Chapter 973: Broken Tail
Just when the main force of the Majifen fleet was being delayed, Tycho, with the desire to survive and numerical superiority, suppressed the Allied fast fleet, and successfully damaged the Malaya and Amsterdam! A qiē seems to be reversed. Some Allied fleet officers even thought that with just half an hour, Tycho's fleet would be able to successfully crush the other side! It doesn't matter if Magifen catches up!
"Concentrate your fire on the sinking of the Amsterdam!" Looking at the Dutch fast battleship that had been badly damaged in the distance and whose hull had been tilted badly, Tycho was also a little carried away. It seems to have forgotten that there is a powerful fleet behind him, which may catch up at any time! And the torpedo boats that accompanied the Italian fleet rushed up like sharks smelling fishy, and both sides were maneuvering at high speed, and the Amsterdam, which had lost half of its power, naturally could not keep up with the fleet, so it became the best target for torpedo attacks!
A total of 8 destroyers in the two detachments tried to intercept the other party's lightning strike, but before they could meet the opposing destroyer, the main and auxiliary guns of the Vittorio hit each other! A DESTROYER WAS DIRECTLY HIT BY A 350MM SHELL, AND THE SHELL WEIGHING MORE THAN 600 KILOGRAMS DIRECTLY CUT THE BATTLESHIP IN HALF LIKE A GIANT AXE. In less than 1 minute, the destroyer, which was several hundred tons, disappeared from the sea. THE OTHER DESTROYER WAS DESTROYED BY THE CONTINUOUS HIT OF THE 150MM GUN, AND THE SYSTEM COULD ONLY GO WITH THE FLOW, ALTHOUGH THE REMAINING BATTLESHIPS SURVIVED THIS WAVE OF BULLETS, BUT THEY WERE IMMEDIATELY SURROUNDED BY THE ALLIED DESTROYERS THAT RUSHED UP, AND THE DENSE 75MM BULLET RAIN WOVEN A FIRE NET COVERED THE SURVIVING ALLIED DESTROYERS. And another group of destroyers rushed to the Amsterdam not far away!
In the end, the Dutch Navy's first super-dreadnought, second-generation fast battleship Amsterdam was hit by three torpedoes. One of the torpedoes hit the engine room right near the engine room, causing the entire wound to quickly enlarge. A large hole of at least 20 square meters appeared near the Amsterdam's engine room. This made the rescue ineffective, and the fate of the battleship was already sealed. He will sink into the sea in a quarter of an hour.
But the Amsterdam's sacrifice was not worthless, just as the Italians concentrated their fire on the Dutch fast battleship. The Malaya once again gave the Prinz Eugen a blow with a 15-inch cannon at an ultra-close range of less than 11KM! After piercing the sidestring armor of the Prinz Eugen, the shell crashed into the boiler compartment, and the violent explosion directly blew four boilers to pieces, and the water vapor released from the ruptured pipes killed almost everyone in the cabin. The Austro-Hungarian battleship, which had barely kept up due to damaged propeller shafts, finally slowed down, and after losing two-thirds of its power, he had no chance of returning to the ports of the Mediterranean. Its direct distance from the fleet was rapidly widened.
"Save the Prinz Eugen, who fought in two naval battles. He has made great contributions to the empire. Tycho did not agree to the Austrians' request, and it was impossible for a ship with a heavily damaged power to go back. Left behind to cover it, the result was that it was dragged to its death, and the loss of the Prinz Eugen was a wake-up call for Tycho. This is not a place to stay. If you don't leave, it's really too late!
The Majifen fleet finally caught up, but all they were left with was a floating Prinz Eugen and the scarred Malaya and the Seven Provinces. After ordering a formation of torpedo boats to destroy the abandoned battleship, Magifin knew that the war was over. "Very good strategy. But the tactical aspect is terrible! Magiffen later wrote in his diary. Majifen managed to get his opponent into the net. But what he didn't expect was that in the case of absolute superiority, his fleet would fight so hard. Originally, he thought that even if he could not completely destroy the Tycho fleet, he would be able to sink half of its capital ships, but it turned out to be 1 for 2, and a fast battleship was replaced by a super dreadnought and a dreadnought.
"Our naval officers and men have a large number of problems in actual combat, and the gunners are only the most basic, and there are problems in damage control and control of warships. The Allied air strikes were more harassment than attacks, and we were lucky. If the opponent's attack capability can be at the level of the Royal Navy, only 60 attack aircraft can deal a very big blow to my fleet. Our air defense operations can simply be described as bad. And when it was circumvented, the whole fleet was messed up! We wasted so much time that we cost our allies a vital fast battleship. Although we occupied the top this time, it also made the other side see our weakness. We have to train harder, because not every time we can be at the top of our game! Magiffin wrote in his report to the Admiralty.
And in the face of this over-the-top report, the U.S. Navy Department thought that it would be enough for the report to be circulated internally, and although there were various problems in terms of tactics, at least the Entente Atlantic Fleet was victorious under the command of Magiffin? And this is enough, as for the problems in it, it can be changed slowly. The U.S. government deems it necessary to make a big deal of publicity on this matter in order to boost morale!
Now that Magiffin's direct confrontation with Tycho is over, one should ask what happened between Earl Spee and Thomas? Tycho mentioned in his telegram to Count Spee that the other side only had three Queen-class battleships, but in the end, Count Spee still did not fight with his opponent, the reason is very simple, Tycho's fleet has been defeated, Thomas can fully meet with Magifin's fleet, the so-called hit-and-run tactics are simply unrealistic, as long as they fight, they will be injured, and under the encirclement and interception of the opponent's superior fleet, Count Spee does not think that his battleships can bypass the whole of Africa and return to the Mediterranean Sea with injuries. Therefore, after receiving the news of the defeat of Tycho's fleet, Count Spee decided to immediately choose to go south and circumnavigate the Horn of Africa. At the same time, Tycho was asked to provide transport ships according to the predetermined plan.
After Thomas and Majifen converged, they did not choose to continue the pursuit, but decided to go back to France to make corrections, and this change surprised the Spee fleet, which had been preparing for the "Long March", and the other party gave way at the critical moment, which is a good thing that cannot be desired! This is a foolish move in the eyes of some, but when you think about it, Thomas's choice was not wrong.
Although the Majifen fleet won, almost all of the ships were damaged at different lengths. In addition to the two Tennessee-class battleships, the remaining three American battleships could not be out of the dock for 2 months. The Malaya and Seven Provinces, which were responsible for interception, were even more scarred. There were many damage to the side of the ship, the water ingress was very strict, and some of the main guns also needed to be replaced. The French had good luck this time, sinking a dreadnought, and their own losses were not very large. However, repairs and maintenance are also required. More importantly, if a group stays in the waters near Gibraltar, it will inevitably be repeatedly attacked by submarines and aircraft, and in the case of the strength of the fleet, Majifin is not afraid, but in this situation, Majifin chooses to retreat is undoubtedly the best choice. In other words, the Majifen fleet did not have the strength to fight again in a short time. Then the only one in the Atlantic Fleet of the entire Entente can only fight is the Thomas fleet, and after the departure of the Majifen fleet, if the other party gets the news and chooses to fight, then Thomas, who only has 6 fast warships, will face the Spee fleet with the Dragon Xiang to join the pressure is very great, and it is not certain whether he will win or lose in a real fight!
Majifen's idea is very realistic, since he has already made a small profit in this battle, then he should not have any accidents at the end. For the plan of chasing the Spey fleet around Africa, Magifin and Thomas are not very concerned, the Spee fleet is admittedly exhausted, but at the same time Thomas's fleet is not in good shape, and Magifin really can't find a fast warship that can be used to support Thomas, such an action becomes meaningless, can't catch up, and prevent the other party from biting back, what else to chase?
As a result, by mistake, with the Allied Atlantic Fleet retreating on its own initiative, Count Spee was able to return to the Mediterranean Sea along the Strait of Gibraltar through Lì. Returned to Taranto, the stronghold of the Allied Mediterranean Fleet. He saw a depressed Tycho and the ruined fleet in his hands. "In the future, the only force we can rely on in the battle against Majifen is the fast fleet. We have lost the ability to fight the main battle with it! These were Tycho's first words after meeting Count Spee, in addition to greetings.
Tycho was right, the strength of the two sides was in a delicate balance, and the strength of the Entente Atlantic Fleet was stronger, but the strength was limited. But now, although it is only a small loss, but it also completely tilts the balance in Majifin's favor, it can be expected that unless an external force intervenes, with the current strength, the Mediterranean Fleet is no longer suitable for a decisive battle.
"The German High Seas Fleet must act, at least to get those British queens back to the North Sea, only in this way can we continue to fight, as long as the British can transfer two fast battleships, then we can achieve an asymmetric advantage, we have 7 fast battleships, and at the same time we have the powerful Julius Caesar, and if the other side only has 6 left, we have a chance." Tycho said this to the Earl of Spee more than once in private.
"But the combined Anglo-American fleet in the North Sea is very strong, and it is a very dangerous move to act rashly. But I think Marshal Tirpitz and Admiral Scheer will consider for themselves your Lord's construction. The Earl of Spee understood what Tycho meant, and he wanted to persuade Sher to act. But the war is not a joke after all, is the German High Seas Fleet willing to take a big action in such a situation? Count Spee couldn't figure it out, but he knew that if he didn't act now, when Majiffin completely consolidated the superiority of the Atlantic, the North Sea would really become a dead land!
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