At this time, in the radar room of the "Lion", the column was still working in an orderly manner.

"Seventeen thousand kilometers away." The soldier in front of the fluorescent screen reported.

Suddenly, when the first salvo of the "Großdeutschland" hit the "Lion", they all heard a loud thunderous noise. Then, the lights in the room flickered, constantly flickering on and off, and the yellow-green radar phosphor screen suddenly stopped bright. The soldier kept "clicking" some switches and test parts.

"The radar isn't working, sir." He reported with some panic.

"Have you tried the rear antenna?" An officer asked hurriedly.

"Just tried! Nothing worked! ”

"Our communication with the fire control room has been cut off!" Another worker reported.

Another of the thugs was about to report, "We and—" when his voice was interrupted by another loud bang. The lights flickered again.

"Sir! Our contact with the bridge was broken! ”

"What?!'

"Our contact with the chart room has also been broken! Sir! ”

"Damn it!"

At this time, a large amount of smoke began to emerge from the ventilation ducts into the radar room. One after another, one after the other, thicker than the other. After a while, the cabin was filled with smoke and the lights were even dimmer. A loud bang shook the entire warship one after another, and bursts of air waves set off larger and thicker smoke balls. Suddenly, there was a clatter, and part of the slats collapsed from the bulkhead. It is as if the demons and monsters who meet in the middle of the night every year unleash their evil power from hell in order to destroy lives. The shadow of death hung over the entire warship, the lights dimmer and the smoke grew thicker and thicker.

At this time, the British naval officers and sailors working in the radar room could not see what was going on outside.

They couldn't imagine how the battle was going on.

As the Lion's guns were turning and aiming, the shells fired by the "Velvetschland" fell around it, and before the "Velvetschland" opened fire, the "Lion's" salvo also stirred up numerous columns of water around the "Velvetsch". And shortly after the "Lion" opened fire again, with a loud bang, a shell hit the second turret in its front. The blast rushed onto the bridge with debris, and the buildings on the bridge were instantly destroyed. Everywhere there were twisted horns, pillars, and disorganized fragments; In the midst of the broken steel and iron, many corpses lay on the ground, and the undead struggled and screamed in pain.

At the same time, on board the "Großdeutsch", Lütjans, together with a group of German [***] officers, observed the progress of the battle through binoculars.

By this time, the rear of the "Lion" was also already on fire, and the front turret stopped firing.

The Lion's hull had been punched out of two large holes, almost losing its original shape, and smoke was spewing violently from all places. Part of the superstructure was completely torn down. Under the thick smoke, on the gloomy and gray hull of the ship, high red flames continued to burst out. On the devastated hull of the "Lion", from the bow to the stern, the smoke of the fire erupted outwards like a volcanic eruption. One of the main turrets in front was finished, its top cover had been lifted off, and the muzzle of the gun was raised high, while the muzzle of the other one hung limply down to the maximum depression angle. However, the turret in the tail was still firing, and it stubbornly turned to the vague "Großdeutschland" in the distance and fired a volley of shells. In the midst of the fire and smoke, some heroes are still desperately trying to reload, aim and shoot.

The "Lion" struggled the rough sea, and the "Big Germany", which had caused great damage to it at this time, was not having a good time.

Due to the rapid increase in the distance of engagement, the Lion's three sister ships, the "Mantong", the "Conqueror" and the "Angry Drinker", have already included the "Großdeutschland" in their effective range. After seeing that the flagship was badly damaged, three British battleships poured a terrible rain of bullets on the "Großdeutschland" from two different directions, and soon the "Großdeutschland" was hit one after another. The "Großdeutschland" had to redistribute its guns, one main turret turned to the "Brave" to fire, the other to the "Conqueror", and the badly wounded "Lion" was given precious respite at this critical moment.

Although the "Great Germany" was hit one after another by the 460-mm shells of the British battleships, these shells, which could be called completely fatal to ordinary battleships, hit the "Great Germany", but they did not seem to cause much damage, on the "Lion" battleship, Tovey, who suffered a slight flesh wound on the arm, saw that from time to time flames rose from the hull of the "Greater Germany", but soon disappeared, he himself had observed at least 6 hits, but the "Greater Germany" artillery fire did not weaken in the slightest.

"If we continue to fight like this, we will be very dangerous." Tovey said to himself.

The chief of staff of the fleet, who was slightly wounded like Tovey, heard the words of the home fleet and was about to say something, when the "Bravery" behind the "Lion" suddenly exploded with two violent explosions, rising a huge ball of fire and lighting up the gray sky.

"Oh God!" The chief of staff of the fleet jerked up the telescope and muttered.

At this time, the entire surface of the "Savage Brave" had been plunged into a fire, the two front main turrets had been destroyed, the main turret in the tail had also stopped firing, the bridge, mainmast and chimney had all been torn off, and the ship was in a sea of fire, only a few figures were flashing, and they were still incredibly alive in the flames and explosions. One after another, they climbed over the dilapidated decks and jumped from the flaming warship into the rolling sea.

At this moment, a dazzling flash of light was heard from the "Großdeutsch", followed by an earth-shattering loud bang, and Tovey looked at the "Großdeutschland" with a telescope and saw that a 380-mm twin secondary turret of the "Großdeutschland" was completely engulfed in flames. Apparently, a 460-mm shell fired from a British battleship hit its ammunition depot, causing an ammunition detonation that destroyed this turret. But to the dismay of the British, the 800 main guns of the "Großdeutschland" were not affected in the slightest and were still firing fiercely.

"That's the most we can do it." Tovey sighed and said to the Fleet Chief, "It's time for us to retreat." ”

"Do you want to give the order to retreat now?" The chief of staff of the fleet was stunned, "Are we not fighting anymore?" ”

"There's no point in fighting any longer." There was a hint of unspeakable pain in Tovey's voice, "Our mission now is not to defeat our enemies, but to preserve our warships. ”

The chief of staff of the fleet understood what Tovey meant, sighed, nodded a little helplessly, and then began to give the order to retreat.

"They're casting a smoke screen to escape!"

On board the "Großdeutschland", the chief of staff of the fleet, Rear Admiral Scholz, found out about the attempts of the British and spoke loudly.

At this time, on the sea, the British ships that had received the order all worked hard to put up smoke screens, covering the four "Lion" class battleships and hiding in the skyrocketing smoke. British cruisers, destroyers, and torpedo boats, ignoring the rain of bullets fired from the secondary guns of the "Big Germany," rushed up en masse and fired torpedoes at the "Big Germany."

Under the command of Captain Lindemann, the "Velvetsch" moved its huge body, evaded the sea surface with extremely agile movements, and dodged the torpedoes that were scurrying all over the sea.

A British light cruiser was hit by the 380-mm secondary guns of the "Großdeutsch", broke into two with a loud bang, and disappeared into the sea. But this terrible scene did not make the British have the slightest hint of retreating, and still a cruiser on fire broke through the fire net woven by the secondary guns of the "Großdeutschland" and fired a torpedo at the "Großdeutschland" at close range.

The "Big Germany" turned to evade again, but this time the British torpedo attack was successful, and with a loud bang, a slender column of water rose on the left side of the bow of the "Big Germany", and Lütjens felt a slight vibration under his feet, and couldn't help but sneer.

Another torpedo hit the bow of the "Big Germany", but the "Big Germany" did not seem to be "sick", but with heavy artillery fire, the British cruiser and destroyer that damaged it were blown to pieces.

The suicide attack of the British light ships bought the battlefleet precious time, and when Ruttjens came back to his senses and searched the sea with a telescope for the figure of the British battleship, all he saw was the smoke of gunpowder all over the sea, and the enemy ship was nowhere to be found.

"Let them run away." Captain Lindemann said with some regret.

"The British have suffered a lot of losses this time, and I guess they won't dare to disturb us for a while." Lu Teyans smiled and said.

"We won an important victory, although not as brilliant as we had imagined." "However, I am sure that Your Majesty and Mr. Strassel will be very happy to hear this news. ”

"Yes. This time, we took back control of the seas from the British. Ruetjens said.

"If the 'Nietzsche' is also here today, the British fleet will definitely be wiped out by us!" Captain Lindemann said happily.

"How's the damage from the torpedo just now?" Lütjens asked.

At that moment, the phone rang.

"Sir, I'm reporting on the situation......" Lindemann nodded as he listened to the call, "Good." …… According to the damage management team, the damage caused by the torpedo explosion was simply insignificant. No one was injured. Now, the seawater that poured in from the breach has been successfully drained. In less than an hour, the damage management team will be able to plug the breach. The combat effectiveness of the warship has not been weakened in the slightest, sir. ”

"Great." Lütjans nodded, "I knew that those little torpedoes of the British would not do anything to us." ”

"Do you want to go after it?" Perhaps feeling that the victory in hand was not enough, the chief of staff of the fleet asked tentatively.

"Forget it, we have a chance to eliminate them in the future." Lütjens pondered for a moment and said, "The 'Großdeutschland' is too big and has a limited range of activities, so it is better to stay here." Besides, if we leave, the British will take the opportunity to attack, which will pose a threat to the landing force. Our target now is Norway, not the UK. ”

Lütjans's words brought the curtain down on the largest confrontation between warships in human history. And the "Battle of Narvik" accompanied by the legend of the "Großdeutsch", which went down in history.

The "Battle Off the Sea of Narvik" marked a total British defeat in the Norwegian campaign. Although the British fleet carried out a series of attacks and wrote a series of glorious deeds, none of them could change the fate of Norway.

Although the duel between the British and German capital ships was over, the fleet of light ships still made a last-ditch effort to save Norway. Squadrons of British cruisers and destroyers were ordered to attack any German [***] ships that could be found on the Norwegian coast. At about 11:30 a.m. on 12 April, four British Navy cruisers and seven destroyers, under the command of Vice Admiral Wright, headed for the port area of Bergen, 80 nautical miles away. The fleet was able to move only at a speed of 16 knots against strong headwinds and monstrous waves. Since the strength of the German forces in the port of Bergen was still uncertain, the British Admiralty was worried that the cruiser and the destroyer would not be able to squeeze into the narrow channel at the same time, and that if they were attacked by the combined attack of German cruisers, shore guns, and aircraft, the losses would be large and the success would be small, so the commander-in-chief of Forbes ordered the commander-in-chief to cancel the combat operation of forcibly storming the port of Bergen. While the British were hesitating, the Luftwaffe launched a fierce air attack on the British fleet. The British cruiser "Norfolk" was hit by a bomb, but fortunately did not cause heavy damage, but the destroyer "Nepal" was inevitably damaged and was immediately sunk by German aircraft, and the other two cruisers were also seriously damaged by bomb attacks by German aircraft.

In Narvik, due to the sinking of the HMS Prestige in the Westfjord, coupled with the retreat of the main fleet, the British have always been vague about the situation with the Germans. The British Admiralty received only a little bit of information about the harbor of Narvik from the newspapers of the day, and immediately forwarded this extremely inaccurate "precious" news to a fleet of small destroyers that were advancing towards Westfjord, and instructed the fleet commander, Warburton? Admiral Lee said: "The enemy fleet has entered the harbor and sent a small force ashore. Advance towards Narvik and sink or capture enemy ships. If you think you can recapture Narvik from the existing enemy forces, you can land troops as you like. "Warburton? Admiral Lee then decided to attack.

At dawn on April 12, the fog and blizzard were surprisingly heavy. Warburton? Captain Lee took the destroyer "Brave" and led the destroyer fleet to the port of Narvik. As a result, the German fleet was encountered. Warburton? Lee ordered the destroyers "Hotsper" and "Enemy" to engage the enemy ships, while he himself led the rest of the ships to rush into the harbor, and due to the careless negligence of the Germans after the victory, the British fleet rushed into the port of Narvik. Inside the harbor, they spotted five German destroyers, and in the first attack, the "Brave" fired torpedoes at a destroyer flying a German commodore pennant, killing the commander of the German destroyer's fleet, Commodore Bonthe, on the spot. The other German destroyer was then sunk by two torpedoes, and the remaining three were either stranded in a panic or were suppressed by British artillery fire and were unable to put up an effective resistance. By the time the Germans had come to their senses from the raid, the British destroyers had withdrawn from the battle under the cover of a smoke screen. But at this time 3 German destroyers came at high speed, and at a distance of 7000 yards, the "Brave" opened fire first, and then Warburton? Lee ordered the British ships to fight and retreat. But soon two more German destroyers flashed out of the fog ahead, and the oncoming shells made Warburton? Lee's hopes of "wishing it to be a friendly ship that came to the aid of the battle" were dashed. The "Brave" was flanked on both sides by the German ship, and a barrage of armor-piercing shells destroyed its bridge, Warburton? Lee was seriously wounded, and the officers in the vicinity were either killed or wounded, and a short time later another shell hit the engine room. The Brave exploded and lost momentum, then ran aground and drowned in a hail of bullets. Warburton? As he lay dying, Captain Lee's last telegram to his small fleet was: "Keep fighting the enemy!" "After the war, Vorster? Admiral Lee was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross, and his heroic deeds in the face of strong enemies left a glorious page in the history of the British Navy.

At the same time as the destruction of the "Brave", the destroyer "Hunter" was also sunk by several torpedoes, and the "Hotsper" and "Enemy" were also seriously injured by the German cruisers that arrived at the scene. At the critical moment, the British destroyer "Havok" advanced under artillery fire, and finally fought its way out of the German ships blocking the way, and escaped from Westfjord with two wounded ships. The three surviving British destroyers happened to encounter the German Navy's battleship "Bismarck" on the way to the open sea, and when they saw that it was the British destroyer that had escaped from the harbor, the angry German ship's artillery fire immediately roared in unison, and the three British ships were blown up into the sky with several loud bangs in an instant.

Over the next few days, the mighty German fleet sealed off the Norwegian ports, and the Germans carried out landing operations at Narvik and Trondheim. In Trondheim, the heavy cruiser Admiral Hippel was damaged by a bomb by a British carrier-based aircraft, and the light cruiser Königsberg was sunk in the port of Bergen by British aircraft. On 14 April, the British submarine "Wanderer," which was waiting in the Skagerag and Kattegat Straits sank in one fell swoop the German light cruiser "Karlsruhe," which had withdrawn from the port of Kristiansand, and on the evening of the next day, the British Navy's submarine "Tuna" ambushed the multipurpose light battleship "Lutzov," which had returned from Oslo, causing serious damage. In addition, in order to cut off the German supply line at sea, the British submarine sank at least 8 German transport ships in the first week of the Norwegian campaign, but it also paid heavy losses of its own, 2 submarines were destroyed, and 1 was wounded and captured.

(To be continued)