Sims's arrangement is still very distinctive, he deployed the weakest Nevada in the third position, so that if necessary, he can get the fire support of the Ioda, and the Pennsylvania is at the end of the team, although its combat effectiveness is a little worse than the New Mexico class, but the Americans think that it is okay to support for a while, as long as the Nevada is okay, the battle line will not collapse.

In fact, Hipper's combat power is indeed a bit too much, and the combat effectiveness of the four American Iron Turtles can indeed be called half a pound compared with the three Bismarck-class battleships, while in the auxiliary warship ring, the Hipper's fleet is much worse. Just ten minutes into the battle, the Bismarck battleship, which was fired at by concentrated fire, was hit many times by dense 14-inch shells, although it could not penetrate the core compartment due to distance problems, but the continuous hits of the main gun shells still made the king of the German navy feel quite stressed.

The slender Atlantic bow was hit by at least three shells, one of which destroyed the anchor compartment, the other made a hole in the bow armor belt, and the third hit the sailor's cabin in the forecastle, and the fire caused by the violent explosion directly ignited the various cotton fabrics in the cabin...... Billowing smoke and flames began to spread through the cabin. And more shells hit the Bismarck's amidships, and in less than fifteen minutes, Bismarck's No. 3 turret was actually hit three times directly! The first shot hit the turret, the heavy armor plate made the shell futile, the second shot hit the upper level of the turret and left a deep bullet mark on the turret, but the violent shock and explosion still destroyed the optical instruments attached to the turret, the third shell completely terminated the turret, the shell fired from the connection between the turret and the turret completely destroyed the rotation mechanism, and the shock from the explosion caused problems ......... the ammunition delivery channel of the real turret.

After losing one-fifth of their firepower, the two New Mexico-class battleships became more and more courageous, although the heavy armor of the Bismarck ensured the safety of the core cabin, but the fire on the surface of the ship had been out of control under the continuous blows of the other side, and a large number of damage management team members were swept down by the flying shrapnel, and even a 14-inch shell killed nearly 20 officers and men of the entire detachment! At that time, the team members tried to extinguish the fire in a secondary gun position. But then the shell landed exactly on a nearby gun emplacement. While reducing the naval guns to parts, countless shrapnel shredded the compartments between the secondary guns, blowing up the German officers and soldiers who were fighting the fire next door into a pile of pulp. The casualty rate of the entire battleship continued to rise.

Bismarck's self-sacrifice was exchanged for opportunities for the Bavaria and Baden, and the two ships had the upper hand in the battle. Especially the battleship Bavaria, which exchanged fire with the Nevada, easily suppressed the opponent's 10 15-inch guns with 10 15-inch guns, and in the time of the battle just now, the Bavaria hit the opponent at least 7 times! In addition to the two shells that were deflected off by the heavy main armor belt, another shell destroyed the two main gun barrels of the No. 3 turret, and the fourth shell landed between the two gun galleries, destroying the two secondary guns. The remaining three shells each made 4 holes in the first place. One of the shells tore a large hole with an area of almost 7 square meters! In a matter of minutes, nearly 800 tons of seawater poured into the aft compartment! If nothing else, the Germans thought that the first trophy captured in this engagement might have been this American battleship armed with 10 14-inch guns! …。

But history often doesn't go the way people set it to. Just when Bavaria easily beat Nevada. A shot in the water left Pennsylvania in a difficult situation! The underwater projectile fired from the Baden entered the water at a distance of 20 meters from the enemy ship, and successfully penetrated the underwater protection system at the stern, and finally collided with the propeller shaft that was spinning at high speed! This shell, which weighed more than 800 kilograms, directly broke the transmission shaft, which rotated hundreds of revolutions per minute, into two, and under the action of inertia, this transmission shaft was thrown on the next next door. And successfully smashed it! Then several compartments were destroyed unabated, and countless debris and flames poured towards the compartment where the other propeller shaft was placed, and the violent vibration of the explosion caused some damage to the wheelhouse. The Pennsylvania's maneuverability and speed are greatly reduced! …。

Although the Pennsylvania's firepower remained fairly intact, it was a pity that the blow made it almost ineffective, and the ships that could not follow the formation were of no use, unless the remaining American ships were willing to slow down and wait for the damaged ship. Sims' face became gloomy as he looked at the crooked Pennsylvania that had already left. After losing this battleship, if you fight three or three, you will be a proper disadvantage! At the same time, when the Germans on the opposite side saw the out-of-control Pennsylvania, they couldn't help but be shocked, and Hipper immediately redistributed his firepower into a state of catch and kill. In desperation, Sims could only order 6 destroyers to cover the evacuation of the damaged giant ship in the direction of France. At the same time, 1 armored cruiser was rowed out to tow the battleship, which was almost out of power, ..........

The battle had left the Bismarck badly wounded. In less than 1 hour of engagement, the German naval flagship had lost 40% of its firepower...... However, his opponent paid the price, as one of the New Mexico's 3-pack main gun turrets was jammed. And the Ioda in the back was also destroyed by 2 guns. After the loss of one capital ship, the capital ships of the American fleet were at a disadvantage. However, at this time, Sims obviously could not retreat, and if he left, Majifen would face a double attack from Hipper and Tycho. At this time, the American fleet was under full fire, and under the cover of the battleships, all the light cruisers and mine-striking ships rushed out. The fiercest charge was launched at the German fleet in the distance. And in the face of the menacing American warship, Hipper chose to avoid it with reason.

"The U.S. fleet is like an angry wolf pack, desperate to rush at us. These opponents, who were approaching at high speed while releasing smoke, posed an even greater threat than the 14-inch guns of the Americans. We had only 4 light cruisers, and in the face of the opposing patrol, just one was enough to tear through our defenses. Hipper later commented on the situation. Sims had only 2 armored cruisers in total, one of which was used to tow the Pennsylvania away from the battlefield, while the other was used as the spearhead of the lightning strike fleet to stab the German fleet, in the face of this displacement of up to 15,000 tons, equipped with 10-inch guns and a large number of 6-inch guns, the German light cruiser was obviously not an opponent, and the dense firepower easily smashed a German light cruiser that could not dodge into pieces, and two 10-inch shells hit the power compartment to stop it, Another 10-inch shell hit the ammunition depot under the bow main gun, and the detonated ammunition directly broke the light cruiser with a displacement of more than 4,000 tons in two. After 1 minute, it disappeared into the sea ..........

The Bismarck, which had been beaten violently at the beginning, immediately became the focus of the other side's torpedo boats. The main guns protected by heavy armor have lost 4 guns, and it is conceivable that the secondary guns without sufficient protection can save a few guns, and the Bismarck, which has only 3 secondary guns and a number of 88mm anti-lightning guns left on the side chord, is struggling to resist the lightning strike of the opponent. "Give up the attack on the New Mexico, let's get rid of these gadgets first!" In desperation, Hipper could only use the main cannon to fight flies. Huge columns of water rose above the sea. The fist-sized shrapnel spread out in all directions with the center of the explosion point, sweeping towards the unprotected destroyer, and many American officers and men were directly beaten into a pile of flesh by this deadly bullet rain, and these shrapnel penetrated the fragile shell of the destroyer without hindrance and then rammed into the hull of the ship wantonly.

The Bavaria, which was in second place, also had some fire support for the flagship. Under the suppression of crossfire, the first wave of the US Navy was disintegrated by a dense rain of bullets, and 4 destroyers were blown to pieces. The other two destroyers were attacked by near-misses, and the fragments from the 15-inch high-explosive bomb that exploded less than 10 meters shredded the power compartments of the two destroyers, and now they can only float slowly on the water. …。

The first wave of attacks by American mine-striking ships was in vain. However, just as Hipper dispersed his fire, the Americans also managed to fire a water bullet, which entered the hull from the bow of the Bismarck, and after tearing through three layers of highly elastic steel and the rearmost layer of 45mm armor, it successfully drilled into the boiler room and blew the two boilers to pieces. And the hole that was opened allowed the battleship to enter at least 1000 tons of water! Hippert only felt a slight shock to the ship's hull...... Then he leaned slightly to the side ..........

The U.S. lightning strike formation, which discovered Bismarck's unusual appearance, gave full play to the combat policy of taking advantage of your illness to kill you, and the second wave of destroyers quickly attacked, and the eight destroyers rushed forward in two lightning strike formations on the sea, and the Bismarck, which had greatly reduced its firepower, dodged the other side's lightning strike as much as possible under the cover of the Bavaria. The Bismarck dodged at least six torpedoes, but the Bavaria, which was in the back, was hit by one torpedo that exploded less than 5 meters from the Bavaria, and the energy generated by hundreds of kilograms of explosives squeezed the fragile hull of the Bavaria. With the onslaught of sea water and shrapnel, a large hole of at least 6 square meters was cut in the front of the Bavaria's hull, and in just a few minutes 900 tons of seawater poured in!

Although the second lightning strike was eventually dispersed, the Americans lost 5 more destroyers, but two German capital ships were also damaged. The situation of the Bismarck was particularly bad, the superstructure was badly damaged, and almost half of the fire was lost. The power compartment was also damaged, and at the same time, the battleship was tilted to a certain extent because of the flooding.

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