"Comrade Commander, Comrade Political Commissar, USS Massachusetts reports the discovery of a new formation of enemy ships, more than 10 in number, at a distance of 42 thousand yards, of which 7 are large ships!"

At 10:10 p.m., the communications officer on the USS Soviets loudly reported a message from the battleship Massachusetts - another formation of capital ships of the Combined European Fleet appeared on the radar screen!

Admiral Ingersoll and Lieutenant General Fraser glanced at each other, and both of them saw a bit of solemnity in each other's eyes. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

7 plus 7 is 14! If it's all battleships or battlecruisers, it's still quite difficult to deal with!

"Comrade Commander, Comrade Political Commissar, the radar of the Massachusetts has spotted another formation...... Also 7 big ships! Just two minutes later, news came.

7 more battleships / battlecruisers? That's 21 ships...... What's going on?

Could it be that the old battleships of the French and Italians also came? It's a bit of a hassle.

Although the combat power of Italy's Cavour-class and Duirio-class, France's Lone Class and Provence-class cannot be compared with the cutting-edge battleships, but some are better than none, right? Now Admiral Ingersoll has somewhat regretted sending 12 old battleships to protect the NR21 fleet.

The atmosphere inside the Soviet command tower became even more tense. But no one spoke, Bulganin and Kuznetsov frowned, and Ingersoll and Fraser kept exchanging glances - if a real disaster came, should we leave our friends and run first?

The eyes here are not right, and the voice of the report over there sounded again: "Comrade commander, comrade political commissar, the radar of the Duke of York has been discovered again...... Or 7 big ships, right behind another 21 big ships! ”

28 ships!?

That's too much, right? Could it be that the Japanese battleships also came to the Atlantic? What can I do? Comrade Bulganin's face was pale, and he looked at Ingersoll with a solemn expression.

"It should be...... It should be that the enemy mixed the heavy cruisers and battleships. Admiral Ingersoll guessed right this time.

"Comrade Commander, what should we do then?" Bulganin asked.

"Hit!" Ingersoll replied without hesitation. "Even if the enemy has a larger number of battleships / battlecruisers, we will definitely win! Because the victory or defeat of a decisive battle of the fleet is never determined by numbers. In the quality of the battleships, we had an absolute superiority! ”

At 10:20 p.m., the Allied Combined Fleet Command made the final decision on engagement. The huge ship formation, which had been sailing at a speed of 20 knots on the sea, followed the ship formation of the European Combined Fleet (the distance between the two was 4-42,000 yards, or 36.0 kilometers), began to increase in speed in order to close the distance between the enemy formation and the enemy formation.

At this time, the situation on the sea has changed a lot compared to before the encounter of the main formation of the twin engines.

The first is that the course of both sides has changed. For at 9:30 a.m. Admiral Lütjans ordered his heavy patrol formation to turn northward, and the Allied Combined Fleet then adopted the tactic of following. Thus the course of both sides changed to sailing north.

Secondly, the formation of the two sides has also changed. The capital ship of the Allied Combined Fleet was originally arranged in a long column, like a giant dragon swimming in the sea. However, after discovering the 7 enemy "battleships", the head (2nd Advance Team) and body of the dragon were separated, and it accelerated to the front of the 7 "battleships" to search for the mine ship that would fire the T-93 torpedo.

Thus the number of ships in the capital ship formation of the Allied Combined Fleet (excluding the light cruisers and destroyers on guard in the perimeter) became 11 battleships/battlecruisers - USS Massachusetts, USS Alabama, USS Soviet, USS Soviet Ukraine, USS Soviet Belarus, USS Soviet Russia, USS Duke of York, USS Anson, HMS Howe, USS Kronstadt, and USS Sevastopol.

At about 10:10, the two Soviet heavy cruisers Red Caucasus and Kirov, which had been salvaged from the overboard US Navy officers and sailors, also arrived on the battlefield, and the two ships followed together behind the butts of 11 battleships/battlecruisers, so a large formation of 13 capital ships (the heavy cruiser was also the capital ship) was formed. Around this large formation, there were also twenty or thirty light cruisers and destroyers that were responsible for covering the alert.

In addition, 3 American hospital ships, 2 American seaplane carriers and 3 light cruisers, as well as a dozen destroyers, were circling around the battlefield.

The shape of the main fleet of the combined European fleet also changed, from 4 columns to 1 extra-long column, and 28 capital ships (including battleships, battlecruisers and heavy cruisers) were lined up in a long line. There were also twenty or thirty covering destroyers and light cruisers around.

And several hospital ships and seaplane carriers of the European Combined Fleet were also hiding on the periphery of the battlefield under the protection of light cruisers and destroyers.

In addition, the 30 mine-striking ships (torpedo boats) that had previously attacked the 1st Advance Squadron of the Allied Combined Fleet did not reach home. Instead, they went to the torpedo supply ships (in fact, freighters with booms) and loaded the T-93 torpedoes, and according to the plan, they were ready to look for an opportunity to attack again!

……

"Boom, boom, boom......"

At about 10:40 p.m., the battleship Massachusetts, at a distance of 35,000 yards (about 32,000 meters), relying on the command of the fire control radar, fired the first salvo at the heavy cruiser Lützov, which was mistaken for a Bismarck-class battleship!

"Your Excellency Marshal, the Lyzov reports that the shells fired by the enemy ship fell more than 80 meters away on the starboard side!"

The communications officer of the Hindenburg quickly informed Marshal Lütjens of the report of the heavy cruiser Lützov.

"Marshal, the one that fired should be the South Dakota class, and it hit very accurately, which means that its fire control radar is very good." Lieutenant General Messer said with a frown.

"Better than ours!" Admiral Lütjans shook his head slightly, then turned back to the radar officer and the gunnery officer of the Hindenburg, "Has the distance been measured?" ”

"Your Excellency Marshal, the distance is too far, it should be possible to measure within 30,000 meters......"

Although the fire control radar used by the German Navy now is better than in history, it is still not as good as the equipment used by Britain and the United States, and 32,000 meters is a bit far for the Germans.

"Where are the seaplanes?" Marshal Lütjans asked.

"There are 2 BV-138C, 2 HE-115 in the sky over enemy formations and 4 AR-196D." Lieutenant General Messer replied.

"Your Excellency, the enemy has ejected a seaplane...... Boom Boom! ”

As soon as the radar officer's words fell, another cannon salvo was heard. This time it was the battleship Ludendorff that was shelled.

"12 muzzle flames! It's a King George V class! Rear Admiral Brinkmann, the captain of the Hindenburg, shouted.

"It must have found the biggest target on the radar screen." Lieutenant General Messer smiled and said, "But it's going to be unlucky." ”

Because now the two large formations of the Combined European Fleet and the Combined Fleet of the Central Powers are moving forward in parallel. Since the Combined European Fleet had 28 ships, while the rival Allied Combined Fleet had only 13 ships. As a result, the formation of the Combined European Fleet was much longer than that of its opponents, and now parallel to the First Squadron of the Combined European Fleet was the Second Squadron of the Combined Fleet of the Allied Powers - three King George V and two Kronstadt.

"Order the heavy patrol team not to open fire and to keep a distance of more than 30,000 meters from the opponent." "The 1st and 3rd teams turn 10 degrees to the left and go up at full speed...... After 10 minutes, let the seaplane drop flares. ”

The heavy cruisers were clearly mistaken for a battleship formation, so it was better to only take a beating and not fight back - otherwise the stuffing would leak as soon as the fire was fired!

As for the remaining 3 teams in the hands of Lu Teyans, they rushed towards the opponent's 2nd team at full speed.

"Fire within 25,000 meters, and the 1st team gathers fire to hit the King George V class that has just fired." Admiral Lütjans continued to give orders. “

The 2nd Sentai followed the Heavy Patrol and was ready to cover the retreat of the Heavy Patrol at any time.

Team 3 follows Team 1 and prepares to launch missiles. ”

A few minutes after Marshal Lütjans gave the order, the large formation of the European fleet on the sea changed from one column to two, one of which continued to be parallel to the opponent, and the other column was closing the distance to the opponent at full speed.

This change was soon detected by the radar on the USS Soviet.

"The enemy is approaching us, probably trying to launch a remote-controlled missile!" Admiral Ingersoll made his judgment, and then he said to Bulganin, "Let the 2nd team turn left and see if we can lure them away." The 1st Sentai turns 10 degrees to the right to close the distance between the enemy Sentai 1st Sentai (which is actually the Heavy Patrol Sentai and Sentai 2nd Sen). ”

Bulganin looked at Kuznetsov, who looked very good, and seeing that the other party did not express any objections, he agreed to the arrangement of the Americans.

So the situation on the battlefield began to change again, and it changed into two warbands that fought against each other.

At 10:48 p.m., three American Kingfisher seaplanes flew over the heavy cruiser USS Lützov and began to drop flares in turn, with the help of which the optical fire controller on the battleship Massachusetts was finally able to make ballistic corrections.

But at the same time, an observer on a Kingfisher plane also discovered that the enemy ship being attacked on the surface was not a battleship, but a heavy cruiser of much smaller tonnage.

"What? Is it an Admiral Hipper? Admiral Ingersoll realized that he had made a mistake and frowned, "So what kind of ships are the ships that are following behind it?" ”

"I don't know yet." Lieutenant General Fraser shook his head.

"Hurry up and find out!"

Vice Admiral Fraser immediately assigned the task and said to Ingersoll: "Admiral, do you want to continue attacking that heavy cruiser?" We've locked it down! ”

"Go on......" Ingersoll hesitated for a moment and gritted his teeth, "Attack!" Sink it first! (To be continued.) )