Chapter 728: Bloody Battle
What will be the result of the impact of the old armored cruiser on the new dreadnought? The Battle of Malta is well illustrated, although the French armoured cruisers were fast, and the French were heroic. (The bravery of the French Army before World War 2 was impeccable, both in World War 1 and in the Franco-Prussian War, the French Army lacked advanced tactics and strong national strength without lack of spirit.) But no matter how tenacious the spirit is, it can't withstand the firing of large-caliber artillery at close range!
The Glorious, which rushed to the front, was hit first! A shell from the side easily cracked through its fragile armor, and finally exploded in the flue of the hull amidships, accompanied by violent vibrations and shrapnel and flames flying in the sky, the entire armored cruiser shuddered, and then a large amount of smoke poured out of the broken flue, and thick black smoke began to spread through the hull.
The Glory was hit and protected as if it had a head, and soon, countless shells flew towards the French armored cruiser that was trying to evade, and the explosions continued to sound on the battleship, and some people even saw that the Marseillaise was hit by 3 large-caliber shells at the same time! The twin 7.6-inch turret in the bow was directly removed by the detonated ammunition. Two other shells destroyed the stern steering gear, while the other penetrated the boiler compartment and blew a dozen boilers to pieces, and less than seven minutes into the charge, the Marseillaise drifted like a hyena with a broken backbone.
The second battered battleship was the Conde, which avoided the first blow of the Italian-Austrian fleet because of its position relatively far back, but sadly. WHEN THE MARSEILLAISE WAS HEAVILY DAMAGED, THE BATTLESHIP WAS EXPOSED DIRECTLY TO THE MUZZLE OF THE 350MM GUNS OF PRINCE EUGEN'S GUNS, FIRING ONLY TWO VOLLEYS. The Conde was hit by 5 shells, and at a distance of less than 7KM, almost all the heavy guns could penetrate the protection of the patrol, and even one shell penetrated through the upper armor of the Comte and out of the hull on the other side! Directly hit a penetrating injury! The 10,000-ton crew struggled to advance in a hail of bullets, but a shell that hit the boiler compartment halted the Conde's movement, and the depleted hull sank in the rolling waves.
If no other force intervened, then this French assault would have no meaning other than to send away warships with a total tonnage of more than 60,000 tons. But it is impossible without external forces, and just when the Italian-Austrian navy was happily killing the French patrol, three Brestani-class battleships also rained bullets on the heads of the Austro-Hungarian fleet! And the two combined force heavyweight battleships at the tail of the team were taken care of by the French fleet! At the same time that the Comte was being fired at. The stern of the United Force was hit four times in less than 2 minutes! Two of the shells hit the turret, one of which had its top armor pierced and the turret scrapped, while the other turret barely withstood the attack. But because of the violent tremors. As a result, the hydraulic equipment of two of the guns was damaged, and the rear hemisphere firepower of the combined force was almost completely lost!
Another shell destroyed a storage cabinet in the stern, and the damage caused by this shell was almost negligible under normal circumstances, but this time it was different, the various clothes placed in the stern locker burned in the flames, and the smoke completely covered the entire rear, completely affecting not only the vision of the United Force, but also the view of the Taghoff of the same class. And this opportunity was seized by the French! While the Ito-Austrian fleet was concentrating its fire on the French cruisers, a convoy of torpedo boats bypassed the area of engagement. Rushing from the rear to attack the already battered Combined Force Weight!
It was the most brilliant attack of the French in this naval battle, and the closest they came to victory! As many as 9 torpedo boats suddenly appeared in the sight of the Austrians! They approached quickly from the right side of the tail and reached speeds of over 28 knots, which was almost 12 knots faster than the United Force! SUBSEQUENTLY, 5 OF THE TORPEDO BOATS FIRED 3 TORPEDOES IN ONE GO AT A DISTANCE OF LESS THAN 12KM! The fan-shaped torpedoes split into two and rushed towards the unaware Combined Force Gauge! By the time the lookouts spotted the Grim Reaper coming from behind, it was already too late, and before they even had time to inform the officers, the torpedoes had already crashed into the starboard side of the United Force in quick succession!
"We were torpedoed! They're behind us! "Count Spee, who was directing the battle in front, even received only one telegram, and the explosions behind him were already heard one after another! In less than a minute, the Prinz Eugen, which was attacked by a sneak attack, was hit with at least 4 torpedoes! The dreadnought with a displacement of more than 20,000 tons could not save itself at all in the event that so many torpedoes were suddenly hit on one side, and from Taghoff, the first Austro-Hungarian dreadnought quickly tilted in an extremely short time, and soon the battleship tilted to an irretrievable 25 degrees! All guns were no longer able to fire due to angle problems.
At this moment, the joint force made the most important action in his life! He turned the ship with all his might, preparing to block the despicable assassination of the French for the equally ill-prepared Taghoff, although this would speed up the sinking of the United Force, and although this action did not necessarily work, their spirit lifted the officers and men of the entire fleet! This is how an officer aboard the Tegerhof commented on the United Force's actions before it sank.
With the sinking of the United Force Weight, almost all the French cheered! Just after Italy sank the French, the French fleet immediately changed colors! Destroyed one of the opposing warships with an extremely decisive action, and from now on, they still have a chance to continue to expand the results, and 4 torpedo boats full of torpedoes did not fire! And they targeted the Taghoff, which was also in the rear!
However, the sinking of the United Force had alerted the Austrians, and within a few minutes of the attack on the United Force, the destroyer that had been preparing to respond to the enemy's lightning strike on the side was quickly moved to the rear, and the Taghoff, which had already recovered its senses, also aimed the four main guns that could be used in the rear at these dangerous and fast assassins! The shells did not have time to be replaced with shrapnel shells specifically against destroyers, but directly with high-explosive shells or even armor-piercing shells!
In the face of the fierce fire of artillery of various calibers, all the French torpedo boats braved a dense rain of bullets to quickly approach, even if the torpedo boats that had already finished torpedoes were still moving forward, and they had to use their thin bodies to disperse the fire of friendly forces. AT A DISTANCE OF LESS THAN 4KM, THE SECOND WAVE OF LIGHTNING STRIKES FROM THE FRENCH WAS FINALLY LAUNCHED, AND THIS TIME THE TORPEDOES WERE STILL NO LESS THAN THE LAST ONE, AND AT LEAST MORE THAN 10 TORPEDOES FLEW OUT OF THE TORPEDO TUBES. However, because of the interference of the opposing destroyers, as well as the evasion of the Teghof. Only one torpedo hit the middle part of the hull of the Taghoff.
"Damn, we've got another ship wounded!" Looking at the Taghoff, which was a little tilted after being hit by a torpedo, Holdie's heart was bleeding, Austria-Hungary had a total of 4 new battleships, and in a blink of an eye, one was sunk and one was seriously damaged. Damn the Italians, so that they diverted the direct defense force that originally belonged to the Austro-Hungarian fleet, and let the hateful French take advantage of it. At this time, Holdie hated the Italians even more, and Tycho's strength before the war seemed to him to be completely arrogant! If it weren't for the German government behind Count Spee, who threatened the safety of Silesia, Austria-Hungary would never have accepted such an arrangement!
"Vice Admiral Spee, I wish I could have the Prinz Eugen escort the Taghoff away from the battle line, he is wounded, his speed has dropped, and he is not fit to stay in the battle line any longer." Haldy pondered for a moment before asking Count Spee. Coupled with the blow received at the beginning of the artillery battle, the Taghoff was indeed seriously injured, and had been hit several times before it was struck by lightning, causing the bow to enter the water and 3 guns destroyed. And now, because of the torpedo explosion, the violent vibration damaged the ammunition supply equipment of the No. 3 turret, so that there are only 7 guns left that the Taghoff can theoretically use, plus the inclination, so Holdie's request is still more reasonable, in this chaotic situation, a battleship is obviously dangerous, so he also wants to let the Prinz Eugen leave with him to cover the Taghoff's repair and retreat.
"Absolutely not! We can tell the Italians to wait for us, but we must not leave the battle line! "Count Spee directly rejected the other party's proposal without even thinking about it! Drop three battleships in one go? That's 8 to 7! The strength of the dreadnoughts on both sides is almost equal. And looking at the front team, the former dreadnoughts and mounted cruisers of the Italian Navy are clearly also on the verge of collapse. Soon, too, the Italian fleet will have to concentrate its fire on the former dreadnoughts, and what will the Italians do if the Austro-Hungarian fleet is gone?
Count Spee was still quite complaining at the beginning about Tycho's transfer of all the former dreadnoughts, and he would never accept it if he were not worried that the Italians would give up. But now it seems that whether the Italians were selfish or unintentional from the beginning. Tycho had made the right move! And the current situation is such that even if Tycho concentrates the former dreadnought fleet, it will still not be enough to hold back the French!
JUST WHEN THE AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN FLEET WAS SUFFERING HEAVY LOSSES, THE ITALIAN FLEET WAS ALSO IN A BITTER BATTLE, AND THE DANTE, AFTER BEING FIRED BY THE DREADNOUGHT FRONT OF THE DANTON, FINALLY FLOODED A LARGE NUMBER OF PEOPLE BECAUSE OF THE SERIOUS DAMAGE TO THE NOSE AND TAIL ARMOR BELTS, AND THE PROJECTION OF 4 12-INCH GUNS AND 6 240MM GUNS WAS NO LESS THAN THAT OF EIGHT 12-INCH GUNS! Sweep decks more efficiently! In the end, the Dante-class 10-inch main outfit was unable to block the opponent's 12-inch guns in close combat, and two shells successfully penetrated his armor, one shot through the gun mount of the No. 2 turret, causing a district fire, while the other shot penetrated the steam engine room, directly causing the battleship to lose two-thirds of its power! A large amount of seawater could not be ruled out, the fire spread throughout the ship, and it was only a matter of time before the battle sank!
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