The decisive battle between two evenly matched battleship formations is a bit like two samurai wearing armor and holding shields, striking each other with hammers. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

It depends on whose hammer is heavier, whose armor and shield are stronger.

Now the "hammer" in the hands of Marshal Lütjans is heavy enough, and there are more of them! He brought together 2 Hindenburg-class, 1 Bismarck-class, 1 Barbarossa-class, 4 Veneto-class, and 2 Richelieu-class, a total of 10 battleships, with 16 406mm cannons and 66 380mm (381mm) cannons. The firepower far exceeded the opponent's 54 406mm cannons - and the difference between the 406mm and 380mm (381mm) cannons was actually not very great for the level of protection of the battleships on both sides.

In terms of protection, the battleship Ludendorff was being beaten with similar broadside waterline armor to the two South Dakota-class, but the Ludendorff had a dome design. Most shells that penetrate waterline armor or deck armor will explode outside the dome and will not endanger the core chamber.

So in terms of sinking resistance, the Ludendorff far surpasses the South Dakota class!

Of course, if the Ludendorff adopts the armor method of key protection, the thickest part of its broadside waterline armor belt must be 400mm-450mm, and it is difficult to say whether the South Dakota-class 406mm main gun can penetrate it......

Because of the backward armor method, the battleship Ludendorff now tasted the rain of bullets.

At 0:20, 2 Soviet-class 406mm shells hit the Ludendorff again, one of which hit the front of turret A. In an instant, the 360mm-thick frontal armor of the main turret was penetrated, and the shells exploded inside the turret, destroying a quarter of the Ludendorff's firepower in one fell swoop!

But the joy of the Americans and Soviets did not last long, and after only a minute, the 406mm main gun of the battleship Hindenburg still broke through the Massachusetts conning tower in one fell swoop, killing all the people in the conning tower, and the huge explosion also broke the radar antenna, making the Massachusetts' fire control radar temporarily unusable.

Then the Ludendorff's broadside armor belt was punctured, and the shells still exploded outside the dome armor shield. Although it caused a fire, it did not deal a fatal blow to the Ludendorff.

One minute later, the battleship Veneto's 381mm hit the A-turret of the Alabama, and the Italian heavy gun had amazing penetration, although it was more than 22,000 meters away from the target, it still partially penetrated the front of the Alabama's main turret up to 18 inches (457 mm) thick! Although the turret was not completely destroyed, the metal jet from the explosion killed all the crew members. Three 16-inch (406mm) cannons were also completely damaged, and the Alabama lost a third of its firepower.

After another 2 minutes, an even greater catastrophe befell the Americans. The broadside armor belt of the Massachusetts was once again pierced by a 406mm shell fired by the Ludendorff, which penetrated directly into one of the boiler compartments of the battleship, and after a loud bang, the Massachusetts lost half of its power and its speed dropped to less than 15 knots!

Now, the battleship formations of the European Combined Fleet, which can still maintain a speed of more than 27 knots, are about to grab the T-shaped position.

"Comrade Commander!" Just when Venus was rising in front of Ingersoll's eyes and his mind was in chaos, Gromyko, deputy head of the Political Department of the Soviet Atlantic Fleet, suddenly spoke: "Comrade Bulganin, the military commissar, thinks that it is time to end the fighting, and four Soviet-class ships will cover the retreat of two Nantakota-class." ”

"Retreat?" Admiral Ingersoll looked up at the Hindenburg-class battleship that had been beaten to the ground more than 20,000 meters away, and seemed to be a little reluctant - the loss of the battleship was now 3:1, and if the Hindenburg-class could be sunk, it would be 3:2......

"Comrade Commander," seemed to know Ingersoll's reluctance, and Gromyko continued, "our main task is to escort the NR21 fleet, and although we have lost 3 battleships, we have also sunk 1 enemy battleship and severely damaged 2, and as long as we can meet the NR21 fleet, we will still be able to complete the escort mission."

In addition, there are 12 old battleships around the NR21 fleet! If 4 Soviet-class and 2 South Dakota-class and 2 Kronstadt-class could converge with them, then 20 battleships/battlecruisers would be much more than their opponents. ”

"Okay!" Admiral Ingersoll nodded heavily, "Order the destroyers Alden and Bainbridge to release smoke to cover the retreat of the battleships Massachusetts and Alabama...... The two battleships retreated north to hide on the southern coast of Greenland (there were many small islands and icebergs along the southern coast of Greenland, which could obscure radar searches).

The rest of the light cruisers and destroyers rushed to the enemy ships, inflicted torpedo attacks, and dragged the enemy fleet at all costs! ”

After saying that, he looked at Kuznetsov, and the commander of the Soviet Red Navy understood what the other party meant, and then gave the order in Russian: "The battleship formation is disbanded, and I order the USSR, Soviet Ukraine, Soviet Belarus and Soviet Russia to immediately rush at full speed to the enemy's battle line, the Red Navy, charge!" ”

The two orders of Ingersoll and Kuznetsov, the scene of the battle of the originally very neat battleship formation began to become chaotic.

Twenty or thirty light cruisers and destroyers of the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union rushed into the circle of battle, and the entire battlefield was shattered in an instant.

"Marshal, the radar has found that many small targets are rushing towards my formation, it should be a destroyer!"

"Marshal, the 2 American battleships are beginning to retreat, and there are destroyers unleashing smoke next to them."

"Marshal, 4 Soviet-class ships have also begun to charge......"

Field Marshal Lütjens, who was on the bridge of the Hindenburg, only breathed a sigh of relief when he heard a series of reports from the staff officers.

The beginning of the death-defying charge of light cruisers and destroyers means that the victory and defeat are decided in the decisive battle of the battleship formation. The losing side in a battleship duel will use light cruisers and destroyers to charge and fire torpedoes to disrupt the opponent's battle line in order to cover the retreat of their battleships.

However, now is not the time to celebrate the victory, on the one hand, because the other side has not yet suffered a real fatal blow - it is unthinkable to destroy all 4 Soviet-class and 2 South Dakota-class, but the 2 South Dakota-class that seem to have been badly damaged will be destroyed anyway.

On the other hand, the NR21 fleet from New York is still slowly sailing eastward in the North Atlantic Ocean near Greenland! Compared to the battleships in front of you, this huge fleet is the more important target. If the NR21 fleet is allowed to reach its destination safely, God knows how much damage it will inflict on the European coalition officers and soldiers on the Irish and Soviet-German battlefields.

Thinking of this, Marshal Lütjans also wanted to follow the heavy cruisers (Admiral Hippel and Prince Eugen) and light cruisers and destroyers of the battleship formation to give the order to attack and intercept, and ordered the capital ship formation to quickly bypass the front of the four Soviet-class battleships that charged, and then pursue the slower South Dakota-class battleship (Massachusetts).

At the same time, he ordered the 3rd Sentai (with three P-class missile cruisers) cruising near the battlefield to intercept another South Dakota-class battleship (the USS Alabama), which had lost a main gun turret.

The scuffle soon ensued between dozens of cruisers and destroyers, and in the darkness, countless shells and torpedoes shuttled through each other, explosions and fires flickered, and the scene was a little more fiery than when the battleships were delivered before.

The power systems imported from Germany on the four Soviet-class battleships exerted their maximum power at this time, allowing the huge ship with a full load displacement of up to 65,000 tons to accelerate to the fastest speed, and at a speed close to 29 knots (the design maximum speed is 28.5 knots, but in fact it can run close to 29 knots). At the same time, 36 406mm cannons were firing fiercely. According to the order given by Kuznetsov, they are firing at everything that can be detected!

"Comrade commander, comrade commissar, the enemy did not come after us, they fled!"

Hearing the report of the Red Navy radar officer on the USS Soviet, which was relayed by the interpreter, Ingersoll knew that the other side had probably gone after the two South Dakotas. The Alabama was better, at least it could keep its speed at a high level, but the Massachusetts was dangerous, it had less than 15 knots left and could easily catch up.

Just when Ingersoll was about to suggest that the four Soviet ships turn around and go back and entangle the battleship formation of the European Combined Fleet, he heard Gromyko shout in a very nervous tone: "Comrade commander, I have just received a telegram from the heavy cruiser Molotov, whose radar has detected a large number of enemy fleets...... I'm afraid the NR21 fleet is in danger! ”

"What? The NR21 fleet is in danger? Ingersoll was stunned for a moment, "It shouldn't be a big problem, there are still 12 battleships protecting the NR21 fleet." And the enemy's capital ships are still fighting us just now......"

Before he could finish his words, he was interrupted by Gromyco, who spoke again: "Comrade commander, the enemy is also the French Richelieu, Lone Rank, Provence class, and the Italian Count of Cavour and Duirio class.

In addition, the Dutch transferred three Ethic-class battlecruisers to Germany, which may now be completed and put into service. (To be continued.) )