The Rise of the Third Reich

A decisive battle between two equally matched battleship formations is a bit like two warriors wearing armor and holding shields, hitting each other with hammers.

It depends on whose hammer is heavier and whose armor and shield are stronger.

Now the "hammer" in the hands of Marshal Lütjens is heavy enough, and there are many of them! Under his command were 2 Hindenburg-class, 1 Bismarck-class, 1 Barbarossa-class, 4 Veneto-class and 2 Richelieu-class, a total of 10 battleships, with 1 cannon and 381mm) cannon. The firepower far exceeds the opponent's 54 406mm cannons - for the protection level of the battleships of both sides, the difference between the 4381mm) cannons is actually not very big.

In terms of protection, the side waterline armor of the battleship Ludendorff, which is being beaten, is similar to that of the two South Dakota-class ships, but the Ludendorff has a dome armor design. Most of the artillery shells that penetrate the waterline armor or deck armor will explode outside the dome armor and will not endanger the core compartment.

Therefore, in terms of sinking resistance, the Ludendorff far exceeds the South Dakota class!

Of course, if the Ludendorff adopts the armor method of focusing on protection, the thickest part of its side waterline armor belt must be 400mm-450mm. It is difficult to say whether the 406mm main gun of the South Dakota class can penetrate it...

Because of the backward armor method, the battleship Ludendorff now has a taste of being rained down by bullets.

At 0:20, two Soviet-class 406mm shells hit the Ludendorff again, one of which hit the front of the A turret. In an instant, the 360mm thick front armor of the main turret was penetrated, and the shell exploded inside the turret, wiping out a quarter of the Ludendorff's firepower!

But the joy of the Americans and the Soviets did not last long. After only a minute, the 406mm main gun of the battleship Hindenburg fired back, piercing the command tower of the Massachusetts in one fell swoop, killing all the people in the command tower. Killed, and the huge explosion also shattered the radar antenna, rendering the Massachusetts's fire control radar temporarily unusable.

Then Ludendorff's side armor belt was penetrated, and the shells still exploded outside the dome protective layer. Although it caused a fire, it did not cause a fatal blow to the Ludendorff.

One minute later, the 381mm fired by the Veneto battleship hit the Alabama's A turret. This Italian heavy gun had amazing penetrating power. Although it was more than 22,000 meters away from the target, it still partially penetrated the Alabama. The front of the horse's main turret is 18 inches (457mm) thick! Although the turret was not completely destroyed, the metal fragments caused by the explosion killed the entire crew. All three cannons were damaged, and the Alabama lost one-third of its firepower.

Another 2 minutes later, a greater disaster befell the Americans. The Massachusetts's side armor belt was once again penetrated by the 406mm shell fired by the Ludendorff. The shell penetrated directly into a boiler room of the battleship. After a loud noise, the Massachusetts lost half of its power and its speed dropped to Less than 15 knots!

Now, the battleship formation of the European Combined Fleet, which can still maintain a speed of more than 27 knots, will grab the T-head position.

"Comrade Commander!" Just when Ingersoll's eyes were filled with stars and his mind was in chaos, Gromyko, deputy director of the Political Department of the Soviet Atlantic Fleet, suddenly spoke: "Comrade Comrade Bulganin, the military commissar, thinks it should end now. During the battle, the four Soviet-class ships retreated while the two South Dakota-class ships retreated."

"Retreat?" Admiral Ingersoll looked up at the Hindenburg-class battleship that was on fire more than 20,000 meters away. He seemed a little reluctant to give up - the battleship's loss is now 3:1. If If you can sink this Hindenburg-class ship, it will be 3:2...

"Comrade Commander," Gromyko continued, seeming to know that Ingersoll was unwilling, "our main task is to escort the NR21 fleet. Although we have lost 3 battleships, we have also sunk 1 enemy. battleships and severely damaged 2. As long as we can merge with the NR21 fleet, we can still complete the escort mission.

In addition, there are still 12 old battleships around the NR21 fleet! If 4 Soviet-class ships, 2 South Dakota-class ships, and 2 Kronshtadt-class ships can join them, there will be 20 battleships/battlecruisers, which is far more than the opponent. "

"Okay!" Admiral Ingersoll nodded heavily, "ordered the destroyers Alden and Bainbridge to release smoke to cover the retreat of the battleships Massachusetts and Alabama...the two battleships retreated northward Hide along the southern coast of Greenland (there are many small islands and icebergs along the southern coast of Greenland, which can obscure radar searches).

The remaining light cruisers and destroyers rushed towards the enemy ships, carried out torpedo attacks, and delayed the enemy fleet at all costs! "

After he finished speaking, he looked at Kuznetsov. The commander of the Soviet Red Navy understood what the other party meant, and then issued an order in Russian: "The battleship formation disbanded. I ordered the Soviet Union, the Soviet Ukraine, the Soviet Byelorussia and the Soviet Russia immediately rushes towards the enemy's battle line at full speed, Red Navy, charge!"

With the two orders from Ingersoll and Kuznetsov, the originally very neat battleship formation battle scene began to become chaotic.

Twenty or thirty light cruisers and destroyers from the United States, Britain and the Soviet Union rushed into the battle circle and immediately shattered the entire battlefield.

"Marshal, the radar found many small targets rushing towards our formation, they should be destroyers!"

"Marshal, two American battleships have begun to retreat, and destroyers are releasing smoke beside them."

"Marshal, the four Soviet-class ships have also begun to charge..."

Marshal Lütjens, who was on the bridge of the Hindenburg, just breathed a sigh of relief after hearing a series of reports from the staff.

The beginning of the desperate charge of light cruisers and destroyers means that the victory or defeat is decided in the decisive battle of the battleship formation. The losing side in a battleship battle will use light cruisers and destroyers to charge and launch torpedoes to disrupt the opponent's battle line in order to cover the retreat of its own battleships.

But now is not the time to celebrate victory. On the one hand, because the opponent has not suffered a truly fatal blow - it is unthinkable to wipe out 4 Soviet-class ships and 2 South Dakota-class ships, but those 2 ships seem to have been severely damaged. The South Dakota class must be destroyed no matter what.

On the other hand, the NR21 fleet departing from New York is still sailing slowly eastward on the North Atlantic near Greenland! Compared with the battleship in front of me, this huge fleet is a more important target. If the NR21 fleet is allowed to reach its destination safely, God knows how much damage the goods and soldiers carried on it will cause to the European coalition officers and soldiers on the Irish battlefield and the Soviet-German battlefield.

Thinking of this, Marshal Lütjens also wanted to follow the battleship formation's heavy cruisers (Admiral Hipper and Prinz Eugen), light cruisers and destroyers and issued an order to attack and intercept, and then ordered the battleship formation to quickly charge from The four Soviet-class battleships bypassed the front, and then pursued the slower South Dakota-class battleship (USS Massachusetts).

At the same time, he also ordered the 3rd battle group (which had three P-class guided missile cruisers) cruising near the battlefield to intercept another South Dakota-class battleship (USS Alabama) that had lost a main gun turret.

A melee soon broke out between dozens of cruisers and destroyers. In the darkness, countless shells and torpedoes shuttled each other. There were constant explosions and flashes of fire. The scene was a bit more heated than when the battleship was delivered. .

The power systems imported from Germany on the four Soviet-class battleships exerted their maximum power at this time, allowing the giant ship with a full load displacement of 65,000 tons to instantly accelerate to its fastest speed, approaching 29 knots (the design maximum speed is 28.5 knots, but In fact, it can reach speeds close to 29 knots and soar on the sea. At the same time, 3's artillery was also firing hard. According to Kuznetsov's orders, they were firing at all targets they could find!

"Comrade Commander, Comrade Political Commissar, the enemy did not come to pursue us, they ran away!"

After hearing the report of the Red Navy radar officer on the Soviet Union relayed by the translator, Ingersoll knew that the other party was probably chasing the two South Dakotas. The Alabama was better, at least its speed could be maintained at a high level, but the Massachusetts was in danger. It only had a maximum speed of less than 15 knots and could easily be caught up.

Just when Ingersoll was about to suggest that the four Soviet ships turn around and go back to entangle the battleship formation of the European Combined Fleet, he heard Gromyko shouting in a very nervous tone: "Comrade Commander, we just received the call from Moro Telegram from the heavy cruiser Tov, its radar has detected a large enemy fleet... The NR21 fleet may be in danger! "

"What? The NR21 fleet is in danger?" Ingersoll was stunned for a moment. "It shouldn't be a big problem. There are still 12 battleships protecting the NR21 fleet. And the enemy's capital ship was fighting us just now..."

Before he could finish his words, he was interrupted by Gromyko who spoke again: "Comrade Commander, the enemies are also France's Richelieu, Guba-class, Provence-class and Italy's Count of Cavour-class, Du Ilio class.

In addition, the Dutch also transferred three Essel-class battlecruisers to Germany. Maybe they are now completed and in service. "