Chapter 738 The Red Navy: The Mainstay

The sinking of the York battleship meant the complete defeat of the 2nd Squadron of the Allied Combined Fleet. This squadron was originally weak, with only 3 King George V-class battlecruisers with insufficient firepower and 2 Kronstadt-class battlecruisers with thin armor and insufficient firepower. Now that one King George V-class battlecruisers have been lost, it is impossible to resist the 2 Hindenburg-class battlecruisers and 4 Veneto-class battlecruisers.

Therefore, Admiral Ingersoll had to order the disbandment of the 2nd Squadron, allowing the remaining 2 King George V-class battlecruisers and 2 Kronstadt-class battlecruisers to escape.

The decision to disband the 2nd Squadron also means that the main force of the European Combined Fleet has lost its restraint, and the 2 powerful Hindenburg-class battlecruisers and 4 Veneto-class battlecruisers will soon attack the 1st Squadron of the Allied Fleet!

If the 1st Squadron of the Allied Fleet cannot defeat the 1 Bismarck-class battlecruisers, 2 Richelieu-class battlecruisers and 2 Barbarossa-class battlecruisers in front of it before then, then the control of the sea in the North Atlantic will return to the hands of the Germans.

At the critical moment, Admiral Ingersoll suddenly heard a cheer of "Ura" in his ears. He quickly raised his telescope and looked in the direction pointed by a staff officer beside him. It turned out that a Barbarossa-class battleship was covered by water jets - this was a cross-fire!

Perhaps sensing the danger, the Barbarossa-class suddenly began to turn, as if it wanted to turn around and leave - in fact, another Barbarossa-class and Prince Eugen heavy cruiser also began to turn and prepare to run away.

It turned out that after the dissolution of the 2nd Squadron of the Allied Combined Fleet, Admiral Lütjens also ordered the dissolution of the 2nd Squadron of the European Combined Fleet. At the same time, he ordered the 1st Squadron of the European Combined Fleet to pursue the Anson battleship, and the 3rd Squadron to pursue the Howe battleship.

According to Admiral Lütjens's calculations, his two squadrons were enough to annihilate two British battleships. In this way, he won three major victories tonight. Moreover, the two American South Dakota-class battleships have been injured and may need to be docked for overhaul.

In this way, the mainstay of the Allies in the Atlantic is the four Soviet-class battleships and two Kronstadt-class battlecruisers of the Soviet Red Navy...

With these six Soviet battleships/battlecruisers...isn't the control of the North Atlantic firmly in the hands of Germany?

Lütjens's wishful thinking was very good, but at this time, unexpected changes suddenly occurred on the battlefield.

The battleship Barbarossa (in this time and space, the O-class is an upgraded version of the Scharnhorst class, not a thin-skinned and big-filled battlecruiser) was hit - it was the Soviet-class battleship that hit it!

Although the defense of the Soviet-class battleship was water-filled, the radar and fire control were newly installed, and the Red Navy officers and soldiers had not yet mastered it. But its three triple-mounted 406mm/L52SKC/34 main guns are genuine German products, exactly the same as the main gun system used by the Hindenburg class.

Moreover, the Soviet class has the characteristic of a large ship carrying a small gun. The full load displacement of 65,000 tons is more than 2,000 tons larger than the 63,000 tons of the Hindenburg class. This makes the Soviet class's 406mm gun have a higher shooting accuracy, and it is easy to hit the target as long as the parameters are measured. As a result, when the Barbarossa turned, a 406mm high-speed light shell penetrated its port armor belt. This time, the fuze that always had problems actually worked normally, and it exploded after the shell penetrated the boiler room located on the waterline! Not only did it blow up a boiler room, but it also broke an important steam pipe leading to the engine room, causing the Barbarossa's speed to drop from 30 knots to 10 knots.

However, the bad luck of the Barbarossa had just begun, because before it was hit by the Soviet, Lütjens had ordered the 2nd Squadron to disband. So the faster Bismarck, Jean Bart, Kaiser Napoleon and Schlieffen all dispersed, and the Tirpitz, which withdrew first, also ran away. The Barbarossa was the only one that could not run fast, and it was immediately besieged by two South Dakota-class ships and four Soviet-class ships.

Although Rear Admiral Lindemann (commander of the 2nd Squadron) found that something was wrong, he quickly ordered the Jean Bart, Napoleon and Schlieffen to approach the Bismarck, trying to reorganize the fleet to rescue the Barbarossa.

However, the 54 406mm cannons of the two South Dakota-class ships and the four Soviet-class ships did not intend to let the Barbarossa go. This battleship now became the scapegoat of the Tirpitz. It was hit by more than a dozen 406mm shells within a few minutes. The entire deck was on fire, and two of the three turrets were blown away.

At 11:20 p.m., disaster struck the Barbarossa. A 406mm shell fired by the Soviet battleship Ukraine penetrated the waterline armor of the Barbarossa again and hit the No. 2 boiler room of the Barbarossa. The huge explosion swept through the No. 2 boiler room, and the steam and toxic smoke instantly killed everyone nearby. Afterwards, the battleship with a standard displacement of up to 33,000 tons completely lost power, was scarred, and was shrouded in fire, unable to move anymore.

5 minutes later, Lütjens, commander of the European Combined Fleet, reluctantly ordered to abandon the Barbarossa! A Z-type destroyer approached the Barbarossa in the face of the continuous 406mm shells, rescued the surviving officers and soldiers on the ship, and then fired a torpedo at the giant ship, ending its suffering.

Now, the two sides are tied 1:1 in the number of battleship losses.

But the draw was only temporary. At 11:30, the 1st Squadron of the European Combined Fleet caught up with the British battleship Anson. This time, two Hindenburg-class and four Veneto-class ships hit one King George V-class ship.

The fatal shells fired by the 1st and 3rd cannons fell like raindrops. Just 3 minutes later, the 406mm shell fired by the Ludendorff hit the stern deck of the Anson, blasting a big hole and igniting something unknown. The fire started on the "butt" of the Anson.

After another 2 minutes, the 406mm shell fired by the Hindenburg battleship made another achievement. This time it hit the stern turret No. 3 of the Anson. The 12.75-inch (324mm) armor protection could not withstand the penetration of the 406mm shell. The No. 3 turret was blown away on the spot. Now the stern of the Anson lost all its firepower.

After discovering this, the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper (it is still in the 1st Squadron) immediately chased forward at full speed with several Z-type destroyers, trying to attack the stern of the Anson with torpedoes. The Leander-class light cruiser Leander, which was following the Anson, had to bite the bullet and went forward to resist. It started a fierce battle with the Admiral Hipper, and was soon beaten to a pulp. After struggling for 15 minutes, it sank into the cold Atlantic Ocean.

Although the sacrifice of this light cruiser blocked the Admiral Hipper, it could not withstand the continuous 4 shells. While the Admiral Hipper and the Leander were fighting, another 4 406mm shells and 3 381mm shells hit the "butt" of the Anson and the rear of the midship. One of the 406mm shells penetrated the rear funnel deck of the Anson, drilled into the boiler room and exploded. Milky white high-pressure steam immediately gushed out from the middle of the hull, forming a jet stream tens of meters high.

This scene was seen by Admiral Ingersoll on the Soviet battleship who was rushing to rescue. Ingersoll's face was so ugly. The explosion of the boiler room meant that the speed of the ship had dropped significantly, and the Anson was in danger!

At this moment, a deafening noise suddenly came from a distance-I wonder whose ammunition depot exploded?

"It's the Howe, its ammunition depot was blown up by the Germans with V3 missiles, it's finished..." Fraser's trembling voice sounded, "Oh my God, today is the darkest day in the history of the British Royal Navy! We lost the Duke of York and Howe, and only the Anson is left. It seems that we can't save it. Oh my God, what can we do?"

Bulganin didn't understand English, but he still knew the reactionary word "God".

The military comrade thought: Now God can't save you reactionary imperialists. It seems that the fight against Nazis and fascists still depends on the powerful Red Navy! The Red Navy is the mainstay of the anti-Nazi struggle in the Atlantic!

Bulganin's idea was at least half right. Now even God can't save the Anson. The two Hindenburg-class and four Veneto-class ships ignored the 406mm shells fired by the 1st Squadron of the Allied Combined Fleet, and just bombarded the Anson, which was about to become a "volcano".

At 11:45 p.m., the only remaining King George V-class battleship also ushered in its doomsday.

Maybe the shells penetrated the ammunition depot, maybe the fire spread and ignited the ammunition depot, or maybe it was some other reason. In short, after a loud bang, the stern of the Anson disappeared into the air, and the cold sea water poured into the hull unstoppably. The battleship also slowly sank into the sea.

Fortunately, the captain of the Anson gave the order to abandon the ship in time a few minutes before the Anson's ammunition depot exploded. Therefore, after the Anson sank, most of the officers and soldiers on the ship did not sink to the bottom of the sea together, but floated on the cold sea surface wearing life jackets.

By the way, the ships of the European Combined Fleet did not salvage or attack them, because a fierce battle soon broke out between the 1st squadrons of the two combined fleets. Most of these British officers and soldiers who fell into the water were later salvaged by the Red Caucasus and Kirov who risked their lives to rescue them. These two Soviet heavy cruisers hardly fired a shot in the battle tonight, nor were they attacked, and they were busy salvaging the drowning people...