The Rise of the Third Reich

"Boom! Boom! Boom..."

The M-class reconnaissance cruiser Berlin, sailing in front of the guided missile cruiser Friedrich I, fired the first shot of the "Night Battle in the Celtic Sea" in the early morning of May 3. The two turrets on the bow of the Berlin fired four 150mm illumination bombs under the guidance of the fire control radar.

"Target found!"

When four lighting bombs emitting dazzling light appeared above the British 5th team. In the missile operation room located on the top of the bridge of the Friedrich I, someone immediately shouted: "Direction 125, distance 18,700, aim now!"

The aiming work cannot be completed in the missile operation room. This is the responsibility of the personnel on the missile deck. They will aim the missile in the corresponding direction and adjust the elevation angle according to the parameters reported by the missile observation/operation officer.

"Direction 125, distance 18,700, No. 1 aiming completed!"

"Direction 125, distance 18,700, No. 2 aiming completed!"

The missile deck commander's voice came from the speaker, and the operation commander in the operation room (there were two operators responsible for two missiles respectively, one of whom was the operation commander) immediately issued an order: "Launch No. 1, launch No. 2 No. launch."

After receiving the order, the operators on the missile deck immediately started the engine at the tail of the V3 missile, the propeller rotated rapidly, and the indicator light at the tail of the missile was also turned on. Immediately afterwards, someone pressed the button of the No. 1 ejector, and saw the No. 1 bomb ejected into the air with a clatter. Then he pressed the No. 2 catapult and launched the No. 2 bomb into the air.

These two missiles are actually large wireless-controlled aircraft. After being launched, two operators in the operating room can use the remote control handles to control them to crash into a target 18,700 meters away.

The target was a very old heavy cruiser, the Cavendish. This class of cruiser was designed in 1915, when there was no concept of a heavy cruiser. The British Royal Navy designed this 10,000-ton ship equipped with a 7.5-inch (1 main gun) to deal with German assault ships. However, an assault ship like the P class (the P class was originally an assault ship) is definitely not it. It can be dealt with, and the P-class ship frantically launched two overpowered anti-ship missiles at it.

Although the V3 wireless remote-controlled missile has a small range, the final model that will be equipped with the German Navy can only fly 30,000 meters on its own power. But its size and weight have reached an astonishing level, with a total flight weight of 2.2 tons, and a warhead loaded with up to 850 kilograms of explosives!

The reason why it is like this is because the missile is inconvenient to load during combat, and there is no rate of fire at all. We can only pursue high power and strive to sink it with one shot.

Just as the two V3s flew towards the unlucky Cavendi at a speed of 360 kilometers per hour (theoretically they can fly 600 kilometers, but it is difficult to control at night when flying so fast, so the speed of the V3s was reduced to 360 kilometers per hour in the night battle) When Xu was about to proceed, the British heavy cruiser also fired flares at the Friedrich I.

"Jesus Christ, it's a battlecruiser!"

As soon as Captain Jackson, the captain of the Cavendish, saw the Frederick I illuminated by flares, he was immediately frightened by its huge hull with a standard displacement of 24,000 tons. Such a big guy is obviously not something that a 10,000-ton heavy cruiser can deal with, but the 5th battle group he led has now completed its mission - as long as it finds the German battlecruiser and illuminates it with flares, the 7 following A British battleship would naturally clean it up.

"Colonel, there are two glowing UFOs flying over!"

Just when Colonel Jackson was about to order the destroyers in the fleet to release smoke to cover the Cavendish's retreat, he heard the UFO coming.

What is this? Colonel Jackson held up his telescope and searched the night sky, and saw two unknown objects, shining with a faint red light, flying towards him at a speed of about three to four hundred kilometers per hour.

"It's a torpedo plane!" The colonel didn't know there were missiles, he only knew there were torpedo attack planes. "Quickly shoot them down!"

As soon as his order was uttered, the ping pong cannon on the port side of the Cavendish was fired. But it is not easy to shoot down the V3 missile. Because the missile has a slender body and a small frontal area, it is impossible to lose control of the missile by killing the pilot. Moreover, the body of the V3 missile is very strong, and it is impossible for the armor-piercing warhead in the front to penetrate it, and it would not make much sense if it hits it. The metal wings are relatively short and difficult to hit.

The more deadly part is a 1,000-horsepower liquid-cooled engine and propeller produced by Mercedes-Benz that are installed on the back of the missile.

However, since there is no need to consider heat dissipation issues (the V3 only flies for a few minutes, so it is not afraid of high temperatures), the engine is very tightly wrapped in a steel shell. Unless it is directly hit by a 40mm shell, it will be difficult to destroy it with shrapnel. Therefore, it is very difficult to shoot down a V3 missile.

And even if the engine or propeller of the V3 is destroyed, it does not mean that the missile has fallen. Because the inertia will continue to push it to slide for a certain distance, it can still slide on the surface or underwater even after falling into the water. It is very likely to directly hit the underwater part of the target ship, which is equivalent to being hit by a powerful torpedo - here Soon after the weapon was put into use, many V3 operators discovered this trick. They would deliberately let the V3 slide into the water when approaching the target ship to attack the underwater part of the target.

The ping-pong cannon on the Cavendish did not shoot down any V3 missiles in the end, but one of the two V3 missiles hit the heavy cruiser's port amidships at a speed of 360 kilometers per hour, penetrating 3 inches on the spot. armor steel plates, and then suddenly exploded inside this old-fashioned cruiser with domed armor.

Although this V3 did not penetrate the dome armor (because of its slow flight speed), the explosion of 850 kilograms of explosives still turned this classic ship into a sea fireworks and floating torch. It also shocked Admiral John Cronin Tovey, who was commanding the battle on the Queen Elizabeth.

"The Cavendish has been torpedoed!" Admiral Tovey exclaimed, "Damn it, the Germans have 'Lance' torpedoes too!"

The Japanese have already used the terrifying 93 Lance torpedoes in the Pacific and Indian Ocean battlefields. Admiral Tovey naturally knows the power of this Japanese torpedo with ultra-long range and excellent concealment. So now when I see the heavy cruiser Cavendish being blown up without the enemy battlecruiser's main gun firing, I immediately thought of the 93 Lance torpedo.

"Boom! Boom!"

Before Admiral Tovey could recover, there were two more loud noises, and then two more huge floating fireballs appeared on the sea.

"It's the Berwick and Hawkins... two more heavy cruisers were severely damaged!"

Admiral Tovey was already a little confused. How much effort does this take? Three heavy cruisers were severely damaged... well, from the looks of it, they were probably damaged beyond repair.

"Quick, quick, full speed, get out of here!"

Seeing that the sneak attack was successful, Admiral Karls did not even let the Friedrich I use its main gun to hit the target, and immediately ordered an escape at full speed - the British must have battleships in this area, and the Friedrich I can't beat it without V3 missiles. People.

He now found that the cannon of the P-class guided missile cruiser was really useless. It couldn't beat the battleship, and it would take a while to sink the heavy cruiser. Come to think of it, the V3 missile was better.

"Commander, the Germans seem to be escaping!"

The radar on the Elizabeth quickly discovered that the six German teams on the sea were running away...but why were they running? Could it be a sneak attack and then leave?

"Commander, do you want to pursue me?"

Chase? Are you going to catch up and get torpedoed? Admiral Tovey thought for a while and felt that he had to pursue them, otherwise these German ships might go to Cork Bay to release torpedoes, and the B fleet that was laying mines there was no match.

"Chase slowly and drive them far away." Admiral Tovey ordered, "Remember not to get too close, be careful of the German spear torpedoes!"

But within 10 minutes of Tovey's fleet pursuing him, the radar officer loudly reported: "Commander, the enemy has turned around and returned!"

"Returned?"

Admiral Tovey was stunned. Did he want to launch torpedoes again?

Admiral Tovey thought for a while, gritted his teeth and said: "Order all the patrol teams to move closer to the 1st team, lure the Germans over, and let them taste the power of the battleship's main gun!"

No matter how powerful the spear torpedo is, can it be more powerful than the main gun of the battleship? There are 7 British battleships here, of which 5 Queen Elizabeth class and 1 Ramillies each have 8 15-inch cannons, and the other Repulse has 6 15-inch cannons, for a total of 54 15-inch (380mm) Artillery, this kind of firepower is barely enough to fight an upright fleet decisive battle with the European Combined Fleet. It is simply not something that three German battlecruisers with only 280mm cannons can deal with! As long as they can concentrate their firepower and sink one ship, most of the remaining German ships will have to escape in despair.

"Commander, the British want to lure us towards the guns of their battleships."

John Tovey's idea was seen through by Colonel Wagner, Chief of Staff of the 5th Fleet of the European Combined Fleet from the beginning.

"This is also our opportunity!" Fleet Commander Karls said, "We have 6 V3s that can be launched. They can fly 100 meters per second, and it only takes 200 seconds to hit a target 20,000 meters away... During this time, British battleships At most, 5-6 rounds of salvos should not be able to hit us. It is night after all, but if we fire out 6 V3s, we can hit at least 2 of them. If we hit a battleship, it will be severely damaged!"