The thinnest horizontal armor of the three battleships of the U.S. Navy is also 4 inches (102mm), which is almost on par with the Legend-class battle cruiser with a standard row of more than 26,000 tons (although considering the advantages of armor materials, it is actually possible to exceed it). pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info), plus there is a teak deck outside, which is enough to withstand the long-range shelling that caused the Virginia-class battlecruisers to suffer a big loss before. Because even at a distance of 20,000 meters, the angle of incidence is actually not so large, and the 102mm horizontal armor can be equivalent to two or three times the thickness, or even larger, even if it is ahead of the world's advanced level, it is difficult to penetrate the hard cap armor-piercing projectile, and there is a large chance of ejection, no wonder it was all in vain before.

In addition to hitting the deck, the same is true if the shells fall on the slopes on both sides of the bow, so that there are few parts of the ship that can be hit. After all, a battleship is a battleship, and the thickness of the armor is much larger than that of the battlecruiser, whether it is the main armor or the secondary armor, there was no problem when I fought the Virginia-class battlecruiser before, and when I fought with these rough-skinned guys, they were all exposed one by one.....

However, although Yang Yonglin has not figured out the reason, the response method taken is completely correct, as the distance is closer, the penetration depth of the armor-piercing projectile, to be precise, the vertical penetration depth will increase significantly, and even the inclined armor of the bow will still be penetrated as soon as it is pierced. As for the horizontal deck, although it will be more difficult to penetrate because of this, the probability of falling on the deck will be greatly reduced, and the problem will naturally be less serious.

But in any case, after the distance was shortened, the hit rate of the US artillery bombardment did improve significantly, and the first hit was soon achieved, instead of just looking lively as before. Although the strong armor of the Legend-class battlecruisers has fully proved its value in the battles so far, there are still many parts that are not protected by armor, especially the captains of each ship are standing on the completely exposed bridge to command, and once an enemy shell falls on the bridge, the ship's leadership team will be wiped out immediately......

This is also something that cannot be helped, even before the application of fire control, with the completion of the artillery revolution, the combat distance of warships has been widened to the extent that the officers hiding in the command tower can not see the battle situation clearly, so as early as the Sino-British Second World War, the former Beiyang Navy Division pipe bands who were once forced into the command tower by Li Hui risked their lives to return to the familiar bridge, where the position is high and there are few obstacles, it is easier to find and capture fighters. To some extent, the fact that the Chinese Navy was able to defeat the British Royal Navy, which had dominated the world for hundreds of years, was able to defeat it during the Yiwei War, which was absolutely a factor that cannot be ignored.

Not only the captain, but even Yang Yonglin, the commander of the fleet, insisted on standing on the bridge of the battlecruiser Xuanyuan and commanding the entire fleet......

As the saying goes, "the courage of the soldier will be the soldier", and the heroic performance of the senior generals who put their lives at the expense of life and death greatly inspired the naval commanders and fighters below, and everyone sacrificed their lives to devote themselves to the tense battle, and the two US battleships that were selected as targets were soon shot one after another!

At 13:32 on the same day, a salvo of the main guns from the battlecruiser "Nuwa" gave the US battleship "Utah" an unprecedented blow; a shell hit near the waterline, penetrated the armor and exploded violently, and a considerable gap was suddenly blown open in the bow side, and a large number of waves stirred up by the warship's high-speed sailing poured into the cabin, and the US officers and men who rushed to the emergency could not stop it.

Another 305mm armor-piercing shell hit the ship's superstructure without armor protection, and after continuously penetrating multiple compartments, it hit the horizontal armor, and failed to penetrate due to the angle of incidence, but the violent vibration generated after its detonation caused damage to the main gun commander not far away, and the already poor shelling accuracy of the battleship "Utah" suddenly approached zero infinitely.

The bow of the battleship "Utah" was seriously flooded, and it was urgent to organize personnel to block it, and it was also necessary to slow down the speed of the ship so as not to enter the water too quickly, and at the same time, the main gun fire could not be brought into play because of problems with the command instrument, and it could almost be said that it was completely incapacitated, and the captain of the ship could only order to withdraw from the battle column to save himself, and asked his subordinates to send a telegram to Vice Admiral William Soden Simms, the fleet commander on the flagship, to report the situation.

After discovering that an enemy ship was injured and evacuated, Yang Yonglin naturally wanted to beat the water dog to kill it, but found that because of the position, the pursuit route was completely blocked by the three columns, and this embarrassment suddenly caused him to think deeply, "Seizing the T-shaped crosshead is indeed conducive to expanding the firepower comparison, but in this position, if the enemy ship is injured and withdraws from the battle, it is also very inconvenient for us to pursue." Moreover, the enemy ship is facing us, although it is not conducive to the attack of its artillery, but it greatly improves the defense efficiency, the enemy is a battleship with rough skin and thick flesh, but not as fragile as the battle cruiser, because of the angle of incidence, we seem to be unable to penetrate their horizontal armor at all, and the bow armor seems to be barely penetrating, and it is unlikely that it will continue to go deeper and hurt the vital position, so is it not only wounded but not killed? ”

After thinking about this, Yang Yonglin made a decision that many subordinates felt incomprehensible after a short but nervous thought, "What? Commander, are you ready to abandon the T-shaped crosshead and go around to the flank to attack? ”

"Yes, the T-shaped horizontal head seems to be advantageous, but the benefit is actually not so ......", Yang Yonglin concisely pointed out the disadvantages of the T-shaped combat method in the current battlefield situation, and then explained the benefits of the new combat method, "And if we go around to the enemy's right flank, we need to face the side-firing fire of five enemy ships, which is actually not worse than the current situation, but our main artillery can give full play to its power, under the premise that the armor-piercing shell can ensure the observation of the main armor belt of the waterline, the threat to hit the side is the greatest, This is because it is possible to attack those core chambers, and the resulting water ingress is more difficult to control. In addition, we can also choose the weaker column to fight first, which is also a big advantage, the two old battleships of the US army with a diamond-shaped layout, the combat effectiveness of the new battleships with a full central axis layout is completely incomparable. But more importantly, ......" (To be continued.) )