Chapter 736: Fight, Navy (Part 2)

"Boom boom boom..."

"Major General! Another cross-shooting!"

"Got it!" Rear Admiral Hans Langsdorf suddenly felt a very familiar feeling - as a German naval admiral who had lost two ships, he could already smell the unique smell before the ship sank. .

This is the taste, yes!

The gunpowder smoke mixed with the fishy smell of sea water came in one after another, and there were huge water jets rising all around. Everyone in the bridge looked panicked, and the chief mate who was maneuvering the ship was concentrating on it and used his milk-sucking skills. .

But it's no use!

As a senior naval officer who fell into the water twice and was rescued, Rear Admiral Langsdorf recently got an opportunity to go to the Naval Staff College for short-term training - this was something that Marshal Lütjens considered his skills to be poor. , need to learn. And he still learned something at the Naval Staff College. He learned about the latest British and American fire control radar technology, so he knew that his new ship, the heavy cruiser Lützow, was in extreme danger. If you don't escape quickly, you will almost certainly be sunk.

Because there are now 2 South Dakota-class battleships and 4 Soviet-class battleships concentrating their firepower on bombarding this unlucky German heavy cruiser.

"Straddle shot!"

"Ula!"

There was a cheering sound in the bridge of the Soviet battleship. Although the professional quality of the Red Navy commanders and fighters is slightly inferior, everyone still knows what "cross-shooting" means.

"Comrade Political Commissar, the Soviet Union fired across the board in the second salvo!" Kuznetsov proudly said to Bulganin, a layman, "This is better than the performance of the two American battleships. all good!"

This is of course a lie. The four Soviet-class ships and the two South Dakota-class ships were sighted in a unified manner, and the one responsible for the sighting was the Massachusetts. The Soviet Union only fired based on the numbers given by the Massachusetts - in the four Soviet ships Before the class went to New York, experts from the U.S. Navy had repeatedly tested the 406mm main gun on the Soviet class and mastered all their data. Therefore, the design elements of the four Soviet-class main guns can be directly calculated on the Massachusetts. The gunners of the Soviet Red Navy only needed to fire according to the parameters given by the Americans. The Massachusetts had already fired seven or eight salvos before and had already calibrated the parameters.

"Boom, boom, boom..." The 2 Bismarck-class battleships, 2 Richelieu and 2 Barbarossa of the 2nd Team of the European Combined Fleet also used their 44 380mm naval guns to launch an attack on the European allies. the prologue. The commander of the team, Major General Lindemann, knew very well that the enemy's firepower was far stronger than his own, so he must sink or severely damage the two South Dakota-class ships as soon as possible, otherwise the opponent's 54 406mm cannons would sooner or later annihilate his team. .

Ingersoll looked at the water rising dozens of meters away and just snorted softly: "The Alabama counterattacked the enemy's battleship formation, and the other ships concentrated their firepower to bombard the heavy cruiser and sink it."

The purpose of having the Alabama single-ship counterattack was also to accurately target Zhu Yuan, so that he could hit the enemy's battleship's head with the shells as soon as possible.

As for the German heavy cruiser, since it has all been straddled, it should be sunk soon.

"Near miss!"

A shout rang in Langsdorff's ears, and he quickly grabbed the handrail beside him. At this moment, a 406mm shell fell into the water less than 20 meters next to the port side of the Lützow. A huge column of water filled with white smoke rose into the sky, more than twenty meters high. The stirred up water rushed towards the Lützow, almost wetting half of the ship.

Just when Langsdorf breathed a sigh of relief and escaped another disaster, disaster finally struck! A 406mm shell fired by the Soviet Russia hit the main armor belt of the Lüzov's side amidships. It was impossible for the 80mm armor to block the 406mm shell. The shell not only opened a large hole in the side of the Lützov, but also penetrated the boiler room and landed in the boiler room. But very fortunately, the fuse of this Soviet-made 406mm artillery shell had quality problems and the shell did not detonate.

However, the huge collision force still caused damage to the Lützow. One steam pipe ruptured, most of the power was immediately lost, and the speed suddenly dropped from 32 knots to 15 knots.

Now everyone knows that Lützow is finished! If you can't fight or run away, you can only stand there and wait to die.

"boom!"

Just 2 minutes later, a huge fireball suddenly rose on the rear deck of the heavy cruiser Lützow! The No. 4 turret of the heavy cruiser seemed to have been kicked hard by some powerful giant, and it flew to an unknown place. Fortunately, the fuse of this 406mm shell, also produced by the Soviet Union, was too sensitive, and it exploded while concentrating on the No. 4 turret. Therefore, we only blew up the turret, but did not blow through the turret below the turret and the protective wall of the turret pit - otherwise, the ammunition would be directly exploded!

However, the explosion of the Soviet artillery shell still caused a fire (there may be ammunition in the barrel at the time), and the blazing flames began to test the ammunition magazine. Langsdorff, who already knew that the Lützow was doomed, did not hesitate at all and immediately ordered the ammunition depot to be filled with water. The influx of hundreds of tons of seawater further slowed down the ship's speed. Now the Lützow had no hope, but she didn't know how long she could hold on.

Rear Admiral Lansdorff then ordered all non-damage control team members to abandon the ship (of course the captain and the first mate had to fight to the end). Judging from the damage to the Lützow, this order was issued too early. But considering that it had provoked 6 battleships, it was still wise to abandon the ship now. Just when most of the sailors and officers were almost done retreating in an orderly manner, a 406mm heavy shell fired by the battleship Massachusetts hit the Lützow again. This time the shell broke into the engine room of the Lützow and exploded, causing the heavy cruiser with a standard displacement of 15,200 tons to lose all power and also caused an uncontrollable fire.

The Lützow heavy cruiser became a floating fire ship!

"Marshal, it's the Lützow heavy cruiser... It's finished!" Vice Admiral William Messer reported to his superior, Admiral Lütjens, a little depressed. He didn't expect that the other party would have trouble with a heavy cruiser.

"Got it," Admiral Lütjens said calmly, "try to save it, and if it doesn't work, you can give it up."

When he gave the order to "give up the Lützow", the 1st Squadron, which he personally commanded, had already engaged in a fierce exchange of fire with the 2nd Squadron of the Allied Combined Fleet.

The 6 battleships of the 1st Squadron did not choose to concentrate their firepower, but attacked the other 3 battleships at the same time. Hindenburg and Ludendorff were responsible for shelling the Duke of York, Veneto and Littorio were responsible for attacking the Anson, and Roma and Empire bombarded the Howe.

At the same time, Admiral Lütjens also ordered the 3rd Squadron to continue to approach the enemy's 5 battleships/battlecruisers and 2 heavy cruisers-as long as the distance between the 3rd Squadron and the enemy was shortened to within 20,000 meters, 6 powerful V3 remote-controlled missiles could be launched!

...

"It's a cross-fire!" Vice Admiral Fraser withdrew his eyes from the battleship USS Alabama in front of him and looked at Admiral Ingersoll anxiously.

Admiral Ingersoll's decision to "sink the Lützow first" was later considered a major mistake. Because during the sinking of the Lützow (the heavy cruiser exploded after being hit for the fourth time and then sank), the six battleships of the European Combined Fleet also sought out the Massachusetts and the Alabama. The Bismarck, Tirpitz and Barbarossa concentrated their firepower on the Massachusetts, while the Jean Bart, Emperor Napoleon and Schlieffen concentrated their firepower on the Alabama.

In other words, the two American battleships each had 22 380mm cannons!

Although after the Lützow was sunk, Ingersoll immediately ordered to concentrate his firepower on the battleship Tirpitz (among which the Alabama originally fired at the Tirpitz). But the initiative was still lost. Before all six battleships of the Allied Combined Fleet had adjusted their guns, the enemy had already fired five salvos, and fired a cross-fire in the fourth and fifth rounds (at Massachusetts and Alabama respectively).

Now it was only a matter of time before the two American battleships were hit! Now it depended on whether their armor could withstand the enemy's 380mm shells.

…

"Boom!"

A huge fireball rose outside the port armor belt of the Ludendorff battleship. This huge H39 battleship was hit by the British Duke of York - since it was the three British battleships that fired at the Ludendorff first, it was not unexpected that they were the first to hit.

"Hold it!" Admiral Lütjens breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the shape of the fire. The 330mm side armor withstood the test! At a distance of 24,000 meters, it still withstood the bombardment of the British 14-inch (356mm) main gun.

"Crossfire!"

At this time, people in the bridge of the Hindenburg cheered. It turned out that the sixth round of salvos fired by the Hindenburg and Ludendorff formed a crossfire on the Duke of York. It was only a matter of time before it hit, and this King George V-class battleship could not withstand the bombardment of the 406mm main gun.

As long as it can hit, it is very likely to cause damage to the power system of this battleship and slow down. Due to the presence of three P-class missile cruisers, deceleration will be fatal to the Duke of York.

Because once the Duke of York slows down, the three P-class ships (belonging to the 3rd Squadron) will quickly approach within 20,000 meters of it, and six V3-2 radio-controlled missiles weighing 2.2 tons will kill this King George V-class battleship!