The wind and waves on the sea surface were very strong. The "Scharnhorst" and "Prince Eugen" were sailing in extremely bad weather. The surging waves splashed on the deck that was more than ten meters high on the left side. The two ships were in shape.
The huge warships continued to rise and fall with the waves.
At dawn, two German warships suddenly turned their heads on the sea and rushed towards the three British cruisers following behind them.
In three days, the warship sailed from the cold Norwegian waters to the temperate sea area, which made the people on the ship feel much more comfortable, although the temperature on the surface was still around minus 5 degrees Celsius.
Although the sea conditions are poor, the visibility is very good. The lookout hand on the "Sharenhorst" still distinguishes the British cruiser model that was turning in the sea in the morning light. An old-fashioned Hawkins-class heavy
Cruiser, the latest Gloucester class air defense cruiser and a Cereal Goddess class cruiser.
"Original 32, distance 33,000!" Major Schneider, the shooting commander, reported the target data of the enemy ship for the first time, which shows that the enemy ship is already within the effective range of the main gun of the "Scharnhorst".
Since China has always had a joint venture artillery factory with the Republican Army, Krupp's artillery manufacturing technology level has always been at the forefront of the world, and there has been no "fault". The l56skc/35 type 305 equipped on the "Sharenhorst"
The millimeter main gun has excellent performance, with its shell weighing about 520 kilograms and a maximum range of 44 kilometers. Due to its semi-automatic loading, its firing rate is as high as 3.6 rounds per second, making it the largest among the main warships of various countries.
"Let's head northwest, we'll drive them west!" Admiral Lukins issued an order. At a distance of 33,000 meters, the hit rate of the main gun could be negligible, and he wanted to waste the limited shells on the warship.
Since the German Navy did not re-enlarge until 1935, most of the low-priced officers and soldiers on the warships were not old, and most of the sailors were just in their early 20s, but they had participated in three major battles.
The most magical record of the "Sharenhorst" was that in the Norwegian battle, they joined forces with the Gneisenau to sink the British "Glorious" aviation warship, creating a precedent for using ship artillery to sink the aviation warships.
.Since the sinking of the "Glory" war, when the main aviation ships of various countries set sail in formation, at least two to three large warships with more than three cruisers will be used for escort missions. Most of the time, battleships are used as escort warships to avoid repeated recurrences.
The tragedy that happened in the British Navy used only four destroyers to escort the aviation ships.
At 9:30 in the morning, the British cruisers who were retreating west found that in front of them, the two German warships that disappeared last night appeared on the sea and stopped them.
The British ships are within the range of attacks of German battleships and heavy cruisers.
"What is the distance now?" asked Admiral Lukins, who had been staring at the movements of British warships on the sea.
"22!" The gun commander on the fifth-floor bridge replied via radio.
"Fire! Interfere with their actions." The Admiral issued an order to open fire.
A loud thunder sound came from the sea, and the six front main guns on the Schánhorst first began to fire at the enemy's warship. About a minute later, the five gates on the Prince Eugen were 203 mm.
The front main gun also began to roar.
"They are fire!" The British cruiser "Infulham" located behind the fleet shouted loudly, and they saw balls of fire coming from the German warships chasing tightly on the sea in the distance.
The sound cannot be heard until the shell arrives.
Six powerful shells fired from German battleships soon broke through the air with a huge and harsh howling sound. These heavy shells that could easily penetrate the fragile armor plates on cruisers for the first time.
The shooting landed on the sea less than 200 meters ahead of the turning "Infulham", and the splashing water columns were much higher than the masts on the battleship.
After the third round of the front main gun fire, the Gneisenau and Blüchel, which were blocked in front of the British cruiser, also took 20,000 meters away.
Open fire. The two warships actually adjusted their courses and placed them in front of the British cruiser. The huge muzzle spewed out orange-red earth fire balls, which were twice as dense as the "Scharnhorst" side.
Passed by in the air and flew towards the "Manchester" that was fleeing.
"Right rudder, heading northeast!" On the "Manchester", Brigadier General Warburton Lee ordered the fleet to retreat north with all his might, and he could not help but fall into the trap set by the Germans. Now he can only lead the fleet to break through with all his strength.
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"Oh my God, the 'Curle' is being hit, it is stalling!" The officers on the 'Manchester' exclaimed, and the stern of the 'Curle' located behind the side team was hit with a heavy blow.
The shells ignited a raging fire on the rear deck, and the speed began to decline.
Three British light cruisers fought back with their 152mm main guns. This caliber artillery could not do anything to the German heavy cruisers with thick skin, let alone two "Shan" class battleships.
The German fleet formed a pincer attack on the British. The three fleets were about 15,000 meters apart, and were almost parallel to the north at high speed. All four German ships could run to a high speed of more than 30 knots, but British cruisers could not
The distance between the other party was narrowing the distance bit by bit.
The "Curle" was dragged behind, and its speed had dropped to 15 knots. After a fierce attack on it, the Germans gave up their attacks. The warship was completely covered with flames and smoke.
Surrounding has almost lost all the motivation.
At 11 a.m., two 203mm shells were hit on the bridge in Manchester. The bridge was blown up and half of them were destroyed, and the communication wires and radar were destroyed. Fortunately, the power system of the warship was not affected.
For any damage, the warship can still escape with all its strength at high speed of more than thirty knots.
In comparison, the "Infulham" was not so lucky. Its starboard side was hit by a nearly missing bullet, and then a 305mm armor-piercing projectile fired on the "Gneisenau" was hit.
In its port side, the old cruiser built during World War I kept shaking in the violent explosion. The shell penetrated the boiler compartment of the Infuham and
It caused an explosion inside.
The "Infulham" lost half of its power. Seeing that the warship could no longer escape, it bravely rushed towards the German ship and fired eight torpedoes.
At a distance of more than 10,000 meters, the possibility of a torpedo hitting the target is very slim, but the British achieved their goal and took advantage of the Germans' opportunity to avoid the torpedoes, the Manchester United set the distance between them and the Germans
It was widened to more than 20,000 meters, and basically escaped the encirclement formed by the German ship.
Seeing that it was already difficult to catch up with the British again, General Lukins gave up on his pursuit and the Germans began to siege two severely damaged British ships (to be continued.