In the central waters of the North Atlantic, the sound of artillery roared and the smoke of gunpowder filled the air.

After hours of probing, the Imperial Atlantic Fleet began to attack.

At 11:22 a.m., the five battle cruisers formed the best position to attack the T-shaped horizontal position of the flagship of the British 7th Cruiser Squadron, the Qiangsheng, and fired the first fire salvo at a distance of 6,000 meters.

"Knock knock!"

Five battle cruisers, with twenty twin 305-mm guns concentrated on the side, and forty huge guns fired 40 huge shells weighing 400 kilograms at the Qiangsheng in an instant.

The shells came in an instant, and exploded with a bang. Suddenly, the firelight flickered, and mushroom clouds rose into the sky. The flagship of the British Seventh Cruiser Squadron, the Qiangsheng, was like a target paper, and was instantly beaten into a hornet's nest and plunged into a sea of fire and smoke.

Boom, an even more violent explosion sounded, like a thunderbolt in the clear sky, deafening. Such a violent explosion was caused by the explosion of the ammunition depot of the Strong, as the Strongman's less than 150 mm armor was easily pierced by 305 mm shells.

The thick smoke from the explosion suddenly obscured the nearby sky and sea, and the violent explosion was like a volcanic eruption, and the entire Qiangsheng disintegrated in an instant, and the debris rushed into the air, splashing hundreds of meters away.

The flagship of the 7th cruiser of the British escort fleet was destroyed in the first volley of fire, which immediately frightened the British escort fleet.

At 11:25 a.m., the second ship of the 7th Cruiser Squadron, the Dreadful, raised its flagship command flag, and as the second ship of the Mighty class, the Terrible had all the firepower of the Mighty Force, but its speed dropped to 21 knots due to the ship's age of more than nine years.

The captain of the Terrible, Colonel Beth, immediately ordered evasion, and the battleship quickly turned to the left to escape the T-line attack of the First Battle Group of the Atlantic Fleet. The six subsequent ships, the Crécy, the Aboukil, the Dionysian, the Hogg, the Satleger, and the Eurian Ares, also followed the acting flagship and turned around.

However, to their dismay, the enemy's 1st Squadron of the Atlantic Fleet was moving at 27 knots, and no matter how the 7th Cruiser Squadron tried to evade maneuvers, the enemy always seized a favorable firing position. Due to the long line of the British 7th Cruiser Squadron, even if the flagship completed the turn to avoid the attack of the 1st Squadron of the Atlantic Fleet, the battleships behind were too late and were hit.

At 11:30 a.m., after several rounds of ballistic corrections, the five battle cruisers of the 1st Squadron of the Atlantic Fleet fired their fifth salvo of fire, 40 rounds of 305-mm shells at the 6th ship of the British 7th Cruiser Squadron, the Hogg.

"Boom!"

Huge water columns rose up from the sea, reaching hundreds of meters high, and the smoke and rain were filled in an instant. Two huge bombs weighing 400 kilograms hit the ship Amidship Island of Hogg and exploded instantly.

The splashing sparks drew meteor-like trajectories in mid-air. As soon as it splashed onto the surrounding decks, it burst into flames. The Hogg's armor protection is less than 150 mm, and the opponent's 305 mm shells can penetrate 305 mm of armor, making it easy to penetrate the Hogg's armor. In addition, the armor of the Hogg's ship island was thinner, less than 42 mm, and it was instantly pierced by shells, and exploded after penetrating five layers of armor hatches in a row.

The huge explosive power of the cannonball suddenly blew up the entire area of the Hogg ship island. The violent blast wave instantly lifted the personnel on the island into the air several tens of meters high, and the huge explosive tearing force tore the bodies of some British officers and soldiers to pieces, accompanied by the scorching fire and debris, and sprinkled into the sea.

After the explosion, only a third of Hogg's Island remained, and a violent fire broke out. The two chimneys in front and behind the island burst off, and black smoke billowed out, instantly enveloping more than three-quarters of the middle and rear of the Hogg, causing the aft and amidship guns to lose their firing range. The inadequately burned black smoke was filled with deadly poisonous gases, and the British officers and men in the conning tower and turret coughed violently and were unable to shoot.

The high temperature flames burned violently on the remaining ship island, and below the flames was the boiler room, the temperature rose sharply, and the boiler soldiers inside were sweating profusely, and soon the fresh air in the vents was filled with toxic black smoke, and a large number of people suffocated to death in minutes, and the rest of the people immediately panicked everywhere looking for an exit.

The Hogg had lost its combat effectiveness, and the Satlej River and the Eurian Ales II in the rear had to be avoided in order to avoid colliding with the Hogg.

In this way, the second ship broke away from the formation of four battleships in front.

Seeing this opportunity, the 1st Battle Group of the Atlantic Fleet quickly intervened, preparing to concentrate the firepower of five battle cruisers to take out the two British battleships that had fallen behind.

Seeing that the Hogg was severely damaged and incapacitated, and that the Sutterage River and Eurian were about to be besieged by the First War, Bs immediately ordered to turn around and attack the ships of the First Warframe with port fire, intending to contain the opponent's firepower and let the Sutterleiger River and the Eurian Ares escape from the second ship.

The five battlecruisers of the 1st Squadron had only four twin main guns, and at this time they all turned their guns to starboard and aimed at the Satlej River and the 2nd Eurian Alles, and the port side had no main guns to deal with the fire of the four ships of the British 7th Cruiser Squadron, and there were only eighteen 88-mm rapid-fire guns, but it was clear that rapid-fire guns of this caliber could not hurt the four British cruisers of the first class.

At 11:35 a.m., Bess commanded the four ships, the Terrible, the Cressie, the Aboukil, and the Dionysian Priest, and more than 100 cannons on the port side bombarded the flagship Zhou Wuwang, which was interspersed with the first team.

The shells whistled, and after seven or eight rounds of firepower, the British naval artillery at this moment sent multiple main gun shells to the Wuwang.

"Boom!"

A cloud of fiery mushrooms rose on the starboard side of the Zhou Wuwang, and officers and men of the Imperial Chinese Navy were killed and wounded by shrapnel one after another.

The British [***] officers in the Commander Tower of the Terrible Commander suddenly shouted with joy: "Hit!" ”

However, the next moment, when the mushroom cloud turned into a black cloud and the smoke cleared, it was found that the opponent's hull was unharmed, and the 234-mm shell of the Terrible only smashed a depression in the starboard armor of the Zhou Wuwang, and the Qi River was scorched, but Bess knew at a glance that it had not penetrated.

"Damn it! What the hell is this! ”

Bess knew that another purpose of this escort was to test whether the nine main battleships of the Atlantic Fleet of the Imperial Chinese Navy were fully armored battleships, and Fisher thought that they could run at a speed of 27 knots, and they must have sacrificed their armor, otherwise they would not have been able to do it.

"They were undoubtedly battleships, without sacrificing armor." A staff officer said, a look of disbelief on his face.

However, Bess shook his head and said: "It's certain that they sacrificed armor protection, but they still have the armor thickness of a large armored cruiser, but it's a pity that our 234 main gun is only 32 times the diameter, and the shells are not strong enough." ”

"Mr. Colonel, how thick do you think their armor is?" Another staff officer asked.

"I guess the key parts should be 254 mm, and the other parts should only be about 228 mm," Bess judged. ”

"With 228 mm of Chinese special steel, our 234 mm shells can penetrate it if they are 40 times longer."

"Mr. Colonel, our largest caliber guns can't penetrate it, we are doomed to lose this battle, we must retreat as soon as possible and get the message to the base camp."

Beth said angrily: "You guys are acting irresponsibly, if we leave, what will happen to the ship?" It's a pity that so many supplies were sunk into the sea, what if the enemy is funded? ”

The officer was silent for a moment.

At this time, the five battle cruisers of the First Squadron of the Atlantic Fleet had completed a turn and maneuver to intercept the two British battleships that had fallen behind, the USS Satleger River and Euriares.

At 11:37 a.m., the 1st Squadron launched a salvo of fire on the Sutterleger River and Euryales, and the shells landed around the 2nd ship, which immediately caused huge waves to roll and smoke and rain all over the sky. The Sutterleger River urgently evaded the artillery attack, but Euriales behind did not have time to dodge and was immediately hit.

As the fourth ship of the Cressy class, the Eurian Ales, despite its huge displacement of 12,000 tons, unfortunately had less than 210 mm armor thickness, and a 305 mm shell hit her stern in an instant.

With a loud bang, a huge mushroom cloud rose up from the entire stern, and the gunpowder smoke rushed more than 100 meters high, and the entire stern was suddenly shattered, and the rudder suddenly failed.

The Eurian Ares, who had lost the ability to steer, suddenly became the target ship of the First Warframe, and her fate was sealed. A minute later, a fire salvo from the First Sentai Zhou Zhaowang hit the Eurian with four out of eight shells. One of the shots hit the bow tower, and the entire tower was instantly destroyed, exploded into three lobes, and then was blown into the air by the shock wave and fell into the sea. Two shots hit the ship's amidship, and the fourth hit the stern again, and in an instant the Eurian rose up with four huge balls of fire, and the entire superstructure of the battleship was instantly torn apart, and the flames were gushing and the smoke was billowing out.

The violent explosion continued, the explosion of the 305 mm shell was amazingly destructive, the steel plate up to 210 mm thick was twisted into a twisted shape, and the people within dozens of meters around could not survive, and even the flesh and blood were blurred, and the death was terrifying and tragic. The thick flames were unattended, and soon burned to the coal tank, causing an even more violent fire.

The superstructure of the Eurian was destroyed by the scorching fire and the smoke covering the sea, and the battleship would have been sunk if it had not been for the sturdy many anti-sinking chambers designed by British engineers.

However, the ships of the First Squadron saw that the Eurian had been severely damaged and incapacitated, and did not continue to attack it, but seized the time to besiege the Sutleje River in the Eastern Hiding Province.

At the same time, thirteen kilometers away from the First Squadron, four battle cruisers of the Second Squadron of the Atlantic Fleet were engaged in a fierce battle with the Ninth Cruiser Squadron of the British Frigate.

Among the opponents of the second team, the two Duke of Edinburgh-class cruisers of the First Class were the most advanced, the most powerful, and the most resistant. The four battle cruisers of the Second Squadron, relying on their own superiority, concentrated their firepower on the Duke of Edinburgh, intending to destroy the flagship of the Ninth Cruiser Squadron and achieve tactical objectives.

However, the British Navy was not foolish, and soon discovered the intentions of the Imperial Chinese Navy, so there was always a battleship near the Duke of Edinburgh to block the fire.

At 11:18, a volley of fire from the four battle cruisers of the Second Squadron immediately hit the Antrimshire, as the third ship of the Devonshire class, she was instantly protected by a 305-inch shell with only 7.5 inches of armor through the starboard waterline, and the violent explosion tore the starboard waterline of the Antrimshire more than two meters wide, and the sea water poured into it violently, and the hull quickly tilted to the right and began to sink. Despite the efforts of the British sailors, the Antrimshire, with a displacement of only 10,000 tons, sacrificed the thickness of the armor and the protection of the longitudinal walls of the isolation layer in order to obtain a high speed of 23 knots, so that under the huge explosion force of the 305 mm shells, the longitudinal walls of several watertight compartments were all cracked, and the nearby British maintenance soldiers were either killed or stunned, and there was no way to damage the management. And by the time the maintenance troops from other cabins arrived to reinforce them, it was no longer possible to prevent the flooding.

In this way, the starboard side of the Antrimshire was seriously flooded, and the captain was unable to return to the sky, so he had to abandon the ship.

The battle did not stop because of the Antrimshire, after discovering that the Antrimshire was about to capsize, the second team immediately gave up the attack on it, continued to use speed to seize the Duke of Edinburgh's T-shaped position, used armor to resist the diversion attack of other British warships, and concentrated 32 305mm cannons to hit the Duke of Edinburgh vigorously.

At 11:33 a.m., although the Duke of Edinburgh was cunningly able to avoid several deadly attacks, it was finally hit by a volley of fire from the Second Squadron of the Atlantic Fleet because of the quality difference between the two warships.

Six 305-mm shells hit the Duke of Edinburgh's ship island, and the shells exploded violently, leveling the island in an instant, and the Duke of Edinburgh suddenly burst into flames, and the smoke rose into the sky, and thick smoke billowed out of the sky and the sea. The island was razed to the ground, the Duke of Edinburgh suddenly lost its flagship command ability, and a shell hit the bow of the command tower lower, the shell penetrated the 227 mm armor base, instantly lifted the command tower into the air, and then fell into the sea more than ten meters away, and the commanders inside would be drowned, if not to death.

The flagship of the 9th Cruiser Squadron was heavily damaged, and the other six battleships suddenly lost command. The four ships of the second squadron then turned to the right urgently, and stubbornly blocked the fierce attack from the four ships of Argyllshire, Carnaronshire, Hampshire, and Roxboroughshire, separated the Devonshire, and surrounded it and beat it violently.

This tactic has been used many times by the Imperial Chinese Navy, and it is also an advanced naval battle tactic summed up, concentrating forces, pulling out teeth from the tiger's mouth, eating each other one by one, and finally completing the goal of completely annihilating the enemy fleet.

The Devonshire's main guns were only 7.5 inches, and the attack force was the weakest of the British cruisers of the first class, and the armor was also the weakest. The only thing to be proud of is that she is the fastest, reaching 23.5 knots, but unfortunately she ran into a battlecruiser with a speed of 27 knots, and once she is separated, what awaits her will be the gorgeous sinking of the opponent.

At 11:36 a.m., four battle cruisers of the Second Sentai fired a salvo on the Devonshire, and seventeen 305-mm shells hit the Devonshire one after another.

"Boom!"

A loud explosion continued from bow to stern, and a shell fell from the central bridge, pierced the sampan, and then pierced through four layers of armor deck, exploding under the starboard side of the astamp, detonating several torpedoes in the torpedo room. Immediately, the cruiser Devonshire was blown in two, flames erupted, and thick smoke billowed into the sky.

The boom was followed by a series of violent explosions, and the continuous high temperature and fire caused a series of explosions on the battleship, and in an instant, the entire Devonshire was blown to pieces and sank quickly.

At this moment of the battle, the two British cruiser squadrons had lost six first-class cruisers one after another, and the great power of the battlecruisers of the Atlantic Fleet of the Imperial Chinese Navy was vividly displayed at this moment, and the British officers and men were greatly shocked, and this kind of battle could not be fought any longer, but could only be sent to death.

The Black Prince of the 9th Cruiser Squadron quickly raised the squadron's flagship command flag and led the four ships Argyllshire, Carnaronshire, Hampshire, and Roxborough to escape.

The four battle cruisers of the Second Squadron of the Atlantic Fleet, Zhou Yiwang, Zhou Xiaowang, Zhou Liwang, and Zhou Xuanwang immediately took the lead in pursuit, and the two sides walked in the opposite direction at a distance of about 4,000 meters, and launched a queue artillery battle.

The cannon roared, and the smoke of gunpowder filled the air. Countless shells fell on the sea between the two queues, stirring up columns of water, filling the sea with smoke and rain, and boiling the sea.

At a distance of 4,000 meters, the British Navy's gunnery was no worse than that of the Imperial Chinese Navy, and the gunnery of both sides was superb, with at least one or two out of ten shells hitting each other.

However, the maximum caliber of the main gun of the 9th Cruiser Squadron was only 234 mm, which could not penetrate the waterline armor protection of the ships of the 2nd Squadron of the Atlantic Fleet, but it caused a lot of damage to other parts of the island, injuring many officers and men of the Imperial Chinese Navy.

Of course, it was the British fleet that was hit even harder. In the face of the main gun attack of the battlecruisers of the Imperial Chinese Navy, any 305-mm shell falling on the British battleship would cause heavy damage, at least blow up a large area, causing a fire and heavy casualties, or at worst a shell was enough to penetrate any of the British ship's deadly ammunition depots, torpedo compartments, and boiler rooms, or hit important parts of the British ship such as the conning tower, main gun turret, waterline belt, coal tank, etc., which was enough to incapacitate the British ship or be sunk.

Twenty minutes after the two sides lined up for battle, the five British battleships were scarred, and each battleship was covered with fire, thick smoke, severe damage to the superstructure, and heavy casualties.

At 11:57 a.m., the acting flagship Black Prince was hit by three 305-mm shells, the island was razed to the ground, and three-quarters of the casualties were lost.

At 12:03, the four battle cruisers of the 2nd Battle Fleet of the Atlantic Fleet fired a salvo of fire, and the Argylshire and Canafon were sunk one after another, and then the Hampshire and Roxborough County tried to escape, but were quickly overtaken, so the 2nd ship raised the white flag and surrendered.

"Turn off the motor or sink it."

The second ship of King Zhou Li and King Zhou Xuan approached the second ship and shouted, and the British on the ship immediately did so, stopped the ship and anchored. Subsequently, the two ships Zhou Liwang and Zhou Xuanwang left, and the officers and men of the British ship immediately put out the fire and treated the wounded.

After the 2nd Squadron defeated the British 9th Cruiser Squadron, the 1st Squadron was also nearing its end.

The already scarred Terrible returned fire with only one 152-gun gun, and the commander, Colonel Bass, absolutely did not surrender and was ready to die in battle.

At 12:07 p.m., five warships of the 1st Squadron fired a salvo of fire on the 7th British Cruiser Squadron's acting flagship, the Terrible, and 12 of the 40 305-mm shells hit at once, and a series of violent explosions blew the hull of the Terrible to pieces in an instant, leaving none of the 894 British officers and men on the ship alive.

As fragmented fragments fell from the sky after the explosion of the Dread, the Dionysian Priest, who fought with the Dread, became the only surviving ship of the 7th Cruiser Squadron.

At 12:09, the commander of the Atlantic Fleet, Du Sigui, demanded that the Dionysian Priest surrender or sink it. Three minutes later, the Dionysian opened the sea valve and sank, and the 655 British officers and men of the ship chose to live and die with the Dionysian Priest and sank into the Atlantic basin at a depth of 8,000 meters.

"Who said the British Navy was all bonesless surrenderers?"

Du Xigui in the command tower couldn't help but sigh, and Li Dingxin and other fleet officers couldn't help but admire these British officers and men who would rather die than surrender.

"It's a pity! A battleship of more than 12,000 tons, how nice it would be if it could be captured! ”

Du Xigui repeatedly shouted that it was a pity, and Li Dingxin and the others couldn't help but smile bitterly, their commander had always thought that the Atlantic Fleet did not have enough warships, and he was always thinking about strengthening his strength.

Li Dingxin said: "The second team over there reported that four warships were captured!" ”

Du Xigui nodded, although it can't capture a large number of enemy ships like the Pacific Fleet, it can be regarded as a small comfort!

"How's going on the third and fourth teams?"

Li Dingxin smiled: "What else? One-sided slaughter! How could the British destroyers beat our light cruisers? However, the opponent was too fast, and after sinking six of them, the remaining eight destroyers broke away from the group and fled in the direction of Europe, and our second squadron pursued more than thirty nautical miles, and finally gave up and was returning home. ”

Du Xigui said: "Let's run away with a few small fish!" This group of boats can't run away! ”

Li Dingxin nodded and said, "I have ordered all ships to surround the ship group, shall we sink them or capture them?" ”

Du Xigui smiled and said, "We have wasted a lot of shells in this battle, of course we have to capture them!" ”

"I knew you would say that!" Li Dingxin said with a smile: "I have already ordered all ships to capture British merchant ships, this time there are more than 40 ships, and the oil and water are not less than 20 million pounds, we have made a fortune." ”

As he spoke, the two looked at each other and laughed, and the other officers of the headquarters couldn't help but laugh along.

"Knock knock!"

The sound of artillery in the distance suddenly sounded, and then several British merchant ships were hit by shells, and they exploded, and the fragile merchant ships were instantly shattered.

"What's going on? Who did they fire? Du Xigui's eyes suddenly became angry.

Li Dingxin hurriedly sent a telegram to inquire, it turned out that it was the second team's Zhou Liwang and Zhou Yiwang asked the two British merchant ships that tried to escape to stop, but they refused, so the second ship immediately fired a cannon to sink it.

"What a bunch of losers!" Du Xigui suddenly looked distressed, and said: "Those two merchant ships must be loaded with valuable goods, otherwise they wouldn't have escaped, damn it, they sank it all silver, do you know?" ”

Li Dingxin smiled bitterly: "This can't be helped, there are so many merchant ships, there must be some who want to escape, they will not be willing to be captured by us, maybe sink one or two of his merchant ships, let the British remember their surnames for a long time, they will not dare to act rashly after they are afraid." ”

"Yes! What a fly in the ointment! Although Du Xigui is distressed, he also has to admit that this is the best deterrent.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, all the British merchant ships surrendered, except for the two merchant ships that were sunk at the beginning and tried to escape.

Li Dingxin sent a group of officers and men to board various British merchant ships, controlled the captains, and ordered them to sail the ships to the San Juan Naval Base in Puerto Rico. After this battle, the Atlantic Fleet also suffered a lot of losses, with 122 officers and men killed and 6 seriously wounded.

Although the nine Zhou Wuwang-class battle cruisers were extremely powerful and were the killers of armored cruisers, but under the stubborn resistance of the British Navy, the nine battle cruisers were also wounded and had bullet marks on the hull, although the British Navy's shells failed to penetrate the armor belt of its hull, but the superstructure was seriously damaged, and it looked like a hornet's nest, which shows that the battle was fierce. If it were replaced with an equal warship, the Imperial Chinese Navy would also pay a heavy price.

Looking at the scarred hull, Du Xigui caressed the craters in distress, which were still very hot, and it could be seen that the explosion was extremely powerful.

"Such a beautiful ship was hit with potholes, and I felt sorry for me."

Li Dingxin said: "I have to repair it when I go back!" ”

Du Xigui shook his head and said, "No! Our strategic aim is to blockade Britain's economic lifeline, and only then can we force Britain to negotiate peace with us, and this war will not benefit the Reich for a long time. ”

Li Dingxin nodded and said, "Can we let the submarine fleet replace us?" ”

Du Xigui said: "It is difficult to judge the nationality of the other party when a submarine attacks a merchant ship, and secondly, the merchant ship will definitely not surrender to the submarine and can only sink it, which will not cut off our financial route." We can't compete with the Pacific Fleet in battle, but we'll have to outdo them in looting, right? The Atlantic trade is booming, and I believe that the profits we have made in half a year of plundering will be enough to build another Pacific Fleet. ”

Li Dingxin said: "Britain after this war, we will definitely retaliate, I think when the war, the British [***] officer has already reported the surname and combat power of our warships, and even the weakness of insufficient armor to the British Admiralty, it will not be long before the British Navy will come up with corresponding retaliation means, we should overhaul the ships well, to deal with the next big war." ”

Du Xigui nodded and said, "What you said is not unreasonable, then you can only let the submarine fleet be responsible for attacking the passing British merchant ships, it's a pity!" ”

Seeing that Du Xigui looked distressed again, Li Dingxin smiled and said: "Okay, we have looted enough, and the credit is no worse than their Pacific Fleet, and the rest will be handed over to the submarine force!" If you really want to plunder, send two teams of destroyers. ”

Du Xigui said: "The hunting fleet needs the cooperation of supply ships, and Britain should have no coping strategy in a short time, and our supply ships should be safe." It's okay to let the hunting fleet and the submarine fleet continue to hunt and allocate the supply fleet to them. ”

Li Dingxin said with a smile: "I think you don't have to be busy looting first, so many merchant ships estimate that our naval base dock is not enough, you better find a way to expand the dock!"

As he spoke, the two looked at each other and laughed.

(To be continued)