Until now, the operations of all five battle groups of the German Navy have been successful.

But the Germans also knew in their hearts that the real battle had just begun.

"News from the Air Force, the British fleet has been dispatched, and it should not be far from here now." The chief of staff of the fleet, Rear Admiral Scholz, handed a telegram to Lütjans, said.

"The British are still very fast." After reading the telegram, Lu Teyans nodded, "Let's get ready to meet them!" ”

With the issuance of the battle order, the "Großdeutschland" began to slowly turn around and sail towards the sea off Narvik, where beside this huge ship that was as imposing as a whale, there were frigates like small fish.

Just as the Germans had provided intelligence, the British navy began to counterattack. The Royal Navy's Home Fleet left Scapa Bay on 9 April 1940 and arrived in Norwegian waters on the morning of 10 April. Admiral Tovey, commander of the British Home Fleet, lined up all the capital ships at sea, and then sent a reconnaissance fleet of cruisers and destroyers to the port of Narvik to search for the German fleet.

Standing on the bridge of the battleship "Lion", Tovey's heart fluctuated in the face of the cold wind of the North Sea.

Now he can understand the feeling of Admiral Jericho when he faced a strong enemy during the Battle of Deland.

He knew that he was now the one who "could lose the whole war in one afternoon".

"The main gun of the 'Großdeutschland' is terrifying, but it only has two main turrets, and the target of each attack is limited, so this is our chance." The chief of staff of the fleet said to Tovey, "With four Lion-class battleships, we still have a good chance of victory. ”

"But it can attack us out of range of our main guns." There was an indescribable depression in Tovey's voice, "Besides, they have radar too. ”

"According to our intelligence, their radar is still very primitive and cannot be compared to ours." The chief of staff of the fleet sensed the uneasiness in the commander's heart and comforted him.

"I hope so." Tovey sighed and stopped talking.

The sea breeze became more and more violent, and the mist on the sea surface was quickly blown away, and although it was still cloudy, the visibility was acceptable, when the piercing air defense sirens suddenly sounded.

Tovey raised his binoculars and looked at the sky, and soon saw several flying figures, followed by the sound of anti-aircraft fire from frigates in the distance, and black dots began to appear in the sky—smoke clouds formed by the explosion of anti-aircraft shells.

"It's a German plane." A staff officer said, "They are attacking the Prince of Wales. ”

"The planes of the Germans flew over our heads, and our radar did not respond!" Tovey lowered his binoculars in annoyance and let out a big gasp.

"Maybe something went wrong." The chief of staff of the fleet muttered softly, and did not defend the radar surname of the British Navy anymore.

He knew that any justification would pale in the face of the facts before him.

Soon, the figure of the German aircraft disappeared, the anti-aircraft fire of the British also stopped, and calm returned to the sea.

"Let's hope that until we find the 'Großdeutschland', the damned German planes won't come and bother us again." Tovey said softly.

The British fleet was moving fast, the clock was ticking by, and Tovey's heart was tightening little by little.

Somehow, at this time, he actually had a desire not to meet the "Big Germany" in his heart.

But history did not give him this opportunity after all.

"Report the destroyer 'Gurkha'! Spot enemy ships! ”

"Radar detects enemy ships! It's the 'Großdeutsch'! ”

Listening to the reports of the discovery of enemy ships, Tovey's heart suddenly became surprisingly calm.

"It's finally here." Tovey said, raising his binoculars and observing the sea, but at this time, there was no trace of the enemy ship on the sea.

Tovey looked at his watch, which clearly showed the current time, 11:25 a.m. on April 10, 1940.

Suddenly, the sea antenna in the distance was illuminated by bursts of rainbow flashes, followed by the rumbling of cannon like rolling thunder!

Despite the distance from which the guns sounded, Tovey and many people on the bridge couldn't help but stumble.

There was a sudden whistling sound in the sky, and Tovey looked up to see a huge object that looked like a beer bottle, like a meteorite falling from the sky, falling into the sea not far from where the "Lion" was.

It was a 5-mm "Dora" shell weighing almost 800 tons.

The huge cannonball fell into the sea and exploded violently, as if there was a thunderclap on the ground, and an unprecedented huge column of water rose on the sea, as if the sea god Poseidon jumped out of the sea, and then the sea water poured down from the sky like a waterfall and landed on the bridge of the "Lion", and the people on the bridge were all unstable for a while, and several people fell.

"They threw over a truck full of ammunition." Tovey chuckled bitterly, his ears tingling slightly from the sound of the explosion, and he shook his head, took off his hat, and shook off the seawater.

Another "Dora" shell fell and exploded in the sea not far from the bow of the "Lion," setting off a monstrous wave that crashed against the hull of the "Lion" and made the huge body of the "Lion" tremble.

Seeing the explosion of this huge bomb that almost hit the "Lion," the faces of many British naval officers on the bridge suddenly turned pale.

"Their radar is certainly no worse than ours." Tovey said calmly.

"And they were able to hit us at such a distance," said the Chief of Staff of the Fleet with an inexplicable fear in his voice, "and they are still out of range of our main guns!" ”

The Chief of Staff of the Fleet was right, at this moment, the "Großdeutschland", with the world's tallest mainmast and ranging tower, as well as an advanced radar search system, had already preemptively discovered the position of the British ship and opened fire at a distance far beyond the range of the British battleship.

The "Dora" cannon of the "Großdeutschland" at this moment really began an era of terror.

The hour hand was turning, and the sirens were blaring miserably.

"Call from the Admiralty." A communications officer ran over and handed Tovey a telegram.

Tovey took the telegram and read it softly: "The defending ships along the Norwegian coast may have fallen into the hands of the Germans, and only you can judge whether they should attack in this situation." Whatever decision you make, give it your full support. ”

"Call back: Plan to attack right away." Tovey said quietly to the communications officer, who saluted and ran away quickly.

Listening to Tovey's words, the bridge, which was originally a little flustered, suddenly fell silent, and everyone's eyes were focused on him.

The Admiral's next sentence exemplifies the traditional style of the British Royal Navy: "Immediately start the attack!" Burn the wind! ”

"Enemy ship spotted on the port side!"

"Enemy ship spotted on starboard!"

Hearing the report, Lütjans stood on the bridge of the ship, looked at the sea with a telescope, and sure enough, in two different directions, he observed two large battleships.

At this time, under the cover of gray sky, the four "Lion" battleships under the command of Tovey were forming an encirclement of the "Big Germany". However, it is not easy to perform this maneuver in the midst of strong winds and waves. Lütjans noted that the British battleship, moving to the left of the "Great Germany", had to sail with the bow of the waves.

"They're trying to distract us from this method." This was stated by the Chief of Staff of the Fleet, Rear Admiral Scholz.

"Concentrate the main artillery fire and attack the enemy ship on the port side!" Lütjans ordered, "Attack the starboard enemy ship with secondary guns!" ”

Just as the flash of the cannon fire tore through the night sky, it was only a matter of seconds before the shell, whistling overhead, with a strong wind, landed on the sea far away from the "Big Germany". Suddenly, the sea in front of the "Großdeutsch" seemed to be boiling, and the water column from the shells rose high, and the splashing waves fell, crashing against the sea with a loud sound like a tsunami.

After the hellish baptism of fire of the "Big Germany", the four British "Lions" had already rushed to the distance where they could fire at high speed and opened fire at the first opportunity.

"15 degrees to the left!" Captain Lindemann commanded loudly. The huge hull of the "Großdeutsch" turned sharply. Before it could complete its turn, the powerful 800-mm cannon of the "Großdeutsch" again erupted a long tongue of fire in the gray sky.

After a while, near the stern of the "Lion", huge columns of water were stirred up, forming a thick wall of water.

"They hit it too accurately!" Seeing this amazing scene, the captain of the "Lion" couldn't help but admire.

"They have radar." "And better than ours." ”

Due to the fact that it was heading against the waves, the battleship "Lion" fell into the trough of the waves due to the turn. The steep waves pushed it one moment and threw it that way the next, and the warship swayed extremely violently.

"Let's try one more direction." The captain noticed the danger and ordered loudly, "10 degrees to the right!" ”

With a thunderous roar, another series of fires, brighter and longer than the last, pierced the gray sky. However, this time the shells did not fall around the "Lion", but were fired at the battleship "Barbarian" in the rear.

"The Savage has been shelled!" The navigator said in horror.

"That's their 15-inch gun!" The captain said: "They attacked us with their main guns and fought the 'Brave' with their secondary guns. ”

The bow of the battleship "Lion" plunged into a huge wave, and felt a violent impact, and the stirred up sea water poured from the bow to the side like a waterfall.

"This will not work," said the captain, "and turn two more compass points to the left, and the speed will be reduced to 25 knots." ”

Only a few seconds after the order was given, the starboard side of the "Lion" once again saw the fire fired from the artillery, and the salvo shells fell into the water and exploded very close to the starboard side of the ship's bow, and the boiling sea water swept across the surface of the ship with shrapnel, like the shells of the sweeping machine guns, and many British sailors could not dodge and fell to the pool of blood with a scream.

"They played so accurately! It's a shame that we've just turned around. The captain wiped the sweat from his forehead and said.

"But we haven't seen it clearly until now." The navigator said in amazement.

"They didn't see us clearly! This is modern warfare. The captain said.

This is indeed a modern war. At this time, deep below the main deck of the "Großdeutsch", in a compartment with armor plates on all sides, a group of officers and soldiers were sitting in front of the platform. No matter how bad the weather outside is, and no matter how rough the sea is, it is always very quiet and orderly. In addition to the muffled sound of commands and reports from the fire control radar detachment, only the faint whining of expensive instruments could be heard in the room. In the center of the cabin, a yellow-green radar phosphor screen is placed. The screen shows the target echo received from an antenna mounted on a hundred-foot-tall mast. In order to make the echoes on the phosphor screen more visible, the lights in the cabin were dimmed and dimmed. While the images are displayed on the phosphor screen, the dials, hands and twists on the instrument are turning, and various reports are transmitted over the phone. If you remove the uniforms worn by the officers and soldiers, it looks like a group of magicians performing a mysterious ritual. Of course, they're not playing with the fake magic: shooting beams of light with their wands to kill their enemies, or trying to summon terrifying man-eating monsters from hell,......。 However, they were performing a new "spell": in an instant, thousands of tons of energy could be spewed out from the muzzle of the terrible "Dora" cannon of the "Großdeutschland", and the Grim Reaper could be sent miles away from the rough sea.

After spotting the target on the radar, the gunners in the turret followed the instructions and meticulously slammed the cannon under the sound of the command. The loud bombardment of the cannons was the most beautiful music for them.

At this time, in the smoke of the sea, from time to time dazzling flares were raised from cruisers and destroyers, hanging high in the gray sky, illuminating the surroundings as bright as day. Sometimes, you can even see these light ships turning sharply to evade, or you can see the faint light of the bow as it cleaves the waves.

In this duel of steel monsters at sea, not only these light ships, but even the famous "Admiral"-class battleships, most of the time, are only spectators.

"Sir, the enemy ship is currently out of sight range on the right front."

On the bridge of the "Großdeutsch", Captain Lindemann said to Lütjens: "They tried to flank us from two directions. ”

"Let's concentrate our firepower on one side of the target first." "As long as one shell hits, you can inflict heavy damage on them." ”

At that moment, one of the lookouts shouted loudly.

"Two enemy ships! Front left! ”

Lutyens and Lindemann raised their binoculars at the same time to follow the sound, and sure enough, they saw a huge shadow of the ship.

"Is this the 'Lion'-class battleship that the British are proud of?" Lütjens asked.

"Lion-class battleships, I sir." Captain Lindemann replied in the affirmative.

Although he had seen the photos of this battleship before, and was no stranger to this British battleship whose tonnage and firepower could not be compared with the "Great Germany", at this moment, he looked at this giant ship that could also be rowed among the "super battleships", and felt a trace of awe of the heavy murderous aura exuded by the figure of this giant ship like a devouring giant shark.

Like the "Big Germany", the "lion" of the British is also a symbol of the country's industrial power and the crystallization of the most advanced science and technology.

And this masterpiece that condensed the efforts and wisdom of countless people is of no use except for killing people.

"10 degrees to the left! Get ready for a salvo! Captain Lindemann's command interrupted Lütjans's thoughts, bringing him back to reality.

The helmsman of the "Großdeutschland" heard the captain's command from the barrel, and the helmsman turned the rudder and repeated at the same time: "10 degrees to the left." ”

On the gun control tower, the gunnery officer heard the captain's voice from the headset: "We are turning to the left, and as soon as we reach the firing gunwale, we will immediately open fire." ”

The gunners looked down, and the "artillery ready" lights lit up.

The gunners stared closely at the silhouette of the "Lion" from the binoculars, when the "Lion" opened fire, and the three quadruple 460-mm guns spat out dazzling fire, staining half of the sky red.

In a short time, a high wall of water rose from the side of the "Großdeutschland", and the deafening explosion and the air wave generated by the shock wave made the German gunners in the turret of the "Großdeutsch" feel depressed, and it seemed that they could not even breathe.

The shelling of the British was not only just as accurate, but also fierce.

At about the same time, the gunwales arrived, and without much thought, the gunners gave a loud order: "Fire!" ”

On one side of the bridge, Lütjens, Schultz and Lindemann were all watching the battle with binoculars. Underneath them, the huge 800-mm "Dora" gun was slowly turning, the muzzle gradually rising to the maximum elevation angle, followed by an earth-shattering loud bang and violent vibrations. The salvo begins! Brown smoke and dark red flames erupted from the muzzle of the cannon, quickly dissipating with the wind, and the cannonballs flew out with a mission to spread death.

"Close-up, damn close-up again!" Lindemann said with some regret, but as soon as he finished speaking, he was interrupted by the sound of a second salvo. In the gap between the shells flying towards the target, he was silent. When he spoke again, he shouted excitedly: "Hit! Hit! The second salvo hit! ”

Lindemann's words were interrupted again by the roar of Dora's cannon, and the captain tried his best to aim his telescope at the target. This time it was Lutejens who spoke: "Hit again!" He then said calmly, "But it seems to hold up." ”

(To be continued)