Chapter 2240: Head-On Confrontation 3
"Is the Sovereign over like this?!" On the battleship Revenge, Lieutenant General Bernie stared blankly at the Sovereign that was blown to pieces in the distance and said in despair. He couldn't believe his eyes! Could it be that the battleship with the best defense and the most powerful firepower in the British Grand Fleet was finished like this? ! Isn't this incredible? How did the Germans do it? How did they penetrate the Revenge's side armor with one shot at a distance of 15 kilometers, and at the same time penetrate the dome armor and the ammunition depot bulkhead?
Can the Germans eat up all the revenge-class defenses at a distance of 15 kilometers with a heading angle difference of 20 degrees? Obviously impossible! What really killed the Sovereign was a water bomb. Let's go back a few minutes!
When the Thomas Fleet once again used its position and numerical advantages to suppress the German Fourth Battleship Squadron, the Bavarians had already entered the battlefield! The fourth battleship squadron's evasion was not only to avoid the attack of Thomas' fleet, but also to make way for the Bavarians behind! It was not good to shoot the Thomas fleet, so before the two sides met, the German fleet decisively poured most of its firepower on the Revenge-class!
And a 15-inch shell fired from the Württemberg completed the German fleet's first kill on the Revenge-class battleship! Ruprecht's original efforts in optimizing the trajectory of the cannonball in the water were not in vain, and this time it finally paid off again! This cannonball entered the water 15 meters away from the hull of the Sovereign. If it were an ordinary cannonball, it would have sunk to the bottom of the sea or deviated from the course before hitting the Revenge. However, this cannonball remained straight after taking off the hood. Shot at the British battleship in the distance!
This shell finally penetrated the hull of the Sovereign under the armor belt! Easily tearing open the hull plate, and then the empty warehouse and the tank wall, the shell penetrated the 4-meter underwater protection system of the Sovereign, and finally hit the reinforced 60MM ammunition depot armor belt of the Sovereign. ! Even though it was at the end of its strength, this 15-inch armor-piercing bullet still opened a hole in the armor of the ammunition depot as easily as a hot knife cutting through butter, and then hit the propellant magazine at the lower part of the ammunition depot!
Hitting the ammunition depot may not necessarily lead to death. After all, the ammunition depot is not necessarily full of artillery shells, and if the temperature is just too high, there is still hope of survival after the water injection. However, this shell hit the propellant magazine! In their propellant arsenal, the British did not want to add a metal sleeve to the silk propellant package like the Germans. Hundreds of tons of propellant would be directly ignited by flying shrapnel! Therefore, at the moment of the hit, the fate of the Sovereign was locked, and the life of this battleship could only be calculated in seconds!
"The Sovereign sank very suddenly. The German Bavaria-class battleship had just entered the battle. Although we realized that we would be at a disadvantage, we never thought that the situation would be so bad! The explosion occurred from the lower part of the No. 3 turret of the Sovereign. I On the Royal Oak at that time, the scene on the Sovereign could be clearly seen. In an instant, the lower part of the Sovereign's hull emitted a dazzling light! It was as dazzling as a sun! The speed of the explosion exceeded human reaction time. Then, This dazzling light ball rose from the water! Like a long sword cutting from the bottom up, it cut the entire battleship from the position of turret 3 to both ends!"
"However, this is not over yet. The ball of light expanded rapidly! Everything it passed was blown into pieces! Pieces of cabins and hulls were directly swallowed up! The entire battleship fell off the hull piece by piece like rotten wood! In a few seconds After that, maybe ten seconds later, a typhoon-like shock wave mixed with a large amount of debris swept across the sea! Even though we were more than 700 meters away from the Sovereign, we were still affected! The debris hit the hull and made a heart-wrenching sound. We had to evade the sound of metal clashing! Then, the remaining pieces of the Sovereign began to sink quickly to the bottom of the sea.
And a huge flame also shot straight into the sky! In the end, no one on this battleship survived! "A British officer aboard the Royal Oak recorded Sovereign's final moments after the war!
"It's over, we are lost! Our most powerful battleship is like made of paper in front of the Germans! We can't win!" On the Revenge, a British officer looked desperately at the place where the Sovereign disappeared, and the explosion Two minutes have passed, and there are still fragments falling from the sky with sparks, flying and scattering on the sea! This officer went a little crazy. He shouted and danced aimlessly to release the fear and worry in his heart. In the distance, 12 Bavaria-class battleships were entering the battlefield! Even though the Thomas Fleet and the British First Battleship Squadron were both there, the Germans had no fear! The British themselves have little confidence!
"Come here, take this gentleman out of the control tower! We don't need cowards here!" Admiral Jericho, who had arrived in the Revenge's control tower, said loudly!
"Gentlemen! Even though the situation is so critical, even though some of us can't see the sun tomorrow! But the duty of the Royal Navy requires us to fight to the end for our country! We cannot give in! We are the last backbone of the British Empire. Now, Go back to your respective posts! Keep fighting!" Jericho shouted.
"Send a telegram to Thomas! Ask them to join us immediately to fight against the elite of the German Navy! Now, the German main fleet only has 15 battleships! And our number is about the same as them! The participating parts of the large fleet will be reorganized soon! We Still have the advantage!" Jericho's resolute face and resolute style restored the British's morale to a certain extent, and Jericho made a final effort!
What is the situation now? Up to now, a total of three battleship-class battleships in the German High Seas Fleet's battleship series have been sunk or completely lost their combat effectiveness. The ones sunk are the battlecruiser Von der Tann, the battlecruiser Moltke, and the fast battleship Rheinland. The Thuringia was in very bad condition. Although it could fire, it was difficult to keep up with the fleet.
The remaining two battlecruisers of Hipper's fleet have temporarily withdrawn from the battle and are being repaired and restored. The two Helgoland-class battleships of the Fourth Battleship Division will also take a while to join the battle. In this way, the German main fleet can Only 15 battleships were immediately committed to the battle line, with an additional 4 ships able to rejoin the battle at some point in the future.
And what about the British? Haha, their situation is even worse! The current British fleet can no longer even maintain the numerical advantage it barely maintained before!
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