Chapter 627 Unparalleled Night Battle 9

15 minutes, sinking or heavy hitting two battleships, is it possible?

In fact, everyone is not sure, because 15 minutes is only from the beginning to the end, of which it still needs to be pulled closer to 8,000 meters to the target, which takes another 6 minutes. This is still because the start-up speed of the solitary level is too slow and the maximum speed is insufficient. No one dares to guarantee 6 minutes from 1000 when changing a light patrol. 0 Mira caught up with the enemy.

That is to say, the artillery battle can only last for 9 minutes, and whether it can be hit hard or not, you must turn around to chase the first target.

At 3:35, after Li Xiuyan gave the order to stop firing and close the distance at full speed, the two Guam-class ships disappeared from the rainstorm and night like the Japanese ninjas hidden in the dark in the movie. There were neither cannons nor flames, and even the rumbling engine sound was covered by the wind.

In order to find out the opponent's intentions, Seymour ordered three fast W-class destroyers to rush over and have a look, but they were stopped by two Yangtze-class light cruisers rushing out of the miters in the middle of the car. Although the Yangtze River class later dismantled all the original six single 76mm guns, the one-sided still has 1 Two 152mm main guns, four 130mm secondary guns and four quadruple 37mm rapid-fire guns.

Especially the latter. When many people see its air-to-air capability, they ignore its ability to deal with small water targets. The W-class destroyer is only 1,500 tons. After filling the boiler and installing five steam turbines, it is impossible to have armor. At a distance of 5,000 meters, the 37mm cannon is almost the same as Like Death, the fire of 16 rapid-fire guns spread from the bow to the stern. Although it was not enough to sink the other party, it almost killed everyone on the deck.

The light cruiser is not a battleship, and it must maintain its own high-speed maneuver when dealing with the target. Therefore, after the last W-class destroyer reluctantly hit a torpedo, Lancangjiang and Lijiang have left their positions and circled to protect the right side of the battleship.

3:40!

"Light patrol is in place!"

"Guns, calculate the distance."

"The No. 1 gun group is ready to go."

"No. 2."

In the shouting of the captain of the sea, everyone in the conning tower held their breath. Li Zhen stood at the window and watched the six main guns moving up and down. He had an indescribable feeling in his heart, because it means that the shell will rush out of the barrel the next minute. After pre-filling a bullet to be fired, it can only be fired as soon as possible in 9 minutes. 10 rounds!

Boom.

A column of water and fire rose from a distance, and when it was about to close to 9,000 meters, the two Lone-class battleships had seen themselves. 20 L45/305mm heavy guns and 22 L55/138mm secondary guns joined the shelling.

A 305mm shell landed on the main armored belt on the side of Guam. The shell was almost straight at this distance. Li Zhen couldn't help but be shocked by the violent flash and explosion. He turned his head and saw that Li Xiuyan was still as steady as a mountain.

While secretly admiring it, Li Zhen also understood that the 8,000-meter distance was not set casually.

When chatting with himself, my father said countless times that the real strength of the Guam class is far from being exerted. It's not that the soldiers don't know the surname of the Guam-class battleships, but that they don't have a chance to play at all.

When going to the Atlantic Ocean, the 31st Fleet was cautious and worried all the way. When it encountered enemy ships, they basically opened fire at a long distance, trying not to hurt themselves to avoid losing the vital speed and falling into the dilemma of being surrounded.

The 12 fleet also invested two Guam-class ships in the Battle of the Gulf of Panama, but finally made wedding clothes for the dragon wings, only providing long-range fire support. Although it also sank two old-fashioned battleships, the main achievement was to slow down the escape speed of the other side.

And now, it's time for the Guam-level war!

The main armor belt with 350mm tilt arrangement is basically prepared for the 406mm heavy gun that began testing. According to the new VH hardened armored steel strength experimental report of the equipment department, Xinhua's own 305mm/L50 naval gun and armor-piercing shell must be pulled close to 6,000 meters to have a chance to penetrate. The main armor, obviously, the French naval gun doesn't have that strength.

More importantly, under five-level sea conditions at night, the optical rangefinder must also be close to 8,000 meters away to truly play, so Li Xiuyan set this distance and number.

"8000 meters!"

While the captain reported the numbers, the 18 L47/380mm heavy guns, which had been silent for six minutes, roared at the same time in a harsh electric current. A few seconds later, the two solitary-class battleships with dozens of cannons flashing on the side of the side suddenly exploded two violent fires.

Hit in the first round!

This is not a miracle, but the result of years of hard work and new fire control, as well as the multiple effects of the naval gun follow-up system. Although the sea conditions are very poor, after the technology offsets some adverse factors, this experienced veteran gunner can even hit a hit rate of 50 percentage!

3:43 a.m.

The flames of the two shells hit in the first round have not been completely dispersed. When the second round of volleys rose again, the third round was hit on time. It was also from this volley that the unparalleled tyranny of the Guam-class battleships was completely released.

Three of the nine armor-piercing bullets launched by Medan hit the No. 2 Jean Bar. The thickest part of the typical heavy firepower light armored Lone-class battleship's side armored shell is only 262 mm. This thickness can't block such a close-range 850 kg armor-piercing bullet.

The first armor-piercing shell hit the thickest part of the side. After easily tearing off the 262mm carburizing armor, it broke through the 76mm protective armor wrapped outside the boiler chamber again. After tearing up the four boilers, it pierced the 57mm rear armor plate in the middle of the two boiler chambers again in the hissing steam. And there was an explosion in the second boiler compartment.

The shrapnel swept everything under the expanded air mass of explosives. In the blink of an eye, the four boilers here were also completely smashed. The steam with a temperature of several hundred degrees roared out from everywhere, scalding dozens of sailors in the boiler chamber and nearby cabins into pigs on the spot.

After the second armor-piercing bullet smashed through the rear bridge and swept through and killed everyone, it actually penetrated here and exploded in the sea behind the Jean Bar.

As for the third one, it was even more serious. It directly penetrated the No. 5 turret of the hull and passed through the turret well with a total thickness of 320 mm. It entered the back of the electric chamber and exploded. A large amount of rubber and wood were burned in the explosion. This serious injury cost Barr half of its power, that is to say, Its two rear main turrets can no longer rotate, and even the ammunition cannot be raised.

Coupled with the loss of the No. 5 turret, Barr lost half of the power and naval gun in this volley. If it could not turn around and the No. 6 turret on the other side could not be used, it was equivalent to a loss of four-sixths.

But the three armor-piercing bullets of the Medan are not the thickest. The Guam hit four. Although three of them hit the secondary parts without causing much damage, the second one is simply a miracle!

Because after penetrating the 300mm armor on the front of the Gouba 4 turret, it went all the way down, along the turret well deck, and penetrated five layers of armor with a total of 250mm in a row before it exploded next to the steam engine.

So much so that after the war, the Guba was salvaged. After discovering the penetrating trace of this shell, everyone felt incredible, because it actually penetrated a total of 550 mm of armor. The most surprising thing was that the ballistic path was only 150 mm closest to the ammunition compartment!

The third round alone caused such damage, which was not expected by Xinhua admirals, including Li Xiuyan. However, after Li Mo got the news, he did not feel too strange. Super fearless and fearless are two different things. There is a gap of 20,000 tons in tonnage, which is as if you are driving Bismarck PK in the game. Fear is a bully at all!

Although the Guam class has not yet reached Bismarck's standard, it can be at least 70% powerful. In contrast, France was already caught off guard after the world entered the new battleship era. The Lonely Class just imitated the China and added a turret. Armor and protection have never been France's strengths. The Crown Prince was killed by one shot. The first update shows France's embarrassment in this regard. Due to the lack of technical reserves, the internal armor and structure of the Guba-class battleship still retain the shadow of the old Dandong-class battleship, which is completely a two-level confrontation.

Every flash in the distance made the two solitary-class battleships tremble all over. After violent collisions again and again, it exploded, resulting in countless holes of different sizes on the ship. Originally, Seamore and Bernice were relieved to see each other's attention on themselves, because it represented the two vital large and light. Cruisers can take the opportunity to escape, which means that the fleet can also ensure mobility, but when the opponent opened fire with all their strength, they knew that Xinhua's naval gun level had reached such a level, and they began to worry about themselves.

"Boom." After the Lonely shot again, the hull seemed to be hit a few times by something. In the flames, Seymour clearly saw that a black spot drilled in from the junction between the No. 2 turret and the bridge, and despair suddenly surged on his face.

The fire litan rose from under the bridge. In the vibration of the explosion, Seymour and Bernice only felt that the whole person had been thrown into the sky, and then their heads hit something hard and suddenly fell on the deck. When a trace of sweetness fell into the corners of their mouths, the world in front of them immediately entered darkness.

The naval gun was still roaring desperately. The two gunners on the Guam class knew that their time was very short, so they tried their best to aim at the other party and fire. They kept calling for the gods and Buddhas in the bottom of their hearts, blessing that every shell out of the bore could be hit, and then smashed the other party.

The ninth round is also the deadliest round.

First, the Bar was hit by an armor-piercing shell and hit the gas tank used to store the traffic boat (at that time, the traffic boat used a gas engine). The power of the gas explosion was not less than that of the explosive. In an instant, everyone swallowed half of the deck and the explosion opened the nearby waterproof seal door. A large amount of seawater began to enter the center of the hull, and eventually turned into torrents and devoured most of the warships.

Thousands of tons of seawater were poured back, and even the Guam class did not have such a strong reserve buoyancy, so the Bar immediately leaned to the left, and the 22,189 tons of hull slowly flipped until the huge bottom of the ship was exposed.

The Gop also came to an end. Although the Guam was not very lucky, the more than 20 shells that hit the other party did not hit the key parts except for the one that caused damage to the bridge. If it were changed to the regular combat distance, it would be extremely unlucky.

But the problem is that it's only 7,200 meters now!

Five of the nine armor-piercing bullets were directly hit, and a series of large holes were immediately made in the sideboard of the Lonely. Two of them penetrated the front of the No. 1 and No. 3 shells respectively, and overturned these two turrets. As for the remaining three, they all hit the waterline and mixed into the hull that had long been filled with rows of holes.

When the tenth round of shells finally flew out of the barrel, Li Xiuyan, without waiting for the results to come out, immediately ordered to stop all shelling and chased after two large heavy artillery light cruisers.

In the sea of fire outside the porthole, the Fallen Bar is doomed to sink. Only the lone horn like a tumbler is still tenaciously persisting. This situation makes Li Zhen a little dumbfounded. 10 rounds of shelling, 90 850 kg armor-piercing shells, and the hit also reached 41, but the other party has not been put down. This has It can't be explained by technology. It should be said that God has defeated the Bodhisattva tonight.

However, Li Zhenhe is not clear to everyone. In fact, the Lonely number is over. An armor-piercing bullet in the ninth round rushed into the gap torn by the front shell like a long eye. The shell swept all the way, hit the steel plate and changed its direction, and then continued to break through, changing direction constantly tearing, and finally fell into the bottom cabin. The explosion not only tore up the steel plate of the bottom of the ship, but also tore up a large number of cabins all the way, resulting in the sealing hatch almost completely as a decoration. The reason why it was still kept on the water was that the water injection was balanced at that moment, and finally it did not turn over immediately.

Later, the battleship lasted for three hours on the sea before it finally overturned. However, surprisingly, it was not until the 31st Fleet came back the next day that it could see a little sunken Koba. Finally, it sank on the edge of the 160-meter-deep shallow reef area, and was finally salvaged and dismantled ten years later. .

The only pity is that Seymour escaped to heaven again, because he was eager to chase two brave-class large light cruisers, and the speed advantage of the Yangtze River class was more obvious. He still needed them when he encountered small warships along the way, so Li Xiuyan did not let the light patrol stay and clean the battlefield. In addition, the Goba did not turn over immediately and abandoned the ship's water. The soldier had time to search the tattered bridge and found Seymour and three injured officers, while Lieutenant General Bernice, who was talking about God on his side, was killed by the falling steel plate.

Although Seymour escaped from Xinhua's muzzle and returned to Australia again, he was seriously injured in the brain and did not get better until three months later after Xinhua opened the battle of Australia, but it was too late at that time.

And the sailors who fell into the water from the two battleships and those warships just now were not so lucky. Although the remaining cruiser Liverpool tried their best to search and rescue, there were still a total of 4,175 sailors in the storm on the two battleships, one warcruiser and one in Tennessee, and several light cruisers and destroyers. Disappear -

"Do you have the distance?" After withdrawing his eyes from the fire that disappeared outside the porthole, Li Xiuyan immediately asked.

"The radarman said that it is about 28,000 meters, and the speed is maintained at 28 knots."

After getting the report, he went to the chart to calculate.

At this time, the speed of the Guam level has reached 30 knots. Because of the southeast wind, the speed can be increased by driving along the wind and waves, and the opponent has also reached 28 knots, so everyone is equal. This distance has entered the range, but Li Xiuyan did not choose to fire, because the accuracy of this distance is too poor, but the 2 knots are excellent. The momentum is not too big, about 3,640 meters per hour, and it takes an hour to chase to fully enter a better range.

There are still 45 nautical miles to reach Nouméa from here, that is to say, in an hour, the two brave light cruisers will travel to the area 35,000 meters away from the seaport. At this time, I believe that the garrison has received the news, so I can get 20 minutes in an hour, if I can't kill it in 20 minutes. On the other side, they can enter the shore gun protection range.

It only takes 9 minutes to hit the two battleships, but they can't be used on the two light patrols. The heavy blow is within 8,000 meters, and within 20 minutes after an hour, you must complete the attack at a distance of 24,000 meters, which is less than 3% of the accuracy of the ship's gun, that is to say. In terms of 20 rounds, you can hit the opponent with 5.4 shells.

According to the preliminary data sent by the military headquarters, there are actually a lot of 5.4 pieces. Li Xiuyan even believes that only one can hit it hard, but the problem is that the current sea conditions are very poor and he can't gamble.

He does not regret his decision to kill two battleships first. Although this kind of heavy artillery light cruiser has a great speed advantage, it is not enough for Xinhua compared with other countries. With its fragile defense, as long as it risks its life, a few light cruisers and destroyers can eat it. On the contrary, the battleship threat is still It's very big. Although the speed is slower, there is no doubt about its survivability. With the Guam-level strength, there is still no way to quickly sink the old people within 8,000 meters.

Seeing that the Marines will begin to attack the Solomon Islands in a few days, if they run to the Marine Corps activity area, it will cause a lot of trouble to the cover navy light troops, so it is necessary to kill them.

What we need to do now is to buy more time to avoid being in a hurry.

"Where are the Tumen River and Usuri River?"

"About 23,000 meters south of our bow, three Tennessees are being pursued to keep in balance with these two Braves." The captain squinted with two parallel arrows to Nouméa on the chart and said, "According to the radar data, the distance between them is about 12,000 meters. If we let the Tumen River and Usuri River plug in, it will take only 20 minutes to force them to turn.

"But in this way, the three Tennessees will give up." The staff slyed, as if they were a little reluctant to let go of the three 14,500-ton large armored cruisers.

His words attracted a lot of laughter in the bridge. In fact, there are two Lonely-class battleships and Australia at the bottom. The 31st Fleet has made great contributions this time, but who doesn't want to be more perfect?

"Notify Tumenjiang and Usurijiang, give up the original target and diagonally insert into the left wing of the two brave-class large light cruisers, forcing them to move to the right and delay their arrival in Nouméa as much as possible. Lijiang and Lancangjiang immediately set out to replace the pursuit of the three Tennessees. At their speed, an hour is enough. I caught up and entered the shelling distance.

After saying that, Li Xiuyan threw down his pen, pinched his eyebrows, and suddenly turned his head and asked with a smile, "Who wants coffee?" We may not be able to sleep until tomorrow night.

"Ha ha."

Everyone hasn't answered yet. The correspondent has come over with a telegram: "Sir, I have received a telegram from General Xiao of the 12th Fleet. They are in the north, 20 nautical miles away from us. In addition, he has another sentence for me to bring to you."

"What do you mean? Read it." Li Xiuyan waved his hand and looked down at the chart. He didn't see that the communication officer had held the corners of his mouth.

"General Xiao asked me to tell the officer." The correspondent licked the corners of his mouth and suddenly raised his voice in everyone's expectation.

"Little rabbit, remember to respect the old and love the young, and leave a mouthful of soup!"

(to be continued)