"Commander, it seems that the enemy has disbanded the formations, they are retreating. Pen ~ Fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info"

When the 2nd column of the 1st Advance Squadron of the Allied Combined Fleet was about to turn to the right, an unknown number of flares suddenly fell from the sky, illuminating the sea in a miserable white, and then the radar officer on the heavy cruiser Chester made a new discovery.

The Germans broke up in formation with twenty or thirty mine-striking ships, turned their bows and fled.

What's going on? Did the Germans feel that they could not fight, so they chose to flee shamefully?

Rear Admiral Wright and Colonel Cohen were so confused by the strange behavior of the German mine-striking ship that they did not know for a moment what order to give. As a result, the two columns of the First Advance Brigade continued along the original course in a daze, and as a result, they crashed headlong into a torpedo net composed of "two golden combs."

"Boom ......"

Suddenly, the heavy cruiser Chester seemed to be struck by some monster from underwater, and the hull of the ship jumped with a loud bang as a burst of fire and a huge water injection rose from the port side of the ship. The people who stayed on the bridge were like an earthquake with a magnitude of 8, and they all fell to the floor as if they had been caught off guard and no one could stand still.

The back of Major General Wright's head slammed into the floor, and after a sharp pain, Venus rose in front of him, and before he could stand up, he subconsciously asked, "What's the matter?" ”

"Mines! A mine has hit the port side! ”

I don't know who answered out loud.

"Damn it!" Rear Admiral Wright struggled to get up, and when he found that the ground under his feet was tilting to the left, which meant that the port side was in the water and the hull was losing balance, he hurriedly grabbed the handrail beside him.

"Fill the starboard side!" At this time, Rear Admiral Wright heard Colonel Cohen, the captain of the Chester, shouting, "Damage, I'm the captain, find out the ...... of the loss immediately."

"Boom!"

Before Captain Cohen could finish speaking, the port side of the heavy cruiser Chester was struck by something unknown, and as before, there was a loud bang and a sudden shaking of the hull.

Everyone on the bridge knows it's being torpedoed!

Rear Admiral Wright, thinking that the team had been attacked by a submarine, was about to give an anti-submarine order, when he suddenly heard someone shouting: "Oh God! The Louisville is on fire, still tilting to the left, oh my god it's capsizing! I'm going to flip it over soon......"

"The Augusta is also on fire...... Oh my God, it's exploded again, we're going to lose this heavy cruiser! ”

"Atlanta! The Atlanta has also been attacked! We must have met a pack of wolves......"

When Major General Wright heard these shouts, he hurried to the platform outside the command tower and looked around, and then saw a scene that he will never forget.

The originally pitch-black sea was now full of burning metal hulls, and from time to time there were explosions of fireballs!

Several ships have capsized badly to one side, and several have their bows or sterns raised high, revealing the water!

Rear Admiral Wright also saw a broken hull, presumably the flat-deck destroyer USS Boggs, sinking rapidly!

In the blink of an eye, his first advance fleet had already suffered heavy losses, and he, the commander, did not know what was really going on?

"Commander! We were torpedoed! Very fierce torpedo attack! "The voice of the Chester's captain, Colonel Cohen, who had just spoken to the Chester's damage management captain, had received terrible news.

"The Chester was hit by a torpedo in the amidships and stern of the ship, breaking two large holes, and the torpedo that hit the stern also directly penetrated the power compartment, and now the sea water is pouring in hundreds of tons, and it can't be stopped at all! The power compartment will soon be flooded, and we're going to lose power, Commander, we're going to lose the Chester......"

Lost power and was torpedoed with two gaps...... Not to mention a treaty ship like the Chester, even if it was replaced by a battleship, it would be dead.

"Commander, please change the flagship." Captain Cohen finally sighed and proposed to replace the flagship.

"That'...... All right. Major General Wright also sighed - what a miserable life, and he suffered a heavy blow for no reason! When I go back, I don't know how to be criticized, so I might be kicked into the reserves.

"The ships are in good condition now?" Major General Wright asked in a low voice.

"Commander, now there are 2 heavy cruisers and 3 destroyers in good condition." Captain Cohen reported that "the intact heavy cruisers are the Red Caucasus and the Kirov......"

Rear Admiral Wright was stunned, "Two Soviet heavy cruisers?" ”

……

"Comrade Political Commissar, Comrade Commander, Comrade Wright, Commander of the 1st Advance Squadron reported that the squadron suddenly encountered a torpedo attack, the heavy cruisers USS Louisville and USS Augusta sank, the three destroyers USS Boggs, USS Greer and USS Lee sank, the flagship heavy cruiser USS Chester was heavily damaged and most likely sunk, and the heavy cruisers USS San Francisco and USS Atlanta were hit...... Now the commander, Comrade Wright, has been transferred to the heavy cruiser Red Caucasus and is organizing the rescue with all his might. ”

120 T-93 spear torpedoes sank 3 heavy cruisers and 3 destroyers, and one heavy cruiser was mostly unable to survive, and 1 heavy cruiser and 1 10,000-ton light cruiser hit ...... It's not too good, it's not too bad. However, it was enough to shock the British, American, and Soviet generals and political commissars in the bridge of the Soviet Union.

The battle has only just begun, and with such heavy losses, it seems that this battle today will not be easy to fight.

After listening to a Red Navy staff officer's report on the tragic fate of the 1st Advance Team, Bulganin suddenly thought of the priests that the "American political commissar" McCarthy had arranged for the Soviet ships to be put in place - these priests could really come in handy now, and it seemed that McCarthy was still a prescient anti-G-O activist. In addition, the Red Caucasus and Kirov were lucky enough to remain intact - it had to do with the order of arrangement, the Germans added a little more advance when the mine-striking ships fired their torpedoes, so they hit the ships that were at the front of the queue.

"What's going on? What happened to the 1st Advance Fleet? Was it a submarine of the Germans? As soon as the staff officer's report was over, Bulganin asked questions like a cannon.

"It should be a spear torpedo!" Vice Admiral Fraser of the British Navy replied through gritted teeth. "The torpedoes of the Japanese, with a large range, probably more than 20,000 meters...... The Germans must have introduced this torpedo. ”

(There is a mistake in the previous text, Chapter 617 has already mentioned that the British army encountered spear torpedoes)

"Comrade Commander," Bulganin turned his head to look at the gloomy Admiral Ingersoll, "do you want to continue?" ”

"Of course!" Ingersoll took a breath, "The advantage of the battleship is on our side, we can fight it, just be careful not to let the enemy get within 25,000 yards." ”

The "safe distance" is now 25,000 yards away!

"So far? Can it hit? ”

"Yes!" Ingersoll replied, "We have a good radar, and we have 54 406mm guns, and the enemy only has 16, so a long-range firefight is more beneficial to us!" ”

……

"Your Excellency, the attack of the T-93 torpedoes was successful, the enemy sank 4 heavy cruisers and 3 light ships! What a victory! "The Chief of Staff of the Combined European Fleet, Vice Admiral Messer, reported to the commander, Field Marshal Ruttjans.

"Well done!" Marshal Lütjans smiled, "But the battle has just begun, and it is a little too early to say that we will win a big victory." By the way, is the order of engagement and shelling set? ”

"Okay, the 1st squad will deal with the enemy's main detachment, the 2nd squadron will deal with the enemy's patrol detachment, the 3rd squadron will outflank the enemy's main detachment, the heavy patrol detachment will fight against the enemy's heavy patrol detachment, and there will be 4 driving patrol detachments responsible for covering 4 squadrons." Vice Admiral Messer replied, "In addition, the order of the 1st Sentai shelling is as follows, the Admiral Hippel, the Ludendorff, and the Hindenburg concentrate their fire against the first South Dakota-class, and the four Veneto-class concentrate their fire against the second South Dakota-class. ”

"Good!" Marshal Lütjans nodded with satisfaction, Vice Admiral Messer had exactly the same idea as him, concentrating his firepower on 2 American South Dakota-class ships.

Because the four Soviet-class ships had just replaced the US radar and fire control, it was impossible for the Soviet officers and men to master them immediately, so it was inevitable that the two American battleships would be responsible for the unified observation.

Moreover, the European Combined Fleet, which had fought with the South Dakota class, also knew that the Americans' 406mm guns were amazingly powerful, compared to the German-made 406mm cannons used by the Soviet-class were quite ordinary.

So 2 South Dakota-class ships are much more threatening than 4 Soviet-class ones! As long as they were sunk or hit hard, the 4 Soviet-class ships would not be a cause for concern, and without the American battleships in charge of sighting, their 406mm cannons would not hit the target at all.

At the same time, on the battleship USS Soviet, which would not be the first to be beaten, Admiral Ingersoll had also drawn up the order of engagement and shelling.

He now had three available warbands (including the 2nd Advance Squadron), and although he had lost a few Heavy Cruisers, he was still far superior - at least he thought so.

But he also encountered a problem now, that is, the seaplane detected four enemy warbands, all in unison, and there were long-range night fighters of He-219 flying from Ireland in the sky. It was simply impossible for a seaplane to get too close to throw flares.

So he could not determine where exactly the main forces of the enemy were? But he also has a way to deal with it, which is to simply not be sure.

Admiral Ingersoll said: "We can do this, the 2nd advance team is in the front, the 1st team is in the middle, and the 2nd team is in the back...... A long column was formed, and at the same time 4 detachments of driving patrols were responsible for covering. Wait until we have engaged the enemy before deciding the order of engagement. ”

After such a change, there was a long snake formation of four European fleets advancing in unison against one Allied fleet, and the situation was somewhat similar to the Battle of Jutland more than 20 years ago. (To be continued.) )