The Rise of the Third Reich

"Comrade Commander, Comrade Political Commissar, the USS Massachusetts reports that it has discovered a new enemy ship formation, more than 10 in number, 42,000 yards away, 7 of which are large ships!"

At 10:10 pm, the communications officer on the Soviet Union loudly reported the news from the battleship Massachusetts - another battleship formation of the European Combined Fleet appeared on the radar screen!

Admiral Ingersoll and Lieutenant General Fraser looked at each other, and both of them saw a bit of solemnity in each other's eyes.

7 plus 7 is 14! If they were all battleships or battlecruisers, it would still be quite difficult to deal with!

"Comrade Commander, Comrade Political Commissar, the USS Massachusetts's radar has detected another formation... also seven large ships!" Just 2 minutes later, another message came.

Another 7 battleships/battlecruisers? That's 21 ships... What's going on?

Could it be that the French and Italian battleships are also here? This is a bit troublesome.

Although the combat power of Italy's Cavour-class and Tuilio-class and France's Guba-class and Provence-class cannot be compared with the new battleships, they are better than nothing, right? Now Admiral Ingersoll already regrets sending 12 old battleships to protect the NR21 fleet.

The atmosphere in the Soviet command tower became even more tense. But no one spoke. Bulganin and Kuznetsov glanced back and forth, while Ingersoll and Frazier kept exchanging glances. If a disaster really came, should they leave their friends behind and go on their own? What about running?

Before the eyes on this side were correct, the reporting voice sounded again: "Comrade Commander, Comrade Political Commissar, the Duke of York's radar has made another discovery... There are still 7 large ships, followed by 21 other large ships. Behind the ship!"

28 ships! ?

Is this too much? Could it be that the Japanese battleships also came to the Atlantic Ocean? This is how to do ah? Comrade Bulganin's face was ashen and he looked at Ingersoll solemnly.

"It should be... it should be that the enemy mixed heavy cruisers and battleships." Admiral Ingersoll guessed correctly this time.

"Comrade Commander, what should we do?" Bulganin asked.

"Fight!" Ingersoll replied without hesitation. "Even if the enemy has more battleships/battlecruisers, we will definitely win! Because the outcome of a fleet battle is never determined by quantity. In terms of the quality of the battleships, we have an absolute advantage!"

At 10:20 pm, the Allied Combined Fleet Command made the final decision to engage. Originally traveling at a speed of 20 knots on the sea, the huge ship formation following the European Combined Fleet's ship formation (the distance between the two was 40,000 to 42,000 yards, or 36.7-38.4 kilometers) began to speed up in order to close the distance with the enemy formation.

At this time, the situation on the sea has changed a lot compared to before the main dual-engine formation encountered it.

The first is that the course of both sides has changed. Because Admiral Lütjens ordered his heavy patrol formation to turn north at 9:30, and the Allied Combined Fleet subsequently adopted the following tactics. The course of both sides therefore changed to sail north.

Secondly, the formations of both sides have also changed. The battleships of the Allied Combined Fleet were originally arranged in a long column, like a giant dragon swimming on the sea. But after discovering 7 enemy "battleships", the dragon's head (the 2nd advance team) separated from its body, and accelerated to the front of the 7 "battleships" to search for T-93 torpedoes. The lightning struck the ship.

Therefore, the number of ships in the battleship formation of the Allied Combined Fleet (excluding light cruisers and destroyers on guard around the perimeter) became 11 battleships/battlecruisers - in order, the USS Massachusetts, USS Alabama, USS Soviet, and USS Soviet Ukraine, Soviet Byelorussia, Soviet Russia, Duke of York, Anson, Howe, Kronstadt and Sevastopol.

At about 10:10, the two Soviet heavy cruisers Red Caucasus and Kirov, which had salvaged the fallen American naval officers and soldiers, also arrived on the battlefield. The two ships followed the 11 battleships/battlecruisers together, so A large formation of 13 battleships (heavy cruisers are also battleships) was formed. Surrounding this large formation, there are twenty or thirty light cruisers and destroyers responsible for covering and guarding.

In addition, there are 3 American hospital ships, 2 American seaplane carriers, 3 light cruisers, and a dozen destroyers hanging around the battlefield.

The main fleet shape of the European Combined Fleet has also changed, from four columns to one extra-long column, with 28 battleships (including battleships, battlecruisers and heavy cruisers) lined up in a long row. There were also twenty or thirty covering destroyers and light cruisers around.

Several hospital ships and seaplane carriers of the European Combined Fleet were also hiding on the outside of the battlefield under the protection of light cruisers and destroyers.

In addition, the 30 torpedo boats (torpedo boats) that previously attacked the 1st advance team of the Allied Combined Fleet did not return home. Instead, they went to find a torpedo supply ship (actually a cargo ship equipped with a boom) to install T-93 torpedoes. According to the plan, they were ready to look for opportunities to launch another attack!

…

"Boom boom boom..."

At about 10:40 p.m., at a distance of 35,000 yards (about 32,000 meters), relying on the command of the fire control radar, the battleship USS Massachusetts fired the first salvo at the heavy cruiser USS Lützow, which was mistaken for a Bismarck-class battleship. !

"Your Excellency, Marshal, the Lützow reported that the shell fired by the enemy ship landed more than 80 meters away on the starboard side!"

Hindenburg's communications officer quickly informed Admiral Lütjens of the heavy cruiser Lützow's report.

"Marshal, the one who fired should be the South Dakota class. It fired very accurately, which shows that its fire control radar is very good." Lieutenant General Messer said with a frown.

"Better than ours!" Marshal Lütjens shook his head slightly, then turned back to ask the radar officer and gunnery officer of the Hindenburg, "Has the distance been measured?"

"Marshal Your Excellency, the distance is too far. It should be possible to detect it within 30,000 meters..."

Although the fire control radar currently used by the German Navy is better than in history, it is still not as good as the equipment used by the United Kingdom and the United States. 32,000 meters is a bit far for the Germans.

"Where is the seaplane?" asked Admiral Lütjens.

"There are 2 Bv-138Cs, 2 He-115s over the enemy formation and 4 Ar-196Ds." Lieutenant General Messer replied.

"Your Excellency Marshal, the enemy ejected the seaplane... Boom boom boom!"

As soon as the radar officer finished speaking, another volley of cannon fire came. This time it was the battleship Ludendorff that was bombarded.

"12 muzzle flashes! It's a King George V class!" Rear Admiral Brinkmann, the captain of the Hindenburg, shouted loudly.

"It must have found the biggest target on the radar screen to attack." Lieutenant General Messer said with a smile, "But it will be unlucky."

Because now the two large formations of the European Combined Fleet and the Allied Combined Fleet are moving forward in parallel. Since the European Combined Fleet has 28 ships, the opponent's Allied Combined Fleet only has 13 ships. Therefore, the formation of the European Combined Fleet is much longer than that of its opponents, and now parallel to the first team of the European Combined Fleet is the second team of the Allied Combined Fleet - three King George V-class ships and two Kronsch The tower is graded.

"Order the heavy patrol team not to fire and keep a distance of more than 30,000 meters from the opponent." Marshal Lütjens ordered, "The 1st team and the 3rd team turn left 10 degrees and approach at full speed... Give way after 10 minutes Seaplanes dropped flares.”

The heavy cruiser group has obviously been mistaken for a battleship formation, so it's best to just take a beating without fighting back - otherwise it will be revealed when you open fire!

As for the remaining three teams in Lütjens' hands, they rushed towards the opponent's second team at full speed.

"Open fire within 25,000 meters. The 1st battle group concentrates its fire to attack the King George V-class ship that just fired." Marshal Lütjens continued to issue the order. "

The second team kept up with the heavy patrol team and was ready to cover the retreat of the heavy patrol team at any time.

Team 3 follows Team 1 and prepares to launch missiles. "

A few minutes after Admiral Lütjens issued the order, the European fleet formation on the sea changed from one row to two rows. One row continued to be parallel to the opponent, and the other row was closing the distance with the opponent at full speed.

This change was quickly detected by the radar on the Soviet Union.

"The enemy may want to launch remote-controlled missiles when they approach us!" Admiral Ingersoll made a judgment, and then he said to Bulganin, "We can ask the second team to turn left and see if we can draw them away. The 1st team turned 10 degrees to the right to close the distance with the enemy's 1st team (actually the heavy patrol team and the 2nd team)."

Bulganin looked at Kuznetsov, who looked very good, and saw that the other party did not express any objection, so he agreed to the American arrangement.

Then the situation on the battlefield began to change again, turning into two battle groups fighting each other.

At 10:48 pm, three American Kingfisher seaplanes flew over the heavy cruiser Lützow and began to take turns dropping flares. With the light of the flares, the optical fire control instrument on the battleship Massachusetts could finally perform ballistic correction.

But at the same time, an observer on a Kingfisher aircraft also discovered that the enemy ship being attacked on the water was not a battleship, but a heavy cruiser of much smaller tonnage.

"What? Is it an Admiral Hipper-class ship?" Admiral Ingersoll realized that he had made a mistake and frowned. "Then what are the ships following it?"

"I don't know yet." Lieutenant General Fraser shook his head.

"Hurry and find out!"

After Lieutenant General Fraser immediately assigned the task, he said to Ingersoll: "Admiral, do you want to continue attacking the heavy cruiser? We have locked it!"

"Continue..." Ingersoll hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth, "Attack! Sink it first!"