Chapter 1,388 Desperate Situation 1

Chapter 1388 Desperate Situation 1

"It doesn't matter. At least, we are going to destroy the entire Baltic Fleet today, and Rear Admiral Harrell also needs our help to deal with those annoying destroyers! Notify the fleet and prepare to fight, starting with the outer destroyers first!" Rear Admiral Hopman ordered road.

A destroyer squadron in the front first turned and rushed towards the Russian fleet that was evacuating to the north. After discovering the opponent, the Russian destroyers on the flanks also had to come out to intercept. In the middle of the Russian fleet was the main fleet shrouded in thick smoke. In this case, the visibility of the battleship is also very low. If a German destroyer rushes in, there is no guarantee that the battleship will be struck by lightning. Therefore, even if there are still a large number of German bombers circling in the sky, even if the German There are four powerful light cruisers behind the destroyer, and the Russian destroyer force must also rush out of the smoke screen and stop the opponent to the death!

"Each ship is free to attack, target the Russian destroyer! We can put a little more distance!" Rear Admiral Hopman ordered, looking at the Russian destroyer that was rushing in at a high speed of more than 25 knots.

At a distance of 7,800 meters, before the destroyers on both sides had even touched each other, the 175MM main guns of the four light cruisers had already fired their first salvo!

boom! boom! Accompanied by jets of water, the charging Russian destroyers moved through shrapnel and water mist. The Russians moved very fast and were constantly performing evasive maneuvers on the surface of the sea, weaving in and out of the barrage as if dancing on the tip of a knife.

However, good luck cannot only accompany them! When the German light cruiser's main guns gradually leveled off as the distance changed, the entire dangerous firing range expanded. With the help of the 8-meter rangefinder on the top of the battleship and the new fire control, the shooting accuracy of the light cruiser unit has skyrocketed!

At the forefront was the Russian Eighth Destroyer Squadron, a total of six destroyers. The Dexterity, Capability and Thunder formed the first wave of attack formations! At a distance of 6,500 meters, the Ingenious was first hit by Coleburg. A 175MM high-explosive bomb directly blew off half of the front bridge of the destroyer. Another shell landed on the triple 18-inch torpedo in the middle of the hull of the Ingenious!

Everyone present saw a huge fireball suddenly rising from the sea! The picric acid explosive in the high-explosive bomb directly detonated nine 18-inch torpedoes equipped on the Russian destroyer! The violent explosion tore the 1,200-ton destroyer into palm-sized pieces! Some fragments were even thrown hundreds of meters into the air, and then fell like snowflakes into the sea with a diameter of more than one kilometer.

And this explosion seems to be a signal! At this distance, the hit rate of the 150MM and 105MM secondary guns of the German destroyers and cruisers skyrocketed. The fireballs when the artillery fired almost covered half of the hull. Every minute, hundreds of shells roared towards the charging Russian destroyers. If the detachment were to engage in a pure dogfight between destroyers, the Russian destroyers would have almost the same firepower as the opponent, and would have the upper hand in the number of torpedoes, so they should have the upper hand.

But when the German light cruisers provided artillery firepower on the periphery, the entire balance was broken. Before the Russian destroyers entered the lightning strike range, they were like light cavalry charging into groups of musket arrays, every step covered with blood!

The Capable was bitten by two 2,000-ton S131 and S140 destroyers. A total of 8 150MM cannons from the two warships fired tons of shells at the poor Russian destroyer, which could only counterattack with 3 102MM cannons. The two sides fought all the way from 4500 meters to 1500 meters. In order to avoid being detonated by torpedoes, the Russian destroyer fired all torpedoes early, and the torpedoes released from a relatively long distance did cause some trouble to the opponent.

But in the end, this brave destroyer was hit by four consecutive 150MM shells at close range in the boiler room. The entire middle of the battleship was like a boiling hot water kettle. Flames and high-temperature steam covered the entire hull, while the influx of seawater collided with the boiling boiler. Exploded later. Minutes later, the destroyer, which had been reduced to a floating ruin, was finally killed.

The Thunder and the other two destroyers of the Russian Eighth Destroyer Division could not escape the fate of destruction in the end. The Thunder was destroyed by the light cruiser Strasbourg, and the other two destroyers were killed by lightning strikes from German destroyers. . But in the end, a Russian torpedo destroyed a German destroyer before they were sunk. The fighting between the two sides lasted for about a quarter of an hour. After a great battle, various debris floated on the sea. Broken boards, flags, bright red blood and mutilated corpses told people that the essence of war is more efficient killing!

"Are the Russians going to fight hard?" Shortly after Hopman's fleet had just destroyed a destroyer squadron of the Russian Navy, another group of destroyers appeared in their sights again, the Russian destroyers Novik, Ukrainian, Six destroyers including the Cossack and Terror and six torpedo boats rushed towards the German fleet like a group of predatory sharks. Try to drive the opponent further away.

"Collect the fleet, we need to be careful. They can't run away. Even if they can get rid of us, they can't get rid of the bombers in the sky. And the Hipper fleet waiting outside the Gulf of Finland." At this moment, Hope Man was unusually calm. The one who is anxious now is not him, but the Russians! There was no need for him to put all his strength into it now. The number of Russian destroyers and torpedo boats exceeded his expectations, so in order to better attack his opponents, he needed to rely on a suitable formation and combat environment.

"Major General Harrell, our reinforcements have arrived." The correspondent handed over the newly translated telegram. Just as the Russians separated out the second batch of destroyers, the seventh and eighth bomber squadrons also flew over the battlefield as a last-ditch attack. A considerable number of these bombers carried 100KG and 50KG small bombs. Specially used to deal with small warships or suppress surface anti-aircraft firepower.

"Now that the Russian fast battleships are still shrouded in smoke and cannot carry out bombing, let's first let the new squadron help our colleagues on the sea." Rear Admiral Harrell said. "Order, bombers carrying small bombs attack Russian destroyers, and bombers carrying heavy bombs and torpedoes join the fleet and prepare to stand by! The Russians cannot stay in the smoke screen for another day!"

A group of bombers left the fleet and began to lower their altitude and pounce on the Russian destroyers on the distant sea. They carried a large number of small bombs, usually with 12 rounds of 50KG bombs or 6 rounds of 100KG bombs. At the same time, in order to facilitate the execution of strafing missions, additional bombers were added Machine gun ammunition capacity! It is specially used by the German Air Force to deal with small battleships!

Here comes the second update~~~! Please subscribe and reward~~~!