The flame of the muzzle of the cannon is as bright as the sunset, and the water column is surging like a mountain; Heavy shells flying vertically and horizontally, deafening roaring roars...... The earth-shattering scene of the thunderous collision of seventy-eight capital warships undoubtedly far exceeded the desperate fight of the fast fleet ahead. And God doesn't want to leave this showdown of the century with any regrets. The sea breeze that has been howling in the North Sea since early in the morning has not stopped at noon: whether it is the heavy soot gushing out of hundreds of chimneys, or the fireworks bursting from nearly a thousand cannons, they have all been blown away in a short time, and this has also cleared the way for both sides to effectively capture the target!

At the front of the main fleet, the Caesar-class and the George V-class, which have the best performance on both sides, are engaged in a fierce battle; Eight 350-mm and 10 343-mm guns are constantly pouring out brilliant flames, constituting the most magnificent picture scroll on the current battlefield. Helgoland and Nassau, which are located in the back, are in a league with the two levels of super-dreadnoughts in the United Kingdom, which are dominated by Orion and giants; The subsequent German and Bismarck classes found opponents in the St. Vincent and Brelophon classes corresponding to the British. And after bringing the opponent into range, the former dreadnoughts of both sides also opened fire on the target, and although their firepower was not an order of magnitude compared to that of their juniors, the battle was still extremely fierce.

The flames of light exploded in anger, and the waves of air flew sideways, and on the majestic and stout behemoth hull, it continued to explode into a brilliant fire mass like a magma volley in the air. The gunners on both sides are roaring and reloading their shells, in order to achieve the relief of fear and the catharsis of their feelings in order to pass through this roar that is difficult for even them to hear. Suddenly there was a violent tremor like a magnitude 7 earthquake under his feet, which was the convulsion and trembling of the battleship after being hit by enemy fire. If the character is good enough. These uninvited guests will only visit the sailors' cabins, galleys, dining rooms and other insignificant parts. Cause damage that does not affect combat effectiveness. It's even a dud. And if the daughters of Odin, who sang war songs on the prancing horse, looked at a ship unpleasantly, its vital parts would be irreparably damaged; Even if the battleship is martyred because of some factors with a very low probability, it is completely possible!

"I had never had a deep understanding of the end-time scenes recorded in the Bible before this. On this day, however, I experienced first-hand what I will never forget. A golden-purple glow lit up on the distant sea, almost never fading, was the muzzle flare of the German battleships firing every 20 seconds. The screeching of large-caliber shells piercing through the air always lingered in my ears, as if each shell was flying towards me; Countless elongated black dots crisscrossed the air like hellish demons. They were either not strong enough, or they were too long-range, and a dense and unimaginably tall column of water rushed out of the sea, like the towering trees of a prehistoric forest. And there are not a few lucky people who can accurately find the location to enjoy the ship. Now the two sides have come closer to within 11,000 yards, and the hit rate is a huge leap from when Fang Fu exchanged fire. A British officer recalled the scene with lingering apprehension afterwards.

"Boom!" With a loud bang, a 150-mm shell fired from the battleship Westphalia hit the mainmast of the British battleship Hercules with a loud bang. As with the battle cruisers, German battleships were generally armed with 10 to 12 150 mm single-mount guns, which were used in such battles of about 10,000 meters. It was they who set fire to each other's superstructures and cleaned up the perfect stage.

The Hercules's central fire control room above the triangular mast was instantly blown up by this high-explosive bomb filled with 4kg of high explosives; Not only were all kinds of instruments damaged and shattered by the violent air waves and the hot shrapnel. As a result, the personnel within it have suffered heavy casualties and lost their due effectiveness. As a result, the accuracy of the Hercules' guns dropped sharply, and although the salvo of eight 343 mm guns of the 19,700-ton Giant-class battleship was still impressive, it was no longer a real threat to the German battleships.

Artillery fire and thunder thundered one after another, and the German gunners' reloading fire collapsed like a flood. In less than three minutes, they hit five shells in quick succession. Although three of the 150-mm high-explosive shells only served the purpose of setting fire and killing the ship's surface personnel, the main gun hits were decisive results. A 305-millimeter shell suddenly hit the side of the amidships, a little more than a meter above the waterline, and broke through the 229-millimeter-thick armor in front of it without any suspense; The rushing heat instantly tore apart the four main generators, plunging the middle and forward of the battleship into darkness, and the two main turrets also came to a standstill. Another shell went straight into the stern of the battleship, twisting and shattering three of the four propeller shafts; A large amount of seawater flooded the watertight hatch that had not had time to close, surging towards the interior of the hull, and the Hercules, which had stalled strictly, suddenly had a sharp tail roll.

Faced with this situation, the British captain hurriedly ordered the drainage to be carried out, but the report from the damage control force made him cold from the top of his head to the soles of his feet. The destruction of the motor compartment of Shicai has drastically reduced the drainage capacity of the Hercules, and to curb the inflow of water is tantamount to draining the entire sea! Seeing that the ingress at the stern could no longer be eliminated and that the tail tilt was becoming more and more severe, the British captain was forced to order water to be poured into the bow to correct the ship's tilt. However, this decision, which was understandable, directly ruined the only capital of the Hercules that was currently able to survive on the battle line.

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In the pre-dreadnought era, the height of the main armor of the British capital ships was quite conscientious. From majesty to Duncan, the main armor of British battleships varied in thickness, but the height was 3.66 meters, and the Dreadnought class with this height was an effective response to the provocation of the German Far East Fleet in the naval battle of the South China Sea. However, from the Edward VII class, the British considered it necessary to extend the height of the broadside armor to an additional deck, and the weight of the armor was disproportionately distributed. After many trade-offs, the British finally decided to reduce the coverage height of the thickest part of the broadside armor, and use the weight saved to lay the upper armor. A Pandora's box containing demons was opened in the hands of the British.

After entering the era of dreadnoughts, the cost of capital ships has made a blowout leap compared with the previous era, and this undoubtedly makes it difficult for the industrial economy to inherit the finances of the empire that no longer leads the world. In order to cope with the German High Seas Fleet, which was already leading the way in the field of dreadnoughts and had advanced naval power by leaps and bounds, the British urgently needed to build as many warships as possible with the least amount of money. After studying the ratio of the purchase price of warships, the British found that the share of armor was almost the most important; Black-hearted arms profiteers colluded with each other to offer a purchase price of 80~150 pounds per ton of hardened armor, and the cost of armor for battleships exceeded that of the main guns or even power units. If this part of the weight can be cut, won't the budget cost of the battleship be greatly saved?

The British Navy's top brass who discovered this was so rewarded that they immediately ordered the designers to embark on a drastic self-harm project on their own ships. Although the Dreadnought claims to have 280 mm thick main armor, its actual height is not satisfactory, and it is topped by an indiscriminate 203 mm of armor. The subsequent construction of the Bellerophon and St. Vincent classes even cut the 283 mm armor at the waterline to 254 mm, lest these gray iron guys swallow the few pounds in the hands of the Admiralty, which was not rich in the first place.

By the second half of 1908, British designers had perfected this paperwork technique. The 305 mm main armor of the Super Dreadnought Giant class is only a little more than 1 meter high, which is a veritable "waterline armor" that is only laid on the waterline; Above the main installation, the vertical protection has been cut to 229 mm. The penetration test numbers from the artillery firing range showed that 229 mm armor was also a sufficient thickness in artillery battles, which further relieved the British designers of the worries caused by the massive cutting of armor.

The Orion class and the George V class, which started work subsequently, also completely followed this set of tinplate defenses that were pleasing on paper. Looking at the 1.97 tons, 22,000 tons and 23,000 tons of Class 3 super dreadnoughts, the average prices of which are only 1.65 million, 1.88 million and 1.92 million pounds respectively, the British Navy top brass is overjoyed, and now they can finally have the money to carry out mass production. The Royal Navy then placed an order for 14 ships carrying 343 mm guns of this type. If it weren't for the new Admiral Winston Churchill in 1911 who vigorously promoted the new 381-mm gun-carrying ship program, the British Navy's top brass, who had been intoxicated by the low cost, would have placed an order for four more 25,000-ton Iron Duke-class battleships with an average price of less than 2 million pounds.

However, on the battlefield, the British battleships played this set of paper tricks were smashed to pieces by German heavy artillery fire. Because the 12-inch armor belt was too low, when the Hercules was righted with water, this part of the armor sank completely below the surface of the water, and the only part of the German 305-mm shells that was difficult to penetrate was lost. For the Westphalia, the British Superintrepid on the opposite side has become a fish on a chopping block, and its 305mm shells can be fired into the opponent's core compartment without any hindrance; The lower deck of the British 343-mm gun-carrying ship was only 25 mm thick, which was undoubtedly as thin as light paper in the face of shrapnel fragmented by the explosion of large-caliber shells, and could hardly provide any effective protection. (To be continued......)

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