"Send a signal, let the Texas take over the command, and leave us alone." Lieutenant General Hawkes ordered.

Soon, the "Texas", which received the signal, raised its battle flag, sailed past the "New York" with two American battleships, which was about to stop, and continued to rush towards the German ships without stopping, trying to disrupt the array of German ships.

"These Americans look so brave that they won't run away."

On the bridge of the "Kaiser Wilhelm", Admiral Lut couldn't help but sneer as he looked at the American battleships that were being hit one after another.

As soon as Admiral Lut's words fell, the "Kaiser Wilhelm" began to fire again in a volley, hitting the "New York", which was no longer able to move, and almost at the same time, the shells fired by the "New York" also hit the "Kaiser Wilhelm".

The "Kaiser Wilhelm" shook violently again, and Admiral Lut's feet slipped and nearly fell, while Captain Frank reached out and held his arm with lightning speed.

Admiral Lut stood firm, looked out of the porthole, and saw that the "New York" was now completely surrounded by flames and flames, its main guns had completely stopped firing, and its speed had begun to weaken.

Although the "Kaiser Wilhelm" also suffered a 356-mm shell fired from the "New York", the power did not affect it in the slightest, and at this time the "Kaiser Wilhelm" had already crossed to the front of the American fleet at high speed, seizing the "T" prefix, and the German fleet once again concentrated its firepower and bombarded the American battleships.

Under the concentrated fire attack of 4 "William the Great" class battleships and 6 "Byrne" class battleships, the American battleships began to fire one after another, and the 27,240-ton "Wyoming" was hit by more than ten giant shells of 403 mm caliber and 380 mm caliber one after another, and soon turned into a pile of burning steel wreckage, while another sister ship "Arkansas" also quickly ignited a fire under heavy blows.

This one-sided battle soon lost suspense, when the last main turret of the "Texas" was also lifted by the "Queen Maria", the resistance of the American battleships had collapsed, in addition to the "Wyoming", which had become scrap steel, the other two American battleships were also scarred, but the Americans still had no intention of surrendering or escaping, and still clumsily resisted the German artillery fire there.

Under the fierce attack of the German ships, the artillery fire of the American battleships fell silent little by little, the German battleships stopped shelling, and a German destroyer tried to approach the "Texas" to carry out rescue, but the two secondary guns of the "Texas" suddenly began to shoot at this time, beating the German destroyer to the ground. Enraged, the German battleships immediately began to shoot again, and the four American battleships on the surface of the sea finally could not hold out and sank into the sea one after another.

"These Yankees are so stubborn that they have wasted so many of our shells." Admiral Lute inquired about the ammunition stockpile, and said with some annoyance.

"That's probably one of the reasons why the Yankees won't back down." "They guessed our purpose, and in order to prevent us from shelling their landing grounds, they were deliberately wasting our ammunition." When we run out of armor-piercing shells, we have to consume explosive shells to shell the coast. ”

"What about our losses?" Admiral Lut nodded and asked. At this time, he still hadn't fully recovered from the fierce battle just now.

For the German fleet, which had fought all the way through the English Channel, only the battle just now could be called a decent resistance.

"The 'Wilhelm the Great' was hit by four fourteen-inch shells, the 'Frederick the Great' was hit three times, the 'Empress Maria' was hit by three twelve-inch shells, and the 'Blucher' was hit by six shots." The Wilhelm's injuries were more severe, but they didn't affect the battle. After a quick count, an officer quickly reported, "Then the destroyer 'V165' has been seriously damaged, and the casualty count is being counted." ”

"Our losses are minor compared to those of the Americans." Admiral Lut looked at his watch and ordered, "But we don't have much time for the enemy's main fleet to rush over, we must hurry up and replenish our ammunition now"

"Yes, sir."

At this moment, the sirens sounded again, and Admiral Lut turned to look out of the porthole, and he did not have to listen to the shouts of the lookouts to see the figure of one American destroyer after another, and soon, the dense cannon fire rang out again, and the light ships of both sides were torn apart. ,

In the Admiralty Operations Hall in London, senior generals and officers gathered around a chart of a different style. It is a large nautical chart, with the ocean covering almost the entire surface, and only the coastlines of France and Spain are plotted on the right. In the open sea, there are some models of ships made of cardboard, which are marked with German battleships such as "Wilhelm the Great", "Frederick the Great", "Empress Maria", and "Blucher". From each of the ship models, the black tracks of these warships in the last few hours are drawn. Another feature of this chart is that several large arcs are drawn on it, indicating the range of reconnaissance that can be reached by reconnaissance aircraft taking off from France and Britain.

"The four American battleships sent out should have met them." "Among them were battleships with fourteen-inch guns, and I think we should be able to inflict some losses on them this time," said Studdy. ”

"A lot of people will die soon." Prince Louis said worriedly.

"Cherbourg has been alerted and the Japanese say they are preparing for defense......"

A junior officer came over with a telegram. Study shrank and took the telegram, and after a glance, his face changed.

"What's wrong?" Lord Hamilton asked.

"The four American battleships were also sunk. Lieutenant General Hawkes may well have been killed. Study said in an indescribably gloomy tone.

Listening to the words of the Chief of Staff of the Navy, there was an uproar in the combat hall. A rear admiral gestured in annoyance, asking everyone to be quiet and continue their work.

"How can it be so fast? That's a warship with a fourteen-inch cannon," said Prince Louis, in astonishment.

"The telegram was sent from the cruiser 'Charleston', and they said that the Germans had not six, but ten battleships." "There were two teams, the first was four Wilhelm the Great-class battleships, and the second was six Byrne-class battleships. ”

"The Germans are really going to take a gamble this time." Lord Hamilton said.

"Germany is now in a state of prostration, they can't hold out for long, and when our troops are assembled, it will be their end." "That's why they didn't hesitate to send their entire navy to carry out this plan," said Prince Louis, "and I reckon they have been working on this plan for a long time, but unfortunately they have not been able to find an opportunity to carry it out." ”

"It was also a good opportunity for us to annihilate the main forces of the German fleet." There was a rare look of excitement and excitement on Studi's face, "This will be the real battle of Trafalgar, as long as we win, the victory of this war will be ours." ”

"Yes, although our losses have been great so far, for this war such a price is worth it." Prince Louis said.

"Betty has always been very bold, and now the best battleships of the Chinese are in his hands, which is enough for him to squander." Hamilton said with a wry smile.

"Send a telegram to Betty informing him of the state of the battle, and ask him to take all actions to destroy the enemy." Study said.

Soon, on the bridge of the battleship "Republic", Betty received an urgent telegram from the Admiralty.

The Chief of Staff, Colonel Evans, held a stack of telegrams in his hand and said: "The Admiralty has sent a long report that consolidates all the intelligence they have gathered. He went on to add, "Now the Germans have repelled the attack of American destroyers. ”

When Betty received the telegram, she did not show the slightest panic, "Then the matter will be clear." He said calmly, "Our goal is clear. ”

Betty went to the chart table and leaned over to look closely.

"We don't need to rush now, they've already gone through two fierce battles and they have to refill their ammunition." Colonel Evans said, looking at his watch, and said calmly, "I think we'll be able to get a stab in their back." ”

Betty understood the meaning of Evans' words and smiled and nodded.

"What if they attack Cherbourg now?" Xu Zhenpeng asked.

"War always has a price," Betty straightened up, turned her head to look at Xu Zhenpeng, smiled bitterly, and said, "I'm glad to see them use up their ammunition and be captured or sunk by us with their bare hands." ”

Hearing the answer of the commander of the British Grand Fleet, thinking of the Entente landing site in Cherbourg, Xu Zhenpeng's heart couldn't help but tighten. ,

Although most of the Entente teams in Cherbourg were American and Japanese, some squadrons also rested there.

For Xu Zhenpeng, who had participated in the Battle of Dadonggou on the "Dingyuan" ship, history seemed to have reincarnated at this time.

At that time, the Beiyang Navy, in order to protect the army brothers who were landing, fought a bloody battle with the Japanese at sea for five hours, and finally completed the escort mission. And now, hearing the "subtext" in the words of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Navy, although he understood that Betty and Evans's choice had his reasons, he still vaguely felt a trace of unease in his heart.

Port of Cherbourg, landing ground for the Allied Army.

At this moment, a Chinese Army captain and a U.S. Navy captain are looking out into the sea on a hillside by the sea.

"I heard that your hometown, Hunan Province, has achieved self-government." The American captain asked, handed him a cigarette and stretched out the lighter.

"yes, we heard the news and we're all very happy." The Chinese captain took a puff of his cigarette and said, "The United States has always been something we have learned, and the political system is no exception." ”

"That's right, we heard the news, and we are very happy that the American people are happy to see the emergence of a democratic and free China." "For the Chinese, this is a small step." But for China as a whole, it's a big step. ”

Their gaze then looked to the shore in the distance. There weren't many people on the beach anymore, and there were wooden crates piled up everywhere.

"It's on loan from you." The Chinese said: "We are very grateful for the battleships you built for us. We are well aware that without these warships, it will be difficult to conduct war. ”

"I know the situation." "Without these warships, we can't win this war," the American said. ”

At this time, they saw some huge wooden boxes towering in the distance. "Those are all shells for anti-tank guns." The American said, "These shells should be for the Japanese." ”

"The Japanese? Humph" The Chinese sneered and took a long puff of smoke.

"We don't like the Japanese either," the Americans agreed: "Just look at how they did in this war." ”

At this moment, tiny black dots seemed to appear one after another on the sea, and the Chinese saw these black dots first, and their faces couldn't help but change.

"This is ......" Before the Americans could finish speaking, a whistle-like roar of a train whistle came with the flickering red light under the gray sky.

Now they have a clear idea of what is going to happen.

"To you, the York is a very new warship. But now, not even once did she sail safely to Germany without meeting the enemy's battleships. On the bridge, the captain was loudly announcing to the crew, "this time, we will do our best to make our enemies feel 'pleasant,' we will 'entertain' them at all costs, and we will dedicate them a wonderful scene while the fellows speak—" He gestured to the turret below.

At this time, driven by the gunners, the 403 mm caliber cannon was already aimed at the target, and looking at this spectacular scene, all the German officers and soldiers felt an indescribable fear.

Hipper, who had finished his mobilization speech before the war, stood on the bridge of the "York" and looked at the German naval officers and men standing solemnly on the ship's surface, and could not help but feel full of emotion in his heart.

After the glory and helplessness of the Battle of Jutland, Hipper knew that his country had no more strength to consume, and it was either to survive or to be destroyed

"The fleet is reversed, 40 ° to the left" The battlecruiser "York" took the lead, and six German battlecruisers pierced through the mist of the North Sea and moved closer to Betty, who was ready to throw off the German fleet.

"Brave hussars attack"

Hipper always liked to call his battle cruiser that. Compared with the battle cruisers of the Allied navy, the defense of German battle cruisers at all levels was much higher, so much so that many British and American naval generals also attributed them to battleships, such as the 350 mm main armor belt of the "York" class was even thicker than that of the British "Queen Elizabeth" class battleships. Some people jokingly say that the battlecruisers are just the Germans rushing to play the ground, and the main armor belt is 203 mm thick Japanese "Kongo" class, 177 mm American "Lexington" class, in the case of firepower and speed comparable to the "York" class, the results of one-on-one artillery combat are obvious, not to mention that the Germans have an unparalleled advantage in armor and shooting accuracy,

"We don't have time to toss around with them," Betty said categorically.

"Reach out to these pesky flies and chase them away"

The Chinese fleet as a whole turned to the right.

"21,000 yards"

"18,000 yards"

"15,000 yards"

"12000 yards"

"Put"

In the first few rounds of volleys, both sides were in high-speed motion, and after a few rounds there was no result. Soon, however, the German gunners, who were skilled in gunning, made their first success, when a 350-mm shell hit the starboard side of the "Spirit of Liberty", and a secondary gun was immediately blown into the air, and the flames were quickly extinguished by the deck damage management team.

After a few more rounds of firing, the Chinese fleet finally found the "target". A 16-inch shell fired by the "Free Spirit", which had just been set on fire, penetrated through the area of the non-main armor belt between the deputy conning tower of the "Scharnhorst" and the chimney No. 2, and in the violent explosion, the flue, pantry, officer's bedroom, toilet, sailor's cabin, bathroom, and equipment warehouse in this position were devastated, and the upper part of the No. 4 boiler room was also blown out of a large hole, and the whole battleship was killed. However, there was blood everywhere on the 88-mm open-air anti-aircraft guns and twin 20-mm machine gun positions.

"Give me a hard beating," Hipper clenched his fists and yelled, "Gotta entangle them"

Betty basically didn't care how many shells hit his battleship, his side was full of battleships, the armor was thicker than Hipper's battlecruiser anyway, and now he was going to end the battle quickly.

"Continue to get closer to the enemy, rapid shelling"

The distance between the two sides soon approached 10,000 yards, and the Chinese sailors, whose artillery skills were relatively poor, could also have a better hit rate at this time.

The Germans did have a sturdy battleship, but in the end they couldn't resist. After receiving 14 armor-piercing shells, the "De Fringer" battle patrol finally could not bear it. With a 16-inch armor-piercing projectile easily tearing through the main armor belt on the right side of the ship's B turret, and then piercing through the armor partition outside the ammunition compartment of the main gun, after exploding in the ammunition compartment. The battlecruiser, with a displacement of more than 40,000 tons, lost its "head" in a violent explosion and immediately sank into the sea at breakneck speed.

Hipper had no time to grieve, and a few minutes later, the York, which had just reaped the results of the battle, had to turn to the right and break away from the formation when all three turrets A, B, and C were destroyed.

Ten minutes after the "York" withdrew from the battle, a 16-inch armor-piercing shell fired from the "Independence" accurately knocked the port side armor belt of the "Seydlitz", which was at the end of the fleet. In the artillery battle ahead, a large number of damage management personnel on the ship were killed or wounded, and in order to extinguish the fires in various places, the damage management personnel on the battleship had to be quickly replaced. At this time, the shell hit the boiler room of the "Seydlitz", and the Chinese sailors standing on the Independence saw a huge flame surrounding the "Seydlitz". When the smoke finally cleared, the "Seydlitz" had disappeared from the sea.

"These Germans are worthless," Betty couldn't help but sneer when she saw that the German battle cruisers were basically wounded. While speaking, the "Count Spee", which was located at the rear of the fleet, also turned and broke away from the formation with the main guns lost.

"Let the cruiser come up with smoke" Betty didn't plan to dwell on it any longer, and soon it was possible to completely annihilate Hipper's Chinese fleet and start to leave the battlefield. The experienced Hipper, of course, knew at this time that the nimble light battleship would come out of the smoke, and it was not that he didn't want to continue to entangle Betty, but there was nothing he could do.

"I've done my best, God bless Lut," the scarred Hipper's fleet turned towards the Danish Strait.

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