The French shelling was quite effective, and only a minute later, several of the light cruisers under Rear Admiral Su Shun were hit by bullets and caught fire, and none of these light cruisers could withstand the 86-kilogram armor-piercing shells fired by the French 194-mm guns. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

"There was an explosion in the Caesar turret!"

"Damn French!" Rear Admiral Su Shun had just stabilized himself from the violent vibration of the explosion when he heard the sad news that the Salzburg had lost a third of its firepower. He stared at the battleship not far away with bloodshot eyes, the six chimneys of the French armored cruiser looming in the darkness.

"Command the ships! Attack the searchlight! Launch a torpedo! Order the destroyer fleet assault! ”

Facing the 4 French Navy's latest armored cruisers that came out of nowhere, even if he was caught off guard, Su Shun didn't think about escaping!

In the Battle of the Gulf of Helgoland, how the comrades of the Ocean Fleet fought bloodily in the face of the British battle cruisers has long become an immortal sample of the fighting spirit of the German Imperial Navy, and now there are only 4 armored cruisers on the opposite side, and there is no reason for them to do worse! This rear admiral, who commanded the battlecruiser Goeben in the original time and space, faced 5 dreadnoughts of the Black Sea Fleet of the Tsarist Navy in the Battle of Cape Saleh, and still chose to take the initiative to engage this time!

However, Su Shun is not a brute force, although he is at an absolute disadvantage in terms of firepower, and the naval guns of the light cruiser cannot penetrate the main armor single of the armored cruiser on the opposite side, but at this distance, the two 3-pack 550 mm torpedo tubes on the side have become a killer weapon that can give the French a fatal blow.

Concentrate on attacking the French superstructure, destroying searchlights, and shortening the distance at which they can spot torpedoes, if they can hit them directly, it is naturally the best result, if they can't, then forcing the French to turn to evasion can also reduce the accuracy of their shelling, and open the distance, making room for the destroyer surprise attack.

The German naval officers and men were undoubtedly excellent, but in fact, they did not need Su Shun's orders at all, and the gunners, who had recovered from the shelling of the French, had already aimed their guns at the French superstructure after discovering that there were 4 armored cruisers opposite.

The French's cannons are more powerful, but their own cannons are faster!

The 34 150mm guns on the 6 light cruisers showed their ultra-high rate of fire of 8 rounds per minute in actual combat! The continuous bands of light that streaked across the night sky made the Germans look even more powerful than the French! The deck of the French armored cruiser suddenly exploded everywhere! The superstructure of the French was swept by flames, fragments and shock waves, and the searchlights shining on the German light cruisers were instantly reduced by more than half!

Although it seems that the situation was more tragic because of the fire on the deck of the French armored cruiser, in fact every hit of the French brought even more tragic losses to the Germans.

An 86-kilogram armor-piercing shell smashed directly on the command tower of the Linz, which was in third place, and the 100 mm command tower armor did not play a role, and all the officers in the command tower, including the captain and gunnery, were killed.

After the 50 mm main armor belt of the Graz in fourth place was penetrated, the shell then penetrated the 50 mm turret seat, and the shell exploded in the seat to open the fire door of the ammunition hoist, and the flames escaped into the propellant magazine, but fortunately, the German propellant was quite stable, and the 150 mm naval gun used metal cartridges, so only 27 cartridges in the propellant magazine were ignited. However, 34 officers and soldiers were burned to death and 7 others were seriously burned. And after pouring water into the launch magazine, the Graz not only lost a third of its firepower, but also had a bow roll.

Such a close distance makes this confrontation where you stab me with a sword and I slash you with a knife becomes extremely tragic, and at this time, the competition is no longer about tactical literacy and skills, but the will of the officers and soldiers on both sides!

"Boom"

A 164-mm shell hit the middle and rear of the Vienna hull, and scattered shrapnel swept across the rear torpedo tubes of the Vienna, and the torpedo team around the launch tube instantly swept into the steel meat grinder, blood and shredded flesh splashed all over the bulkheads and decks, and the torpedo tubes, which had been rotated at a good angle and pointed outward, suddenly became unresponsive.

"Prepare the torpedo group! Fast! ”

If 3 550-mm torpedoes are detonated, then the consequences are unimaginable! Just as the reserve torpedo squad rushed out of the cabin and rushed to the torpedo tube, with the sound of high-pressure gas eruption, three torpedoes shot out of the launch tube, accompanied by a small splash of water falling into the sea, and then the propeller rotated at high speed, and the snow-white track quickly rushed to the huge shadow of the armored cruiser opposite.

"Reut, you're not dead!" The torpedo leader of the reserve torpedo group walked behind the shield of the torpedo launcher and said to the torpedo sighter that the torpedo tube was already covered with the blood of his comrades, and it made him feel a little better to see that his comrades were still alive.

"Ahem, even if you want to die, you have to watch the explosion after the torpedo hits to die! Ahem! Reutt said with great difficulty, and leaned back on the back of the aimer's seat as if he had exhausted all his strength.

At this time, the head of the preparatory torpedo saw that there was a huge wound on the opponent's body that stretched diagonally across the chest and abdomen, and the entire chest was already red with blood. The eyes of the pre-torpedo chief turned red all at once.

"Reload! Reload my torpedo in 5 minutes! The head of the preparatory torpedo shouted hysterically.

The destroyers of the German Navy focused on the number of torpedoes fired in one shot during a torpedo assault, so they did not have the ability to reload torpedoes. However, light cruisers were prepared with two torpedo tubes, considering that they might carry out the task of breaking the engagement, and that the use of naval guns when attacking civilian ships was too inefficient, and that only one torpedo was sufficient for a close attack with torpedoes.

However, except for the torpedoes that are usually in the torpedo tube, the remaining torpedoes are stored in the compartment behind the torpedo tube, and to reload, you need to rotate the torpedo tube back into the ship's body, align the tail of the torpedo tube with the loading port on the compartment, and then push the reserve torpedo out of the compartment along the loading port and load it into the torpedo tube. And because it was only used at a leisurely time when attacking civilian ships, it was completely up to manpower to reload.

The commander of the reserve torpedo demanded that the reloading be completed within five minutes, which could be regarded as a strong man's difficulty, but at this time, the officers and men of the reserve torpedo group did not complain. The blood of their comrades was already enough for them to give their all to any order capable of striking the enemy.

Putting Reutte off his seat, the pre-sighter immediately sat down in the blood-soaked aimer's seat and began to turn the direction machine vigorously, and the torpedo tubes began to slowly turn back to the hull.

The reserve torpedo captain lowered Reut to the deck, allowing him to lean against the bulkhead and look out to sea.

"Look! The explosion of the torpedo hit you must watch! The head of the reserve torpedo roared at Reut, who was already unable to speak, and then raised his head and shouted arrogantly in the slightest regardless of the fact that just one minute had passed since he gave the order: "Move fast!" What the fuck are you guys grinding around! I'll give you another 2 minutes! ”

The brave battle of the German naval officers and men finally allowed Su Shun to see the results he wanted to see, most of the searchlights were knocked out by the Germans, and the French, who were baptized by the continuous rain of bullets, only saw the 36 snow-white tracks flying over when they reached 2000 meters, and the original 4 armored cruisers turned to evade, and the French armored cruiser fleet was in chaos in an instant!

Waldeck attacked by the Vienna? Ten 65-mm rapid-fire guns on the Rousseau began to fire wildly at the track on the water. The hull that began to tilt during the sharp turn made the French not very good, but fortunately, there were a lot of 65mm rapid-fire guns, and the 4.2 kg warhead also had enough destructive power, and the shock wave generated by the shell that exploded under water shattered the torpedo's minebody, and the seawater poured into the combustion chamber so that the thermodynamic torpedo suddenly lost power and made the torpedo begin to sink, and after some bubbles appeared on the sea surface, 2 torpedo tracks disappeared from the sea.

And yet, before the French gunners could cheer, 1 torpedo crashed into Waldeck? The stern of the Rousseau, with a huge explosion that almost pushed Waldeck? The stern of the Rousseau moves laterally. The officers and men on board watched in horror as the splash slammed against the wall of water on the aft deck, and when they learned that Waldeck? After the rudder of the Rousseau was jammed and the propulsion shaft on one side was broken, a look of despair crept up on their faces.

Waldeck? The Rousseau is now turning at full helm! Stuck rudders mean they can only go around in circles on the sea! They can't leave!

On the Vienna, the chief of the reserve torpedo also saw Waldeck? The wall of water in the stern of the Rousseau, and the explosion appeared in the stern, so this should be the torpedo fired from the rear torpedo tube. He turned his head excitedly and shouted, "See! The explosion of a torpedo hit! That's the torpedo you shot! ”

However, he received no response, and Reut leaned against the bulkhead, tilting his head as if asleep.

He turned his head, looked at the shadow of the ship opposite with a cruel smile and shouted, "Torpedo fire!" ”

The first wave of torpedo attacks by the Germans had quite good results, and Waldeck? Rousseau wasn't the only ship hit, El Nest at the back of the line? The situation of the Renan was not much better, the bow was blown into Elephant Trunk Hill by a torpedo fired from Innsbruck, and the large holes that ran through the sides of the hull made Ernest? The Renan's bow looked like it was going to fall off at any moment.

Almost at the same time that the rear torpedo tubes of the Vienna fired 3 more torpedoes, the German light cruisers launched a second wave of torpedo attacks!

The second wave of torpedo attacks by the Germans did not pose much of a threat to the French armored cruisers, which had already completed their turn. And yet Waldeck? Rousseau was unable to return to the rudder after dodging the first wave of torpedoes on the Vienna, and she re-exposed her huge silhouette to the Germans while maintaining a full rudder turn, which made Waldeck? Rousseau became the biggest victim of the second wave of torpedo attacks,

Can't adjust the course to Waldeck? The French naval officers and sailors on the Rousseau watched as their warships voluntarily collided with torpedo tracks.

First one of the torpedoes fired by the Linz crashed into the middle of her hull, then a torpedo from the Innsbruck hit her bow, and the 200-kilogram warhead of two 550-mm torpedoes was simply not something that a French armored cruiser with weak underwater protection could withstand.

The violent explosion brought the power system to a halt, and Waldeck, who lost the power of the whole ship? The Rousseau stopped even the pumping machines, the sea water poured in from the huge breach, the hull quickly rolled sideways, and there was no chance of saving, Waldeck? The Rousseau was forced to abandon the ship.

Su Shun's gamble got the result he wanted, and the distance between the French and himself was quickly widened. Originally, there was not enough space at a distance of less than 4,000 yards between the two sides, and the destroyer fleet rushing in would only be caught between the two fleets, becoming a target for the French to attack, and even the possibility of being accidentally damaged by their own light cruisers.

But now, not only did they sink an armored cruiser, but the French fleet that turned was getting farther and farther away from themselves, and more importantly, the destroyer fleet, which was assaulting from the flanks and rear, only had to face the interceptive fire of the outermost battleships of the French fleet, which had turned into a horizontal column, and the offensive pressure was greatly reduced!

However, Su Shun also paid a terrible price for this.

When the destroyer leader who followed the fleet arrived with 16 destroyers, looking forward from the rear of the formation, they were stunned by the tragic situation of their own light cruisers. All 4 light cruisers were on fire, and the flagship Salzburg was rolled; Only 3 main guns were firing on the Vienna; The freeboard of the Linz was a little shorter, apparently heavily flooded; In the worst condition, the bow deck of the Graz was almost submerged, the stern was raised high, and the flashing light signals on the bridge asking to break away from formation indicated that the battleship could no longer fight.

In less than 20 minutes after the battle broke out, most of the light cruisers of the 2nd Squadron of the German Mediterranean Fleet cruiser detachment were destroyed!

The German sailors who watched the fleet's miserable situation were stunned, and the destroyer leader ship, the Sparrowhawk, began to repeatedly sound a light signal:

"Assault!"