At 400 meters, the effective combat distance was already exceeded in the era of sail warships with black powder and breech guns, while in the era of giant ship cannons powered by steam engines, such a naval combat distance felt like a face-to-face sword fight, and each hit could inflict fatal injuries and end the battle......

At a distance of about 400 meters from the enemy, the battleship "King", flying the German naval flag, the flagship flag of the fleet, and the admiral's flag, suddenly turned on its searchlight, and the bright beam of light went straight to the British battleship in front of the bow, which was a George V class that the Germans were very familiar with. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 Just over a month before the war, they visited Kiel in formation and were visited by German naval personnel, and the Germans were very impressed by their strong armament and magnificent hull.

The German battleships "Caesar" and "King Albert", which accompanied the "King", drew a gourd, and while turning on the searchlights, the thick black muzzles of the guns pointed at the enemy ships.

The waves were rising and the bow was raised, and the Germans did not have to wait for the waves to recede. I saw the forward main guns of the three German battleships quickly depress the muzzles. In an instant, blazing artillery flames bloomed in front of the muzzles, and the thick smoke quickly dissipated under the searchlights, and the flames of the explosion appeared on the three British battleships opposite.

"Hit the enemy ship!"

In the bridge of the battle ship of the "King", the officers applauded this magnificent scene for all to see, and Natsuki, who had just come down from the observation platform, unhurriedly took off his poncho, brushed his wet hair back, and said to the officers: "Everyone stand firm!" ”

And to use ramming tactics again?

The two collisions between Frederick the Great and the enemy ships did benefit the German fleet, but most of the German officers present could not help but wonder in their hearts: With the abolition of the traditional configuration of the bow ramming angle, the new battleship design focused on naval artillery warfare, and its structural characteristics were not suitable for ramming tactics.

As soon as Natsuki finished speaking, a black object flew at an extremely high speed in the observation window, and then there was a crisp sound of "dang", and the bridge shook suddenly, and the unprepared people couldn't help but stagger.

Natsuki casually walked to the observation window facing the bow, and the British battleship on the opposite side reflected its searchlight, and the entire foredeck of the "King" finally came back into view completely out of the darkness. The two massive main turrets, along with the four thick barrels, remained motionless, but they were actively preparing for the next round of attacks.

Knock knock! Knock knock!

The two sets of war drums were fired at the enemy by the twin secondary guns on either side of the bridge, and the shells that had just hit the bridge were apparently also fired at by the enemy ship's secondary guns—even if the main guns were directly bombarded, even if 13. The 8-inch armor could withstand heavy armor-piercing shells, and the people in the bridge could not have imagined that they could handle it so easily.

Xia Shu picked up the binoculars, in this night when the rain was like an arrow and the wind and waves were high, a number of high-power searchlights barely broke through the natural environment to the line of sight, the outline of the British battleship on the opposite side was clearly recognizable, and the main gun fire of the "King" left a two-square-meter hole in the position of the secondary armor belt on the side of the ship near the bow, and thick black smoke poured out from this hole, but this trauma did not cause a heavy blow to it, and the main guns on the ship were rotating at a visible speed, Efforts can also be seen on the secondary gun emplacements near the bridge.

Knock knock! Knock knock!

The 6-inch secondary guns, which had a maximum rate of fire of 5 rounds per minute, sounded the drums of war again, and the British battleship on the opposite side was hit by two shots, one of which hit the starboard side and destroyed one of the open-air secondary guns, and the other shell hit the bridge and jumped, and the British officers inside must have been taken aback.

In close combat, medium-caliber naval guns can give full play to the advantages of flexible scheduling and rapid loading, which is also the primary consideration for the first and second main gun configuration of former dreadnoughts. In contrast, the observation and aiming adjustment of large-caliber naval guns is much more clumsy. After a long wait, the British battleship directly opposite the "King" turned its front guns completely, and the other British battleship behind it was the first to find the angle of the main gun shot, but its shells from 600 meters away were a little less lucky, and they either landed close to the port side of the "King", or passed between the superstructures of the German battleship in a thrilling way, and finally landed a little further on the starboard side.

"200 meters from the enemy ship!"

In fact, without the need for professional equipment to measure, the distance between the two sides can be observed with the naked eye, and the calculation of the speed time distance can also allow people to obtain more accurate values.

One step further will enter the danger zone of collision with enemy ships at any time, at this moment, Natsuki has no time to figure out how the Kaiser will feel when he sees his beloved battleship unrecognizable, in fact, he does not intend to take these three best battleships of the German Navy to fight the enemy to the death, but plays a heartbeat - to see who has the courage to hold out to the end.

At this time, an officer shouted: "The enemy ship is turning left!" ”

The rest of the group looked intently as the waves swelled in front of the bow of the British battleship directly opposite the King.

Natsuki immediately gave a sonorous order: "Send a signal to Caesar and King Albert, and turn right with 6 compass points!" ”

Although the British battleship had taken the initiative to dodge, before the "King" changed course, the distance between the two sides was still rapidly narrowing, and each other's figures became more and more clear. In this situation where the cannon flame could almost burn the opponent, the rear main gun of the British battleship suddenly let out a deafening roar, and every heart in the bridge of the "King" hung up the moment it saw the opponent's cannon flame......

Boom!

In an instant, the people on the bridge of the "King" really experienced the "deafening" feeling. The loud explosion shook everyone's eardrums and made them feel dizzy. Some people are stunned, their minds are short-circuited, and they don't know where they are living and dying, while others close their eyes tightly and look desperate, waiting for death in advance. In an instant, another huge explosion struck, and the entire battleship shook violently again, which suddenly intensified the fears of the pessimists. Immediately afterwards, the officer who came back to his senses first shouted: "Toxic smoke seeps in, wear a gas mask!" ”

At this time, people did not care where the poisonous smoke seeped into the bridge, the officers quickly opened the emergency storage cabinet, took out the improvised gas masks from it and passed them to each other, the commander of the fleet and the chief of staff naturally belonged to the priority of support, and they firmly grasped the handrail when the explosion occurred, avoiding the embarrassment of losing balance and falling.

"Check the damage!" Natsuki was afraid that people's hearing had not yet returned, so he raised the volume as much as possible.

"Yes!" Someone replied loudly.

Ingnoll said on the side: "Thank God we are still alive, and the enemy shells did not destroy our bridge at such a distance!" ”

The bridge that towered over the front of the ship had an irresistible attraction to enemy fire, and the "King" battle bridge was clearly better protected than imagined - or the lack of penetration of British large-caliber armor-piercing shells saved the lives of these German naval personnel, and everything in the bridge was almost intact at this time.

"yes!" Natsuki took the opportunity to encourage himself, "This shows that God intends us to be the victors in this naval battle!" ”

Without waiting for the two people who had a delicate relationship to say more, a trace of yellow-green smoke spread from the corner on the right. At this time, the captain of the ship, Commodore Paul Beinke, shouted: "Poison gas penetration!" Please move to the drawing room immediately! ”

Surrounded by the adjutants, Natsuki and Ingnoll quickly left the battle bridge, and when the last officer entered the drawing room, a burly non-commissioned officer, Huo Ran, closed the hatch that connected to the bridge.

"Gentlemen, allow me to report on what I have just learned." Brigadier General Beinke said in a calm and forceful tone, "We have just received two large-caliber shells from our opponents, one on the main bridge and one on the C turret, and we are very fortunate that this battleship, designed and built under the auspices of His Royal Highness Prince Joachim, is invulnerable, and our bridge and C turret are still alive, and the damage is not a cause for concern." ”

Hearing this, the nervous officers finally breathed a sigh of relief and expressed their sincere respect for the designer of the battleship with warm applause.

Natsuki knew that now was not the time to accept compliments, and he calmly and seriously said to Captain Beanke, "Are we making a right turn as planned?" ”

"Yes, sir." Beanke replied with a puffed chest, "'Caesar' and 'King Albert' are also turning in sync. ”

Natsuki did not hesitate to order, "This is our best chance to attack the enemy, let's act!" Gentlemen, don't let victory slip through our fingertips! ”

The atmosphere of ambition returned to the German officers, as it was not clear whether the combat bridge would be restored to service in a short time, and some of them continued to stay in the drawing room, and most went to the combat conference room under the bridge. When they sat down, the ship's cabin resounded with a coherent and dense sound of cannons, eight 12-inch main guns, eight 6-inch secondary guns, and more than a dozen small-caliber rapid-fire guns from the port side desperately fired at the enemy ship, and the reports of shells hitting the enemy ship came one after another, so that people were looking forward to the news of sinking the enemy ship early, but the tenacity of the British capital ship was not inferior to the German cutting-edge dreadnought, and the two sides desperately bombarded each other at extremely close range, but they were unable to give each other a fatal blow.

In a short period of time, the "King" and the opponent were inseparable, and the opponent of the "King Albert" was also a British George V-class, but its mast was hung with the squadron flagship flag and the vice admiral's flag. The British battleship frequently attacked "King Albert" with ferocious gunfire, causing its chain of command, which had been damaged in previous battles, to malfunction again. Due to poor communication, the German gunners were basically in a state of separate battles, and could not form an effective broadside salvo during the whole turn, but their artillery fire was still accurate, and the 12-inch main gun hit one after another, causing a fire in the deck compartment between the enemy's auxiliary bridge and the second chimney, and the downpour could not extinguish it, and the battleship became a very conspicuous torch on the sea.

In order to avoid the collision of the German ships, the three British battleships made an emergency turn, and the British capital ship formation, which was originally lined up in a single battle column, suddenly lost its formation, and the three German dreadnoughts were actually inserted between the British lead ship and the follow-up ships, cutting off the connection between them, and this lead ship was the flagship "Iron Duke" where Jericho was sitting!

(End of chapter)