Long live Joachim

Chapter 124: Amazing Reversal On the sea about 70 nautical miles northeast of Flores Island, the German fleet straddled the front of the British fleet, with all warships facing the enemy on the port side. All main guns and single side secondary guns were able to play a role in the battle, which was the standard tactic of seizing the T-head. In this state, the British warships could only retaliate against the guns. To resolve this very passive situation, they had to quickly adjust their course under the fierce enemy fire. The Germans will not easily waste this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The two German battlecruisers only exchanged two rounds of firing before turning to salvo. The second salvo of the "Prince Heinrich" and the third salvo of the "Count Tirpitz" respectively formed cross shots against the enemy flagship. Just six minutes after the battle resumed, the "Prince Heinrich" showed great power, hitting the "Hood" with two consecutive direct hits. The bow of the British battle cruiser's scissor shaped ship was blown out, and a raging fire broke out again in the midship. The rolling thick smoke had seriously affected the sighting correction of the shooting command personnel. The Prince Heinrich was at the forefront, and although the officers and soldiers of the Count Tirpitz were not willing to fall behind, they were a bit unlucky today. They fired four rounds of salvo shots at the enemy ship in a row, but it only blossomed without any results. It was not until the eighth round of salvo that the shell exploded, leaving a second large gap in the bow of the Hood, which seemed like a painless blow. Two Count Tirpitz class battlecruisers launched fierce artillery fire on enemy ships, and two light cruisers in the German fleet also opened fire on the British fleet for the first time in this naval battle. They were equipped with triple 150mm Skc/26 naval guns with a maximum range of 23 kilometers and a combat firing rate of 7-8 rounds per minute. Although their shell power was not enough to shake British main ships, they were still more than enough to deal with British cruisers of the same class. The artillery battle lasted for ten minutes, with two German light cruisers firing over 800 main shells, six of which directly hit enemy ships, and several near misses. One British light cruiser was beaten up and smoke billowed, and another destroyer was unfortunately hit. In the most difficult ten minutes, the British gritted their teeth and persevered, increasing the distance between the two fleets to 18000 meters. The British fleet sailed eastward in the northeast sea, while the Germans sailed northeastward in the southwest sea. If both sides maintained their respective directions, it would soon become a situation where the German fleet followed and pursued the British fleet. Of course, the commanders of both sides have a cautious and rational option at this point, which is to gradually withdraw from combat contact and each win a draw without a winner. In the following time, William August and Dudley Pound reflected their choices in the actions of the fleet - the German fleet turned left and north, the British fleet turned right and south, and once again returned to the parallel confrontation arena! William Auguste's intention was to delay the British fleet and wait for the second wave of carrier based aircraft to take off from the "Emperor Karl". The enemy flagship was heavily hit by artillery fire, and the sighting equipment and various types of secondary guns on board were inevitably damaged. The anti-aircraft firepower was greatly reduced, which gave the brave and skilled Ju-17 an opportunity to take advantage of. As long as it could sink this British Super Battle Cruiser, the German Atlantic Fleet's adventure was a great success. The halo of sinking the enemy's main warship for the first time since the war must have made his personal reputation soar. Dudley Pound's intention was also to hold his opponent back. He was well aware that the German naval power in the Azores was centered around these two Count Tirpitz class battlecruisers. The performance of those old-fashioned battlecruisers and dreadnoughts had long been outdated. As long as the two Count Tirpitz class battleships in front of him could be dealt with, even if they were only severely damaged, it would have a positive effect on the joint attack of the United States and Britain on the Azores. Moreover, the British navy, which suffered a disastrous defeat in the previous war, needed a satisfying revenge to resolve years of pent up frustration. After the previous battles, the three ships "Hood", "Count Tirpitz", and "Prince Heinrich" were all damaged to varying degrees, except for the "Rodney" which remained intact. In simple long-range artillery battles, the British fleet had a significant advantage, which was that they had one more heavy cruiser than their opponents. In terms of tonnage and armament, most heavy cruisers designed and built in the 1920s can be regarded as "quasi main battleships", and some heavy cruisers are even more powerful than early battlecruisers, such as the "Cumberland" in the Dudley Pound formation. This British Ken class heavy cruiser was born before the signing and implementation of the Limerick International Naval Treaty, with a standard displacement of 14700 tons, equipped with 9 9. 2-inch (234mm) guns of 50 caliber, armor thickness in key protection areas of 4-6 inches, and a maximum speed of 31 knots. In terms of these main indicators, the Ken class is not inferior to the Irish Danu class and the German Prince Albert class, but its cost is only comparable to that of Germany. 89% of the same level heavy patrols and 53% of the Irish heavy patrols still have a significant cost performance advantage. Under the command of Dudley Pound, the "Cumberland" locked its fire on the German flagship "Count Tirpitz". From the situation of the confrontation between the two sides, this did not seem to be a very wise choice. After all, the armor piercing rounds of the 9. 2-inch naval gun could not threaten the important parts of the German war cruiser at a distance of more than 10000 meters, nor could they penetrate through the horizontal decks and enter the lower deck of the ship. At best, it caused some damage to its deck buildings and auxiliary weapons, creating a tense atmosphere for the enemy and disrupting the normal performance of the enemy ship's officers and soldiers. After the last adjustment of course, the distance between the two fleets gradually decreased from 18000 meters to 15000 meters, which was the closest distance between the two fleets since they handed over. Due to multiple damages, the shooting accuracy and speed of the HMS Hood have significantly declined. The HMS Rodney has become the backbone of the British fleet, and the performance of the HMS Cumberland has also improved. Two German war cruisers were hit one after another, and the HMS Prince Heinrich caught fire for the second time. The bridge main rangefinder and the second turret rangefinder of the HMS Count Tirpitz were damaged, and the combat situation began to develop in a direction favorable to the British. At this moment, the real turning point occurred. The second batch of carrier based aircraft taking off from the German aircraft carrier "Kaiser Karl" and the bomber squadron flying from the Flores Island Air Force Base arrived on the battlefield under the radio guidance of the German fleet. Received combat orders from the Count Tirpitz, 8 Ju-17s Resolutely launched an attack on the Hood, diving from a height of thousands of meters and passing through the British fleet's anti-aircraft firepower network at lightning speed. One heavy armor piercing bomb after another stirred up waves on the side of the British battle cruiser. Finally, an aerial bomb hit the Hood, carrying enormous kinetic energy through the top armor of the British ship's No. 1 main turret, hitting the tail of the gun in the combat room and causing an explosion. The terrifying power of the bomb, along with three warheads placed in the combat room and more than 200 kilograms of propellant, exploded on the spot, with a total weight of over 1500 tons - equivalent to a destroyer's main turret jumping up in an instant and then disintegrating in the air. Three single The gun barrels weighing nearly 200 tons and the fragmented armor plates of the turret hit the scarred front deck heavily,In an instant, the tail of the warship lifted upwards, and a part of the propeller and rudder appeared on the water surface In the previous war, the powerful British cruiser fleet was branded with shame mainly due to weak defense. However, after the war, the British Navy deeply learned from the lessons and combined the technical expertise of the American shipbuilding industry to complete the design and construction of a new generation of cruisers. Its success was reflected on the battlefield. The first main turret of the Hood was completely destroyed in the violent explosion, but the ammunition depot located below the main turret did not suffer a fatal explosion - the double-layer armored partition and heavy fire doors blocked the impact of the explosion, and the automatic water injection system immediately started running. In just 30 seconds, tons of seawater were injected into the ammunition depot, avoiding the ammunition depot containing more than 400 main shells and nearly 200 tons of propellant from becoming Pandora's Box of destruction for the warship. As the saying goes, good fortune never comes alone, and misfortune never comes alone. The entire crew of the "Hood" had just walked on the brink of death, and then suffered a heavy blow. A armor piercing bomb dropped by a German fighter jet plunged into the water on the port side, causing a violent explosion that instantly stirred up waves of up to 100 meters high. The main armor belt below the waterline was suddenly blown open, creating a terrible hole. Seawater surged into the four oil storage tanks and seven watertight compartments where the partition plate had ruptured. The damaged personnel were trying to stop the leak and rescue while activating all the water pumps to fully drain the water. These emergency measures still could not prevent the huge ship from tilting to the left. In order to prevent the warship from capsizing, the captain had to order corresponding water injection into the starboard watertight compartment, causing the ship's speed to sharply decrease to 16 knots. This change made the tactical maneuverability of the British fleet almost non-existent. The German Air Force base located on Flores Island is relatively small, with only a few dozen combat aircraft deployed for patrol and surveillance, and therefore was not included in the first wave of strikes by the US and British fleets. The tactical bombers and dive bombers that took off from here launched an attack on the British fleet without hesitation, and the embarrassed HMS Hood remained the preferred choice for German pilots. In just over ten minutes, more than fifty large and small aerial bombs fell upon it. The British war cruiser, which had lost its mobility, struggled desperately under the cover of friendly ships. During the battle, they even fought back and lost German planes. However, as the damage continued to deepen, Dudley Pound, who was commanding the battle on the bridge, began to feel hopeless. While his naval, army, and aviation forces were harshly reprimanding their opponents, William August cunningly commanded the fleet to recapture the T-shaped formation and reduced the combat distance to 12000 meters. Looking at the "Hood" shrouded in thick smoke, the German naval commander showed a confident expression of determination. However, just as he was about to take action, the lookout suddenly sounded an alarm: the mast of an enemy large warship had been discovered on the eastern coast!