Chapter 1169: 1-Sided 1
Chapter 1169 One-sided 1
In addition to the four large holes on the side of the battleship, half of the main gun on the left side of the No. 2 turret was also cut off. A shell that hit the bridge sent dozens of naval officers and soldiers to the west. The last shell directly hit the seaplane oil depot at the stern of the ship, and a pillar of fire dozens of meters high rose into the sky. Even though the sea fog has not dissipated, the German warships attacked more accurately based on this eye-catching "lighthouse"!
"Get out! Order all the destroyer squadrons to prepare for lightning strikes!" Less than a quarter of an hour into the battle, Thomas had clearly realized that his five Queen Elizabeth-class battleships could not defeat the German fleet in front of them. Until now, Thomas thought that the enemy fleet was There are at least 8 battleships, 4 of which are Bavaria-class! 5 Queens can't defeat 4 Bavarias, let alone 4 more ships behind to help raid the formation! As for his Tiger and New Zealand, Thomas has no hope. It's good that these things can keep an eye on him, otherwise they will almost die in the light with their defense level!
At this time, the distance between the two sides was close to about 9,000 meters, and the Thomas Fleet pulled out a smoke screen for the first time! At the same time, the 3 light cruisers and 14 destroyers that had been deployed bravely rushed forward under the cover of the smoke screen and launched a wave of sharp lightning strikes against the Hipper fleet battle line!
"Block them!" Hipper looked at the destroyer hidden in the smoke screen in the distance and did not retreat at all. If he retreated a little at this time, the opponent would most likely be able to fight his way out under the cover of the destroyer! When the Scheer fleet was not in place and the encirclement was not completed, Hipper would never allow the British fleet to rush past him! Even if you have to take certain risks, you will never back down!
"This is their last madness! If we stop them, we will win!" The 4 light cruisers of the 4th Light Cruiser Division and 6 destroyers went up first, and then the other 8 destroyers followed. At this moment, Hope Pell also played almost all of his trump cards!
The light cavalry of both sides fought again, approaching each other at a high speed of more than 50 knots. The first thing to collide was the light cruisers of both sides. At a distance of less than 4,000 meters, 175MM artillery and 6-inch The artillery was thinking crazily as bullets rained down on the opposite side. Countless fireballs rose from the sea and intertwined into a web of fire in the air. Each battleship was like an insect struggling in a spider made of flames. A larger light cruiser could Seen as a beetle. The destroyers are mosquitoes.
The British destroyer HMS Musketeer was taking a strange route on the sea. A few minutes ago, after his friendly destroyer HMS Cormorant was covered in a dense rain of bullets, the destroyer with a displacement of only 600 tons was like a frightened bird. Everywhere on the battlefield was shrouded in smoke and sea fog. The British on the ship could not even distinguish whether the destroyer running at the same speed not far away was one of their own or the enemy!
The same was true for the Germans. After both sides fired a wave of lightning strikes at a distance of 4,000 meters, the warships of both sides disbanded in order to avoid the other side's torpedoes. More than 20 destroyers flew around like headless flies.
The loud noises that came from time to time were frightening. It was the unlucky guy who was hit by a torpedo. The light cruiser Emden personally saw a British destroyer being dragged out of the water by the huge impact of the torpedo explosion, and then again. The air was twisted into pieces!
As time passed by, the auxiliary battleships on both sides lost blood rapidly, and a British light cruiser was beaten into a sieve under the attack of two German light cruisers. The power cabin was penetrated at least seven times, and the boiler and steam turbine inside were beaten into pieces. Billowing smoke and white water vapor spread from the middle of the hull. The battleship that lost power could only drift under the influence of the current, waiting for its end.
Another British light cruiser was hit by three torpedoes at close range at the same time! After a series of violent explosions, fireballs instantly enveloped the entire hull. In less than half a minute, the light cruiser was blown to pieces. The thick smoke and flames threw some fragments hundreds of meters into the air, and then they flew into the air. It covers an area of several square kilometers!
A German cruiser was also plotted during this battle, and three British destroyers fired at least 8 torpedoes from the side and rear! At a distance of less than 600 meters, the unlucky light cruiser was unable to dodge at all. After dodging at least five torpedoes, the stern was hit by two torpedoes almost at the same time. The violent explosion even dragged the stern out of the water. The bow of the ship also sank forward violently under the action of huge force. When the broken stern fell into the water again, the huge force directly broke the entire stern into pieces! Then, the ship quickly sank to the bottom of the sea. In just 2 minutes, except for the top of the mast and half of the raised bow, the entire hull had returned to the embrace of the sea.
As for the destroyers, the death was even more rare. The German destroyers were better because they were more numerous. When encountering the enemy in a hurry, the goddess of victory always favors the side with more people and more guns... After less than 20 minutes of fighting, only 3 of the 14 British destroyers that participated in the battle withdrew from the battle with bullet holes all over their bodies. All 6 battleships of one destroyer squadron were destroyed, and a total of more than 400 people were struck by lightning. No, no more than two digits survived! It can be called one of the battles with the heaviest casualties for the auxiliary fleet since the war began! Of course, 7 German destroyers were also sunk in the battle. If the gap in combat strength between the two sides is taken into account, the British fought pretty well!
Of course, the most troublesome strike for the Germans was not the destroyer squadron, but one of the British destroyers that successfully rushed to a distance of less than 3,000 meters from the Seydlitz under the cover of a smoke screen, and then fired two torpedoes. ,And then……. Actually hit 1 shot! This torpedo hit just below the No. 1 turret on the bow of the Seydlitz. The explosive up to 230kg instantly penetrated the three-layer cabin outside the mine protection wall of the Seydlitz! After the violent explosion, a large hole of 4 meters long was left on the side of the hull. This brought about 1,000 tons of water to the German battlecruiser! Fortunately, the mine protection wall blocked the final impact of the explosion fragments, and there was no danger. The ammunition compartment did not get water, and the artillery could be used as it was.
"General, the Seydlitz was hit by a torpedo." An officer said to Hipper with some concern.
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