Six Hundred and Ninety-Four and a Kind of Artillery

"Distress signal?" An officer in the radio room of the German Navy frowned and looked at the telegram in his hand, then glanced suspiciously at the electromechanical officer who had just received the telegram, finally folded the telegram, and turned around Go to the end of the corridor.

The coordinates stated in the message are not far away from the German warship. On the contrary, the distance between them is very close. In another cabin, the German radar operator has already seen the weirdness of the two ships not far away from the screen. On the driving track, I also wrote down what I observed as sticky notes, and communicated with the command tower.

Since Germany's new cruisers (in fact, in terms of sea attack power, they are just large-tonnage destroyers) have entered service on a large scale, some improvised ships in the hands of the German Navy have become somewhat dispensable. In particular, the armored ship Lützov, which was forcibly drawn to the aircraft carrier formation to take charge of defense, was used as an independent ocean-going assault ship because it was a waste of performance.

As for the original three armored ships, now there are only two remaining armored ships to provide the night protection capability of the fleet against the sea, which will be filled by the cutting-edge battleship Admiral Raeder. So this time to carry out the evacuation mission, the armored ship Lützow was sent out as a matter of course as a fast support ship for temporary escort.

After more than two months of overhaul and modification, this pocket battleship, or armored ship, has undergone great changes. First of all, it has installed the Navy's first artillery school radar, which can be used in weather conditions with very poor visibility. Next, rely on the radar to adjust the artillery fire to achieve the effect of hitting distant targets.

Not only is the aiming radar installed, but also the search radar and the guidance radar of the anti-aircraft gun are installed on the top of the mast. It can be said that in order to allow this warship to go out to fight alone, the German Navy carried out an epoch-making super modification. Although The firepower and maneuverability have not improved, but the improvement of electronic equipment can be described as against the sky.

This battleship had distinctive features when it was built. This kind of warship with German naval characteristics is equipped with two triple-mounted 280mm caliber main guns. Although the number is not large, it surpasses most light cruisers in terms of caliber. . And the speed of this warship is as high as 29 knots. Benefiting from the steady improvement of the technological development of the German Navy's ship engines, the speed of this warship exceeds that of any cruiser.

At that time, the design idea of ​​this battleship was very clear: to sink all the warships and merchant ships that were inferior to itself, and then immediately use its high speed to turn around and escape when the opponent's powerful heavy cruisers, battlecruisers and battleships came. The typical thinking of breaking war at sea has created this kind of nondescript cross-border warship.

Why is this design that sounds good, only the Germans play it? In fact, the reason is very simple. The navies of other countries look down on this kind of weird warship: the armor level is average and the tonnage is limited. Although the firepower is strong but the density is very low, the protection power is similar to that of a light cruiser. It is not an opponent of the opponent's main battleship at all. Apart from being used for sneak attacks, it seems that this ship really can't do anything else.

In the bridge conning tower of the battleship, a middle-aged German officer stood in his position with his hands behind his back. On one side of him were the helmsman and the navigation officer, and on the other side of him were some artillery colleagues. He took the telegram for help from the telegraph officer, and then looked at it carefully.

After reading the content, he glanced at the chief mate next to him, and gave the combat order: "Adjust the course to the left, we will go to the place where the accident happened to rescue our ship, prepare the weapons, sound the combat alarm, and the whole ship will enter the combat state. , Raise the battle flag of the Navy of the Third Reich, and send a radio on a public channel, indicating that the German Navy is performing escort missions in this sea area!"

"Yes! Mr. Colonel!" The first officer stood at attention and immediately issued a series of combat orders. The alarm was sounded quickly, and the low-elevation angle 150mm caliber secondary guns on both sides of the ship pointed at the distant sea bit by bit. A murderous aura. And more 105mm caliber anti-aircraft guns and 88mm anti-aircraft guns also entered the fighting state, and the battleship Lützov instantly became like a hedgehog.

"Tch, I thought the US side was some kind of amazing big ship. After a long time, it was a destroyer... Really..." The officer in charge of artillery control at the side glanced at the message, and then expressed his concern for this battle. The task is a bit sniffy, after all, the opponents are not at the same level, it is really difficult for people to bring up the desire to fight.

The American destroyer is a small destroyer with a displacement of more than 2,000 tons, while Germany is a standard cruiser with a full load displacement of 16,000 tons, which is even close to a heavy cruiser. In terms of firepower, the two sides are obviously not on the same level.

Just as the Lützow armored ship accelerated and rushed towards the incident site, the process of the U.S. Navy’s destroyer approaching the German transport ship was not as smooth as they imagined, because compared with the slightly cumbersome Lützow ironclad ship, the 100-kilometer In addition, the Imperial aircraft carrier, which received the distress signal, responded even more quickly.

Two fw-190 fighter jets on routine patrol rushed to the sea area where the accident happened immediately after receiving the order. Just when the German businessman Kohler was at a loss and felt that the time of death was approaching, the two German fighter jets that appeared in the sky suddenly put the matter to rest. become complex and variable. These two planes were not equipped with effective weapons against destroyers, so they could only lower their altitude and start calling the Americans by radio.

It is also a public channel, and there is also a burst of mechanical German, but these voices are heard in the ears of Kohler who has not had time to go down the iron ladder, and they are no different from the most beautiful vocal music: "This is a patrol fighter plane of the German Naval Air Force , we are responsible for taking over our own ships, please leave this sea area immediately for other ships! Repeat! Please leave this sea area for other ships immediately!"

This is definitely not good news for the U.S. Navy, because after all, once the German Naval Aviation aircraft appears, if the two sides conflict, it means that dozens of German aircraft will catch up within ten minutes. Arrived here, and maybe there are still torpedoes and aerial bombs mounted. An aircraft carrier fleet is obviously not something that a destroyer can provoke, as long as you are not a fool, you can figure it out immediately.

"I am a U.S. Navy destroyer! Since you have taken over this transport ship, we will leave immediately! We will leave immediately!" In the end, the captain of the U.S. destroyer chose to be soft. The German aircraft carrier fleet in the sea is still the boss, and no one can afford to provoke it.

"Two planes scared the Americans away?" Kohler found it incredible. He looked at the two German fighter jets circling the American destroyer from a distance, and for the first time he had such a good impression of his motherland. After all There are not many countries that can make Americans reason, and all of these countries are world-class and powerful countries.

"In the Atlantic Ocean, our navy has never lost!" The captain of the transport ship was obviously relieved by the appearance of the plane, walked to the railing, and explained to Kohler: "The head of state led us to be invincible. The navy is the real overlord in the entire North Atlantic!" When he said that, his face was full of pride, with a kind of pride unique to the Aryans.

Seeing the U.S. Navy ship turning around not far from the sea and fleeing desperately, many German personnel on the German transport ship cheered. After all, they have been bullied by the Americans these days and lost their expensive property. It is indeed a joyful thing to see that my motherland has driven away the flamboyant American destroyer.

At this time, someone discovered that a huge warship appeared on the sea level in another direction. From this distance, it was known that this warship that appeared later was more than a little bigger than the American destroyer. In the eyes of horror, more than 10,000 tons of armored ships entered the escort route of the transport ship. The battle flag of the German Navy hung on the mast fluttered in the wind, making a whirring sound.

"This is the battleship Lützow of the German Third Reich, welcome to the waters controlled by the Third Reich!" On the radio, the voice of the captain of the Lützow came from the dedicated channel of the German Navy. Even bigger and more powerful, the German personnel on the transport ship were shocked and speechless just by their aura.

"Thank you for coming to help. Just now those Americans tried to board the ship for inspection and threatened us to slow down." The captain grabbed the communicator and sent his own words to the German naval ship.

Immediately afterwards, there was a silent hiss on the radio, and then the voice of the captain of the Lützow came from over there: "Are they still firing?"

"Yes, it's firing!" The captain of the transport ship seemed to be talking about a very ordinary thing through the communicator.

"Give me an order, this battleship is ready to fire!" The captain of the Lützow stood on the bridge and said, frowning.

"However, Captain, the opponent has already fired out of the fire range of our secondary gun. Do you want to speed up and catch up?" The first officer was taken aback, and then asked.

"No need, we still have a kind of artillery with enough range!" The captain coldly interrupted the first officer's words, and then said.

Immediately afterwards, under the gaze of everyone, in front of the German personnel, accompanied by the roar of machinery and the sound of metal friction, the two huge 280mm caliber main gun turrets on the Lützow armored ship began to rotate Standing up, the bigger and more terrifying gun holes pointed to the sea in the distance.