Chapter 640: Surte defeated the opponent in the sea
Chapter 640 The Battle of Sirte (Winner and Loser)
Italy's desperate play shocked the general.
Admiral Cardon was actually very satisfied with the previous shelling by the two sides. Although the Montague was accidentally sunk before, the subsequent battle proved that the battleship's thick armor was indeed resistant to beatings.
If he followed his previous strategy, he was confident that he would wait until the reinforcement fleet arrived to inflict heavy damage on the Italians and win this battle for sea power in the Mediterranean.
But now that Italy is unexpectedly fighting for its life, Caden feels a little uneasy in his heart. Of course, in front of everyone, he behaves very calmly.
I saw him smiling and saying. "The Italians know that Lieutenant General Sturdy is coming soon, so they want to fight with their lives. Gentlemen of the British Empire, let us teach them a small lesson. Now I order, send
The interception formation blocks the enemy's lightning strike formation, and the battleship formation now moves eastward to extend the distance from them."
Carden's words calmed everyone present and made the tension caused by the combined fleet's desperate assault dissipate a lot.
Then the small and medium-sized warships of the Mediterranean Fleet rushed over immediately. They wanted to intercept the enemy's lightning strike formation, and a thrilling hand-to-hand battle began.
"Fire and stop them."
Looking at the densely packed torpedo boat destroyers rushing toward the rear battleships, the captain of the cruiser Azalea, who was responsible for the interception mission, quickly gave the order to fire.
"The first squadron of the cruiser counterattacked the enemy, and the remaining warships continued to intercept the enemy's lightning strike formation."
Just as the staff officer was reporting the situation, a deafening explosion suddenly sounded, interrupting the report.
Lieutenant General Sidorol, the chief of staff, couldn't bear it anymore and immediately issued an order.
No wonder Major General Edward was confused, because the cruisers in front of him were all new cruisers headed by the Piedmont class and its improved Verona class. With a full displacement of five to six thousand tons, Italy was equipped with 8-10 double-door cruisers.
Equipped with a 150 mm 50 times caliber main gun and four 105 secondary guns, its rate of fire of three to four points per minute is enough to pose a great threat to the interception formation.
Soon an officer came in to report. "Report, there was an explosion just now from the Tegelhof at the rear of the formation."
The standard displacement of this class of cruise ships is as high as 9,800 tons. It is equipped with 14 152mm 45x naval guns, 10 76mm guns, and has a maximum speed of 23 knots. Its main combat target is the war-breaking cruisers of various countries. Although this class
It has been in service for ten years and is a bit old, but it still has enough deterrence against the Italian cruiser formation headed by the Piedmont class and the Verona class. (The 10,000-ton warship and the 6,000-ton warship are evenly matched, which is enough to see the
degree of backwardness)
Countless water columns emerged from around the lightning strike formation, and all the bombardment of the interception formation was wiped out. In fact, this is normal. You must know that the current shooting director is not only not cheap, but also very large, requiring little space.
Not small.
Under his command, more than a dozen cruisers also sprayed tongues of fire, venting their anger on the intercepting formation.
Facing the interception of their own artillery fire, the lightning strike formation of the United Fleet did not pause at all. At this time, they all madly urged the wheel sets to increase their horsepower and rush through the enemy's interception at a faster speed.
Of course, the British Empire is not without new cruisers. Their number is actually far more than that of Italy. However, they are all concentrated in the North Sea to deal with the more threatening High Seas Fleet. In the Mediterranean, more serviceable cruisers are allocated. Although the British Empire
The empire's naval strength is still unparalleled in the world, but it has more than one enemy. And its allies are of no use, so they can only do nothing.
"No, this is a battleship bombardment."
But soon, a whistling sound like a train made the officers and soldiers of the intercepting formation change their expressions.
I saw the 6-inch (152 mm), 5-inch (127 mm), and 3-inch (76 mm) naval guns equipped with it, constantly spitting out tongues of flame, trying to prevent the enemy ships from charging.
"Why is the opponent's cruiser formation so fierce in firepower?"
"Open fire, target the enemy to intercept the formation, and attack the opponent's small and medium-sized warships first."
As we all know, the most elite officers and soldiers of the navies of various countries must be equipped with their main naval ships. Among them, the Dreadnought, Super Dreadnought, and battle cruisers are the most elite, followed by the cutting-edge warships that have been in service in recent years, such as new cruisers, destroyers, etc., and then only
It is an honest warship from various countries. The Mediterranean fleet is heavily mixed with old-fashioned warships, so naturally its officers and soldiers are not as elite as they are. (Actually, they are not considered old-fashioned warships, but compared to the latest warships, they are comparable to other countries.
Year.)
On the side of Admiral Kaden, seeing the unfair treatment suffered by his own interception formation, he naturally would not sit idly by and ignore it. He immediately ordered, "Fire at full speed and sink the enemy ship."
Doing the same thing as the Azalea, there are other warships responsible for interception. These more than thirty warships, large and small, have become a stumbling block for the assault formation, making plans to stop them. Even the battleship formation not far away is using the remaining
The secondary gun opened fire, and a hail of bullets hit the charging Lightning Strike formation.
Following Major General Edward's order, the six 10,000-ton cruisers began to unleash artillery fire on the new opponent. Although they were a bit behind, the 10,000-ton cruisers were at least thicker in terms of armor than Italy's new cruisers.
The optical rangefinders for ships are only introduced to be several meters long, let alone other instruments. They are all aimed at large bodies. Therefore, at present, those equipped with shooting directors are all large warships, basically tens of thousands of tons.
There is a factor of bad luck, but more of it is due to insufficient performance at the joint force level, especially in terms of armor performance.
Although the United Forces has a slightly lower displacement than the Dante-class (more than 500 tons less than the Dante-class), its stronger firepower has been reduced in other aspects, including less armor than the Dante-class.
Four hundred tons. Although Italy selflessly provided its own shipbuilding experience,
But the Austro-Hungarian Navy still has its own unique insights. So after some changes, although the Combined Forces class has stronger firepower than the Dante class, it is slightly inferior in speed and protection. And within the battlefield, which is the only standard for testing warships,
This makes the Combined Force class perform worse than the Dante class.
"Report……"
"Report, a telegram was sent from the Leonardo da Vinci. Its No. 4 turret was destroyed, and the left side of the ship was penetrated, causing water to enter..."
The battleship formation he led immediately erupted with the most intensive artillery fire. The steel giant on the sea, which was constantly spraying flames, bombarded the battleship formation where Leifer was located at a rate of 1-2 rounds per minute.
On the Cavour, the atmosphere in the command tower was even more tense, with communications staff constantly reporting the losses of each ship.
This kind of pressure-free continuous bombardment naturally has a good strike effect. In addition, the distance between the two sides is currently close enough (a distance of six to seven kilometers), and the damage effect is even more amazing. The combined fleet has a lot of responsibility here.
pressure.
The shelling from the battleships made the officers and soldiers of the interception formation restless, and their hit rate plummeted. Don't blame these officers and soldiers for being impatient, because they are second-rate in quality in the British Navy.
As for small and medium-sized battleships, their needs are not urgent and they cannot be installed. Therefore, their water shooting requires direct human aiming. If they can hit accurately in the first round, it is a ghost.
Lieutenant General Sidorol, who received the intelligence, looked at it with a black eye. Because the situation reported by the captain of the Teghov was quite bad. The Teghov was hit in the ammunition compartment. Fortunately, half of the ammunition had been loaded before.
, which prevented it from sinking on the spot. However, the situation was not optimistic. A large hole of about ten square meters was blown out of the ship. The turbulent sea water continued to pour into the cabin. The damage control team was unable to do anything. The captain of the Teghov
Apply to abandon the ship and save the officers and soldiers on the ship.
Rear Admiral Lopez, commander of the cruiser formation, issued the order loudly.
Of course, when one's own lightning strike formation is intercepted by enemy ship fire, the cruise formation, which is tasked with covering, will not ignore it. Therefore, the cruise formation approaching rapidly at this moment will naturally not let the opponent get what they want.
Within two minutes, a more detailed report of the damage to the Tegelhof was sent.
"What's going on? Go and have a look."
As the commander of the interception formation, Edward was even more experienced. When he heard it, he knew that the caliber of the incoming shells was no less than 300 millimeters. At this moment, his heart collapsed. The interception formation he led not only had to deal with the lightning strike formation, but also
To fight the enemy cruisers, now the battleships don't care about beating them first. Why is it so difficult for our own interception formation!
Facing the Italian firepower, Major General Edward, who was responsible for intercepting and commanding the interception formation, initially wanted to ignore it because he knew who was the greater threat. However, when successive rounds of artillery fire from the enemy cruise formation hit the battleships of his formation, he was
We have to face the enemy in front of us.
A series of loud explosions were heard from all around the interception formation, which were caused by super-large-caliber artillery shells.
Moreover, the Italians are very stupid. Their cruiser formations give priority to warships with smaller displacements in the interception formation. How can the warships of several hundred to one to two thousand tons in their formations be able to fire with their 150mm main guns, let alone their missiles?
The speed was so fast that the warships it aimed at were covered in smoke and heavy losses were caused.
"Report, the Michelangelo sent a telegram. The battleship's chimney was hit. The thick smoke caused the accuracy of the rear turrets No. 3 and 4 to decrease. In addition, the power compartment was hit by a 305mm shell, losing 28% of its power, and its speed was reduced by three knots.
Colonel Nosov has given up his position and will follow after regaining some power."
Together with the heavily damaged Istvan, in just one afternoon, out of the three Austro-Hungarian battleships, only one, the Union Force, was left on the battlefield. It was quite desolate.
At this moment, in order to ensure that the firepower of the interception formation is not interrupted by the opponent, Rear Admiral Edward can only let the first squadron of his cruiser counterattack. This is the most deterrent warship in his hands. This is a formation composed of six Monmouth-class cruisers.
.
But it is useless to say this now. The bitter fruit of the sinking of the Teghov can only be tasted by the Austro-Hungarian navy itself.
Of course, the Austro-Hungarian navy felt uncomfortable, and the Italian side also felt uncomfortable. This kind of behavior of not fighting back after being beaten, or such a dangerous distance, was the same for everyone.
But even so, Leifer did not frown at all, but instead showed a smile at the corner of his mouth.
Because the Lightning Strike formation had already passed the interception formation and rushed towards the battleship formation not far away at high speed.
