"Leipzig" was finished, and it was targeted by the battleship "Revenge".
Originally, the flagship of the home fleet was going to sneak up on the "Scharnhorst" until it was detected by the opposing radar.
The artillery actually hit so accurately that only 10 salvos hit the "London" to the point that it was full of flames and lost its combat capability.
According to this tactic, the other three heavy cruisers and one light cruiser equipped with radar that Admiral Forbes arranged for the ambush would not be entangled for long, and they would all be sunk and crippled by the "Scharnhorst", and the painstaking ambush would be in vain.
As a last resort, Admiral Forbes had no choice but to order the bombardment of the "Leipzig" and scare the "Scharnhorst", a decision that was later considered a serious mistake, and Admiral Charles Forbes withdrew from active duty.
However, judging from the effect at the time, Admiral Charles Forbes's decision was not wrong, after all, "Shane" was a battleship, and even if Forbes took a few more heavy cruisers, it might not be able to damage it and slow it down.
As soon as the cannon of the "Revenge" sounded, the "Scharnhorst" really did not dare to fight, and turned the bow of the ship to escort the "Seydlitz" to escape.
And the light cruiser "Sheffield" of the "Southampton" class, equipped with a search radar, and three other heavy cruisers, followed far behind the "Scharnhorst".
Since the "Sheffield" has radar, they can follow beyond the visual distance without being hit by 3 280 cannons in the stern of the "Scharnhorst".
Thus, the whereabouts of the "Scharnhorst" and "Seydlitz" were completely mastered by the British fleet From this point of view, it was completely worth paying the "London" and five merchant ships, and it was also possible to sink a light cruiser "Leipzig" to recover some capital.
In the commander tower of the battleship "Revenge", Admiral Forbes, after listening to the report on the loss of the "London" and the basic scrapping, only nodded slightly and said: "Okay, we caught them, and this time we really caught them" It was searched by aircraft before, but it was of little use, because the British carrier-based aircraft were so bad that they were completely targets for the Fokker Zero.
And now it was "caught" with the radar of a light cruiser, and basically did not run.
"Well, now it's time for the Hood to get out of the way," Charles Forbes whispered, "and she's the only one who can sink the Scharnhorst." ” It's really sad to say that the British Royal Navy, which has dominated the seas for hundreds of years, now faces the "Scharnhorst" and "Seydlitz", and there is only one "Hood" that can be used "Where is our Hood?"
Forbes walked to the chart table, and a staff officer had already marked the location of the "Hood" and the "Ark Royal" on the chart.
"Admiral, here they are, about 500 nautical miles northwest of the Azores."
"So where is Shane running away now?"
"Southwest, in the direction of the Azores."
Rear Admiral Phillips said, "You can let the Hood and the Ark Royal intercept it."
We are in the east, the F fleet in the north, and the H fleet in the south, and they can only flee west. ” Without the Sheffield's radar, the Scharnhorst and Sedlitz could have passed between F, I and H.
But the two German capital ships, now tracked by radar, did not dare to do this, and Vice Admiral Machar did not want to do so.
"Give the submarines electricity and let them turn around and return to the waters near the Azores."
Vice Admiral Machar said, "Let's fight the Hood right there, and the time should be in the evening, but tomorrow night should be the exchange of fire."
The main gun of the "Scharnhorst" was only 280, which was not at all a match for the 15-inch gun of the "Hood".
The armor of the "Shane" could not withstand the 15-inch cannon of the "Hood", and the armored defense of the "Hood" could not theoretically be sunk by the 280 cannon.
However, it was not so easy for the armored defense of the "Hood" to withstand torpedoes of the G7 series with a diameter of 50 or 533 and a weight of more than 15 tons used by German submarines.
And to launch a submarine sneak attack, it is better to choose to engage in a night battle.
Moreover, the "Scharnhorst" also has a radar, although the current radar technology can still be used as a fire control, but it can still be used as an auxiliary means of aiming, and can also give direction to the submarine.
During the day on 13 October, the speed advantage of the Scharnhorst and Seydlitz was once again apparent.
The formation of two German ships galloped all the way across the Atlantic, leaving the British Flotillas I, H, and F far behind, and their speeds were on average 10 knots slower than the Scharnhorst and Sedlitz, with only one British light cruiser and three British heavy cruisers following cautiously.
And the "Seydlitz" also made 18 sorties of Fokker 99 to bomb the British cruiser that was trailing.
One of the turrets of the heavy cruiser "Cumberland" of the "Kent" class was penetrated by a C250 bomb dropped by Fokker 99, and the heavy damage withdrew from the pursuit.
However, the "Sheffield", which was equipped with radar, was very lucky, and in the two air strikes launched by the "Seydlitz", it was not the target of the attack.
After completing the second air raid, the Fokker 99 of the "Seydlitz" began to act as a reconnaissance aircraft, and together with three AR196s, it carefully searched the sea area in the east, north, and west directions.
"Lieutenant General, AR196 has discovered Hood and the Royal Ark."
At 4:26 p.m., Major General Leifman reported to Lieutenant General Machar about the discovery of the AR196 seaplane.
"At 120 nautical miles, the direction is also the Azores," Mr.
Leifman said, "apparently trying to block us" "Location of the submarine" "They're around," Leifman replied, "and now we're less than 100 nautical miles from the Azores." ” "Okay," Marchar nodded heavily, "let the Seydlitz make one last sortie, all but eight of the direct cover planes, and bomb the British cruisers that are following us, and we will now shell them and drive them away." ” The purpose of driving away the British cruiser that was following the ass was to get the "Seydlitz" out of it.
This is an aircraft carrier, and it cannot participate in an artillery battle with the Hood.
According to the plan, the "Seydlitz" would use the darkness and radio silence to bypass the Azores and then go north to wait for the "Scharnhorst" somewhere in the Atlantic, and then return to Germany or go to a Soviet port for refuge in the waters north of Iceland.
At 5 p.m., air strikes and shelling began.
The British heavy cruiser HMS Exeter, which rushed to the front, was unlucky, first the aft C turret was pierced by a C250 bomb, causing a large explosion to slow down to 11 knots.
Shells rained down and soon turned the "Exeter" into a fireship.
This heavy cruiser with a standard displacement of 8,555 tons also followed in the footsteps of the "London" and fell victim to the 280 cannons of the "Scharnhorst", and in less than half an hour it broke into two knots after a violent explosion and sank into the Atlantic.
Seeing the tragic end of the "Exeter", the remaining 1 British heavy cruiser and the light cruiser "Sheffield" did not dare to approach the "Shane" again in any case, but simply lingered outside the range of the "Shane's" cannon fire.
And the "Seydlitz" took the opportunity to disappear into the vast ocean.
Free novels bring you joy and joy ---> storyskyline.net
"Admiral, we've lost the Exeter," Rear Admiral Phillips on the Revenge reported the latest battle report to Admiral Forbes with some sadness at 5:10.
"Plus, we lost the USS Seydlitz."
"As long as the Scharnhorst is still there," said Admiral Forbes, "if we sink it, the German fleet will not dare to appear like this again, and we will defend the maritime supremacy of the Reich, so now it will be up to the Hood." ” Maritime supremacy was, of course, the most important thing for the British Empire If, tonight, the "Hood" sank and the "Scharnhorst" returned triumphantly, then the whole world would know: the end of the British Empire has come "Vice Admiral, the respective areas of operation of 10 submarines, including U37, U38, U39, U40, U41, U43, U44, U47, U65 and U103, have been confirmed."
"Lieutenant General, a telegram from the Sedlitz: very safe, will go into radio silence."
"Lieutenant General, north-west, radar finds large targets at a distance of 30 thousand" In the command tower of the "Scharnhorst", the atmosphere suddenly became extremely solemn.
The "large target" at a distance of 30,000 meters was most likely the battlecruiser "Hood".
"Ship-wide light control" Captain Leifman immediately gave the order.
It's already 7:44 p.m., there is no moon in the sky, and visibility over the sea is extremely low.
It was a good weather for the Scharnhorst, which had a radar.
And although the "Hood" can also be guided by a light cruiser with radar, in addition to the "Sheffield", the "Hood" also carries an air defense escort ship equipped with radar, but after all, it cannot be compared with its own radar.
"Pull up the curtains of the conning tower, we can't let in a little light now."
Captain Leifman finally ordered the staff officer to close the thick curtains.
The entire warship is like a giant beast hidden in the darkness, quietly waiting for its prey to take the bait. t1706231537: