Chapter 2255: The Final Battle II
"The German bombers are gone." Thomas said in disbelief as he looked at the departing Tiger Shark fleet in the sky. From the attack just now, he could clearly estimate that the opponent had used up half of their ammunition at most. How could they just left
However, no matter what, Thomas no longer has the time and energy to think about this issue, because a huge fleet appeared in front of them, just across the way of the British fleet's return, no need to ask, this must be long overdue The Spey fleet, and less than 23 kilometers behind Thomas, there is still the German Third Battleship Squadron chasing after him. There is no doubt that this time, Thomas is going to be pinched
So, the last battle in this Norwegian sea battle kicked off. Let us take a look at the remaining forces of the Thomas fleet. The five Queen Elizabeth-class battleships are Elizabeth, Malaya, Warspite, Warrior and Prince of Wales. , the Fury-class fast battleship Fury, the Tiger battlecruiser and the first-generation battlecruiser Invincible, there are only 8 battleships in total, and they have to face the 8 fast battleships of the Spey fleet and the 4 Bavarian ships behind them. The situation of the British fleet of super battleships is very bad. The maximum speed of the entire fleet cannot even be maintained at 22 knots, and the loss of firepower has exceeded 40%. All the battleships suffered varying degrees of damage, while the Spey fleet was almost full of blood, and the German third battleship squadron behind was also in good condition. The battle is almost impossible to win
"General, what should we do?" a subordinate asked.
"Order the fleet to form a formation of two warships to prepare for a breakout. If one of the warships is damaged and cannot maintain high speed, the other warship can be given up immediately." After hesitating again and again, Thomas issued this order, which was controversial in later generations. Those who admired him said that because of this order Thomas lost half of the remaining ships and those who admired him said that because of this order Thomas saved half of the ships.
Therefore, before finally meeting the enemy, the Thomas fleet quickly dispersed into 4 teams, the Elizabeth and the Fury, because these two warships were in the best condition, and the Malaya and the Tiger were in a group, because The situation of the Malaya is also good, the speed of the battlecruiser Tiger is fast, it seems to be able to run away, and the situation records of the Warrior and the Warspite are a little worse, and the Invincible can only fight the worst situation of the Prince of Wales number group
"It seems that it's time for our final battle." Although Thomas' order was to disperse and break through, everyone can go, but in fact, there are always some people who need to use their sacrifices to buy time for the fleet. A poor fleet should take this responsibility, burn itself, and illuminate the way for teammates to retreat. Although the British fleet has been wiped out, the sense of responsibility of the British navy in this era still makes Captain Richard take the Prince of Wales and Invincible to turn around Charged towards the German 3rd Battleship Squadron.
"The British are going to run, they are going to disperse and break through, and they are going to evacuate eastward." Earl Spey immediately judged the other party's thoughts after receiving the information sent by the seaplane, and this made the earl feel a little tricky. The current Thomas fleet is of course I can't beat myself, but if people want to leave, it is obviously unrealistic for two battleships equivalent to Helgoland-class battleships to chase down two queens. And if there are three ships and one team, then at most two teams will be caught. It has to be said that Thomas' actions have caused a lot of trouble to Earl Spey.
"The fleet is divided into three parts. I lead the United Force, the Tegerhoff and the Prinz Eugen to pursue a group. Lieutenant General Su Xiong leads the Scharnhorst, the Gneisenau and the St. Stephen. Pursue another group, two Turkish battleships and the USS Independence aircraft carrier." Earl Spey thought for a while and said. The combined combat power of the two Turkish battleships is the lowest, the ships are the same ships,
But people are different. It is estimated that the British should not be able to keep the British, and Earl Spey and Su Xiong each have a group. After thinking about it, the Earl can only kill 2 more warships at most. no way. Quota is not enough, worry about it
Besides, the British fleet, the Elizabeth and the Fury are in the best situation. They can even run at a speed of more than 235 knots. The first one to flash, the speed is so fast that it even flashed before the Spey fleet reacted. Then came the Warrior and the Prince of Wales, but it was a pity that they were first targeted by Earl Spey, while the Malaya and the Tiger were targeted by Su Xiong. As for the Turks who said they didn't get the goods, they chose rationally Together with the Independence, the name is to protect the fragile aircraft carrier. In fact, the war has reached the current level, and Turkey's idea of preserving the fleet is at the peak. On the contrary, the Americans were more active and wanted to see the final outcome of the British fleet up close. Therefore, except for the necessary destroyers, most of the remaining destroyers were assigned to the two squadrons.
So the entire battlefield was directly divided into three small battlefields, and the first to end was naturally the Prince of Wales and the Invincible commanded by Captain Richard, because they faced the strongest enemies.
"Your Excellency, Vice Admiral, we can leave two battleships to deal with these two British warships, and then other warships will go after the British army." On the flagship Brunswick of the third battleship squadron, the chief of staff of the fleet told Schmidt The Lieutenant General suggested.
"It's not necessary. We'll call it a day by concentrating all the fleet's firepower to kill them. This is our task. Don't do extravagant things." Lieutenant General Schmidt said. And then, when the 4 Bavarian-class battleships aimed the remaining 24 artillery pieces at these two poor battleships, they had less than 15 minutes left to survive
The poor Invincible was the first to be destroyed. It is undoubtedly a miracle that this battleship survived until now. However, when he decided to seek death and use his life to exchange his teammates for a chance to survive, even God could not save it.
The battleship Coburg finally got its first capital ship kill in its life. A 15-inch shell fired from Coburg was lucky to hit the ammunition depot of the Invincible before other colleagues. The shell flew over 17 kilometers After a certain distance, it accurately drilled into the rear of the Invincible's hull. The shell easily tore through the 6-inch side armor belt, then the inclined 25-inch dome armor, and finally kicked the Invincible 3 The last defense of the gun turret ammunition depot
The third is to ask for a subscription and a reward
end of chapter
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