At 7:55 p.m., the battlecruiser "Hood" and the heavy cruiser "Norfolk", as well as two destroyers serving as escorts, formed two columns, one column on the left, consisting of "Hood" and "Norfolk"; One column is on the right and consists of two destroyers of the "Clan" class.
Under the guidance of the lights of an old V-class destroyer escort ship that was hiding on the edge of the battlefield and had radar installed, the four warships sailed head-on to the battleship "Scharnhorst".
Like the Scharnhorst, the Hood, Norfolk and the two Tribal class ships were also subject to light control and moved quietly in the dark.
At the same time, Vice Admiral Whitworth, commander of the British G-Fleet, also sent a detachment of the light cruiser "Southampton" and four destroyers to the right of the "Hood" 30,000 meters away, parallel to the formation of the "Hood", and they also exercised light control.
According to radar reconnaissance and calculations, the "Scharnhorst" will pass between the "Hood" detachment and the "Southampton" detachment.
At that time, the detachment of "South Bank Puton" will be close to firing torpedoes.
In addition, the formation composed of the heavy cruiser "Cornwall" and the light cruiser "Sheffield" was the formation that followed the "Scharnhorst" all the way, and it turned on the lights and followed the "Scharnhorst" from a distance, and kept signaling the "Hood" in the darkness with the lantern language to inform the other party of the location of the "Scharnhorst."
"The target distance is 22000, the speed is 28, the course is 160 south-southeast, heading towards our ship" In the command tower of the "Scharnhorst", the staff officers loudly reported the position of the "Hood" as observed by the radar.
Everyone else held their breath and waited for the captain, Rear Admiral Leifman, to give the order to open fire.
The tonnage and armor of the "Hood" were placed there, and sinking was theoretically impossible.
Therefore, the tactics of the "Scharnhorst" tonight were to only seek damage, and then lead the "Hood" in circles to create opportunities for the ambushed submarines.
If there is no result by 2 a.m. tomorrow, then the only option is to pat yourself on the ass and go to join up with the "Seydlitz".
After all, tonight's ambush battle was deduced by the staff officers of the Navy Command with war games, and it is difficult to say whether it will be good or not.
At 8:11 p.m., when the formation of the "Hood" and the "Scharnhorst" approached 13,000 meters, Vice Admiral Whitworth on the "Hood" gave the order to open fire, first of all, a destroyer was ordered to fire flares.
However, due to the reliance on the ship's radar for guidance, "the flare did not hit accurately, and landed on the right rear of the "Scharnhorst", and the miserable white light only barely shone on the stern of the "Scharnhorst", and then the cannons of the "Hood" began to roar, but the impact point deviated greatly.
"Fire Now" Rear Admiral Leifman immediately gave the order to open fire, and the "Hood" opened fire exposing the target, so that the flares fired by the "Scharnhorst" accurately illuminated the "Hood".
In an instant, the dark sky became like day.
The noble "Hood" revealed its majestic body in the vast sea.
Soon the gunner on board the "Scharnhorst" accurately and quickly measured the distance between the "Hood" and ordered a "salvo rapid fire".
The artillery immediately opened heavy fire.
And the "Hood" also quickly found the target because of the muzzle flame of the "Shane".
Its eight 15-inch cannons and the eight eight-inch cannons of the heavy cruiser "Norfolk" that followed it also began to roar at the same time.
At 8:20, when the "Scharnhorst" fired its fourth salvo at a distance of 10,000 meters, it achieved a "straddle shot" on the "Hood".
The caliber shell hit the starboard side deck of the Hood, and did not penetrate the main armor deck of the "Hood", which was tens of millimeters thick, but hit one of the ammunition boxes of the "Hood" for 4-inch anti-aircraft artillery shells.
This ammunition box was supposed to be installed below the main armored deck, but because the "Hood" had been playing the image ambassador of the Royal Navy for two decades before the outbreak of the world war, it was relatively busy, and there was not much time to refit, the most recent major change was in the late 20s and early 30s, after which it was a minor repair, and some anti-aircraft guns were added, and the ammunition boxes of these anti-aircraft guns were installed on the armored deck so-so.
The shell hit, and the 4-inch anti-aircraft gun shell stored inside was detonated, and a fire ignited on the spot "Hit" In the command tower of the "Scharnhorst", everyone cheered.
The shells easily caught fire.
But the reality is there, and God is bless Germany "Send a signal to the submarine," Vice Admiral Machar shouted excitedly, "we hit the Hood, the Hood is on fire."
It was actually set on fire In the command tower of the "Hood," everyone was pale, and the dignified "Hood" was now actually beaten by a broken battleship like the "Scharnhorst," which relied on speed to eat and eat This is too shameless, isn't it?
"Lieutenant General," a staff officer suddenly shouted, "the captain of the damage management report that the temporary anti-aircraft gun ammunition box on the starboard side has been hit, causing a large fire" "Got it, let the damage control control fire," Lieutenant General Whitworth said in a calm tone, "this damage can't help Hood, we don't have to pay attention to it." ” It is true that a fire in an ammunition box for 4-inch shells could not overturn the "Hood", but it was not easy to extinguish the fire, because this temporarily installed ammunition box could not be filled with water to extinguish the fire, and could only be cooled down by spraying seawater through rubber pipes.
Therefore, the "Hood" can only continue to be a "sea torch" for the time being.
"Boom" At this moment, with a loud bang, the "Hood" suddenly shook again, and the people in the command tower staggered for a while, and then someone shouted: "Sir, report the damage, the lifeboat deck near the rear mainmast has been shot and caught fire" "Got it" Lieutenant General Whitworth still didn't have the slightest worry, a little damage, but not "Hood".
"Ignore it, concentrate on dealing with the Scharnhorst today, we are going to leave it forever at the bottom of the Atlantic" It is not known whether the determination of the British Vice Admiral of the Royal Navy moved God, and only 2 minutes later, the fifth salvo of the "Hood" was fired in a straddle.
A little later, a huge 15-inch shell slammed into the bow of the "Scharnhorst".
"Boom" With a loud bang, the "Scharnhorst" shook violently as if it had been kicked by the sea god.
Everyone in the tower struggled to hold on to the handrails to keep themselves steady.
"Identify the losses," shouted Lieutenant General Machar.
Soon the losses were ascertained, the "Scharnhorst" was damaged and ruptured in the No. 1 fuel tank in the bow, the fuel leaked, and a large number of water sank in the bow "Hell" Mashal and Leifman's hearts suddenly hung in the air, and a large amount of water in the bow of the ship would inevitably cause the speed to drop.
In addition, the sinking of the bow will also slightly affect the firing accuracy of the two main turrets.
"Let the damage pipe drain immediately," Reifman ordered, and then turned his attention to the Hood.
The current opponent is the high-speed "Hood", which is not just going to go At this time, he found that the fire on the "Hood" was burning vigorously, not only on the port side, but also behind the mainmast.
The "Hood", which was on fire, became a very striking target, and in the 8th and 10th salvos of the "Scharnhorst", two more 280 shells hit the target.
One hit the stern deck of the "Hood" and the other hit the armor belt of the amidships, but did not seem to cause much damage.
"If it hadn't been Scharnhorst, it would have been Bismarck," Leifman thought to himself, "and in that case the Hood might have been sunk."
Just as he thought of this, an earth-shattering explosion suddenly came, and the hull of the "Scharnhorst" trembled violently a few times.
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Apparently, the "Scharnhorst" was hit again.
The bad news was not long in coming, this time hitting the boiler room at the waterline, and the shell had pierced a steam pipe leading to the engine room.
This meant that the speed of the battleship would drop significantly The iron-faced Leifman looked at the similarly iron-faced Marshall, and then Mahal said, "Send a telegram to Marshal Raeder and tell him about the damage to the Scharnhorst."
And conveyed to the Supreme Command of the Navy: our ship will stick to the end" "Oh God, our Scharnhorst is slowing down, it's dropping fast" The U47 was historically a Type VIIB submarine under the surface of the sea, but the number of IX boats owned by the German Navy more than doubled during this time and space.
The U47 number also belonged to a Type IX ocean-going submarine, and Captain Günter Prien in it suddenly heard his first mate Heinrich shouting.
"What's the matter," Captain Günter Prien looked at Ensign Heinrich, who was looking through a periscope.
"It's the Scharnhorst, it's hit, it's lost speed, it looks like it's less than 10 knots, it's going to be finished."
"Don't talk nonsense" Günter Prien walked over, snatched the periscope away, and pressed his eyeballs on.
In the circular field of vision, you can vaguely see the black giant ship slowly driving towards him.
Using the scale on the periscope lens, Günter Prien estimated the speed of the Scharnhorst.
"Verse 7," said Günter Prien very calmly, "but it is not finished, it is very resistant to sinking.
He paused, "Now the Hood and the Heavy Cruiser should be firing around it, but this is our chance, we will follow it, and now that it has slowed down, we can just keep up." ” t1706231537: