Chapter 18: It’s a pity that he does not belong to Britain (IV)

"The first team has regained the distance from the British, but why has the simple southeast-to-south steering of the second team not been completed yet?"

"At 7:51, the Hergolan hit the target ship against Hercules, and a fire broke out on the bow of Hercules?! Damn it, five minutes have passed, but I still have this vague telegram in my hand! Who can tell me whether Hercules is still fighting or is shaking? You must know that the fourth team is carrying three British main battleships in front of the two fearless teams!"

"Go and pull Kurt Frewald over to me. When will he fix the broken signal? You must know that the Osterfriesan is my flagship!"

The roar hit the young man's eardrums, and Colonel Wolfgang Weigener, the General Staff Officer of the First Battle Fleet, secretly turned his head and made a grinning move to the deputy commander of the fleet.

Commander Lieutenant General Schmidt had reason to be angry, because after the Ocean Fleet was fully launched, as the first fearless fleet to form an ocean Fleet, the slightly restrained officers and soldiers not only failed to show the level of their usual hard training in the first few rounds of artillery attacks, but instead, problems that were usually overlooked due to lack of experience emerged one after another.

Lieutenant General Schmidt's emotions burst out, and his pride fell into the mortal world. The roar of disappointment almost overturned the armor on the top of the commander's tower. Lieutenant General was not a brave and cruel person like General Scher, but after all, the old-fashion and meticulousness of the German nation had penetrated into his blood. After all, Lieutenant General devoted too much effort to this fleet.

"Although the second team can achieve an overload speed of more than 22 knots, they still have to cover the Second Battleship Fleet!" The young man was silent. The deputy commander of the fleet was a good man. The major general twisted his forehead covered with fine sweat beads, gritted his teeth and put his cap under his armpit, and explained timidly with his head tilted.

The invisible shirk was obviously unable to evade the angry Schmidt, but the intelligence officer who broke into the commander's tower saved the good man.

"General, the Hurgoland was shot in an emergency. The Hercules was shot at the bow of the squadron at 7:51. The target ship's bow tilted forward and slowed down. It was judged that the bow of the 2.5-inch armor and some shipbuilding steel were torn apart by armor-piercing bombs, and the hull was flooded with water!"

"Young men did a great job!" The haze on Schmidt's face disappeared instantly, and he kept praising the officers and soldiers of the Helgolan, as if he was just blaming the commander who was behind in the information of the Helgolan was not himself.

Wolfgang Weigener unconsciously let out a sigh of relief. The Ocean Fleet is a young navy. Although it has excellent quality, large-scale battleships and well-trained sailors, after all, this fleet has no time accumulation and lacks experience. Fighting cruise cannot replace cruel actual combat, not to mention that the first battle of the First Battle of the First Battle of the North Sea was the unprecedented battle, and the opponent still invaded the Royal Navy, which was the essence of the ocean.

Fortunately, these did not prevent professional soldiers from regaining the rhythm of war. Although the German Navy was young, it was not a fish that could be ravaged!

"Commander, I'll urge Major Kurt Frewald to help him repair the signal cable as soon as possible..."

Weigener, one of the two strategic masters of the Imperial Navy, took out two snow-white gloves from his pocket and went out with a smile. Major Fritz Sokel, the deputy general staff officer who temporarily succeeded the General Staff Officer, still clearly remembered that Colonel Weigener, who was full of personal strength, used to hold his right hand and lower his hat before going out, graceful and gentlemanly.

Grasping the cold gangway, Wegener rushed through the gangbridge at the rear end of the commander tower and came to the relatively safe flybridge connecting the No. 1 chimney. At this time, the colonel was surprised to find that most of the signal was cut off by a 12-inch British bombardment and locked on the main mast like a wild horse with a reincarnation. The captain of the loss-guard Major Kurt Frewald led a group of team members to ride on the shaking bracket of the main mast, trying to fix and disassemble the unusable signal cables, and hang another set of signal cables composed of steel cables to the high top with a pulley set.

"Major, how long will it take? We need another tactical maneuver to let the British taste our power. The signal flag is very important to us!" The sound of cannons roared, and the smoke from the launching medicine made Wegener unable to open his eyes. The colonel held the handrail of the flying bridge and shouted desperately.

"Staff Officer, give it to me again..."

Kurt Frewald, who was riding on the main mast, naturally lowered his head, but a rapidly moving fire flashed across the corner of his eyes. Frewald's blue pupils dilated sharply, and suddenly his body was balanced, and he was anxiously gestured on the main mast.

The whistling sound was getting closer and closer. Wegener had no time to bend down, and then there was a deafening explosion. A powerful impact force rushed over with the white waterline, and Wolfgang Wegener felt that he was flying. In an instant, Wegener remembered the awkward sentence "Flowing the Clouds and Gasing Fog" that Heidi Silem occasionally mentioned in the letter, which had a unique oriental meaning.

"I'm going to die?" Weigener fell heavily on the deck, a warm current flowing from his right arm, and a feeling of lethargy came. Weigener tried his best to move his left hand to his chest and covered a bright smile wrapped in his pocket.

"Cough... at 7:56, the Reckless hit Westphalon, and the port side hit a shot... Cough... the landing point is between the Chimney One and Chimney Two of the target ship!"

Everyone knows that the Germans improved the turret firing circle of the entire turret and arranged the Bruno turret between the Nassau-class chimney No. 1 and the 2 chimney No. 2. The Reckless is located on the secondary tripod mainmast watchtower at the front of the chimney No. 2. Sergeant Rodman, who was in the middle age, grabbed the microphone and reported the battle situation to the Commander Tower with the temperament of the Londoners of the British Empire and the cold humor that was commonly used by the British Imperial Islands.

"Watch Tower No. 2, please confirm the results!" The hissing tremble sounds of guns and cannons were heard from the microphone. Although they had been disappointed twice, the guns and cannons did not change their desire for glory and victory.

In order to improve the general performance, the British naval designer advanced the main mast of the Berlerofon-class battleship to the front of the No. 1 chimney, and added a three-legged main mast to the front of the No. 2 chimney. Given the impact of the smoke exhaust of the No. 1 chimney, this visual improvement is quite impressive even if there is.

In the telescope, the Nassau-class Westphalia battleship still maintained a speed of about 16 knots. A small column of smoke appeared at the shot, and then two orange-red flames suddenly burst out from the sparse smoke.

The coal smoke from chimney No. 1 drifted over in the wind. Sergeant Rodman, holding the telescope, coughed a few times, and put the phone in his hand close to his mouth in annoyance:

"The Westphalon headquarters seemed to have ignited a fire, but the 12-inch bullet failed to stop the German turret 2 from firing!"

This is the third time that the Reckless One hit Westphalon. Rodman, the first two armor-piercing bombs, could be perfunctory with the difficult landing point, but the repeated replication made Sergeant Rodman realize that either the Germans' defensive armor was too strong, or the 12-inch armor-piercing bombs equipped by the Royal Navy had problems!

"It cannot be a problem with the Royal Navy! The Bellerofon-class battleship is a mass-produced ship of the USS Desperate, and it is the world's number one dreadnought!"

In Rodman's heart, which was tempered by the North Sea wind and rain, the Fearless has a special meaning: it is the world's first new battleship, which made all the battleships in the world that had been built and put into service, launched in water, and even the battleships that had just been placed on the design drawings become scrap iron.

At that time, all the warships that the Americans were still enthusiastically building were painted in gorgeous and festive white. They were named the former dreadnought Fleet of the Great White Fleet, and they were happy to use them to scare the Far East Japan. The French, who were confused by the concept of the Green Water Navy, finally came back to their senses, but at this time, the French were not prepared in both technology and funds. Until 1909, they were still calmly building Dandong-class quasi-dreadnoughtsman with performance that did not match the tonnage. After the Battle of Tsuma Hai, the Russian man-made ship "no navy" was the highest, but they were only afraid that if they were behind in technology, they were only afraid.

Helpless situation; the Italians proposed the concept of "full heavy artillery" no later than the German Alternative Lieutenant Heidi Sileme and the respected Sir Fisher of the British Empire, but these Roman descendants had already defeated the thousand-year glory of the Roman Empire, leaving only the lazy who penetrated into their bones. They were not only the loud slogan "Unify the Mediterranean for thousands of years", but the endless delicious food. The Austro-Hungarian Empire was even more unbearable. The Habsburg guarded the gold, silver and treasures accumulated by their ancestors, but they became increasingly weak. From the date of the joint force level starts earlier than the Italian Dante level, and the date of completion is later than that of the Italians.

"Except for the German Nassau class!"

Rodman's annoyance increased a little more when he thought of the four Nassau-class battleships that were showing off his power in the 12-inch bullet rain of the Royal Navy 15,000 meters away.

It was like a careful scam. When the Fearlessness started construction, the German guy who smelled the wind quickly took out the tit-for-tat Nassau-class. The full-heavy gun barrel retreated, the large steam engine, and the stronger protective armor. The Germans seemed to have already prepared the technology, so they just waited for the horn of the new battle to sound.

The appearance of the Nassau class took away the limelight of the first British dreadnought. Many naval experts distorted the facts and believed that the Nassau class was the real dreadnought, because the centerline layout of the main gun hull body was more in line with the definition of the dreadnought. As for the Germans, are there any fabricators in the world who are worse and more disgusting than them? The "Naval Yearbook" published in Berlin even defines the Blüchel, which sank in the Battle of Dogers, as the prototype of the dreadnought!

God, the Blüchel is just an armored cruiser with speed that is barely higher than a battleship and is not equipped with second-class artillery. As for the Nassau-class, which is arranged in the vertical centerline of the main gun that naval experts are generously praised, Maria, there are only four 11-inch guns on its 160-meter hull!

Although Rodman was not in service with the Fearless, except for the waterline, the main armor was weakened by one inch, the secondary gun was replaced with a 4-inch silhouette gun, and the rear main mast was added. The Berlerofon-class battleship almost completely copied the design of the Fearless. In a sense, the Berlerofon-class is the Fearless.

Therefore, the duel between the Bellerofon class and the Nassau class in the North Sea in March 1915 was also the best time to end the seven-year battle between the world's No. 1 Dreadnought, proving the strength of the Dreadnought!

"The main gun of the Reckless is 12 inches, while the German Nassau-class main gun has a caliber of only 11 inches. Why can't the caliber advantage be exchanged for results?" Rodman's colleague, Private Allen from Liverpool, couldn't help but grab his golden hair, looking annoyed.

The sergeant wanted to explain something to the Reckless, but as a proud Royal Navy, those words against his will are still difficult to express, because whether the Germans have too strong protection or the Royal Navy shells have problems, it means that the Reckless is not as good as the Germans' first dreadnought.

Just as Rodman and Private Allen were silent, the disaster happened.

A shrill whistling sound came from his ears. Rodman hurriedly took off his telescope and his nervous gaze carefully swept across the magnificent sea.

The water droplets soared into the sky, and Rodman's entangled heart eased a little, but when the watchtower rolled violently, the little luck solidified.

The reckless number was shot! The explosion made Rodman temporarily deaf. Private Alan, who was boldly poked out of the watchtower, pointed his hand at the x-turret under the commander tower, and covered his mouth with the other hand, and looked in disbelief.

Rodman asked dryly, but he could not hear the echo at all. The surroundings were quiet, terrifying, and quiet. Rodman was dizzy and moved towards the direction where the second class was. At this time, a more violent tremor came from the soles of his feet, and the disgusting smoke floated up. Rodman noticed that the color of the smoke was light yellow!

"Ahem... Commander Tower, the Germans hit the x turret, the launch medicine warehouse should have been lit, and there was smoke after the tingling of picnic... I couldn't find the gas mask, I was trying to walk to the side where I was shot, ahem... God, I saw something, the top of the x turret was smashed open, I saw a lot of corpses, and the damage team rushed over..."

The three-legged mainmast was shaking and tilting, and Rodman, who was bleeding from the corners of his eyes, ignored it and tried hard to guard the watchtower, making a final report to the commander tower regardless of it.

Private Allen survived, and the young man fell into the sea. The huge impact force made him faint, until the German destroyer that restrained his body rescued him. Rodman died, and he was thrown off the watchtower by the last explosion, and withered like summer flowers in the fire fog. The even more heartbreaking fact is that the telephone line between the main mast and the Commander Tower was broken in the first explosion, and the Commander Tower could not hear Rodman's last voice at all:

"Another fire rushed out, ahem, it almost burned my eyebrows! The mainmast could not hold on anymore, and I saw Alan being thrown off the watchtower, wishing him good luck, young man! Also, the naval designer who designed the armor on the top of the turret to be inclined should be sent to the gallows! Long live the king, long live the British Empire!"

The Captain Rumor had a mess of brains, and it was not until the third and most violent explosion that he woke up. But, but the cruel fact was that Captain Rumor would rather be in a dizzy state.

"Abandon the ship and let the sailors who can retreat first!"

The violent explosion from the depths of the hull made the giant ship jump on the sea. Accompanied by the pillars of fire, suffocating black smoke, iron parts and flesh and blood, the captain staggered into the cockpit, kissed the rudder plate hard, and raised his pistol to his temple.

"No one is wrong in this naval battle. David Betty didn't, General Jericho didn't, and tens of thousands of officers and soldiers of the Royal Navy did not. Damn it was the designers!"

This is the last words of Captain Rumor and the last words that were repeatedly mentioned and carefully considered by the world's navy after the war.

As the captain's judgment, the front armor of the Berlerofon-class battleship turret was 11 inches and the gun seat was 10 inches, while the dual-mounted 280l50 main gun equipped with Nassau-class equipment was only 212 mm deep at a distance of 12 kilometers, which means that the German armor-piercing shells could not penetrate the front armor of the British turret. However, the position of the shot was the armor on the top of the turret, especially the turret armor, which was reversed.

The top armor of the British turret is 64 mm. Compared with the 280 mm armor-piercing shell, this horizontal armor was originally enough, but in order to save armor and reduce tonnage, the British designed the top armor as front tilt armor.

This is not the inverted armor that effectively reduces the damage of armor-piercing bombs in later generations, but the naked front tilt. So when the 280 armor-piercing bomb hits the horse and touches the top armor at a small angle, it unexpectedly forms a nearly perpendicular angle with the inclined surface.

The horizontal penetration turned into a side penetration. The 64mm armor of the x turret could not stop the 11-inch bomb at all. The German armor-piercing bomb exploded in the turret, and the fire followed the protective cover of the ammunition conveyor that had been open in the naval battle into the launching medicine warehouse. So the picy acid launching medicine was attracted. Even if the electrical fire-fighting equipment was automatically turned on, the fire floated on the water and refused to extinguish it. Ten seconds later, the underwater ammunition warehouse was finally detonated, and this last blow completely ruined the reckless.

In less than a minute, the standard displacement of this ship was no longer found on the ocean. The 12 tons of gold was silent in the cold ocean floor of the Skagerak Strait, and only less than seven surviving sailors were still continuing the legend.

!#
Chapter completed!