A 381-mm armor-piercing shell hit the top cover of the No. 1 turret of the "Soviet Union" at an angle of fall of more than 60 degrees, but it did not penetrate, and the violent impact only left a pit in the top cover of the armor, and the shrapnel from the explosion knocked the armored bridge with a clang. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info And the "Bismarck", which was more than 20,000 meters away, was not as lucky as the "Soviet Union": a heavy armor-piercing projectile weighing 1180 kg hit its starboard secondary gun position, directly tore through the turret roof and the horizontal armor below, exploded inside the hull, and the energy generated by the 25.5 kg high charge made the two compartments that were knocked through a mess!

But the "Bismarck" was not seriously wounded, and the luck was not bad - the shell did not fall directly into the lower ammunition depot of the secondary gun due to the angle of fire: if so, it is estimated that the "Bismarck" would have almost confessed!

A mutually effective artillery bombardment reflected the differences in the design of Soviet and German battleships, and it has to be said that the "Soviet" had a certain advantage, while the design ideas of the "Bismarck" class were somewhat outdated.

The "Bismarck" class battleships were the largest battleships built by Germany during World War II, and their completion and service have caused great repercussions in the world's naval circles, and even Churchill praised them as "a great masterpiece in the history of shipbuilding"! Their legendary career has shrouded them in a magical aura, but in fact, the design idea of the "Bismarck" class is a whole era behind, and it is to design the warships of World War II with the ideas of World War I, and the result can be imagined: when she was launched, she was already a backward battleship, to be precise: "Bismarck" class was a battleship built in World War II to represent the highest level of World War I! (Some people include the "Bismarck" class in the "worst warship of a hundred years of design", and the author is the first to oppose this, but if you take a closer look, you will find that it is outdated in some places, and the reasons are varied, and it is not easy for a Germany that has been restricted for so many years to build the "Bismarck" class!) ）

Why is the "Bismarck" class a battleship on the level of World War I? Because from comprehensive protection, large ships and small guns, to long-range light bullets, all are the ideas of the German Navy in World War I. The design of the "Bismarck" class itself is a continuation of the concept of the "Bayern" class battleships of the First World War, with improved equipment, and the design idea has not changed.

The important features of the post-treaty battleships that reflect the level of World War II include: key protection concept, triple turret, hull design, air defense degree, etc.

In terms of firepower, the German 381MM gun (many sources show that it is 380 mm, the author is used to using the data of 381, and the name of the "Bismarck" was first known 20 years ago, and it will be 381 in memory) is the weakest long-range armor-piercing force in the same caliber class in the world, but it has the longest range!

THE GERMANS CONTINUED THE EXPERIENCE OF THE FIRST WAR AND USED LIGHTER WARHEADS TO ACHIEVE A LONGER RANGE IN ORDER TO COMPETE WITH THE OPPONENT'S LARGER CALIBER GUNS (THE 280MM OF THE FIRST WAR WAS AGAINST THE BRITISH 305MM, AND THE TARGET OF THIS CONFRONTATION WAS THE BRITISH 406MM (Nelson). The gap in range is leveled, but the new warships of the British are no longer the light protection of World War I, and Nelson's 406MM gun may disembowel the "Bismarck" class at 20,000 yards, and the "Bismarck" class may not be able to handle the other side at 15,000 yards (for this, Germany has no experience in manufacturing 406 mm naval guns, if the ship is obviously unrealistic, the German designers are still very clever). And if the "Nelson" class and the "Bismarck" class preempt the T-shaped head in a naval battle, you can imagine who will win with your toes, and the special design of the "Nelson" class is a bit "prescient". ）

Since Germany was the first to build a pure battleship since its defeat in World War I in 1918, in order to reduce risks and ensure the development progress, the ready-made technology was used as much as possible: the main turret was symmetrical and piggyback-on-rear, with two front and rear arranged. This layout is relatively rare in World War II and is often criticized, saying that the use of this layout is not conducive to reducing the length of the hull and the length of the armor belt, but it is also due to its own special reasons and special operational needs.

Germany had its own practical considerations: it was impossible for the number of its own warships to compete with the British, outnumberedness was inevitable, and multiple turrets could be beneficial for attacking dispersed targets, and the dispersion accuracy was also better. But the main reason is not this, the firing range is the main factor: the use of a 3×3 layout in the evacuation operation can cause 6 main guns to be unable to fire, which is very fatal.

In addition, the 3×3 layout loses combat effectiveness by one-third if it damages only 1 turret, while the twin loses only a quarter. The maximum rate of fire of the main guns of the "Bismarck" class was very high, with a minimum rate of fire in elevation of 3 rounds / min and a maximum rate of fire in elevation of 2.3 rounds / min, which reached the highest level of battleships of the same period (including French battleships loaded at any angle). The armor-piercing projectile uses a "high muzzle velocity light projectile", which has a good power in medium and close combat distances, but the long-range target storage velocity performance is correspondingly reduced, and its low trajectory is not conducive to long-range artillery warfare, and it belongs to the middle of the main guns of battleships built after World War I, weaker than the Yamato, Iowa and Veneto classes, and the Richelieu class and the South Dakota class are roughly the same, but stronger than the George V class, the Nelson class, the avant-garde class and even the Lion class.

Precisely because the armor-piercing projectile fired by the "Bismarck" is a "high muzzle velocity light projectile" with weak long-range armor-piercing ability, the armored turret of the "Soviet" can withstand it, and it is difficult to say if it is a heavy projectile design!

Although the firepower of the Bismarck-class was not outstanding, Germany had always been experienced in armor protection, and its armor protection followed the full protection mode, with the largest protection scale of any battleship of the same period, with the side walls of its main armored forts covering 70% of the waterline length and 56% of the broadside height, while the total weight of the armor reached the largest proportion of any battleship of the same period, accounting for 41.85% of the standard displacement.

In addition, while achieving a large protection scale, the "Bismarck" class relied on the space compensation provided by the large protection scale, and arranged the main horizontal armor on the third deck, so that it overlapped on the ballistic trajectory at the same time with the main side armor, so that the protection of the critical parts of the hull was also greatly strengthened, surpassing other battleships built at the same time. Its torpedo defense system is designed to withstand 250 kg of underwater blasting, but in fact it can withstand the explosion of 300 kg of high explosives (its expansion coefficient is 2.5 times that of ***)!

Although the armor thickness coefficient of the "Bismarck" is average, its armor material is very good, and the world-famous "German steel" is not blown out! (According to post-war tests at the U.S. Virginia Naval Base, the ballistic performance of the Bismarck-class KCn/A armor was about 115-120% that of the Iowa class armor of the United States, while the ballistic resistance of the VH armor of the Japanese Yamato-class was only 84% of that of the American ClassA armor - this is true for test samples, but not necessarily for all products.) ）

However, compared to the design of the "Soviet" class, the "Bismarck" is still somewhat outdated - the armor is not as thick as the former, and the caliber of the main gun is not as large as the former.

In terms of protection, the "Soviet" class used extremely powerful armor and watertight protective structures, and its total armor weight reached 23,306 tons, which even surpassed the "Yamato" class, which had an armored weight of 23,262 tons! The armor protection system is a unique incomplete double armored capsule type, the structure is extremely complex, in the center of the main armored capsule front and rear armored partition walls, there is also a larger thickness of the outer bow and stern armored partition wall. Between the two armoured partition walls in the bow and stern, side armor belts and horizontal armor were still arranged. The armor protection system of the "Soviet" class can still be considered a key defense type (unlike the "Bismarck" class. ), but its effective protection volume is larger and more effective than the general single-armored capsule type.

The "Soviet" class main armor belt has a total length of 148.4 meters, extending from the No. 64 keel in front of the No. 1 turret to the No. 196 keel behind the No. 3 turret, accounting for about 57% of the length of the waterline. The armor belt is 6.27 meters high, of which 1.77 meters is below the design waterline.

The underwater protection system of the "Soviet" class is also mixed, and between the keels of No. 64-153 is the Priesai double cylindrical anti-torpedo system with a total length of 123 meters. The depth of the amidships is 8.15 meters, and the bow and stern are reduced to 7.0 meters. Due to the large width of the Plesay system, which is not conducive to the smooth transition of the underwater line of the hull, the keel of No. 153-170 stern of the "Soviet" class is a multi-torpedo bay structure. The outer plate of the cylinder is 11 mm thick, the inner two cylinder walls are 7 mm thick, the central cylinder is 3.15 meters in diameter, and the outer layer is about 1.2 meters of oil-water layer. Inside, there is no heavy armor anti-torpedo mediastinal wall, and there is a 10 mm thick water discharge support plate and a 35 mm thick light armor mediastinum wall. The bottom of the ship is a double longitudinal bone structure, and the lower part of the main gun ammunition magazine is a triple bottom, which has a certain explosion-proof ability.

According to the design requirements, the armor of the "Soviet" could withstand the attack of 406-mm armor-piercing shells and 5000-kilogram bombs dropped at an altitude of 1000 meters! Its underwater defense system is even more powerful, and the anti-torpedo system is capable of defending against 750 kg of underwater explosions (which is not much more effective than the actual effect of the "Bismarck")! According to the designers, "the Soviet" class can also achieve the amazing vitality of any adjacent 5 compartments with 2 torpedoes without sinking or hitting 3 torpedoes from the bottom of the ship, and 3 torpedoes with 1 side without losing their combat effectiveness!

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Seeing that the German shells had accurately hit his ship, Kuznetsov knew in his heart: if the current course was followed, the German shelling would only become more and more accurate!

"Pass my order, the left rudder of the formation is 15, and the fleet maintains a speed of 30 knots!"

It was to get as close as possible to the target, to counteract the German precision shelling with distance - by order of the fleet commander, the "Soviet" began to turn the rudder, and at this time the busiest was the gunnery department: the fastest again to calculate and adjust the angle of fire.

As soon as the fleet had finished turning, a shell landed a few hundred meters away on the starboard side, and the commander on the bridge took a look at the bullet and exhaled - if he hadn't adjusted the course, the shell would have hit his head!

The Germans' optical aiming technology is among the best in the world! A piercing whistle sounded from the bridge, the main guns had been adjusted, and a salvo would be fired again!

In the violent backseat, the bridge was trembling slightly, and the four ships in the column were shelling almost simultaneously, and there was only one target - the leading German battleship!

"Get down!" The staff officer on the side unconsciously pushed the commander, and a violent shock came, and the bulletproof glass behind the armor cover of the porthole of the bridge was shaken off - a large-caliber shell accurately hit the bridge of the "Soviet", and at the same time a shell hit the junction of the No. 3 turret and the bridge!

Kuznetsov was pushed to the ground, but quickly stood up: "Report the losses!" ”

"The third main turret is hydraulically out of order and is electrically manipulated. There were casualties on the bridge of the compass, the bow of the ship was hit 15 meters, the bow of the ship did not enter much water, and our ship could still fight! ”

At this time, the people on the "Red Ukraine" in the back also sweated for the flagship: it was completely surrounded by water columns and gunsmoke! The Germans directed all their fire at the leading "USSR"!

"Pass my order, the whole fleet continues to hit the leading ship of the German fleet with fire and shelling, and don't care about anything else!"

Just when the "Soviet" was hit for the second time, the two Soviet cruisers had already fired a second salvo after turning, and the "Bismarck", more than 20 kilometers away, had been hit by seven 180-mm shells half a minute earlier, although there were no injuries to the bones, but the explosion caused more damage to the deck and superstructure, and also caused a small fire on the right side of the bridge.

40 seconds later, Kuznetsov saw the sight of his life: the leading German battleship was surrounded by an explosion and emitted billowing smoke!

"It must have hit the nail on the head!"

Before the comrades could rejoice, another violent explosion sounded, and the hull shook even more violently than just now!

"Turret No. 2 was hit on the left side!" Kuznetsov looked at it - a hole appeared 3 meters to the left of turret No. 2, and smoke was billowing out! This made the comrade admiral sweat in shock: judging by the distance and the possible angle of the shell, this German shell could go straight into the No. 2 main turret firing magazine!

When the commander broke out in a cold sweat, the ammunition depot and propellant depot in the lower part of the No. 2 main turret were not as bad as expected, the shells penetrated two layers of horizontal armor, and due to the firing angle, they were blocked by the armor belt of the ammunition depot up to 406 mm thick, but the shock from the violent explosion caused heavy casualties to the sailors in the adjacent ****** room - one of the sailors was just leaning his back against the bulkhead, and his internal organs were shattered!

"Turret No. 2 reports that the ammunition depot is fine, but more than half of the sailors below have been killed or wounded."

"Immediately put the reserves on board, and the No. 1 and No. 3 turrets continue to aim at the German lead ship!"

In fact, the losses suffered by the Soviets were far more than that, it had already taken a dozen rounds of 203-mm shells, but the soldiers were not injured in the bones, and several anti-aircraft guns were lost, all of which were omitted - any salvo from both sides could inflict a fatal blow on the opponent!

After 30 seconds, the "Soviet" fired another salvo, and Kuznetsov then issued a new order: "Pass my order, the Soviet Union and the Ukrainian are aimed at the German ship No. 2, and the cruiser is aimed at the German ship No. 3!" ”

The distance was getting closer, and by this time the German formation had changed - the "Bismarck" was smoking and the speed had slowed down, and the second battleship had reached the right flank, as if to take the lead ship. Three German destroyers are speeding into the middle of the Soviet and German fleets - the "Bismarck" should have been heavily damaged, and the Germans wanted to release smoke to cover it!

(Cited some information, the word count is more affordable, the naval battle is almost over, hehe.) (To be continued.) )