Bismarck

"Well, what's the matter?" the captain asked

"During the last night raid, I forced the main engine to start because of time constraints. This morning, when I encountered a torpedo, I also reversed on my own before the order was issued," I said, "Not to mention the problem of the main gun aiming angle. Of course, I changed this angle without changing the instrument data, and the gunner inside didn't know either, which is not bad."

"I know what you want to say," the captain said calmly, "I have also heard the rumors below."

"Now the crew are saying that there is a ship spirit on the ship, which can control the warship by itself." I said with a bitter face, "It's almost become a weird story."

"Aren't you?" The captain smiled.

"..."

"Okay, what do you have in mind?" the captain asked me. I immediately told him my idea, which was a solution I had been thinking about for a long time when I was bored.

"Captain, you and I both know that although we will not face the British navy this time, the rise of Germany is definitely related to them. So since there is such a big gap in our strength, I must exert my full ability to survive. Don't you agree?"

"I want to give full play to my potential. It is definitely not enough to rely on the cooperation between the crew and me. Once your order comes down, it will go through so many procedures. If we don't take care of the situation that some crew members make mistakes, it will take a long time. The situation on the battlefield changes rapidly. How can we rely on this? The fastest way is for your order to be passed directly to me, and I will then feedback to each component."

"You want all the crew members to watch?" The captain frowned. "That's too obvious."

"So I want you to announce that a fully automatic command instrument has been installed on the ship," I said. "To be honest, in the battles of the past few days, I have been facing the enemy while worrying about not being too 'presumptuous' in front of the crew. It's really tiring and I feel constrained everywhere."

"Fully automatic command device? What is that?"

"Although this is just a name, it means exactly what it says - Captain, you can command my ship from the bridge without going through the crew," I explained.

"Oh, you mean I should announce this news to the crew, and then you can control the ship at will during the war?" said the captain.

"Yes"

"Won't it be too much for you to control so many parts by yourself?"

I frowned, "Captain, the ship is my body, can you twist your fingers together?"

"Of course, Captain, you asked the crew to keep this a secret." I thought about it and said, "I don't want someone to come aboard and ask for this command instrument, and I won't be able to produce anything."

"I'll think about it." The captain didn't reply immediately. "This matter involves too many aspects and it's not easy to handle."

"I hope you can agree. Anyway, I will definitely repair it when I return to Hong Kong this time. I will just announce that it has been installed then."

"kindness"

Chapter 39: Special Shells

I lay on top of the bridge, my hands behind my head, thinking about the evening.

What did the captain say to me when he was leaving?

Oh, it seems that I was asked "Bismarck, are you afraid of death?"

My answer is "Captain, I'm scared too"

Yes, I am also afraid of death. I don't know what will happen if I sink. Will I lose consciousness immediately or stay quietly in the deep sea for centuries? If it is the latter, it is really more terrifying than death in the traditional sense - One Hundred Years of Solitude

In addition to death, I am also afraid of pain, I am afraid of not being able to return to my country, I am afraid of wandering outside, I am afraid of many things, but I can't communicate with the captain and others to relieve my stress. For example, can I talk to the captain about my concerns about the Rhine River exercise? Can I say that I am not optimistic about the future of Germany? Can I tell the captain that Germany is about to fight against the whole world and we will definitely lose?

No, I can't say anything. I have to bear all the hope and despair for the future by myself. And today, after hearing the captain talk about the comparison between us and the British Navy, this despair for the future has been intensified - will the ending of the Rhine change? I finally know what a painful process it is to know my own ending. It's like you are sitting on a train that you know is heading towards a cliff, but you can't say anything to others, and you watch the end of the world approaching...

I know what the captain meant by that question. Facing such a powerful enemy, if we fight in the future, there is a high chance that I will be sunk, even though I have unrivaled combat power. Moreover, the stronger I am, the more eye-catching I will be, and the more I will be targeted.

So - Captain, you also don't think highly of the confrontation at sea?

What about my fate? I dare not think about it.

Now I am just deceiving myself day by day, trying not to think about the future, trying to live in the victory over Poland, trying to live in Germany's internal propaganda, and at the same time cherishing every day of my relatively "peaceful" life - although it is gradually being broken. I used to have a lot of time to "stick" with the captain, but now...

I want to change, but what can I do?

The next day, the Danzig Bay welcomed the morning sun amid the sound of gunfire.

"Weigh anchor!" Under Lindemann's command, I and another battleship slowly pulled the anchor out of the water, and then sailed towards Fortress Hel at a speed of fifteen knots.

"Prepare main guns for firing!"

"Main gun fire ready!"

"fire!"

The battleship Holstein and I formed a straight line 13000 yards away from Fort Hel, turned all the main guns to one side, and poured the main gun shells onto the fortress while cruising. In an instant, smoke and dust rose up.

The defenders of the fortress were not to be outdone and immediately aimed their shore artillery at our two battleships. Splashes of water from the 150-caliber shells continued to appear around us.

"Cancel the column formation and maneuver to evade!" the captain ordered.

"Yes!"

Since the shore gun is fixed on land, it is not affected by the shaking of the ship, and its accuracy is much higher than that of the naval gun. Moreover, the shore gun does not need to worry about the space problem, and its power is not comparable to the same caliber naval gun on the ship. It is quite painful to be hit by a shore gun.

Not long after the defenders on the shore started to fire back, the bullets hit me very close to me, and I could clearly feel the blast from the near misses.

I immediately began to maneuver and evade them, moving in front of them in an irregular manner while maintaining a high speed of nearly 30 knots. The Polish gunners immediately felt the strain, and the shells deviated further and further from me. However, the crew members on the ship felt a little uncomfortable. Constantly changing directions at a speed of 30 knots, the feeling of nausea and vomiting is not something that ordinary people can bear. At least I found a lot of pale-faced crew members with a quick glance inside the hull. It was really tragic.

Just when I no longer had to worry about my safety, a loud noise came from not far away. I was startled.

"Holstein was hit by a shell," I immediately reported to "Little Broken!"

As my high-speed maneuvers made it increasingly difficult for the Polish defenders to hit me, and it was a sheer waste of shells, so they all aimed at the old and slow Holstein. Even though it also made evasive maneuvers, it still inevitably passed through the water column stirred up by the artillery fire until a shell hit its turret directly.

"Boom!" One of its main turrets stopped rotating almost immediately and was flipped over. A horrible black hole appeared on the side and thick smoke billowed out. The whole ship was like a smoldering haystack. I saw body parts scattered all over the floor and all the crew members in the turret were dead.

"Ask about the damage!" the captain said.

"Yes!"

After a while, the communications officer came running over

"Captain, Holstein reports that a main gun on the front deck is seriously damaged, but it can still continue to fight!"

But before the communications officer could finish his words, an armor-piercing shell hit the poor Holstein again. There was not a loud explosion, but the location was quite bad.

"The Holstein was hit by a bullet and was broken. It was pierced below the waterline and a large amount of water is taking in!" I started scanning immediately and found that this old-fashioned warship was penetrated by a parabolic armor-piercing shell below the waterline. Not only was the hull pierced, but the waterproof compartments inside were also damaged by the explosion, and the sea water rushed in.

"Withdraw the Holstein from the battle!" the captain said immediately

I observed that the crew on it was trying to control the damage, but because the explosion was too large, it was difficult to block the water. In the end, they had to abandon one compartment. When the seawater filled that compartment, the entire battleship had already tilted, seriously affecting its maneuverability. If it stayed there, it would be hit by several coastal artillery shells. I just don't know if it can withstand it. Holstein had to abandon its combat mission, withdraw from the battle, and prepare to go to the German port for repairs.

It's a tragedy. I lighted a candle in my heart for her fate. The Holstein is too old. It was designed during World War I, but due to backward concepts, it was outdated when it was first launched. The British dreadnoughts at that time could beat it, not to mention now, a cruiser is enough to give it a hard time. Whether it is speed or artillery, it is far behind the times.

This actually also reflects the dilemma of the German Navy. There are no ships available, and even an old ship from World War I is used as a battleship.

Otherwise, why do we say it takes ten years for the army and a hundred years for the navy? Since the Führer came to power, the army has undergone earth-shaking changes, but the navy is still in a slump, and its combat effectiveness may not even be as strong as the High Seas Fleet of William's era.

Of course, I was just feeling a little emotional. After Holstein left, the Polish artillery immediately pointed at me, and I had to concentrate all my energy to deal with them.

Fortunately, I was not hit.

After a day of fighting, Hel Fortress was still intact, which did not surprise me. After all, the fortress surrendered only after Poland was completely destroyed, which shows how difficult it is to attack. The Battle of Danzig was also captured quickly with my help, otherwise the German army would have spent seven days. I would have been surprised if Hel Fortress was so easy to capture.

At night, we returned to the anchorage again. After a day of fighting, I breathed a sigh of relief.

Lindemann came over and patted my shoulder with a smile.

"Eh?"

"How about it? You played very well today."

"Haha, your positioning is so cool and your awareness is so unique, there's nothing I can do about it" I replied casually

"Ah? What do you mean? What positioning, what awareness? Does it matter?" Lindman was stunned by my answer.

"Ahem," I coughed awkwardly a few times. It was over. I didn't notice that I had used the same words before. "No, I mean that my evasion ability is too strong. They can't do anything to me."

"Keep it up, the shore artillery is not pleasant." Lindemann sighed. "See that battleship? Two guns have almost lost their combat effectiveness."

"I can only say that it's a good thing there wasn't someone like me on that boat, otherwise that person would have been in so much pain," I said with a smile

"Well, although your situation is different, you should still be careful," Lindemann said

"Don't worry, my armor is not comparable to that of its old battleships. Hehe, it's 20,000 tons."

"Hahahaha"

At night, I hid in the ammunition depot again. When I was shelling the Polish positions today, I found that the angles of several shore artillery positions were very tricky. In a concave terrain, I couldn't hit it head-on with my ship's gun elevation angle. I could only destroy the facilities around it, but that was a painless act. I had to find a way to destroy it directly. So I thought of that special shell again.

I summarized the reasons for the failure of the special shell last time. First, the timing of the wing opening was wrong. Opening it too early would cause great damage to the aerodynamic shape, causing serious deceleration of the shell, excessive kinetic energy loss, and difficulty in forming effective penetration. Second, the position of the wing was wrong. It was installed at the tail. The energy from the sudden explosion of gunpowder instantly destroyed the connecting shaft used for control, causing the wing to lose control. The wing should be installed at the head, so that the impact of the shock wave on the wing would be much smaller.

Well, let's do it this way. I concentrated my mental strength again, and the shells gradually began to ripple under my influence...

"Ha——I'm so sleepy." I yawned. The loss was quite large. Looking at the formed shells, I decided to rest early.

Well, good sleep.

The next morning, I appeared on the bridge with dark circles under my eyes.

"What did you do last night?" Lindeman asked in surprise. "You look like this..."

"I made some small things. Today I have to kill those annoying flies. Haha..." I rubbed my eyes and answered in a daze.

Emma, ​​you seem to be still asleep. What should I do?

I slapped my face hard. OK, I admit that a girl who is confused in the morning is very cute, but!!!

"Hahaha, Bismarck, you're so cute like this." Lindemann rubbed my head hard, making me shake my hair in dissatisfaction. Lindemann's behavior was just like that of a wretched uncle! Although the captain often does this, it's completely different, okay!

Ahh ...

After weighing anchor, we headed to the reserved location again amid the sound of gunfire, because the captain had seen from yesterday's attack that this fortress would not be taken in a short time, and he had ordered that my main guns no longer be used to bombard the fortress today, and that the secondary guns of 150 mm would be used instead. Anyway, the effect would be the same if we could not hit the vital parts, and besides, my main guns had a short lifespan, and could only be used 200 to 300 times with full gunpowder loading, so it was not cost-effective to make meaningless shots at the fortress.

"Captain, I want to use the main gun once," I said immediately after the captain got on the bridge.

"Well, why?"

"I made another special shell last night, the same one used in Danzig last time," I said, "Didn't that shell fail?" The captain looked at me and said, "Didn't you get enough rest last night?"

"Well, it's very late, but Captain, I have improved it again." I cheated and grabbed the captain's sleeve and shook it slightly. "Every experiment has its failures. Let me try it again, Captain, just one, okay?"

The captain looks at his watch, the "Dora Turret"

"Thank you, Captain!" I immediately said happily, "I will destroy that annoying artillery position!"

Water splashed around me one after another, and I moved quickly like a nimble swordfish, while continuously bombarding the Polish army with my secondary guns. Of course, the effect was very average.

"Be careful," the captain warned me as he watched me concentrate on steering the ship. In order to give me more freedom, the captain deliberately replaced the helmsman with a recruit, so that if I did something strange, it would not attract so much attention. Moreover, the recruits were inexperienced and generally would not notice the inconsistency between my behavior and his steering.

"Yes," I responded, and at the same time focused my attention on the artillery position hidden in the concealed place.

The main turret slowly turned and locked onto the target in my consciousness.

That’s about it...

"Captain, give the order," I said softly, and I replaced the shells in the barrel with special shells.

The captain nodded.

"Fire!"

"Boom——" Two shells whizzed out

Chapter 40: Final Chapter of the Polish Campaign

Two shells flew out of the barrel together, and one of them immediately entered my perception range. I once again entered a state similar to meditation. I excluded the surrounding situation and only the image of the shell appeared in my mind.

"Yeah." I closed my eyes and suddenly felt a pain in my body. I immediately realized that I was hit, and heard someone shouting "Anthony's turret was hit!"

It seemed that we went too close to the shore artillery range, and without my control, something went wrong soon.

Well, but the armor of the turret is quite thick, and a mere 150mm shore artillery can't cause much damage to me, so I have been concentrating my mental energy on the special artillery shells.

The firing range of my main guns was much greater than that of the Polish shore artillery. If I had provided ground support, I could have done so outside the firing range of their shore artillery. The problem was that the Polish 150-meter shore artillery position was located in a special concave terrain. Even if I used special bullets for long-range artillery fire, it would be difficult to hit the target because the trajectory was too low. So I had to approach the shore artillery position and fire at the maximum elevation of 40 degrees.

Of course, the consequence was that I got hit by a 150mm bullet. What should I say to the helmsman...

I took a quick look inside the special bullet and it was good, with the connecting shaft functioning normally.

So, let’s begin!

The two shells first rose rapidly at almost similar speeds and trajectories, but when they were mid-air, one of the shells suddenly had a strange trajectory to outsiders - it suddenly slowed down drastically, and its fellow shell that was fired at the same time surpassed it in an instant.

The wings popped out, and the air resistance increased immediately. The missile body swayed for a moment in the violent vortex, but I quickly controlled it.

Very good, I controlled it. I adjusted its trajectory with excitement and caution. After slowing down, it quickly reached the top of the parabola and then started to go down.

I didn't dare to make large-scale operations for fear of losing too much momentum, so I tried to aim at the target when the parabola was moving downward.

The wings folded up, and the shells whistled.