The Rise of the Third Reich

"Commander, the enemy seems to have disbanded their formation and is retreating."

When the two columns of the first advance team of the Allied Combined Fleet were preparing to turn to the right, an unknown number of flares suddenly fell in the sky, illuminating the sea palely. Then the radar officer on the heavy cruiser USS Chester A new discovery was made.

The Germans' twenty or thirty torpedo ships broke up the formation, turned around and fled.

How is this going? Did the Germans feel they couldn't defeat them, so they chose to escape shamefully?

Major General Wright and Colonel Cohen were confused by the strange behavior of the German torpedo ship, and for a while they did not know what order to give. So the two columns of the first advance team continued to move forward along the original route in a confused manner, and ended up running into the torpedo net composed of "two golden combs".

"boom……"

Suddenly, the heavy cruiser USS Chester seemed to be suddenly hit by some underwater monster. As a burst of fire and a huge water jet rose from the middle of the port side of the ship, the hull also jumped amidst a loud noise. The people staying in the bridge seemed to have encountered an earthquake of magnitude 8. No one could stand firm and they all fell to the floor.

The back of Major General Wright's head hit the floor hard. After a sharp pain, stars appeared in front of his eyes. Before he could stand up, he subconsciously asked: "What's going on?"

"Mine! There was a mine on the port side!"

I don't know who answered loudly.

"Damn!" Rear Admiral Wright struggled to get up and found that the ground under his feet was tilting to the left, which meant that the port side was flooded and the ship was losing balance. He quickly grabbed the handrail beside him.

"Inject water to the starboard side!" At this time, Major General Wright heard Colonel Cohen, the captain of the Chester, yelling, "Damage control, I am the captain, find the damage immediately..."

"boom!"

Before Captain Cohen could finish speaking, the port side of the heavy cruiser USS Chester was hit by something unknown again. Just like before, there was a loud noise and the hull shook suddenly.

Now everyone on the bridge knew that they were under a torpedo attack!

Rear Admiral Wright thought that the team had been attacked by a submarine. He was about to order an anti-submarine attack when he suddenly heard someone shouting: "Oh God! The Louisville is on fire and is still tilting to the left. Oh my god, it is going to capsize! It is going to capsize soon..." …”

"The Augusta is on fire too... Oh my god, it exploded again, we're going to lose the heavy cruiser!"

"Atlanta! Atlanta was also attacked! We must have encountered a wolf pack..."

When Major General Wright heard these shouts, he rushed to the platform outside the command tower and looked around, and then saw a scene that he would never forget.

The originally dark sea was now filled with burning metal hulls, and from time to time there were exploding fireballs rising up!

Several ships have capsized severely to one side, and a few others have their bows or sterns raised high, out of the water!

Rear Admiral Wright also saw a broken hull that was probably the flat-deck destroyer USS Boggs, which was sinking rapidly!

In the blink of an eye, his first advance fleet had been severely damaged, and he, the commander, still didn't know what happened?

"Commander! We are under torpedo attack! A very violent torpedo attack!" came the urgent voice of Colonel Cohen, the captain of the Chester. The colonel had just had a phone call with the damage control captain of the Chester. , got very terrible news.

"The Chester was hit by a torpedo each in the middle and stern of the ship, breaking two large holes. The torpedo that hit the stern of the ship also directly penetrated the power compartment. Now hundreds of tons of sea water are pouring in. It can't be blocked at all! The power cabin will be flooded soon, and we are going to lose power. Commander, we are going to lose the Chester..."

It lost power and had two large holes opened by torpedoes... Let alone a treaty ship like the Chester, even if it was replaced by a battleship, it would be dead.

"Commander, please change the flagship." Captain Cohen finally sighed and made a suggestion to change the flagship.

"Then...okay." Major General Wright also sighed - what a miserable life, he suffered heavy losses out of nowhere! I don't know how I will be criticized when I get back, and I might be kicked to the reserve force.

"Are those ships intact now?" Rear Admiral Wright asked in a low voice.

"Commander, there are still two heavy cruisers and three destroyers intact." Captain Cohen reported, "The intact heavy cruisers are the Red Caucasus and the Kirov..."

Rear Admiral Wright was stunned, "Are they two Soviet heavy cruisers?"

…

"Comrade Political Commissar, Comrade Commander, Comrade Wright, Commander of the 1st Advance Team, reported that the team suddenly encountered a torpedo attack, the heavy cruiser Louisville and the heavy cruiser Augusta sank, and the USS Boggs, USS Greer and Three destroyers of the USS Lee were sunk, the heavy cruiser USS Chester was severely damaged and is likely to be sunk, the heavy cruiser USS San Francisco and the light cruiser USS Atlanta were damaged... Now Commander Comrade Wright has transferred to the heavy cruiser USS Caucasus, Efforts are being made to organize rescue efforts.”

120 T-93 Lance torpedoes sank 3 heavy cruisers and 3 destroyers, and one heavy cruiser was probably not saved. There was also 1 heavy cruiser and 10,000-ton light cruiser... This record is incredible. Not too good, not too bad. But it was enough to shock the generals and political commissars of the three countries, the United Kingdom, the United States and the Soviet Union in the bridge of the Soviet Union.

The battle has just begun, and the losses have been so heavy. It seems that today's battle will not be easy.

After listening to the tragic experience of the 1st advance team reported by a Red Navy staff officer, Bulganin suddenly thought of the chaplains arranged by the "American political commissar" McCarthy on Soviet ships - these chaplains can really come in handy now. It seems that McCarthy was also a prescient anti-German activist. In addition, the Red Caucasus and the Kirov were lucky enough to be intact - this is related to the order of arrangement. The German torpedoes added a little more advance time when launching torpedoes, so the hits were all in the queue. The forward ship.

"What's going on? What happened to the 1st advance fleet? Is it a German submarine?" As soon as the staff report ended, Bulganin asked questions like a barrage of questions.

"It should be a spear torpedo!" Vice Admiral Fraser of the British Navy replied through gritted teeth. "The Japanese torpedoes have a very long range, perhaps more than 20,000 meters... The Germans must have introduced this kind of torpedo."

(The previous article is incorrect. Chapter 617 already mentioned that the British army encountered spear torpedoes)

"Comrade Commander," Bulganin turned to look at General Ingersoll with a gloomy face, "Do you want to continue?"

"Of course!" Ingersoll took a breath, "The advantage of the battleship is on our side. We can fight it. Just be careful not to let the enemy get closer than 25,000 yards."

The "safe distance" is now 25,000 yards away!

"That far away? Can you hit it?"

"Yes!" Ingersoll replied, "We have very good radar, and we have 54 406mm main guns, and the enemy only has 16, so long-distance firefights are more beneficial to us!"

…

"Your Majesty Marshal, the T-93 torpedo attack was successful. Four enemy heavy cruisers and three light ships were sunk! What a complete victory!" Lieutenant General Messer, Chief of Staff of the European Combined Fleet, told Commander Lutyan Marshal Si reported.

"Well done!" Marshal Lütjens smiled, "But the battle has just begun, and it is a little early to say that we have won a complete victory. By the way, have the order of the battle and shelling been decided?"

"Okay, the 1st battle team will deal with the enemy's main force, the 2nd battle force will deal with the enemy's battle patrol detachment, the 3rd battle force will outflank the enemy's main force, the heavy patrol force will fight against the enemy's heavy patrol detachment, and there will be 4 driving patrols. "The detachment is responsible for covering four battle groups," Lieutenant General Messer replied, "In addition, the bombardment sequence of the first battle group is as follows. Admiral Hipper, Ludendorff, and Hindenburg focus their firepower on the first South Dakota." "The four Veneto-class ships concentrated their firepower on the second South Dakota-class ship."

"Okay!" Marshal Lütjens nodded with satisfaction. Lieutenant General Messer had exactly the same idea as him and concentrated his firepower on the two American South Dakota-class ships.

Because the four Soviet-class ships had just replaced American radars and fire control, it was impossible for Soviet officers and soldiers to master them immediately. Therefore, the two American battleships must be responsible for unified observation.

Moreover, the European combined fleets that have fought against the South Dakota class also know that the American 406mm main gun is amazingly powerful. In comparison, the German 406mm cannon used by the Soviet class is quite ordinary.

Therefore, the threat of 2 South Dakota-class ships is much greater than that of 4 Soviet-class ships! As long as they are sunk first or severely damaged, the four Soviet-class ships are not a concern. Without American battleships to take aim, their 406mm cannons cannot hit the target at all.

At the same time, on the battleship Soviet Union, which would not be beaten first, Admiral Ingersoll had also formulated the order of engagement and bombardment.

Now he has 3 available battle groups (including the 2nd advance team). Although he has lost a few heavy cruisers, his strength is still far beyond that - at least that's what he thinks.

But now he also encountered a problem, that is, the seaplane detected four enemy battle groups, all advancing hand in hand, and there were He-219 long-range night combat fighters flying from Ireland to cover the sky. There was no way a seaplane could get close enough to drop a flare.

So he couldn't determine where the enemy's main force was? But he also has a way to deal with it, which is to simply not be sure.

Admiral Ingersoll said: "We can do this. The 2nd advance team is in the front, the 1st team is in the middle, and the 2nd team is in the back... to form a long column, and at the same time, 4 patrol teams are responsible for covering. Wait until After we engage the enemy, we will decide the order of engagement."

After such a change of formation, four European fleets marching hand in hand appeared on the sea against an Allied fleet. The situation was somewhat similar to the Battle of Jutland more than 20 years ago.