Battle of the Third Reich

The disaster of the Royal Navy did not end there. The largest ship collision accident in the history of the British mainland fleet was only just unveiled at this time.

The violent collision of the heavy cruiser stunned the light cruiser Leander, who was following. The captain of this leader responded very quickly. He personally held the rudder and began to turn to the starboard side, avoiding the two bites. Heavy patrol, the captain commanding the battle on the upper bridge was also terrified by the tragedy in front of him. He looked at the two giant behemoths dumbfounded and waited until the end of the turn to remember to order to follow up the light patrol formation. An evasion warning was issued, but it was clearly too late at this time.

The light patrols were lined up with neat artillery columns. In order to ensure firepower density, the distance between the two ships was only 500 meters, barely enough time to make evasive actions. The other two Liande class light cruisers did not see a collision accident in front of them. They also focused on the artillery battle with the German heavy cruiser. When the team leader received the warning, the Liande had turned to let When they left the fairway, they found that the two heavy patrols in front of them were entangled and blocked their own routes.

Achilles slowed down urgently and turned to the right. She tried to follow the Riande and continue to maintain the column. Neptune chose to turn to the left, because the Achilles is slowing down, if Neptune chooses to turn on the same side, it will definitely collide with the sister ship. This action of Neptune led to the collapse of the light cruiser formation. The following four light cruisers did not know what happened in front of them, and the formation fell into a short period of chaos.

Zeal is in a fierce artillery battle with Admiral Hipper, and German shells have had a greater impact than initially estimated. Now only the rear chimney can work normally, the front flue and exhaust system have been completely damaged, and the temperature in the front cabin has reached the limit that the human body can withstand. The Marines continued to insist on their respective positions by virtue of their own will, and many people have fallen into severe heat stroke and dehydration.

The helmsman in the zealous steering room noticed the movement of the fleet ahead. Before he reported to the captain, the Neptune suddenly turned to the left. At this time, the officers on the bridge also saw two entangled heavy patrols directly in front of them, and the pilot light patrol that evaded from left to right, and chose **** to fall from the sky. Whether to turn to the left to follow Neptune, or turn to the right to continue to follow the leader.

The overly responsive navigator and the captain made the opposite judgment. Contradictory orders were issued almost simultaneously, leaving the pilot in a daze for a while. The captain's order confirmed again was conveyed urgently, and the wheelhouse quickly pulled the clock to order the cabin to slow down. But she found that she didn't get any feedback from the cabin. At this time, it was too late to contact with the phone. She had to keep turning at the highest speed to the right, accompanied by a terrible metal distortion. Zeal's hull leaned inward.

Next second. The officers on the bridge of Zeal suddenly discovered in horror that the Manchester, which was immediately behind Zeit, was approaching at a high speed on its side, and its course was just across the current route of Zee.

"Pull the collision alarm!" On the bridge of Zeal, the captain had no time to shout this command, and before the sailors pulled down the electric switch of the siren, the Manchester had already slammed into Zeal. The sharp bow of the Manchester was fiercely inserted from the position just below the ardent bridge, and the bow was raised high, almost prying the small bridge from the hull.

The violent collision caused all untied things on the decks of the two light cruisers to leave their original positions. These included dozens of sailors who were fighting hard at the gun position, and the human body was thrown high from the platform. Then he fell heavily on the hard upper cabin and deck. Many people screamed and fell into the sea. After struggling twice, they never floated again. The sailors in the cabin were broken and injured. , The sound of howling one after another sounded like an ocean tide, echoing in two light patrol cabin aisles.

The Manchester received a radio command from the leader, and she knew what was happening ahead, so she deflected the bow and left the original course before the Zeal turned. These two light patrols were drawn from two teams, and had not served in a fleet, nor had they ever cooperated in formation. The Manchester United thought that the Enthusiasm had received the same warning, and it must have noticed its own movements, so it did not slow down at all. She wholeheartedly wanted to catch up with the column leader in the front and continue her battle.

The Manchester did not expect that the Enthusiasm had burned up and down, neither received the warning of the leader, nor nobody paid attention to the friendly ships behind. The harsh environment of the engine room prevented the sailors from receiving the orders of the bridge in time, and the panic helmsman rudder Turning too many angles, the result was directly across the Manchester fairway.

The captain of Zeal was on the right side of the bridge when the collision occurred. As a result, the violent impact threw him to the other side of the bridge. His forehead hit the handle of the door, and blood splattered out. The naval lieutenant took out his handkerchief and pressed it firmly on his forehead. He found that the shoulder on one side might be dislocated. Strongly resisting the dizziness, the lieutenant colonel stood up and began to vomit on the window frame on the side of the bridge. At this time, a huge shadow appeared in the afterglow of his eyes. The lieutenant colonel gasped and raised his head, and he saw it immediately. An unforgettable scene in his life.

Just less than a hundred meters from the Zeit, Liverpool was passing by the Zeit at full speed. It can be clearly seen that the light patrol bridge collapsed towards the front, a shocking large hole was opened under the bridge, and smoke was billowing out. The sailor on the Liverpool was running around on the deck in panic at this time. The captain of the zeal saw some sailors gather on the lifeboat deck and was pushing the two long boats hard.

The Navy Lieutenant Colonel had some strange behavior as a sailor on the Liverpool. He stared blankly at this light patrol, surpassing the Enthusiasm, and continued to gallop forward. The captain of the enthusiastic ship followed the Liverpool. He found that the light cruiser did not make any evasive actions at all, so he kept the highest speed and rushed towards the two heavy cruisers.

"God." The captain finally understood the strange behavior of the Liverpool sailor, his eyes widened. Watching the light cruiser hit the gap between the two heavy cruisers, the violent collision sound could be heard clearly even here.

Liverpool's front bridge and wheelhouse were completely destroyed, and the torpedo chief on the light cruiser was eventually commanded by the ship. He ran into the spare bridge next to the battleship's rear mast, where there was a spare command and steering equipment to cope with the current situation.

The rear bridge had no forward vision. The torpedo chief ordered an officer to prepare to climb the open-air observation deck at the top of the bridge, use the in-ship phone to relay the command signal of the leader to him, and pay attention to the course of the fleet to ensure that he The position in the queue.

At that time, the steering of Manchester gave way to the path ahead. The Liverpool, who thought the other party was malfunctioning, did not hesitate to accelerate to the top of the former, and then the Enthusiastic began to turn suddenly, and the officer was ready to be born until the last moment. Only to find that there was an accident directly ahead.

The officer ready to use the phone to report the new situation to the torpedo chief, but found that the phone could not be connected. The stubborn preparatory life tossed the phone back and forth, and when he remembered that perhaps he should have run by himself, the deck was already in a mess.

The first thing that was found to be wrong was the gunners of the front main gun. These gunners are all recruits. The oldest is less than seventeen years old. The sailors who were struggling to fire the gun accidentally saw the heavy cruiser ahead in the distance. They were amazed by the spectacular scene at the time, and they couldn't help praying and expressing condolences to the sailors on the two poor warships.

At this moment everyone thought that the battleship would change course in the next moment, but then they found that they were wrong, the course of the battleship did not change at all, and the Liverpool was heading towards the two piles of steel at a high speed of 24 knots.

The turret commander wanted to ask about the situation, but found that the connection with the spare bridge was broken, and then they saw the collision of the Zeal and Manchester. The unbearable gunners swarmed out of the turret, they thought the warship was out of control. Everyone rushed towards the lifeboat deck.

The German navy witnessed the whole process of this unprecedented serial collision ship from a distance. The entire German fleet was stunned by the sight before and even forgot to continue shooting at each other. This scene is a rare sight in a century. In just one minute, five British warships collided alternately, and the surviving warships began to blindly turn into circles and fell into a panic. The battleship of the British Navy Fleet The thread collapsed in an instant.

Reidel first reacted from his surprise. Looking at the chaotic British fleet, the commander-in-chief of the German Navy couldn't help but be overjoyed. This might be the miraculous display of the God's apostle. God is on the side of the German Navy, and now he does not take the opportunity to hit the water dog. I have to wait until when.

The German navy formation immediately changed course, and threw it straight towards the remaining British fleet.

"Scatter them, divide them, surround them, smash them, destroy them." The orders given by Redel to his men were simple and clear, but the captains felt the power contained in the order.

The German fleet began to split into three columns, and attacked, outflanked, and detoured at full speed towards the British warships.

The British fleet was in extreme chaos at this time, and the various units had lost their unified command. The surviving warships tried their best to move closer to the flagship formation. The normal formation no longer existed. The light cruiser completely lost its formation and could only fight on its own.

At this time, the British destroyers that had always been on the inner side of the fleet showed amazing courage. They did not obtain the orders issued by the flagship, but the commander of the destroyer unit thought that someone must come forward at this time to fight for the fleet. Group time.

The destroyer unit commander believes that the battle situation is irreversible. The British Royal Navy has completely failed this battle. The only thing that can be done right now is to save the surviving battleship as much as possible, and retain the last face for the Royal Navy.

The four J-type destroyers lined up and cut out from the inside line. They increased the speed to 36 knots and started to charge at high speed while firing all the artillery at the German fleet. The destroyer fleet slanted across the battlefield and released snow-white chemical smoke. It quickly created a smoke wall 60 meters high and 400 meters long in front of the German Navy, which obscured the sight of the German warship.

"Shoot! Kill those four destroyers!" Ryder jumped in the control tower. How could he tolerate being hindered by others at the moment of his final victory, not to mention the other four small and unrestrained destroyers.

At the next moment, almost all German warships began to attack the four British destroyers. The British destroyer was instantly surrounded by dense artillery fire of various calibers. The destroyer commander calmly led the formation to move left and right quickly, and even tried to launch a torpedo attack, but no matter how skilled his skills were, he could not make up for the gap in quantity. He did everything he could and ended up with a 283mm shell. This brave naval officer struggled hard.

Four destroyers successively shot and sank to the bottom of the sea. Two of them exploded in a torpedo tube explosion. The broken hull sank to the bottom of the sea within ten seconds. None of the crew members of the two destroyers survived.

Tovi has completely given up hope at this time. When Cumberland hit the Berwick, he still had confidence to continue the fight, but when the second and third collisions occurred, he knew that the general trend was gone and he and the British mainland fleet The final moment of has arrived, but absolutely don't want him to admit defeat.

"Order Queen Elizabeth, immediately break through the Dover Strait at full speed, we will entangle the German fleet for her, if the breakthrough is successful, order Queen Elizabeth to continue to complete the mission, even if a shell is shot at the German landing fleet, For the victory of the British Royal Navy, we did our duty for the empire." Tovi stood on the bridge and gave orders to the chief of staff.

"Commander, the Kent can continue to fight." The captain stood aside and reported.

"Very good, now signal, all ships are moving closer to the flagship, the flagship will take the charge and hang the z-flag, the British Empire needs every sailor to stand firm." Kent turned the bow and led the remaining three light The cruisers lined up in an unformed queue, releasing smoke while charging the German fleet.

Queen Elizabeth slowly turned the course, under the cover of smoke, straight ahead toward the Dover Strait at full speed.

"The battleship Queen Elizabeth is breaking through!" Captain von Rowan Kram, who had long been staring at the battleship, reported the situation to Redell.

"Don't care about that boat, she can't rush into the Dover Strait, where a group of old friends are waiting for her. Order the fleet, surround the four British cruisers, attack with all their strength, and send them all to the bottom of the sea!"

At this level of battle, Rydell felt that the overall situation had been determined. With such a glorious victory, the German navy had never sunk a warship. This was unexpectedly lucky. There was no need to cause unnecessary losses for a battleship that was still struggling with beasts. Rydell’s mentality has changed, keeping the record of not sinking a battleship until the end is what he currently wants most.

Just in the wide waterway outside the Dover Strait, three huge warships are waiting for it, a solitary ship shadow looming on the sea level, accompanied by a harsh electric bell, the huge turret began to slowly rotate, thick The barrel was slowly raised. . . . (To be continued, please search Piaotian Literature, the novel is better and faster!