On the armored cruiser Minotaur, the captain, Colonel Dawson, observed the current shape in the heavily armored command tower with a solemn face. With the addition of the starboard large-caliber secondary gun, the number of water columns around the target German ship suddenly became dense. At present, the two British cruisers were able to concentrate 10 190-mm secondary guns on the same side, which was an absolute advantage over the five 150-mm secondary guns of the German ship. However, the superiority of the British in secondary artillery did not allow them to turn the current situation into a victory.

At present, the secondary artillery fire on the main ships of various countries has only one operational purpose, that is, to strike at the enemy who appears at close range on their own ships. As a result, not only did they not have a precision rangefinder on par with the main gun, but they also did not have a central fire control system that calculated the number of shots for them, and they relied entirely on the gunner to carry out direct aiming. In addition to this, these secondary guns also have little ability to calibrate based on the impact point of the previous shot. The secondary guns at close range are all fighting separately, and I will appear when you open fire; In this case, where can you tell which one is your own impact point water column?

None of this is a problem for close-quarters combat, but once the distance is closed, the limitations of the secondary guns become apparent. Not only were they unable to carry out accurate sighting and ranging, but the pitch level angle of the guns was also problematic, so that the actual position of their aiming was very different from the real bearing of the target. More importantly, the gunner does not calibrate the firing according to the point of impact of the previous shot, and the hit rate of this kind of single artillery fighting separately can be imagined. At present, although the distance between the two British cruisers and the Gneisenau has been reduced to less than 7,000 meters, this is for the fire control of the secondary guns. It's still a pretty long way off. Thus, the 10 190-mm secondary guns of the British cruisers, although seemingly formidable, were capable of firing at German ships at a rate of more than 3 rounds per minute. But its actual effect is very low, and the probability of hitting a German ship is tantamount to a blindfolded pitcher!

In terms of the main guns that decided the victory, the Gneisenau, with one enemy and two enemies, still had the upper hand with 6 283-mm guns against 8 234-mm guns. The eight main guns of the British fleet were scattered over two battleships, and the result of this two-set fire control was that the strike effect of one plus one was far less than two. The reason why dreadnoughts have to concentrate more than eight main guns is also based on this reason.

"Signal to Shannon. We also need to move on, at least five thousand meters from the Germans before starting an artillery battle. Captain Dawson gave the order to the lieutenant next to him. Moments later, however, a shrill whistle suddenly rang out in the air. It's like a steam train rumbling from afar. His complexion changed, and he reflexively held on to the supporting column next to him, and after a while, there was a sudden violent vibration from the soles of his feet!

"Captain. The bridge in the rear of our ship was hit by shells. 2 12-pounder guns (76 mm) were blown up, and the No. 9 secondary turret was jammed by shrapnel and could not turn; The chart room was completely destroyed, and the rear mast would be unable to support it! A short time later, a herald rushed into the tower and reported the terrible news to Colonel Dawson. Dawson walked quickly out of the conning tower and looked behind him, where the back of his ship was already blazing with smoke billowing from the sky. And the stout rear mast has already tilted more than 15 degrees, and it has a tendency to fall down at any time!

"The damage management force immediately cut off the rear mast. Launched a fire extinguishing operation. Seeing this, Dawson burst out of his teeth with these words full of hatred. Turning his head to look forward, the two evil German battleships were still intact, and there was not a trace of smoke and flame on the simple and smooth hull. His eyes were filled with rage, and his fingernails were deeply embedded in his palms; Why haven't these two evil German warships been judged by God?

"Hit, we hit!" A loud cheer suddenly sounded in his ears. Dawson's eyes froze, and he hurriedly looked over, only to see that a red ball of fire had risen from the amidships of the second German battleship, and the flames began to burn on it. His eyes lit up, and he was about to speak, when the first German battleship suddenly burst into a dazzling red purple glow, and its majesty was more than twice as powerful as the hit just now!

"This is our 12-inch cannon!" Colonel Dawson shouted loudly and was filled with joy as he looked at the three majestic and stout columns of water rising around the Scharnhorst, which he could not feel when the ship was hit twice in succession by the Germans. After nine rounds of powerful salvos, the 305-mm guns of our battleships finally made a hit; The smoke of the first evil German battleship has been billowing from it, and the Goddess of Victory is about to side with the glorious Royal Navy! On the Hatred a thousand kilometers away, Major General Chris also breathed a sigh of relief in his heart; The ship's artillery fire has caught the German battleship, and the power of the 12-inch heavy gun can finally be effectively used!

On the Scharnhorst, after receiving the news from the damage management department, Spee's heart was full of joy. Although the British 305-mm shell smashed into the 150-mm upper armor belt of the battleship's amidships, somehow the shell exploded the moment it came into contact with the armor. Although the armor support structure at the point where it was hit was slightly deformed in the violent explosion, and the flying shrapnel also caused several casualties among the members of the 88mm rapid-fire gun in the open air, this was undoubtedly much less than the damage caused by the shell successfully penetrating the armor! Spee then ordered the ship to change course to avoid the British battleship's gunfire.

The cannon roared and the water jets gushed colorfully. As the distance closer, the odds of both sides increased dramatically: the British 12-inch guns hit Spee's ship again, and the violent air storm directly destroyed the three-meter baseline rangefinder and all searchlights on the rear bridge. Not to be outdone, the German gunners responded with accurate and swift fire, during which the Haunt was hit three times by 11-inch shells: the bow was flooded, the secondary guns exploded, and another shell carved a large hole in the aft deck, and the smoke billowing up prevented the main turret at the tail of the Hudge from firing properly for a long time.

In another battle, the Gneisenau was bombarded by the high rate of fire of its 9.2-inch cannons, and the hull was scorched and sunken, while the Minotaur that it fiercely attacked also lost the rear bridge, and the flames were blazing, and its hull tilted nearly 10 degrees to the right, and the speed of the ship slowed down. Although the Shannon and two other British scum cruisers were still unscathed, Spee had no worries in his heart. Because judging from the report sent back by the Gneisenau, except for the "Bertha" turret that was deformed after being hit by a shell and could not rotate for a while, all other damage was only on the surface of the flesh. The 200 mm main armor and the 150 mm upper armor formed an impregnable wall that the British patrol guns could not shake: the battleship had less than 200 tons of water, the central fire control room was functioning normally, and the core compartment was intact. Its opponent, the Minotaur, had already suffered heavy losses. Shi Pei vaguely felt that he was about to achieve his first result!

"Boom!" The four remaining guns of the Gneisenau let out an angry roar in an instant. Having lost the firepower of one main turret, it could no longer maintain the basic firepower density required for a half-salvo. Large-caliber shells thundered out in the surging waves of fire and smoke clouds, and flew through the sky. On the patrol of the Minotaur, Colonel Dawson's heart suddenly tightened: although the sound of this cannonball cutting through the air had been heard many times before; This time, however, a strong feeling of uneasiness enveloped his heart like a nightmare!

On the starboard deck of the Minotaur, five single-mounted 190-mm secondary guns were firing heavily at the German patrol in the distance; Looking down from above, the five turrets are arranged on one side of the deck, which is a spectacular scene of multiple turrets and gods dominating the rivers and lakes. However, the German shells did not let their opponents go because of this orthodox appearance. A 283-mm armor-piercing bullet burst into flames, like a sharp blade splitting a can, and directly broke through the 7-inch turret armor of the second secondary turret, and exploded inside the seat ring!

The raging waves of fire swept like a hurricane, sweeping the entire shaft passage in an instant. The silk-wrapped propellant piled up behind the turret was ignited in an instant by the high-temperature impact of the explosion; Even the turrets, made of the finest naval armor steel, could not withstand such a violent explosion from within. In an instant, the turret was twisted and deformed, bulging and curling like plasticine kneaded and played by children; The surrounding armor joints were also directly turned outward by the terrifying high-temperature and high-pressure air waves, and the light and flames were sprayed into the sky!

Flames rushed and spread down the shaft passage, rushing towards the ammunition depot. In order to reduce the time it takes for shells to reach the turret from the ammunition depot and increase the rate of fire, the blast doors leading to the ammunition depot of the British battleships were always open during the battle, which was undoubtedly an extremely serious safety hazard. In addition to this, the British also liked to stack propellants in the space at the rear of the turret in order to shorten the time it takes to reload the shells, which is also a muffled rhythm after the turret has been penetrated!

Due to the ignition of the propellant stacked at the rear of the turret, no one survived the devastating explosion; The German sailor Cornell heroically saved the Prince Heinrich from the situation of the Minotaur and completely lost the conditions for a repeat on the Minotaur. The flames of thousands of degrees were like the deadliest black mamba viper, swallowing orange-red snake letters, and swimming straight into the ammunition depot. In this long and narrow cabin of the ship, hundreds of half-man-high cylindrical conical objects are neatly stacked; The moment the surging flames poured into the bomb shaft above, time seemed to stand still in this moment...... (To be continued......)

PS: Thank you for the reward of zhouyu1976~~