Chapter 1,308 Collapse
Chapter 1308 Collapse
In terms of fleet quality, it is true that the Fuso-class battleships are powerful, but this only accounts for the advantage of their later construction time and larger tonnage. In fact, the common saying within the Japanese Navy is that they are still inferior to the Bavaria-class battleships. The Japanese navy is not stupid. They can understand the technical gap between them in some key points, such as range finding. The German's body range finder and ultra-long baseline do have advantages in fire control. Another example is armor-piercing bullets. The Japanese believe that in terms of pure penetration ability, their 15-inch cannon actually does not penetrate as deeply as the opponent's 350MM heavy artillery.
In terms of tactics, the Japanese were even more aware of the gap between themselves and the German fleet. Kanji Kato realized for the first time that submarines and battleships could actually play like this! Although the attack by two German fast battleships last night was beyond Kanji Kato's expectations. But it's understandable. To put it bluntly, it's just using light and time to steal a wave. But the Japanese were really frightened by the wolf-like submarine siege at night. These submarines were like ghosts. They were obviously very weak, but erratic. As long as they had a chance, they could severely damage your transport ship. This kind of tactical coordination and strategic thinking has never been encountered by the Japanese.
The main fleet that the Japanese fleet is proud of and the strategy formulated for the decisive battle of the fleet are of no use in the face of new threats! No matter how powerful the battleship is, it cannot defeat submarines. Although submarines also have limited damage to the main fleet, they will directly destroy your economy and domestic production. No matter how strong the fleet is, what is the use if the country cannot support it? At this moment, Kanji Kato could only sigh, it’s not that I don’t understand, the world is changing too fast!
However, this is obviously not the time to think wildly. Kato Kanji needs to try his best to save his fleet. The most conservative way is naturally to turn in the Yamashiro immediately and leave the Kurama behind. But just abandoning a super Dreadnought like this, no matter who is thinking I feel uneasy! And the biggest question at the moment is, what to do with the two battlecruisers owned by Vice Admiral Yamaya? Kato Kanji can feel that the Germans seem to have known about the existence of Yamaya's other fleets. If Kato doesn't do a good job here, he may harm his teammates!
"Keep the distance at about 16 kilometers. Concentrate firepower on Yamashiro." Following Su Xiong's order, the two German battleships refocused their firepower on Japan's most powerful battleship.
The Kurama has been disabled. Moreover, the speed is too low to maintain formation with Yamashiro, and it is expected that with the increase in water ingress and the inability to drain water due to insufficient power supply, the speed of this battleship will be further reduced, and it may even have to be towed by other battleships when it returns. , but with two German battleships and a circle of submarines watching, do you want to drag it back across most of the Indian Ocean at a speed of less than 10 knots? It can only be said that this idea is a bit naive, so Su Xiong thinks that it is okay to ignore the Kurama for the time being.
When more than a dozen large-caliber main guns from the two battleships were aimed at the Yamashiro, the battleship with the largest displacement in the world finally couldn't hold it anymore... Every minute, at least 14 tons of shells are fired from the two German battleships and then fly towards the Japanese battleship in the distance. This round of shells is so dense that the two German battleships need to reduce their rate of fire as much as possible. Keep your sights on sight and worry less.
Under the influence of the so-called basic principle of "big force produces miracles", the battleship Yamashiro suffered an unprecedented blow!
"In one minute, we even saw 6 huge explosions on the Yamashiro! The huge battleship swayed in the storm of flames and steel, like a fishing boat struggling in the storm. The entire superstructure had already More than 70% of them were caught in the flames. We destroyed at least three turrets of the Yamashiro. The Japanese attack became weak and they could only passively bear the blow. Even if the Yamashiro sank in the next moment, I would not feel it at all. Accident!" A German officer recalled the scene at that time.
In fact, during the period when the Yamashiro was living like a year, the best record of the German fleet was to hit the opponent 5 times in one minute! It is true that the 350MM armor-piercing projectile is theoretically unable to penetrate the core armor box of the Yamashiro. But if there are too many hits, it will still pose a fatal threat to this giant ship of more than 30,000 tons!
In this storm of steel and fire, the first two turrets at the stern of the Yamashiro were destroyed. The No. 4 turret was hit by a 350MM shell on the gun mount. The 15-inch-thick gun mount armor plate was really powerful. He withstood the blow forcefully. However, the huge impact caused the overall dislocation of an armor plate, which directly blocked the rotation mechanism of the artillery. The huge turret was forced to point to the 2 o'clock direction and could not move.
Turret No. 5 was unlucky, as both shells hit the front of the turret! Yamashiro's turret armor lived up to expectations and successfully blocked the first shell. This shell did not cause much damage except forming an 8-inch deep crater on the armor plate. However, when the second shell hit nearby At that time, the entire armor plate and the back plate finally became a little unbearable! You know, the armor plates of this era were all made of willow! The connecting part must be fragile, and the huge energy generated by the two impacts directly ripped off a large piece of armor plate! And the back panel at the back also shattered into countless fragments and bounced repeatedly in the small turret! Destroyed two artillery private servers and killed at least 60% of the personnel!
The remaining two shells hit the main armor belt of the hull. One of them hit the non-core cabin in front of the bow, bringing more than 600 tons of water in. The other one was blocked as expected. outside the core cabin, but still made a crack more than 2 meters long! A large amount of seawater poured into a boiler warehouse along the cracks, causing three boilers to completely flame out.
During this period of time, even according to the most conservative estimates of the Japanese, it was hit more than 10 times. Three of the shells landed on the superstructure of the hull, causing the fire that had already spread to completely get out of control. The other shot opened a hole in the lower edge of the main armor belt of the hull. Fortunately, the extension of the Yamashiro's main armor belt is quite strong, but the angle of the water bomb is not very good. The 90MM thick inclined lightning protection steel plate blocked the impact of shrapnel and water flow, but still allowed water to enter several sealed cabins.
The continuous hits shook the battleship, and a large number of pipes were broken or damaged during the repeated hits. Two of the four boiler warehouses have already experienced various problems. White steam, red flames, and yellow-green poisonous gas filled the interior of the Yamashiro. Turning the entire battleship into a Shura field.
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