Now these giant ships have fully met Yang Feng's expectations. Under the protection of dozens of cruisers and destroyers, the four United Forces-class battleships lined up side by side on the narrow main channel of the Strait of Otranto in a classic bow-to-enemy style.
With a proud posture, he faces the oncoming enemies. +
In order to break through the gate to the Adriatic Sea, Britain and France mobilized almost all their naval forces in the Mediterranean. They should have joined the Russian Black Sea Fleet, but unfortunately the Ottoman Empire banned Russian warships from passing through the Bosporus on the grounds of neutrality.
Strait, but even so, this huge fleet also has six of France's latest Lombard-class battleships and eight old-fashioned diesel battleships of the British Navy. The strength gap between the two sides is more than three times.
But unfortunately, the disparity in strength did not translate into results. The French were beaten from the beginning of the war. Because of the gap between the sighting system and the artillery range, the first to fire was their enemy, with four combined force-class ships directly in front.
In total, the twenty-four 356mm main guns fired the first salvo at a distance of fifteen kilometers. The huge shells roared across the sea, and then landed on the British and French fleets that were lining up in columns and cutting forward.
, the water columns of the explosion rose one after another, and amidst the exclamations of the French, a shell directly hit the midship turret of the Jean Bart.
Although the high-quality alloy armor imported from Sweden blocked the 356mm piercing shell produced by the same manufacturer, the scraped shell still hit the twin 152 secondary gun next to it and penetrated easily.
It broke through the weak armor and then exploded inside. The huge explosion power instantly detonated the shells that were being loaded inside, tearing the entire turret into countless pieces.
This scene made all the French people's hearts sink. Because in Vietnam, their nightmare started in this way, and this was not a good sign.
Fortunately, the enemies at this time did not have the terrifying speed of those Chinese battleships, and the French navy at this time was no longer what it used to be. The generals on the French battleships quickly put aside their ominous premonitions and gave their battleships
Give the order to fire.
At a distance of thirteen kilometers, the coalition fleet fired its first salvo, and the same shell hit the St. Stephen. Unfortunately, the 305 shell was directly deflected by the hard Bofors alloy armor.
"Come on, come on. Let's start the bet. Bet on when the Austrians will sink the first enemy ship. I'll bet 100 yuan within fifteen minutes!" On the battleship Ottoman I not far away, the Chinese came to watch the battle.
Navy Captain Du Xigui said with a smile.
"I'll bet you. After all, they are three times more powerful. Even if they can't break through the Austrian defense, they won't be beaten violently, right?" The fellow countryman next to him, Tang Xiangming, who had just graduated from the Naval Academy for only one year, was very happy.
Said discerningly.
"I bet too." An Ottoman officer who was responsible for translating for them said in blunt Chinese, and then explained it to his compatriots around him. After understanding the bet, another one soon followed.
A dozen Ottoman officers joined in, and without exception they all bet on Du Xigui.
Du Xigui looked at the banknotes, gold coins, and silver coins piled in front of him with a smile on his face. He inadvertently smiled at Tang Xiangming and the translator. Several other Chinese observers nearby looked at those fools with pity.
The Guba-class armor is custom-made in Bofors, and the Joint Force-class 356 main gun is also from Bofors. The Chinese Navy has already conducted secret experiments, and it can penetrate at most 12 kilometers in a normal battle.
The most important waterline armor, and the Guba-class's own 305 main gun, is impossible to penetrate the joint force-class waterline armor at a distance of seven kilometers. However, such an experiment can only be carried out by senior officers.
Just know it.
At this time, the battleships of both sides had opened fire one after another. On the calm sea, the steel beasts sprayed tens of meters of muzzle flames and poured shells at the opponent. The ear-piercing whistling sound tore through the air, and huge explosions occurred one after another.
Pillars of water pierced the sky, and steel and will started a bloody battle here, making the blood of a bunch of spectators boil. This was the first perfect battleship showdown, not only the Ottoman navy, Italy, Spain, and even distant Brazil and Argentina.
Came to visit.
But in the final analysis, the British and French coalition forces are still outnumbered. The fourteen battleships add up to nearly a hundred large-caliber heavy guns. Even if the firing rate of a single gun is not as high as that of the combined force class, there is still a numerical advantage, and the firepower projection volume still has an absolute advantage.
Soon, the Allied Forces and the Prinz Eugen were shot one after another. Of course, they were all directly bounced off by the hard armor. Apart from one shell blowing up some insignificant parts, no other damage was caused at all.
But as the distance between the two sides narrowed, the power of the 356 cannon began to show. Just three minutes into the battle, a piercing bomb fired from the Tegelhof directly penetrated the waterline of the French Ocean.
Armor, and then used 20 kilograms of antimony and antimony charges to tear a big hole in its waterline, and seawater began to pour into this brand-new battleship. Fortunately, the French's watertightness was quite good, and no damage was caused.
The fatal damage was caused by the ship's bow sinking slightly, so the speed had to be reduced sharply, and the main gun, which had a low elevation angle, now had a harder time firing far.
When the naval battle reached the fifth minute, the British and French warships were in a bit of chaos, because they had hit the opponent with more than ten shells, but none of them could penetrate the opponent's waterline armor. The opponent only hit six rounds.
However, no matter which shot was fired, it caused serious damage to one's own warships. After understanding this, the commander of the French Mediterranean Fleet in charge immediately ordered the division of troops, using six Guba-class ships to continue to hold back the firepower of the Austro-Hungarian fleet, and the other eight British battleships circled
Attack on the right side, and at the same time order the accompanying cruisers and destroyers to attack on the left side, attracting the Austro-Hungarian light battleships behind the battleships.
In addition to the four Combined Forces-class ships, the Austro-Hungarian Navy participated in the war this time with four Princess-class heavy cruisers, six light cruisers, fourteen destroyers and thirty old armored cruisers, protected cruisers and even large
Torpedo boats, even the Princess-class heavy cruisers, did not dare to run onto the battlefield where the battleships were decisive battles. They hid behind the four Combined Forces-class ships to prevent the light battleships in the British and French fleets from rushing up to launch torpedoes.
Besides, there are only so many straits, and there are not many warships to deploy. As the cruisers and destroyers of the British and French coalition forces came forward, all these warships rushed forward at once. Both sides started a melee with heavy cruisers as the core, and at the same time,
Eight old British diesel battleships began to break away from the formation and sail to the right wing.
The four Combined Forces-class ships were originally facing the enemy side by side with their bows. There were too few of them, so they could only reduce the bomb-receiving surface in this way. Although the tail cannon could not be used, it was better than exposing the side of more than 100 meters long.
It was much better, and it also prevented the enemy from attacking from the flanks. Therefore, after understanding the intentions of the British battle fleet, the four battleships immediately staggered into a diagonal line, showed off their tail guns, and prepared to fight.
However, the British commander who led eight old-fashioned battleships to attack the right wing was not prepared to rush forward like this. The battleships in his hands, which were slightly more than 10,000 tons, were not only small in tonnage, but also had old-fashioned Harvey carburized armor.
If he casually received a 356 piercing bomb, he might end up dead at sea, so his tactic was to simply bypass the enemy's range and pretend to go directly north to bombard Trieste, forcing him to
These four battleships are separated. As long as they are not gathered together, it will be much easier to deal with them at that time.
It's a pity that his idea was good, but he had no basis for implementation. Just as the British battleship was making a big circle, the Ottoman fleet commander on board the Ottoman I looked at the chart, waved his hand expressionlessly, and made a wave of
A powerful fleet composed of five battleships immediately stepped forward and soon lay in front of the British fleet, and then issued a semaphore.
"Your army has violated the territorial waters of the Ottoman Empire. Please withdraw immediately, otherwise it will be regarded as a provocation." The British commander almost became angry while reading the flag message. However, he looked at the chart and saw that he had indeed entered the territorial waters of the Ottoman Empire.
, but the question is, when did the British Empire care about this?
But now he has to care. Even if he ignores the consequences and simply breaks through, he has no hope of breaking through the blockade of the Ottoman navy. You must know that there are four perfect battleships and one quasi-perfect battleship.
The admiral, who was once so high in the Mediterranean, had no choice but to endure a look of aggrievedness and ordered to turn around in the eyes of sneers, and follow the normal route again to the Prinz Eugen on the far right side of the Austro-Hungarian fleet.
The front and rear main guns of the Prinz Eugen and the tail guns of the St. Evans immediately opened fire on the battle fleet. The first salvo hit the Majestic in the front with one shell.
The power of 356mm piercing bombs is indeed a bit harsh for these old-fashioned battleships. You must know the speed advantage after replacing the diesel engines. In other aspects, these battleships are not much different from those American battleships killed by the Princess class. Even
The armor thickness is not as good as that of the Americans, and the Princess-class has a 240 main gun, and the weight of the shell is only a fraction of the 356 shell. You can imagine what this shell means to the Majestic.
What's even more tragic is that the shell hit directly under the front main gun, easily penetrated the waterline armor and then penetrated into the ammunition depot. With a loud noise like the earth was shattering, under the stunned gaze, the ship of more than 10,000 people
The entire ship was blown up.
"Fourteen minutes, haha, it's time to count the money!" On the Ottoman I, Du Xigui hugged the banknotes and gold coins in front of him and shouted excitedly. (To be continued, please search Piaotian Literature, the novel is better and updated faster