In fact, there is no way to do this, the space of the battlefield is so large, and in order to give full play to the most powerful firepower of the fleet in naval battles, it is required to line up in battle lines to strike the enemy with side firepower, so that the formation of the entire fleet will be very long, and often the head of the row will not be able to see hanging on the tail.

The most important thing for every commander on the battlefield is to know himself and his enemy, and it is obvious that not every commander in a naval battle is clear about the situation of his own fleet and the enemy's fleet. In other words, it's easy to make mistakes, and there are piles of problems.

Let's put it this way, problems can be found in almost every naval battle, Betty and Jericho had problems in the Battle of Jutland, but fortunately, their opponents were at a disadvantage in overall strength and chose to retreat, otherwise the myth of the Royal Navy would have been shattered long ago.

And now Basilev's formation has a problem, because the speed is slower than the enemy, and he can't grab a favorable position at all, so he can only be beaten very passively. When the Bavaria, Baden and King, as well as the Elector, were "hanged" by five Queen-class, the six friendly ships behind were a little unable to intervene.

For example, the Governor General and the Crown Prince William could only meet the enemy with their front main guns, which was very inefficient. And the next four Kaiser-class ships simply did not even have a chance to join the battle. Either the firing angle was blocked by the smoke from the chimneys of the friendly ships and friendly ships in front, or they were simply outside the maximum range of the main guns, and they could only stare dryly.

Why is this happening? Was the 305-mm gun of the Germans too bad? It should be said that it has little to do with the cannon and more to do with the turret. As mentioned before, most of the engagement distances before the Battle of Jutland were within 15 kilometers due to the limitations of fire control and sighting equipment.

However, with the advancement of sighting equipment and fire control. In fact, the naval powers of World War I realized that naval warfare was getting farther away. So in 1915. The German Navy also improved the turrets of battleships in order to adapt to long-range naval battles. Increased the maximum elevation angle of the main gun from 13.5 degrees to 16 degrees. That is, it is 2.5 degrees higher. Don't underestimate this 2.5 degree angle, because this improvement alone increased the maximum range of the main gun from 16.2 km to 20.4 km (at the expense of the minimum range, of course, as the gun's depression angle was reduced from minus 8 to minus 5.5 degrees).

At that time, the German Navy thought that such an increase was enough, and it was perfect to ensure an effective range of about 18 kilometers, but they did not expect that the times were developing too fast, and that little improvement was simply not enough. If the two sides were still circling about ten kilometers during the Battle of Jutland, then after 1919, the distance between the two sides was rapidly extended. The two sides will engage at a distance of more than 20 kilometers, and the engagement will start at a distance of 20 kilometers. And this distance is a bit out of reach for the Germans. Because their main guns are just enough for a range of 20 km!

Therefore, after the end of World War I, countries quickly began to improve the turret, and the elevation angle of the artillery was generally increased to about 40 degrees. For example, the Queen's class initially had an elevation angle of only 20 degrees, which was improved to 30 degrees. The maximum range of an 871-kilogram armor-piercing projectile has been increased from 21 km to 26.5 km. When firing a more advanced 879 kg heavy armor-piercing projectile, the maximum firing range was increased to 33 km.

All in all, the maximum elevation angle of the artillery was important, and the Germans were a little conservative in this regard and suffered a little at the maximum range. And the Russians are ahead of the curve in this regard, and this is not a joke. The Russians, having suffered losses in the Russo-Japanese War, attached great importance to the range of artillery. Began to greatly increase the elevation angle of the artillery, not only the newly built dreadnought gun elevation angle was relatively large from the beginning, but even some of the former dreadnoughts were also modified, so that the elevation angle of the front dreadnought guns reached 35 degrees!

If there were four Ganguts following the formation at this time, then the problem of firing and firing was not a big problem, but unfortunately the four Ganguts had already died heroically, and this assumption was completely meaningless. And if Basilev was given the choice, he would probably rather take four German battleships with a smaller maximum range than a thin-skinned Gangut.

All in all, the combat situation at this time was unfavorable to the Russians, and in the face of this unfavorable situation, Basilev could only choose to turn quickly, that is, as the US Navy's No. 1 tactic said, quickly change course so that the battle lines of the two sides were parallel.

It stands to reason that if the battle had continued in this pattern, the end result would likely have been that the British would continue to accelerate and overtake again, and then Basilev would follow the steer until either side could not hold out first.

But when Basilev gave the order to turn, a stunned scene happened, and two Bavarians and four King-class ships honestly followed the flagship to turn. can start with the Kaiser, but the four Kaiser-class ships behind it inexplicably continue to maintain the same course! That is, Basilev's fleet was broken in two, and ten battleships parted ways!

This is really not good news! Ten slow German battleships still have a numerical advantage over five Queen-class, but after "dividing the troops" into two places, there is no advantage!

"What's going on?" Basilev jumped to his feet in the command tower.

What's going on? The reason is simple, the Kaiser's steering gear was inexplicably stuck, unable to turn, and could only drive straight forward. And the other three Kaiser-class ships that followed behind followed without knowing it!

Now it's going to be a dead end, the two Bavarians and the four King-class really have no advantage over the five Queen-class, and it can even be said that they are at a disadvantage, and Basilev will suffer a lot of losses in the confrontation.

The British were pleased, and for Darnell he had two options, to keep the situation as it was, to hit the six enemy ships on the opposite side first, or to take advantage of the speed advantage to turn around and turn around and pick up the lone enemy ships on the other side first.

After some thought, Darnell chose the former. Some comrades may say that Darnell chose the wrong one, so he should choose more and fight less, right? 5 queens against 4 Kaiser have a greater advantage. Hehe, it can be said that it is right to think about it from the point of view of paper soldiers, and it is necessary to concentrate superior forces to deal with the weakest enemy.

But it may not be possible to do it on the battlefield, why can't it be done? It's very simple, you have to fight four Kaiser first. Then Darnell will have to choose to make a U-turn. Then from the acceleration to chase the four Kaiser. Seize the advantageous position and then annihilate it.

Let's count, how many actions are there? U-turn, accelerate, grab the position, these are three steps, to put it mildly, it takes a long time to complete these three steps, and the four Kaiser are not idiots, it is impossible to be beaten without taking action. As long as four Kaiser ships have action. Then Darnell will need more time to get there. But will Basilev let him do whatever he wants so easily?

Definitely not, if nothing else, let's just say that the first action is to turn around, if you turn to the left, Darnell will have to turn 180 degrees under the broadside fire of the six battleships of Basilev, during which Darnell's formation will definitely be beaten passively for a period of time, which is equivalent to automatically exposing the weakness to the enemy and kicking wildly, which is a matter of death.

Then turn to the right and go around from the bow of the Basilev fleet, well. First of all, this action is equivalent to grabbing the T head again, and it's hard to say whether you can do it sincerely. Secondly, Basilev is not a fool, if Darnell does this, he will definitely follow the maneuver, and when the time comes, it will still be a grappling, and in such a way that it is very likely that he will hit four more Kaiser ships without getting rid of Basilev, which is tantamount to helping the opponent concentrate his forces.

Therefore, the most correct thing for Darnell is to keep the course unchanged for the time being, shoot at Basilev first, and pull the enemy's two formations as far away as possible. Anyway, with the maximum speed of the four Kaiser ships in their early 21 knots, there is basically no possibility of returning to the formation.

If one qiē shun lì Danel can maintain the advantage of five queens over six enemy ships until the winner is decided. Even if there is an accident, he can't kill the opponent, he can run away calmly.

In this way, Darnell's choice made Basilev embarrassed, and continued to drive parallel to maintain the battle line to bombard, he suffered a little, but he could slow down and wait for the four Kaiser to follow, and the old man was worried that the enemy would take the opportunity to escape with a false shot.

This made the old man very entangled, he had said many times before, Basilev's sense of war was very strong, he wanted to break his wrists with the enemy, let him watch the enemy escape, he really couldn't do it. Especially after the loss of four Ganguts, he could not tolerate the enemy just patting his ass and running away.

So the old man chose to continue to maintain the status quo! He's ready to gamble on his luck, and it's not like he's completely out of chances when he's 6 to 5.

As a result, there is not much worth mentioning in the naval battles below, at least there is no command art of wit. Let's put it this way, the confrontation of the battleship formation, apart from the magnificence, there is nothing else worth mentioning. Fundamentally speaking, it is two heavily armed warriors with big swords to slash each other, and whoever can't carry it first loses.

Of course, this kind of slashing was still very bloody, and the two sides were shot one after another, and the combat distance was always maintained at a distance of about 15 kilometers. And this distance, to be honest, is interesting and subtle.

Why? Because the commanders on both sides are calculating. For the Queen's 381 mm gun, it was possible to penetrate 279 mm of armor at a distance of 18 kilometers in World War I, and to 13 kilometers to penetrate 305 mm of vertical armor. That is, at a distance of 15 km, the Queen-class can probably wear 290 mm of vertical armor.

What about the level of protection of the German battleships? The main armor belts are basically at the level of 350 mm to 80 mm, with the Bavarian class being higher, reaching the level of 350 mm to 120 mm.

Probably some comrades said right away, doesn't this mean that the British could not penetrate the armor of the Germans? So what's the point of maintaining this engagement distance? I can only say, comrade, you miscalculated, or misunderstood.

I don't know when it began, when many comrades paid attention to the defense of warships, they only stared at one number, that is, the maximum thickness of the main armor belt. For example, in the Queen-class mentioned earlier, the maximum thickness of the main armor belt is 330 mm, and in Bavaria it is 350 mm, which seems to be only 20 mm short. However, please note that this is very important!

The maximum thickness of the main installed machine, pay attention to the word "maximum"! This is only the maximum thickness, in fact, the thickness of the main armor belt is gradually decreasing from top to bottom! Only near the most dangerous waterline is the thickest, and the further you go to the bottom of the boat, the weaker it becomes!

Therefore, compared with the defense of the battleship, it is not only necessary to look at the largest number, but also to pay attention to two points, that is, the smallest number, and how much area the hull is covered by this main armor belt, which makes sense.

Otherwise. Let's be funny. British battleships of the ironclad era had a large number of main armor thicknesses of more than 406 mm. More exaggerated than the Japanese Yamato, can you say that the ironclad ships of that era were stronger than the Yamato's defenses?

Let's put it this way, the maximum armor thickness of 350 mm for German-made battleships in World War I is quite exaggerated (Bismarck in World War II is only 320, and the last battleship of the Royal Navy Avant-garde is only 356, of course, George V is more exaggerated 381), but this is only the maximum thickness, in fact, most areas of the main armor belt are not so thick.

In other words, the armor-piercing thickness of the Queen's 381-mm armor-piercing shell at 15 km did not penetrate the thickest part of the main armor belt of the Germans, but it was enough to threaten the rest of the slightly thinner parts. After all, the thinnest part of the main armor belt of the Kaiser and King class was only 80 mm. Bavaria also has only 120 mm.

There may be comrades to ask, then why 15 km and not 13 km? The reason is very simple, the British are also afraid, although the Bavarian-class 380 projectile is a little lighter, but the power is really not small! Especially to see that the closer the German bullet is, the more powerful it is, and at a distance of 12.5 km it can penetrate 350 mm of vertical armor! If you go further inside, the queen level will not be able to bear it!

So the British could only maintain this relatively safe engagement distance, so that they had a chance to deal with their opponents, but not so much as to take too many risks. The same. Basilev was also afraid, although, with the exception of two Bavarians. The rest of the battleships had only 305 mm guns, and it seemed that the K.O opponent would have to go inside, but he really couldn't carry 381 mm armor-piercing shells and could only fight at a distance of 15 km

And that's why I say it's funny, both sides are afraid of being K.O., and they don't want to give up the opportunity for a decisive battle, and it turns out to be a long tug-of-war. This also led to the fact that both sides achieved a large number of hits in this naval battle, but they were unable to finish off their opponents.

For example, the Queen was hit by 8 bullets in the front and rear, the upper part of the main armor belt was opened several 10-meter ×8-meter gaps, and the rear bridge was even more smoky, but the speed did not drop at all, and it returned to the factory for repair for half a month before returning to the front line.

The worst of the five Queen-class ships was the Malaya at the end of the formation, and it was the Governor and the Prince William who attacked her, and the 20 305 mm main guns of the two ships rained down shells, even if they could not penetrate the thicker parts of the main armor belt of the Malaya (the vertical armor penetration thickness was about 226 mm at a distance of 15 kilometers in the German 305 World War I), but it was still easy to hit other weak parts, such as the upper armor belt, which was almost worn into honeycomb coal.

Let's put it this way, the 152-mm secondary gun in the middle of the Malaya hull was almost completely destroyed, and if it weren't for the fire damage pipe, it is estimated that it would have exploded.

Of course, in the same way, Basilev's side is not comfortable, after all, the queen-level main gun is still more ruthless. For example, the main gun in the middle of the hull was dumbed down, and it almost lit the sky lantern.

And this has to talk about the wonder of the Germans, the main armor belt of the hull is indeed quite thick, like an iron turtle. However, the turret has inexplicably cut off a large section, such as the Kaiser and King, the thickest part of the main mounting belt is 350, and the front of the turret and near the turret seat is only 300 mm.

On the other hand, for British and American warships, the turret was generally similar to or greatly exceeded the maximum thickness of the main armor belt. Especially the perverted Yankees, the thickness of their turrets is simply frenzied, the South Carolina main armor is 254 mm, the turret is 305 mm, to the Wyoming main armor belt is 279 mm, the turret is 356 mm, the Nevada main armor belt is 343 mm, the turret triad is 457 mm, the twin is 406 mm, and when it comes to Pennsylvania, it is simply 457 package.

Why did the British and Americans think that the turret should be thicker? Quite simply, in terms of the probability of being shot and the aftermath of being shot, a shot in the turret is more dangerous! So it has to be thicker!

The Germans, on the other hand, only cared about protecting their little brother, but felt that their heads were slightly lower, but they also had to sigh that the Germans were lucky, even if the turret was shot, they were not killed. And the British have a very poor character in this regard, and the Hood is the best example, and that character is simply impossible to say.

The naval battle continues, as the battleships catch fire and smoke, both sides are gritting their teeth to support, and this time it depends on who is stronger, or who has more hole cards.

The Royal Navy is naturally not frightened, but it is even more backward than the hole card Darnell, after all, he is now fighting in the territory of the Russians, and with the main force of the fleet retreating north, he has almost no backup. Basilev, on the other hand, fought on his own ground and could get more support. For example, Sukhoi's Air Force.

Yes, the mustache was still not convinced, although he was forced to leave the battlefield because of the oil, but this did not mean that he gave up, and soon he organized the last wave of offensive. In order to achieve the results of the battle, the cargo gave up continuing to fly a fighter or reconnaissance plane, personally boarded a torpedo plane, and vowed to avenge his brothers on the Gangut class!

Why did Sukhoi fly torpedo planes instead of dive bombers? The reason is very simple, the dive bombers all stopped eating after returning home, and the engines made in Russia are really copycats, and they are not resistant at all, and the mustache can only play torpedo machines in desperation.

However, it will take some time for Sukhoi to return to the battlefield, and during this time, the officers and men of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet are also trying to solve the problem for the main force of the fleet. The Kaiser, who had been on a business trip before, followed the three wingmen to the battlefield after urgently repairing the steering gear, while on the other side, the heavily damaged Samekov formation also tried to make a last effort...... (To be continued......)

PS: Bow and thank you to Comrade Wanted and Juventus!