"The Germans did it anyway!" Looking at the six huge figures in the distance, Thomas's face turned pale. The identity of these warships has been very clear, this is the most feared existence of the entire Royal Navy, and it is also the pinnacle of naval shipbuilding in this era! 4 Izmail-class battleships armed with 10 15-inch guns and 2 Izmail-class battleships armed with these 12 14-inch guns! The Germans threw the best of the entire high seas fleet into the avant-garde, which put Thomas under a lot of pressure!

"Prepare to engage the enemy and fire!" The fleets of both sides were getting closer and closer, and Thomas finally gave the order to open fire. Hopefully, General Jericho's own team will be able to crush the opponent quickly. I'm not in a good situation here! Thomas said worriedly.

"Crush them! Let's use naval guns and armor to speed up time, who is the most pinnacle existence in this world! In contrast to Thomas's worries and worries, the strong Hipper was full of spirits. He had the most powerful squadron in the world in his hands, and he never dreamed that one day he would be able to command such a fleet to completely end his rival! As the commander of the fast fleet, he fought Betty many times, and was able to escape even when the situation was bad, but he only suffered Thomas's loss, which made the fierce and aggressive Hipper very dissatisfied. And this time, he finally gained the advantage of strength and strength, and he could have a face-to-face battle with his opponent!

The slowly rotating rangefinders locked onto their respective targets, and the opponent's speed and course data were transmitted to the fire console, and then under the command of the fire console, the twin 15-inch turrets weighing more than 800 tons were slowly aimed at the enemy ships in the distance. Then accompanied by the ignition of the cartridge, a shell weighing 800 kg flew out of the chamber! The orange muzzle flames were continuous, and the entire fleet seemed to be obscured by the fierce storm. It's just a dozen seconds. Hipper's fleet threw dozens of tons of shells at the British fleet in the distance, and Thomas, not to be outdone, opened fire almost at the same time!

The roar of hundreds of large-caliber guns instantly resounded across the sea, and from the air, the warships of both sides were almost wrapped in thick smoke, fire, and water columns, and the super dreadnought, weighing more than 30,000 tons and nearly 200 meters long, loomed on the sea. The fire control personnel struggled to distinguish the target. Looking for the distant location of the shell, it took nearly a minute after the fire was fired before the shell fell into the sea. Columns of water were formed, far or near, and then with the acceleration of the firing speed of both sides, waves of bullets rained down, and soon the sea surface became like a boiling boiler.

Violent explosions and columns of water were not in Thomas's field of vision. At this time, the distance between the two sides is 16KM. At this distance, even a 15-inch heavy gun could hardly penetrate the opponent's armor, and the battle between the two sides lasted only six or seven minutes. The warships on both sides are in a 1-on-1 heads-up mode, with each warship choosing another battleship to fight each other. But in just a few minutes, Thomas, who is very experienced, has already felt the difference in vitality between the two sides. The opponent's rate of fire is obviously faster than its own. Looking at the pocket watch in his hand, the opponent can complete a shot in about 30 seconds, while his own battleship Queen Elizabeth needs at least 45 seconds to complete a firing cycle. Looking at the Bismarck battleship in the distance, Thomas was under tremendous pressure!

Although the tonnage of the two sides is similar, the Queen Elizabeth class is a notch worse in terms of firepower! I once heard that Essen's Russian fleet had not achieved any decent results in the last battle. Thomas also once taunted the other party a little in his heart, after all, 3 battleships equivalent to the Australian in performance were actually finished like this. I'm afraid it's not just because the other party is too strong. But this time, when Thomas learned the sharp weapons hidden by the Germans, he really felt that the Orbismarck was indeed the culmination of the history of German naval construction! At least in terms of firepower, the rate of fire of 2 rounds a minute, combined with an excellent vertical imaging rangefinder and advanced fire control, can definitely make him the most terrifying existence on the European battlefield!

The warships of both sides had to take into account the entire formation. Therefore, the range of maneuvering of the battleship is extremely small, and because the course is relatively fixed. The two sides quickly formed a broken shot, and the broken shot was followed by an effective shot, and as long as there was no major deviation again, the gunners only had to do their best to shoot the shells out of the cannon according to the data. As for when exactly it hits, it can only depend on God's arrangement, but according to the principle of probability, the side that shoots more cannonballs will get more hits.

The fleets of both sides were wandering in the rain of bullets at this time, and after the collapse was formed, there was no accident, and it was only a matter of time before they were hit, when each round of shells fell, the officers and soldiers on both sides were under tremendous pressure, watching the water column that was getting closer and closer to them, and the bullets that were only close at hand, everyone's nerves were tense, waiting for the moment of hit!

"Hell, we've been hit!" The second in the British fleet, the Malaya, burst out two huge fireballs from the side, one shell directly hit the chimney at the back of the Malaya, the huge energy generated by the explosion directly exploded the chimney in two, countless shrapnel splashed around on the deck and made a cold sound, while the other shell hit the tail armor belt, and penetrated from the upper edge of the main armor belt, and finally exploded in the upper part of the dome, causing a small fire in the stern.

Soon, when the Malaya was hit, the other capital ships were also hit by the other party in a row, and a loud noise came from the rear from time to time, and columns of flames and smoke dozens of meters high rose from the towering giant ships. Those who watched were shocked. Although the successive hits did not cause too serious damage to the queens due to the distance, they had already affected the combat effectiveness of the battleship, and from time to time optical instruments or equipment located outside the armor box were destroyed, thick smoke and flames began to spread on the surface of the battleship, and the damage management team ran in the cabin to deal with the increasingly rampant fire dragon!

The battle was fought in both directions, and the Germans were equally exposed to British shelling. From time to time, orange flames flashed on the slender hulls of the Bismarck-class battleships, which were the result of being hit by the 15-inch L42 main gun. However, because of the relatively slow rate of fire of the British battleships, and because of the number of guns, the German battleships were obviously hit less often than their opponents.

While the four Bismarck-class battleships and the four Queen-class battleships in the front were inseparable, the situation in the back had already tilted, and the two York-class battleships had begun to slowly occupy the upper spot in the battle between Barem and the Australia. "The amount of projection on the other side is too big, and the big one is amazing!" This is what a British officer who served on the Barem said of the two Russian-made warships.

Unlike the Germans' half-salvos, the Russians preferred to increase the hit rate with a full salvo after the collapse was formed, and of course, in order to avoid the impact of the muzzle storm on the walk, guns No. 1 and No. 3 generally fired first on a turret, and the guns in the middle fired again after an interval of half a second, all controlled by the delay. Add to that a full 12 heavy guns, and in this battle, the projection of the two York-class battleships is definitely the highest! If the previous 4 queens were hit occasionally, then these two battleships can be described as being hit continuously. Violent explosions constantly sounded on the hull, especially the stern of the Baliem, which was actually hit 4 times in a row in just 3 minutes! One of the shells hit the deck at the front of turret No. 4, and the violent armor deformation directly stuck this turret, while the remaining 3 shells almost broke the entire stern behind turret No. 4! From the conning tower, the entire aft deck was distorted, the teak planks that had been thrown into the ship had been blown to pieces, while the deck below seemed to have been repeatedly kneaded and folded by a pair of raised hands, and the gray-black marks left by the flames and the smoke that occasionally poured out of the breaches were terrifying.

If the Barem could still support it, then in the short engagement of ten minutes, the Australia was like struggling in hell. The Queen's armor protection can ensure that the opponent's shells cannot penetrate the armor box at a long distance, but the Australian is obviously a little lacking in the face of the 14-inch 52L main gun. The opponent's first salvo gave the Australian a dismount, a main gun shell smashed directly on the junction of the horizontal armor and the main armor, although it was lucky not to be penetrated because of the angle problem, but the violent impact still caused the armor junction to crack, the back plate was shattered, and countless willow nails splashed around. Even a piece of armor almost fell off. And the second hit made a large hole of 3 square meters directly in the front armor belt of the Australia! After penetrating the front armor, the shell knocked out the anchor chamber and the soldier's main cabin in the back. The flames from the explosion ignited the fabric and woodwork in the chamber, and puffs of smoke poured out of the breach, while inside the chamber, flames began to spread to the back.

While the most powerful steel beasts of this era were fighting, the two Moltke-class battleships were also inseparable from the Tiger and New Zealand. These 4 warships can be said to have been battle-hardened for a long time. From the moment the Great War began, they fought for their respective homeland, and to this day, these surviving warships are still doing their duty. Although both sides achieved some hits, the lethality of the 14-inch short-barreled gun was relatively limited at this distance, so that even the weakly defended Tiger and the two Moltke-class battleships could withstand it. On the whole, the British fleet, although at the moment is not in serious trouble. But there are already signs of decline. And at this time, Thomas gave a rather radical order!

"The fleet can still support it, but we can't achieve effective results." Looking at the fleet in the distance, although it was constantly hit, but still trying to fight back, Thomas had some confidence in his heart. "The fleet is half to the left, we need to close the distance!" After a moment of hesitation, Thomas finally decided to close the distance between the two sides so that the main gun could penetrate the opponent's armor. This is a decisive battle, and any idea of keeping it is extremely dangerous, either you die or I live!

Thanks to the book friend zhouyu1976 and huhaikaka for the tip~~~. As well as the monthly pass support of the book friend Tianjian Dance Piaoxiang, 9166067813, and allenmao~~~. (To be continued......)