Chapter 233: Night Battle in the Strait (Part 2)

As two German illumination flares burst into bloom in the southern part of the central North Sea, the heavy night was mercilessly unveiled. The awe-inspiring naval battle unfolded brightly in front of people's eyes!

In the surging waves, six large warships from both the British and German sides were in high-speed motion. Over a hundred cannons of various calibers poured out tons of armor-piercing or high-explosive shells per minute, streaking across the wide sea with their dark red tails. Water sprays of all sizes constantly rose and fell around the ships. In terms of the scale of engagement, this naval battle was far smaller than the night battle of the Jutland Sea 24 years ago, but no one could deny its significant impact on this increasingly modern warfare!

Below the illumination flares, three British cruisers, almost identical in size, were swiftly sailing south in a battle formation. The naval flags flying on their masts bore only two colors, the pure white and fiery red of the St. George's Cross, fluttering in the wind, inspiring the Royal Navy officers and men to charge at the enemy ships with fearless spirit!

About 5000 meters to the west of the illumination flares, a burning cruiser served as the only conspicuous landmark in the area. Shells from the dark edges continued to explode around it, creating tall and small water columns, mostly concentrated within a circular area with a radius of 50 meters around the ship. One of the cruiser's main gun turrets was emitting black smoke, already out of action, and the secondary guns on the port side were silent. However, the rest of the ship's guns stubbornly continued firing towards the distant targets!

About 8000 meters to the south of the illumination flares, two warships, one large and one small, could be considered the true protagonists of this naval battle! They had exceptionally sleek and streamlined silhouettes, exuding a distinct Germanic style from their turrets to their bridges, and from their funnels to their sterns. The main guns of both ships were uniformly aimed to starboard. At the moment the illumination flares lit up the sea, these main guns began their final adjustments. In an instant, the dark muzzles spewed forth large clusters of bright yellow flames, enveloping almost half of each ship in black smoke. On the top of their bridges, unique grid-like antennas continued to rotate slightly!

Almost simultaneously with the firing of the two German ships, there was a subtle change in the three British cruisers advancing rapidly from north to south: under the sharp bows, the white water suddenly increased, noticeably higher on the right side than the left; the ships tilted, causing a wave to easily wash over the main gun turrets, once again cleaning the decks that had been washed countless times before.

The next ten seconds were agonizing for both commanders and sailors on both sides, especially for the British fleet, which was "taking hits without retaliation", bearing immense psychological pressure.

Amidst the deafening roar, massive columnar water sprays finally reappeared on the sea surface. Since the adoption of the full-ship firing control system, coordinated salvos of all main guns against the same target became more harmonized, but it did not mean a hundred percent "unity". Differences in firing between main guns still existed, coupled with the individual factors of "shells," industrial products that, after flying thousands of meters, did not necessarily fall and explode at the same moment. In the visible differences, each shell carrying powerful kinetic energy plunged into the sea first, creating a water column due to its weight and speed. Triggered by the impact fuze, the chemical reaction of the explosives inside quickly generated higher and larger water columns on the sea surface.

Thus, water columns rose one after another, taller than the last, and a jungle-like array of water columns quickly obscured people's vision!

Under the rapid and precise bombardment of the German fleet, the three British cruisers, which had turned at full speed, failed to avoid all the shells. The gunfire originally aimed at the leading cruiser now concentrated around the second cruiser. The bridge area flashed with glaring flames, and countless fragments scattered with thick smoke, filling the air in an instant, and the flagship command flag on the mast disappeared without a trace in this sudden blow!

Without receiving flagship orders, the three cruisers continued to sail at full speed in their previous heading. Due to the change in relative position, their rear guns obtained a certain firing angle—since their ship shadows appeared from the glare of the illumination flares, the main guns that had long been silent on the ships began to search and adjust continuously. After passing through the wave area caused by the German fleet's salvo, the main guns on the first two cruisers finally erupted with thrilling roars. 8-inch armor-piercing shells, filled with vengeance, flew towards the south. At this moment, the straight-line distance between the two sides was less than 8000 meters!

The ambitious spirit of the Royal Navy, however, could not overcome the influence of the ultra-high-speed relative movement of the two ships. In the blink of an eye, over a dozen shells fired by the two cruisers all fell behind the sterns of the German fleet, and the shells fired by the third cruiser that followed were even more exaggeratedly off the mark, landing on the open sea hundreds of meters away from the target!

After a relative round of attacks, the two German battleships adjusted their headings again: the leading battleship turned right by 15 degrees first, and its new course almost paralleled the three British cruisers in the opposite direction. In this state, all nine main guns of the battleship could still attack the enemy with ease; the heavy cruiser following suit quickly completed a similar turn at the same angle, and its eight main guns were neatly adjusted to attack the second British cruiser that had just been damaged!

After completing the heading adjustment, the distance between the German fleet and the lone British cruiser sailing increased to less than 5000 meters—if it had just entered the battlefield, the Royal Navy's light cruisers could have launched long-range torpedo attacks from this distance. However, in these few minutes, the accurate and fierce secondary firepower of the German fleet had already rendered it almost defenseless, and the passive slowing of the ship's speed was a direct reflection of the internal damage to the hull!

As the distance closed, the twin 150mm secondary guns on the port side of the German battleship became even more vigorous, and even the 105mm anti-aircraft guns on its side fired at a high frequency. On the sea surface, which was getting shorter and shorter, shells of all sizes flew like meteors, and the density of the barrage made people feel sorrowful for the hundreds of meters of crew on the British cruiser and even more sorrowful for the Royal Navy of the setting sun!

Seeing that the two sturdy German battleships had firmly seized the initiative in front of the outnumbered British cruisers, the situation on the battlefield changed due to a group of small boats appearing in the direction of the Scottish coast. Shortly afterward, the radio monitoring equipment on the German ships intercepted plain text communications from the British fleet: "Destroyers and torpedo boats are attacking the German fleet at full speed, cruisers provide fire cover at all costs!"

If the English Channel is the backyard canal of the British Empire, then the North Sea and the Irish Sea are the bathtubs in the country's bathroom. Faced with the sudden intrusion of the German fleet, the British Navy was able to dispatch light combat vessels from nearby ports - if it were the early 1940s, the number of enemy vessels appearing on German ship radars would surely be double what is currently seen!

Faced with this expected change, the two German warships did not immediately adjust their course. The elegant flagship, with its nine 11-inch guns, continued to swiftly bombard the British cruiser fleet over 7,000 meters away, while the heavy cruiser immediately adjusted its tactics according to the flagship's guidance. Its eight main guns quickly turned almost 180 degrees, and moments later, the concentrated firepower began pounding the British cruiser on the left flank, which had already lost control of the fire. German 8-inch armor-piercing shells easily pierced through the 4-inch thick armor plating of the British Leander-class light cruiser, and before the smoke from the explosion had cleared, icy seawater was already rushing in uncontrollably through the breaches, flowing through the pierced bulkheads and watertight doors into the compartments.

After the fourth salvo of the German heavy cruiser's main guns, this British warship, which should have been dominant in the Atlantic, finally sank completely. After losing power and primary firepower, it became a target for long-range torpedo attacks by the Germans. At a distance of 4,000 meters, the "Prinz Eugen" put an end to its final agony with two torpedoes, sinking along with over 420 crew members, with only around 150 survivors! The primary culprit that led to the demise of the German Navy's "Graf Spee" finally tasted the bitter fruit it had brewed!

After concluding the battle on the left flank of the fleet, the two German warships began to deal with their targets on the right flank. Although the shipborne radars were somewhat disappointing in terms of fire control, they still accurately provided data on the battlefield situation: those diminutive British vessels were fast, and it was believed that they would be able to break through their own cruiser fleet and enter the main battlefield in a matter of minutes. At this critical moment, the German fleet commander made a rather wise decision: concentrate all firepower to fiercely attack the three British cruisers!

The British fleet had already launched their illuminating shells. In the midst of the over 7,000-meter artillery duel, British 8-inch and 6-inch armor-piercing shells gradually found their mark. Just as friendly ships were gradually disappearing from the sea surface, a shell from the British cruiser "Neptune" hit the bridge of the German battleship "Gneisenau," smashing its expensive Fumo27 radar and the 10.5-meter large optical rangefinder connected to it!

Just when some optimists thought the battlefield situation was about to tilt due to this change, the "Gneisenau" immediately hit the "Neptune" with another salvo, easily knocking out its number one main gun turret, and turning its aft chimney, seaplane, catapult, and three anti-aircraft gun positions into fragments. Meanwhile, after two consecutive salvos, the "Prinz Eugen" also found the "Australia"! The German 8-inch armor-piercing shells pierced through the 5.5-inch main armor plating and the 3-inch additional armor plating of the British cruiser, instantly detonating the remaining over 20 tons of high-explosive ammunition in its second magazine!

The British heavy cruiser, which had been burning painfully for over ten minutes, finally sank into the sea as a heap of black scrap iron. In this not-so-long period of time, the two German warships swiftly turned the tide in the North Sea, sequentially devastating the only two remaining British cruisers on the surface of the sea. By the time the British light vessels were ready to launch torpedo attacks at high speeds, over two thousand German sailors, along with the ship's main and secondary guns, and dual-purpose anti-aircraft guns, were already prepared for them...