Chapter 287 The Wind Rises in the Atlantic Ocean XII

At 7:55 p.m., the battlecruiser "Hood" and the heavy cruiser "Norfolk", as well as two destroyers serving as escorts, formed two columns (one column on the left, consisting of "Hood" and "Norfolk") "K"; one column on the right consists of two "Tribal" class destroyers). Four warships, guided by the lights of an old V-class destroyer (escort) hiding on the edge of the battlefield and equipped with radar, headed towards the battleship "Scharnhorst".

Like the "Scharnhorst", the "Hood", the "Norfolk" and the two "Tribal" class ships also implemented blackout and moved forward quietly in darkness.

At the same time, Lieutenant General Whitworth, the commander of the British Fleet G, also dispatched a detachment composed of the light cruiser "Southampton" and four destroyers, 30,000 meters away on the right side of the "Hood", and The "Hood" formation moved in parallel - they also implemented blackout.

According to radar reconnaissance and calculations, the "Scharnhorst" will pass between the "Hood" detachment and the "Southampton" detachment. At that time, the "Southbankton" detachment will approach and launch torpedoes.

In addition, the formation composed of the heavy cruiser "Cornwall" and the light cruiser "Sheffield" (the formation that followed the "Scharnhorst" all the way) turned on the lights and followed the "Scharnhorst" from a distance. The "Scharnhorst" also kept using lights to signal the "Hood" in the darkness, informing the other party of the location of the "Scharnhorst".

"Target distance 22,000, speed 28, heading 160 (south-southeast), heading towards our ship!"

In the command tower of the "Scharnhorst", the staff loudly announced the position of the "Hood" observed by the radar. Everyone else held their breath, just waiting for the captain, Rear Admiral Leifman, to give the order to open fire.

The tonnage and armor of the "Hood" are there, and sinking is theoretically impossible. Therefore, the "Scharnhorst"'s tactic tonight is to only seek damage, and then lead the "Hood" in circles to create opportunities for the ambushing submarine.

If there is no victory after 2 o'clock tomorrow morning, then the only choice is to leave and rendezvous with the "Sedlitz". After all, tonight's ambush battle was deduced by the staff of the Naval Command through war games. It is difficult to say whether it will be effective or not.

At 8:11 p.m., when the distance between the "Hood" formation and the "Scharnhorst" approached 13,000 meters, Lieutenant General Whitworth on the "Hood" ordered to open fire, first a destroyer Ordered to fire flares. However, because it relied on its ship's radar for guidance, "the flare was not accurate and landed on the right rear of the Scharnhorst. The pale white light barely illuminated the stern of the Scharnhorst." then the Hood's cannons began to roar, but the impact point was far off.

"Fire now!"

Rear Admiral Leifman immediately gave the order to fire. The "Hood" opened fire and exposed the target. Therefore, the flare fired by the "Scharnhorst" accurately illuminated the "Hood". In an instant, the dark sky turned into daylight. The noble "Hood" revealed its majestic body on the vast sea.

Soon, the gunner on the "Scharnhorst" accurately and quickly measured the distance to the "Hood" and ordered a "volley of rapid fire." The artillery opened fire immediately.

The "Hood" also quickly found the target because of the muzzle flash of "Shane". Its eight 15-inch cannons and the eight 8-inch cannons of the heavy cruiser "Norfolk" that followed it also began to roar at the same time.

At 8:20, when the "Scharnhorst" fired its fourth salvo at a distance of 10,000 meters, it achieved a "cross-fire" against the "Hood". After another five minutes, the "Scharnhorst" fired its fifth salvo. This time a 280mm caliber shell hit the "Hood"! The impact point was the midship deck on the starboard side. It did not penetrate the "Hood"'s main armor deck, which was tens of millimeters thick, but hit an ammunition box on the "Hood" that stored 4-inch anti-aircraft gun shells.

This kind of ammunition box should have been installed under the main armor deck, but because the "Hood" had been acting as the ambassador of the Royal Navy for twenty years before the outbreak of the World War, it was quite busy and did not have much time to modify it. The most recent major modification was in the late 1920s and early 1930s. After that, there were minor repairs and the addition of some anti-aircraft guns. The ammunition boxes of these additional anti-aircraft guns were installed on the armored deck. As a result, it was hit by a 280mm artillery shell, and the 4-inch anti-aircraft artillery shell stored inside was exploded, and a fire broke out on the spot!

"Hit!"

Everyone in the command tower of the "Scharnhorst" cheered. Although they also couldn't understand how the "Hood", which was said to be strongly armored, could be easily set on fire by 280mm shells.

But the reality is there! This is God blessing Germany!

"Send a signal to the submarine!" Lieutenant General Marshall shouted excitedly, "We have hit the Hood! The Hood is on fire!"

It was actually set on fire!

Everyone in the command tower of the "Hood" was livid. The majestic "Hood" was now being beaten up by a battleship like the "Scharnhorst", which relied on speed to survive!

Isn’t this too shameless?

"Lieutenant General," a staff officer suddenly shouted, "the damage control captain reported that the temporary anti-aircraft gun ammunition box on the starboard side was hit, causing a fire!"

"Got it, let the damage control control the fire!" Vice Admiral Whitworth said calmly, "This little damage can't do anything to the Hood, we don't have to pay attention to it."

A fire in an ammunition box storing 4-inch shells did not overturn the Hood, but it was not easy to put out the fire, because this temporarily installed ammunition box could not be filled with water to extinguish the fire, and it could only rely on rubber hoses to spray seawater to cool down and put out the fire. So the Hood can only continue to be a "torch on the sea" for the time being.

"Boom boom..."

At this time, with a loud bang, the Hood suddenly shook again! The people in the command tower staggered, and then someone shouted: "Sir, damage control report, the lifeboat deck near the rear main mast was hit and caught fire!"

"Got it!" Vice Admiral Whitworth still had no worries. The small damage could not do anything to the Hood. "Don't worry about it, concentrate on dealing with the Scharnhorst! Today, we will leave it forever on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean!"

I don't know if the determination of this British Royal Navy vice admiral moved God. Only two minutes later, the fifth salvo of the Hood was a cross-fire.

Later, a huge 15-inch shell was suddenly loaded on the bow of the Scharnhorst!

"Boom!"

Accompanied by a loud noise, the Scharnhorst seemed to be kicked by the sea god and shook violently. Everyone in the command tower desperately grabbed the handrails to stabilize themselves.

"Find out the losses!" Vice Admiral Marshal shouted.

Soon the losses were found out. The No. 1 fuel tank at the bow of the Scharnhorst was damaged and ruptured, fuel leaked, and the bow sank with a lot of water!

"Damn it!" Marshal and Reifman's hearts were immediately suspended. The large amount of water entering the bow would inevitably cause the speed to drop. And the sinking of the bow would also slightly affect the shooting accuracy of the two main turrets.

"Let the damage control start draining water immediately!" Leifman gave an order, and then focused his attention on the "Hood".

The opponent now is the "Hood" with high speed, and it is not something that can be left whenever you want!

He then discovered that the fire on the "Hood" was burning fiercely, not only the port side amidships was burning, but also the flames behind the mainmast were soaring into the sky. The "Hood" with a big fire became a very eye-catching target. In the 8th and 10th salvos of the "Scharnhorst", two more 280mm shells hit the target. One hit the stern deck of the "Hood", and one hit the armor belt in the middle of the ship, but it did not seem to cause much damage.

"If it was not the Scharnhorst, but the Bismarck!" Leifman thought, "In that case, the Hood might have been sunk!"

Just as he thought of this, a shocking explosion suddenly came, and the hull of the "Scharnhorst" shook violently for several times.

Apparently, the Scharnhorst was hit again.

Bad news soon came. This time, the boiler room on the waterline was hit, and the shell pierced a steam pipe leading to the engine room. This means that the battleship's speed will drop significantly!

The livid Leifman looked at Marshal, who was also livid, and then Marshal said: "Send a telegram to Marshal Raeder and tell him about the damage to the Scharnhorst. And tell the Navy Supreme Command: Our ship will stick to it!"

...

"Oh, God! Our Scharnhorst is slowing down! Its speed is dropping very fast..."

Captain Günter Prien, who was in a Type IX submarine U-47 (historically, this number belonged to a Type VIIB submarine, but in this time and space, the number of Type IX submarines owned by the German Navy has more than doubled. The number of U-47 also belongs to a Type IX ocean-going submarine), suddenly heard his first mate Heinrich shouting.

"What's the matter?" Captain Günter Prien looked at Lieutenant Heinrich who was observing through the periscope.

"It's the Scharnhorst. It was hit and lost speed. It looks like it's less than 10 knots. It's going to be finished."

"Don't talk nonsense!" Günter Prien walked over, snatched the periscope, and then put his eyeballs on it. In the circular field of vision, you can vaguely see the dark giant ship slowly coming towards you. Through the scale on the periscope lens, Günter Prien estimated the speed of the "Scharnhorst".

"7 knots!" Günter Prien said very calmly, "But it won't be finished. It has very good anti-sinking properties." He paused, "Now the "Hood" and the heavy cruiser should be firing around it... But this is also our opportunity. We will follow it. Now it has slowed down, and we can just keep up."