Chapter 836 Fighting 1

Then came the third and fourth shots! Less than 2 minutes after the second shell hit, two more shells hit Balem. The high rate of fire of the German artillery was fully demonstrated at this moment, with an average of 20 to 25 seconds to complete a shot. cycle! At this distance, after enlarging the British warship to 24 times through the rangefinder, the gun barrels of the Gneisenau accurately hit the British ship one after another like a drill. The Balem was soon Soon I was surrounded by a water column of more than 60 meters.

Two 350mm artillery shells focused on Balem’s No. 4 turret one after another! One of the rounds broke the 15-inch L42 gun on the right side, while the other shell penetrated between the vertical armor and the top armor of the turret! The 13-inch armor on the front of the Balem's turret could not withstand this blow. The cannonball shot into the opponent's head like the spear of Hercules, and a red flame tore through the armor, enveloping flames and a large number of fragments pouring into the turret. The shell finally exploded after hitting the armor plate at the rear of the turret. Fortunately, there was no ammunition at the rear of the turret. But when more than ten kilograms of TNT explosive exploded, it still brought a devastating blow to the entire shell. A dull loud noise came from the rear of the hull. The British officers and soldiers in the cabin near the turret seemed to feel the floor jump suddenly. , like an earthquake! The turret's hatch was pushed open by the violent explosion pressure, and flames vented like fireworks from all the breaches that could lead to the outside. "Aim all the artillery at Gneisenau, damn the order, we will die!" The captain of the Balem disobeyed Thomas's order and prepared to aim the muzzle at the Gneisenau . This period of time is not long, only about ten minutes, but the Balem has been hit by 8 shells! The No. 3 turret was temporarily unavailable due to motor problems, the No. 4 turret was completely destroyed, and the No. 1 turret was generally scrapped! Although the No. 1 and No. 3 turrets can be restored, now, with only 3 artillery pieces left, Balem cannot deal a fatal blow to the opponent. The successive hits made the Balem feel a fatal crisis. The continuous hits caused half of the ship's surface to be plunged into flames and smoke. Almost all the remaining personnel were devoted to fighting the fire demon. , fighting among the flying shrapnel, compartments filled with bullet marks, and collapsed cabins. Lines of water dragons tried to cover the spreading flames. "Let's release the smoke screen." Realizing that in a short period of time, we were unable to effectively attack the opponent, the Baliem also decisively released the smoke screen. The billowing smoke covered the nearly 200-meter hull of the Baliem. This greatly reduced the Gneisenau's hit rate. "The Balem seems to have shifted its attack target." At this time, Thomas on the Queen Elizabeth also noticed this problem. Looking at the scarred friendly forces in the distance who were forced to release the smoke screen, and then looking at the Scharnhorst that was also scarred in the distance, a trace of loneliness and unwillingness flashed across Thomas's face. During this period, Scharnhorst was also uncomfortable. The two Queen-class battleships also beat the German battleship hard during this period. According to British observations, two British warships hit Su Xiong's flagship with at least 10 shells. "The British have a lot of charges." A 15-inch shell shot through the upper deck of the Scharnhorst from the horizontal direction. Although it was blocked by the thick horizontal armor, the 871kg shell The missile body and more than 20 kilograms of explosives inside still caused a lot of trouble for the warship. The dozen or so surrounding cabins were easily torn into pieces like paper. A large amount of shrapnel began to jump up and down between the two decks, smashing everything it encountered. Two of the steam transmission pipes were punctured, and a large amount of high-temperature and high-pressure water vapor spurted out. Clouds of white smoke spread in the cabin,

The German soldiers in charge of the pipelines had to temporarily close these pipelines.

Three 15-inch shells hitting the side were bounced off the thick armor belt. The outer 50mm thin steel plate shattered the cap, and then the 250mm hardened armor at the rear directly faced the British warhead. Without the cap, the efficiency of armor-piercing bullets was greatly reduced, and no armor-piercing bullets successfully penetrated the main armor belt. Of course, problems such as misalignment or gaps in armor plates cannot be completely avoided. The Scharnhorst's turret also withstood the test. The top armor plate of turret A successfully deflected a shell, and the 400mm armor plate on the front of turret B left a 15-inch shell. A shallow pit up to 6 inches deep. The No. 3 turret was more miserable. Although the armor of the turret successfully blocked the opponent's attack, the jumping shell broke a barrel... But the shells that hit other places still caused some trouble for the Scharnhorst. Although the battleship's four boilers have now received water supply and have been restarted, a shell that hit the middle and rear part of the hull still caused some trouble. Directly cut off half of the chamber that supplies oxygen to the boiler. The air intake volume of the boiler warehouse quickly dropped to 70%. The miserable Scharnhorst still couldn't increase its speed. Most of the remaining shells hit the ship. The British explosives with enough weight caused some trouble to the warship. The green flames generated by the explosion of picric acid began to spread along the teak deck of the ship, destroying the ship. Cables, boats, and everything else burned to ashes. Yellow toxic smoke spread along the vents and aisles, and all those fighting on the upper deck had to wear gas masks. Fortunately, the power supply of the Scharnhorst was sufficient. Driven by the motor, a large amount of seawater was pumped up and put out the fire. The fire was slowly brought under control. At the same time, the Balem transferred the firepower and also gave Scharnhorst A chance to breathe. Although he was suppressed and beaten by two British battleships, Scharnhorst also fired three shells from the Queen Elizabeth. One shell opened a large hole in the Queen's front armor belt, causing hundreds of tons of damage. Flooded, a shell hit the gun gallery on the side, killing a 6-inch gun. The last shell hit near the stern steering gear room, but it did not affect the operation for the time being. While the battle between the four fast battleships on both sides was in full swing, 7 kilometers behind the British fleet, the Japanese seaplane carrier Takachiho hung far behind. Kantaro Suzuki used a telescope to carefully observe Observing the situation of the two warring parties in the distance. "I didn't expect that the British Empire used its best warships to fight against the German second-class warships and it was hard to beat." An officer next to him said as he put down the telescope in his hand. The tone was full of surprise and a little bit of ridicule. The second update~~~! Please subscribe and reward~~~!