"Horizontal angles of fire 280-20, elevation angles 9-44, ordinary shells, alternate fire, one round of reserve...... Fire! ”

After arriving at the firing position, a series of gunpowder instructions were quickly transmitted from the firing command room of the "De Fllinger" to the main turrets, and the gunners operated accordingly, and the real-time status of the main guns was reflected on the control template of the firing command room through weak current conduction. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

Because of the alternating firing, the "De Fllinger" only used half of the main guns in one shot at this time, and this state is also called "half salvo". Four ordinary shells of 12-inch caliber flew with a terrible whistling sound towards a target 10,000 meters away, a British Majesty-class battleship. This old type of battleship was built at the end of the 19th century with a displacement of 1. 490,000 tons, the broadside main armor belt is only 8. 9 inches, turret armor 5. 9 inches, deck armor 2. 5 inches. By the standards of a dreadnought, such a defensive configuration was simply vulnerable, but in the era when it was built and put into service, the thickness and rigidity of naval armor were greatly improved due to the invention of Vickers carburized steel armor, and naval battleships of various countries no longer used 12 to 14 inches of armor as they did in the early days. In the Battle of Tsushima in 1906, the main armor of the ship's broadside side of the Russian Borodino-class battleships was 7. 5 inches, the main armor on the side of the Japanese Shikishima-class battleships was 8. 9 inches, while the German Navy, which had traditionally prioritized the protection of its ships, had less than 10 inches of main armor on the waterline of the Deutschland-class battleships of the same period - only a few years later, the Kaiser-class battleships that had begun construction in Germany were fitted with the thickest 13. 8-inch main armor belt!

In this sunny weather, the view of the sea surface is excellent, and the four columns of water rising into the sky are clearly visible near the target. The firing commander of the "De Fllinger" used sophisticated optical ranging instruments to determine the exact location of the impact point, and then quickly calculated the adjustment parameters of the main gun. In order to reduce the swing amplitude of the hull and improve the shooting accuracy, the speed of the German battle cruiser has been reduced to about 20 knots, and the bow wave has been significantly reduced.

Boom Rumble......

Before the water column in the distance had completely dissipated, the "De Fllinger" let out another deafening roar, and then in the ship's main turret and ammunition depot, the radio used to transmit gunnerical instructions was heard the calm and powerful voice of the firing commander, Lieutenant Colonel von Lyerres: "Armor-piercing shells, fully loaded salvo, one round of reserve ......"

The well-trained German gunners knew that the previous rotational firing was to calibrate the firing parameters, and that a fully armed salvo was the real attack. After entering the dreadnought era, on the one hand, the tonnage of the capital ships has increased exponentially, and the combat materials that can be carried out have increased accordingly, on the other hand, the caliber of the main guns has continued to increase, and the single shells and the propellant required for a single shot have also increased significantly compared with the past, and the ammunition carried by most of the main ships is still not more than three digits per main gun, and the barrel life of large-caliber guns is not like that of ordinary guns. The British 45x12-inch naval guns and the German-made 50x-diameter 12-inch naval guns had a design life of 200-220 rounds, which meant that the ships had to use their main guns very sparingly during the battle, otherwise it would be difficult to cope with continuous and fierce naval encounters.

With the crisp sound of the flare-up machine, armor-piercing shells and cartridge cartridges were lifted from the ammunition depot on the ground floor of the battleship to the turret. Germans are stereotyped, but this does not mean that they are completely devoid of self-amusement, and some armor-piercing shells can be seen on the ammunition depot personnel with chalk words such as "must hit" and "good luck". In the twin main turrets, the gunners skillfully fill the chambers with shells and propellants, and when the bolts are closed, someone shouts: "Good appetite to our enemies!" ”

The surrounding gunners grinned one by one, but there was no horror and hideous color.

The "De Fllinger" had completed a round of school firing, and the "Goeben" had also entered its own firing position after making a quick turn, and the posture of the four triple main guns pointing at the target in unison was already majestic and domineering, and the scene of synchronous salvo firing was even more powerful and unstoppable. However, the ballistic trajectory of its 50-fold diameter 11-inch naval gun is completely different from that of the 12-inch main gun of the "De Fllinger", and the firing parameters of friendly ships are basically not referenced. Unexpectedly, however, the first "half-salvo" of the "Goeben" - "one-third salvo", to be exact, was against one. The British battleship 20,000 meters away formed a straddle fire, and it was obvious that one shell landed near the bow, which was enough to cause some damage to the hull. Seeing this, the commander immediately made a decision and ordered a salvo to be fired at the target.

In the midst of the continuous thunderous roar, the "De Fllinger" took the lead in firing a salvo on the starboard side, only to see the dazzling flames leap out of the muzzle, and the thick black smoke of propellant powder immediately gushed out and dispersed on the side of the battleship. Not only the officers in the command posts, but also the crew members in the starboard auxiliary gun positions cast eager anticipatory glances into the distance. More than ten seconds later, the rising columns of water almost instantly obscured the stout silhouette of the target battleship. In a few moments, an observation report came out from the firing command platform: The salvo of this ship has formed a straddle fire on the enemy ship!

Despite not hitting the target directly, a steady span shot can sooner or later turn into a "score". There was no need to urge, the gunners in each main turret had already completed the reloading of the armor-piercing shells as quickly as possible, and the firing commander calculated the gunnery adjustment parameters according to the relative displacement of the two sides.

The two battlecruisers of their own side had already brandished their swords, the two German dreadnoughts were also rapidly approaching the predetermined firing position, and the accompanying light cruisers and large torpedo boats were following in an orderly manner, showing no sign of taking advantage of the speed advantage to launch lightning strikes.

Almost at the same time as the "De Fllinger" launched the second salvo, the "Goeben" also launched a huge starboard salvo, and the intensive fire of the triple main guns played a role in such a battle, and the British battleships on the opposite side were thrown into counterattack one after another when the range was within reach. These old warships were completed and put into service between 1895 and 1903, and they basically used 40 times the diameter of the 12-inch caliber main gun, compared with the German Navy's 50 times the diameter of the 11-inch and 12-inch naval guns, their rate of fire was slow, the accuracy was poor, and the penetration of a single shell did not have any advantage at all, and the combined gunfire of six or seven battleships was not as fierce as that of the "Goeben" - the difference in firepower between the former dreadnoughts and the dreadnoughts may not be so intuitive on paper alone, but in this kind of face-to-face engagement, the huge gap is clearly visible.

"Hit! Hit! ”

The jubilant cheers were the first to be heard on the "De Fllinger", and after one round of alternating firing and two salvos, the German new battle cruiser finally came out on top, and on the sea 10,000 meters away, the rear deck of the British battleship that was shot was full of smoke, the black plume of smoke rose into the sky, the rear main turret was probably destroyed, and some of the ammunition had been detonated -- this was the only spectacle that could have occurred.

Regardless of whether the target battleship suffered fatal wounds or not, the "De Fllinger" continued to bombard the opponent with accurate salvos, and after several rounds of continuous firing, the artillery fire from the British battleship was also constantly moving closer to the German battle cruiser, and the whistling sound of the shells in the air deeply stimulated the psychological senses of the German crews, and a few pessimists had begun to worry about the possibility of their ships being damaged or even seriously injured, while most of them were inspired by the spirit of the great victory in the Battle of Jutland.

Over the next two minutes, the "De Fllinger" calmly fired three volleys, two more armor-piercing shells hit the enemy ship, and at least four shells formed close misses. The British Navy's super-dreadnoughts were able to withstand such a blow, but a Majestic-class battleship that was nearly 20 years old and belonged to the previous technological era had no such ability. Flames fluttered across its deck and bridge, and the towering mast tilted badly along with the hull, and the surviving crew jumped into the water like dumplings......

It was only a matter of time before the target ship lost its combat power and capsized, and the "De Fllinger" began to turn its guns and took advantage of this opportunity to make a tactical maneuver with a quick right turn. After turning, its bow was pointed obliquely at the forward end of the British fleet's battle line, and all the main guns concentrated on the starboard side were aimed at the British ship flying the flag of the Vice Admiral, and the first alternate fire posed a threat to the starboard side of the new target.

At a pace that was largely in line with the "De Fllinger," the "Goeben" soon also smashed its target ship, a Duncan-class battleship, into thick smoke. As the fastest large ship in the British Channel Fleet, the Duncan class was originally designed and built against the Franco-Russian alliance, when France and Russia were building high-speed battleships, and the British Navy adopted a strategy of reducing weight and sacrificing armor in order to build capital ships that could match the speed of their rivals. In the Dreadnought era, the Duncan-class battleships had a mediocre top speed of 19 knots, and their 7-inch waterline armor and 10-inch turret armor were only slightly thicker than the thin-skinned Invincibility and Indefatigable battlecruisers. Despite the 1. The distance of 20,000 meters has exceeded the optimal range of Krupp's 50 times the diameter of 11-inch naval guns, and the gunfire of the "Goeben" still penetrated the key protective parts of the Duncan-class battleship one after another, and an armor-piercing shell even penetrated through its port side, penetrated through the multi-story compartment and fell to the starboard coal bunker, blasting a large hole under the armor belt of the right waterline.

At this point in the battle, the German fleet's two powerful dreadnoughts and the group of light ships with relative superiority had not yet been fully engaged in the battle, and the high-speed assault of the two battle cruisers alone dealt a heavy blow to the confidence and morale of the opponent.

(End of chapter)