Bismarck

"Begin mobile bombardment!" the captain turned to Lindemann and ordered

"Bismarck, fire!"

Chapter 15: Goddess of Victory

I finally realized my identity and the times I lived in, and at the same time buried those thoughts from the peacetime era deep in my heart.

I pursed my lips and locked onto the target with all my strength. My perception caught the target's movements earlier than the optical sighting equipment, and calculated the trajectory in real time. I blocked the gunner's orders in advance and only kept in sync when firing at the end.

"Fire!" As soon as the gunner gave the order to fire, the guns in the barrel flew out impatiently, leaving only the gunner with his hand half-stretched out, frozen in mid-air. If it were normal times, I would definitely appreciate his stunned expression, but I really didn't have the heart to do so now. The captain's words and disappointed expression deeply hurt me, and I was determined to prove myself with actual strength.

Too close! Two shells fell into the sea in front of the wooden boat one after another. I immediately calculated again. Well, the elevation angle needs to be increased by two degrees. I thought about it and raised the muzzle a little bit.

"Fire!" The gunner's order was given again, and I maintained the synchronized firing speed again.

Two more shells whizzed toward the target.

This time the artillery sergeant did not doubt his own eyes. He quickly dialed the gunner's phone, but unfortunately I cut off the phone signal one step ahead.

Sorry, please wait until this is over before answering any questions. I'm sorry if I scared you.

"Fire!" The sergeant was still holding the phone when the order to fire came again. This time it was a salvo, with a total of six guns roaring together. After a huge column of water, the target disappeared perfectly on the sea.

The soldier was totally frightened and didn't know what to do.

The bridge erupted in cheers, and Lindemann nodded quietly to me, meaning that I did a good job. Only he and the captain knew that I was in full control now.

"Captain, I have accomplished my mission," I walked up to him and said with some pride.

"Well done," he nodded calmly, "at least you didn't disappoint me."

"But this time you need to explain to your gunner why I fired automatically."

"kindness?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the gunner on the bridge hurried down. I restored the telephone line after the shelling ended. Seeing that he couldn't hide his anxious expression, I guessed that the non-commissioned officer reported the situation.

I pointed to the door, and the gunner just walked in and towards us. He immediately understood what was going on, and the captain looked at me helplessly.

I said goodbye to the captain with a smile, and let him take care of this problem. He asked me to do it anyway. I thought maliciously that I had deliberately increased my firing speed just now, and I could have synchronized with the gunner.

The captain's reprimand was indeed good, but I am a narrow-minded person. Haha, I suddenly feel very good.

After the first phase of shooting training was over, various data needed to be counted and the bridge was temporarily empty. Lindemann took advantage of the fact that no one was around and came to my side.

"Are you okay just now?" Lindman and I leaned against the ear wall of the bridge and asked worriedly.

He had been paying attention to our situation just now, and he knew that something must have happened between me and the captain. He must have seen my grievance and the captain's anger.

"No, I was just scolded by the captain." I looked at him with amusement. "What do you think will happen to me?"

"Hey, that's not what I meant. The captain's intention is definitely for your own good. Don't take it to heart. He just looks strict."

"You don't even know what we talked about, but you know he's doing this for my own good?" I sneered. Although it was indeed my fault and my immaturity and indecisiveness annoyed him, what Lindman said was too much. He directly concluded that it was my fault.

"Haha, because I'm often scolded by the captain too." Lindemann smiled and touched my head. "If you do something wrong, you'll be criticized. This is for your own good. We've all been through this."

"Our captain is very capable, and it is obvious to all. It is an honor to work under him," Lindemann said proudly.

"Tsk, you guys are working for me," I laughed

"You are right if you really want to say that, but the captain will be the first one to kill you if he hears you, hahahaha."

"Hey, hey, you look down on me, Lindemann." I pretended to be angry and pretended to hit him.

"No, I can't bear your brute force." Lindeman smiled and dodged to the side. Suddenly, he pretended to be serious and looked behind me. "Ahem, hello, Captain!"

"Hey, don't scare me with the captain, he's still being harassed by the gunner." I laughed at Lindmann's weak ability to deceive me. Just now I noticed the strange thing that the captain was being pulled by the gunner to operate my secondary gun. How could he come here so quickly?

"What's wrong with me, huh?" The sudden voice behind my head made me freeze. I turned around with tears in my eyes, and it was the captain. I met his condescending gaze looking down at me.

I quickly turned around and stood next to Lindman, bowing my head and pretending to admit my mistake.

"Captain, I was wrong," I said sullenly, feeling puzzled. I was just talking to the gunner, so how come he came here all of a sudden?

"How can a deputy captain fight on the bridge? That's inappropriate." The captain glanced at us and scolded Lindmann first.

"Let you trick me." I glared at him. It was so funny to see his bitter face.

"Lindemann, go and summarize after the artillery test, what are you waiting for?" Lindemann left in a huff and went to mingle with the engineer. "Don't laugh, you have to give me the firing report too." Seeing my gloating look, the captain did not hesitate to give me one too.

"Yes," I replied, "I promise to hand it in right away." But then I realized I had never written these things before, so how could I write them?

"Captain, what should we write in the shooting report?" I also said with a bitter face.

"List all the problems in the shooting and the areas where the gun needs improvement," the captain said.

"Oh"

"Be serious, this is a problem about you, don't be careless. After all, you are the only one who knows you best," the captain slowed down his tone.

"I feel that only the hydraulic system is not very good, and the muzzle is not turning fast enough." I thought about it and said, "For things like the engine room, I can use my ability to forcibly increase the horsepower, but I am not familiar with the hydraulic system and don't know where to start to improve it."

This is the truth. This is the only problem I feel from shooting. It is particularly obvious in sports shooting. The turning of the naval gun muzzle is not very accurate and the speed is slightly slow. If I were allowed to control it myself, I would not have the feeling of being able to point and shoot.

"It's good that you can feel it," said the captain. "Only by doing it seriously can you feel the problem. Then write a report and I will help you solve it."

"Thank you, Captain," I said sincerely.

"Are you okay just now?" The captain suddenly said something after he finished saying this, which stunned me.

"What just now?" I asked in confusion, and then quickly realized what the captain was talking about.

"Captain, it's okay, I've figured it out." I smoothed the hair that had slid to my forehead and admitted my shortcomings without hesitation. "You are right, I do have that problem, I will definitely work hard to correct it, and I won't let you down!"

"Lindman said that he was also scolded all the way. Compared with him, I am better off," I winked playfully and smiled.

"This kid," the captain finally laughed, it's rare to see him like that, "actually it's normal for you to have such a reaction, after spending some time together, I found that your way of thinking is no different from ours, I've seen many new recruits have problems after getting on board, this is normal, actually I overreacted a bit, maybe I had higher expectations of you," he said apologetically.

I’m used to his commanding tone towards me, but the captain’s attitude makes me feel at a loss. Is it because I’m used to the captain’s dominance? . . . .

"No, no, Captain, I am proud of your high expectations of me, really." I said, "I should be sorry for my behavior just now."

"Haha," the captain chuckled, "I was just taking advantage of the situation just now to stimulate you to change your mind. Judging from your subsequent performance, the effect was good, so I hope you can understand."

"Ahem, Captain, I don't blame you really," I said.

"That's good. The main gun firing will begin soon. Get ready."

"what?!"

"Dingling! Dingling! Dingling!"

The exercise started again with a combat alert. The crew members had gotten used to it over the past few days and quickly and skillfully took up their combat positions.

"An enemy warship, bearing 067, distance yards, is approaching me. Prepare the ship's guns to fire at sea!" Lindmann loudly gave the order for a scenario simulation. Driven by hydraulics, my main gun slowly turned to the target direction, revealing its dark gun hole to the sky, ready to tear apart the invading enemy at any time.

But the actual situation was that I was driving at high speed at a 33-degree angle towards an uninhabited desert island, with the muzzle of the gun pointing at an isolated peak on the island.

I felt embarrassed as I watched the people in the bridge asking and answering questions in a serious manner.

Since this was just a test of the performance of the artillery, no one thought it was wrong to choose a fixed target. Embarrassing as it was, I still approached the target quickly at a speed of 20 knots. When I was about to reach it, Lindemann gave an order to turn the rudder to the right. I immediately pressed down on the starboard side, drawing a beautiful arc, exposing the entire side to the island, as well as the eight black holes of the gun muzzles.

"Main guns one to eight, fire in order!"

"fire!"

The ship shook violently, and the shock wave came out from the muzzle, penetrating the thick bridge armor almost unhindered, wreaking havoc in the internal space and the human eardrum and chest. I finally felt the horror of the 380. I could feel the powerful recoil, and the entire ship even buckled in the opposite direction of the gun, and swayed at the same time, and my chest was choked by the sudden recoil.

I guess everyone's ears were buzzing at this moment. Looking at their shocked expressions, I was actually quite proud - there were still people joking when my secondary guns were firing, but once the main guns were fired, everyone's subconscious reaction was to shrink their necks - except for the captain and Lindemann.

The distance of ten thousand yards was gone in a flash, and my shells exploded into a firework of flame and ash on the rock wall of the solitary peak, and smoke and dust rose to the sky.

This is true for rocks and battleships! A one-ton shell is enough to tear apart the armor of any battleship on the sea. There is no enemy that I cannot defeat. This is the Iron-Blooded Bismarck!

Before everyone could come to their senses from the deafening sound of the artillery fire, the second shell left the barrel again, and there was another earth-shaking thunder, followed by the third, fourth, and fifth shells, until all the shells in the eight barrels were fired.

In the end, everyone became numb to the loud noise and just kept their heads down to do their own things. However, the noise in the bridge was much louder than usual - because they had to shout to speak.

"Clear chamber!" the gunner ordered. "Load the second round!"

The gunners skillfully opened the bottom door of the turret, loaded the second shell, and then locked the bolt.

This time it was a salvo. Undoubtedly, the sight of eight cannons roaring together was spectacular, but it was also a great test for my ship's structure, after all, the recoil was no joke.

"Bismarck, fire your guns! Fire!"

For a moment, I felt as if time slowed down. I saw eight dazzling sparks blooming from eight black barrels, and the light lit up half of my steel body at the same time. The blooming of the flower of death squeezed the surrounding air crazily, making the ethereal air seem to have substance. The sea surface below was felt by the pressure and instantly sank a large area of ​​space. Then there was the figure of the projectile flying past at a high speed, and eight fireballs soon bloomed on the opposite side.

The rumbling sound echoed in my ears, my body was hit violently by the recoil, and my ribs felt like I was punched hard. As soon as the shell was fired, I immediately began to check my structure.

"Are you okay?" the captain turned to ask me

I took a quick look and saw no damage, so I shook my head at him.

After a long while, I finally stopped swinging, and the smoke and dust on the island also dissipated. However, it was missing something.

The "deputy chief" observer said excitedly, "The mountain is gone."

The mountain was flattened by my naval guns. Everyone was in shock, followed by great surprise.

Lindemann also gave me a thumbs up

"You are the goddess of victory of the sea"

Chapter 16: Trip to Berlin

Half a month passed in a flash, all the sea trials were successfully completed, and I set off on the return journey. All the tests on the ship passed smoothly, but there were also many problems exposed. I reported two or three of them, one was the reaction speed of the hydraulics, one was the lack of detection distance, and the other was the uncertainty of the anti-aircraft firepower.

I have seen a documentary about the destruction of the Bismarck in later life. I was beaten to death by those old-fashioned British biplane torpedo bombers because my steering gear was hit and I could not walk. It can be seen that my anti-aircraft firepower was not very strong. But after I reported it, the engineer on board thought that my anti-aircraft firepower was sufficient, and it would cost a lot of money to upgrade my anti-aircraft firepower, so it was not easy to get approval. So the captain promised to let the shipyard improve one or two items when he returned. As for the anti-aircraft firepower, he would report it to the Navy Department, and I don’t know whether it would be approved or not.

I didn't react much when I heard the news. At most I just had to be careful not to get hit by torpedo planes. I kept paying attention.

The only thing that puzzled all the engineers was the problem of automatic firing of the 150 guns. Unfortunately, they checked it many times and did not find any problem. If it were explained in the future, it could be explained as an error in the computer program, but now it can only be a mystery.

After a day's sailing, we returned to Kiel Harbor near dusk. By the time I docked at the pier, it was already dusk.

The lights of Kiel Harbor were bright in the night, and all kinds of supplies were piled up at the dock, and were moved into the cabin in large quantities. After a night of replenishment, I will return to the Voss Shipyard in Hamburg tomorrow to continue repairs and assembly and commissioning. So the poor guys have no rest again, I think they are used to it.

After dinner, I went to the captain's room as usual. The captain really took care of my room. I never saw him go off the ship to have fun. He always stayed in his room to handle documents when he had free time, or went down to the deck to see how the soldiers were working. He was simply a workaholic. Compared to Lindemann, I didn't see him at night anyway. I guess he went out to play with the chief engineer again.

"Captain, I'm coming in." I knocked on the door openly. Now I have an identity that allows me to meet people and there is no need to hide. When I passed by the military police, I greeted him with a smile.

"Come in" As soon as the captain finished speaking, I pushed the door open. Sure enough, he was sitting behind the desk again, and I sat in front of him as usual.

"Here, take a look." The captain handed me a list, which listed the improvements that the Navy Headquarters approved the shipyard to make to me.

"Sure enough, the anti-aircraft firepower was not approved." I glanced at it and found that my suggestion was not included in the scope of improvement.

"No way, we have an engineer from the Navy here, he thinks your anti-aircraft firepower is sufficient, and we didn't conduct an anti-aircraft firepower test this time." The captain said to me helplessly, "This is not something I can decide."

"Captain, I don't blame you." I folded the list in half and put it aside, smiling and said, "I don't really understand this either, it's just a feeling. If he doesn't approve it, then forget it. I'll just be careful when the time comes."

"Do we have to wait until the war to test whether your air defense is up to standard?" The captain sighed and said, "I don't understand what they want to do."

"Oh, by the way, after you return to Hamburg, you will go to the factory for repairs, which will probably take half a year. During this time, I will go back to Berlin. Didn't you want to go to Berlin last time? I can take you there," the captain looked at me and said lightly.

"Really?" I was surprised by the sudden news. "Can I go with you?"

"Captain, have you been granted leave?"

"It's not all vacation," the captain said. "You want to do factory repairs, and I don't have anything else to do. Regel asked me to go to the Navy Department to help. It can be regarded as a change of position. Do you want to go?"

"Let's go," I said excitedly, afraid that the captain would regret it if I spoke too slowly. I have wanted to visit the capital of Germany for a long time, but it was too far away from the main city. How could I miss this opportunity?

"Then where do I live, Captain?" I thought of a serious question, it couldn't be...

"You can live in my house. I have a daughter who is about your age. I remember telling you that" the captain looked at me and said "you and she will have a companion too"

"She is alone now, it would be good to find her a friend," said the captain.

As expected! I really have to live in the Captain’s house...

"Well, what about your wife? Why doesn't she live with you and your daughter?" I asked cautiously. This wouldn't be considered as inquiring into other people's privacy. I would always know, I comforted myself.

"She died a long time ago," the captain said after a moment of silence.

"Captain, I'm so sorry," I apologized, "I didn't know."

"It has nothing to do with you, you don't have to apologize." The captain lit a cigar

The atmosphere fell into a strange silence

"Bismarck, tell me about your future plans," the captain suddenly asked, "What do you want to do in the future?"