The Rise of the Third Reich

"Oh, God!"

"Help me!"

"I'm going to die, mom..."

When Major Koenig, the electromechanical officer of the Scharnhorst, and Captain Miller, the damage control leader, rushed into the boiler room where the heat wave was rolling, all they heard was the roar of machines and heart-rending screams.

As the steam pipes were torn apart by the shells, the entire boiler room suddenly became a hell. Soldiers were everywhere wailing and screaming in despair as they were burned by the steam. The floor was a little slippery. Koenig looked down and saw that it was all blood and dead bodies!

"We have to close the gap!" Koenig shouted at the top of his lungs, "Otherwise we will all die here. Anyone who can still move, get up. Germany needs you!"

After being yelled at by him, some of the burned soldiers struggled to get up. Regardless of the severe pain radiating from all over their bodies, they looked around for tools that could be used to plug the holes.

At this moment, the ship shook violently again, and everyone in the boiler room fell to the ground.

"Damn, I got shot again!" Koenig couldn't help shouting.

"It can't die!" Miller, the damage control captain, helped Koenig. "I know the Scharnhorst. It is the strongest ship and it is not that easy to die! Major, leave this to you, I'll go Look up there.”

"Okay, I'll bring someone to repair the steam pipe!" Koenig glanced at the steam pipe that was torn by the shell - this was both unlucky and lucky. The 15-inch cannon shell only scratched the steam pipe. But there was no explosion, otherwise even if the gods came, they would not be able to do anything.

When Captain Miller rushed onto the deck with a few of his men, the deck was stained with blood, and there were dead and injured officers and soldiers everywhere. A 150mm secondary gun was blown away, and the location of the original cannon was blown into grotesque shapes. However, It did not cause a fire.

He looked at the sea again and saw that the "Hood" had sailed to the left rear of the "Scharnhorst". It seemed that it was planning to run around the "Shaan". However, the situation of this British warship does not look good. The fire is still burning on the deck. It seems that the damage control has failed.

Captain Miller looked away, then found a phone and dialed the command tower, "Sir, this is Damage Control Captain Miller. The damage to the boiler room is repairable, but the steam pipe is damaged and can be repaired."

Captain Leifman's voice came from the other end of the phone: "Thank God! Miller, when we return to Germany, I will definitely apply for the First Class Iron Cross for you and Koenig!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the main gun of the "Hood" 9,000 meters away fired another salvo! Amidst the huge roar, eight 15-inch giant bombs broke through the air and landed around the "Scharnhorst" in just the blink of an eye.

"Rumble..."

After a loud noise, a thick cloud of black smoke rose from the main gun turret on the bow of the "Scharnhorst" and turned into a dazzling orange fireball dozens of meters high in the air. One of the main gun turrets of the "Scharnhorst" was blown away!

"Closer, closer!"

Günter Prien on the U-47 had no time to care about the fate of the Scharnhorst. His eyes were still glued to the periscope, looking intently at his target - the pride of the British Royal Navy, the HMS Hood, which was burning like a floating fire.

"Aim at the target!" He issued an order loudly, "Prepare the bow launch tube, 4 torpedoes, dispersion angle XX degrees, fixed depth XX meters..."

His order was transmitted to the torpedo room at the bow of the ship through the loudspeaker. The torpedo soldiers in the torpedo room were busy for a while, loading four huge G7aT1 torpedoes into place. This torpedo weighs 1.5 tons and is more than 7 meters long. The warhead is filled with 320 kilograms of nitric acid compounds. Its power is not comparable to the small torpedoes of the naval aviation. Not to mention the "Hood" built during World War I, even many new battleships can have several holes in their mine protection armor - but the mine protection compartments of new battleships are very deep, usually several meters deep. The interior will also be filled with water-tight rubber and the like to absorb the power of the explosion. It is difficult to penetrate it completely, but the older "Hood" does not have such a perverted lightning protection design.

In addition, these G7aT1 torpedoes are not equipped with magnetic fuzes with unstable performance, but use reliable trigger fuzes.

"The bow launch tube is ready!"

The torpedo man finished loading and reported loudly.

Günter Prien ordered again, "Prepare the bow launch tube and open the water valve."

"Open the water valve!"

"Open the torpedo tube front cover!"

"The torpedo tube front cover is open!"

Günter Prien shouted: "No. 1, No. 3, launch!"

"No. 1, No. 3, let go!"

"No. 2, No. 4, launch!"

"No. 2, No. 4, let go!"

According to Günter Prien's instructions, the torpedo soldiers launched all four torpedoes. "Bang! Bang! Bang..." Everyone in the boat heard the sound of the submarine launching torpedoes. As the submarine trembled violently, four torpedoes with bubbles were ejected from the front of the U-47 submarine, floating on the sea surface. They left their unique traces on them and rushed towards the "Hood" quickly.

"Reload the torpedoes!" Günter Prien retracted the periscope and shouted the order. Unlike the usual attack on merchant ships, today's attack was on a battlecruiser. It is impossible to sink it with one shot. It has to be fired at 17 or 18 rounds to destroy all the torpedoes carried by U-47.

Soon, a dull explosion was heard in the distance. Gunter Prien quickly raised the periscope again and put his eyes on it. He only saw the burning "Hood" still floating steadily on the water, but the hull was slightly tilted.

It is indeed a battleship!

"Torpedo soldiers, move quickly!" Günter Prien shouted, "Hit a few more rounds before the enemy finds us!"

…

"what happened?"

"It seems that the power cabin amidships was hit by a torpedo!"

"Torpedo?" Lieutenant General Whitworth was stunned for a moment, "Did he be hit by a torpedo from the Scharnhorst?"

According to the intelligence obtained by the British, there should be a torpedo launch tube on the "Scharnhorst" (in fact, there is not), so Whitworth thinks so. After all, the distance between the two ships is not very far now.

"How's the damage?"

"If an engine room gets flooded, it may lose some power and it will take some time to repair."

The power cabin of the "Hood" is particularly large (its horsepower is huge). The length of the boiler room and engine room alone is nearly 150 meters, so it is easy to be hit. There is a mine protection compartment outside the power compartment. A torpedo fired by U-47 was installed with a mine protection compartment and exploded. The compartment absorbed part of the huge shock wave and foam spray caused by the underwater explosion of the torpedo warhead, but the remaining power still penetrated an engine room, causing a large amount of seawater to pour in. However, it is impossible for the "Hood" to sink with this amount of damage. As long as the waterproof hatch is closed, there will be no problem.

Just when Lieutenant General Whitworth wanted to order water injection to maintain the balance of the ship's hull, the "Hood" seemed to be hit hard by something, and at the same time a huge water column rose at the stern of the ship.

The "Hood" was hit by another torpedo! This time it was the Hood's stern that was hit.

"Lieutenant Admiral, the rudder seems to be out of order!" The chief mate of the "Hood" who was at the helm suddenly shouted, "The torpedo just now may have hit the rudder! We have no way to turn!"

"Hell!" Lieutenant General Whitworth stamped his foot violently, "This is definitely not the work of the Scharnhorst. There is a submarine under the water!"

"What should we do?" the first mate asked.

What else can be done? You definitely can’t stay here and get thundered! The rudder of the ship was broken and there was no way to turn it, so we had to leave first.

Thinking of this, he glanced at the Scharnhorst, which was also on fire. The ship had been hit by at least 8 15-inch shells and 6-7 8-inch shells, but it refused to sink. !

At this time, he suddenly found that the "Scharnhorst" had increased its speed again and was turning. It seemed that it was preparing to leave the battlefield.

"Lieutenant General, what should I do?"

Lieutenant-Admiral Whitworth gritted his teeth and said, "Let the 'Sheffield', 'Cornwall' and 'Southampton' detachments pursue it! The 'Scharnhorst' has been severely damaged. Kill it with torpedoes." !”

…

Lieutenant General Machar took a deep breath and almost shouted "God bless". He was really lucky. The "Scharnhorst" was stronger than expected, and it showed no signs of sinking despite being hit by 15-inch shells. Moreover, the damage to the boiler room was repaired in time, and the battleship's speed has now been restored to 26 knots!

Machar looked at the time. It was now 11:32 pm Iceland time. He looked back at Major General Leifman, who also had a narrow escape: "It seems that the 'Hood' was severely damaged. I think this operation has achieved results, right?"

"Is it a gain?" Rear Admiral Leifman smiled bitterly. The battleship's tactic of breaking up the relationship must have failed!

The tactic of using battleships with submarines to carry out ambushes is also unreliable. 9 out of 10 submarines did not even fire a single mine! Only one ship fired 8 torpedoes, 2 of which hit, saving the life of the "Scharnhorst", but the "Scharnhorst" was beaten so hard by the "Hood" that it didn't know where to go. How long have you been at the shipyard?

Of course, there are rewards! It once again proved that the aircraft carrier is the real backbone. The effect of using aircraft and submarines to break up engagements is much better than using battleships.

If the "Sekt" can be brought out this time and equipped with more Fokker 99s, such as 15 for each aircraft carrier, then the results this time will be much greater. 30 Fokker 99s can kill tens of thousands of tons in one attack, and the aircraft carrier can be hidden far away, so there is basically no risk.

Thinking of this, he nodded, "Yes, it is rewarding... I want to learn to fly a plane, and then command an aircraft carrier. I heard that the 'Sekt' does not have a captain yet, and I want to be its captain." ”

At this moment, someone suddenly shouted again: "Starboard side, 5 enemy ships!"