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On Sunday, May 24, at 5 a.m., as the German fleet prepared to leave the Danish Channel, the sonar of the Prince Eugen detected two unidentified ships on the port side. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info╔╗

"Protect the battleship!"

The sirens sounded, and the ships of the German reinforcement fleet were immediately ready for battle.

The Royal Navy's interception fleet included two Britannia-class ultimate battleships with 20-inch guns, four Queen Elizabeth-class super battleships with 1-8" guns, and two Hood-class battlecruisers with 19-inch guns, the Prince of Wales and HMS Hood, as well as two heavy cruisers and four destroyers.

Lancelot? Vice Admiral Holland served as the commander of the British interception fleet, and he ordered the entire interception fleet to be led by two battle cruisers, the Prince of Wales and the Hood, who were responsible for luring the attention of the German Navy and buying time for the main fleet to complete the big U-turn, because Holland was afraid that when the German fleet found the main fleet of the British Navy behind it, it would not dare to engage and flee directly.

Considered the pride of the Royal Navy, the Hood-class battlecruiser was the largest battle cruiser in the world at the time, carrying more 19-inch guns than the largest Korean-class battlecruiser with 1-8-inch guns in the Chinese Empire (captured from the Olympia-class battlecruisers of the U.S. Navy). ╔╗Although the British Navy has greatly strengthened the armor protection of the Hood-class battlecruisers, making its armor strength reach 350 mm, which is equivalent to the armor protection level of the early Super God Bow battleships, compared with the 19-inch guns it carries, the deck armor is still quite weak, and it is not capable of resisting the 1-8 inch main gun strikes of the Bismarck-class battleships of the German Navy.

In fact. Holland also did not intend to bring the two Hood-class battlecruisers to the Bismarck-class, his original intention was only to attract the attention of the German Navy and buy time for the main fleet to encircle the enemy fleet.

However. Vice Admiral Peter, the commander of the HMS Hood, ignored Holland's orders, believing that the operation should have been commanded by him or by an admiral naval officer. However, the British Admiralty made Holland, a lieutenant general officer who was considered to have come up through the back door, be the commander of the fleet, and Peter, who was also a lieutenant general and had old seniority, was very angry. ╔╗

When he received Holland's order, his emotions made him forget that the armor of the Hood-class battlecruiser was inferior to the main gun strike of the opponent's Bismarck-class battleship, and only saw that the 19-inch cannon of the Hood-class battlecruiser was enough to tear apart the armor side of the Bismarck-class battleship, so he ignored Holland's order to contain the enemy fleet. A head-to-head confrontation with the enemy was decisively carried out.

At 5:49 a.m., it was still dawn. Peter only wanted to give Holland a look, so he ordered the Hood and the Prince of Wales to fire on the flagship of the German reinforcement fleet.

Peter was preparing to use ten to eight 19-inch guns to send the battleship Bismarck, the flagship of the German fleet, directly to the bottom of the sea, and this way of sinking the enemy's flagship in the first battle was naturally correct, but at this time, the lead ship of the German fleet was not Bismarck, but Prince Eugen.

As a result of the fact that last night the radar system of the flagship of the German fleet, the Bismarck, was broken. Night operations became dangerous, so the German fleet put the Prinz Eugen in front to explore the way. Also because of the night. The British mistook the Prinz Eugen for the Bismarck, because they were the same size and livery, and the dim light did not allow British naval observers to notice the difference. ╔╗

5:52 a.m. The three triple 19-inch 45-diameter guns of the battlecruiser Hood opened fire first, and the huge sound of cannon fire suddenly broke the quiet sky of the Norwegian Strait. Subsequently, the Prince of Wales also opened fire on the Prince Eugen, and for a time the two super battlecruisers with a total of 1-8 19-inch guns greeted the Prince Eugen.

"Knock knock!"

The sudden sound of shelling immediately disrupted Horan's tactical deployment, and he ran out of the conning tower to the front bridge. Looking at the position of the flaming fire in the distance was the formation of battle cruisers commanded by Peter.

"Damn it! What's he doing! Immediately ordered him to stop approaching the enemy fleet, didn't he know how many pounds and taels he had? (referring to the fact that Peter's Hood-class battlecruisers were no match for the Bismarck-class battleships)"

"Report, General Peter called back, has entered a state of engagement and cannot be evacuated!"

"Bitch raised!" Holland couldn't help but scold, obviously very angry. ╔╗

It was only after two salvos of main gun fire that Horan realized that the target of the attack was wrong, and immediately ordered the fire to be turned to the Bismarck, the flagship of the German fleet, but a lot of time had been wasted and some confusion had been caused.

At this time, the distance between the two sides is about 25 kilometers. This distance was the best strike distance for the Bismarck-class battleships of the German Navy, which the British Navy had never been aware of. Intelligence from the British Navy indicated that the optimal strike distance of the Bismarck-class battleships was 20 km, but that was judged by the British on the basis of the actions of the Bismarck-class battleships in shelling coastal port cities. The mistakes of British intelligence were also one of the reasons why Peter did not see the actual situation clearly.

At 5:55, the four Bismarck-class battleships of the German reinforcement fleet completed the L-shaped turn and fired back in formation. The 32 1-8-inch guns of the four Bismarck-class battleships of the German Navy were aimed at the Hood, and they concentrated their firepower, and in an instant, bullets rained down.

Due to Peter's misjudgment, the initial shelling did not hit the German ship, but hit the wrong target, thus revealing the position of his own firing point. On the other hand, the German ships did not make such a mistake, and the fire and smoke produced by the British ship's fire immediately provided the German fleet with strike coordinates, so the German fleet fired preemptively, and the shells continued to fire accurately at the British ships.

Despite the fact that Peter had more firepower than the German ship, the situation on the battlefield was favorable to General Lütjans. Because Peter, after realizing that he had hit the wrong target, quickly made a left turn to adjust the angle of attack, causing the bow of the two Hood-class battlecruisers to face the four Bismarck-class battlecruisers of the German fleet.

The Hood and the Prince of Wales were only able to use the six 19-inch forward guns in the bow, while the German Navy was able to return fire from the British with all 32 1-8" guns.

The capital ships of both sides engaged in the battle, all of which were large-caliber giant shells, each weighing more than 1.5 tons each, and its explosive power was so strong that the officers and men of both sides could not help but tremble.

The cannon roared, the smoke of gunpowder filled the air, and the sea water between the warring waters of the two sides boiled in an instant.

The German fleet, which had seized the advantageous position of the "T" prefix, concentrated its fire on the battlecruiser Hood. In less than ten minutes, the four Bismarck-class battleships had already fired three successive fire salvos. During the third salvo, a 1-8-inch shell fired from Bismarck's 4th main gun hit the amidships of the Hood, causing a fire on the deck of the lifeboat, which spread rapidly.

The battlecruiser Hood caught fire amidships, and suddenly appeared extremely dazzling in the dim morning, becoming the target of further precision strikes by the German fleet.

Lieutenant General Peter, who by this time realized that he was at a disadvantage, ordered the Hood to patrol the left rudder twenty degrees in order to use all its firepower.

At 6 o'clock sharp, the Hood had just finished turning, and the second ship, the battlecruiser Prince of Wales, had just begun to make a turn following the flagship of the squadron. At this time, the four Bismarck-class battleships of the German fleet fired a fifth salvo of fire, and two 1-8-inch shells fired from the No. 3 twin turret of the Bismarck's rear main gun, and a 1-8 inch projectile fired from the No. 2 gun position of the No. 1 twin turret of the battleship Tirpitz hit the forward part of the battlecruiser Hood at the same time.

Three 1.6-ton giant armor-piercing blasting shells instantly pierced the horizontal armor deck of the Hood, and continuously penetrated six layers of horizontal armor, directly penetrating the Hood's main ammunition depot and exploding. Because the British naval soldiers never closed the protective door of the main ammunition depot for fear of trouble during the battle, the huge blast shock wave of 1-8 inch shells was wrapped in flames and threw directly into the main ammunition depot.

There was a loud "boom", like a thunderbolt on a sunny day. A huge ball of fire rose from the amidships of the Hood, bursting out with a glorious light, several times stronger than the midday sun. The huge shockwave of flame smoke rushed up to a height of thousands of meters, turning into a huge mushroom cloud.

At the same time, the battlecruiser USS Hood was torn in half by a huge explosion and sank into the monstrous waves at a speed that could be seen, killing 241-8 officers and men, including Vice Admiral Peter, and only 1 was rescued.

On the ultimate battleship England, the flagship of the British interception fleet, which had just completed the overall transformation of the fleet, Holland saw the explosion as brilliant as the sun, and was so angry that he almost vomited blood, and scolded Peter for making him miserable, because it would push Holland directly to the situation of court-martial.

At the same time, the German fleet immediately directed its artillery fire at the Prince of Wales. After the sixth fire salvo, the bridge of the battlecruiser Prince of Wales was hit by a 1-8 inch shell from the 8th gun position of the fourth turret of the Bismarck, killing all bridge personnel except the captain and a signal man.

At this time, the distance between the two sides was already very close, and the secondary guns of the German fleet also opened fire one after another, and hundreds of 152 mm whistled to come, so that the Prince of Wales battle patrol was fiercely attacked, and the hull was hit by more than a dozen shells, and was heavily damaged, although the 152 mm shells could not tear the armor protection of the Prince of Wales battle cruise, but after the Hood was gorgeously sunk by the Germans, the British naval officers and sailors on the Prince of Wales battle patrol suddenly did not dare to fight again, hung up the white flag and fled.

Seeing the Prince of Wales flying the white flag, Holland couldn't wait to buy a piece of tofu and kill him, it was really a shame. (To be continued.) If you like this work, you are welcome to come to the starting point to vote for recommendation and monthly passes, and your support is my biggest motivation. )