Chapter 637 The End of the Invincible Battleship at the Sea of ??Sirte
Chapter 637 The Battle of Sirte (The End of the Invincible)
The smoke on the sea gradually subsided, and the wreckage of battleships and corpses floated in the sea, telling the story of what had just happened.
Lieutenant General Sturdy, who was currently the commander on the flagship Monarch, frowned at the scene in front of him.
Half an hour ago, a group of Italian small battleships attacked them. After half an hour of exchange of fire, they destroyed some of the enemy ships and the remaining enemies were repulsed.
Although the enemy was repelled, Lieutenant General Sturdy knew that this was just the beginning. As long as the airship above them kept following them, his position would always be exposed to the enemy, and attacks would continue to come.
"Commander, the French sent a telegram asking us about our next actions."
At this time the chief of staff came in with a telegram.
Sturdy used his knees to think about the Frenchman's intentions, and saw him speak. "Tell Lieutenant General Dufresne that we will set off immediately and continue eastward to join the Mediterranean Fleet."
In addition, I will send a telegram in my own name to Lieutenant General Dufresne. The Italian attack at this time fully demonstrates its importance to our rendezvous with the Mediterranean fleet. Only by seizing the Mediterranean sea power can the Italian attack be contained.
Ambition to protect the interests of our two countries in the Mediterranean, and defeating the Italians will be a highlight on both of our resumes."
It was obvious that the commander of the reinforcement fleet was certainly aware of the urgency of the situation, so he used both public and private means to try to reassure the French.
Because he has received several telegrams from Admiral Cardon, saying only one thing, when he can arrive at the battlefield with the reinforcement fleet.
However, it is not easy to reach the battlefield, as the previous harassment is the best proof.
Soon, Lieutenant General Dufournel responded to the call. In the telegram, he reiterated the alliance between the two countries and expressed his concern for the Mediterranean Fleet. Obviously, Lieutenant General Dufournel also understood the importance of the Mediterranean to the Mediterranean Fleet.
The importance of France. Without the help of Britain, the French Mediterranean coast would not be crushed by the Italians.
Getting a reply from Lieutenant General Dufnel gave Sturdy even more confidence.
He glanced at the airship following closely in the sky again, and then continued to command. "Leave the Quartz and Swift to clean the battlefield, and we can set off."
Rescuing people is like putting out fire, let alone rescuing the Mediterranean fleet led by Admiral Cardon, which is related to the sea power of Britain and France in the Mediterranean. If he loses because of his incompetent rescue, then both he and Lieutenant General Dufournel will lose.
Not good enough.
Of course, the road ahead is not peaceful, but they must move forward bravely.
The reinforcement fleet led by Sturdy and Dufnel was the key point in the Battle of Sirte. Not only did they know this, but the opponent's combined fleet also knew this.
Therefore, three airships are closely following the reinforcement fleet at any time, reporting its position at any time. Destroyers and torpedo boats are also dispatched to harass and delay its steps.
Of course, these are all measures to treat the symptoms rather than the root cause. The most important thing is to defeat the Mediterranean fleet quickly and prevent it from converging.
At present, the battleship showdown between the two main forces is still in the back-and-forth stage. Although the Mediterranean fleet is at a disadvantage, it can still maintain it.
But in terms of battle patrol battle, the result is about to be decided.
At this moment, Tukel, 57 kilometers east of Benghazi, is just an unknown town on the seaside. But today, the residents of the town all stood on a high place and watched the naval battle taking place in front of them.
"Did our fleet win?"
"How was the fight?"
"Mr. Anthony, how is the battle going?"
The various sounds coming from his ears did not waver the mayor Anthony at all. He was holding a telescope and staring at the movements of the sea. At this time, in his lens, a warship flying the flag of St. George was being attacked by two ships.
Battleships flying the flag of the Italian Navy were attacked.
At this moment, the besieged battleship was billowing with smoke, and the two Italian battleships showed no mercy and kept firing cannonballs at it.
This is the Taranto and Bolsano fighting against the Invincible. Invincible is at a disadvantage at this moment, and the situation is not good at all. Its No. 1 and No. 4 main battery turrets have been destroyed, and the secondary batteries are also in a mess.
, there were only a few doors available. What was even more fatal was that a large hole was opened on the left side of its hull. Although the gap had been blocked by the officers and soldiers on the ship, this also caused the Invincible battle cruiser to carry hundreds of tons of seawater.
, reducing the speed of the Invincible by two knots.
And this also creates the awkward situation of being invincible and unable to escape.
As the first battle cruiser of the British Navy and the third battle cruiser in the world, the Invincible is deeply influenced by the Taranto class. It can be said that it is two different concepts from the historical Invincible class. Just its strong tower design
The Lanto style is completely different from the original Invincible level to the naked eye.
In the previous exchange of fire between the two battle cruisers, Major General Xinken adopted loitering tactics because he only had three battle cruisers in his hand, which ensured high-speed firefights with the enemy. Although this reduced the artillery hit rate, it also allowed his own side to survive.
The probability is greatly increased.
However, although the idea was good, it was a bit unlucky. Unfortunately, a large hole was opened in the Invincible, which caused the ship's speed to slow down. After a brief consideration, Major General Hinken could only make the decision to abandon the Invincible.
As his opponent, Lieutenant General Gomes admires his opponent's decision to cut off his tail to survive, but he will not be satisfied with just one Invincible. After leaving two Taranto-class battle cruisers, the remaining three battle cruisers
Continuing to pursue did not give the opponent a way to survive. His intention to annihilate his opponent was already Sima Zhao's intention, and everyone on the street knew it.
As for the abandoned Invincible, under the leadership of the captain, Colonel Diaz, they tried to bite back the opponent, but failed when the opponent was superior. Instead, the Invincible suffered a lot of losses under the opponent's intensive firepower.
At this moment, his only hope is that under God's care, he can hit the rear of the opposing warship, causing its speed to be greatly reduced. As for repelling the enemy ship, look at the fact that his own ship only has 40% of its firepower left, and the other two ships have no firepower.
Colonel Diaz would not have any idea how to reduce the firepower of a battleship of the same level.
"Counterattack, aim at the opponent's lead ship, the Taranto, and fire."
The No. 2 and 3 turrets of the Invincible immediately spurted out flames and flew towards the Taranto with the expectant eyes of the officers and soldiers of the Invincible.
Their expectations soon turned into disappointment. Four tall water columns appeared around the Taranto. The nearest water column was about 20 meters away from the Taranto. It was considered a near miss. This was barely
Boost the morale of the officers and soldiers on the Invincible a little, knowing that their bombardment is a threat.
However, this kind of threat looks like a wounded man demonstrating against two strong men, and he will definitely be met with a head-on blow.
Sure enough, after the counterattack was completed, the two Taranto-class ships launched a fierce attack. There was a roar from the two ships, and the sixteen main guns sprayed out flames at the same time. This was a rare formation salvo (at this time
Due to the communication delay problem, salvos are all fired by a single ship. No matter how elite the navy is, they will not train formation salvos, because the effect is close to nothing, but it will affect the firing rate of each ship).
More than ten seconds later, these shells flew towards the Invincible. Although most of them turned into water columns, two of them hit it.
A 305mm shell hit the upper part of the right side of the port side. After penetrating the 152mm upper armor of the Invincible, it destroyed several sailor cabins. Fortunately, the sailors on the Invincible were busy on the ship at this time, and there was no one in the cabin at all.
Therefore, the shell blasted a large hole in the upper port side of the ship and caused no further damage, so it was considered innocuous.
However, although this shell was innocuous, the other shell was quite deadly. This was a shell fired by the Bolsano. This 305 mm armor-piercing projectile directly hit the Invincible with a harsh sound that cut through the air.
Above the waterline at the stern, the huge kinetic energy directly penetrated the armor above the waterline and the half-empty fuel tank behind it, and finally exploded in the boiler area of the power cabin.
The violent explosion directly destroyed several boilers, and many steam pipes were also blown up. At the same time, not to mention the personnel in the power cabin, suffered heavy casualties (think of the scenes of various parts and fragments flying across the sky causing secondary damage)
.
And this blow from the Bolsano also ruined the Invincible's hope of survival, because the power cabin suffered heavy damage, causing the Invincible's speed to drop directly to 12 knots. For a battle cruiser where speed is part of the protection, this is a big deal.
You risk your life, because slowing down will increase your opponent's accuracy and put you in a desperate situation from which you can't escape.
"Increase the rate of fire and fire at the enemy ships at the maximum firing frequency."
As opponents, the two Italian battle cruisers would certainly not relent in the face of such a situation of beating a drowned dog. Then the two ships launched a wave of high-rate firepower attacks (battleship artillery generally does not attack the opponent at the highest rate of fire, the reason is the same
Air-cooled machine guns whose barrels cannot be changed (continuous firing).
The Invincible was hit one after another in this round of fire attacks. Its No. 3 turret was directly destroyed. At the same time, the hull was hit many times. It felt like the Invincible was almost at the end of the road.
"Captain, the current battleship firepower loss has reached 85%, and the personnel loss has reached 50%."
"Report, our warship has tilted 8 degrees to the left. Do you want to inject water to the right now?"
"Pipeline damage sent news that the cabin was seriously flooded, and the pumps were simply not enough. They were unable to control the water situation."
…
Bad news came one after another, letting Captain Dias know that it was the last moment. "Send a telegram to Rear Admiral Hinken and tell him that the Invincible has completed its mission. May God bless St. George."
After finishing speaking, he looked at the crowd and said, "Abandon the ship, everyone. You have shed your blood for the British Empire. I am very honored to work with you on the Invincible. Now you need to think about yourselves and your families."
."
These words, which were like last words, shocked the others. They all came forward to persuade Captain Dias to leave together, but he refused.
"I want to be with my beloved battleship forever."
At 17:04 pm on January 7, 1914, the Invincible sank in the Gulf of Sirte. Following the sinking of the Invincible were Captain Dias and two officers and soldiers who refused to evacuate.
As for the 437 evacuated officers and soldiers of the Invincible, they were captured by the United Fleet and sent to a prisoner of war camp in Sicily, where they will wait for the end of the war.
