It was not the radar of the battleship Nelson that discovered the German capital ship, but the radar of a reconnaissance destroyer that rushed ahead for a reconnaissance search, and he was about twenty kilometers away from the battleship Nelson.

On the radar screen of this reconnaissance destroyer, the targets of the suspected German battleships still maintained their original formation, moving slowly at a speed of fourteen knots at sea. In the face of a night attack by the British naval destroyer, the Germans seemed unaware.

From the radar screen, the targets of the four suspected German ships whose positions were exposed were traveling from northwest to southeast in two queues of 2X2, and the destination of their routes was exactly the opposite direction to the port of Bergen. Judging from the direction of travel, it seems that this suspected German fleet is leaving the port of Bergen, but now it happens to be gambled on the way by the main British fleet.

At this time, there were many snowflake-shaped interference points on the radar screen of the Nelson, and due to the long distance, there was still no trace signal of the German ship. Due to the combined effects of the harsh sea conditions and the climate, the role of the radar was severely suppressed, and the destroyers in the front position could barely judge the position and direction of the ship, while the Nelson, which was a little farther away, could not detect anything.

In order to prevent his own fleet from being discovered by the enemy's radar, Commander Cunningham deliberately kept his main fleet, which had a large target and an obvious signal, at a distance of about 45 kilometers from the German ships, while the high-speed destroyer fleet, which had a weak radar reflection signal, was at the front station.

Initially Cunningham only sent ten destroyers to launch a lightning strike, but when giving instructions with a searchlight. He increased the number to twelve.

Twelve destroyers quickly passed a distance of twenty kilometers and quickly approached a distance of less than twenty kilometers from Germany.

At this moment, if dozens of red lights flashed on the sea on the opposite side, which was shrouded in night, more than thirty seconds later, the ears of the personnel of the destroyer ship who were charging sounded the characteristic scream of the shells falling. Then countless columns of water rose around the charging destroyer.

"Exposed, is it the radar of the Germans?"

Almost every Royal Navy officer and soldier who participated in the war had such a thought on his mind.

The British destroyers continued to charge in the dark and braved the artillery fire, and the destroyer fleet had obviously exposed its existence, but the German ships on the opposite side appeared to be calm. They didn't fire a single flare. But the shells hit in the dark were extremely accurate. The Germans' gunnery was completely unrestricted and undisturbed by the night, and after a few rounds of calibration, a large number of shells stuck like magnets around the lightning-struck destroyers, and the destroyer Shelfield, which led the charge, was the first to be shot. In the minute since the start of the shelling, several rounds have been fired. He was beaten to the point that his whole body was on fire. The speed of the charge has also decreased, and he has been forced to give up the lead position to friendly ships.

"Was it discovered? But it seems a little late, right? ”

Commander Cunningham snorted coldly in his heart, and ordered the main fleet that was stranded behind to also open up at full speed. Approaching the position of the German ship with all his might, ready to grab its T-prefix.

The nine battleships were running in the direction of the destroyer fleet that was being struck by lightning, but only about twenty kilometers from it.

At this time, the position of the British capital battleship was very favorable, and its direction of travel was blocked exactly in the direction of the target ship's advance. Even better, although the German ships were faster than the British, since they were cruising at fourteen knots, the boiler pressure clearly did not burn to the highest point required for combat condition. In contrast, the boilers of the British battleships, which had long been prepared, were running at full speed at full power, and for a short time the speed advantage was on the side of the British. Judging by the current position and direction of movement of both sides, Admiral Cunningham could determine that his fleet would easily grab the extremely important "T" in the artillery.

Just as Commander Cunningham gave the order to attack at full speed, the voice of the radar soldier came from the communication in the command room.

"The radar screen is severely interfered with by unknown factors! The German ship has been lost on the screen. ”

Cunningham's heart thumped as he glanced at the distant darkness of the night, torn apart by the flash of artillery fire, like a bottomless black hole, as if it were opening its jaw to swallow his fleet.

Commander Cunningham immediately noticed something unusual: the Germans did not use flares! He fired in the dark, and he did it with great accuracy. News came from the charging destroyer Tongguò without wires, and the lead destroyer Sheffield had been hit by multiple shells in a row in the past minute or so, and had suffered heavy damage to the point that its speed had been greatly reduced.

"Did Germany attack the difficulty of solving the problem of artillery sighting radar technology?"

Commander Cunningham muttered in his heart, and he vaguely realized that it was still an unwise move for him to send a fleet to play night battles with the Germans on this snowy night.

"Order them to fire flares!"

The order was quickly given, and the charging destroyer flotilla fired a large number of flares that had been prepared long ago in the direction where the German ships were located, and the dark sky seemed to be ignited, and dozens of flares exploded in the sky at the same time, as if dozens of headlights had been lit, and the entire sea was illuminated.

It's just that at this time on the Norwegian Sea, rain and snow are constantly falling, and the visibility on the sea is so bad that it can't be worse, and it is disturbed by the rain and snow, even with the help of flares, the sailors rushing to the front of the destroyer can't see the shadow of any warship in the naked eye. The only thing that can be sure that there is a battleship on the opposite side is the orange-red flash released when the German guns fire. As for what kind of ship opened fire and what kind of ship it was, even if the lookout was stunned, there would be no trace of it.

Under such circumstances, the British destroyer continued to charge, braving the fire of German ships. At the time of this hit, the five radar screens in the British fleet that were still working (and one of them was malfunctioning) collectively appeared in a large area of snowflakes and could no longer function normally.

"Damn tech bastards!"

After receiving the report from the radar soldiers, Commander Cunningham cursed in his heart. A new order is then issued.

"Contact me on the Shakespeare and keep you informed of the situation of the German fleet. Especially to confirm the existence of those two demon twin ships. ”

The Shakespeare was the destroyer that continued to lead the charge in place of the mortally damaged Sheffield. And at this time, at this time, around the British destroyer, which was launching a charge lightning strike, was raining bullets.

On this snowy night, the radar was useless again, and even with the help of flares, the British ship could not see the exact figure of the German ship for a short time, and it was as if it were being beaten by a boxer who saw it.

The only thing they could confirm was that among the German ships shelled at them, there must have been pocket battleships in existence. However, it is not the result of visual confirmation. Rather, it is confirmed by the height of the water column that rose around the hull of the ship at the time of the previous shelling. When a 283-mm shell explodes in close proximity, the splash of water is much larger than that of a 128-mm or 155-mm shell.

However, in the darkness and confusion of the snowy night, the sailors of one of the G-class destroyers of the British destroyer who were charging under artillery fire reported to Cunningham. A huge column of water rose thirty meters away. It seems to be the result of a sixteen-inch cannon shell.

After hearing the news. Commander Cunningham, who had been a little uneasy, let go of his heart hanging in mid-air, and what he feared most was not the excellent night artillery tactics of the Germans, but the battle of Norwegian as it was. The opponent seized the initiative in the battle. Now, although the surprise attack of the destroyer fleet was discovered by the Germans, his main battleship was now boiling boilers and was seizing the T-head at full speed of nearly twenty knots. Compared to the German ships that were cruising at speed, his fleet would be able to guarantee a speed advantage for at least the next hour.

It takes time for the boiler to boil and the steam pressure to accumulate to its maximum level.

It takes time for the battleship to accelerate.

It is even more complicated and troublesome for a fleet to change direction and maneuver at sea.

An hour was simply not enough for the German fleet, which was in an unfavorable position, to make a tactical turn to get out of the unfavorable situation. This hour was enough time for his fleet to do a lot of things. The cover of the night, and the advantage of night gunnery, allowed the German Navy to take advantage of a lot, but their biggest weakness was that they had too few capital ships, only two Shane-class battleships were worthy of a battle, and in their own hands, there were nine battleships, including the Nelson-class battleships, two of the most powerful ships in the Royal Navy. Although this is a product of the treaty era, the caliber of the eighteen sixteen-inch guns on the two ships is not deceiving.

In his heart, Commander Cunningham secretly cheered himself up: "As long as you approach them, entangle them, and then let our sixteen-inch cannon test, is your defense as magical as the legend says?" ”

After being promoted to commander, Commander Cunningham studied the two German capital ships, known as the "Demon Angels", and heard all sorts of mythical legends about them.

"In God's name!"

Cunningham secretly swore in his heart that he would end the legend of these two demon angel ships tonight, and he would tear off all kinds of mythical halos on their heads tonight and trample them under their feet.

Twelve destroyers braved the increasingly accurate artillery fire of the German fleet and charged desperately.

At 2:40 a.m., after more than 10 minutes of desperate assault, seven destroyers were wounded and paralyzed by artillery fire from the opposite side, and their speed was greatly reduced until they pulled to the rear. There was also a destroyer that was killed by the opponent and exploded on the spot, turning it into the brightest and most dazzling fireworks in the night. But still four destroyers bravely approached, approaching to a distance of about eight thousand meters from the German fleet.

At this time, the four destroyers that rushed to the front shot all the flares that could be fired in one go. At this distance, illuminated by the bright aura that continued to burst out, the sailors on the ship could finally see the vague figure of the German ship opposite.

"This size doesn't look like a battleship!"

At this time, the British sailors on the destroyer were surprised to find that the two black dots that they had mistaken for large warships as shown on the radar and during the charge were not warships at all, but two 10,000-ton merchant ships.

The German warships, which were firing heavily at them, lined up in a row, about three thousand meters behind the two 10,000-ton merchant ships, continued to fire at them.

"How can it be a merchant ship?"

At this time, the German fleet, which was located in the rear of the merchant ships, also divided into six destroyers and charged at them, and the destroyers opened heavy fire on the destroyers, the four British ships that were themselves scarred, in order to prevent them from continuing to advance.

At the same time, some experienced captains of the British destroyers, on the opposite side of the battleship that was traveling at an angle of nearly 80 degrees, judged that the speed of the opponent's movement was at least 26 knots. And the German destroyers, which were facing them in the hedge, were even more than thirty knots.

That is, by the time the British destroyer launched a lightning strike, these German ships had already begun to accelerate. And the reason why he was able to increase the speed in such a short time was because their boiler steam had accumulated to the optimal state and could increase the speed at any time.

And this also means that the opponent is prepared.

In this chaotic night, the captain of the British destroyer who was buried in the charge did not realize this.

At this time, Commander Cunningham, who was located far away in the rear, also received information from the front-line destroyer fleet.

"Those two demon ships are not there, and the two big targets detected by the radar are two merchant ships."

"There were only two pocket battleships. Three or four light cruisers, less than ten destroyers. ”

After receiving this information, Commander Cunningham's newly relieved heart hung in the air again.

"What? So, where are those two demon warships? ”

He roared in a gaffe.

At this time, his combat staff officer said to himself: "This is just a detachment of Germans? At least we caught their detachment? ”

"It's not that simple!"

Commander Cunningham glared fiercely at his self-proclaimed clever operations staff officer, and just then, a piece of bad news came from the ship's communication door.

"USS Barham, lightning strike!"

"What! Could it be a submarine ambush? ”

When the British Navy, believing that it had been ambushed by a submarine, began to perform anti-submarine maneuvers at sea, the battleship HMS Royal Oak, the second of the huge fleet of nine battleships, also received news that their starboard side was also in flames.

Bad news came one after another, one of the cruisers in the fleet suddenly exploded in succession, the first explosion began near the ammunition depot in the middle of the port side, and a few seconds later a shocking explosion rang out, this time the mine detonated his ammunition depot. The cruiser, which was captured in the 1935 Chinese Liberation War and ransomed by the British after the war, exploded in two seconds and sank into the icy water.

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