"Sir, the enemy's battleships are firing at our ship!"

The air inside the battleship Veneto also froze, and the Americans actually pressed the right treasure and found the flagship of Rear Admiral Hufoff as soon as they came up!

This is not the time when fire control radars did not appear. www.biquge.info At that time, at a distance of 20,000 kilometers and at night, even if a seaplane dropped a flare, it was difficult for the battleships to hit each other. Now with the help of the fire control radar, there is a salvo of three or five rounds at this distance, how can you shoot a straddle, and there will definitely be a hit within ten rounds......

"What's the distance now?" Major General Hufmeier took a breath and asked loudly.

"27,300 meters!"

Far away, it was theoretically difficult to penetrate Soviet-grade armor, but there was also intelligence that the Soviet-class cut corners during construction and replaced high-strength carburized steel with case-hardened steel. If this information is true, then at 27.3 km, the 381mm cannon of the Veneto class is enough to penetrate the main armor belt of the Soviet class.

"Fire!" Major General Hufmeier no longer waited, "Concentrate your firepower and hit hard!" ”

"Yes!" The gunnery officer answered loudly, then picked up the phone and gave the order to open fire.

Because of the advent of the radar fire control system, ranging and aiming became very easy, and the ranging was completed long before Major General Hufmet gave the order to open fire. Now, with the order to open fire, the 18 381mm cannons in the bow of the three Veneto-class ships on the sea also began to roar at the same time!

"Boom!"

In the flickering flames of the cannons, more than a dozen water columns rose on the sea 27 kilometers away! Due to the distance and the speed at which the three Veneto-class ships fired too fast, none of the 18 shells hit, but the shells were not too far from the Ukrainian.

The three Veneto-class fire control radars quickly picked up the water jets that were raised high, and the three Ar196 seaplanes that had already flown over the Ukraine also dropped flares, enveloping the battleship Ukraine in a white glow.

As soon as Major General Huffmel raised his binoculars to take a closer look, a series of fires flashed in the eyepiece. This is the second salvo of the Ukrainian!

At the thought of 9 powerful 406mm shells flying towards his head, even Huffmel, who had participated in two world wars, couldn't help but gasp.

The decisive battle between battleships is definitely the most nerve-testing thing for fighters, especially since the cannons on both sides are sharp enough to destroy the opponent's battleship armor!

If you have to look for a similar situation in the history of warfare, it is about to be comparable only to the "line of infantry" of the line infantry.

The shells landed a few dozen meters behind the Veneto, much more accurate than the first salvo just now.

It is clear that the straddle shot will soon appear.

As soon as he thought of this, the battleship Veneto shuddered violently again, followed by a loud bang and a flash of fire. Three Veneto-class battleships also fired a second salvo!

Now it's up to us to see who can hit first? May God be behind Germany! Major General Hufmel secretly prayed to God in his heart.

"Straddle shot!"

God did not seem to hear the prayers of Rear Admiral Hufmel, and with only the third salvo, 406mm shells fell around the battleship Veneto.

"Damn it!" Hufmel cursed in his heart, and after the cross-shot, it was a hit!

"Circumvent!" Hufmeier immediately ordered.

He knew that it was only a matter of time before his battleship was hit, and the Americans' big battleship didn't have to run, and another three or four rounds would definitely be hit. Now it's up to us to see if the Veneto can hold on?

So Huffmeier decided to let his battleship stall with S-shaped evasion to stall for time. Of course, evasive maneuvers will affect the accuracy of the Veneto's shooting, but the Vittorio and the Empire are also equipped with state-of-the-art radar control systems that allow them to observe and sight on their own.

"Sir, the goal is to circumvent ......"

Inside the Ukraine, before the voice of the gunners fell, more than a dozen water columns appeared around the battleship.

The Germans also hit a straddle!

"Damn it!" A cold sweat also broke out on Rear Admiral Chandler's forehead, but he had no choice to avoid it, because he only had one battleship, and if he ran an S-shaped course at sea, the main gun aiming would be affected. However, he was not particularly worried, because the Soviet Union had a strong defense!

"Distance?"

"27,000 yards!"

Hearing the Navigator's report, Rear Admiral Chandler's heart beat sharply, and at this distance, the Soviet-class waterline armor could hardly withstand the 381mm shells of the Veneto-class shells.

But...... It shouldn't be a big problem. Chandler knew that the armor of the Soviet-class main gun ammunition depot and the command tower was more than 380mm thick at its thickest, reaching 420mm and 425mm respectively. In addition, inside the hull there are several armored partition walls with a thickness of 180-365mm!

The battleship had a total armor tonnage of 23,306 tons, which is said to be the heaviest in the world at the moment!

"Keep shooting!" Chandler decided to fight his way with the Ukrainian's sturdy armor.

Lady luck quickly favored Chandler and his Ukrainian, and in just the sixth salvo, a 406mm shell from the Ukrainian's main gun slammed into the second turret in the bow of the battleship Veneto. At a distance of 27,000 yards (24.6 km), the 380mm armor on the front of the Veneto-class main gun turret barely reached a 406mm caliber light bullet. However, the violent impact and explosion still caused huge damage to the turret, nearly half of the crew members were killed on the spot, and the rest of the personnel were also bleeding from the mouth and nose and unconscious. One of the three 381mm barrels was blown off by the explosion, leaving only a short section, and the other was also bent upwards and deformed.

This turret has lost the ability to continue fighting!

The "damned German gunner...... found that the Veneto had neither smoked nor exploded after being shot, and knew that the hit shell did not cause fatal damage.

It's a shame that a 406mm shell can't deal with the armor of the Veneto class at a distance of 27,000 yards, how could the Germans make such a bad cannon?

If it were replaced by the American MK7 cannon and the MK8 armor-piercing heavy bomb, the Veneto-class would have been heavily damaged! Why couldn't the U.S. government export the MK7 cannon to the Soviet Union?

Just when Rear Admiral Chandler was complaining about the U.S. government and German munitions, his battleship hit the Veneto again - the Soviet-class light gun layout could improve the accuracy of the hit!

The shell pierced the bow deck of the Veneto and exploded into the sailor's compartment located inside the bow, causing a fire that was not fatal.

The two hits didn't even cause a heavy blow to the opponent! Major General Chandler seems to have heard Lady Luck speaking German! He shook his hands, stretched out his coat pocket, took out a neat handkerchief and wiped the sweat beads on his forehead, and just wanted to stuff the handkerchief back, the huge hull of the Ukraine seemed to have been struck by something, and the stern of the ship was violently pushed to the right, and the people in the command tower suddenly staggered.

Shot!

Major General Chandler, who was holding the handrail to stabilize his body, thought to himself: It doesn't matter, it's still far away, and the 381mm guns of the Veneto class will definitely not be able to hurt the thick armor of the Ukrainian...... The Germans' artillery was not good, but their armor steel was good.

But the desperate bad news followed!

"Sir, the stern was hit, and the armor-piercing shell pierced the armor belt on the outside of the power compartment and exploded outside the boiler compartment, breaking an important steam pipe......"

"How is this possible!?" Major General Chandler shouted in disbelief, "The armor steel on the outside of the power compartment is 375mm thick, and it is a high-strength carburized steel forged with Krupp technology...... Could it be that the Soviets used substandard steel plates in the construction of battleships? ”

Major General Chandler had already guessed a little...... This is most likely a fake super-battleship!

At around 2:20 a.m. on September 7, 1944, when a 381mm shell fired from the battleship Vittorio again pierced the main armor on the port side of the battleship Ukraine and exploded on the deck of the headquarters, Rear Admiral Chandler faithfully recognized the harsh reality that he was commanding a fake super-battleship!

Not only are the nine 406mm guns unworthy of the name, they are not much stronger than the 380mm cannons, but even the armor steel with a thickness of three or four hundred mm is a fake, which was casually pierced by the 381mm Italian guns!

If he could return to the United States alive this time, Major General Chandler would definitely have someone take the thick-looking armor steel to Bath Steel Company to study it and see who was making the fake steel.

At this moment, the huge hull of the battleship Ukraine shook violently again!

Ukraine was shot again!

In the command tower of the battleship Veneto, Rear Admiral Huffmel held the binoculars tightly and stared at the huge battleship that was on fire more than 23,000 meters away, and the excitement in his heart could not be suppressed.

He felt that he was favored by the goddess of victory, so he met a battleship filled with water on the battlefield!

"Boom!"

The battleship under Rear Admiral Hufmeier's feet once again trembled from the fire of three 381mm cannons, and after the cannon sparks flickered through the level, the amidships of the Ukrainian hull 23,000 meters away first burst into flames, and then exploded more violently. With the help of the light of the flares, Huffmel saw a large cloud of white gas burst out of the shell's opening.

Rear Admiral Hufmel, experienced on the battlefield, knew that it was one of the boiler compartments of the enemy ship that was hit.