The lightning strike formation was getting closer and closer, causing the mood of the officers and soldiers of the British battleship formation to fall from heaven to hell.
"The secondary battery fires with full force and is not allowed to approach."
Admiral Cardon also felt bad. In fact, he felt bad when the Italian battleships aimed their firepower at the interception formation. Sure enough, under the enemy's full attack, the interception formation was not effective, and 60% of the enemy ships
He rushed past the intercepting formation and attacked him. At this time, he could no longer care about anything else. If the lightning formation rushed forward, he would become a sinner of the British Empire.
"Order all the battleship's secondary guns to use all their strength to intercept the enemy's lightning strike formation. The intercepting formation will also strike from behind. The opponent must not be allowed to get close to the battleship."
At this moment, he was desperate. Even if all the interception formations were sacrificed, he still had to stop these lightning strike battleships.
In fact, there was no need for him to give this order. When the lightning strike formation rushed through the intercepting formation, its commander, Major General Edward, had already given the formation an order to break through and intercept the enemy lightning strike formation to pursue it.
In this order, Rear Admiral Edward rarely used direct instructions, but sent a telegram in a discussion tone. The full text of the telegram is as follows: Gentlemen of the British Empire, the enemy lightning strike formation has broken through our interception and is heading towards the battleship formation.
And go. I am not going to blame anyone here, we have tried our best. But as a gentleman of the British Navy
, how can we watch the navy's precious battleships suffer such a disaster? This goes against the tradition of our navy and goes against our conscience. Even if we survive, we will blame ourselves for it, so here I hope you gentlemen can save it.
A mistake for which I would sacrifice my life. Warwick Edward, January 7, 1914, 17:21.
Edward's telegram boosted the morale of the officers of the interception formation and revived the already shaken military morale. Then, under the leadership of Edward, the entire interception formation turned around, leaving the back to the main force of the combined fleet, desperately trying to
The battleships in the lightning strike formation must be left behind.
As a result, a rather strange scene appeared on the battlefield. With the battleship formation led by Admiral Cardon as the center, four waves of battleships rushed towards it. They were scrambling as if they were trying to grab Tang Monk's meat.
Of course, among them, the officers and soldiers of the Lightning Strike Formation, who set off the battle in the first wave, were the most eager. They eagerly wanted to show the British steel behemoths a big treasure.
Not to mention other people, the commander's tower of the Cavour was filled with laughter and laughter at this time. Anyone could tell that the opponent had been severely damaged and it was time to reap the fruits of victory.
Fortunately, those who drive lightning strike ships are stupid and bold. They may not be as good as other warships in terms of training or eliteness, but they are definitely the strongest in terms of fighting for their lives. Because of the danger of lightning strikes, they are the first priority
When selecting officers and soldiers, one must be bold, otherwise how can one hit the target calmly and calmly in an environment filled with artillery fire?
That being said, as the commander of the torpedo unit, Lieutenant Colonel Daniele cannot just watch. Although he unexpectedly became the formation commander, Lieutenant Colonel Daniele, who previously served as the commander of the third torpedo strike unit,
The commander also wants to fully demonstrate his abilities in this large sea battle that is related to the direction of the war. Therefore, using words to motivate his subordinates has become the most useful one among his many methods.
As for why Lieutenant Colonel Daniele even has to control the depth and speed of torpedo launches, in a word, this is the charm brought by salvos. The torpedo troops also caught up with this trend, and the results of the test were very good, so they directly
adopted.
"Charge, maximum speed, let's take a look at the trembling British guy in front of us."
At this moment, Carden was extremely looking forward to seeing the lieutenant general, even more than he expected for his wife and children. The lieutenant general reported an hour and a half ago that he was struck by lightning from an Italian 25 nautical miles away.
Formation, and then there is no news.
This is a real skill. Being able to complete this kind of formation in a situation where the sky is full of artillery fire and warships are constantly being hit fully demonstrates the super high level of the Italian lightning strike formation.
The first thing to suffer was the Centurion, which lost power. In just ten minutes, it was bombarded more than 20 times. The frequent strikes left the Centurion riddled with holes and a raging fire broke out.
A few minutes later, a huge explosion broke the Centurion into two sections and quickly sank into the sea.
These words revived Kaden's heart that had sunk to the bottom. There was a burst of cheers in the command tower. They didn't know whether they were waiting for the reinforcements to arrive soon, or whether they were trying to escape for themselves.
Heaven cheers, maybe both.
But now, facing the dense white lines on the sea rushing towards our battleship, anyone who looks at it will feel numb.
A series of explosions sounded one after another, and the battleships of the Mediterranean Fleet were hit one after another. Of course, there were more and more of them. The luckiest one was the Conqueror, which was only hit by one torpedo, and the torpedo had not exploded. It can be said that it was calculated.
It’s God’s own. Of course there are good things and bad things.
, the Collingwood was hit, all five torpedoes exploded, and sea water poured into the cabin of the Collingwood like a burst. Then in just two minutes, the Collingwood tilted 7 degrees to the right. This was no longer a matter of course.
Unable to cope with the damage, the captain, Lieutenant Colonel Douglas, had no choice but to order the ship to be abandoned.
This distance was already visible to the naked eye, and sure enough, an officer came to report. "Report, a battleship was found southwest of us. It is initially judged to be a battle cruiser."
HMS Collingwood was the ship that suffered the most heavy losses due to lightning strikes. In addition to HMS Collingwood, other British battleships were also attacked by torpedoes (except for the luckiest HMS Conqueror).
Following Leifer's order, the main force of the combined fleet bared its fangs against Admiral Cardon's battleship formation. The battleship formation, which had been shelling the enemy's interception formation, now aimed its guns at its supposed opponent, firing bursts of artillery fire.
The roar made the British feel what they had felt before.
Then the crew of the Collingwood jumped into the water like dumplings and struggled to stay away from the capsizing warship.
Lieutenant Colonel Daniele did not take a second look at the surrounding tragedies, because lightning strikes were a mission of narrow escape, and how to hit the target better and cause greater damage was what he was most concerned about now.
But how can I put it, since the Italian torpedo formation dared to use this tactic, there is a reason. Because the nearly two hundred torpedoes it launched rushed towards it in a fan, whether it was turning or accelerating, they were all within the attack range of the torpedoes
Within. And it is also very particular to set the depth to seven meters, which basically eliminates the way other battleships can block the knife.
When Leifer saw the outstanding achievements of the Lightning Strike Formation on the flagship Cavour, even his extremely stable character was full of excitement and a smile on his face.
Following Lieutenant Colonel Daniele's order, the torpedo formation quickly launched the final preparations before the lightning strike. The warships that were originally scattered were slowly getting closer. If you pay attention, you will find that more than 20 lightning strike warships are gradually approaching.
Composed into seven formations of four to five ships.
Although it is not the reinforcement formation that I wanted, at this critical juncture, when everything is in the basket, strengthening the strength of my formation is the first priority.
At this moment, Leifer put down the heavy stone in his heart and gave the order loudly.
"Order each ship to arrive at a distance of 1,500 meters and conduct a torpedo attack on the enemy ship. Set the depth to seven meters and the speed to 38 knots."
For example, the Orion, the ship on which Admiral Cardon was riding, was hit by two torpedoes. Xin Hao only had one torpedo explode. Fortunately, the hit position was on the right bow of the ship. In addition, the tube damage was excellent, so Orion was hit by two torpedoes.
The Weng only took in more than 500 tons of water. Apart from affecting the speed of the ship, the impact on it was not significant.
Just as General Kaden was anxiously waiting for news of the reinforcement formation, he saw a communications staff officer running in, which immediately attracted the attention of everyone in the command tower.
The Orion was already doing very well, but the Centurion was worse. Although it was only hit by two torpedoes, one hit the stern and the other hit the middle of the ship. These two torpedoes directly reduced the power of the Centurion.
The cabin was filled with seawater. The turbulent seawater completely submerged the Centurion's boiler and steam turbine, directly causing it to lose power on the sea and become motionless. It also caused the Centurion's bow to tilt up. The outcome can be imagined.
.
Then each ship began to fire torpedoes, and one thermal-powered torpedo was continuously shot out from the battleship. The torpedo lines with obvious trajectories appeared densely in front of the British battleship formation, making the sharp-eyed lookout keep shouting "Lightning Strike".
Lightning strike, lightning strike!
The biggest disadvantage of the thermal torpedo is that the trajectory is obvious, so the officers and soldiers on the British warship can see it through the telescope without being reminded by the lookout post.
Five thousand meters.
The communications staff officer who received the order immediately responded loudly. At this time, in his heart, his commander was the most outstanding naval commander.
Looking at everything in front of him, Admiral Cardon, who was on the Orion, had red eyes. "Send a telegram to Lieutenant General Sturdy again and ask where his reinforcements are."
In fact, this is also because the traces of the thermal torpedoes are too obvious, and it is difficult to hit without firing a salvo fan pattern.
In addition to the Centurion, other British battleships were also seriously damaged.
Withstanding the enemy's artillery fire, the Lightning Strike formation quickly approached the British battleship formation.
"Turn around and face the enemy with the bow."
Seeing the Lightning Strike formation getting closer and closer, the British battleships not only fired at it with their secondary guns, but also turned their main guns to fire at it. Under the British's reckless firepower interception, the Lightning Strike Formation suffered heavy losses. Many.
Torpedo boats and destroyers were hit and exploded on the spot. After all, the torpedoes they were equipped with were fatal to all warships, whether after or before launch.
Then only three explosions were heard, and then the battleship shook violently. There was a harsh sound of metal twisting on the battleship, and the Colossus was hit by three torpedoes.
So the battleship Colossus, which was turning rapidly, saw the torpedo approaching. The officers and soldiers on the battleship looked at the torpedo so close and could only hopelessly grab the railing and shout, "Prepare for impact!"
"As you command, General."
Three thousand meters.
At this moment, for the British battleship formation that was struck by lightning, it was like a hellish existence. At this time, because the distance was closer, the artillery fire of the combined fleet was more intense. The half-disabled Mediterranean fleet was so miserable that the storm was overwhelming the city.
Four thousand meters.
Under the expectant gaze of everyone, the communications staff officer immediately spoke. "Admiral, this is a telegram from Major General Hinken. He said he was coming with the Indefatigable. He is now ten nautical miles away from us to the southwest.
"
"Immediately order Major General Hinken to come over with the Indefatigable. We need his reinforcements."
"As you command, Your Excellency Commander."
In terms of hit rate, the hit rate of this lightning strike reached over 13%, which is an amazing achievement. It also changed the situation of this naval battle in one fell swoop.
On the destroyer USS Dolphin, Lieutenant Colonel Daniele, the acting commander of the torpedo formation, screamed at his crew to drive the warship faster.
One shell after another exploded on the British battleship, making the already injured Mediterranean fleet unable to bear it.
Other battleships such as the Colossus, Hercules, and Vanguard were all hit by torpedoes and suffered heavy losses.
Seeing that the enemy ship was getting closer and closer, Lieutenant Colonel Daniele finally gave the final launch order. The distance of 1,500 meters was just right for lightning strike tactics. If it was too far, it would be easy for the enemy to avoid it.
Although it is easier to hit at close range, the hit rate of being hit by artillery fire will also increase, which is not worth the gain.
No matter how hard you want to turn, it is not easy, because this just shortens the distance between the battleship and the torpedo, and no matter how slow the turn is, it cannot be completely turned in more than a minute, and the fastest is only a small half turn.
"Everyone, the Lightning Strike Formation has created enough advantages for us with huge sacrifices. Next, we have to expand our advantages. Now I order to bombard the enemy battleships, giving priority to the enemy's severely damaged battleships."
He was so anxious because the British were impatient. Their interception formation did not care about the cruiser formation and battleship formation behind them, and only focused on dealing with their lightning-struck warships. Of course, right in front, the battleships were also constantly firing at him, and the battleships that had not yet been destroyed
The secondary guns also continued to create obstacles in their path forward. From time to time, battleships were hit and destroyed by them. This kind of adrenaline-filled scene really needed to boost the morale of the crew.
At this moment, Admiral Cardon saw the dense torpedoes on the sea and quickly ordered to turn. At this moment, it was impossible to escape. He could only use the bow of the ship with the least threat to meet the incoming torpedo attack. This was the best way to deal with it.
, you can’t use the hull or the more dangerous stern.
Before the communications staff officer could leave, another communications staff officer ran in and said loudly with joy on his face. "Admiral, Lieutenant General Sturdy sent a telegram. He defeated the enemy interception formation and is on his way."
, only 24 nautical miles away from us."
The news that Lieutenant General Sturdy was coming was not only received by Carden, but also by Leifer. Looking at the telegram in front of him, the command tower was quiet.
Leifer looked up with some reluctance and saw the dilapidated Mediterranean fleet in the distance. As long as he was given another hour, he was confident that he could clean up the warships in Carden's hands. Unfortunately, he didn't.
"Order the formations except the battleship formation to search and rescue those who fell into the water. We will retreat in ten minutes."
Having said this, Leifer was unwilling to give another order. "Order the battleship formation, and each ship will focus on attacking the enemy Hercules and Vanguard."
It was obvious that Leifer wanted to achieve the result of sinking before leading away. Following his order, the combined fleet roared more violently, and the two targeted warships shivered in the cannon fire.
