Battle of the Third Reich Chapter 74: Richelieu number

readx; Put down the hands covering the ears, the bridge gun officer Captain Absolun looked at the two huge quadruple turrets in awe, the pride of the French navy. Baidu search for Geli Literature Net

"Close shot, one thousand and five, to the left." The captain picked up the binoculars and stared at the black ship shadow on the distant sea. The other party has turned off all the deck lights, but on the sea illuminated by the bright moonlight. , Still exposed a clear silhouette.

A series of huge, bright white water columns with orange light at the bottom rose into the air, and then there was a faint thunderous roar.

"Go forward at full speed, fifteen degrees to the left, order the destroyer squad to move forward at full speed and kill the two British destroyers that stand in the way. The Marseille, Glory, and Montcalm accelerate and insert to their right flank, and the Algeria tightens With the flagship, we drive them towards the coast, and these despicable British bandits must pay the price." The fleet commander made Admiral De La Polder stand on the command bridge of the Richelieu and roar angrily.

This noble and old-school French navy soldier has been a complete anti-British member since he was young. He has always hated the British's use of various methods to oppress and weaken the French navy for decades. It is a pure To the British hardliners, if there were no Germans in the middle, this person might take the navy fleet to join the British. This time, he finally caught up, and for a while, new hatred and old hatred gathered in his heart, and the old guy was determined to make a break with the British here.

The battleship Richelieu is the end of the history of French battleship development and the pinnacle of the development of French battleships. It integrates France’s decades of technology for building large battleships and embodies the most cutting-edge technical essence of the French Navy. The tactical concept was unquestionably listed as the most dangerous potential enemy by the British Navy right after launching.

The imaginary enemy designed by the French is the Italians. In order to deal with the up-and-coming Littorio-class battleships of its unscrupulous Italian neighbors, France launched a new battleship program. The overall design continues the style of the Strasbourg-class battle cruiser. All the main gun turrets are placed in the bow, so that while maintaining the maximum firepower density, it can also reduce the length of the armor belt in key parts. Not only can it save tonnage, but it can also reduce the cost of construction. At that time, France's national strength was already exhausted and it was unable to afford more construction costs.

But. The Richelieu is still worthy of the name of the strongest battleship in France, and worthy of the name of the most famous cardinal in French history.

The performance of the eight mle1935 380mm main guns is excellent. Compared with the Italian naval guns of the same caliber, the data is only one-liner, but far stronger than her German and British counterparts. And that Italian gun was obtained by sacrificing the life of the barrel and increasing the amount of propellant. It was a unique seven-sounding method. Which is strong and weak, only the benevolent sees benevolence.

This behemoth with a full load of 48,000 tons of drainage has a sharp sword and a strong armor. The main armor belt is 330 mm thick. There is also a layer of 18 mm liner and 50 mm vault armor. The protection is strong. The vigorous power of 150,000 allows this 248-meter-long giant ship to easily run to 30 knots, and the top speed is even 32 knots. This is already the speed of an ordinary cruiser, and the Richelieu deserves to be classified as a high-speed battleship. The ranks of, far behind that pile of 27/28 knots conventional battleships.

The only flaw of this warship is that it is so new. As mentioned earlier, the salvo she just fired at the British fleet was the first all-main gun salvo since she was launched into the water, and this battle was also her first battle.

The home port of the battleship Richelieu is Saint-Nazaire, which has the most advanced naval base and shipyard in France, and the largest dry dock on the Atlantic coast. It can repair and build supertankers or Richeys of the Titanic class. Remain such a huge battleship.

When the second phase of the French campaign was launched, the Richelieu finally completed all the outfitting work due to a delay of more than 20 days. And we have enough fuel and ammunition, and we are doing final debugging and inspection.

The French Navy, like the Army, believed that there was a problem within the Germans and that the battle situation would change. At least it can be guaranteed to be stable in the current stalemate, the front will not change, and there may be a chance to regain lost ground. Therefore, the French Navy decided that it was no longer anxious to evacuate the two battleships of Saint-Nazaire, and ordered the battleships to stay in place and watch the changes.

Because the projects of these two battleships have each reached a critical stage. The Richelieu only needs to adjust the reloading and fire control system to be immediately put into service, and the other one allows the Barr’s construction and outfitting work to be completed 95%, only the main engine is installed and adjusted and the main gun turret is installed. Can enter the finishing process. If you leave the home port, the other mooring ports either lack the corresponding equipment or the corresponding parts. The spare parts, ordnance, ammunition and supplies of the two battleships are stored in the warehouses in Saint-Nazaire and surrounding areas, leaving the home port. These efforts will all stall.

In view of the wrong judgment of the French government, the French navy also blindly felt that the possibility of Saint-Nazaire being occupied no longer existed. Darren decided to keep the two ships in their home port and speed up the construction and commissioning as much as possible. Speed, and transferred a group of navy officers from each fleet to Saint-Nazaire to start training while debugging, and strive to allow these two powerful battleships to join the navy sequence as soon as possible.

But just after the final commissioning of the Richelieu was finished, something unexpected happened. The Germans suddenly launched an all-out attack on the Weigang line. The French were caught off guard again, and the frontline troops were almost destroyed.

In less than a day after the war began, thousands of soldiers who had lost their helmets and disarmed and embarrassed the army rushed into the city of Saint-Nazaire. The harbor area is full of soldiers wearing brown coats and carrying various baggages, with sad faces and empty hands.

The remnants of the Army kicked and beat each other, vying for the opportunity to board the transport ship leaving the port. Even a small motor boat was packed with a platoon of soldiers. A fishing boat capsized directly on the side of the dock due to too many people. The fallen army soldiers were dragged into the bottom by heavy military coats before they had time to struggle a few times in the water. Dozens of poor people who had drowned before were floating on the yellow-brown frothy water on the pier, but no one on the pier would give them a glance. Everyone was using all means to flee for their lives.

Army soldiers quickly followed Richelieu. This huge warship was so conspicuous on the berth of the Navy Pier. The army broke into the naval base wharf, but they were stopped by the Marines guarding the warships. The two sides were excited to push each other at first, and then they began to use their fists to fight in groups. The number of Marines was weak. Soon he was defeated and defeated. After the follow-up support navy and sailors arrived with their weapons, and under the leadership of the navy officers, they shot and overturned a few brutal army soldiers, and then regained control of the situation.

Several army officers who had been watching from behind rushed to the front and started negotiations with the navy. The ranks of this group of army officers are generally quite high, and there are even two generals among them.

After the army officers performed a series of orders, threats, inducements, and begging, the orders of the French Naval Command also arrived.

Since the German army is already on the outskirts of Saint-Nazaire and the naval base will be occupied at any time, the Naval Command ordered the battleship Richelieu to immediately carry all the government personnel and family members of Saint-Nazaire. The personnel of the naval base, as well as important documents and supplies of the shipyard and headquarters, were evacuated from the seaport and sailed to Bordeaux. In addition, it is possible to carry a part of the army officers and soldiers in the port of Saint-Nazaire to evacuate together.

As a result, the battleship Richelieu became a huge refugee ship. The entire ship carried officers and soldiers of the base command, logistics personnel, shipyard engineers and their families. It also contained 5,000 army officers and soldiers and a bunch of them. The officials, police, and gentry of Saint-Nazaire were full of more than 8,000 people. Even the main gun turrets were built with paved floors and tents. The towering bridge slowed down the soldiers. They looked at a zoo from a distance. The Monkey Mountain is similar.

When this huge ship cautiously sailed into the only deep-water berth in the Port of Bordeaux two days later, its shape was bleak and embarrassing. The chin of the French admiral who came to greet him was shocked. Whatever was hanging clothes on the barrel, the machine gun was already covered with diapers.

As for the Jean Barr, it never reached the port of Bordeaux. Regarding the battleship, including the commander of the naval base, they only shook their heads. It is said that the battleship has been basically completed, but the personnel on board have not been in place. Now only a part of the students of the Naval Academy are training on it.

The other systems of the battleship have basically been installed, but the host has a serious problem. So he was towed back to the dock. The shipyard’s engineers had been working overtime to make repairs. The shipyard had already prepared two tugboats and towed them out if they were not ready. If it is too late to retreat, the ship will be towed outside the port to sink it.

It is reasonable to say that this battleship should have set off long ago. If it hasn't appeared yet, then we have to think about the worst place.

Finally, the Germans released a report on the occupation of Bordeaux, which did not mention the seizure of French battleships. While frustrated, the French Naval Command also felt some relief. Everyone secretly expressed their sincere respect and admiration for the brave engineers.

The Richelieu stayed in Bordeaux for less than a week. Watching the Germans' battle line advancing rapidly, Bordeaux was also a little dangerous. Because the Port of Bordeaux is deep inland and the draft is too shallow, there is only one eleven-meter deep channel, which can barely meet the draft of the Richelieu. However, this is not a military port after all. It is difficult to supplement fuel and ammunition supplies. Once there is a change, this The ship doesn't even have a chance to run out of the channel, so it's better to leave as soon as possible.

Originally, Darren wanted to send Richelieu to the Dakar base because it was the naval base closest to the west coast of France, but Dakar sent reports that German submarines were often coming and going out of the harbor, requesting the local fleet Send some anti-submarine ships, otherwise the two existing light cruisers dare not leave the port.

In view of this, Darren felt that the battleship Richelieu should not go there to join in the fun. The hot battleship just released, don't let the German submarine target, the French navy would really be a joke.

Darland changed his ideology and ordered the Richelieu to depart from Bordeaux, head directly to Gibraltar, sail into the Mediterranean, fill up the port of Ceuta and sail directly to Toulon. The Richelieu finally entered service in Toulon and joined the French high seas fleet.

In the Port of Toulon, Richelieu completed the final part of the commissioning, and installed the original lack of anti-aircraft firepower, replaced the improvised 37mm single-barreled gun with a 40mm double-barreled machine gun, more The experienced soldiers replaced the original reserve personnel. The High Seas Fleet Command appointed this warship as the flagship of the fleet, and Admiral De La Polde personally sent his flag to Richelieu. number.

At the beginning of August, the situation took a surprising turn. A lot of spare parts and scarce ordnance materials needed by the French Navy were sent to the Port of Toulon. Among them were the main artillery and deputy of the Richelieu. Cannon shells and a large amount of propellant.

It’s even more surprising. Several large trailers actually dragged two 380 mm gun barrels. Looking at the numbers on these barrels, Captain Richelieu's Mazan couldn't help but breathe in secretly. This is obviously the barrel stored in the Naval Artillery Bureau of Gavle, and it is for Richelieu Class III. Prepared by the USS Clemenceau. Gaffler has been occupied by the German army. How to get these barrels on it is difficult. . . .

Ma Zan didn't think about it anymore. He only knew that his battleship had a spare gun barrel, which was enough. With spare parts and ammunition. Then you can start the main gun shooting training. I was worried about ammunition replenishment and the loss of the barrel. As a result, no live ammunition was fired. Only the training simulation was launched. Although the results are pretty good, it is really good on the battlefield. It's hard to say, after all, shooting technology still depends on real ammunition.

On August 15th, Darlang issued an order that as the situation has stabilized, the government urgently needs funds. Therefore, the High Seas Fleet was ordered to immediately dispatch a powerful squadron to the port of Mirskbil, escorting two Breton-class battleships and the Abeltine light cruiser back to Toulon. These warships carried five evacuated from the mainland. Thousand boxes of gold.

Render. Admiral Laporte immediately issued a dispatch order with great interest. This time he was going to take his new flagship Richelieu and lead the cutting-edge heavy cruiser Algeria, three light cruisers and four Jaguar-class destroyers. Dispatch, by the way, conduct sea formation combat drills. After arriving at the Port of Mirskbil, they will conduct sea-fire training on the battle line with two Brittany-class ships, for the Richelieu. This will be her first live firing training.

The replenishment of the fleet was completed, and on the afternoon of August 16th, they lined up in a column and sailed out of Toulon Port in a mighty manner. Afterwards, while doing formation training, he moved quickly towards the other side of Africa. After 28 hours of continuous sailing, the fleet approached Mirskbil Bay.

The goal is in sight. Although the French navy officers and soldiers are exhausted, their morale is still high. They are all talking about how to appreciate the exotic scenery after arriving in Port Oran. Because there are many newbies in the fleet. I have never left the French mainland before, and everyone is looking forward to the destination of this trip.

At this moment, Richelieu's telegraph room received a shocking news.

"Milskbill Port issued an alert to the fleet. They were suddenly attacked by the British Navy. The British used torpedoes to launch air strikes against warships in the port. The warning also specified that the enemy was using British swords. Fish-type torpedo machines, there should be a British aircraft carrier formation nearby."

The British Navy often sends sword torpedo planes to the top of the French fleet. Every French naval soldier knows this thing, and it turns into ashes.~ IndoMTL.com~ The commander of the French Navy’s High Seas Fleet suddenly received the report. Furious, he flew the coffee cup in his hand. The entire fleet immediately mentioned the combat speed and accelerated towards Mirskbill.

Because it’s getting late and the enemy is using airstrikes by planes, the British aircraft carrier can release planes from any position, so Admiral Lapole does not expect to find the British fleet at all. He just wants to get to Mill soon. Skebil, check the damage, it is five thousand boxes of gold and two precious battleships.

Just as Lapold was standing in the bridge and was secretly depressed, the destroyer that came out suddenly sent a message that there was a fleet moving in the waters ahead. The other side was turning on the navigation lights. There should be three to four ships. In terms of location, it might be the British fleet that raided Millskbild.

La Boulder's eyes flashed suddenly, and he ordered the entire fleet to form a commando formation, turn off all navigation lights, and proceed at full speed in the direction of the suspicious fleet.

Then the scene above happened. The unlucky British H Fleet crashed into the murderous French Squadron. The close battle between battleships and aircraft carriers broke out on the Mediterranean under this night. xh123

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