Chapter 2585 Rush Hour 2
Although the shell shattered due to the huge impact when it penetrated the armor plate, tons of high-speed fragments still caused huge damage to Japan's strongest battleship! The flames and shock waves carried high-speed debris like a sharp sword, hitting the condenser pipes on the left side of the battleship Fuso and easily blowing them into pieces! For a time, white steam and smoke filled the surrounding cabins, and the flames caused by the explosion loomed in the white smoke. Groups of damage control team members rushed in desperately to save the precious condenser, but a considerable number of them were destroyed. Killed by high temperature steam.
"We were hit. The main armor belt on the left side was penetrated. The condenser on the left side was destroyed. The battleship is slowing down. We need time to transfer the load on the left side to the condenser on the right side." An officer said in a panic. Reporting from Motaro Yoshimatsu.
Everyone in the Fuso's control tower felt the shock caused by the blow just now. Some even saw flashes of light upon impact. But no one cares, because they trust their own defense very much. The Fuso-class battleship can definitely be said to have experienced the test of the battlefield. It has experienced at least three battleship confrontations during the war. In the previous confrontations, the turret may be jammed. Death, the armor plates may be shattered, but the main armor belt has never been penetrated! This is where the confidence of the Japanese lies! But this time! The Germans used facts to tell the Japanese that you are too close!
Also feeling tremendous pressure was the battleship Yamashiro that followed closely behind. A 15-inch shell from the Mecklenburg hit the armor of the gun mount of the Yamashiro! In theory, the Fuso-class battleship's 330mm side armor tilted at 18 degrees can be immune to all main guns in World War I. Then the Fuso's gun mount armor is not that strong! The reason is very simple. The gun mount armor is curved. It is very troublesome to make a thick steel plate into a curve. On the one hand, the cost will be very high, and on the other hand, there will be some technical difficulties! Therefore, the Fuso-class gun mount armor is only 320MM! And if the opponent shoots vertically into the center of the circle, it is not difficult for a 15-inch gun to penetrate!
(The reason why I talk about theory is that there will be many special situations in actual combat. For example, the battleship will shake laterally. If it is larger at this time, the angle of inclination of the main armor belt may be reduced, and at this time it may be approached. The 15-inch shell penetrated the distance. Generally speaking, the 15-inch shell just fired was very lucky!)
So, no surprise, this shell successfully penetrated the gun mount of the No. 2 turret of the battleship Yamashiro. Fortunately, the Japanese's damage control was quite good, and the two fire doors that isolated the turret and the lower ammunition compartment successfully succeeded blocked the first impact of the flames and shock waves. However, the fire caused by the explosion of the shell and the high-temperature gas generated by the ignited ammunition still began to spread in the surrounding cabins. Therefore, the frightened captain of the battleship Yamashiro decisively ordered the No. 2 ammunition depot to be filled with water. Thick smoke and fire poured out from the breach, and the smoke column dozens of meters high even interfered with the Yamashiro's main rangefinder. Although the damage was not fatal, the Yamashiro's strike efficiency undoubtedly dropped in a short period of time. Several levels!
At the same time, the Bavarians of the German fleet also suffered their first heavy blow since the end of the war! But this time the heavy blow was a bit awkward, and the battleship in front was gradually shrouded in the smoke released from the smoke canister.
But the final battleship Weimar was an exception! The battle line of the Japanese fleet was longer, and the battleships on the side and rear could still target Weimar, which was not shrouded in smoke. So, not surprisingly, the Fuso-class battleships Takaha, Tosa and Haruna, which had good shooting ranges, fought The cruisers took aim at the poor Weimar.
While the Japanese fleet harvested two 15-inch shells, the Weimar was hit by three! Two 15-inch shells and one 14-inch shell. A 15-inch shell at an angle that was too bad was bounced off the Weimar's thick main armor belt without causing much impact. But another 15-inch shell hit near the smokestack of the Weimar! The fragile flue armor naturally could not withstand the attack of 15-inch heavy bullets, so, not surprisingly, a huge hole was opened in the Weimar's chimney, and some fragments blocked the boiler exhaust duct below, even causing exhaust gases. The backflow directly caused two boilers to stall! Another 14-inch shell opened a big hole in the rear of the hull, and because it was a semi-armor-piercing shell, it also lit a fire that was not small!
"The situation is not good." Feeling the decrease in the ship's speed and looking at the smoke column rising from the bow of the No. 2 ship next to him, Shimamura Hayao felt his heart tremble with pain! It’s not that I can’t beat it, but I feel like I can’t beat it! You know, the Japanese fleet went all the way here not to fight with the Su Xiong fleet, but to attack the American transport ships. If both sides could reach some kind of "tacit understanding", then no one would bother with the Su Xiong fleet. In the eyes of the Japanese, Su Xiong's fleet is like a stone in a pit, smelly and hard!
Even though the entire plan has gone smoothly so far, Shimamura Hayao keeps reminding himself that this time, the Japanese fleet is fighting behind enemy lines at every turn, and any inconspicuous damage will lead to unexpected results. And now, the flagship's The left condenser was destroyed, and the six 10-inch guns in the Yamashiro's front main gun group might be useless. Compared with its own mission, the previous results achieved were very limited!
Although you can try to repair the condenser on the left side after it is damaged, and when designing the Fuso-class battleship, the Japanese considered all aspects of margin. Theoretically, the remaining condenser can meet the needs of the battleship, but in case of emergency What went wrong? There is a fable in Europe about losing a kingdom because of a horseshoe, and Shimamura Hayao naturally knows this allusion, and it is really possible that the battleship's speed is too low due to insufficient cooling, and the returning Benson fleet is bitten. of!
As for the crisis of Yamashiro's front main turret group, the crisis has not been resolved. Although the No. 2 ammunition depot has been filled with water, the ammunition will not explode, but you have to know that these three turrets are placed in the shape of a cross on the front deck. Yes, the distance between the turrets is very close, and the most direct result of the fire inside the hull is that the temperature in the area near the No. 1 and No. 3 turrets is too high and some servo equipment is damaged! You know, the temperature of the ammunition depot needs to be controlled at all times. In this era, the officer's cabin on the battleship can be without air conditioning, but the ammunition depot definitely cannot!
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