Chapter 1103 Missiles in the Atlantic Ocean 16

"Sir, 38,000 meters!"

"Sir, the enemy's main formation has begun to turn and accelerate to the right!"

"Sir, there are three enemy light ship formations approaching us at high speed!"

In the command tower of the guided missile battleship "Gneisenau", the staff's reports came one after another.

"Sir, the Americans want to seize the lead of the T-shaped formation!" Rear Admiral Meyer, chief of staff of the fleet, immediately guessed Halsey's intention. "At the same time, they also want to use heavy cruisers and heavy torpedo destroyers to disrupt our formation."

"Let the cruiser group and the second cruiser group deal with the American heavy cruisers and destroyers."

Admiral Hoffman didn't care much about the American battleships grabbing the lead of the T-shaped formation, but he didn't dare to neglect the three Americans' lightning strike formations.

Because the composition of the American lightning strike formation is very special, it is a combination of a heavy cruiser + more than a dozen heavy mine destroyers. It is specially used to deal with European or Japanese lightning strike formations equipped with oxygen torpedoes. Therefore, there are not only "Gridley" class heavy mine destroyers equipped with 16 torpedo tubes, but also usually a treaty heavy cruiser.

When encountering an opponent equipped with oxygen torpedoes, the "Gridley"-class heavy-mine destroyers often launch torpedoes at a high speed of more than 37 knots, not seeking to hit, but to disrupt the opponent. After the torpedoes are fired, these "Gridley" class heavy torpedo destroyers will not retreat immediately. Instead, they will continue the artillery battle with five 127mm high-level dual-purpose guns.

The leading heavy cruiser used its 203mm cannon to shoot at the enemy heavy torpedo ship that carried oxygen torpedoes and had oxygenated the torpedoes - because oxygenated oxygen torpedoes are very dangerous, and once the ship is hit by a shell, it will most likely cause damage. He was killed in an explosion, and then the ship was destroyed and everyone died.

So this tactic really caused the heavy mine formations of the European Community and Japan to suffer a lot!

Moreover, this style of play is equally effective in surface fleet formation battles. However, in this case, the purpose of the U.S. heavy mine formation is not to sink the opponent, but to disrupt the opponent and gain time for its main formation to accelerate its turn.

In addition, when one's own battleships are defeated in battle, the U.S. heavy mine formation can play a role in covering the retreat.

"Sir, it's 36,000 meters. The main U.S. formation is turning again. They will soon grab the T-shaped position."

The report from the navigation staff came again. The U.S. battleship formation that turns and maneuvers at a high speed of 28 knots has too many advantages in grabbing the T-head position compared to the European Community battleship formation that travels at a speed of 20 knots. In just a few minutes, they had completed the first turn and at the same time shortened the distance between the two sides to 36,000 meters, and now began the second turn. Soon, the two battleship formations formed a herringbone formation. As long as the American battleship formation passes through the bow of the Hindenburg from a distance of 32,000-30,000 meters, they can seize the decisive T-shaped formation and pour out all the firepower of 81 406mm cannons. On to the head of the Germans' most powerful battleship.

"The battleship formation begins to turn!" Hoffman also gave the order to turn the battleship formation at this time.

"The missile ship battle group began to act alone, entered the missile launch position, and prepared for missile launch!" He then issued an order, "The first round of 10 salvoes will target the No. 3 and No. 4 enemy ship formation, among which the Gneisenau The target of the USS Wilhelm II is the enemy's No. 3 ship. "

Hoffman's choice of No. 3 and No. 4 of the U.S. battleship formation as the first target to strike was also the best plan derived from many exercises and war games. Because the missile ship becomes a large floating bomb after the missile is refueled. As long as the missile launch tube is hit, it will definitely be a huge disaster.

Therefore, the missile ships cannot be placed at the front of the formation to receive shells. They must follow several battleships and advance in column. They should also give up the good position at the head of the T-shaped formation to their opponents.

In this way, when the opponent grabs the head of the T-shaped formation, he will definitely concentrate his firepower on the battleship at the front of his own column. When the battleship formations in front of one's own array turn, the missile ship formation behind the array will not follow the battleships. Instead, they will turn in place under the cover of the battleships and aim the ship's bow roughly at the target. At this time, if you want to target the No. 1 and No. 2 ships in the enemy's array, you will have to turn in place to a relatively large extent and it will take a long time. It is not as convenient and quick as targeting the battleships at the rear of the enemy's battle array first.

"Admiral, the enemy fleet has turned."

"It's too late! Rapid fire, 5 rounds, fire!"

Bermuda time, at 4:40 pm on September 6, 1944, when the German battleship "Hindenburg" began to turn right, the four Iowa-class battleships had "successfully" seized the lead of the T-shaped formation. The 81 406mm main guns of 4 Soviet-class battleships and 1 North Carolina-class battleship roared simultaneously. Hot smoke suddenly spurted out from the muzzle, and dozens of black spots in the fire tore through the air, rushing towards the huge battleship Hindenburg in the blink of an eye.

The huge recoil and roar made Halsey and others standing in the command tower feel as if the sky was suddenly falling apart in front of their eyes. Almost everyone felt that the pores in their bodies swelled, and a sense of pride came from the bottom of their hearts. rise.

The German battleships are dead!

Even if they had remote-controlled guided missiles, it would not have changed the situation on the battlefield. None of their seven battleships (the Wilhelm II was treated as a heavy cruiser) could escape, and all would have been crushed by the powerful firepower of the US Navy.

Without these battleships, the Germans could no longer threaten the Caribbean islands.

Before the Germans built ultra-long-range jet bombers that could fly intercontinentally, they could not threaten the US mainland even if they had atomic bombs.

Even if the Germans built piston-type intercontinental bombers, it would be useless, because intercontinental bombers without fighter escorts were just targets for US high-altitude interceptors.

And how many years would it take the Germans to build jet intercontinental bombers? Before they succeeded, the United States had already had atomic bombs!

81 water columns appeared in Admiral Halsey's realization, and the first round of salvos was completely empty, with no cross-fire or near misses. However, this performance was completely normal, because Halsey's nine battleships were still maintaining a speed of 28 knots. This was too fast for a battleship formation artillery battle. Moreover, the distance between the two sides was still too far, reaching about 31,000 meters. Even with a fire control radar, it was difficult to hit the target. However, the purpose of the first five salvos arranged by Halsey was not to hit, but to cover his heavy torpedo formation to launch an attack.

"Slow down to 20 knots and turn 10 degrees to the right." Halsey put down the telescope and loudly ordered the battleship to slow down.

Just as the nine American battleships were slowing down, five rounds of rapid shooting had ended, with more than 400 shells, and the closest distance to the Hindenburg was hundreds of meters. Apart from the terrifying momentum, there was almost no gain.

Just when Hoffman and others on the Gneisenau breathed a sigh of relief, twenty or thirty American destroyers had appeared in their sight, and they also deployed two rows of horizontal formations and began to charge at high speed.

At the same time, the nine American battleships began to turn again in order to firmly occupy the fatal T-shaped formation. If it weren't for the more deadly 2.5-ton Reaper II TV-guided missile, Halsey would have become a hero who saved the free world.

"Sir, missile launch is ready, the bow is aimed at the target!"

When the gunnery staff's voice sounded again, the Gneisenau missile battleship and the Wilhelm II missile cruiser had quietly separated from the battleship formation, turned sideways on the sea, and aimed their bows at the target.

"Launch!" Hoffman immediately gave the order, and the gunnery staff conveyed his order to the missile launch command center of the Gneisenau and Wilhelm II.

"Missile 1 launch, missile 2 launch!"

"Missile 1 completed!"

"Missile 2 completed!"

"Missile 3 launch, missile 4 launch!"

"Missile 3 completed!"

"Missile 4 completed!"

"..."

With the orders of the missile commander and the missile operator, the missile launch buttons were pressed one by one, and smoke and fire began to emerge from the missile decks of the two missile ships. Missiles, which were no less than the size of a small jet, were forced out of the launch tube by the huge thrust generated by the rocket engine. Then the folded wings and tail fins popped out, and then the missiles dragged long tail flames and roared into the air.

"Oh my God! What is that?"

"Missile? Is it a missile?"

"Oh my God, it's a rocket-propelled missile!"

"How is this possible? How can a rocket have such a strong thrust?"

The people in the command tower of the battleship "Iowa" also noticed the earth-shaking missile launch scene, and everyone was almost scared silly.

Since the Japanese fought in the Pacific with a mentality of just getting by, they did not deploy suicide-style death missiles in the Battle of Midway, so the Americans had never seen jet-powered "artificial intelligence" missiles, let alone missiles powered by liquid rocket engines. Now the United States' own rockets use smokeless gunpowder propellants (a backward solid propellant), which is impossible to propel missiles weighing several tons to fly dozens or hundreds of kilometers.

Looking at the twenty missiles flying at a very fast speed with thick smoke and flames, Halsey, who just thought he would become a hero of America and a warrior defending the free world, suddenly felt cold in his hands and feet, and his whole brain went blank.

Obviously, the Germans have developed a more powerful remote-controlled guided missile! Their previous series of "mistakes" were just to get a chance to launch a missile for a decisive kill!