Battle of the Third Reich

The fierce Shippel modified heavy cruiser licked the blood that had not been wiped off the corner of his mouth, and approached the prey with fierceness.

However, the Southampton class light cruiser Sheffield obviously does not have the consciousness of being a prey of the German navy. It is now immersed in the strong stimulus that can die with powerful opponents.

The Sheffield is the No. 3 ship in the Southampton class, also known as the city's early type.

In order to fight against Japan’s highest class and the Brooklyn-class light cruiser who had drilled the Washington Treaty, the British Admiralty designed and built this class of treaty-type cruiser, just like her competitors on both sides of the sea, the British are in the most standard treaty The light cruiser hull is equipped with maximum force.

But finally, the British still maintained their intellect as a veteran maritime power, and the rich experience of shipbuilding accumulated over the years also allowed them to look at this issue calmer than those of their competitors.

Therefore, she did not fill her body with gun barrels like the two-level exaggerated light cruiser, but installed the maximum force configuration she could bear while maintaining sufficient defense.

It is a pity that the self-satisfied British have absolutely no idea that they have actually been played by those two navy back feeders.

The British empire’s consistently proud brain sometimes froze intermittently. She always thought that only she had the power to be shameless in the world. She clearly underestimated the level of her two students. She did not expect those two to be rude In fact, the backward empire did their jobs on their respective tonnages.

However, in any case, the Southampton-class light cruiser is a masterpiece in the history of British naval shipbuilding. On the basis of more than 9,300 tons of full-load drainage of more than 10,000 tons, it not only has the ability to compete with those two-level light cruisers. Firepower also has quite complete protection, even more than some treaty-level thin-tare cruisers at this point, such as the current fleet flagship York.

When the York was bombarded by the volleys of the Scharnhorst and Gneiseno, the Sheffield, the elite force of the local fleet, had entered combat.

This powerful light cruiser was in third place in the fleet at that time, and immediately behind the Lyander-class light cruiser Orion began to turn to starboard.

At the beginning, the Sheffield, like other warships, did not realize that the fleet had lost its command. The fact that the fleet headquarters was killed at the beginning of the war is rare in the history of world naval warfare.

Therefore, this light cruiser still firmly obeyed the final command of the flagship, keeping the fleet formation turned to the right, and even waiting for the flagship to convey the parameters of the bombardment target to himself.

But when the USS York began to carry out her death loop in the smoke, she began to feel that the flagship Sheffield had found the problem, and that the huge flagship bridge had been blown up.

This situation made the Sheffield at the time a bit at a loss, but this battleship is after all a long-term elite serving in the homeland, and her captain Colonel Reno is also an experienced officer.

Reno immediately began to judge the current situation of the fleet. As the No. 2 battleship of the fleet, Reno immediately decided that the Sheffield immediately took over the command of the fleet.

When Colonel Reno announced his decision to his subordinates, the Orion directly in front of the Sheffield was being ravaged by two German battlecruisers, and the light cruiser that was otherwise of ordinary performance persisted in front of two powerful enemies. One round was marked as crippled.

Captain Orion completely lost the courage to continue fighting, and in the future had to send a warning to the rear Sheffield to directly leave a large loop on the left to leave the original route, and then dragged the thick smoke to the trail Fleeing toward the left rear of the fleet, she hung the Sheffield behind her in front of two German battlecruisers who had already killed red eyes.

The Scharnhorst bombarded the Sheffield without mercy immediately after letting go of the fleeing Orion.

But the first bombardment did not achieve the desired results. Only two near-missile shots caused some minor damage to the Sheffield, which made the captain of Scharnhorst von. Naval Colonel Rowan Kram was greatly dissatisfied.

But before the naval captain issued his own complaint, the Sheffield counterattack began.

The twelve 152 mm main guns of the four triple turrets simultaneously ejected the flames of revenge. The 180-meter-long hull was enveloped by a golden muzzle flame. This beautiful light cruiser now looks like It is an angry fire dragon.

The heroic counterattack of the Sheffield caused the Scharnhorst to receive the first substantial damage in this naval battle, and the battleship was almost unscathed in the previous battle.

In addition to the small pits dug by the 102 mm secondary gun of York on the side of the strong armor belt, the 40 mm anti-aircraft guns on Orion left a pile of bombs in the unarmored position of the battleship superstructure Just holes.

Sheffield's 152mm shells hit Scharnhorst's main gun a turret, upper bridge and starboard deck and side armor belt.

The 152mm shell that hit the front of the main turret of a had no way to get the horrible 355mm armor of the turret of the German battleship, but had no choice but to be dropped into the sea on the side as expected by the German designer.

And because the impact force was too strong, the bottom fuze of the shell was knocked out, and the shell did not even splash a half of the shell and sank into the blue water of the North Atlantic.

The shell that hit the upper bridge penetrated the outer armor and exploded at the left side of the compass bridge. The shrapnel destroyed the left lookout and half of the bridge, because most of the navigation and command personnel entered The lower armored bridge did not cause a lot of casualties, only one lower officer was killed and two sailors were seriously injured.

Surprisingly, the four sailors closest to the explosion site were only slightly scratched, and the officer was furthest away from the explosion site, but his head was shattered by a shrapnel, which had to sigh the wonder of the war.

The shell that hit the deck exploded two meters away from the shield of the front secondary gun of the twin starboard side of Scharnhorst, most of the shrapnel wrapped around the shattered wooden deck debris like a shower The armored shield of the 150mm double auxiliary gun.

But these things are nothing to the 140-mm-thick secondary artillery shield. The sailors fighting in the secondary artillery turret did not suffer any damage except a little shock.

However, the scattered shrapnel caused some trouble to the machine gunners who were scolding the British warships in the quadruple air defense machine gun nest behind the secondary gun turret. An unlucky machine gunner could not dodge it and was hit by a shrapnel that wiped the secondary gun turret. Seriously injured.

The reserve personnel who had long waited behind the shelter wall immediately rushed into the machine gun nest to replace the injured machine gunner. The injured person was carried down, and the replacement team took over the unlucky post with a more majestic and blunt post. The voice expressed her condolences to the female families across the British naval officers and soldiers.

Most of Sheffield’s other shells either made a few water columns on the sea unnecessarily or were flicked by Scharnhorst’s thick 350 mm armor, which did not cause much damage to the battleship.

However, the Sheffield counterattack angered the mighty battleship.

The rain-like gunfire of the Scharnhorst immediately poured down on the Sheffield. The Germans had corrected their trajectory, so large and small fireballs began to explode on the deck of this brave light cruiser.

The Sheffield had hung the commander's flag on its own mast. The acting flagship was walking through the gunfire of the German battleship under the captain of the experienced captain and sailor.

Captain Renault commanded the battleship to fight back against the Scharnhorst while ordering the signal soldiers to give the final fleet command to the other ships.

"The fleet was disbanded, and the ships separated from the sea immediately. The ship was determined to fight to the last moment. God bless you, long live the British Empire, long live the King, long live the Royal Navy!"

Sheffield rushed towards the Scharnhorst with all her smoke.

Unexpectedly, the light cruiser was still dead after being bruised, and Captain Siegfried Scharnhorst. Feng. Admiral Rowan Kram couldn't help but express heartfelt admiration.

This is the real warrior, this is the opponent worth fighting with him, but unfortunately now everyone can see how huge the gap between the two sides is, this can't be changed by courage alone, the fate of that battleship is actually early It was already decided at the conference table of the Third Reich Naval Command.

Seeing the Sheffield rush towards himself with a fatal gesture, though Feng. Luo Yankram has the heart to compete with this brave opponent, but he still has more important tasks to complete.

What's more, the posture of seeing the other party is obviously desperate. The German Navy has not had a knight to the point of willingness to die with a brave opponent.

Feng. Colonel Rowan Kram has discovered that an old light cruiser at the rear of the British fleet has turned the course of two cargo ships and began to turn around and retreat to the southeast of the battlefield. The remaining three destroyers are moving closer to the Orion that has fled all the way to the southwest. .

Now the encirclement of this fleet must be completed immediately, and the escape routes of those fleeing ships must be stopped. This is the only idea in the mind of Captain Scharnhorst.

Sheffield is now at Feng. Colonel Rowan Kram became more and more annoyed in his eyes. He now understood the idea of ​​the battleship, and his opponent wanted to entangle with himself to delay the completion of the encirclement of the German fleet.

How can she succeed, Feng. Although Luo Yankram appreciates the opponent's behavior of abandoning his comrades-in-arms, it is absolutely impossible to succeed by trying to stop him from completing the task.

The Scharnhorst immediately reported the British fleet’s movements to the flagship, and then launched the last salvo on the Sheffield and turned the rudder to accelerate. The huge hull crossed the Sheffield route and was moving towards the southeast. The British ships rushed.

The Scharnhorst decided to get rid of the desperate light cruiser and threw her to the Gnesono behind.

As soon as Sheffield saw the Scharnhorst prepare to leave the battle and continue to chase after the retreating friends, he knew that his plan might have been seen by the Germans.

Seeing that the plan was about to soak, Captain Renault couldn't help but scolded the Germans as cowards and hurriedly ordered the battleship to turn the rudder to catch up with the Scharnhorst.

As a light cruiser, Sheffield has advantages in speed and maneuverability. It should be no problem to catch up with the Scharnhorst. Moreover, the distance between the two sides has been narrowed to more than two thousand meters.

But before waiting for the Sheffield to turn the rudder, the shells of the Gnesono main gun had fallen around her, and the light cruiser was once again shrouded in a forest of tall water columns.

"It's over, the German shelling queue has followed."

Captain Renault suddenly felt weak in his heart. Compared with the German fleet, he was really too weak.

Looking at Admiral Sher behind Gneisenau, the tall mast and the huge muzzle flashing from time to time on the bow of the flagship Hipper, the Sheffield was desperate.

She knew that no matter how she fought, she could not hinder the Germans, and she could never change the tragic fate of her fleet.

Although it seems from the current situation not to be destined to the end of the fleet, as a glorious Royal Navy soldier, he will never tolerate that he will be left alone, even if he will die in battle, he must let the enemy pay the same price, not to the end. Never give up at the moment.

Captain Renault ordered the warship to turn its rudder, not paying attention to the other German warships attacking itself, and hitting Scharnhorst with full horsepower at full speed.

This time the impact was no longer the bluff in front, but a real assault. Colonel Reno was determined to hit the Scharnhorst.

Gneisenau didn't expect the light cruiser that had been bruised to make such a crazy decision. By the time she responded, the light cruiser had turned the bow and rushed towards the Scharnhorst.

Sensing the enemy ship’s intentions, Gnesono began to shoot desperately at the crazy assault light cruiser, trying to stop Scharnhorst before she could cause major damage.

Now that she couldn't care about any command that had to be captured, she couldn't watch her sister ship in danger.

The Scharnhorst also discovered the bad intentions of the British light cruiser approaching at high speed, and began to dump all the available firepower towards the Sheffield.

Although the Scharnhorst has a 350mm armor, Feng. Luo Yankram knew very well that a large-caliber shell and a 10,000-ton cruiser were two different things.

The Sheffield has completely lost her original beautiful appearance. The once smooth and tidy battleship deck is now full of burning flames and bright red blood. The four once majestic triple turrets have now become twisted. The wreckage of the tall bridge is only the lower half of the bridge and it is still billowing with thick smoke.

The enclosed porch of the ship's aft has been riddled with holes, and the four secondary guns on the side of the rear stern have only one port on the port side. The stern mast has collapsed and is now leaning on the turret of the main gun of the stern. The library had been torn apart, and the two seaplanes were burnt, leaving only the burnt black skeleton, which is still squeaking in flames.

The German captives attempted to help her. The Germans have so far attacked all British cruisers above the waterline, and most of them have focused on British ship bridges, superstructures and turret firepower.

The German Navy’s plan was to do so as long as the opponent did not sink, even if it was a barge. From the current situation, these captains did indeed execute this order completely and firmly.

For this reason, the Sheffield’s power system was not damaged. The light cruiser frantically hit the Scharnhorst at a speed of thirty knots.

Due to the close proximity and the opponent's high-speed movement, coupled with the billowing smoke on the ship, most of the blocking gunfire of the Gneisenau and Scharnhorst was actually lost, and the light cruiser blasted around The huge water columns that came out hindered their sight.

Siegfried. Feng. Colonel Rowan Kram felt that the situation was a bit bad. All the light and heavy weapons on the Scharnhorst were firing at the demonic light cruiser, and the large-caliber main and secondary artillery shells continued to fall on each other’s On all sides and on the broken hull, the 37mm and 20mm machine shells were like a fire snake licking the remaining bridge of the British warship, and madly shot the opponent's deck, but all this seems to be now All struggle in vain.

Scharnhorst panicked and wanted to steer and avoid the track, but the opponent stared at him like a ghost, no matter how the Scharnhorst avoided the track, the light cruiser was sharp like a razor The head was always aimed at her.

The distance between the two sides was close to 1,500 meters, and because of Scharnhorst's avoidance of the track, they continued to draw closer.

"Order the entire ship to prepare for collision, pull the Jing Bao!"

Feng. Colonel Rowan Kram roared and ordered that he never dreamed that he would be forced to such a point by a light cruiser.

"Captain! Look! That's... there... it's Prince Eugen!"

Just at the moment when the terrible crash report sounded on the bridge, the watchman shouted wildly at the same time.

Feng. Luo Yankram quickly rushed to the lookout of the armored bridge and looked in the direction of the fingers of the hand.

I saw that on the sea filled with smoke, a battleship appeared on the starboard side of Sheffield as if falling from the sky, and madly rushed towards the light cruiser that was also crazy crazy at an incredible speed.

Beautiful pieces of black and white camouflage, a tall bridge, a blood-red imperial navy flag and a black skull flag flying on the mast.

"Von. Hess, what do you want to do!"

Feng. Colonel Rowan Kram was stunned by the scene in front of him.

"God! She wants to hit Sheffield! Prince Eugen wants to stop her!"

An adjutant screamed after reacting.

There are no more live sailors on the deck of the Sheffield, and the survivors on the bridge now focus all their attention on the target at hand, and the watchman on the deck of the bridge is now The casualties were almost exhausted, so no Englishman found the German heavy cruiser who was rushing towards himself.

Prince Eugen’s main gun was silent, and rushed towards Sheffield silently like a ghost ship.

Less than a hundred meters away from the ship's hull, Prince Eugen, who had remained silent, suddenly blew all the sirens, and then the sharp and piercing collision sounds from the precision reporter on the bridge rang through the sky.

Captained by the sudden loud noise, Colonel Renault hurried to the observation port on the starboard side of the battleship and looked out. What entered his eyes was the sharp head of a huge German battleship and a huge turret.

"Ah, God!"

Captain Renault shivered with a desperate scream.

The next second, the bow of Prince Eugen slashed into Sheffield's ragged body.

The damage caused by the huge impact can be felt even by the sailors on the Scharnhorst.

The piercing report sound was accompanied by a violent metal fracture and twisting sound, and the cracking sound echoed on the sea surface. Sheffield was violently moved by a distance of more than thirty meters. The agitated sea wave was like a water wall rising high.

The bow of the Prince Eugen was deeply inserted into the British cruiser's bridge a little bit, and the twisted bow armor plate stood like a monster's teeth in the sky.

Everyone was stunned by the earth-shattering scene before them.

"Long live!"

I don’t know who started first, first one or two, then dozens, hundreds, and finally the whole battleship boiled.

The sailors waved excitedly to the two battleships inlaid together. The sailors on the deck forgot that the fight was still going on, they jumped and roared excitedly on the battle position.

The officers on Scharnhorst stood in their posts in full salute to the towering bridge of Prince Eugen.

"Long live! Prince Eugen, long live!"

;