Bismarck

However, no one knew whether the Punjabi could return. After all, the bridge was directly hit by the battleship's main gun. It was unknown whether the signal generator existed or whether there was anyone alive on the bridge.

The signalman sent out a series of signals as quickly as possible, asking anxiously.

Fortunately, a reply came from the smoke-shrouded bridge half a minute later, but the signal was obviously not very skilled. It must be that the signalman had been killed...

"Our rear main guns and rear bridge have been destroyed, the hull is on fire and flooded, but our torpedo tubes are still there! There is no loss of power! We can still hold on! Please let us continue fighting!!"

Thomas frowned slightly, then relaxed his brows and said to the signalman.

"Okay! Signal all the ships. Now our cruisers will start firing at maximum speed to cover their destroyers as they disperse and rush over. Be sure to use torpedoes to strike Tirpitz!"

"YES SIR..."

Just as the light signal was sent, another round of 380MM main gun shells whistled in. After making a sharp sound, they hit the water surface not far away one after another, splashing water everywhere.

"Hmph." Thomas snorted coldly, as if the shells in front had never appeared. He stood calmly in the middle of the bridge and gave orders calmly.

"Main guns fire! Move forward at maximum speed!"

While the cruiser began to fight back with small water pipes, the tenacious destroyer was also speeding towards the enemy 20000 yards away at the maximum speed she could reach.

The distance between the British destroyer and the Tirpitz was rapidly closing at a rate of 1600 yards per minute, and in a few minutes the battle between the two sides would become intense.

The German battleship's 380MM main guns had already started a new round of bombardment towards the British fleet. At the same time, the transport fleet was completely illuminated by the flares fired by the Tirpitz. Under the illumination of the flares, the Tirpitz's secondary guns and even the 105mm anti-aircraft guns fired at the transport fleet, and two unlucky transport ships were already hit and caught fire - fortunately, they were not fully loaded with retreating soldiers, otherwise they would have been a ship full of roast chickens and roast beef...

Although the soldiers had not yet boarded the ships, these ships were their hope of escape. In order to save the transport ships, the British fleet here gritted their teeth and rushed towards the Tirpitz.

The British were charging forward without caring about their lives.

The three British cruisers began to form a column (why are you afraid? Just go ahead!) and raised their gun barrels towards the distance, bursting out brilliant sparks every ten seconds, accompanied by deafening rumbles of gunfire. Between them and Tirpitz, a trail of shooting star light was drawn back and forth between them and him with gunpowder smoke.

Of course, Tirpitz is definitely at a disadvantage in terms of firing rate, and even its firepower density is far inferior. It’s just that in terms of power... do those little water pipes really want to pierce Tirpitz?

Under the rainbow bridge formed by streaks of meteor trails, on the other side, 12 British destroyers were divided into three groups and rushed towards Tirpitz separately, trailing smoke.

Tirpitz, who had been prepared, naturally would not forget these elementary school students. Lindemann had already told her to focus on the destroyers first, and she did so obediently.

On the transport fleet side, 12 fragile minesweepers also began to stand up. They raised thick smoke in front of the transport ships that were evacuating, trying to use their weak bodies to interfere with the sight of the German demons.

Such interference did have some effect on the 150mm secondary guns operated by the soldiers, but it was completely useless for the German 380mm main guns, which were still as accurate as before.

Although the 380's main guns were mostly used to bombard warships, Tirpitz's occasional "care" for them had broken the illusions of these civilians who had never seen the cruelty of a real naval war, and they began to cry for their parents. They might have had faith before, but this faith seemed so insignificant in the face of absolute strength.

Although the escorting warships tried their best to control the situation, the collapse was inevitable.

The previously injured destroyer Punjabi was ultimately unable to hold out much longer - although it still wanted to continue fighting.

In the fifth salvo of Tirpitz, a 16500HE shell at a distance of 380 yards penetrated its bow and exploded inside. The huge shock wave made its body expand like a balloon, and finally the entire bow was blown away without a trace. With the speed dropped sharply, the unfortunate destroyer was forced to withdraw from the battle and staggered towards the Dover base - this was also good, at least it avoided the fate of sinking.

After the Punjabis withdrew, in the blink of an eye, another destroyer was hit by a 380 high-explosive bomb in the boiler room in the middle of the hull. The destroyer, which was on fire, was forced to drag its crooked body and drive a twisted route to try to withdraw from the battle line, but when turning, the tail was hit by a 380 main gun shell and soon lost power and paralyzed on the water.

A minesweeper rushed out from the escort fleet without hesitation, seemingly receiving an order to tow the paralyzed destroyer back. But before the minesweeper could come over, how could Tirpitz, who was paying close attention to the battlefield situation, miss such an opportunity? She barely moved her guns, and another round of hail-like artillery fire enveloped the completely paralyzed destroyer...

After this round of hail, the poor destroyer was seen on fire, lying sideways on the sea and slowly sinking...

However, such losses could not scare off the highly motivated, well-trained and disciplined British Royal Navy. Under the fire cover of the three cruisers in the rear, the remaining 10 destroyers still pounced on the Tirpitz.

On the loudspeakers of all British warships, Major General Thomas was using the radio to cheer up his subordinates: "Everyone, work harder! The hit rate of the Tirpitz on the opposite side is much lower than that of the Bismarck in the Icelandic Battle!! We now have an absolute advantage in manpower! We will definitely be able to keep it here!!!"

ps: I signed up for a training course and attended it until 9pm... It was so fucking boring, here's a short and sharp chapter first... I'll continue updating in the evening

Chapter 151: Dunkirk (V)

"Here they come, azimuth -60, enemy heading angle 30, estimated enemy speed 36 knots, distance 16000 yards, range change rate 1620, lateral displacement rate 420, position change rate 16.4!" In the command tower, Tizi carefully controlled the ship to pass through the minefield while standing next to Lindemann, whispering the coordinates of the British destroyer opposite.

"It's a full-speed rush." ​​Lindemann said with a smile, "I really want to wish them good luck, and may God bless them."

It is now night, and although it is pitch black all around, the mines lurking in the water are looming, no, it should be said that they are almost invisible to the naked eye, but to Tirpitz's perception, they are as obvious as in broad daylight.

If someone occasionally looked carefully, they would find that as the Tirpitz was moving, the machine guns on both sides would occasionally spray out balls of flames, and then in an instant, huge splashes of water would suddenly rise on the water surface not far away - first a terrible dent, then a loud explosion, with waves splashing everywhere.

Tizi was slowly clearing out these dangerous little hedgehogs. Now the battleship's main gun was firing, and there was no one at the anti-aircraft gun position. Even if there was a dull sound, it was hidden in the rumbling of the artillery.

As for the splash?

With so many shells exploding around Tirpitz, who would pay attention to that tiny dot?

Thanks to Lindemann's advance order, each anti-aircraft gun was loaded with ammunition. Although there was only one clip, the number of more than a dozen guns on each side, plus Tirpitz's precise bursts of fire, was enough to destroy most of the threatening mines.

Before we knew it, a waterway had been opened up.

Lindemann looked at Grape who was having fun, spit out his eye circles, and couldn't help revealing a smug and proud expression - his battleship can not only anti-submarine, but also minesweeper, it is simply omnipotent, what is an armed cruise ship?

(Since everyone wants the formula for building an anti-submarine BB, I will tell you with reluctance: 600, 80, 600, 130. Europeans, go and try. Africans... why don't you go to the sky!)

At most, after the battle is over, the sailors will find that the shells originally loaded into the anti-aircraft guns have disappeared...

I wonder if there will be any legends about this haunted battleship, just like the Bismarck.

"Well done!" Lindemann, with a cigarette in his mouth and a cynical expression on his face, sat on the director in the command tower and shook the handle to point the fire control director (and the main gun controlled by the director) to the direction reported by Tizi, and at the same time entered the coordinates reported by Tizi into the fire control computer.

"Gunner, fire according to these coordinates! Also, navigator, plot the route we just took! There are no mines in this area, so we can pass safely. Save them and hand them over to the minesweeper tomorrow."

"...Yes..." From the other end of the microphone came the gunnery chief and the navigator's voices in unison, as if in a cloud of fog. Lindmann could imagine the stunned expressions of the two men.

Ignoring the two frightened subordinates, and also not caring about the coordinates provided by the flares and the grape report, the sailors fired a salvo and another British destroyer was badly damaged.

Lindemann closed the microphone cover and looked at Grapes: "How is it? How far are they from us now? Are there any mines nearby?"

"Distance? 14000 yards. We are still approaching. There are still many mines around." Tizi nodded and pouted slightly and said, "It's still a bit troublesome. Now many of the pre-loaded shells of the anti-aircraft guns have been fired. There are 7 guns left on the left and 5 guns left on the right. Now they are still chasing us. It will be a bit troublesome if we are surrounded..." Turning around, he blinked and looked at Lindemann, "Lindmann, should we retreat first..."

She pointed at her arms, which were supposed to be white, but now had some black spots on them. During the battle, Tirpitz had also endured a lot of shells. Although they were small water pipes, they were still shells after all, so it was definitely painful.

Tizi's performance had already exceeded Lindemann's expectations. Given her lazy and timid character, she deserved praise for not making a sound despite being hit by so many shells and for persisting in fighting.

He was wondering whether he should get a big red flower when he got back.

As for mines and the like, it’s the other side’s turn now.

Lindemann smiled maliciously and touched Tirpitz's hair.

"Hmm... okay. It's time for them to step on their own mines. Let's prepare to retreat!"

"Tizi, report the coordinates of the transport ship. Turn around right here. We will fight and retreat at the same time."

"Don't attack the mines in the distance. Leave them for the British!"

"Yes! Okay!! The transport ship is 18000 yards away from us..." Tizi said excitedly. It seemed that she also liked this kind of cheating behavior very much.

While stating the coordinates, Tirpitz began to slow down and slowly turned his body back.

At the same time, the target was turned to the transport fleet, and the attack on the British fleet was consciously relaxed, allowing them to pursue at full speed without having to dodge.

Soon, the transport ship's attack changed from sporadic 150mm secondary gun fire to fierce and accurate 380mm main gun fire.

One after another, unlucky transport ships were hit by meteors falling from the sky, exploded, caught fire, flipped over and sank...

The dividing line of the lovely unlucky Major General Thomas----------

"They're trying to run! These German bastards!" Seeing the Tirpitz turning around and shelling the transport ship, Rear Admiral Thomas, who was furious, slammed the table and said, "We can't let them get away like this! Chase them!"

After hearing the order from Major General Thomas, in accordance with the Royal Navy's brave tradition of fighting whenever they see the enemy, the three cruisers and the remaining nine destroyers were divided into an echelon and three columns, and they rushed at full speed towards Tirpitz who was preparing to retreat.

However, Major General Thomas seemed to have forgotten the mines laid by his own people - in fact, he did not even think about it during the battle. Later, when he saw Tirpitz was about to "escape", he was so angry that he forgot about the matter completely.

He saw that Tirpitz could easily pass through with his huge body, so the air force must have been lazy and did not lay mines in this area!

A destroyer rushed over at a speed of 36 knots. Suddenly, the captain of the destroyer found eight spots of light appearing on the giant battleship in the distance, rushing towards him.

"Full rudder!!!" Without having time to think, he immediately ordered the helmsman to turn.

"Yes!" The helmsman followed the order faithfully.

The destroyer's light hull draws a graceful arc...

Suddenly, just as the captain breathed a sigh of relief, the floor suddenly exploded and everyone was knocked unconscious in an instant.

======================

"boom!!!"

A dull roar suddenly came from the direction of the destroyer squadron in the front left, and a column of water shot up into the sky from the bow of a British destroyer that was originally in the front near the bridge.

The unfortunate destroyer had no idea what was happening and was shaken violently by the explosion. After the mist dissipated, a large hole with a diameter of three to five meters was exposed under the waterline.

The surging sea water poured in violently. The small size of the destroyer became a fatal factor at this time. Before the crew could react, the hull began to tilt rapidly. The normal passage inside the hull also began to form a strange angle with the earth's gravity. The personnel in the cabin had barely run a few steps before the destroyer was submerged by the sea water.

On the deck, some lucky sailors hurriedly untied the life rafts, but before they could climb on, the icy water of the North Sea had already started to blow them onto the deck...

Soon the stern of the ship lifted up high and sank rapidly. The sailors who had no time to evacuate struggled in vain in the whirlpool of death and finally disappeared in the rough waves of the North Sea...

"What...what's going on?!"

Rear Admiral Thomas, who witnessed all this on the cruiser Edinburgh, was horrified. At this moment, he remembered something: "Oh my God, this... this is a minefield! We laid the minefield yesterday!! But why... that battleship..."

Looking at the Tirpitz, which was moving freely in the distance as if challenging the Royal Navy's majesty as the European overlord for three hundred years, Rear Admiral Thomas had no time to come out of the DEBUFF state of shock, anger, and disbelief. Before he could get out of the DEBUFF state, a "BOOM!" sounded in front of him, and another unlucky destroyer suffered the same fate as its comrade two minutes ago.

This time it was even more tragic. The destroyer was directly blown into two pieces. The two upright sections of the hull were spinning in the whirlpool and sank into the dark seabed in just half a minute.

No one survives...

"Slow down! Slow down everyone!!!" He yelled with red eyes.

Thomas knew that if they slowed down at this time, they would be targeted by that damn battleship, but they had no choice!

If this continues, the entire pursuit fleet may be lost at the hands of our own people!

"Damn it... Retreat immediately!!" The explosion and sinking of the second destroyer finally brought Major General Thomas back to his senses. He realized that his fleet was now trapped in its own mine trap and it was a night battle. If he was not careful, he would be turned into fish food in the English Channel by the iron hedgehog that appeared from time to time.

More than 380 meters away, the German demon, which seemed to have the same magical power as her sister and was completely unaffected by the minefield, was still firing its 150mm main gun and 150mm secondary gun. From time to time, a transport ship was hit into a blazing fireball, and their own destroyers were also hiding in the water columns fired by the opponent's mm secondary guns like a volley, and they had to guard against the abominable mines in the water that were designed to trap their own people...

God bless Great Britain! He crossed himself fiercely.

ps: The second update will be on time~ See, I still keep my promise, please reward me quickly!!!

Chapter 152: Dunkirk (VI)

Seeing several destroyers smoking and wounded in just a few minutes, and signals for help coming from all directions, Major General Thomas's face, which had been twisted into a ball with anger, squirmed a few times, and finally, with anger and unwillingness, he fiercely uttered an order: "Retreat... All ships! Retreat!!!"

The transport fleet had been defeated and the distance was beyond Tirpitz's range, so shooting again would be of no avail.

Anyway, the goal has been achieved. They can forget about going to Dunkirk tonight. From the empty ships, Lindemann can basically confirm that this transport fleet is evacuating personnel. Their failure will directly lead to the life and death of the army trapped on the beach...

"No need to attack the transport ships, just fire at their fleet!" Lindemann picked up the telescope and observed for a while, then said to Tirpitz.

"Yes!"

The Tirpitz, which could no longer hit the transport ships, quickly shifted its target, pointing its eight guns towards the retreating British light fleet and firing several rounds of salvos at them.

The whistling shells streaking through the air seemed like a farewell to the defeated generals, making all the British terrified.

They twisted the hull desperately, but because the distance was not widened, the effect of this evasion was greatly reduced, and soon even the flagship Edinburgh was hit by the 380MM main gun.

A brilliant fireball erupted from the bottom of the bridge...

Fortunately, it was not an armor-piercing bullet. If it had penetrated under the bridge, the consequences would have been much more serious.

But even so, the terrifying power of the high-explosive bomb explosion still spread throughout the entire ship, with the bridge being the hardest hit. A large hole appeared directly in the entire lower part, and above it was like a major earthquake, with glass shards scattered all over the ground.

Major General Thomas, who was knocked to his knees by the huge shock and fell under the chart table, got up from the ground with a dusty face, even throwing away his hat that had fallen off. He shouted angrily at the confidential officer who was also getting up from the ground: "Pass on my order, now fight and retreat at the same time, and cover the transport ship's retreat to Dover base!"

"Yes!"

"Also, send a telegram to your superiors immediately. The generator's first night operation has been confirmed to have failed! We encountered the Germans' new battleship Tirpitz!"

"In the encounter, we sank two destroyers by our own minefields, but the German Tirpitz was as free as in their own backyard in our minefields!!... I want the Admiralty to find out which bastard laid the minefield yesterday. I want to send that damn bastard to a military court!!! He must be held accountable for this action!!!"

"Do you understand?" Thomas shouted when he saw the clerk's stunned look.

"Yes!" The poor clerk shuddered and saluted quickly.

While Major General Thomas was swearing to bring some bastard to a military court, a celebration was taking place at Tirpitz.

"Great fight!" The sailors high-fived each other, and voices of joy rang out one after another.

Five transport ships were destroyed, four others were damaged, five British destroyers were destroyed, and one British cruiser was damaged. The most important thing was that the British transport operation was a complete failure.

The longer their army stayed on the beach, the greater the danger of destruction, and the Germans were looking forward to seeing such a scene.

Everyone was celebrating happily. Even Lazy Grape, who was usually the most afraid of trouble, was shouting with joy. He didn't notice that his hair was completely twisted into a ball of wool by Lindman's dirty hands...

"Enter level three combat deployment. Damage control team immediately conducts a comprehensive inspection of the ship. Military doctors immediately report casualties to the bridge."

"All personnel at anti-aircraft artillery positions should go to their respective positions and check the status of their armaments!" Lindmann said after thinking for a while.