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Volume 3 The Glorious History of a Fleet Chapter 1345 The Moment of Decisive Battle (2)

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    The attack of the two Vickers-class destroyers, the Daye and the Guhan, was undoubtedly a bit tragic. In the dark night, the opponent completely suppressed the American battle fleet with almost impeccable gunnery. Under constant blows,  , the precarious battle situation actually required destroyers with soy sauce from the outside to attack the Chinese navy's battle line.

    If it were during the day, this kind of impact could be said to be a fatal act. The dense secondary guns of the battleships would be enough to smash the destroyers into sieves at a distance of 10,000 meters, and the only thing the destroyers could rely on was a speed of more than 30 knots  Fortunately, the darkness at this moment at least gave Brigadier General Lucius the opportunity to make such a decision.

    However, when the order was issued, the American general had to admit that he was in a desperate situation. Even if the destroyer's attack achieved the combat purpose and delayed the opponent's attack, he had no means to counterattack the opponent, and even because of fear  When the target is actively exposed and effective calibration and salvo fire cannot be carried out, it is meaningless to continue fighting!

    "General, I suggest that we continue to bombard the Chinese destroyers, and they must be driven away from us as much as possible. Otherwise, under the fire of the Chinese main fleet, we will not be able to survive until dawn!" Staff officer Jason, who looked equally sad, proposed in Lucius's ear.  His suggestion, but this did not immediately change the decision of the brave beauty.

    The battleship Delaware continued to turn and maneuver, and at the same time tried to direct its broadside fire at the two Chinese destroyers that were flickering in the distance. After the other party made tactical maneuvers, at the same time, Nebraska, who had received the order from the flagship,  The battleship Plus also gave up its intention to fight against the Chinese battle line. In addition to conducting Z-shaped maneuvers to try to extinguish the fire in the secondary main battery position as soon as possible, it also frequently used broadside firepower to shoot in the direction of the Yongzhou and Heyuan ships.

    When the two American destroyers bypassed the battleship USS Nebraska and quickly rushed towards the Chinese battle line hidden in the darkness, at the same time, after making full use of the firing flames of the battleship USS Delaware for calibration, the USS Canton  The battleship fired three rapid salvos, but nothing was gained. The fleet shooting officer Han Cheng was obviously not in a hurry.

    The Americans are struggling desperately. This can be clearly judged from the opponent's constant maneuvering and changing routes. This will obviously affect the hit rate of the battleship salvo. However, the opponent's actions are actually burying themselves. The original American battleship formation  The speed of the battleships is only 19 knots, while the battleship Guangzhou and Shanxi can easily reach the speed of more than 1 knot.

    If the battleship Dayu hadn't held back, he could have easily forced himself into the battleship Delaware. Therefore, he had great initiative, and what he cared about was that at this moment, one side of the fire control platform was constantly changing from the distance clock to the other.  The situation map of the two sides mapped out on the drawing paper by a plotting pencil only shows two crooked black lines and some inexplicable black dots to a layman. To him, it is an important reference for artillery skills.

    After a slight adjustment and error correction, and a delay of 1 minute, the Guangzhou fired a salvo. Since the Yongzhou and Heyuan ships were suppressed by artillery fire at this time, they only fired a few illumination bombs sporadically, but the location  Not good, but fortunately the Americans' crazy counterattack bombarded the sea with enough light, so it was no problem to observe!

    The impact position of this round was quickly converted by the sighting officer into a missile impact correction and input into the fire control platform. However, Han Cheng did not immediately correct the data. Instead, after observing the situation curves of the warships on both sides, he slightly adjusted the next salvo.  The time was delayed for 2 minutes, and then the order to fire three rapid-fire salvos was very decisively issued.

    The sky-high gunfire immediately covered the huge battleship. The first round of rapid salvo fire fired two near-misses at a distance of less than 100 meters. The second round of salvo fire, because the battleship Delaware was not directed towards  The Chinese destroyer on the right wing fired, but the two ships Yongzhou and Heyuan were suppressed by artillery fire and could not fire flares in time, thus missing the sighting results.

    However, with the third salvo fired just 58 seconds later, Tang Zhen, through the telescope he held tightly, finally saw a long-lost red light reaching into the sky at the end of the darkness This 340-kilogram missile was fired from the D gun position of the battleship Guangzhou.  The armor-piercing projectile accurately hit the bow B turret of the USS Delaware after crossing a distance of 17,000 meters.

    The main turret of the battleship Delaware has 12 inches of carburized armor on the front, and the top armor is also 10 inches thick. As the main battleship just launched by Newport Shipyard two years ago, it uses the latest surface carburized armor introduced from the United Kingdom.  Carbon armor technology is stronger than the early Harvey steel armor, and its armor protection capability is not inferior to that of China's main warships.

    However, the American warship design concept is obviously not advanced. The armor on the top of the main turret is lower than the front armor, which directly caused the capped armor-piercing projectile to penetrate the top armor of the turret. Although it failed to penetrate the armor, the huge  The kinetic energy still caused huge damage to the top armor, and the subsequently detonated warhead tore a deep crater of less than half a meter on the top of the turret.

    Explosion shockThe broken steel fragments robbed all lives in the turret and directly triggered a fire covering the vicinity of the battleship's B turret. The B turret of the battleship Delaware was obviously unlucky. It was also hit by an aircraft bomb during a dive bombing by the Shandong aircraft carrier.  However, it only damaged part of the turret's machinery at that time. After emergency repairs, some functions were restored. Unexpectedly, it was hit again by the unlucky B turret.

    The damage control team members who arrived quickly were also shocked by the fire rushing out of the turret. You must know that according to the design regulations, there were no ammunition or shells in the turret that could be used to explode. However, at the beginning of the battle, Delaware  The five twin turrets of the USS battleship were all loaded. However, while the explosion killed the American troops in the turret, it also twisted the iron door of the turret, making it impossible for damage control to enter. The only way to suppress the fire was to water it first.  But it was impossible to deal with the fire from the turret for a while!

    Lucius fell in the shock wave of the violent explosion just now. Fortunately, except for the flying cap, there were no other injuries. He jumped up and rushed to the observation window. The turret, which was bracing for fire, was like a  A large furnace was spitting out flames. Fortunately, the damage control team members were rushing towards the fire point tenaciously. With the pouring of a large amount of seawater, the fire was obviously under control.

    But what shocked him at this moment was not the shot in the B turret. The battleship Delaware had continuously performed Z-shaped maneuvers before. According to the U.S. Navy's understanding of gunnery and fire control, as well as a large amount of information obtained from the Royal Navy, even  The Royal Navy's most advanced Dreyer MkIII fire control has never heard of effective targeted gunnery.

    ??Continue the Z-shaped maneuver?  Or adjust the evacuation route?  This issue was immediately placed in front of him. The battle had been fierce for less than an hour, but the situation was completely one-sided. Without much consideration, Brigadier General Lucius immediately made a new decision

    "Perform two positive and negative deflections of 15 degrees every 6 minutes to increase the distance as quickly as possible!" He turned around and pointed to the sky that was shining continuously in the distance. Between the opponent's gunfire and his flagship, two American destroyers were carrying  With a last-ditch effort God bless them, for the sake of America, this is the decision I have to make!

    In just over 20 seconds, the shells whizzing past the stern of the battleship Delaware set off a large wave in the sea around the battleship. In addition to the B turret that was hit in the bow of the ship, the flames were still rising. Lu Xiu  Commodore Sri Lanka has ordered to stop attacking the two fleeing Chinese destroyers. As long as the other side does not fire damn flares, he will not bother to use crushing firepower to deal with them. How to get rid of the Chinese next is a big trouble!

    At this moment, the officer in the telegraph room suddenly ran in and reported loudly, "General, I received a telegram from Lord Deters of the Royal Navy asking about the situation of the Chinese Grand Fleet!"

    British guy Commodore Lucius waved his hand to ignore the telegram. Suddenly, he changed his mind and said, "Reply to Lord Dieters, we are fighting fiercely with the Chinese Guam Fleet and have not found any Chinese fleet."  sign¡­¡­"

    Suddenly, a series of gunfires in the darkness in the distance interrupted Lucius's thoughts. The direction was exactly in the direction where the destroyers Daye and Guhan were sailing. According to their positions, it was obviously not the direction where the destroyers were heading.  The battle line targeted by the American destroyers was in the night at least seven or eight kilometers away from the Chinese main fleet.

    Suddenly, a battleship that had not taken the initiative to fight back suddenly emerged from the darkness. There were a lot of flames in the middle and tail of the battleship, and then it panicked and prepared to turn around quickly, but this was obviously too late. The ship was suddenly illuminated.  The target almost immediately became the target of the nearby Chinese destroyer. In the originally silent night, more than ten firepower points suddenly appeared!  (~^~)
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