Chapter 593 Missile Night

"Boom! Boom! Boom..."

The M-class reconnaissance cruiser Berlin, sailing in front of the Friedrich I missile cruiser, fired the first shot of the "Night Battle of the Celtic Sea" in the early morning of May 3. The two turrets at the bow of the Berlin fired four 150mm flares under the guidance of the fire control radar.

"Target found!"

When four flares emitting dazzling light appeared above the British 5th Squadron. In the missile operation room on the top of the Friedrich I bridge, someone immediately shouted: "Direction 125, distance 18700, aim immediately!"

The aiming work cannot be completed in the missile operation room. It is the responsibility of the personnel on the missile deck. They will aim the missile at the corresponding direction and adjust the elevation angle according to the parameters reported by the missile observation/operation officer.

"Direction 125, distance 18700, No. 1 is aimed!"

"Direction 125, distance 18700, No. 2 is aimed!"

The voice of the missile deck commander came from the hoist, and the operating officer in the operation room (there are 2 operators responsible for 2 missiles respectively, one of whom is the operating commander) immediately issued an order: "No. 1 launch, No. 2 launch."

After receiving the order, the operators on the missile deck immediately started the engine at the tail of the V3 missile, the propeller rotated rapidly, and the indicator light at the tail of the missile was also turned on. Then someone pressed the button of the No. 1 catapult, and saw the No. 1 missile being ejected into the air with a bang, and then pressed the No. 2 catapult to launch the No. 2 missile into the air.

These two missiles are actually a large wireless remote-controlled aircraft. After being launched, the two operators in the operation room can use the remote control handle to control them to hit the target 18,700 meters away.

The target is a very old heavy cruiser Cavendish. This class of cruisers was designed in 1915, and there was no concept of heavy cruisers at that time. The British Royal Navy designed this 10,000-ton ship equipped with 7.5-inch (1 10,000-ton main gun to deal with German raiders. However, the P-class raider (the P-class was originally a raider) was definitely not something it could deal with, and this P-class also launched two overpowered anti-ship missiles at it.

Although the V3 wireless remote-controlled missile has a short range, the final model equipped with the German Navy can only fly 30,000 meters on its own power. However, its size and weight have reached an astonishing level, with a total flight weight of 2.2 tons and a warhead charge of up to 850 kilograms of explosives!

The reason why it was made like this is that it is not very convenient to load the missile during combat, and there is no question of firing rate. It can only pursue high power and strive to sink with one shot.

Just as two V3s were flying at a speed of 360 kilometers per hour (theoretically capable of flying 600 kilometers , but it is difficult to control at night when flying so fast, so the speed of V3 in night battles is reduced to 360 kilometers per hour) When flying towards the unfortunate Cavendish, the British heavy cruiser also fired flares at the Frederick I.

"Oh my God, it's a battlecruiser!"

Captain Jackson of the Cavendish was immediately shocked by the huge ship with a standard displacement of 24,000 tons when he saw the Frederick I illuminated by the flares. Such a big guy is obviously not something a 10,000-ton heavy cruiser can deal with, but the 5th Squadron led by him has now completed the mission - as long as they find the German battlecruiser and illuminate it with flares, the 7 British battleships behind will naturally take care of it.

"Colonel, there are 2 glowing UFOs flying over!"

Colonel Jackson just wanted to order the destroyers in the squadron to release smoke to cover the Cavendish As the UFO was about to retreat, they heard UFOs coming.

What is this? Colonel Jackson held up a telescope and searched the night sky. He saw two unknown things, flashing a faint red light, flying towards him at a speed of about three or four hundred kilometers per hour.

"It's a torpedo plane!" The colonel didn't know there were missiles, he only knew there were torpedo attack planes, "shoot them down quickly!"

As soon as he gave the order, the ping-pong cannon on the port side of the Cavendish had already fired. But it is not easy to shoot down the V3 missile. Because the missile body is slender, the frontal area is very small, and it is impossible to make the missile lose control by killing the pilot. Moreover, the body of the V3 missile is very strong, and the armor-piercing warhead in front of the front is impossible to penetrate it, and it doesn't make much sense to hit it. The metal wings are relatively short and not easy to hit.

The more fatal part is the one installed on the back of the body. A "shoddily made" 1,000-horsepower liquid-cooled engine and propeller produced by Mercedes-Benz.

However, since there is no need to consider the heat dissipation problem (the V3 only flies for a few minutes, so it is not afraid of high temperatures), the engine is wrapped very tightly in a steel shell. Unless it is directly hit by a 40mm shell, it is difficult to destroy it with shrapnel. Therefore, it is very difficult to shoot down a V3 missile.

And even if the engine or propeller of the V3 is destroyed, it does not mean that the missile has fallen. Because inertia will continue to push it to glide for a distance, it can still glide on the water surface or underwater even after falling into the water, and it is very likely to directly hit the underwater part of the target ship, which is equivalent to being hit by a powerful torpedo-soon after this weapon was put into use, many V3 operators discovered this trick, and they would deliberately let the V3 slide into the water when approaching the target ship to attack the underwater part of the target.

The ping-pong guns on the Cavendish didn't shoot down any of the V3 missiles in the end, but one of the two V3s hit the port side of the heavy cruiser at a speed of 360 kilometers per hour, piercing through the 3-inch armored steel plate on the spot, and then suddenly exploded inside this old cruiser with a dome armor.

Although this V3 did not penetrate the dome armor (because of its slow flight speed), the explosion of 850 kilograms of explosives still turned this old ship into a sea firework and a floating torch. It also scared Admiral John Koronin Tovey, who was commanding the battle on the Queen Elizabeth.

"The Cavendish was hit by a torpedo!" Admiral Tovey exclaimed, "Damn it, the Germans also have 'Lance' torpedoes!"

The Japanese had already used the terrible 93 Lance torpedoes in the Pacific and Indian Ocean battlefields. Admiral Tovey naturally knew the power of this Japanese torpedo with a long range and excellent concealment. So now, when he saw the heavy cruiser Cavendish being blown up without the enemy battlecruiser's main gun firing, he immediately thought of the 93 Long Lance torpedo.

"Boom! Boom!"

Before Admiral Tovey could come to his senses, there were two more loud noises, and then two more huge floating fireballs appeared on the sea.

"It's the Berwick and Hawkins... Two more heavy cruisers were severely damaged!"

Admiral Tovey was already a little confused. How long has it been? Three heavy cruisers were severely damaged... Well, it looks like they are severely damaged beyond repair.

"Quick, quick, full speed, get out of here!"

Seeing that the sneak attack was successful, Admiral Karls didn't even let the Friedrich I use its main gun to make up for it, and immediately ordered to flee at full speed - the British must have battleships in this area, and the Friedrich I can't beat them without V3 missiles.

He now found that the cannons of the P-class missile cruiser were really useless. They couldn't hit battleships, and it would take a long time to sink heavy cruisers. Thinking about it, V3 missiles were more useful.

"Commander, the Germans seem to be running away!"

The radar on the Elizabeth quickly discovered that the six German battleships on the sea were all running away... But why were they running? Could it be that they were just going to sneak attack and leave?

"Commander, do you want to chase them?"

Chase? Will I be torpedoed if I chase them? Admiral Tovey thought about it, and felt that he had to chase them, otherwise these German ships might go to Coke Bay to lay torpedoes, and the B fleet that was laying mines there was no match for them.

"Chase them slowly and drive them away." Admiral Tovey ordered, "Remember not to get too close, be careful of the German spear torpedoes!"

But less than 10 minutes after Tovey's fleet chased them, the radar officer reported loudly again: "Commander, the enemy turned around and returned!"

"Returned?"

Admiral Tovey was stunned. Did he want to lay torpedoes again?

Admiral Tovey thought for a moment, gritted his teeth and said: "Order all the destroyers to move closer to the 1st Squadron, lure the Germans over, and let them taste the power of the battleship's main guns!"

No matter how powerful the lance torpedo is, can it be more powerful than the battleship's main guns? There are 7 British battleships here, including 5 Queen Elizabeth-class and 1 Ramillies, each with 8 15-inch guns, and another Repulse with 6 15-inch guns, a total of 54 15-inch (380mm) guns. Such firepower is barely enough to fight a fair fleet battle with the European Combined Fleet. It is simply not something that the three German battlecruisers with only 280mm guns can deal with! As long as we can concentrate our firepower to sink one, the remaining German ships will most likely have to flee in disgrace.

"Commander, the British want to lure us to the muzzles of their battleships."

John Tovey's idea was seen through by Colonel Wagner, Chief of Staff of the 5th Fleet of the European Combined Fleet from the beginning.

"This is also our chance!" Fleet Commander Carls said, "We have 6 V3s that can be launched. They can fly 100 meters per second and only take 200 seconds to hit a target 20,000 meters away... During this period, the British battleships can fire at most 5-6 salvos. They should not be able to hit us, after all, it is night now. But our 6 V3s can at least hit 2, and if they hit one battleship, it will at least damage it if it does not sink!"