The German heavy patrol is cutting-edge, with powerful and accurate firepower. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 info Daming's side is the opposite, except for the number of dominance. Even physically, it is one size smaller than the German Heavy Patrol.

As the two sides got closer, the German war rangers' 105 mm high-level dual-purpose guns were joined in the heavy fire. The main guns of the German heavy patrol can fire a round at the fastest interval of 12 seconds, and this density of firepower makes the Ming heavy patrol a little dumbfounded.

After more than 30 minutes of fighting, the Yibin Heavy Patrol No. 1 turret was pierced by a 122-kilogram armor-piercing projectile, triggering the detonation of the propellant and ammunition waiting to be fired in the turret. The entire front of the battleship was almost completely blown up. Subsequently, because the fire was too large to be controlled, the Yibin was finally forced to abandon the ship.

The last of the Ming Heavy Patrol Foshan asked to leave the battlefield after holding out for several minutes with one enemy and two enemies. At this point, the four-on-two heavy patrol confrontation ended in a complete victory for the Germans.

Of course, the German heavy cruisers were not possessed by the gods, they were also hit by multiple shells, and the hull was not lightly damaged. However, as a cutting-edge warship, their new armor played a great role in resisting the bombardment of the old guns of the Ming Heavy Patrol. In the end, they all survived.

When the battle on the heavy patrol side was fierce, the victory and defeat between the two sides had gradually been divided. The Daming Patrol, which had already completed the cross-shooting, successfully damaged the German flagship Scharnhorst and forced it to withdraw from the battlefield on its own initiative. And it is difficult for the Gneisenau to fight against the two Ming War Cruisers alone. Even if the two German heavy cruisers over there rushed to help, their 203mm guns would not be lethal to the capital ship.

"Keep attacking, sink the Gneisenau." A smile appeared on the corner of Chen Xuanning's mouth. He didn't care about the escaped Scharnhorst, the German battle cruiser's power system had been damaged in the previous engagement, and it couldn't get far. It was only necessary to wait until the Gneisenau and the two troublesome German heavy cruisers were sunk, and it would only take a little more time to catch up and sink it.

It is true that in the face of the ferocious counterattack of the German war cruisers, the two battle cruisers of the Ming Dynasty were also damaged a lot, but they were still able to maintain most of their combat effectiveness. This was enough to guarantee them a decisive victory in this naval battle. Unless the tide of battle changes unexpectedly at this time.

Just when Chen Xuanning was speculating about the direction of the next battle, the communications staff officer hurriedly came to his side, "Sir! The Yandang Mountain called, and their radar detected the discovery of a large and four small ships of unknown nationality about twelve nautical miles to the left of our fleet! ”

Only two battle cruisers and four heavy cruisers in the 1st reconnaissance fleet were equipped with radars. Four heavy cruisers had already been sunk, and two of them had been busy fighting two German ones, and the radar had largely not seen anything else. By the time something was wrong, the two sides were already very close.

Chen Xuanning's body stiffened suddenly, and he hurriedly rushed to the porthole to look at the dark sea in the distance. At this time, because the night was too dark, and the fire that ignited after the Qingcheng Mountain was hit had not been completely extinguished, nothing could be seen. But Chen Xuanning knew that there were several ships of unknown nationality over there!

"Contact the Fast Transport Fleet immediately and see if they have gone the wrong way to the battlefield." Chen Xuanning turned to look at the communications staff officer and shouted.

At this time, it was basically impossible for a large warship of the Ming Dynasty to appear in this sea area. Moreover, the largest ship in the fast transport fleet is only 6,000 tons, which is not a large warship in any way. Although he already had a bad feeling in his heart, Chen Xuanning still hoped for a miracle. However, miracles are rarely possible on a brutal battlefield.

"Sir. The fast transport fleet reported that they were approaching the port of Valletta and that no ships had entered the battlefield. The words of the communications staff officer made Chen Xuanning's heart suddenly cold. Before he could say anything more, a fire suddenly lit up more than ten nautical miles to the left of the fleet. From this distance, it looks like someone is striking a match. However, as a senior naval officer, Chen Xuanning knew that it was a flame vent produced when heavy artillery fired a salvo.

"Shelling!" The captain's roar woke Chen Xuanning up. He was calculated and copied!

If it was the time when the battle had just begun, Chen Xuanning would have ordered a retreat without any order. With the high speed of the First Reconnaissance Fleet, it was necessary to catch up with them at least until dawn. At that time, the sky will be filled with endless warplanes from both sides. Now, although it has an advantage, the First Reconnaissance Fleet has suffered heavy losses, four heavy cruisers, two sunk and two seriously damaged, and two battle cruisers have also lost their combat effectiveness to varying degrees. In the face of the addition of the new forces of the enemy army, there was little resistance.

What's more, that fast transport fleet is now near the sea off the port of Valletta, and it is actually not far from the battlefield. If Chen Xuanning escaped with the 1st reconnaissance fleet, it would mean throwing the convoy to the Germans. There were thousands of officers and sailors on it, as well as a lot of supplies. Zhang Cheng strictly ordered that this convoy must be allowed to successfully enter Malta.

But if you don't retreat quickly, the First Reconnaissance Fleet will be planted here! Chen Xuanning was in a dilemma.

"Sir, what are we going to do?" Chen Xuanning's chief of staff spoke the hearts of all the officers on the bridge. This is where the commander needs to make a decision. Whether to leave the battlefield as soon as possible, or to continue fighting, these are all decisions that need to be made by the commander.

"Boom !!" Eight heavy shells came from the unidentified battleship with high speed in the distance, stirring up a column of water near the Qingcheng Mountain.

Looking at the impact point not far away, Chen Xuanning quickly thought, "If it weren't for the Bismarck-class giving up the refit, it would only be a French or British warship." But it doesn't matter who it is now, what matters is whether to leave or stay desperately.

Although four heavy cruisers were lost, the power systems of the two battle cruisers of the First Reconnaissance Fleet were not damaged much, and as long as they made up their minds to evacuate at high speed, there was still a great possibility of successfully escaping from the ascension. But once they escaped, the two battered heavy cruisers and the fast transport fleet on the edge of the battlefield were out of luck. After less than a minute of contemplation, Chen Xuanning finally made up his mind to stay and fight to the death.

"Concentrate your fire on the Gneisenau and sink it!" Chen Xuanning was determined to defeat the Gneisenau first and then deal with the unknown enemy ship. Escaping from the battlefield is not the tradition of the Ming Navy, and the tradition of the Ming Navy is to fight when encountering the enemy. At least he still has two battle cruisers in his hands at this time that have preserved part of their combat effectiveness.

The ensuing naval battle became even more intense. The distance between the Ming Warcruiser and the Gneisenau had been reduced to within eight thousand meters. At this distance, the two sides are completely a dozen holes, and anyone can penetrate anyone.

Chen Xuanning ordered the accompanying destroyers to launch a torpedo attack on the German fleet. Twelve Daming City-class destroyers rushed towards the German formation like swords at an ultra-high speed of more than 34 knots. Then the German fleet also rushed out a group of Z-class destroyers, and the light fleets of both sides collided violently.

Z-class destroyers can't beat the city class, and there are fewer of them. However, two German heavy cruisers turned their guns to bombard the destroyer formation of the Ming Dynasty and achieved amazing results. Only six of the twelve city-class destroyers completed the lightning strike, and most of the remaining six were destroyed by two German heavy cruisers. In today's naval battle, for the German Navy, their greatest heroes must be the two Admiral-class heavy cruisers.

The torpedo attack caused confusion in the German naval formations in order to avoid lightning strikes, which gave the two Ming battle cruisers an excellent opportunity. They quickly carried out the maximum heavy shelling of the Gneisenau.

In the end, the stubbornly resisting Gneisenau was sunk by the combined fire of two battle cruisers of the Ming Dynasty. The battered Scharnhorst managed to escape the battlefield.

When the two Ming war cruisers were converging the Gnaisenau, the British Admiral-class battle cruiser Hood, which came up, sank the Qingchengshan and Yandangshan, which had been battered for a long time, with fierce shelling. After the flagship was abandoned, Chen Xuanning was transferred to a city-class destroyer and withdrew from the battle.

In this night battle, which took place off the coast of Malta, the combined European fleet achieved a tactical victory. They sank two battle cruisers of the Daming Mediterranean Fleet, the Qingchengshan and the Yandangshan. The four heavy cruisers, the Chengde and the Foshan, with their power systems damaged, eventually failed to escape the battlefield and were chased and sunk by two German heavy cruisers. In addition, the 1st reconnaissance fleet lost eight destroyers. The entire fleet was close to total annihilation.

The losses on the part of the combined European fleet were also not small. The Gnaisenau was sunk and the Scharnhorst was heavily damaged before returning to the German mainland, where it spent nearly half a year in the military port for repairs. In addition, six Z-class destroyers were sunk.

The Hood Patrol, which joined the battlefield as a decisive force, was also hit by two 380 mm armor-piercing shells from the Yandang Mountain, which counterattacked to the death, and the battleship was damaged and had to be repaired in the military port for two months.

Of the entire naval battle, only the two Admiral-class heavy cruisers Prinz Eugen and the Admiral Hipper, suffered the least losses. They were hit with multiple rounds of 200-mm and 105-mm guns, but neither of them was badly damaged.

The 1st reconnaissance fleet was killed, missing, and captured almost seven thousand people! And the European Combined Fleet killed and missing in the war was about 3,000 people. The Ming Navy suffered a heavy tactical defeat. But strategically they were victorious.

A fast convoy loaded with supplies and reinforcements made its way into Malta, sending huge supplies to the defenders. In particular, those anti-aircraft artillery played a decisive role in the launch of airborne operations by the Germans.

Moreover, the sinking of the Gneisenau and the heavy damage of the Scharnhorst also directly caused the German Navy to dare not continue to invest large warships in the night blockade of Malta. As a direct result, Malta was able to receive a steady stream of reinforcements during the height of the fighting.

The Ming Navy lost all kinds of warships, but the German Navy could not afford to lose! (To be continued.) )