Battle of the Third Reich Chapter 22: Lucky

　　

　　 elegantly picked up the exquisite Mingyongle blue-and-white dragon-patterned tea cup in front of him, gently used the lid to poke the floating leaf petals floating on the water, and the air was filled with the familiar jasmine fragrance refreshing.

　　 Xu Jun narrowed his eyes and took a sip of sweet tea. The long-lost comfort made him take a long breath.

　　 The young imperial dictator put down the tea cup and leaned against the soft back of the gorgeous seat.

　　"Prince Eugen was attacked by a torpedo from a British Royal Navy destroyer. Weirle, are you familiar with torpedoes?"

　　 Xu Jun glanced at the chief staff member who was sitting on one of the sofas. This wise chief of staff is now awkwardly learning what Xu Jun did just now, using the tea cup cover to skim the leaves floating on the tea water.

　　 Weierle has always been very curious about those things from the mysterious East. Your Excellency's skillful and natural movements just now should be the etiquette of the Orientals when drinking this aromatic beverage. It looks very elegant and easy to learn. Of course, the chief of staff has to practice it himself.

　　 "Oh? Torpedo?"

　　 Weierle raised his eyebrows slightly, raised his head for a moment, and then answered decisively.

　　 "I don't understand at all. My head of state."

　　 After finishing talking, the chief of staff began to lower his head to continue his practice of skimming tea leaves.

　　"Are you familiar? Major Sorrence, ah, yes, of course you will be familiar. You are a naval officer."

　　 Xu Jun smiled and said to a young lieutenant who was standing straight at his desk.

　　 "Yes, Führer, I am familiar with that weapon."

　　 The young major replied respectfully, standing in front of the imperial head of state who was as young as him, he looked a little bit restrained.

　　"Well, the topic seems to be far off, continue to report. Where did you go before? Oh... Yes, Prince Eugen was attacked by a torpedo. Then how did she escape the disaster? "Xu Jun asked with a smile.

　　 "My Führer, this question is really a bit... wonderful..." the Lieutenant Commander replied respectfully.

　　 A dozen snow-white wakes on the azure blue waters of the North Atlantic are rapidly approaching the huge hull of the Prince Eugen.

　　 The afternoon sun pierced through the billowing smoke that filled the sky and shone on the sparkling sea, and the beautiful feathery trails shone with enchanting light.

　　 But in the eyes of the German naval officers standing on the high bridge of the Prince Eugen, the pearl-like flashes are clearly the rays of the sharp blade of the death sickle, which are hidden under the white tail of feathers. It is destruction and death.

　　Prince Eugen is doomed to escape. This is the common answer that all German naval officers jumped out of their hearts when they saw this scene.

　　 There is no time to escape, and there is no space to escape. The officers can only watch the wings of the death gods fast approaching themselves.

The 　　 torpedo had approached one hundred and fifty meters. At this time, the sailors on the deck also noticed the fast approaching **** of death, and there was a cry of exclamation on the deck.

　　 Feng. Captain Hertz looked at the scene in pain, and his heart was now full of blame and regret for himself.

　　 I made an unforgivable mistake. The pride brought by being the captain of a heavy cruiser blinded my eyes. I forgot that the result of despising any enemy on the battlefield may bring my own destruction. The precious experience gained by this ancestor with their blood.

　　 The scene where his warship was bombarded to pieces by the British Royal Navy during the Battle of Norway once again appeared in Feng. In front of Hertz, is that scene going to be repeated in front of her again?

　　 The faces of more than 30 sailors who died in that battle flashed in front of him like lightning. He once vowed to make the British pay the debts, but now, instead of avenging anyone, it is possible. Will let more young lives die, Feng. Hertz felt his heart aching like a knife.

　　 "Captain!"

　　 The chief mate called Feng. Hertz dragged his thoughts back to reality.

　　 "There is no time to dodge!"

　　 Feng. Hertz suddenly woke up. He was still undertaking the task of the captain of this battleship. As long as he was the captain of this battleship, he would be responsible for all the crew on this battleship.

　　 "Immediately sound the collision alarm, order the lower deck personnel to immediately prepare to evacuate, and the deck personnel to find concealment!"

　　 Feng. Hertz shouted orders.

　　 "Yes, Captain!"

　　 The first officer rushed to the microphone. The harsh collision alarm immediately echoed over the battleship.

　　The sailors on the deck rushed to the shelter and cabin closest to them. Most of the sailors didn't even know what happened.

　　 The usual strict training came into play at this time. The sailors skillfully followed the usual training steps and executed the captain’s orders quickly and orderly.

　　 "It's too late!"

　　 Feng. Hertz stood on the bridge lookout and watched the four snow-white wakes scrambling to rush toward the smooth bulwark of the Prince Eugen, while the sailors on the deck were still running hurriedly.

　　 "It's over!"

　　 Feng. Hertz couldn't help closing his eyes, he couldn't bear to see the **** and terrifying scene that was coming.

　　 It is a British heavy anti-ship torpedo. It looks like it should be an MK7, but it may be an older MK5. Of course it doesn’t matter.

　　 The key lies in the attack power of the British torpedoes, because the torpedo manufacturing bureau of the Royal Navy of the British Empire stuffed a full 340 kilograms of high-energy zha medicine into the hard warhead of the six or seven-meter-long iron guy.

　　 What kind of concept is this? The destructive power of 340 kilograms of high-energy zha medicine is enough to level an ordinary block or demolish a solid four-story building in an instant.

　　A large torpedo of this kind can easily blow a 5,000-ton unarmored civilian merchant ship into two sections, or make an opening on any battleship that is lower than the armor strength of the battleship. The size of the opening is based on the tonnage of the victim. And armor thickness varies from falling into a car to falling into a team of tanks.

　　 At the beginning of the war, the Royal Oak battleship Royal Oak suffered four torpedoes in Scarpa Bay. It is history, and the German G7E electric torpedo was only loaded with 200 kilograms of zha medicine. It is conceivable that this How terrible is the destructive power of a torpedo with a 340 kg charge after hitting.

　　 The German mini-battleship Lützov is still lying on the berth of Kiel immobile. She was only hit by a British torpedo, and the stern almost broke off on the spot.

　　 Feng. Hertz couldn't imagine how a dozen of these torpedoes would end up hitting Prince Eugen, who was just a heavy cruiser with only 82 mm side armor.

　　 What’s more pitiful is that even this side armor belt only reaches about half a meter below the waterline, and a deeper position has no protection other than the thin hull, and the location of the torpedo attack It is exactly there.

　　 Although Feng. Hertz was very confident in the sturdiness of the German warships and the meticulous watertight design, but he absolutely did not believe that he could survive more than two torpedoes, not to mention the dense crowds in front of him.

　　 Feng. Hertz closed his eyes tightly, waiting for the moment when he was hit by the torpedo.

　　 But after a few seconds, nothing happened, no vibration, no explosion, not even a scream or exclamation.

　　 Feng. Hertz opened his eyes suspiciously, and his subordinates were staring at the sea with dumbfounded faces.

　　"What's the matter?"

　　 Feng. Hertz followed the eyes of his subordinates and looked towards the water on the side of the ship. As a result, the wake of the British torpedo came into his eyes again. The four white trails were close at hand, rushing to the side of the ship like he had seen before. wall.

　　 But the next scene let Feng. Hertz understood why his subordinates showed that kind of dementia, because he also went into a crash state at that moment.

The 　　 wake extended to the bulwark and disappeared. . . . After that, nothing happened.

　　 Feng. Hertz looked at the scene in surprise and couldn't believe his eyes.

　　 He clearly saw the glamorous foam trail hitting the bulwark fiercely, and then being smashed to pieces by the waves of the battleship sailing, but there was no sign of being hit.

　　 "What's the matter..."

　　 Feng. Hertz had never encountered such a thing, nor had he heard of a similar situation, he and his group of officers were completely confused.

　　"Look at it, the torpedoes have all passed through, all have passed through the bottom of the ship, haha..."

　　 suddenly there was a loud cry from the other side of the bridge. Feng. Hertz and his men quickly turned their heads and looked at them, and saw the heroic Randolph Younger standing on the lookout platform on the other side of the bridge while keeping his coolest posture as always while waving his arms to everyone.

　　The navy officers rushed to the other side of the bridge and looked over the water.

　　 Indeed, more than a dozen torpedo wakes are rushing away as fast as they are in the distance, looking like torpedoes launched by the Prinz Eugen.

　　"The British set the wrong torpedo depth."

　　 The first officer who reacted first couldn't help but cheer loudly.

　　 "That group of stupid British people almost scared me to death."

　　 "Oh my god, I have never found the British to be so cute. You say yes, if it weren't for them to make such a mistake, I can't imagine how we would end up."

　　 "How can the depth be wrong? This shouldn't happen."

　　"Go and ask those British people. Are you sorry for not being bombed to the sky, idiot, go back to your post."

　　 The officers babbled and sighed about what was happening before them, but they didn't notice that Master Captain's face became more and more ugly.

　　"All returned to their posts, the alarm was lifted, and they were immediately ready for battle. The target, the two British destroyers, ordered the turrets to fire."

　　 Feng. Hertz roared and issued a series of orders to the group of subordinates who had just escaped and were congratulating each other.

　　 He now feels a little bit irritated. The unsuccessful torpedo attack by the Royal Navy made the captain finally restore his state during the Norwegian campaign.

　　 Feng. For the first time, Hertz exposed his true colors to all his subordinates, the shrewd, tough, cunning, and cold-hearted Feng. Colonel Hertz.

　　 The British torpedo raid made him feel extremely angry, thinking that his own mistake would lead to tragedy, Feng. Hertz was out of anger.

　　 For him, this attack caused him to suffer another great humiliation in his military career. He must use actions to make up for his mistakes and use the blood of the enemy to cleanse the shame they brought to himself.

　　 Although he has not yet understood why the British torpedo sets the wrong depth, this is not important, and he does not want to know the reason. All he knows now is the only thing that the British must pay for this behavior. cost.

　　 Feng. Hertz stared coldly at the two British destroyers that were constantly maneuvering to escape the German warship firepower network.

　　 In the eyes of his subordinates, the captain who has been a bit uncomfortable with them suddenly seemed to have changed someone, that kind of serious expression, and his eyes showed firm and cold eyes. . . .

　　The subordinates couldn't help but secretly repositioning the young colonel in their hearts, looking at Feng. With the chilling fierce look in Hertz's eyes, many people began to mourn for the officers and soldiers on the two destroyers who almost killed them just now. It seems that they are dead.

　　"Christian, this is a battleship cared by the goddess of luck. It has unparalleled good luck. So, you must make her a member of the great battleship in history, otherwise you will be too sorry for her."

　　 Randolph walked slowly to Feng. Hertz patted the captain's shoulder behind him and said.

　　 "I don't know if I am worthy to continue driving her on the sea. This time I made a fatal mistake. The Admiralty will definitely punish me."

　　"It’s okay, I’ll explain it to the Führer. However, even if you will be punished in the future, if you still control her captain now, you will be responsible for her. Remember that this is the number one World War I."

　　 "Understood, Randolph, thank you."

　　"All the secondary artillery fired and shredded the two destroyers. All the commanders followed me into the armored control tower, and the others stood by their posts. Gentlemen! If Prince Eugen goes into naval history one day, we will be proud Tell others that we are members of that battleship. For that day, let us fight this first battle and let the British taste the anger of this battleship."

　　 "Yes! Sir!" all the officers and men present roared and replied.

　　"Oh, it turned out to be so, but I still don't understand. Why didn't other warships remind the Prince Eugen that they had not found the British torpedoes? Besides, why did the British decide the wrong depth? "

　　 Xu Jun asked lightly after taking a sip of the fragrant jasmine tea.

　　"This, my head, sounds stupid.

　　Commander Lütjens explained in this report, because the two destroyers were assigned to our first and second destroyers when the target was first assigned.

　　 At that time, no one thought that the two ships would directly rush up like this, and everyone thought that the other side would solve the two humble destroyers. All the attention was on the cruisers in the British fleet. Will be exploited by those two destroyers.

　　Commander Lütjens stated in the report that he was willing to take all responsibility for this mistake.

　　 At that time, not only did not a single warship spot the British destroyer fired a torpedo, but until the end of the battle, no warship knew that the Prince Eugen had been attacked by a torpedo, because the other warships did not see the fire at the Prince Eugen from the beginning Of the torpedo.

　　 It was not until the end of the battle that everyone knew about it when the destroyer and the Prince Eugen submitted their reports.

　　 The group of torpedoes passed through the bottom of the Prinz Eugen and was hit by the First Destroyer Fleet, which came up from the rear side of the fleet. They didn’t know where the torpedoes came from. The result was very chaotic. For a while.

　　According to their records, they avoided all the torpedo attacks. At first they thought it was a British submarine. They were really nervous for a while. If they knew it was a torpedo that passed through the bottom of Prince Eugen’s ship~IndoMTL.com~Destroyer You don't even have to hide.

　　 As for why the British set the wrong depth, according to the only surviving bridge crew on the two destroyers, the sailor was the messenger on the Avenger. According to the confession of the sailor and our subsequent analysis, we finally found the fact to be this way.

　　 The two destroyers originally planned to attack the two battleships Scharnhorst, but for some reason they suddenly changed their target to the heavy cruiser Prince Eugen.

　　 Maybe because of tension, the British forgot to modify the original set depth and fired the torpedo.

　　 It is also possible that they misjudged the Prinz Eugen as a Scharnhorst-class battleship. You must know that the outline of the heavy cruiser is really like a battleship.

　　It is normal for this kind of misjudgment to occur during the high-speed movement of the destroyer, let alone that kind of tension.

The draft of the Scharnhorst class is ten meters, while the draft of the Prince Eugen is only six meters. The difference between the two is a full four meters, and the result is like this. "

　　 "Oh, it turned out to be like this, ha ha. It really is the legendary lucky battleship."

　　 Xu Jun smiled and murmured.

　　 "Huh?"

　　 Weierle, who was tasting tea, raised his head and asked suspiciously.

　　"The head of state, the legendary one you mentioned earlier..."

　　 "It's nothing, the Chief of Staff, just talk casually, haha."

　　 The head of state smiled and raised the tea cup in his hand to the chief of staff.