"Well, I will tell Xiang truthfully!" The veteran replied with great success that as his colleagues commented, the Secretary of the Navy, Pound, was a faithful executor, but not a wise decision-maker.
George VI took his queen by the arm and turned to the garden exit and said to himself, "One day we will borrow the American hand to get back today’s humiliation from the Germans and Russians! These two extremely evil countries should not live in this world! "
"America? That mercenary country is not a good thing either! " The queen muttered softly.
The visual transformation is also full of the setting sun. Belfast is particularly bleak after experiencing a cruel catastrophe. The smoke in the port area has faded, and a few smoke columns can’t be erased after the fire is extinguished. It is the bloody killings on the battlefield and the wounds caused by guns and bombs. The original vitality of the port has disappeared. German paratroopers with rifles and submachine guns are cleaning up every block one by one, and the British soldiers who refused to surrender and hid in residential buildings will be found out and attacked by them after dark.
Although local government officials and police agencies chose to surrender, before the white flag was raised, a considerable number of historic buildings in the port area were destroyed by the German army, while the large and small shipyards such as Harlanwoff were stationed here despite bombing warehouses and docks. The British naval garrison burned a black invasion of explosives and fuel, and the German team instead played the role of firefighters. With the efforts of these paratroopers, the birkenhead tragedy did not play the role of the aircraft carrier "The Terrible" in the loading stage again. The "Prince of Wales" and other ships under construction will eventually be guaranteed. If the battleship "War-weary" is stranded outside the port and still refuses to surrender to the Germans, the total design tonnage of these ships has exceeded the old 10,000 tons, and a well-equipped combat fleet can be formed!
Although the "Tired of War" lost its power, it was able to wield one-tenth of its combat power, but the German army had already stopped bombing it, and since some small boats carrying German paratroopers were repelled, the German army stopped forcibly boarding the ship. The eye of Belfast airport, the breakthrough point of the German war reduction on the east side of the harbor, was still a mess. German officers and men are trying to fill the staggering number of potholes in the runway, but everything needs to be done. Sometimes, after losing a dart in the landing process, the German army still can’t wait to take advantage of the relatively flat and solid ground to take off and land the transport planes. It seems that the commanders are very clear about occupying the port. Controlling British ships doesn’t mean final victory, because Germany’s main occupied areas are still on the other side of the Irish Sea, and Wales and Belfast, England, are still isolated "enclaves" overseas, and the nearest British port is only 40 nautical miles away, which is afraid of the powerful strength of the German army. The Royal Navy sent several destroyers to support during the day and successfully broke into the port, but many things may happen after dark! d
Chapter 42 Strait midnight oil ()
People always think of it when they are in danger, which has brought them joy. At the beginning of the year, Britain was in an unprecedented predicament in the great industrial age. Napoleon did not bring death crisis to this country. At this time, the British people may have had time to think about it more than a year ago. The German attack ship "Count Gravsepe", which stirred up the shipping in the British sea, must remember Henry Harewood. When the Battle of the Platte Estuary was reported all over Britain, millions of people remembered the name. His wit and courage trapped the German attack ship and finally forced it to sink itself outside Montevideo Harbor, thus relieving Britain’s first post-war sea crisis!
In the following year, after 50 years, Harewood was promoted from brigadier general to vice admiral in just one year, and he was once the general commander of the Atlantic shipping line escort. Hours ago, he was ordered to command an elite cruiser again to carry out extremely dangerous operations, and the battlefield changed from far away South America to a familiar sea area!
The heavy cruisers Essekert, Australia and the light cruisers Fiji and Neptune arrived from three different ports late in December, and then sailed into the North Channel of Scotland, Ireland!
Perhaps it was inspired by the Battle of Pratt’s Estuary that Lieutenant General Harewood did not choose two heavy cruisers as the flagship of his own fleet. His flag fluttered high six months ago. "In the early stage, Fiji did not enter the English Channel War with the main fleet because of the low running-in degree of officers and men, which also saved the lives of hundreds of officers and men. You know, one of the ten ships in that batch was able to return to the northern port eventually, and the Royal Navy killed more than 10 million people before and after that battle!
In fact, in terms of tonnage, Fiji is slightly less than Essekert and Australia, but the Royal Navy distinguishes between light and heavy cruisers, and Fiji is naturally classified as a light cruiser because it is equipped with 6-inch guns according to the caliber of naval guns rather than the size.
Equipped with sea search radar and improved fire control and defense system, its comprehensive combat capability is not inferior to that of two heavy cruisers!
General Harewood, who was driving at the forefront of the fleet, had a deep affection for the German attack ship, a heavy cruiser that was built at the end of the 1990s and took the lead in fighting the German ship. In the subsequent battles, it was also hit by the German ship many times, and the officers and men persisted in fighting regardless of casualties until the three main turrets lost their fighting power. This shows their strong courage!
Australia, which is in the second place in the fleet, belongs to the sister cruiser of Kent class originally built in Britain. Canberra was handed over to Australia, a Commonwealth country after its completion. After a year’s service, the two ships failed to be modernized like the rest of Kent class ships. With the British soil crisis, the two ships returned to the Atlantic Ocean together, and they have been escorting the sea for a long time. A week ago, the "Australia" just escorted a batch of ships to Britain to complete the supply, and then it was somehow stuffed into General Harewood’s attack fleet!
Neptune, which is at the bottom of the fleet, is a Leander-class light cruiser built in the early ugly years, and its tonnage is only slightly less than that of the cruiser. It is equipped with a 6-inch gun and a four-shift pea millimeter fish laser tube for surface warfare.
The Irish Sea is the largest sea area with the highest tidal height difference in the world. From night to night, the North Sea Gorge in the north and the St. George’s Strait in the south are both choppy and extremely weak starlight. When four cruisers are struggling to drive southeast along the route, the cruiser Fiji detects two abnormal echoes in the direction near the Scottish coast, but when the waves interfere, it fails to judge each other’s body shape and trend at the first time … The Essekert looks far away and visually observes the black shadow of the sea. Harewood will Although the army has always been calm, it was informed by the former Royal Naval Warfare Command that several destroyers and torpedo boats would set sail from the port of Stranlal, which is directly opposite Belfast, and joined the cruiser team. He and his officers first recognized it as "one of their own" and took the initiative to send out a light inquiry signal.
After the film, the other side responded with heavy artillery fire!
"general! General! It is two large warships! " The adjutant received a message from radar room and verbally conveyed that the first wave of artillery shells fired by the other side had exploded greatly and the sea was almost boiling, which clearly told the British fleet commander that the enemy had more powerful artillery than himself and played quite well in the first round!
"It’s a battleship and a heavy cruiser!"
Harewood looked at the sea surface with unusual composure. Although the water column of the South American original towering tree was high and low, there were not many German surface ships in the army. He had a head-on experience. The commander seemed to have returned to the battlefield that made him famous. The history of the battlefield was always strikingly similar. The Earl Spee took the lead in the fire with its range advantage. Now the enemy has once again taken the lead and, not surprisingly, there are shells fired by the inch cannon!
How is it possible, general? How can they appear in the Irish Sea? "
The captain, together with his adjutant, was shocked to know that the British navy sent more than 20 submarines to Irish waters to stop the German navy from sending war supplies to Wales by sea. They sank several German ships only in late October, including a cutting-edge destroyer. In the second half of this month, the German navy almost stopped sending ships to this sea area, and the transportation of materials in China was suspected to consume more fuel and cover troops for the Germans!
"The facts are in front of us! Gentlemen, let’s not retreat! " General Harewood said righteously, "Send a battle signal to all ships!"
Just then, there was a burst of dancing fire in the distance. The round of shelling in front of it was isolated for half a minute, but the German warships shelled quickly, which once again shocked the British officials present.
Well-informed before ray came, the captain lamented
"God bless us to meet the scharnhorst class!"
Hearing this name, Harewood was not surprised by Chiang Kai-shek. He narrowed his eyes and gripped the handrail by his right hand. At that time, he had a six-inch naval gun, Count Spee. One enemy and three enemies successively hit the Essekert and another light cruiser German warship in less than an hour, which left a deep impression on him. Although it was finally forced by the overall superiority of the British Royal Navy to sink without fighting, Harewood had to admit that after more than 20 years of dormancy, this German navy has now inherited Japan and Germany intact. During the Lan Dynasty, the German high seas fleet was long in scharnhorst-class Harewood, which was equipped with guns, heavy armor and high navigation. It never occurred to him that one day he would have to play a few poor cruisers against a few, and he would have to be rough-skinned Nelson or extremely fierce "Hood" to be sure of winning!
Moments later, the German artillery shells roared and the impact of the nearby explosion really made the cruiser shake more violently. The glistening seawater easily rushed to the bridge and slammed through the bulletproof reinforced porthole.
It’s not funny to look at Harewood, who is in the east and west. Nelson’s spiritual commitment made him abandon his fear in adversity. He calculated the strength comparison and the war process in his brain and then growled and ordered.
"Make Essekert and Australia drive south to attract the attention of the German fleet! Fiji and Neptune drove eastward to approach the German fleet and carried out torpedo attacks. "
The condition of night fighting wants to break the German scharnhorst class, which is too much for the thick armor and damn subdivision bulkhead structure of general battleships. The powerful millimeter torpedo is obviously much more effective than the inch and 6-inch naval guns. However, at this critical moment, Xuan "Fiji" communication officer made a mistake, and their ship’s signal light sent orders instead of decisively making line communication. Although the Germans may know the tactics of the British fleet before listening to the line, it is extremely precious to Harewood and his fleet when the two German warships hit every second with stormy artillery! As a result, after the order was issued, the leading "Essekert" got a blow! Suddenly, the dark sea burst into fireballs from steel warships hundreds of meters away, with dazzling light. The bridge and turret of the "Essekert" were even clearer than the water waves blown by the ship.
The fireball disappeared in a blink of an eye, and the black smoke also introduced night darkness, but the front deck of the fleet led the ship was still bright and it was on fire!
Knowing that the German navy’s optical aiming instrument was fine, Harewood immediately had a new idea, although he shouted badly. Although most Kent-class heavy cruisers removed the fish laser tube in modern modification, they kept the niece millimeter fish laser tube in the Australian navy "Australia". Eleven years is not long for a warship, even if the navigation was in the best state, it can still keep pace with the two cruisers. When the Germans hit again like thunder, Harewood quickly made adjustments.
"Essekert" lured the other three ships to shoot torpedoes and did not retreat immediately, but the naval gun force bombarded the German ship floor building!
This time Harewood seems determined to give my life to fight with the Germans! Maybe tonight’s battle can reproduce the glory of the Platte estuary? f
Chapter 43 The midnight oil in the Strait (in)
For various reasons, Lei’s theory and this old one are at the forefront of the world, but they are not their own old rivals. In fact, Britain has built the first ground-based radar bomb as early as the year when Dr. von Williamson led the concave company. Zhao Benna’s six-base radar with a detection distance of kilometers was deployed to the German border area. In the German navy, the German armored ship-line radar became the standard configuration for large surface ships. After studying the Platte estuary, some German naval technical and tactical experts believed that it was a fatal mistake for Langsdorf University not to let the ship’s radar mechanic-he should be a former opponent and avoid history early. All kinds of conclusions have been reached. Nowadays, the officers and men of the German navy are much more proficient in radar transportation than in the war, and "Gney" Both Sennao and prinz eugen are equipped with advanced knife radar, whose detection distance is over kilometers, which can search the water surface in bad weather, and the optical rangefinder is installed together to guide the naval gun to volley a single target on the sea surface through azimuth synchronous sensors and distance displays.
Therefore, even if there is no wire to monitor the German fleet commander official website Thule Gunther Lutjens, he can clearly know that his opponent is adjusting in the dark? Blazing with anger, a navy general in a dark blue navy coat, stood proudly in the bridge operation room, staring at the front.
"Turn the fleet to the left, and the auxiliary guns of each ship attack the northwest freely. The main guns of the British ship and our ship bombard the northeast. The first British ship prinz eugen attacks the second one!"
Fighting in the sea far away from the control of the foreign side, the Germans also carefully used signal lights to communicate with the ships, but after the initial bewilderment, the British ships gradually found the firing bullets, which stirred up a tall water column around the two German ships, especially the British cruiser whose deck was on fire. Because it kept relatively stable sailing, its 6-inch naval gun and module-inch sub-gun fired extremely hard, and the flashing fire on the dark sea was particularly noticeable.
Chanteyens is worthy of being the best fleet commander of the German Navy today. Since the war broke out, the British Navy has maintained an unbeaten record in all previous encounters, and his combat adjustment is also quite targeted. The single-sided 3-seat double-mounted concave-inch submachine gun of the Shane Khost class battleship can rival a British light cruiser in both shooting and firepower. Although "prinz eugen" adopts a smaller caliber Linmm double-mounted high-level two-gun sub-gun, its range is still up to km, and it has an amazing shot per minute, which can also cause great casualties for armored cruisers!
As soon as the battle order arrived, the officers and men of the two German warships were busy in an orderly and tense manner again, and they had been added to the flying joint. The Gnesenau, like a sharp knife, made deep white water marks on the sea. A big wave hit and was smashed into several splashes by its beautiful Atlantic ship. Even in the case of a sharp turn, its hull did not show obvious inclination. At this time, the latest target azimuth parameters were firmly locked. Through the mechanical azimuth display panel, it was delivered to the ship shooting command room in real time, and the shooting commander calculated the shooting parameters in a very short time in combination with the radar distance display parameters, and then the ship communication reached the "azimuth right object prison degree" of each main turret! Distance string is meters! Armor piercing bullet one! "The hand-held microphone gun grows up to the shooting parameters from the command room, and each turret of the Shane Khost-class battleship is like a precision instrument. The gunners drive the heavy turret to turn to the designated target through the azimuth moving aiming device. The efficiency of the hydraulic high-low foot auxiliary adjustment device is much higher than that of the previous manual adjustment. Only in the aspect of ammunition delivery and loading, they are still unifying the slideway and pulley, and the front-end ammunition needs to be manually transported. The new semi-automatic loading has been adopted for the main turret of Bismarck, which is far ahead in the warships of the same class!
The small caliber of the main gun often means that the reloading degree is fast. After years of strict training and continuous running-in, every gunner of the "Gnesenau" has become a fast-moving part of this precision machine. They fill the gun barrel with the projectiles needed to drive them to fly 10,000 meters and achieve the predetermined armor-piercing ability as soon as possible.
When the last gunner raised his right fist high, the gunner shouted at the microphone, "No.
Three seconds later, the other two main turrets were also filled, and the short shelling bell in Sichuan was over. After the gunner and gunner had filled the plug in their ears and released the insurance, his thumb on the ship was well-known and decisively pressed the shooting control. Suddenly, the whole turret and the foot deck shook violently in a deafening roar!
"Emperor Bao estimates!"
Long Xun, a gunner with a moustache, made a cross on his chest, then took off his earplugs and picked up his words.
"No.goes well!"
George VI didn’t call himself a SHEN WOO, but he didn’t want to be a "prodigal". So the poor guy stared at his leather shoes for a long time before saying, "It’s sad, but there may be no better way for our eyes!" Please tell Xiang that if these must be handed over to the Russians, let them attack until February as much as possible! With the mountainous terrain of Scotland, we can still hold on for this month! "
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