Chapter 1,463 The 1st Target
Chapter 1463 The first goal
"The route the submarine force found is really good. We didn't encounter any French warships along the way. We can now see the lighthouse on Lesvos. According to the map, we can be seen if we walk 6 nautical miles south. Today's first target is the port of Eresos." An officer sent the nautical chart work he had just completed to Count Spee. A track marked with a blue dotted line continued to extend to the southeast, pointing directly at them. First stop tonight!
"Very good, go as planned, prepare to take off the seaplane, let the Prinz Eugen bring a destroyer squadron forward. If the intelligence is correct, there will be a patrol fleet outside the port. Find them and kill them!" Si Earl Pei ordered.
Even though the Allied Powers believe that the Allied Mediterranean Fleet has no combat effectiveness, the defenses of Britain and France are still in place for key ports. For example, outside the port of Eresos, a French armored cruiser squadron and a The destroyer squadron patrols back and forth 15 kilometers around the port. Their mission is to deal with allied small warships and submarines that may sneak attack.
Originally, the French planned to deploy two pre-dreadnoughts here, but the situation in the port was already very crowded, so these pre-dreadnoughts were temporarily deployed elsewhere.
Under the command of French Navy Rear Admiral Trassou, the armored cruisers Ernest and Edgar Quinet were cruising back and forth along a fixed track with six destroyers. However, what the French did not expect was that in the darkness, two ferocious beasts were slowly approaching the target, revealing their sharp fangs at a distance of less than 8,000 meters! (Here is an explanation of why four battleships are not acting together. Because it takes time for battleships to change their bomb weights, two battleships attack French light cruisers. In addition, all other battleships use high-explosive bombs to attack land targets while exchanging fire at sea. Better results.)
"We found the French fleet. They almost turned on their lights, seemingly to search for submarines that might appear on the sea. The destroyers behind them did the same, but they kept taking a zigzag course to avoid submarines."
"The distance between the two sides is 7200 meters! Our rangefinder can clearly observe the target, and the seaplane has broken radio silence. (When the telegram is very short, such as a few characters, it cannot be effectively tracked.) It means that they have entered the target. Near the sky!"
"The artillery is ready and the semi-armor-piercing shells are loaded!" Soon the gunnery commander said that everything was ready. The huge semi-armor-piercing shells had been sent to the turret. With the help of the servo equipment, rounds of shells and propellant cartridges were loaded. In the slender artillery, it was finally sent deep into the barrel with the help of the ejector rod. Count Luckner was willing to choose to fight at a distance of 7,000 meters, because at this distance, the artillery's elevation angle and loading angle were the same, and it could fire at the maximum rate of fire! (In fact, by World War II, the loading angle of most battleships' main guns was fixed, except for the French who came up with a device that could be loaded at any angle...)
The huge turret slowly pointed at the opponent like the fangs and claws of a giant beast hidden in the dark night.
The two super-dreadnought battleships adjusted their speed and course, almost keeping in line with the opponent's course. The six destroyers began to move closer to their opponents under the cover of night. Compared with these armored cruisers with huge targets, the destroyers were more difficult to kill because they were faster and more difficult to detect!
"Each ship focuses on its own target, don't fire any gun!" This message was conveyed on the signal light of the S-85 destroyer. The short strobe did not attract the attention of the French. According to the plan, when the destroyer detachment approached 2,500 meters When the distance is up to left and right. Two super-dreadnoughts will launch a general attack!
"Okay, the time is up, we can't wait any longer! Open fire and attack!" Count Luckner gave the order to attack!
The 16 350MM main guns were placed almost horizontally. The thick and long muzzles were aimed at the two ships in the distance that were still unaware of their fate. The two armored cruisers were still cruising leisurely on the sea. The destroyer's hydrophone did not hear anything. There was an unusual sound, and there was no periscope emerging from the sea. Everything was so beautiful tonight, until huge fireballs suddenly appeared in the night not far away!
A deafening sound came from a distance, and then the flight speed of the shells and the light ship were much faster than the sound. A French officer and soldier on duty at the lookout happened to see the direction of the German fleet, and the sudden appearance of the fire was so The dazzling light made the soldier who was already familiar with low light brightness feel dazzled. The too bright light caused him to temporarily lose his eyesight!
Before 99% of the French naval officers and soldiers could react, a blow like a steel storm had swept over! A shell directly hit the USS Edgar armored cruiser 6,900 meters away. The shell hit a very good location, hitting directly near the power cabin in the middle of the hull! However, the 6-inch steel plate could not block the attack of the large-caliber semi-armor-piercing projectile at this distance. This shell easily smashed the outer armor and the inner dome into pieces like butter, and then plunged into the burning boiler. middle!
boom! A soaring flame rose into the sky from the middle of the Edgar's hull. The huge pillar of fire rose to a certain height and then spread around, forming a huge mushroom cloud. Flames and thick smoke quickly spread from the bullet point to the surroundings, accompanied by the downtime of boilers one after another. The armored cruiser quickly lost power. White high-temperature and high-pressure water vapor, flames, and thick smoke spread in the narrow cabin. The soldiers who were taking a rest were killed by the high temperature and poisonous gas before they even knew what was happening outside.
"Damn, what happened?! Send an emergency telegram immediately! We are under attack! The German battleships are coming out!" Just as violent explosions were still heard from the Edgar, the flagship Hernes was Major General Trasu on the special number immediately ordered his subordinates to send a report for help.
However, it all seemed a bit late. Just when the telegram was halfway sent, the Prinz Eugen finally got its first hit tonight! A 350MM shell hit directly under the main mast of the Ernest. The huge mast fell down in the explosion, and then directly smashed the radio room located in the front of the bridge to pieces!
In the gap after the main gun fired, the side string secondary guns of the two Austro-Hungarian battleships also began to fire. Relying on the ultra-high rate of fire, a series of high-explosive shells hit the armored cruiser. The towering shells on the French cruiser were originally "Various illegal buildings" became the best targets under the light of the fire. The sound of explosions came continuously, which really lit the deck of this battleship on fire!
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