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What's even worse is that in this salvo of the "Tirpitz", a shell hit the bridge of the Duke of York, not only killing the captain and a group of officers of the ship, but also destroying the radar and command instrument on the ship, so that although there are still 6 main guns available on the Duke of York, the hit rate is almost reduced to zero

However, at this time, the Tirpitz has also been hit many times by the 356mm main gun of King George V, although the distance between the two sides has approached to about 18,000 meters, the 356mm caliber shells still cannot penetrate the Tirpitz battleship, although it is not very thick, but it has long been replaced with the main armor made of super era armor alloy steel materials, but under the shelling of the enemy ships again and again, this giant ship has also suffered many injuries, a total of 2 150mm secondary guns, One twin 105mm anti-aircraft turret and three twin small-caliber anti-aircraft guns were completely destroyed

However, these wounds were not fatal enough for a giant ship with a standard displacement of more than 40,000 tons, and the Tirpitz battleship's main turret, side-chord main armor belt, and even underwater armor (Note 1) were all more or less hit by 356mm armor-piercing shells, but none of them managed to penetrate its tough armor, and the commander of the British fleet could not help but praise the Tirpitz battleship's superior armor protection, although the Duke of York did not perform well. The caliber of 356 mm is indeed on the small side, but it is really surprising that it can still maintain the original firepower and speed of the main gun after taking more than a dozen rounds in a row.

In the case of two to one, one of our battleships almost completely lost its combat effectiveness, while the other side only suffered a little minor injury, which made the British vice admiral really unhappy, but fortunately, the accompanying four light cruisers performed well, and beat the German heavy cruisers that were large in both tonnage and size, but the anti-sinking resistance of the German warships once again made them sigh, and they still stubbornly floated on the sea after being hit by hundreds of armor-piercing shells of more than 150mm caliber in a row by four of their own light cruisers. This was despite the fact that at least two of its main turrets had been muted, its speed had dropped significantly, and its hull was smoking

It must be admitted that the average quality of officers and men on the non-capital ships of the German Navy is indeed quite far behind that of the British Royal Navy. The heavy cruiser Admiral Hippel, who was not without experience in naval warfare, had lost most of its combat effectiveness after being surrounded by four British light cruisers, and it hit less than 10 shells on the enemy ships combined, resulting in the death of only a few British soldiers. By this time, the six destroyers of the British had also narrowed the distance to the effective range of the main guns. The heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper was soon ravaged even more inhumanely

And this time. The battleship Tirpitz had ceased attacking the Duke of York, which was now almost completely incapacitated. Instead, he turned his guns on the battleship King George V, which had hitherto been undamaged and had a much better quality of officers and men, and the captain of the ship, Admiral Jung, ordered the heavy cruiser Admiral Hippel, which was billowing with smoke, to move closer to him. In order to use the ship's secondary guns and even large-caliber anti-aircraft guns to provide it with the necessary fire support, lest the largest heavy cruiser on the Shijie be killed by the British light cruisers and destroyers, and the layman Führer would be furious, so as to affect the future of the surface ship forces of the German Navy

Although frightened by the incredible power of the enemy's main guns in the previous attack on the battleship Duke of York, the British Vice Admiral ordered the ship to speed up its approach to the enemy. The reason is simple, even if the battleship King George V retreats now, the enemy ship's shells can still be hit, and she herself will temporarily lose the ability to counterattack due to the turn; Rather than this, it is better to get closer, anyway, it will be pierced armor, it makes no difference to the battleship King George V, and as long as the distance is close enough, even if the main gun with a caliber of only 356mm, it will become more and more powerful until it can penetrate the thick skin of the enemy ship; If the enemy ships were to turn back, the Germans would have to recalibrate the fire control parameters, which would also give the King George V the opportunity to establish an advantage

However, he did not know that the 381mm caliber C shells on the battleship Tirpitz had been exhausted, and the approach of the King George V had made the main guns of the battleship Tirpitz threaten it even with ordinary armor-piercing blasting shells, and as long as the battleship King George V did not flee now, the outcome of this naval battle was basically decided, because the captain of the battleship Tirpitz, Colonel Jung, had received a telegram from the battleship Bismarck, The Tirpitz sister ship had now spotted on the radar the battleship Rodney, which the British had dragged behind, and a dozen or so light warships responsible for its protection.

Admiral Jung naturally knew that although the Rodney was not fast, it was strong and gunned, and it was protected by a large number of light warships, so it was not so easy to deal with, but the battleship Bismarck did not come alone this time, and she was accompanied by the Shane sisters and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen. It was the first time since the outbreak of the war in Europe that the British had been kept in the dark (at least for the German Navy), and Jung could not help but have a little bit of recognition in his heart for the Führer's strengthening of the power of the "Gestapo".

Soon after the radar on the battleship Bismarck found the location of the Rodney, the radar on the battleship Rodney also found the other side, because it was impossible for Britain to send such a powerful reinforcement at present, so the battleship Rodney immediately determined that the other side was the enemy's fleet, and quickly entered the state of imminent battle with the nearby light warships, and at the same time approached the battleship King George V more than 30 kilometers ahead at the fastest speed

Note 1: Although the Bismarck-class battleships in this time and space have undergone certain improvements, they have not completely abandoned the idea of comprehensive protection, and the area covered by the underwater armor belt is still larger than that of the battleships of other countries, which played a great role in this battle, and the change of armor steel materials has further strengthened the protection of the armor, so although two British shells hit the underwater part of the Tirpitz battleship, they did not cause water ingress. Of course, the small caliber of 356mm, which leads to a relatively insufficient kinetic energy of the projectile and the faster attenuation in water (compared to larger caliber shells), is also a reason that cannot be ignored (to be continued......