Chapter 840： Gradually tilted scale 2

"The warship has flooded about 2500 tons, and most of it is concentrated in the bow. The warship has experienced a certain degree of bowing. Our speed will inevitably drop. It is now 22 knots. It is expected that it may eventually drop below 20 knots."

"Our No. 2 turret was destroyed, and the No. 3 turret seemed to have a problem. A shell hit the front of the turret. Although it was bounced off by the armor, the violent impact seemed to damage the artillery servo equipment. The artillery could not reach the fixed position. Elevation, so we seem to have lost half of our firepower now." An officer reported to Thomas.

"It is difficult for me to understand why the most elite warships in the British Empire could not suppress the Germans' super fearlessness in a fair contest? Has the Imperial Navy fallen? Or our warships are not good at all?" Thomas felt a little bit painful. Hair.

The current situation is a bit beyond his expectations. The 330MM main armor belt, the high speed of 24 knots, and the 15-inch heavy artillery can be regarded as the best existence of the Royal Navy. The Queen Elizabeth-class battleship actually competed with the first generation of the Germans. At the bottom! This makes Thomas somewhat unacceptable. He has always wanted to understand this question, but unfortunately, there is no time for him to consider these things now.

In the distance, the bow positions of the Gneisenau and Barlem raised two huge fireballs almost at the same time. The two warships hit the opponent's at the same time at about the same time. Both were the opponent's No. 2 turrets! Barlem’s shell hit the position of the No. 2 turret mount of the Gneisenau. Although it failed to penetrate the 14-inch thick armor of the mount, the violent impact and explosion caused the deck to deform and instantly stuck. The turret is too low to turn. The Gneisenau shells once again penetrated Barrem's turret armor, this time it actually penetrated the front of the 13-inch turret. A hole of several square meters was opened beside the cannon on the left.

The shell and the artillery collided together, not only breaking the hundreds of tons of 15-inch artillery into two pieces. At the same time, the entire rear half of the gun body was pushed away from the gun mount. Dozens of tons of steel gun bodies rolled in the turret, crashing the artillery servo on the right side, and crushing dozens of Royal Navy officers and soldiers who could not dodge into a pile of flesh. Although it did not cause the martyrdom of the ammunition, the entire turret was obviously unusable.

"We finally won this game! But unfortunately we couldn't sink them." Su Xiong was very sorry. Now, the Ballem has almost lost its combat effectiveness. The Queen Elizabeth's main gun can use 5 more, but the water itself is so serious that it is impossible to run. When Gneisenau abolished Barlem’s No. 2 turret, the German fleet had already occupied an overwhelming advantage. Su Xiong really wanted to take advantage of the victory, but a telegram received a few minutes ago forced him to change his plan.

A long-wave telegram sent with the Enig cipher machine was sent to Su Xiong. From the communication method, this should be a submarine, because submarines generally use long-wave radio to ensure long-distance communication. The content of this telegram is very simple, the British fleet was found 50 kilometers from the battlefield! Among them are at least 2 battleships!

Only the German navy can use the Enig cipher machine, and there are indeed several German submarines in the Indian Ocean. These submarines are not under Su Xiong's control, and Su Xiong did not expect to get the help of submarines at this time. There are still several hours before dark. The British fleet has begun to release smoke and turn around. If the two British fleets are facing each other, then it will only take an hour to meet?

"How is our power recovery?" Su Xiong asked.

"The ventilation equipment was barely repaired, and the speed reached 23.5 knots is not a big problem. The Gneisenau ran above 24 knots without a problem." An officer said.

"Let's go, luck for the British this time!" Su Xiong pouted his lips and once again looked at the Queen Elizabeth-class battleship gradually hiding its figure in the smoke. Subsequently, the slender fast battleship Scharnhorst re-adjusted its course and headed toward the depths of the Indian Ocean, followed by Gneisenau, which was almost the most in state among the four battleships participating in the battle. Okay, except for the temporarily abolished No. 2 turret, and the fire on the superstructure of the ship, the core compartment and combat effectiveness of this warship are maintained very well. There is not even much water, you know, Scharnhorst now carries more than 800 tons of sea water!

"The Germans are gone." When the Queen Elizabeth emerged from the smoke again, all he saw was the German fleet disappearing in the distance.

"Okay, everyone get ready, let's get ready to go back. I will take the command team to continue our mission on the Malaya. This time the responsibility for the defeat in the battle will be borne by me." Looking at the demoralized colleagues, Thomas said. When the battle was fought like this, he believed that the officers and soldiers of the two warships were not responsible. They fulfilled their duties and hit their highest level. Therefore, this responsibility should not be taken.

During the period of separation, Thomas has been thinking about where he made a mistake so that the naval battle became like this. He recalled his entire command process. The only problem was to start to concentrate all the firepower of the two warships on the Scharnhorst. After the opponent completed the tactical turn under the cover of smoke, he still did not redistribute firepower, causing the Gneisenau to injure Barlem without interference. Since then, the British fleet has gone downhill, and the struggling of the light cruisers has only delayed the process.

But are you wrong when you say focused firepower? This is actually a false proposition. It mainly depends on the battlefield situation. It is right to achieve the goal, and it is wrong to fail. This is like the history of the Battle of Doger Sandbar, when the Hipper fleet concentrated fire on Betty. The flagship of the Lions, so that the Lions were forced to withdraw from the battle, which led to a series of situations. Hipper’s goal was achieved, so his strategy was right.

Thomas also felt a little unlucky. When the fire started, the two Queen-class battleships hardly weakened Scharnhorst’s firepower. If multiple shells hit the turret, even if it fails to penetrate, it will cause the artillery to malfunction. , But after playing for a long time, the hits are not too few, but the turret called the cannonball magnet did not hit a few! This is surprising. If the two Scharnhorst's turrets can be temporarily broken down, then the battle will not be so painful.

"Luck is on the German side this time." Thomas said helplessly.

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