Chapter 572 The Bishop's Exploding Cannon

"Report, radar found that the enemy's No. 2 ship slowed down significantly, and it was obviously severely damaged. It can't run away!"

"Sir, the No. 2 ship seems to have only 6 guns that can fire!"

"Sir, the enemy seems to have disbanded the formation!"

"Hehe..." Hearing that the US fleet disbanded the formation, Admiral Hubert Schmidt laughed and said, "This time the US Pacific Fleet will be seriously injured. Let the Bismarck's reconnaissance plane search for the enemy's No. 1 ship, which should also be a South Dakota-class!"

Hubert Schmidt has judged that the enemy has 2 South Dakota-class or North Carolina-class battleships through the gunfire and the speed of the enemy fleet. He doesn't intend to let any of them go!

As for the remaining 7 slower battleships, Hubert Schmidt determined that they were old ships built before the last World War and could run at most 20 knots. There is no threat to the new German, Italian and French battleships with a speed of 27 knots or above, so it's okay to let them escape.

"Reorganize the fleet," Admiral Hubert Schmidt ordered, biting his cigarette. "Ludendorff, Barbarossa, Roma and the 6th Destroyer Squadron form the 1st Squadron, responsible for attacking the enemy's No. 2 ship. Bismarck, Richelieu, Jean Bart, plus three heavy cruisers and the 4th Destroyer Squadron form the 2nd Squadron, with Bismarck as the flagship to destroy the enemy's No. 1 ship."

Admiral Hubert Schmidt now formed the slower Ludendorff, the less seaworthy Roma and the relatively weaker Barbarossa into a team to sink the already injured South Dakota.

At the same time, let the Bismarck, Richelieu and Jean Bart chase another South Dakota-class battleship, the Indiana.

Such a formation is of course to maximize the power of each ship. Among the six battleships under the command of Admiral Hubert Schmidt, the two French battleships are undoubtedly the most suitable for pursuit, because their main gun layout is a bit strange, with all eight 380mm cannons on the bow. Only the 2nd Squadron has 20 380mm cannons available when chasing the enemy, while the escaping Indiana only has three 1 cannons at the stern to fight back.

Although the 16-inch cannon of the Indiana is quite powerful and the heavy shells fired can even penetrate the armor of the Yamato. However, the 380mm main guns of the two French battleships are also powerful, and the armor-piercing shells they fired weigh 777 kilograms. Although the theoretical penetration is not as good as the Ansaldo 1 main gun of the Veneto class, it is still enough to penetrate the waterline armor belt of the South Dakota class at a distance of more than 20,000 meters.

Moreover, the Bismarck, Richelieu and Jean Bart are all high-speed battleships that can chase the enemy at a high speed of 30 knots. The South Dakota class of the United States can only run at 27 knots. The speed difference of 3 knots may not be a problem in battle. But it can be very useful in pursuit battles.

"Colonel, we can't run away!"

The first mate of the Indiana shouted to the captain, Colonel Melis, "Only 22,000 meters!"

As soon as he finished speaking, flames flashed continuously on the foggy sea in the distance!

"Damn, there are at least 20 15-inch cannons... There are 4-5 German battleships!" The first mate of the Indiana even cried when he spoke.

4-5 Bismarck-class ships! No matter how powerful the Indiana is, it will be a dead end.

"Impossible." Colonel Melis was much calmer than his subordinates, "There should be 2 French Richelieu battleships. The main guns of this kind of battleship are all at the bow."

France and the United States had a good relationship before the war. Colonel Melis was fortunate to visit this class of French battleships and was deeply impressed. I didn't expect that the United States and France would have a day of war. This is really a bit of fate. But this also shows that Germany's integration of Europe has achieved considerable success!

"We can't go on like this," Colonel Melis gritted his teeth, "Turn left, let's turn around and fight them!"

"The enemy has at least 3 battleships..."

"But we have 9 guns and 1 cannon!" Colonel Melis said, "As long as we hit one, it is possible to severely damage a Richelieu class!"

"Attack the Richelieu class?"

"Yes!" Colonel Melis shouted, "We must let the French know that following the Germans will not end well."

...

"Colonel, the enemy ship No. 2 has turned and seems to want to fight us!"

The turn of the Indiana was quickly discovered by the radar of the Bismarck. The captain of the Bismarck, who was also the temporary commander of the 2nd Squadron, Major General Lindemann, immediately understood the opponent's intentions.

"The Americans know they can't run away, so they're going to fight us!" Lindemann grabbed the handrail and ordered loudly, "Turn the rudder, direction 65, we rush towards it, close the distance, and hit it hard!"

The three German and French battleships and one American battleship all increased their speed to the highest level and ran head-on on the sea. As the distance between the two sides quickly closed, the optical aiming equipment on the ships soon pointed the direction for the cannons.

The accuracy of the artillery fire of both sides also increased rapidly. The first to make a contribution was the 380mm main gun of the Bismarck. In the fourth round of salvos, a 380mm armor-piercing shell successfully penetrated the waterline armor belt of the Indiana and exploded near the bow ammunition depot. Unfortunately, it failed to blow through the solid ammunition depot bulkhead. But it still ignited a lot of miscellaneous things and circuits, causing a fire.

Immediately afterwards, the 777 kg (projectile) armor-piercing shell fired by the French Jean Bart also hit the stern of the Indiana. The French used heavy shells, and their penetration and destructive power should not be underestimated. The shell penetrated the relatively thin stern armor of the Indiana and exploded on the thick armored steel plate installed outside a machine room. Although it did not penetrate directly into the machine room, the vibration caused by the explosion still caused a malfunction of one of the Indiana's engines.

Then, the shells of the French battleship Richelieu also hit the Indiana. This time, the battleship's lifeboat deck was hit. The powerful explosion blew the lifeboats stacked there into pieces and caused a fire.

However, the Indiana quickly responded. When the distance between the two sides was shortened to 17,000 meters, a terrible 1 super-heavy shell hit the 330mm waterline armor belt of the Richelieu-class battleship.

It was also penetrated with one shot! At this distance, even the Yamato's waterline armor could hardly withstand the Indiana's 16-inch super-heavy shells, let alone the Richelieu. After tearing open the Richelieu's main armor belt, the shell still refused to give up and hit the bulkhead armor of the Richelieu's No. 1 boiler room. Although it did not directly penetrate the power compartment, the explosion still tore open the armor to form a scattering flow, damaging the two boilers inside. The Richelieu's speed suddenly dropped to 22 knots.

However, the Richelieu's firepower did not weaken as a result, but instead fired back in bursts. Soon, another victory was achieved. A 380mm shell hit the Indiana's starboard main armor belt at a distance of 14,800 meters. This time, because the distance was close enough, the shell's penetration power was greatly increased, and it finally penetrated the wall of the Indiana's No. 2 boiler room and exploded inside. The shrapnel swept across turned the inside of this boiler room into an absolute hell. All the people inside were killed, and the two boilers were blown to pieces.

But the good luck of the Richelieu seemed to end there. In the next round of shelling, a ball of fire suddenly rose outside the No. 2 turret of the battleship. When the smoke cleared, people suddenly found that one of the four barrels of the turret was broken.

"Burst!" Major General Lindemann, the commander of the fleet, was a little unbelievable when he heard the report. How could such a thing happen? Could it be that the cannons of the Richelieu were of substandard quality and would overheat and burst after firing a dozen or twenty rounds?

"Stop the Richelieu shelling and withdraw from the battle!" Lindemann did not dare to let this French battleship risk fighting again, and the bursting accident also made half of the turret lose its combat effectiveness (the Richelieu seemed to have 2 turrets, but in fact, each turret was divided into two halves in the middle, forming two and a half turrets). In theory, only 6 cannons could fire, but who knew that these 6 cannons would not have any more accidents?

After the Richelieu retreated, the Germans only had the Bismarck and Jean Bart battleships and three other heavy cruisers to deal with the South Dakota-class and the American heavy cruiser. Moreover, the main gun used by the Jean Bart was exactly the same as that of the Richelieu class, which was really scary.

"Now deal with another Richelieu class!" Colonel Melis tasted the sweetness and decided to continue bullying the French. If he could drive away the other French battleship, then the only Bismarck class left would be easy to deal with.

Unfortunately, his good luck ran out on the Richelieu's explosive gun. Less than 2 minutes after the Richelieu retreated, a 380mm armor-piercing shell fired by the Jean Bart penetrated the 406mm armor of the Indiana's conning tower. All the people in the conning tower, including Colonel Melis, died heroically. One minute later, the 380mm high-speed light shells fired by the Bismarck finally showed their power at a distance of less than 14,000 meters, penetrating the Y turret at the stern of the Indiana and exploding inside the turret, completely destroying one-third of the main gun firepower of the Indiana.

Then, the high speeds of the Bismarck and Jean Bart began to show their power. The two battleships began to chase the Indiana's buttocks. Without the stern main gun firepower, the Indiana was left to be beaten. In just a few minutes, it was hit by 4 380mm shells, one of which was also transmitted into the No. 2 engine room, blowing up the steam turbine inside, reducing the speed of the Indiana to less than 15 knots. One minute later, a 380mm heavy shell from the Jean Bart penetrated the stern main gun ammunition depot of the Indiana.

After the huge explosion, the stern of the battleship Indiana almost disappeared, and the seawater rushed in frantically. The battleship sank into the cold Atlantic Ocean in a short time.

At the same time, Vice Admiral Ingram's flagship South Dakota also sank under the siege of Ludendorff, Barbarossa and Roma. However, before the South Dakota sank, its main gun No. 1 also hit the Barbarossa severely, first smashing its No. 3 turret into pieces, and then hitting the starboard stern below the waterline, not only opening a big hole, but also penetrating the No. 4 engine room and blowing up the steam turbine inside.

With the two battleships severely damaged and losing their combat effectiveness, Admiral Hubert Schmidt did not dare to fight and had to order the fleet to retreat. This ended the naval battle that was later called the "mysterious battle of the foggy sea" in history.