Battle of the Third Reich

The Royal Navy’s Shallow Water Heavy Gunship [Dark World], loaded with 8,400 tons, is equipped with a formidable fifteen-inch (381 mm) twin turret, with two 150 mm and four With a 76-millimeter secondary gun, most of the hull is covered with four-inch thick armor. The armor thickness of the armored control tower has reached 13 inches. This standard is already the same as that of battleships.

But it was such a behemoth, whose draught was controlled at about 3.56 meters. Her mission was to cast battleship-level heavy artillery fire on the shore or offshore targets in shallow water near the shore.

Why is this Royal Navy's heavy artillery ship appearing on the battlefield in the Gulf of Siam? This is a long story.

[Dark World]'s experience during this period is almost comparable to the legendary story. Here I can only briefly talk about it.

After avoiding the battle of the destruction of the local fleet, this warship has been staying in Portsmouth Port, where it received enhanced modification of air defense weapons. After the end of the war, the Royal Navy began to gather the troops at hand and began preparations for reconstruction. At the same time, some of the units with combat capabilities were sent to major colonies to deter some sloppy organizations and strengthen the local forces to these areas. Control.

The Dark Circle was sent to Singapore. The sea area there was very suitable for this kind of shallow water gunboat activity. The two fifteen-inch cannons above her were enough to deter the small groups of people around.

The warship departed from the mainland and crossed Gibraltar into the Mediterranean Sea. At that time, Italy and Greece had not yet fought. The ship stopped at the sea off the port of Athens. The crew also visited the Parthenon under the captain. Then they went to the island of Cyprus to monitor the actions of the Turkish navy for a few days. They also conducted a live-fire shooting show outside Port Said. In front of a group of Arab chiefs, they leveled a hill with a main gun.

After crossing the Suez Canal, the "Dark World" was organized into a fleet of transporters, and then passed through the Gulf of Aden to Mumbai, an important port of British India. But at this time the journey of this warship was not over. After spending a few days of extravagant life in India and relaxing the tired spirit, the [Dark World] continued to set sail. This time they no longer berth any ports, but bypass the Indian subcontinent along the coast, traverse the Bay of Bengal, enter the Strait of Malacca, and finally reach the port of Singapore. By the time this shallow water gunship, like a mini battleship, slowly entered the naval berth in the port of Singapore, more than a month had passed since their departure.

This voyage was an unforgettable experience for the sailors on the "Dark World", which had a huge impact on their future life development. The young sailors recruited after the war began on the ship, and those who had just left their parents A big boy was trained to be a real man at sea.

How could the British not blend in with the war between France and Siam, because weakening the military strength of Siam is also a very beneficial thing for the current British Empire. As for the ideas and decisions of the British Empire, I will talk about it in detail later, and here I will only talk about the battle of the Dark World.

At around ten o'clock in the morning, Admiral Charles Forbes, commander of the Royal Navy's Far East Fleet, received a telegram from the Whitehall in London, and immediately followed the order of the Dark World to anchor.

"Take this as an opportunity to show the power of the British Empire, do it well." The Admiral said to Captain Marchell on the phone like this.

Marchell knew that there would be no written version of this order, nor would it be archived in the Admiralty, and if an accident occurred midway, the truth would be firmly covered. However, this is also a shortcut to promotion. It is a test of the commander to him. If he succeeds, he will gain the trust of his superiors and earn a valuable relationship.

The colonel is fifty years old, and if he doesn’t work harder, there may be no chance of ascension. He still has the same vigorous ambitions as he was when he was young. The military rank was honorably retired.

The speed of the "Dark World" prevented her from breaking through the battle. The overwhelming firepower was prepared for some solid targets, such as the coastal defense fortress or the port city.

Britain and Siam did not go to war. Of course, it was impossible to attack each other’s harbors with grandeur. How to say that the basic face of the British Empire still needs to be kept. This time it was the French who came forward, how could the British waste this guise, [The Dark World] hung the tricolor of honor on the mast, and turned into a French navy gunboat.

[The Dark World] The original mission was to bombard the Sattahip Naval Base to destroy the port’s infrastructure as much as possible, and at least to ensure that the port could not be used normally within two weeks. Of course, it is impossible to accomplish this task with this ship alone. At that time, the two super destroyers of the French Navy will be responsible for the protection of the shelling.

The original plan seemed quite comprehensive. The "Dark World" had enough horsepower to run to the meeting place within the scheduled time. Just after meeting the two destroyers, the above command came again. This time, she was asked to fight naval battle.

Although the decisive assault of the lightning strike ship failed, they successfully led the two destroyers to the southeast. The slow-moving Thonburi was still on her original route. The shallow water gunboat was throwing a 200-millimeter caliber at a French destroyer more than 10,000 meters away at a volley of two minutes. Shells.

Because the French destroyer increased its speed, the Dark World was thrown far behind, which was the third ship that could not be recognized in front of the Siamese Navy.

The goal of [Dark World] was right from the beginning. [Thunburi], he was like a heavy armored infantry, and he was slowly and persistently approaching the target.

When [Thunburi] noticed this warship that had never been seen before, the [Dark World] had already aimed and calculated, and shot the first round of salvo in this naval battle.

The sailors on the "Dark World" are well-trained, showing the qualities of an old maritime power. Although the two sides are more than 10,000 meters apart, the first-round shot only missed the target by less than 300 feet. The huge water column splits the face. Hit the back deck of [Thonburi].

At first, the Thonburi did not understand what was attacking itself. From the water column, it can be inferred that the diameter of the outlet is definitely more than 300 mm. Wei Fengan was terrified at that time. He thought that the French battleship was shooting himself. After receiving the description of the watchman, Wei Fengan realized that the unknown ship in the distance was actually a ship. Shallow water heavy gunboat.

At this moment, [Thonburi] has no other retreat. Only by taking the last stroke, Wei Fengan has made it clear that in this situation, the probability of [Thonburi] escaping safely is zero. Now that he is destined to run away, he has to get back an interest, even if he can't beat his opponent, at least he can bite off a piece of meat.

The officers in the control tower also saw that the double gun of [Thunburi] was difficult to hit the high-speed hurricane super destroyer, so the same slow-moving [Dark World] became their best revenge target. The Siamese obviously made an extremely wrong choice, and of course they paid a corresponding price for it.

The Siamese naval heavy artillery vessel changed course in order to use all the firepower of the two main turrets. This is the most commonly used tactic in naval warfare. This is the case with the horizontal crosshead.

The British have no such problem at all, because the [Dark World] only has a main gun at the bow. In the eyes of the British navy veterans, the Siamese’s actions revealed a weak flank to themselves. Find a dead end.

[Dark World] bluntly shot the sixth round of volley. Because the opponent turned, the distance measurement was slightly wrong. As a result, a pinch bomb was hit, and the huge dyed water column was away from [Thunburi]. The side port was less than five hundred feet, when the Siamese sailors standing on the port side deck were all scared out of a cold sweat.

A huge underwater shock wave struck the 2.5-inch side armor plate of Thonburi, and the bottom deck aisle echoed the harsh metal twisting sound. Wei Feng'an discovered that he had made a serious mistake. His warship armor could not withstand the attack of the opposite firepower. He readjusted the course and pointed the bow to [The Dark World], and then began to fight back with all his strength.

The Japanese 203mm gun is the main gun used on heavy cruisers, and it can obtain a fairly good rate of fire through auxiliary machinery such as loader. However, the volume of the Thonburi is limited, so it can only be loaded manually. The rate of fire quickly slows down as the gunner’s physical energy is consumed. In contrast, the British Dark Circle has a full turret The auxiliary equipment, coupled with the well-trained officers and soldiers, kept the rate of fire at one and a half minutes without any change.

At this time, the French Navy’s super destroyer had solved the fireball "Rayong" and began to adjust the course from the southeast direction to [Thonburi] high-speed approach. Wei Fengan had to order the warship to turn again, trying to use the tail. The artillery attacked the French destroyer.

The [Dark World] and [Mogador] class destroyers have completed the half encirclement of the [Thunburi], this shallow water heavy gunship has become a turtle in the urn.

The training results of the British Royal Navy finally showed. In the ninth round of salvo, an armor-piercing grenades hit the starboard deck of the Thonburi. After penetrating the armor that was only 30 millimeters, Continue to smash through the second deck, and eventually exploded on the bottom deck next to the lightning protection compartment.

The shallow-water heavy artillery ship looked like a festive firework at that time, spitting flames and debris upwards, a 20-mm single-barrel gun and two sailors were thrown into the sky sixty feet high, and then followed various Debris and debris fell into the sea on the side of the ship.

[Thunburi]'s hull jumped sharply, and the speed began to slow down quickly.

"We didn't know what happened on that ship at the time. What I said was learned from the mouth of a rescued Siamese sailor. That shell exploded a big hole in the bottom of the warship. It quickly filled the adjacent compartment, and it also broke a spare oil tank on the side of the second deck, tons of diesel oil leaked out, everywhere on the second deck and the bottom tank, and caused All engines on the starboard side are stopped. You know that diesel is not easy to burn, but if you encounter a martyr ammunition, such as a machine gun shell, the result will be "Bang" The inside of the ship will become a huge oven. Marcel recalled in an interview with Siamese media after the war.

"[Thunburi] was a great warship, and my [Dark World] gave her a rather fatal blow." The retired admiral specially emphasized.

No one knew where the head of the fire started, and soon the entire warship was shrouded in gray and black smoke. The sailors on the deck were unable to extinguish the fire under such circumstances, and soon they were forced into the sea by the scorching heat wave. The sailors in the lower cabin scrambled to climb from the stern deck exit to the deck, and many people had been seriously burned by this time.

The French and British warships stopped the shooting, because everyone could see that the warship was finished, and it was not worth continuing to waste ammunition on her.

Fearing that the main gun ammunition depot may be killed, several captains did not want to let their warships and hands go to risk, so the three warships were moored on the sea surface three kilometers away from the [Thonburi] On, coldly staring at this scene like hell.

No one could say exactly when the warship sank. I just remembered that when the Thonburi disappeared from the sea, a sunset glow appeared in the west sky.

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thank you all. (To be continued.)