Chapter 571 The Holy Reliment is destroyed

With white hair, Douglas Nicholson, who had white hair, would walk from the cabin to the deck. This position happened to be the famous "Marble Arch". Looking back, it almost covered the Linli barrel of the deck, making him smile bitterly.

Although he is a naval officer, he is actually in a semi-retired state. He began to be the captain of the royal cruise ship a few years ago. Unexpectedly, because of the possibility of the outbreak of war, he was urgently transferred back to the navy and got the opportunity to command the battleship intercepted halfway.

This is a battleship with seven turrets.

It's called Ajincourt (the previous chapter was changed. The hippo accidentally typed the wrong number and was scolded by the divine religion all night. Hey, the crime of molested the sacred object.) There is no doubt that there is no country in the world that has seven turrets and 14 battleships equipped with 12-inch/L45 guns, which may scare many people just by appearance.

Originally, Brazil and Osman were also attracted by its many barrel, but the former Secretary of the Navy, His Excellency Churchill, finally ruined the perfect deal and chose to keep it in Britain.

Now the wooden flammable furniture inside has been demolished, and the famous "marble arch" has also been removed. Except for the Ottoman luxury ship furnishings requested by Captain Nicholson, nothing else can be seen.

But are these good warships dismantled?

The answer is no!

No one likes him. Except for Nicholson, almost every British [***] officer who sees this battleship calls it a "luxury hotel", because they think that the value of this capital ship is not a naval gun, but a luxurious Ottoman decoration inside.

Of course, no one can deny that this warship has advantages. After the last secret test, it still has the ability to volley, but it can't last too long, and the vibration is too big, but it also proves Britain's outstanding ship-building ability.

In addition, the fire projection intensity of the Agincourt is undoubtedly considerable. Even if it is staggered shelling, the theoretical total amount of ammunition projected per minute in an hour is stronger than that of any of the current major fleet, and the BXI turret it uses is very advanced, not only using the latest electric rotation. The mechanism is also equipped with a hydraulic booster. When the barrel is pitched five degrees, only one person is needed to complete the work of filling the shells and propellant.

After this technology was tested on the Agincourt, it has been extended to the Elizabeth-class battleships and the Lion-class battlecruisers, making a perfect experiment for the naval's technological innovation.

Of course, the subjects tested are a little bad.

14 12-inch/L45 naval guns are newly designed. Both the range and muzzle kinetic energy are very good, but the problem lies in the barrel, because there are defects in the construction of the inner barrel, resulting in an undue gap between the cartridge and the barrel after the shell is filled. As a result, the gun After the bomb is launched, it is very easy to break because it cannot withstand the stress caused by rotation.

Of course, this is still a secret. Only a few people know it, and it is actually very simple to solve this problem. You just need to replace the barrel, but the problem is that this new gun has no spare barrel at all, and due to the urgency of the war, no one will think of it when a larger barrel is needed to suppress the enemy. The "luxury hotel" produced several 12-inch barreles, so Captain Nicholson could only join Jellico's fleet with problematic cannons.

Originally, the Admiralty Department intended to order a batch of 12-inch barrelments from the United States to improve it, but no one expected that the United States would begin to expand its navy desperately after the destruction of the transport fleet, and was not in the mood to build such small barrel, because their main opponent had already built it. It is said to be the most powerful battleship at present.

The madness of the United States is understandable. After all, when the enemy has a thicker muzzle, the agreement must not bow down, so Captain Nicholson can only continue to carry 14 problematic cannons to stick to his post.

This was not a big problem, because Lieutenant General Jericho's fleet had many capital ships, but no one expected that they would suddenly encounter big trouble recently!

First, the tireless was mined in the Dardanelles, and then four consecutive battlecruisers were lost in the Pacific Ocean. Then Germany suddenly rushed out of the North Sea and caused a heavy damage to a Lion-class battlecruiser. In addition, three Berellophon-class battleships were transferred to the Pacific Ocean to support Australia, and the strength of the Grand Fleet suddenly became tense. The gap with the German high seas fleet began to narrow sharply!

This is all the damn Far East arsonist. Recently, he even sent two Guam-class ships into the Atlantic Ocean in an attempt to destroy the vital Atlantic channel. Therefore, in order to block this fleet, while the need to defend against the increasingly restless German high seas fleet, the Admiralty also had to take himself and Akin. The Kuhl was dispatched to carry out the interception mission.

Captain Nicholson was not afraid of the 31st Fleet. He was even eager to fight with the Guam-class, which is said to be one of the strongest battleships, but no one expected that only five days after departure, the boiler and steam engine began to go wrong. Not long ago, he lost one-third of the power, so that the Agincourt could only hold a maximum of 16 knots. Speed sailing.

In order not to waste time, Lieutenant General Kafka decided to leave the Agincourt alone, and he took the Malaya and Ireland to Cape Verde to block the most important defense line into the North Atlantic, and then waited there for the seven-turret battleship.

Captain Nicholson looked at the two turrets of the bow before stepping into the bridge.

"Captain, how's it going?" Glenville Sheen, the deputy captain of the Agincourt and Nicholson's best partner, heard his inquiry, Nicholson shook his head: "It's terrible. Kelton said he didn't have enough spare parts."

"It's too bad." Sean shrugged his shoulders: "It seems that we must hold on to Cape Verde to recover."

"Hmm." Captain Nicholson looked at his pocket watch: "At our current speed, it will take more than four hours. I hope to arrive before the evening. As long as there are parts, Kelton said he could repair it in another night."

"Is there a new telegram?"

"The last news was three hours ago. Galatia was hit by a torpedo launched by the Chinese from the plane. At present, it is unable to sail. Five W-class destroyers failed without completing the interception. Their secondary artillery firepower is too strong to approach the torpedo firing distance of 4 kilometers. "

Nicholson took off his hat and showed his famous white hair on his head. With the action of dusting, his eyebrows gradually approached: "Is there no new telegram? Have they all been sunk by Kafka?

"I don't know." Sean shook his head: "I have contacted the radio station many times, but I haven't received a reply. Only the Cape Verde base said that the Chinese fleet has turned to the west, and General Kafka is leading the fleet to pursue."

"to the west?" Nicholson walked to the chart and went straight west to the Caribbean Sea, where the islands were dense, which was indeed a good place to hide. However, the sudden acceleration of the 31st Fleet rushed to Cape Verde, indicating that they had received an early warning. It was likely to know that the U.S. A Fleet was coming east, and two Delaware-class battleships. The ship has also departed from the Caribbean Sea. If you go there at this time, there is a high probability!

Will they do this?

Nicholson's eyebrows are getting tighter and tighter. From another angle, if you are the enemy, you should turn the rudder to the south, or simply use the speed to shake off the Kafka fleet and enter the North Atlantic Ocean. Because there are no aircraft and cruisers and destroyers that can be pursued at high speed, the five-section advantage only takes three hours, which can be completely Escape from the chase.

So why do they still take the most difficult road?!

Don't they know that two Delaware-class battleships are coming?

Although the Delaware class is no longer powerful, because of the early service, the sailors are more experienced. If they hit it, there is still a great chance to be entangled. At this time, the two fleets of A and E must be chasing. It only takes an hour to entangle, and the chance of hitting the opponent will be more than 50%. Doesn't the commander know this? The reason?

Or are you too confident?!

Captain Nicholson bowed and lay on the chart table. Suddenly, his eyebrows suddenly jumped, but then he shook his head again, because if the 31st Fleet rushed straight north, Kafka would not warn himself. He knew very well that he could not block the enemy by the Ajincourt.

Maybe I'm suspicious.

Captain Nicholson, put on his hat again, and just as he was about to ask Sean to send a telegram again, a panicked cry suddenly came to his ear.

"Enemy ship! Two o'clock position!"

The sound made the bridge suddenly explode, and Captain Nicholson looked at the thick smoke in the sky in disbelief. How could it be? What about Kafka? They broke through to the north. Why didn't they have a telegram?!

"Captain, telegram, the Chinese fleet is here." Technical officer Kelton rushed into the bridge with a telegram, and was stunned in the middle of shouting.

The beep alarm sounded through the deck of the Ajincourt. The unprepared sailors hurried to the battle position, and the seven turrets rotated quickly.

"Ready for Wednesday."

"Ready for Thursday!"

"

Because there happened to be seven turrets, the officers and soldiers jokingly arranged the turrets No. 1 to No. 7 from Sunday to Saturday, and this code name gradually replaced the original number.

When a biplane flew over the warship, not only the seven turrets were ready, but also the two 3-inch anti-aircraft guns on the ship had opened fire.

The sound of the cannon is sparse. This intensity needs God's blessing to deal with the dexterous aircraft, so Captain Nicholson didn't think about hitting the enemy plane at all, but he didn't worry that the plane would drop a torpedo. That kind of little guy is almost tickling for a 27,500-ton battleship!

He now has two choices.

First, immediately campaign to the coast of Africa, give up intercepting the 31st Fleet and allowing them to enter the North Atlantic.

Second, intercept!

"Left rudder!"

The old fighter captain made a decision in an instant. He knew that Kafka's E fleet would definitely not die. It must be chasing in the back, and the U.S. A fleet may already be behind. Even if the 31 fleet has a speed of 30 knots in three hours, it can only pull about 30 nautical miles away, that is to say, As long as you can delay each other for an hour, they can't escape!

The sharply deflected bow deflected the hull of nearly 30,000 tons of steel beasts. Although it could only maintain a maximum speed of 16 knots, the distance of 28,000 meters still gave the Agincourt enough maneuver time.

At 4 p.m. sharp, when the Agincourt approached the distance to 23,000 meters, the 31st Fleet in Captain Nicholson's telescope suddenly turned right. From the sky, the Akincourt had formed a face-to-face posture with the other side.

At 4:10, Captain Nicholson gave the order to turn left and tried again to grab the T position to send back all the 14 guns, but at the same time, the 31st Fleet also turned left 90 degrees at the same time and continued to insert.

Seeing the other party's flexible speed and choice, Captain Nicholson couldn't help admiring the Chinese commander. Obviously, his first turn just now was just seducing himself, and now after he completed a 90-degree deflection, the bow turned to the north again.

25 minutes, when Nicholson was about to order another right turn, the opposite 31st Fleet suddenly deflected the bow about 30 degrees. When he was puzzled about this choice, he suddenly saw that the stern turrets of the two Guam-class battleships had been twisted after deflected from this angle.

"Damn it, they're going to fire!"

Captain Nicholson looked at the 31st Fleet 20,000 meters away, and his face was full of appall. Does the other side have a way to attack 20,000 meters away? Isn't he worried about the consumption of ammunition?

In fact, Li Xiuyan really doesn't worry about ammunition. Since his departure, he has only fired 8 armor-piercing shells from each gun, and there are as many as 900 bullets on each battleship. After entering the North Atlantic, he has decided to dodge with all his strength until he completes the final task and go home, so he can accept at least 30 rounds. The consumption of shooting.

30 rounds are enough to blow up any battleship, not to mention a big guy with a speed of only 16 knots and can't exert all his strength!

35 points, while the bow deflection was completed, Li Xiuyan boldly gave the order to slow down to 18 knots. Then he looked at his watch, picked up the phone and said to the gunner, "You have 30 minutes."

It is true that the E fleet led by Kafka is 40 nautical miles away, and the U.S. A fleet has also been close to 50 nautical miles west of the fleet. If the other party can't be killed in 30 minutes, it must speed up and escape.

In the sudden deceleration, the Tumenjiang radar has sent a calculated signal of the other party's angle, speed and distance. With the optical fire control system of the Guam class itself, the gun has completed the aiming.

With 40 points, the two Guam class made the first round of slam shots.

The fireball that suddenly exploded from the retina stunned Captain Nicholson. He didn't expect that his opponent would slow down and fire outside 20,000. It was not until the first round of shells fell dozens of seconds that he clearly remembered that the Agincourt had a fatal defect.

No fire control and optical rangefinder.

Britain has been initially equipped with an optical rangefinder and primary fire control, but the problem is that the special and awkward identity of the Agincourt made it intentionally or unintentionally neglected. At the busy moment when it had to upgrade the Grand Fleet first, the Akincourt did not be modified until it joined the E Fleet.

This also means that the Agincourt cannot carry out shelling beyond 12,000 meters. It does not mean that the range of the naval gun is not enough. Although the new 12-inch naval gun has many problems and defects in quality, it can still reach a range of 21,000 meters, but it lacks the cooperation of fire control and rangefinder. This distance is just a wave. It costs cannonballs.

But Captain Nicholson had no choice but to fire!

43 points, Agincourt also completed the bow deflection. After firing all the angles of the seven cannons, the seven turrets roared in turn.

In the bridge, the vibration caused by the turret that fired in sequence is enough to drive people crazy. The 27,500 tons of Ajinkur is constantly deflected by the rectic force. If the captain had not had enough experience, the second round of shelling angle would have been blocked.

The shells tore the air, roared, and roared towards the opponent 21,000 meters away, but both Captain Nicholson and the watchmen standing on the mast were extremely disappointed, because the shells were too outrageous!

But his opponent does not have such a problem. The rearing force of 9 380mm naval guns is only equal to 14 12-inch naval guns, but the displacement of the Guam class is much heavier. In addition, it slows down to 18 knots, so the 18 main guns can obtain a stable shelling platform.

380mm and 305mm armor-piercing shells are not the same level at all. In the counterattack, the Yanjing class exposed a reduced hit rate of 305mm armor-piercing bullets at a long distance. It must be narrowed to about 16,000 meters to obtain the weakness of stable ballistics. However, for 308mm shells, this distance of shells is It will not be affected by the wind speed.

More importantly, at this distance, the ammunition dropped by the shell is very steep, which avoids the most difficult waterline armor and can attack the thickest horizontal armor of the Agincourt, which is only 40 mm.

"Boom!"

49 points.

The first armor-piercing shell hit the bow of the Agincourt, and the almost vertical falling shell pierced a large hole in the bow, which immediately caused the bow to enter the water. At this time, no one expected that this armor-piercing bullet had set a record for the longest range of shelling, because at that time, the distance between the two ships was 20,000 meters!

"There's no big problem. The shell has passed through." Sean held up the phone and shouted at Nicholson, which made the officers in the command tower surprised the strength of the armor-piercing bullets and secretly lucky.

51 points, under the command of Captain Nicholson, Agincourt successfully approached the distance to 1,900 meters. At this time, the 14 naval guns finally looked like it. Although it had not hit it, it could at least hit a scary water column on the starboard side of the other side.

Just as Nicholson fantasized about relying on these water column positioning to make the naval gun more accurate, two 380mm armor-piercing bullets shattered his dream.

The first one hit the Agincourt, which directly destroyed the rear mast of the Agincourt. When the officers ventured to watch, the rear mast had collapsed and hit the rear chimney heavily.

And the second one passed directly from the front of the turret of the bow, which not only killed everyone inside, but also overturned the heavy turret on Monday and broke one of the barrel.

Although three main guns were lost, there was no problem with the crucial chimney, which made everyone breathe again, but the next round of shells completely cut off the possibility of the Agincourt to continue to maneuver.

The observer reported that this armor-piercing shell, which should have aimed at the position of the rear mast that emitted smoke after the collapse, plunged into the bottom of the mast almost at a vertical angle, and went all the way into the power compartment, smashing the only intact reciprocating steam engine.

The Ajincourt lost its navigation capability in an instant!

After receiving the report, Captain Nicholson's face turned pale. It was very simple. The battleship without power was just a target, and he couldn't even continue to close the distance.

The luxurious interior decoration has been shattered by violent vibration and explosion. The fire began to spread along the deck. The smoke made the sea blurred. At this time, even the tenacious sailors could not hold on, and no one wanted to stay in an iron coffin that could not sail.

Continuous explosions and flames let Captain Nicholson know that it is impossible to complete the task. Being hit by two shells at the same time shows that the other party has completed the aiming and positioning. There will definitely be more continuous shells falling later, so he made an extremely important decision, which can be said to be the decision. It saved the lives of a large number of sailors of the Agincourt.

Abandoned ship!

No matter when and where, abandoning the ship is a shame for the captains. Even after Nicholson gave the order, he lowered his head and said nothing.

But no one blamed him, because his order was too timely!

At 4:55, when the first sailors had put down the lifeboat and left, the Agincourt was hit by four shells again, which had become a sea of fire. When Captain Nicholson boarded the lifeboat, the fatal blow was finally completed.

This armor-piercing shell penetrated the thin 3-inch top armor of the turret in the middle Thursday, and went all the way down into the ammunition depot. The violent explosion instantly submerged the hull of the ship. Because the three turrets were too close, the explosion spread to the ammunition depot of the two main guns next to it.

No warship can block the power of nearly 260 shells exploding at the same time. The strong explosion almost instantly tore the hull that Captain Nicholson thought was good into two after making a sour sound. However, beyond everyone's expectation, the broken hull was immediately gone. There was an overturn, but it continued to float tenaciously on the sea.

It is not a very high hit rate. At a distance of about 20,000 meters, it took only 15 minutes for the two Guam-class to destroy the world-famous 7-turret monster, which once again confirmed the cost of heavy firepower and light protection.

Perhaps Brazil and Osman are the happiest at this time, because they have successfully escaped the consequences of getting a useless warship.

Looking at the two smoking hulls, Li Xiuyan did not order to approach and continue shooting, or even let the light patrol launch a torpedo to destroy it. Instead, he immediately adjusted the course to continue to the north and accelerated to 28 knots (the Dongting Lake can also maintain this speed for a period of time when there was no load). As night fell, when Kafka was in After arriving at the scene and seeing this tragedy, the whole person seemed to be much older.

He knew that the Agincourt could not stop the enemy, but he didn't expect to be completely destroyed without even 30 minutes. At this time, he was even a little lucky that if he hadn't been afraid of damage in the Atlantic, the two Guam class would have been enough to attack his E fleet!

At 5:50, while Captain Kafka ordered to save people, he sent the news to the country that the 31st Fleet broke through and intercepted and entered the North Atlantic. At the same time, Li Xiuyan also reported his actions to the country for the first time with a long-wave radio.

The most incredible thing is that when the Nicholson returned to the Irish, the two hulls of the Agincourt were still floating on the sea and burning.

After Li Mo in Chengdu received the telegram from the 31st Fleet, he said something that no one understood.

"The sacred object has been destroyed, sin!"

(to be continued)