Chapter 1113 Missiles in the Atlantic Ocean 26

This Soviet-class ship is doomed! Hufmeier thought, the Soviet class has two power cabin sections, and each power cabin section has a boiler room with four boilers. In other words, destroying a boiler room will cause the battleship to lose at least half of its power. .

Feeling that victory was in sight, Hufermeier put down his telescope, then reached into his pocket and took out a cigar. Before he had time to light it, an unexpected change occurred.

The main gun of the Ukraine, which was beaten as if it was unable to parry, flashed out again and spit out artillery shells. One of them hit the 260mm thick front of the Veneto's bridge on the seventh floor. on the side armor. The shell tore through 260mm of armor effortlessly before exploding beneath the Veneto's command tower. The huge power of the 406mm shell explosion was transmitted to the command tower. Everyone was thrown into the air by the impact from under their feet, and then fell heavily. Hufumeier only felt that the back of his head hit something hard, and then he fainted completely. And never woke up again!

This is probably what makes the battleship decisive battle trembling. In the confrontation between two battleships, as long as there is no gap of several generations, nothing is foolproof. Even if the opponent cuts corners somewhat, it can still cause a fatal blow.

Therefore, the confrontation between battleships can only belong to truly fearless warriors!

Seeing thick smoke and fire rising from the bridge of the USS Veneto battleship, Rear Admiral Chandler, who was commanding a fake battleship, regained hope in his heart.

The bridge is the command center of a battleship, or even the brain of a fleet! If the Veneto class is the flagship, then the German fleet is likely to be in chaos.

This is the opportunity!

Thinking of this, Chandler ordered the Ukraine to continue firing and bombarding the Veneto, and at the same time ordered the light cruisers and destroyers following the Ukraine to charge towards the Veneto, whose bridge was shot.

His purpose is not to sink the Veneto, but to force it back. As long as the Veneto takes a step, the Ukraine's opponents will only have two Veneto-class ships.

1:2, there may not be a way to survive!

But what happened next disappointed Chandler. The severely damaged Veneto did not retreat, but continued to fight against the 406mm shells fired by the Ukraine. One minute later, under the command of the deputy captain located on the rear bridge, the ship turned sideways and aimed all the guns of the two main gun turrets that could still be used at the Ukraine.

The heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper and the destroyer Z46 rushed out from the right side of the formation, using their 203mm and 128mm cannons to blast an American Fletcher-class destroyer in front. Although it missed, it also blocked the path forward of these American ships that charged desperately.

At the same time, the two battleships Vittorio and Imperial also turned sideways at a distance of less than 18,000 meters from the Ukraine, and aimed all their main guns at the Ukraine.

There are now a total of 24 381mm cannons blasting the Ukraine, and the distance between the two sides is close enough. An artillery battle at this distance is almost a replica of a line of infantry lining up to shoot!

Every time the two sides engaged in a round of shooting, a battleship would be hit, either the Veneto or the Ukraine. Since the 381mm cannons that bombarded the Ukraine were one and a half times more than the 406mm cannons of the Ukraine, only 2-3 shots were fired on the Ukraine and 1 shot on the Veneto.

The winner was quickly determined in this exchange of fire. At 2:45, a 381mm armor-piercing projectile fired by the Empire hit the side armor of the No. 3 ammunition depot of the Ukraine. The 380mm thick steel plate did not block the 381mm shell. The artillery shell exploded in the ammunition depot, destroying more than two hundred 406mm artillery shells stored there. The violent explosion caused devastating damage to the Ukraine. The hull was blown into two pieces. A few minutes later, this "fake battleship" with a standard displacement of nearly 60,000 tons and a crew of more than 2,300 sank. Atlantic.

In addition to a dozen people who were rescued, more than 2,300 people, including the captain and formation commander Rear Admiral Chandler, were all killed!

The sinking of the battleship Ukraine also meant the destruction of the entire formation. Several American destroyers that escorted it were also driven to death in the subsequent sea pursuit. Nearly 4,000 U.S. Navy officers and soldiers were either captured or sank into the icy Atlantic Ocean!

…

"Colonel, the American battleship formation has been found! The radar indication is at 11 o'clock, about 90 kilometers away."

"Great... Attention everyone, I am Colonel Peltz. The target is in front of us. Now prepare to attack. Each squadron lowers its altitude and deploys into a golden comb formation."

Shortly after the Ukraine sank into the sea with its captain who hated fakes, in the night sky hundreds of kilometers away, the "Thor Force" consisting of 24 Ju188E-2 torpedo bombers finally landed in Vienna Under the guidance of the light cruiser, we found the battleship Soviet Russia that was desperately fleeing.

The "Thor Force" initially consisted of 30 Ju188E-2s, but unexpectedly they were attacked by twelve P61 night fighters not long after taking off (they were covering a transport ship heading towards Georgetown). team), two Ju188E-2s were shot down inexplicably, and four others were damaged. They were unable to continue their mission and had to fly to Cayenne Airport for temporary refuge.

Although the mission was not successful, the Thor force did not encounter any more troubles during the subsequent flight. In the early morning of September 7, under the guidance of the radio waves sent by the light cruiser Vienna, they found the Russian battleship that was escaping very "leisurely".

Unlike the Ukraine, which was chased by three Veneto-class battleships, the European Community ships following the Russian were only three light cruisers, and they did not dare to get too close. Before dark, they had been hiding 70 to 80 kilometers behind the Russian, relying on three Ar196 seaplanes (carried on the three light cruisers) and one Bv138D large seaplane to track. At night, they accelerated to a distance of 40 kilometers and used ship-borne radar to illuminate from a distance.

However, the captain of the Russian and the commander of the formation, Rear Admiral Henry Mullinix, did not dare to take it lightly, because he already knew that 12 Type 21 submarines had massacred Halsey's formation.

In his mind, the three German light cruisers must have been there to guide the submarines that were ambushing somewhere unknown!

So after discovering the "tail", Rear Admiral Mullinix ordered the fleet to flee at full speed towards Puerto Rico - as long as they could escape into the shore-based aircraft protection circle deployed on the shore of Puerto Rico before dawn, they could rely on the "Catalina" seaplane for anti-submarine operations and get rid of the threat of German submarines.

Even the Type 21 U-boat would still have some troubles when encountering a seaplane equipped with radar that could search the surface of the water. At least they dared not float, and hiding underwater could not always maintain a high speed.

But to the surprise of Rear Admiral Mullinix's torpedo, what he heard was not a warning of an incoming submarine attack, but an air defense alarm.

"Sir, enemy planes spotted, more than 20, at an altitude of 3,000, a distance of 100, a speed of 300, flying towards us!"

"It's a night torpedo bomber!" Rear Admiral Mullinix immediately guessed what kind of opponent he was facing - but he couldn't figure out where these medium bombers that could drop torpedoes at night took off from? Is there a German aircraft carrier nearby? But according to intelligence, the Germans don't have carrier-based torpedo bombers at all?

"Maintain a speed of 28 knots, take an S-shaped evasive route, don't turn on the searchlight, and don't be busy firing anti-aircraft guns." Rear Admiral Mullinix thought about it and did not choose to meet the enemy with an anti-aircraft formation. Because there were few escort ships around his battleship, and it was late at night, the anti-aircraft guns without radar fire control could not hit the target at all.

Instead of turning on the searchlight to expose the target, it is better to continue to take the S-shaped route in the dark, maybe you can avoid all the torpedoes.

Just when Rear Admiral Mullinix was trying to get away with it by luck, three European Community light cruisers 38,000 meters behind the Russian battleship ejected Ar196 seaplanes with flares...

"Sir, two enemy planes are approaching..."

At about 3:40 a.m. on September 7, when the captain and formation commander Rear Admiral Henry Mullinix heard the electronics officer holding the phone report loudly, a bright and dazzling ball of fire suddenly appeared in the sky in front of the command tower.

The experienced American Navy Rear Admiral knew that this was a flare that would reveal the Russian battleship's true form in the dark!

Rear Admiral Henry Mullinix's heart suddenly sank, knowing that he could not escape, and immediately narrowed his eyes and ordered: "Turn on all searchlights, pay attention to the sea and the sky!"

"Guns, all anti-aircraft guns are ready to fire!"

As Rear Admiral Mullinix shouted, high-power searchlights began to sweep the sky continuously, and all 127mm dual-purpose anti-aircraft guns, 40mm anti-aircraft guns and 20mm machine guns also raised their muzzles high (these anti-aircraft guns were installed after the Soviet-class arrived in the United States), ready to fire at any time.

At this time, the electronics officer in the command tower shouted again: "Nine o'clock! Radar detected enemy aircraft, more than 10, altitude 100, distance 50, approaching quickly!"