Bismarck

Seeing Eugen nodding vigorously, he did not hesitate and directly issued the combat order:

"Order, heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen. Maximum speed 37.5 knots. Heading 180 degrees due south. Target the American fleet, attack at full speed!"

-------

The Prince Eugen, attacking at full speed, soon appeared on the radar screen of the battleship Washington.

"Report! Radar detected target!

"It's the Germans, the Germans are attacking!"

A heavy cruiser actually rushed towards a fleet?

They probably have nowhere to run, so they are struggling to death, the American commander gave orders in a cold voice. It seems that their encirclement has been effective. Even if their radar is not as good as the enemy's, they still have brains and can roughly predict the direction.

"Order the formation to speed up. Radar soldiers, report the battlefield situation! Report the battlefield situation immediately!"

"They are 240 degrees to our port side, 900 yards away, knots, yards per minute, heading due south... They are heading towards us!"

"Staff team. Mark the battlefield situation immediately."

"Report to the commander, our destroyer in front is still 26,000 yards away from them, but the cruiser Portland is less than 25,000 yards away from them, and they are still behind us..."

"Observation post report! Flashes of fire were spotted in the distance! The Germans opened fire!"

"Firing at such a long distance? Who cares? Do these Germans think their battleships are invincible? They actually gave us a T-head."

Facing a powerful enemy, Major General Wilcox felt that his mind was much clearer under the pressure of the enemy situation. One judgment and command after another came out of his mouth quickly: "Pass my order: Portland and the destroyers maintain formation and start evasion! Also, notify them that based on the rudder effect of Washington and the current time, the entire fleet will collectively turn right and turn together in three minutes - and before turning around, Washington, use the radar aiming mode of the MK3 fire control radar, aim at that German and fire!"

"The radar soldier understands! The distance is now 20,000... Wait, this is... Not good! There's something wrong with the radar!"

"Radar?! What happened to the radar?!"

Wilcox was anxious and rushed to the radar screen. However, the 360-degree rotating scanning PPI screen was fine in other directions, but it was just a snowflake in the direction of the enemy ship.

Soon, the observation post also received news: German shells exploded in the air in front of the battleship Washington. And according to observation, there seemed to be something like silk in the explosion, and while the shock wave of the explosion was blowing away, it was still faintly reflecting the fire of the explosion...

Major General Wilcox soon realized what it was...

"Damn jammers! Someone, pass the order! The Washington turns as planned. The Portland fires flares at the possible area ahead of the Germans' route. Also, tell the destroyers that they don't have to follow us and turn right. Let them turn left and prepare for anti-navigation torpedo attacks... Oh, and send a telegram to the British and the North Carolina, asking them to get closer to us!"

"Yes!"

The heavy cruiser Portland received the order and began to follow the Washington's turn while spreading the angles of the three turrets. The nine guns fired one after another as the turrets slowly turned, and according to the approximate range provided by Washington, they fired flares in a fan-shaped area where Prince Eugen might be active.

Wilcox's move really worked. The Prinz Eugen's shadow was immediately illuminated by the light of the flare in the darkness. The rear main gun of the Washington, which was turning, no longer cared about the vibration caused by the sinkhole in the stern flow field design at high speed, and did not care whether the accuracy would decrease during the turn. It directly relied on the optical sight and roared back at the dim shadow that was still 25,000 yards away.

With every salvo, the entire dim sky would be briefly illuminated, and the dull sound of the cannons could be heard from a long distance in the wind.

Even at this time, the dim sky and the water column observation error of the optical sight itself at a long distance did not allow for accurate determination of the distance of the shooting error at a distance of 25,000 yards...

Prince Eugen simply disdained this level of shelling, as the shells were still far from landing.

At this time, under Top's order, the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen had already deviated to the right by one compass point (11.25 degrees), leaving a sufficient firing angle for her four rear main guns. In the barrels of the eight guns, some high-explosive shells that looked normal but contained something special were already loaded...

"Prince Eugen, all gun ports loaded with high-explosive shells. Target enemy heavy cruiser, distance 22000 meters ( yards)... open fire!"

Under the dark night sky, flames flashed from the muzzles of the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen once again. Eight guided high-explosive bombs smashed into the heavy cruiser Portland, which was getting closer and closer, and whose speed had dropped due to the turn and was unable to effectively fight back.

The heavy cruiser USS Portland was immediately blasted with two fierce fireballs by the 203mm high-explosive bombs. And before the Americans could react, the 203mm main guns of the Prinz Eugen were firing at full force, one after another, like a storm.

Chapter 537: Fierce Battle (Part 2)

With a distance of only 20 kilometers and guided artillery shells being used, Top and Eugen have made up their minds to remove this "obstacle" between themselves and the Washington as quickly as possible.

In just two minutes, just two minutes, the unfortunate heavy cruiser Portland was hit by ten 203mm high-explosive shells in a dense and fierce rain of bullets.

Although the USS Portland has 102mm main armor and 64mm deck armor, which is much stronger than the armor protection of the Northampton and Pensacola classes, her main turret armor is a big problem - the ammunition depot is protected by 57 to 146mm armor, but the main turret is only 64mm thick and the thinnest is less than 20mm. Moreover, the three 12mm guns of the old MK203 main turret are still connected together.

The high-explosive shells of the Prinz Eugen had no problem penetrating the 50mm homogeneous armor, which was not hard enough but stronger than the surface-hardened armor. As long as they penetrated the main turret, the design of the MK12 main turret would inevitably destroy all three guns.

Not to mention, the armor design of American cruisers has always been a pitfall.

For some reason, until the Baltimore class, which had a full load of 20,000 tons, the American ammunition depot armor and engine room armor were divided into several armor boxes that were barely close together, and the ammunition depot armor was even built into a dome-like structure. It was not until the Des Moines class that the armor design of American cruisers had the concept of armor belts and armor zones, and this design has caused great losses to current American cruisers.

Under the hail of artillery fire, two of the three main turrets of the Portland heavy cruiser were silenced on the spot. Although the remaining main turret A was lucky enough to escape the disaster due to the blockage of the hull, the two firing command centers on the front and rear bridges were hit repeatedly in the hail of bullets and were completely unusable, not to mention the large non-armored areas on the waterline and the exposed chimney part of the engine room...

In just one encounter, the Portland completely lost its combat effectiveness!

Prince Eugen's saturation attack is extremely terrifying for cruisers!

"Well done!" Top couldn't help but shout, and cheers rang out on the bridge.

Eugen jumped a little to express his happiness.

However, in just a short while, the USS Washington turned around.

Her course and that of the Prinz Eugen were at a 45-degree angle, and they were competing for T advantage. In the closing rate of the same battle, even though there was an angle between the course of the Washington and the course of the Prinz Eugen, and the speed vector in the same direction decreased, the closing rate was also reduced to only 500 yards per minute.

The nine 406mm guns of the Washington slowly turned around and, under the command of the observation instrument, aimed at the Prince Eugen, which was approaching from yards away.

That huge gun barrel is the most terrifying existence. If it is hit by a bullet, it will definitely cause serious damage to the cruiser.

"Sir, the Portland is sending a light signal!"

"speak!"

"…Their firing command post has been completely destroyed. There is only one main turret left on the ship. The hull is flooded and tilted three degrees. One chimney has been destroyed. The speed has dropped to 24 knots… But they will continue to perform their duties and continue to fire flares to illuminate the trail of the Prinz Eugen… Request the flagship to use them as cover and bombard the German warships with all its might!"

In the command room of the USS Washington, in front of Rear Admiral Wilcox, the signalman's report was already choked with sobs...

Faced with the German battleship that was said to be possessed by evil spirits, the seriously injured Portland intended to use itself to illuminate the direction of victory for everyone.

In the face of the heavy cruiser Portland's oath to perform its duties faithfully even if it was seriously injured, not only the signalman who reported the news, but even Wilcox was moved.

Pretending to be ruthless, he turned his back and secretly wiped the corners of his eyes. Wilcox suppressed the emotion in his heart and gritted his teeth to issue a combat order:

"Inform the entire army of the Portland's deeds, and tell them that in order to prevent the Portland from sacrificing in vain, this damned German warship must be kept alive! Order, the battleship Washington begins shelling, target Prinz Eugen, open fire!"

The nine 406mm main guns roared in the direction of the Prinz Eugen with a vengeful roar. On the port side of the Prinz Eugen, the two destroyers that had also turned around also began to fearlessly rush forward in front of the Prinz Eugen's route.

Further away on the left and right wings, the British ship Renown, along with two cruisers and the battleship North Carolina, had already increased to full speed and turned to flank the Prinz Eugen on both wings.

"Top. American battleships are firing. Turn to avoid..."

"Oh no! Everyone get down!"

Seeing a shell flying straight towards his bridge, Eugen, who had no time to dodge, shouted for everyone to lie down, and threw Top, who had not yet reacted, into the corner opposite the expected landing point of the shell, behind a pile of equipment.

And in the next second, a hole was smashed in the bridge of Prince Eugen, and less than 0.1 second later, a huge ball of fire exploded directly from the middle of the bridge.

After all, it was a battleship's artillery fire, and its accuracy was much more accurate than that of a cruiser. And I don't know if it was due to hatred, but the artillery of the battleship Washington fired at an extraordinary level. Even though the Prinz Eugen tried its best to evade, the fire control director and radar on the top of the main mast were directly hit by a 406 shell.

Under the kinetic energy of the 1227 kg armor-piercing shell and the explosion of 18 kg of high explosives, the main mast of the Prince Eugen was directly broken in half, and the facilities and personnel in the bridge also suffered heavy casualties.

Even Eugen himself felt as if his head had been hit hard by something and was a little dizzy.

We can only be thankful that the explosion did not occur inside the lower hull of the battleship, otherwise the entire deck would have been torn apart.

"Eugen! Eugen!"

Top, who was thrown down by Eugen in the corner opposite the explosion, was not seriously injured because of the protection of Eugen and the equipment, except that his chest felt a little stuffy due to the violent vibration and he vomited a small amount of blood unconsciously. However, looking at the dizzy Eugen, Pan was really anxious.

Not only were they worried about her condition, but if Eugen fainted, they would really be doomed here.

"Eugen! Are you okay? Wake up, don't scare me... Damage Control Team! Where is the Damage Control Team!"

Toph shouted for Eugen and called out to the damage control team.

Fortunately, Eugen shook her head and recovered a little. The blow didn't hit her vital parts, so the damage to her was not serious.

"Top... I'm fine... Wait, another shell is coming down, and it's landing on... the right..."

"That's good. I'll turn the rudder." Seeing that Eugen was fine, Top felt relieved. He put Eugen down and rushed to the steering gear. He pushed away the helmsman whose vest had been blown to pieces. He ignored the cold wind blowing in from the broken glass of the bridge porthole and the thick smoke coming out of the gaps in the bridge command room behind. Top, who claimed to be the best at manipulating German naval warships, skillfully turned the steering wheel to the right.

As the Prince Eugen began to evade by turning left, this round of nine 406mm shells with red tracers failed to hit the Prince Eugen. They flew past her bridge, which was already emitting thick smoke, and created a circle of tall water columns on the sea not far from the Prince Eugen's hull.

Seeing that the ship had hit the Prinz Eugen, there was a great deal of jubilation in the bridge of the Washington. Even Wilcox could not help but stand by the porthole and shouted:

"Good job! Keep going! Hit me hard!"

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Under the illumination of the Portland and the blazing fire on the bridge of the Prinz Eugen, the guns of the battleship Washington opened fire again and again. The heavy 1227 kg armor-piercing shells were fired at the Prinz Eugen at an average rate of one round every forty seconds.

Although the MK6 main gun is equipped with a short and thick bullet, and the bullet shape coefficient CRH is only 4, the trajectory of the 1227 kg armor-piercing projectile is extremely curved, and both the trajectory curve and the accuracy can barely be compared with the mortar. However, as time goes by, the Americans have gradually seized the T head, and the distance has been shortened to the fierce firepower of three salvos every two minutes on average, which makes old sailors like Top a little uncomfortable.

By now, the high-explosive shells of the Prinz Eugen were almost exhausted. Although the Prinz Eugen was also using the fire control parameters of the backup command center on the rear bridge, it brought out 203mm armor-piercing shells to fight back against the Washington. However, the power of the 203mm armor-piercing shells at this distance was completely useless for the Washington. Even if it hit an unprotected area, it could only cause a breach of about half a meter in diameter. Moreover, the Eugen had not recovered yet. Not only was the height of the backup director not high enough, but it was also affected by the smoke from the fire on the front bridge. It could only rely on the centimeter-wave radar on the top of the director to barely measure the distance and artillery accuracy, and it was also blocked by the heavy cruiser Portland.

Although the accuracy of the sailors' operation was much higher than that of the American heavy cruiser, the power was not enough to cause any impact on the Washington. Moreover, more shells directly hit the Portland, adding new wounds to the brave heavy cruiser that still insisted on blocking the bullets for its flagship, and paralyzed it on the sea.

But at this point, let alone paralyzing the USS Washington, even if the Portland was sunk, there was still no way to do anything to the USS Washington...

The Prince Eugen has now been hit by various straddles from the Washington's 406, and it looks dangerous - although this "straddle" is actually an illusion caused by poor dispersion. But there is a saying that goes, your good maneuverability can't do anything to my poor dispersion...

As the saying goes, if you walk too much at night, you will encounter ghosts sooner or later. If you walk through this rain of bullets, you will get hit if you are not careful...

Another round of 406 shells came down, and at this time Prince Eugen had just turned back to the center.

According to Top's judgment, the range of this round of shells would hit a little to his left, which was right in front of the inertia of the Prinz Eugen's current hull.

The ship had just returned to the center from the full starboard rudder, and the inertia of the ship still turning to the left was there. If it wanted to turn to the right again, it would be too late.

Seeing this situation, Top was a little dumbfounded.

"Tsk, these Americans have such brutal firepower..."

"Top Top, turn left, just a little bit."

Just when Top was feeling helpless, a soft and weak female voice sounded in the corner.

Hey, you are a wounded person, so what? Can you please not be injured? You are still so energetic when you speak. Top was at a loss whether to laugh or cry.

However, upon hearing the sound, Top subconsciously turned slightly left in the direction of the shelling, and the Prince Eugen, trailing smoke and fire, turned and entered a small gap in the dispersion of the salvo from the MK6 main gun.

At this critical moment, a shell passed by the side of the hull with a tracer and damaged some equipment on the deck. It was a cross-fire and a close miss, but the Prince Eugen did not suffer any damage.

Toph didn't look, but when he heard the voice he knew who did it: "Eugen, why are you up?"

"Top, the damage control team has put out the fire, I'm fine... But their destroyer is coming. 15,000 meters to the left, heading in front of us, probably trying to strike with torpedoes... Be careful! The shelling is coming again!"

But Top smiled:

"Hehe, it's okay. I've figured out the artillery skills of these Americans. As long as we keep changing our course and control the rhythm, they won't be able to find our target."

-

In front of the meteor shower from the battleship Washington, Top, standing at the wheel of the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, sneered. With the help of Eugen's bombardment observation, he kept turning the wheel. The Prinz Eugen twisted out a beautiful S-line, twisting the shells one after another.

At this time, the disadvantages of the American MK3 fire control radar and Ford-type artillery director, which were not good at firing on moving targets, also emerged. Although the distance had been shortened to within yards, except for the first shot, the Americans did not hit the second time.

However, on the side, two American destroyers had already rushed forward despite the fierce firepower of the three twin-mounted 105mm secondary guns on the port side of Eugen, dragging their wounds and desperately rushing forward, and were about to enter the torpedo range of 13700 yards ( meters).

Chapter 538: Fierce Battle (Part 3)

"Eugen, how many guided shells do we have left?"

"No more. We used them all up when we attacked that American heavy cruiser... That heavy cruiser is still blocking the battleship. Is it planning to provide cover for the battleship?"

"It should be, but don't worry. Eugen, keep an eye on their destroyers and see when they launch torpedoes! Once they have finished launching torpedoes, call me and we will prepare to turn. After turning, whether it is secondary guns or guided torpedoes, kill their destroyers first."

"Mmm Good!"

Eugen recovered and returned to his normal self.

Under the watchful eyes of the Prince Eugen, two American destroyers had already thrown 15000 torpedoes into the sea. However, due to the surveillance of the Prince Eugen, these torpedoes, which had a range of only 26.5 knots at yards and were not even as fast as the Washington, were easily thrown off by Top with a full left turn.

It's okay for an ambush, but it's definitely useless at this time.

After turning, the course of the Prince Eugen was now 150 degrees southeast. The firepower of the forward secondary guns had reached the level of eight 105mm guns. Even the four front main guns began to fire at the destroyers with the last few high-explosive shells under the intervention of Eugen. How could the two already injured destroyers resist?

Just as the torpedo was thrown into the sea in advance of the current course of the Prinz Eugen, the flare of the Portland showed that the Prinz Eugen made a sharp left turn. Not only did it completely ignore its torpedo net, but it also used secondary gun fire to cover the two already damaged destroyers, which completely destroyed the fire control parameters that the battleship North Carolina had relied on to cover the Prinz Eugen in straddle fire.

Wilcox and the commanders of the two destroyers instantly felt a sense of MMP in their hearts...

Because of the hit of the first starter, everyone below Wilcox had the illusion that "I can kill back". But now, this illusion has completely disappeared.

The three biggest illusions in life: She likes me, the phone is ringing, I can fight back, even though there are no mobile phones in this era...

The destroyer attacked and typed GG.

For the Germans, it must be perfect.