Fox of France

The "Cambridgeshire" supercruiser rushing to the forefront naturally became the target of the French army's concentrated fire. This is actually the purpose of the British army to let the "Cambridge" rush to the forefront - to help the "Queen Elizabeth" block shells . Cover the "Queen Elizabeth" as much as possible to retain full combat effectiveness and rush to a distance sufficient for accurate shooting.

British "super cruisers" are all thin-skinned and stuffed. In order to pursue speed and install large-caliber artillery, British super cruisers are at the level of British armored cruisers in terms of defense. And this kind of armor is not very reliable even against ordinary armored cruisers. In the face of the armor-piercing shells of the 150mm long-barreled guns of the French battleships, it is basically the same as paper.

However, the stormy environment in the North Atlantic helped her a lot. If it was in the calm Mediterranean, the 100mm guns of the French armored cruisers would be enough for her to drink a pot. The power of these guns is limited, but the rate of fire is fast, and it is like raining, and the "Cambridgeshire" is so thin-skinned that it can't even stop such shells.

But in the North Atlantic, things are different. French ships have always attached great importance to high speed (even if they can’t beat them, they can run. Well, at least Joseph, who presides over the development of the military industry, has always emphasized speed, speed, speed!), but on ships, the emphasis on speed performance often requires Make a little sacrifice in other aspects, such as stability.

Big ships like "Imberado" and "Caesar" are fine, even super cruisers like "Free Trade" are actually not very stable. As for the French armored cruisers, hehe, less than two There is no stability for a thousand-ton full row of things. There is a little wind and waves on the sea, and it is normal for the ship to swing from side to side by more than ten degrees. In such a state, if you want to hit your opponent at a longer distance, you have to rely entirely on luck. In fact, it has nothing to do with the performance of the cannon itself and the artillery skills of the gunners.

Therefore, although the French armored cruisers fired as many shells as it rained, the distance between the two sides was only about three kilometers, but there were many shells that missed more than one kilometer.

However, the 150 guns on the "Imberado" and "Caesar" are more effective at this time. When the distance between the two sides was shortened to about two kilometers, the "Imberado" scored its first hit. A 150 semi-armour-piercing shell directly hit the mast of the "Cambridgeshire", connecting her mast to the rear. Most of the chimney was knocked out.

It's not a big deal if the mast or something falls off, but the chimney is knocked out, which directly affects the combustion efficiency of the boiler. lead to a decrease in power. However, at this time, this problem is not too big, because the "Cambridgeshire" still has a chimney, and anyway, the "Queen Elizabeth" can barely run for about ten knots, and the "Cambridgeshire" does not need to go all the way. A run of power output.

However, if the first shot hits, there will naturally be a second shot, and soon in the second round of salvo from the "Imberado", another shell hit the "Cambridgeshire".

This time, the good luck of the "Cambridgeshire" seems to have run out. This shell directly hit the bow part of the ship. The shell easily passed through the paper-like armor of the bow part, and then plunged into the front main gun. Ammunition Depot……

Nelson was on the bridge of the "Queen Elizabeth" and saw that the "Cambridgeshire" in front suddenly trembled, and then a huge fireball suddenly emerged from the deck of the "Cambridgeshire", and the entire ship was destroyed at once. The supercruiser "Cambridge" was swallowed.

Then the fireball and thick smoke rose upwards, and Nelson saw that the "Cambridgeshire" was directly broken in two in the explosion. Then the sound of the rumbling explosion reached the bridge of the "Queen Elizabeth", causing the glass on the bridge to vibrate.

The "Cambridgeshire" sank into the sea almost in the blink of an eye, leaving only a large, foaming eddy on the surface of the sea.

Now it was finally the turn of the "Queen Elizabeth" to face the French fleet's bullets, and the distance between the two sides had been shortened to about two kilometers. The French shells began to fall continuously, and the 100mm shells of the French armored cruiser kept falling near the "Queen Elizabeth", stirring up water columns one by one. The surface of the sea near the "Queen Elizabeth" is like a boiling cauldron.

"The rate of fire of the French's cannons is really high." Nelson said to the adjutant beside him. "Our estimates of the French's firepower are all wrong. They must have some technical secrets."

The French kept the artillery hydraulic reset device so secret that, apart from the navy, not even the invincible French army was equipped with this thing.

The British knew that the artillery of the French navy was generally small in caliber, at least compared with the British 10-inch cannons, they were simply too small. From this they inferred that the French should be pursuing a higher rate of fire. In addition, the barrels of the French cannons are very long. For example, the barrels of their 150mm guns should be more than six meters long, which is even one meter longer than the barrels of the British 10-inch guns. In addition, according to observations, the barrel wall of the French cannon is no thinner than that of the British 10-inch gun-this means that although the caliber of this gun is small, the chamber pressure it bears is not small. Such a barrel is very difficult to manufacture, so don't look at the French cannon as thin as a toothpick, but its cost is definitely not cheap. Maybe it is more expensive than the British 10-inch gun. At least that's the case with the one the British tried and made themselves.

According to their understanding, the British also built a long-barreled 150mm gun. The result of the final test was that the armor-piercing ability of this gun was only slightly weaker than their 10-inch gun with 20 times the caliber, but the rate of fire was much lower. Can be much faster. Of course, the cost is also a bit higher. The price of two long barrels of 150 is enough to buy three 10-inch guns. But this is not the most fatal thing. The most fatal thing is that the gun is severely ablated, and its lifespan is only one-third to one-fourth of that of the 10-inch gun. After such a calculation, the British Navy immediately felt that the 10-inch gun was more fragrant.

So although the British laughed at the French in the newspapers that their naval guns were small toothpicks, they were nothing compared to the British cannons. But the British navy has never underestimated the French 150 guns, but even so, they still greatly underestimated the rate of fire of the French cannons.

Because of the closer distance, even the guns of the French armored cruisers began to become more accurate. Just as Nelson sighed, a 100mm shell hit the front main gun turret of the "Queen Elizabeth". However, the 100mm gun could not penetrate the armor plate of the front main gun turret at all, so the shell just exploded outside the main gun turret, and did not cause any damage to the main gun turret itself.

But this does not mean that the shell failed to cause any damage. When the shell exploded, a piece of shrapnel flew over and shattered a piece of window glass on the bridge.

"Your Excellency, Commander." The adjutant said, "Please go to the command tower to direct the operations."

The conning tower is a thickly armored box in which it is possible to communicate with other departments by telephone. This is a design made to protect the commander of the navy.

"No, I'm not going." Nelson said, "My post is here."

Although there are all kinds of command and communication equipment in the command tower, they can't see the situation on the battlefield with their own eyes. They can only rely on other people's dictation to understand the battlefield. It will be very inconvenient to command there.

More shells fell. Another 100mm shell hit the side of the Queen Elizabeth. But this shell really had no effect other than damaging the paint on the "Queen Elizabeth".

But then a 150-caliber shell hit the superstructure of the "Queen Elizabeth". The shell came in from the right, passed through the empty crew cabin, smashed the wine cabinet next to the bar counter, then passed through another cabin, then drilled two more holes in the chimney, and continued. Forward, fell into the sea on the port side.

Although this 150-caliber shell did not cause any real damage, its hit also meant that the French battleship had aimed at the "Queen Elizabeth", and it was about to enter the real effect of firing.

Sure enough, another 150 shell hit the bow of the "Queen Elizabeth". The shell directly penetrated the armor of the "Queen Elizabeth", then penetrated a cabin, and exploded in the aisle. As for the specific damage it caused, it is not particularly clear.

Then another shell from the "Caesar" hit the "Queen Elizabeth" shell into the coal bunker and started a fire. However, the damage control of the British was very effective, so the fire was quickly brought under control.

More 100mm shells fell on the "Queen Elizabeth". It is impossible for these shells to penetrate the armor of this warship. However, most of the superstructure of this warship is unarmored. It was high-explosive shells, and they fell one after another, smashing the superstructure of the "Queen Elizabeth" to pieces.

The continuously falling 100mm high-explosive bombs caused multiple fires on the "Queen Elizabeth", and the firefighting damage control personnel suffered heavy casualties under the impact of the subsequent falling shells. The podium is approaching.

Then another 100mm shell landed near the warship. Yes, the shell did not hit the "Queen Elizabeth", it was just a near miss.

In naval warfare, there are times when near misses are even more dangerous than direct hits, because near misses explode in water, which is incompressible. Therefore, the near miss of some large-caliber shells may even cause an effect similar to that of a torpedo.

But the 100mm gun is not that kind of large-caliber artillery, and the power of the near-missing ammunition of this kind of shell is quite limited.

But this shell landed near that patch on the HMS Queen Elizabeth. The patch was inherently wobbly, and with all this sailing along the way, it was already a little shaky. At this time another shell, although it was only a 100mm shell that exploded next to it, tore the original patch at once, and the sea water rolled in.