The sinking of the battleship York meant the complete rout of the Allied Combined Fleet's 2nd Squadron, which was already weak, with only 3 under-armored King George V-class battlecruisers and 2 poorly armored Kronstadt-class battlecruisers. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 InfoNow that you have lost 1 King George V class, it is simply impossible to resist 2 Hindenburg class and 4 Veneto class.

As a result, Admiral Ingersoll had to order the disbandment of the 2nd Squadron and allow the remaining 2 King George V and 2 Kronstadt to escape.

And the decision to disband the 2nd Sentai also means that the main force of the European Combined Fleet has lost its containment, and the 2 powerful Hindenburg-class and 4 Veneto-class will soon come to attack the 1st Sentai of the Allied fleet!

If the 1st Confederate Fleet could not defeat the 1 Bismarck-class, 2 Richelieu-class and 2 Barbarossa-class ships in front of them before this, then the sea supremacy in the North Atlantic would have to return to the Germans.

At the critical moment, Admiral Ingersoll suddenly heard a cheer of "Ula" in his ears. He hurriedly raised his binoculars and looked in the direction of a staff officer's finger beside him, and it turned out to be a Barbarossa-class battleship shrouded in water injection - this was a straddle shot!

Probably sensing danger, the Barbarossa-class suddenly began to turn, as if it wanted to turn around and leave—in fact, the other Barbarossa-class and Prinz Eugen heavy cruisers had also begun to turn and prepare to run away.

It turned out that after the disbandment of the 2nd Sentai of the Combined Fleet of the Allied Powers, Marshal Lütjans also ordered the disbandment of the 2nd Sentai of the Combined European Fleet. At the same time, he ordered the 1st Squadron of the Combined European Fleet to pursue the battleship Anson and the 3rd Squadron to pursue the battleship Howe.

According to the calculations of Admiral Lütjans, his two warbands were enough to annihilate two British battleships. In this way, he won three major results very well tonight. And two of the Americans' South Dakota-class battleships have been wounded and will most likely go to the dock for overhaul.

In this way, the mainstay of the Allies in the Atlantic Ocean was the 4 Soviet-class battleships and 2 Kronstadt-class battlecruisers of the Soviet Red Navy......

Just with these 6 Soviet battleships / battle cruisers...... Isn't the sea supremacy in the North Atlantic firmly back in the hands of Germany?

Lütjans's wishful thinking played well, but at this time on the battlefield, there was a sudden change that he did not expect.

The battleship Barbarossa (in this space, the O-class is an upgraded version of the Scharnhorst-class, not a thin-skinned battlecruiser) has been recruited - it is the battleship of the Soviet Union that hits it!

Although the defense of the Soviet-class battleships was flooded, the radar and fire control were newly installed, and the officers and men of the Red Navy had not yet mastered it. However, its three three-pack 406mm/L52SKC/34 main guns are genuine German products, exactly the same as the main gun system used in the Hindenburg class.

Moreover, the Soviet class also has the characteristics of large ships carrying small guns, and the full load displacement of 65,000 tons is more than 2,000 tons larger than the 63,000 tons of the Hindenburg class. This made the Soviet-grade 406mm gun have a high shooting accuracy, and as long as the Zhuyuan is measured, it is easy to hit the target. As a result, just as the Barbarossa was turning, a 406mm high-speed flick pierced its port armor belt. This time, the fuse, which always went wrong, actually worked normally, and exploded after the shell penetrated the boiler room located at the waterline! Not only did it blow up a boiler room, but it also blew up a vital steam pipe to the engine room, reducing the Barbarossa's speed from 30 knots to 10 knots.

However, the Barbarossa's bad luck had only just begun, as before it was hit by the Soviet Union, Lütjans had already ordered the 2nd Sentai to disband. So the faster Bismarck, Jean. The Barr, the Napoleon Emperor, and the Schlieffen all dispersed, and the Tirpitz, which had withdrawn first, also ran away. Only the Barbarossa was left unfast, and it was immediately besieged by 2 South Dakota-class and 4 Soviet-class ships.

Although Major General Lindemann (commander of the 2nd Sentai Brigade), who found out that the situation was not right, hurriedly ordered Jean. The Bar, Napoleon, and Schlieffen moved closer to the Bismarck in an attempt to regroup their team to rescue the Barbarossa.

But 2 South Dakota-class and 4 Soviet-class 54 406mm cannons did not intend to spare the Barbarossa. The battleship was now a substitute for the Tirpitz, having been hit by a dozen 406mm shells in a matter of minutes, burning the entire deck and knocking 2 of the 3 turrets flying.

At 11:20 p.m., disaster befell the Barbarossa, a 406mm shell fired by the Soviet Ukrainian battleship once again penetrated the Barbarossa's waterline armor and then crashed all the way to the vicinity of the Barbarossa's No. 2 boiler room, a huge explosion swept through the No. 2 boiler room, and the steam and toxic smoke instantly killed everyone nearby. Subsequently, the battleship, with a standard displacement of up to 33,000 tons, completely lost power, was scarred, shrouded in fire, and could no longer move.

Five minutes later, the commander of the European Combined Fleet, Lütjans, reluctantly gave the order to abandon the Barbarossa! A Z-destroyer approached the Barbarossa with constant 406mm shells, rescuing the surviving officers and men on board, and then fired torpedoes at the giant ship to end its suffering.

Now the two sides are tied 1: 1 in the number of losses of battleships.

However, the draw is only temporary. At 11:30, the 1st squadron of the combined European fleet caught up with the British battleship Anson. This time, 2 Hindenburg-class and 4 Veneto-class ships beat 1 King George V class.

Deadly shells from 16 406mm cannons and 36 380mm cannons rained down. Only 3 minutes later, a 406mm shell fired by the Ludendorff hit the aft deck of the Anson, blew a large hole, and ignited something, and the fire burned on the "butt" of the Anson.

After another two minutes, the 406mm shells fired by the battleship Hindenburg were again successful, this time hitting the No. 3 turret aft of the Anson, and the 12.75-inch (324mm) armor protection could not withstand the penetration of the 406mm shells, and the No. 3 turret was knocked off the spot. The massive shock from the explosion of the shells caused the Anson's No. 4 turret to malfunction (turret failure is an old problem of King George V) and prevented it from firing, and the stern of the Anson lost all firepower.

Upon discovering this, the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper (which was still in the 1st Squadron) immediately pursued at full speed with several Z-destroyers, intending to torpedo the stern of the Anson. The Leander-class light cruiser, which was following the Anson, could only fight hard, and engaged in a fierce battle with the Admiral Hipper, which was soon beaten to the ground and sunk into the icy Atlantic Ocean after 15 minutes of hard work.

Although the sacrifice of this light cruiser held off the Admiral Hippel, it could not withstand the constant fire of 406mm and 381mm shells. While the Admiral Hipper and the Leander were engaged, four more 406mm shells and three 381mm shells hit the Anson in the "ass" and in the back of the ship's amidships. One of the 406mm shells also penetrated the rear chimney deck of the Anson, burrowed into the boiler room and made a big explosion, and milky white high-pressure steam was immediately ejected from the ship's amidships, forming a jet stream tens of meters high.

This scene made Admiral Ingersoll on the battleship USS Soviet, who was rushing to the rescue, look at it squarely. Ingersoll's face was ugly to death, and the explosion of the boiler room meant that the speed of the ship's hull had dropped significantly, and the Anson was more than lucky!

At this moment, there was a sudden earth-shattering noise in the distance - I wonder whose ammunition depot exploded?

"It's the Howe, it was blown up by the Germans with V3 missiles, it's finished......" Fraser's trembling voice rang out, "God, today is the darkest day in the history of the British Royal Navy!" We've lost the Duke of York, we've lost Howe, and we're left with only one Anson, and it seems like we're going to be unable to keep it. God, what can we do? ”

Bulganin didn't understand English, but he knew the reactionary word "god".

The comrade military commissar thought to himself: Now God can't save you reactionary imperialists, it seems that the fight against the Nazis and fascists still depends on the powerful Red Navy! The Red Navy was the mainstay of the anti-Nazi struggle in the Atlantic!

Bulganin's idea was at least half right, and now even God can't save the Anson. The 2 Hindenburg-class and 4 Veneto-class ignored the 406mm shells from the 1st Squadron of the Allied Combined Fleet, and just bombarded the Anson, which was about to turn into a "volcano".

At 11:45 p.m., the last remaining King George V-class battleship also ushered in its own end.

Maybe the shells penetrated the ammunition depot, maybe the fire spread and ignited the ammunition depot, maybe it was something else. In short, after a loud bang, the stern of the Anson disappeared into the air, and the icy water poured inexorably into the hull. The battleship also slowly sank into the sea.

Fortunately, however, a few minutes before the explosion of the Anson's ammunition depot, the captain of the Anson gave the order to abandon the ship in time. Therefore, after the sinking of the Anson, most of the officers and men on board did not sink to the bottom of the sea together, but floated on the icy sea in life jackets.

Incidentally, the ships of the Combined European Fleet did not salvage or attack them, as a fierce battle soon ensued between the 1st Squadron of the two Combined Fleets. Most of the British officers and men who had fallen overboard were later salvaged by the Red Caucasus and Kirov, who had ventured to rescue them, and the two Soviet heavy cruisers were busy salvaging the overboard without firing a single shot or being attacked during the tonight's engagement...... (To be continued.) )