At the moment when the fireworks boiled, Major General Craddock's eyes almost popped out! For the first time in his life, he saw the spectacular scene of so many large-caliber guns firing in unison, but the terrible thing was that the shells fired were all aimed at him!

With the "Magnificent" as the core, the revolving door queue to the right formed four battleships in an arc formation, with the flagship "Bellerophon" falling last, and the armored ship "Sovereign" rushing to the front.

However, in terms of the volume exposed to the guns of the German ships, it was the same as a crooked biscuit, but the entire flagship was exposed, and the other battleships were more or less partially blocked in the stern.

And there is no doubt that the "Bellerophon" was in a position that was able to receive all the artillery salvo fire from the four battleships that were cross-cutting in an arc column in front of it. To paraphrase a popular phrase, "You're standing in such a good position that you're embarrassed not to kick it hard."

But the problem is that the thirty feet kicked by this too suitable position are not something that ordinary people can bear.

In a salvo from 12 kilometers away, the German artillerymen who had warmed their hands easily got a cross fire, and in the second salvo, two close misses exploded close to the armor of the enemy ship's waterline, and even destroyed a piece of the armor that had been loosely collapsed before!

In the third salvo, an armor-piercing bullet wedged into the round amidship of the "Bellerophon", easily disintegrated the hull, and blasted into the main turret on the left side with a massive explosion, and then a furious explosion swept away the entire turret, gnawing a hideous hole in the hull!

And that wasn't the end of it, as the shell that followed almost immediately behind the drop point blasted into the main armor belt, calmly shredding and pouring into the boiler compartment. The resulting explosion not only led to the rampant use of high-temperature and high-pressure steam. The rear chimney and the rear bridge wrapped around the perimeter were all blown away. I don't know how many officers and soldiers were killed and wounded!

Major General Craddock hated, angry, he pounded the table hard, resentful that the Germans didn't kill him directly with shells, and that the province wanted to see such a tragic scene with his own eyes?

He began to feel guilty for his recklessness and impulsiveness, and even more sincerely apologized for the innocent deaths of the naval officers.

Speaking of which, if it were His Excellency Sir of the original time and space, he definitely had the courage and heroism to bravely sink himself in the face of enemy fire. And because of this, he became a reckless British general in World War I.

But in this time and space, he has been severely warned by the fleet led by Yang Hao with the help of exercises, obviously telling them that under the attack of advanced warships and tactics, courage alone cannot achieve victory. It stands to reason that it is difficult for you to grow wise?

But he didn't, when he saw the German battleship, he was red-eyed, and he rushed up to fight, what was the use of regretting it like this!

Major General Spee, who was on the other side, really didn't mean to torture him. It's just that after the salvo was fired, the smoke of gunpowder and the sound of artillery rumbled. Basically, you can beat whoever you catch, and you don't think about anything else at all. The position of the "Bellerophon" was too ecstatic, and naturally attracted more artillery fire. But at the same time, the German battleship was cut diagonally from behind, and the flagship at the front was just at the angle of the three main turrets turning right to fire a salvo, of course, gnawing from the back first!

However, after a few salvos, the four British ships were badly damaged, and the speed was uneven, and the revolving door tactics could not be played at all.

In contrast, the speed of the four German ships was uniform and fast, and after overtaking the front from behind, the front began to aim the two main turrets in front of the enemy ships farther away, and only the rear turrets continued to bombard.

As a result, the artillery fire was dispersed to the other warships. But in general, it was still all the British ships that were drawn in a line to be included in the bombardment.

This means that the Germans lacked advanced computer technology and could not rely on the fire control command system to form a rough shot. If the Chinese battleship formation was here, it would have already commanded 36 cannons in a unified manner, and against the enemy ships with hedgehogs gathered on a wide plane, it would adopt a rough strike with a longitudinal distance and a deviation from the distance, and the tactic of flowering in the center was enough to ensure that the number of shells falling into the range was 100 percent!

At a distance of 12 kilometers, the cross-section of the four enemy ships is about 600 meters, and the longitudinal distance is about 2 kilometers, so it is not too easy to form a precision strike.

Even the German battleships, which were so badly weakened, gradually found the best shooting elements after several successive salvos, and after a slight adjustment, the hit rate of the restarted bombardment skyrocketed!

A few minutes later, the "Magnificent", which was having difficulty moving, was again shot in succession. This time, one shell slammed into the conning tower, blowing away almost all the commanders, including the captain, and another shell blasted through the bow armor from the side, creating a large hole and paralyzing the forward main turret in an implosion.

Several more shells in succession damaged the boiler compartment and the stern rudder, and the whole battleship suddenly became a dead fish, which was filled with water and burst into fire and smoke, and it was not far from sinking.

Rear Admiral Spee nodded in satisfaction and ordered the fleet to switch targets and carry out intensive strikes on the two armored ships. After several volleys, the "Irish" was hit by a series of turrets, causing an unfortunate detonation.

The spectacular detonation formed a turbid fireball with a diameter of one or two hundred meters, which expanded to the limit in all directions in an instant, and the erupted steel fragments could reach several kilometers away, and it would be at least two or three hundred meters into the sky before rolling up!

The "Ireland" didn't even have a chance to return to the bubble, so it stopped cooking.

The "Sovereign" and the flagship "Bellerophon" did not hold out for long, and were hit one after another by more and more dense hit artillery fire, and almost every shell smashed into it, shattering large areas of steel and blowing up all over the body.

Counterattack? Escape? None of them were possible, and Craddock's decision to go his own way cost the life of the entire fleet.

Tragically, they met the crazy and paranoid Major General Spee. His Excellency the future Earl, who didn't know how to be satisfied even after getting cheap, even forgot the cordon in his heart for a while, and his head was full of thoughts of bombing all the enemy ships in front of him, and he was out of control!

The British were also unlucky, they have never seriously changed their tactical thinking from the last century to the present, which has led to huge hidden dangers. That is, in pursuit of rapid fire and attack density. A large amount of ammunition is often piled up inside the turret. And then also did not pay attention to the normative shelling program. Close the ammunition lifting channel in strict accordance with the requirements.

As a result, once the turret is blown through, the explosion causes the propellant inside to detonate, or a large fire extends along the open passage into the ammunition depot below, and the brilliant explosion is irrepressible!

That's what they did in the era of sail battleships, and that's understandable. In the era of ironclads, they still did this, on the battlefields of the Far East. The Japanese and the British themselves, who are in the same lineage, have paid a heavy price for this, and have caused many tragedies by the sharp shells of the traversers.

Now in the era of dreadnoughts and super-dreadnoughts, the turret armor has been greatly enhanced, and it stands to reason that as long as it resists frontal bombardment, it will not be a big deal. The ammunition depot itself is heavily protected, and there should be no problem.

But the British forgot how quickly the artillery technology has been upgraded these years! Rate of fire, accuracy, armor-piercing ability, and increased power of the charge inside the outer belt. The battle between spear and shield can never be balanced. Relatively speaking, it is clear that artillery and shells are superior. No matter how thick the armor. There will always be a time when it will be blasted away!

The Chinese-made warships obtained by the Germans were strictly prevented from being bombed from the very beginning. As long as it is not particularly unfortunate to be blasted open to the main turret armor at close range, and the propellant is being lifted inside, it is basically impossible to be martyred.

Of course, with the current capabilities of the main guns of British battleships, they simply cannot penetrate the astonishing armor with a thickness of 406mm.

One is against the other, and the difference between the two cannot be calculated. Four British warships were destroyed one after another, and then they were killed in various sizes. Just the detonation of ammunition in the turret can almost disintegrate the battleship, and the two armored ships are the most exaggerated, and they simply sank quickly in the self-detonation, which is called a spectacular!

Seeing that another fierce explosion destroyed most of the hull of the "Bellerophon", and the entire steel body was drowned in the raging fire, Rear Admiral Spee finally smiled with satisfaction, ordered the fleet to sail around the results of the battle, carefully filmed the whole scene, and then led the fleet to continue to turn around and sail north.

At this time, the main force of the killing fleet from the British mainland had just crossed the midline of the Atlantic.

In this fierce confrontation, the German ships were hit or missed dozens of shells of various calibers in front and back, and the greatest casualties were several unlucky damaged pipes, who were hit by flying fragments on the deck. In addition to this, the battleship had only a short small fire, and some of the teak wood laid on the deck was burned, and it was okay to replace it quickly.

Others, such as rubbing off some paint on the hull and punching out some pits, are simply not worth mentioning. All in all, it was a clean victory.

Rear Admiral Spee finally experienced first-hand what it means to win a capital ship. The larger the tonnage and the thicker the caliber of the battleship, the higher the chances of winning the battle. This is an almost insurmountable dividing line, and whoever takes the lead will always be ahead of the enemy in the process.

There is no doubt that the Chinese have left the world's great powers behind. As early as ten years ago, they developed a 30,000-ton full row of battleships, but left the powers with a back that took a long time to catch up.

Now, only the second-class battleships of the export type have beaten the dreadnoughts of the British without the power to fight back. This gap is really big!

Rear Admiral Spee was infinitely fascinated by the kind of battleship with a full platoon of up to 40,000 tons declared by the Chinese. Based on the current results, it is very likely that the opponent used a 15-inch main gun, which can be called the strongest warship in the world today, and there is no doubt. Its armor is thick and its firepower is fierce, which is definitely a level higher than the "Bavarian class" under German construction!

The fist of the Chinese Navy is still the largest in the world.

Thinking of this, a strong impulse surged in Rear Admiral Spee's heart, and he decided to suggest that after returning home, the Imperial Navy Department should increase its efforts and develop a battleship that surpasses China's current main force, and not just the "Bavaria-class" with 380mm main guns.

Of course, His Excellency the Major General did not think much about the construction cost and financial pressure, and it was the Imperial Minister of Finance and His Majesty the Emperor who needed to worry about it, and he could just put forward his own opinions and demands.

The reality is that even if Major General Spee made a proposal, it would not have been adopted.

As early as a few years ago, when Germany decided to develop a 30,000-ton battleship, it proposed to develop a model with four 400mm caliber main guns. It's just that at that time, Germany had just completed the research and development of a 50 times diameter 305mm main gun, and it jumped over the whole 100mm gap at once, which was really a bit of a leap forward, and Krupp said that the pressure was a bit big, and it was more rational to develop 340-350 main guns.

And Tirpitz also vigorously opposed this, and held many meetings to blow the cold wind, so that the generals' heads could calm down, and not be whimsical and hide from the kang on the pot.

Later, they also learned that in order to compete for the first caliber of the navy, the British invested in the research and development of 343mm after the development of 50 times the diameter 305mm gun and the 35 times diameter 356mm gun failed one after another, and built a number of battleships on this basis. Subsequently, he strode into the battleship research and construction sequence with 381mm main guns.

Because of the proliferation of equipment in China's shipbuilding industry, the great powers and countries have been able to build 30,000 tons of warships nearly ten years ahead of schedule. Although at the beginning, the big guys only had the conditions to form one or two slipways, but after nearly ten years of digestion and absorption, the technology of various countries has basically been thoroughly understood. Not to mention 30,000 tons, a larger displacement is not a problem.

After the key technology is solved, the hull can keep up with how big the main gun can be. Major General Spee's grand idea is not out of line.

However, Germany's finances are out of the question. A "Bavaria-class" will cost nearly 60 million marks, and it is said that after getting the Chinese-made battleships, they have plans to upgrade them further. New battleships, where to find money!

Of course, these things can only be done after returning home, so until then, it is better to concentrate on the upcoming battle.

Rear Admiral Spee, realizing that his fleet was always under the watchful eye of the British, was not conducive to concealment, and in the following trip, when he saw the ships flying the British flag, he immediately opened fire and sank them from a distance, preventing them from telling the news. It is not known how many British ships in the entire Atlantic suffered from this, and the economic losses were measured in tens of millions of pounds.

The main British fleet first reached the Caribbean waters, then searched south along the coast of Brazil, and at the same time detached a detachment to pull the net south from the middle of the Atlantic, but was thrown off by the Spee's fleet, which cut directly to the west coast of Africa. The two did not meet directly.

It was not until the British ships in West Africa sent a report that they became aware of this change, and while scolding the Germans for being spineless and too cunning, they turned around and pounced on Morocco.

And the British fleet, which was originally guarding the waters of the English Channel-Gibraltar, also concentrated to try to block. A fierce battle is imminent. (To be continued.) )