Battle of the Third Reich Chapter 20: The Scharnhorst (top)
"Captain, the flagship has issued an order."
The first mate reports loudly on the phone.
"Oh?"
Siegfried, who was standing at the chart table and chatting with two naval officers. Feng. Captain Luoyan Kram quickly turned around.
"What order, Lions."
"Commander command, do it! Sir."
Lieutenant Colonel Ens replied loudly, although the expression on the first officer's face remained always serious and calm, Siegfried could hear the unstoppable excitement and joy in his voice.
"Um, I understand."
Hearing this long-awaited word clearly from the first mate's mouth, Siegfried felt a hot blood surge from the bottom of his heart, and the hot feeling instantly filled his body. At the same time A tingling sensation like an electric shock was rushing to the top of his head like lightning along his spine, making him feel the scalp tingling and his hair seemed to explode.
"It's finally started."
Siegfried took a deep breath and tried to restrain his excitement and increased heart rate.
"Lieutenant Colonel Lanes!"
Siegfried picked up his white military cap from the chart table beside him.
"Convey my orders!"
"Yes, Captain."
Lines tensed his entire muscles, stood straight on the spot, straightened his chest and answered loudly.
is not only the first officer, but all the officers and noncommissioned officers who are now on the bridge stand respectfully toward the young captain. Everyone held their breath and waited quietly for the captain to issue this long-awaited command. For a while, the entire bridge became silent, and only the annoying emitted by the old wall clock hung on the bridge wall was left. The ticking sound.
"All personnel arrive at the combat position immediately, the entire ship is ready for first-class combat, waiting for orders!"
"Yes, sir!"
The first officer excitedly raised his hand to salute.
"I hope that in the battle that is about to begin, every officer and soldier can do their duty. For the honor of the navy, for the rejuvenation of the great nation, for our sacred Germany, for the head of state to us Trust and expectation, contribute all your strength."
Siegfried put on his military cap, and then happily returned a military salute to everyone present.
"Yes, sir!"
"All for Germany!"
"Hi! Reinhardt, long live the head of state!"
The officers and soldiers shouted loudly to express their determination to their captain.
"Go ahead, gentlemen!"
Siegfried nodded in satisfaction. Driven by such a strong morale, he is now more confident of victory than ever.
"Not to mention..."
Siegfried walked to the huge porthole of the battle bridge and looked out at the surrounding sea. Through the thick bulletproof glass, a huge fleet appeared before his eyes.
Yes, with such a strong strength, Siegfried really couldn't find any reason for failure.
Now these warships that had been parked quietly were all in turmoil, and groups of sailors ran quickly on the deck to make the final preparations before the battle.
Several battleships have already activated their power, and the huge hulls moved slowly across the blue water.
Siegfried looked at the busy scene on the deck of the friendly ship with interest. He knew that the current situation on his ship must not be much worse than theirs.
Entering the first level of combat readiness too early will only consume the morale and physical strength of the soldiers, so the commander of the fleet is only now letting the warship enter the battle state. General Lütjens is indeed a shrewd commander.
"Captain. The engine is already on standby, request instructions."
the second pair reported loudly.
"The two cars have a quarter speed and 15 degrees on the left rudder. Follow the scheduled route calibrated on the chart to advance to the queue position. Pay attention to the position of the friendly ship, especially the "Gneisino", pay attention to her Formation distance. Lions, you go up and command."
"Yes, Captain!"
The first officer who was giving orders to the microphone quickly nodded in greeting, and then quickly stepped up the stairs and ran towards the upper navigation bridge.
Siegfried walked to the heavy armored hatch by the bridge, the orderman standing by the door quickly turned the pulley on the door to open the door, Siegfried stepped out the threshold and walked to the wide terrace outside the battle bridge on.
"Sir!"
The two machine gunners on duty on the terrace stood by an anti-aircraft machine gun and saluted their captain.
"Keep on guard, soldier."
Siegfried nodded slightly in return, then walked to the edge of the terrace and leaned on the armored fence to look at the fleet in front of him.
The closest battleship to him is the German Navy’s most powerful battleship "Gneisenau". She is slowly moving across the bow of Siegfried to the left wing. The hull is painted The huge fragmented camouflage made of black and white intertwined makes this powerful battleship look more fierce and elite.
The large rangefinder installed on the top of the "Gneisenuo" bridge is slowly turning, and it seems that the final inspection is being done.
Seeing this, Siegfried couldn’t help but look behind him, and saw that the large gun sight mounted on the top of the armored bridge and the rangefinder of the gun command post on the top of the main mast were doing the same. At work, the young captain couldn't help but smile knowingly.
The heavy cruiser "Admiral Hipper" is leaving her berth. This heavy cruiser with a beautiful hull and simple and beautiful bridge has surprisingly powerful combat power, although it is only equipped with 203 mm Her main artillery, but it was enough to send those British colleagues who dared to underestimate her into the sea.
Behind "Admiral Hipper" is her sister ship "Prince Eugen". Although it is a sister ship, "Prince Eugen" is actually owned by "Admiral Hipper". Improved model, performance and tonnage have been improved.
In order to allow her to participate in this battle, the head of state exerted pressure on the Naval Construction Bureau. As a result of those workers who kept rushing for work 24 hours a day, she entered the German Navy earlier than she was scheduled to officially serve next month. sequence.
But just entering the sequence does not mean that the battleship has combat effectiveness. It is also necessary to conduct systematic training on the crew of this battleship.
However, it will take at least half a year for the ship to perform combat missions.
The young head of state obviously does not have that patience. In order to realize his precise plan, the German navy must mobilize all its forces. For the head of state, any point of the navy’s combat power is precious, and it is a waste that he cannot tolerate to train such a powerful warship in the country.
So the head of state came up with a remedy. He summoned all the skilled crews who survived the heavy cruiser "Blucher" that was sunk in the Norwegian battle and sent them to the "Prince Eugen".
"Blucher" and "Prince Eugen" are also sister ships, so there is no difference in operation. In addition to ensuring the normal operation of the warship, those skilled sailors can also lead the novices to familiarize themselves with their work more quickly.
The current "Prince Eugen" is actually more like a training ship, but under the control of those skilled sailors, she has been able to exert most of her combat power, and there is no major problem in participating in naval battles.
And because of her current state, the commander of the fleet has given her a lot of care. In this battle, she will follow the flagship movement as a reserve team.
After all, she is still a new ship, and no one wants her to be injured the first time she joins the battle.
flagship "Admiral Scheer" is also beginning to move toward the predetermined array.
Seeing the "Admiral Scheer", Siegfried could not help but sighed secretly.
There are two capital ships in the German naval fleet that did not participate in this operation. These two battleships are both "German" class pocket battleships.
"Graf. Count Spey" has left the German Navy forever, she has sunk into the deep seabed outside Montevideo Port with her brave captain.
The other is the "Deutsche", which is now the "Luzov".
She was attacked by a British submarine during the Battle of Norway. A British torpedo hit her stern and almost blew it up.
She is still lying on the slipway of Kiel, unable to move. Because of the serious injury, the "Lyzov" could not be repaired in a short time, so she had to give up participating in this entire operation.
Colonel Ransdorf, the captain of the "Luzov", must be roaring angrily in his office now. Thinking of this, Siegfried couldn't help being thankful for his luck.
I almost couldn't participate in this operation like Ransdorf. If that were the case, it would be the biggest regret in my life.
"Scharnhorst" should be regarded as one of the most important battleships in the Third Reich Fleet. Together with the "Gneisenau", she has long been a major concern for the Royal Navy.
These two battleships are a pair of best gears, and they can return with a full load every time they are dispatched.
The most famous one was during the Battle of Norway. The two warships cooperated and tacitly sent the British aircraft carrier "Glory" to the bottom of the sea. By the way, they killed two British destroyers who wanted to come to rescue.
But because of this battle, the "Scharnhorst" was seriously injured and could only be driven back to Kiel Port, Germany for repairs.
But at last it was okay, her injury was much lighter than that of the "Luzov". Under the attention of the head of state, the repairmen rushed to work day and night, and finally rushed out of the dock before the fleet left the port.
However, because the original captain, Colonel Foster, was injured while participating in the Battle of Norway and has not healed, he is temporarily unable to continue his job as captain.
As a result, Siegfried. Feng. Colonel Royankram, by virtue of his ability and close relationship with the head of state, stood out from a large number of competitors and became the second captain of the German battleship "Scharnhorst".
And thanks to the efforts of the shipyard workers, he was allowed to participate in such a large and important operation as soon as he took the seat of the captain of the battleship.
Now the entire fleet sequence has been fully displayed in front of Siegfried.
Three battleships, one is the flagship "Admiral Scheer", the other is his sister ship "Gneisenau", and the last is my own search "Scharnhorst".
Two heavy cruisers "Admiral Hipper" and "Prince Eugen".
These five warships are the essence of the German Navy. A total of 24 283mm and 16 203mm heavy guns are installed on these warships. The firepower of these warships is enough to blow a British cruiser from here into the Mediterranean.
Not only that, this time all the existing light cruisers of the German Navy were dispatched.
"Amden", "Leipig", "Cologne" and "Nuremberg".
Although these four are just light cruisers, their strength must not be underestimated.
As light cruisers of the German Navy, their performance is superior to that of British warships of the same level.
After all, their original design was fully prepared for the brutal siege of the British fleet.
But because of this, in addition to running fast, these warships also have a feature that only the German Navy has in the design of the firepower configuration.
That is, their rear firepower is stronger than the front firepower. These cruisers only have a dual-mounted 152mm turret at the front ~ IndoMTL.com~ but two such turrets are installed at the rear.
This is obviously designed to escape. Thinking of this, Siegfried could not help but sigh. If it weren’t for the great Reinhardt’s head, those light cruisers might still be hiding in the upper east of the Atlantic and sneaking sneak attacks on British merchant ships. How could the German navy ever swoop down like this? With courage, how could there be such an opportunity to be proud.
Four light cruisers, with a total of 29 152mm guns. To be honest, these four light cruisers alone are enough to fight the British fleet.
If you add that group of destroyers, you don’t need to take action on these battleships.
Ten destroyers are two destroyer squadrons composed of German destroyers that survived the Battle of Norway and newly launched destroyers.
One squadron is made up of Z-levels, and the other squadron is mixed into two Z-level improved types.
This destroyer fleet has 40 127mm guns and 10 150mm guns. I didn’t expect the improved destroyer to have the firepower of a light cruiser. When Siegfried knew that there was such a destroyer, it was true. Was taken aback.
Looking at the huge lineup of his own fleet, coupled with the information he has already obtained about the enemy fleet he is about to face, Siegfried's only feeling now is that this is a battle without suspense.
The captain of "Scharnhorst" was puzzled.
"Does this count as animal cruelty? Does it look like an elephant stepping on Xiaoqiang?"