From about four o'clock in the morning until about six o'clock in the morning, when the rising sun shrouded the Tasman waters, the fierce naval battle continued. Although both sides had good gunnery skills, they relied on excellent ship design and damage control.
Two hours later, still not a single warship had been sunk.
The sea is fair. Strict training and good hull design have given both sides tenacious survivability. Although shells continue to hit the warships, the warships still fight tenaciously, and the gunners still operate the giant cannons.
Fire one cannonball at the enemy ship.
Amidst the roaring sound of the artillery, the battleship continued to tremble under the bombardment. When the strong armored steel was hit by the artillery shells, there would always be a loud impact sound, and the loud impact sound would always be heard by the sailors on the ship.
Their hearts tightened, as they knew that being lucky this time did not mean they would always be lucky.
The sea is always fair. There are no generals or sailors on the warship. They all share the same fate. If the warship is sunk, their fate is the same, and most of them will die at sea. The sea will not change because of one person.
He is a general, and he treats someone differently because he is a sailor.
Living and dying together is the common destiny of everyone on the warship.
Therefore, during the naval battle, everyone worked hard to survive. While the gunners tried their best to load the shells and hit the enemy one after another, the damage control team put out the fire on the deck and in the cabin
They plugged the leakage, and at about 7 o'clock in the morning, the warship was enveloped by gunfire, like a hell on earth, with blood and death everywhere, and limbs broken everywhere. The shadow of death enveloped every ship. No one knew.
What will happen next second.
But everyone is trying their best to win this naval battle. They know that their lives depend on whether they try their best. Even the boiler soldiers at the bottom of the cabin know that their mission is to bring more people to the sea.
More coal is sent to the boiler, so that the steam in the boiler is enough to burn, so that the battleship has more power.
As long as you do all this, you may be able to win the naval battle.
"call……"
The whistling sound of artillery shells in the air came again, and the naval battle had entered its third hour. With another salvo, the "Iowa", the most powerful warship in the British and American combined fleet, was under heavy attack during the naval battle.
At this time, the "Iowa" was seriously flooded, but it was still fighting tenaciously. Not only the habitats above the deck had been completely destroyed, but even the No. 4 secondary turret was destroyed.
As for the 203 gun barrel of the No. 3 secondary turret, it was directly blown off.
But even so, the "Iowa" is still floating firmly on the water. Because of this, it will receive special care. Almost every salvo fire always has one or two rounds, or even three or four large-caliber armor-piercing rounds that directly hit it.
Hit "Iowa".
When the battleship "Iowa" was shrouded in thick dark brown gunpowder smoke, the man standing in the command tower, Admiral Schroeder, looked extremely calm. This admiral who participated in the Civil War was more concerned about the enemy's ships.
Loss, watching the artillery shells fired by his side hitting the target one after another, constantly flashing in the smoke, listening to the impact sound tearing through the sea and sky, he frowned and nodded slightly.
"Okay, it seems we can win this naval battle..."
The reason why he is so conceited is that even though the Royal Navy's flagship "Bafleur" has suffered extremely heavy losses and almost all of its superstructures were destroyed due to severe flooding, it is still stubbornly floating on the sea.
Still fighting back against the Imperial Navy with artillery fire.
"Yes, although the Imperial Navy's gunnery skills are excellent, our gunnery skills are not worse than theirs."
Just as the officer finished speaking, he was suddenly interrupted by a loud bell-like sound.
Then he saw a horrifying scene - the tail turret of the Centurion in front suddenly burst out with a violent cloud of smoke. In the rising smoke, the tail turret of the Centurion was directly blown into the sky, causing a violent explosion.
It almost blew off its stern.
"The ammunition depot, the ammunition depot must have been hit!"
While Schroeder and others watched this scene in astonishment, cheers rang out in the command tower of the "Success" battleship.
"Long live! The Centurion is over!"
Amid the cheers, Zuo Xiaotong said while looking at the rapidly sinking Centurion.
"Tell the entire ship that we sank the Centurion!"
After the news came through the radio, bursts of cheers immediately erupted in the cabin of the "Success" battleship, whether it was for the gunners in the turret, the boiler soldiers who were struggling to shovel coal with shovels, or the damage control soldiers and medical soldiers.
, the sudden good news will always shock their hearts, and their exhausted bodies will be resurrected with full blood, and then they will plunge into new battles.
The sudden sinking of the "Centurion" became the last straw that broke the camel's back. Almost subconsciously, Schroeder had an idea in his mind - preserve his strength!
After all, it is impossible for neither the United States nor the United Kingdom to add a warship to the Pacific Fleet. They are afraid that something will come. At this moment, the rear of the cruiser "Sydney" was hit by a 12-inch shell amidships.
The violent explosion blew away the chimney,
"Sir, if this continues, even if it wins this naval battle, the Pacific Fleet will not be able to stop the Imperial Navy's next attack!"
Captain Jellicoe of the Royal Navy said anxiously from the side.
"General, we must preserve our strength!"
Many times, the outcome of a naval battle is never determined by the battlefield. In fact, Schroeder has failed from the very beginning. Without local support, every time he loses a warship, it means losing one forever.
Warships, but the South Pacific Squadron is different. With the powerful industrial power of the empire, the warships he lost will be immediately replenished, and even dreadnoughts will be replenished. For this reason, at 7:36 in the morning, Schroeder issued an order
The order to retreat.
Facing the British-American Joint Pacific Fleet that quickly withdrew from the battlefield, Zuo Xiaotong did not order a pursuit. He even breathed a sigh of relief and said.
"Okay, we won this naval battle..."
Then he turned to look at his subordinates in the command tower and showed a smile.
"We have also completed our mission, how about the enemy's losses?"
Soon, subordinates reported the observed enemy losses one by one. Although only one battleship was sunk, the results of severely damaging six other ships were also extremely impressive. It can definitely be called a victory, although
It was just a small victory, but their strategic goal was achieved.
"Send the results of the battle to the Admiralty. Now all the warships of the British and American Union Pacific Fleet have suffered heavy damage, among which the "Iowa"..."
When issuing the order, Zuo Xiaotong understood that it was impossible for the British and American Pacific Fleets to restore their combat effectiveness in the short term. After all, Australia's backward industrial level could not support the repair of six warships at the same time. This was also the plan of the Ministry of the Navy, and it was precisely
The purpose of their battle was to severely damage the British and American Pacific Fleets and pave the way for the next plan.