Chapter 1036 This is a trap
It's late today, there's only one chapter, sorry!
…
Lieutenant General Freddy did not take the black spots seriously. He thought they were seaplanes sent by the German army to reinforce.
More importantly, a fierce battle has begun on the sea.
The British warships were divided into groups of 4 to 6, and they selected their respective targets and opened fire. The sound of cannons rang out one after another, and the air was filled with smoke everywhere.
(Note: Groups are usually composed of ships of the same class, or at least ships with the same or similar gun models. Only in this way can the aforementioned tactics be used to obtain more accurate parameters.)
The "Bavaria", which was at the front of the German fleet, was hit by two shells, but it continued to move forward as if nothing had happened.
As the most advanced super dreadnought of the German Army, the "Bavaria" class has a main armor thickness of 350 mm, which is 20 mm thicker than the British Army's most powerful battleship, the "Queen Elizabeth" class.
With this protection, even being hit by small or medium-sized naval shells would be like a tickle.
Not long after, the German fleet suddenly rushed out a group of "torpedo boats", about thirty in number. They relied on high speed to deploy on both sides of the queue and sped towards the British fleet.
Lieutenant General Freddy just smiled lightly when he saw this scene.
This is an old tactic. The German army has never been able to occupy an advantageous position, so it always sends out "torpedo boats" and pins its hopes of victory on torpedoes.
"Change course." Lieutenant General Freddy ordered.
Under his command, the British fleet opened the "shutters" and attacked the German "torpedo boats" with their sterns facing them as they moved.
If before, Vice Admiral Freddy would have ordered the fleet to move in the same direction as the enemy fleet.
At that time, the British army had a numerical advantage and was not worried about close combat. In fact, the British army's sighting and observation system was slightly inferior to the German army, and they could gain some advantages by improving accuracy in close combat.
But now, the British army had no numerical advantage, and Vice Admiral Freddy adopted a more conservative strategy: keeping a distance from the enemy and fighting while retreating. As long as the British fleet occupied the advantageous "T" position, it would be invincible.
"Boom boom."
“Boom boom boom!”
…
A series of shells landed around the battleship "Barham", stirring up water columns, some of which were only twenty meters away from the hull, and the stirred-up sea water even swept into the command cabin.
Lieutenant General Freddy was puzzled. How could the Germans, despite being in an unfavorable position, still be able to fight back? And the firepower was so intense.
Confused, he walked out of the command cabin and climbed up the watchtower. He raised his telescope and looked back. It turned out that there were two German super-dreadnoughts chasing him closely.
The two super-dreadnoughts ignored the shells fired at them and chased the "Barham" and opened fire under the artillery fire.
Vice Admiral Freddy understood that the British North Sea Fleet only had one Queen Elizabeth-class battleship, the Barham, and the Germans could easily guess that it was the flagship.
Therefore, they wanted to use the tactic of "capture the leader first".
If the Barham was damaged or sunk, the British fleet would lose its command and its morale would be severely damaged.
"A good idea," Vice Admiral Freddy praised as he put away his binoculars, but there was a sneer in his eyes. "But they seem to have forgotten that they can't catch up with Barham."
The Queen Elizabeth-class battleships were designed to sail at a speed of 24 knots, with an actual speed of 25 knots, and could even reach 26 knots when sailing at super-power.
The actual speed of the German "Bavaria" was only 22 knots.
Lieutenant General Freddy ordered without hesitation: "Full speed!"
"Full speed ahead!"
"Full speed ahead!"
…
It won't be long before the "Barham" can escape the range of the "Bavaria" class, and then the German army's plan of "capture the king first" will be easily thwarted.
But Vice Admiral Freddy did not notice that because he ordered full speed ahead, the "Barham" passed his own fleet and became a very conspicuous "lone ship".
…
Opposite him, Admiral Scheer, who was swaying back and forth under the fire on the "Bavaria", saw the "Barham" speeding up and a smug smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"We got you, bastard!" Admiral Scheer said, then shouted the order: "Full speed ahead, keep firing!"
"Boom!" Another shell hit the hull, a flash of fire burst out on the warship, and several soldiers screamed under the shrapnel.
But Admiral Scheer remained unmoved.
It was all worth it, he thought, the British would soon find out what price they were paying.
…
In the air, Major Condra and his fleet of "torpedo planes" arrived at the battlefield.
This is an elite attack aircraft fleet personally formed by Admiral Scheer. There are 24 aircraft in total, all of which are "UWD" seaplanes.
Each of these seaplanes carries a torpedo, and the pilots are all carefully selected and have undergone rigorous training. In order to give them more combat experience, Admiral Scheer did not hesitate to use merchant ships as target ships for them to practice actual combat exercises.
All of this was for today, Major Condra thought, so that they could deliver a fatal blow to the enemy on the battlefield.
The target was obvious, the Queen Elizabeth class. There was even a photo of this class of battleships pasted above Major Condra's head.
If it is with other warships, it will be difficult to find it.
It is even more difficult to sink it because other warships will block the target's flanks and torpedoes can easily hit the secondary vehicle by mistake.
But now.
The target was right there, a lonely ship, surrounded by the water columns stirred up by the shells, and it was hard not to recognize it.
Major Condra raised his hands and waved to both sides, and immediately four "torpedo planes" lowered their altitude and approached the side cabin of the "Barham".
…
"Barham".
Vice Admiral Freddy took out his pocket watch and looked at it. He was calculating the time to escape from the range of the "Bavaria".
The outcome was decided, and in ten minutes, "Bavaria" would have little chance of hitting the target.
Then it was time for the German fleet to be critically attacked.
Neither of the "Bavaria" could escape, neither of them. They would be surrounded by British warships, their hulls would be bombed to pieces, and finally the destroyers would fire torpedoes to sink them to the cold seabed.
But at this moment, the panicked voice of the lookout came from above: "Plane, torpedo plane!"
"Torpedo plane?" Vice Admiral Freddy was stunned. The Germans also have "torpedo planes"?
Vice Admiral Freddy actually knew that there was a precedent of German "torpedo planes" participating in the war.
However, the German "torpedo planes" were few in number and slow in speed, and the British seaplanes could shoot them down, so the British never took them seriously.
(Note: The German "UWD" seaplane has a speed of 110 to 120 kilometers per hour.)
When Vice Admiral Freddy walked out of the command cabin, he saw more than 20 seaplanes overhead, with a torpedo under the fuselage that was particularly conspicuous in the sunlight.
Lieutenant General Freddy looked at the queue that he had left far behind, his face instantly pale: "Fuck it, this is a trap!"
(End of this chapter)
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