia" was badly burned, while the heavy cruiser "Minneapolis" that was torpedoed was sinking, and the destroyer "Peteritz" and its entire crew had disappeared from the sea...... These losses significantly suppressed the momentum of the U.S. and British fleets, and also made them more and more passive tactically. The German battle patrol formation, which was moving at high speed, quickly seized the weakness of the "Angreo" and concentrated the firepower of the three ships to attack it, but fortunately, the protection design of the Britannica-class battleships withstood the severe test, otherwise, the American and British fleets would have completely lost their advantage in this naval battle.

In the situation of being passively beaten, US Admiral Standley, who was transferred to the "Indiana" to continue commanding the operation, had no intention of retreating, and this not only puzzled the opponent, but also puzzled many US and British officers and men. The mystery was soon solved—Allied planes spotted the lost U.S. and British Battlecruisers and two North Carolina-class ships thirty nautical miles east of São Miguel, intercepting the retreat of the Allied fleet to Europe and having enough strength to block the forced assault of the Allied fleet.

The tide of battle turned sharply, and Admiral Beinke was undoubtedly the most psychologically stressed, but instead of fidgeting and restless, he asked his adjutant to bring him a cup of black coffee without adding anything, sipping it one sip at a time, and letting the bitter and mellow taste pass through his mouth.

At the time of a cup of coffee, the fate of the entire Allied fleet, Admiral Beinke's expression became extremely solemn, and then he began to issue a new combat order -- land-based fighters continued to attack the main fleet of the United States and Britain in front of him, aircraft carriers and carrier-based aircraft attacked the American and British battleships coming from the east, the German battleship group moved towards the south shore of São Miguel Island while fighting, and the battle patrol formation sailed back to the north of São Miguel Island.

The pressure from the German battleship group was slightly reduced, and the main fleet of the United States and Britain responded as quickly as a spring, and the Britannica-class and South Dakota-class, which were fast, went westward at full speed, and in the process of marching, they turned into a column and bombarded the German battle patrol formation with heavy artillery fire. In the process, the accompanying American and British destroyers launched a torpedo charge against the Allied fleet, but they failed to achieve substantial results due to the intensive fire of enemy ships and shore guns, and only delayed the movement of the German battleship group with torpedoes.

On the other hand, the aircraft carriers of the Central Powers launched an almost frenzied attack on the enemy's rapid formation that outflanked the rear route, but the hard fighting for several days dulled this originally extremely sharp combat knife, and the American and British navies accumulated valuable experience and skills in the brutal battles. Sinking an insignificant American destroyer.

At about 10 o'clock in the morning, the U.S. and British express fleets copied from East Bread arrived at the battlefield, and the 18-inch heavy guns of the battleships "North Carolina," "Assault," and the "Constitution" began to roar loudly, while the capital ships of the Allied fleet had all retreated to the waters off the coast of San Miguel Island. The defenders laid more than 1,000 anchor mines, creating defensive minefields to prevent enemy ships from approaching. From the experience of the Battle of Texel Island, it is impossible to prevent the enemy from launching a landing operation by relying on mines alone, but these mines can play a subtle but important role in the current situation.

(End of chapter)