"Lieutenant General, 15 enemy ships, it seems that they are turning into a double column. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info"

On June 11, at 0:48 a.m., the radar of the battlecruiser "Hood", heading south, detected that the oncoming German ship formation suddenly changed from a single column to a double column.

"Lieutenant General, one of the columns is speeding towards us!"

Two minutes later, the radar officer reported loudly again.

"That's a destroyer detachment," said Vice Admiral Holland unhurriedly, "the Germans may not have the same radar as ours, so destroyers are needed to fire flares." ”

Now Britain already has a fire control radar codenamed "Type 284", which was installed on the "Hood" and "Prince of Wales" in March 1941. As a result, the two ships could fire at night without the help of flares.

However, the German radar was slightly worse and could not act as a fire control radar, but the Fumo22-H radar could still determine the approximate location of the enemy ship for searching, and then the light cruisers and destroyers fired flares.

"Let the USS Edinburgh, USS Electra, HMS Echo, HMS Adventure, and USS Cossack form formations to engage enemy destroyers."

Vice Admiral Holland immediately adjusted the arrangement, sending a light cruiser and three destroyers to disrupt the firing of flares by the German destroyer formation.

Four British warships quickly pulled out of the queue, formed a formation, and then rushed at a speed of 32 knots towards the formation of six German ships - the "Berlin", "Vienna", T13, T14, T15 and T16.

The first exchange of fire took place between the four British ships and the six German ships.

The first to fire was the SP-class "Vienna", which hit the British light cruiser "Edinburgh" in the air. Then the "Edinburgh" also fired flares, illuminating the "Vienna" (at this time the British light cruisers and destroyers did not have fire control radars).

Immediately after that, the "Edinburgh" and "Vienna" became live targets for attracting shells. Unfortunately, the German "Vienna" was hit by 4 6-inch shells and 3 4-inch shells in less than 5 minutes, and the hull caught fire in several places, and had to withdraw from the battle under the cover of smoke released by the destroyer. And the situation of the British "Edinburgh" is much better, this is a "10,000-ton light cruiser", although the main gun caliber is only 6 inches, but the number is as many as 12, and the armor is relatively strong. Therefore, after receiving a few German 150mm shells, it was still not a big problem, and after repulsing the "Vienna", the muzzle of the gun was aimed at the 7800-ton "Berlin".

At the same time, the confrontation between the battleship and the heavy cruiser began! The first to fire was fired on the "Hood", and when the "Hood" approached the main formation of the German ships to 23,000 meters, Vice Admiral Holland gave the order to open fire. The target was the first battleship of the German fleet - Vice Admiral Holland thought it was a battleship, but in fact it was the heavy cruiser "Prince Eugen". After the "Hood" opened fire, the "Prince of Wales" also opened fire, and its target was the second battleship of the German fleet, which the British also considered its battleship, but in fact it was the heavy cruiser "Lützov".

Erich. Rear Admiral Bey put on an unexpectedly strange formation, with 2 heavy cruisers in front and the battleship "Gneisenau" in third place in the column. As a result, both the "Hood" and the "Prince of Wales" were fooled, taking 2 heavy cruisers as opponents.

At the same time as the British fleet opened fire, Erich. Rear Admiral Bey ordered the fleet to turn 200 degrees to the left in order to seize the T-shaped position. His formation now ran at a top speed of 32.5 knots, while the British ship formation could only maintain a speed of 28 knots -- although the "Hood" ran 29 knots in the sea trials after the last overhaul, no one dared to let the "Hood" exert its strength to its fullest extent, considering the age of the "Hood."

Long before the start of this naval battle, the admirals and elite staff officers of the British Royal Navy were studying ways to deal with these fast German warships. According to the opinion of Vice Admiral Holtworth, a specialist in gunnery in the Royal Navy and a former captain of HMS Hood, and Vice Admiral Holland, the current captain of HMS Hood. When the Hood engaged the German fast battleships, it was supposed to face the enemy with the bow of the ship, so as to reduce the bomb area as much as possible, and then turn to use the full power of the main guns after the two sides were close. At the same time, it was possible to face the enemy with the thickest broadside armor, avoiding the weak deck from being hit vertically by enemy 380mm shells.

This tactic was quite suitable for the battleships of the British fleet, which were slower but more powerful in firepower and thick enough in armor, but the Hood was a thin-skinned battlecruiser. But Holland still uses this tactic today, and in the face of the turn of the main fleet of the German fleet, the "Hood" and the "Prince of Wales" chose to attack at full speed. Therefore, the German ship formation smoothly seized the T-shaped position.

When the two sides were about 18,000 meters apart, the fast cruiser "Prague" in the German ship formation fired flares, which landed accurately around the "Hood", shrouding the huge battle cruiser like a mountain in a dazzling white light.

Then 6 380mm guns of the "Gneisenau" and 16 203mm guns of the "Prinz Eugen" and "Lützov" opened fire at the same time. All 22 cannons were aimed at the Hood, which was at the front, while the Hood and the Prince of Wales could only return fire with four 15-inch cannons and six 14-inch cannons in the bow.

When the German battleships and heavy cruisers opened fire, Vice Admiral Holland realized that he had just hit the wrong target. Hurriedly ordered the "Hood" and the "Prince of Wales" to re-aim at the "Gneisenau" and open fire. And at this moment, a 203mm shell from the "Prinz Eugen" actually hit the "Hood".

The point of impact was an anti-aircraft gun shell storage box on the starboard side deck - these ammunition storage boxes installed outside the armored deck had been hit during the engagement of the Scharnhorst in 39, and some of the ammunition boxes had been moved below deck during the overhaul of the Hood, but then the increasing threat of German air power had to be temporarily installed with a number of anti-aircraft guns, and the ammunition boxes for these anti-aircraft guns were installed on the deck. This time it was hit again, and it also caused ammunition detonation and fire.

Vice Admiral Holland secretly screamed "Oops", now it's a night battle, so if people are on fire, won't they become a live target for sucking shells? In this case, it will not even be convenient to escape!

"Order the damage management to rescue and extinguish the fire immediately." Lieutenant General Holland paused, and then gave another order: "The whole team turns left and sails 280 degrees!" ”

He felt that he could no longer get close to the other party, and was ready to keep his formation parallel to the German ship formation. But at this moment, the shells from the "Prince Eugen" hit the "Hood" again, and the huge shock caused by the explosion of the shells caused the "Hood" 284 fire control radar to malfunction. Without a fire control radar, Holland could only order the Hood's secondary guns to fire flares. However, before the flares could be fired, the "Gneisenau" fired a "straddle" at the "Hood".

"Hell!" Vice Admiral Holland gasped, and the "collapse shot" was the landing point of the shells walking in front of and behind the ship. This shows that the enemy ship's fire has "caught" the "Hood", and when it hits is a matter of probability.

Moreover, the "Gneisenau" has now been replaced with a 380mm main gun, and if the "Hood" is given a shot, it will be a big problem.

Lieutenant General Holland had already begun to retreat at this time, and his task was originally to lure the enemy. Now the "Bismarck" was not lured, and only one "Gneisenau" was lured to complete the task.

So he ordered the fleet to turn 200 degrees to the left and prepare to turn around and flee. However, less than one minute after the order was issued, the 10,000-ton light patrol "Edinburgh" that had run to the north of the "Hood" because it was entangled with the German driving patrol detachment suddenly sent a message that frightened him very much: An unidentified fleet of more than 20 ships appeared 25 nautical miles away due north, and it was rapidly moving south!

There are still 20 German ships in the north! Holland suddenly had a premonition that he was in danger. He now knew that he had one German battleship to the south, the "Gneisenau" with only six cannons, and the remaining two "Bismarck" were mostly going around to the north. Now it's just right to fight north and south with the "Gneisenaure"!

"Turn right 250 degrees!" Lieutenant General Holland, who was a little cornered, ordered to turn again, this time not to the north, but to break through to the southwest.

"Send a telegram to the 'Nelson' and inform me that the fleet is in a bitter battle, please go south immediately for reinforcements!"

Lieutenant Admiral Holland then ordered the radio to send a distress telegram to the "Nelson" -- the A flotilla with the "Nelson" as its flagship was now less than 60 nautical miles from the Shetland Islands, and it would be there in three hours of speed......

It's a pity that the "Hood" did not have 3 hours to wait.

Due to the back and forth turning, the firepower of the "Hood" and the "Prince of Wales" was not fully utilized, and the German ship formation on the opposite side was still intact, while the distance between the two ships quickly approached the German ship formation to about 13,000 meters. At this time, the fire on the "Hood" was still not extinguished, and it became a good target in the dark.

At 1:15 a.m. on June 11, the "Gneisenau" fired the 10th volley, while the "Prinz Eugen" and "Ryuzov" fired their 18th and 16th volleys. One of the shells fired by each of the three ships hit the "Hood" almost simultaneously, and all of them hit the deck. One of the 380mm main gun shells fired by the "Gneisenau" hit the lifeboat deck in the rear of the mainmast of the "Hood".

Something was ignited, but a large amount of smoke suddenly rose from the deck of the lifeboat and there was a very dull explosion. The sound was not very loud, but it was very violent, and the rear half of the hull of the "Hood" was immediately covered in black smoke. Then there was a violent explosion on board the "Hood". The explosion occurred in the middle and rear of the hull, and almost instantly, the entire warship was engulfed in smoke and flames...... (To be continued.) )