69novels Chapter 656
Chapter 656
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On the 42nd, when the sound of gunfire from Burns continued, a small fleet of the British army quietly left the Portsmouth naval port and quietly moved towards the battlefield along the coastline on the side where the sun never sets.
At this time, the sky was not completely bright yet, it was a little after four in the morning, the darkness before dawn.
This small fleet was very familiar with the terrain. Without lighting in the dark, they relied on their familiarity with the waterway to avoid a large number of reefs and shoals along the way, and quietly reached the waters of Bournemouth.
“Torpedo boats attack the enemy’s large dock landing ships, destroyers suppress the enemy’s escort fleet, and high-speed gunboats attack the enemy’s tank landing ships. Two to three ships form a group, and fight in groups!”
The British army dispatched only small warships. The large warships were all on missions outside at this time and could not return to the mainland to participate in the battle in a short time.
Moreover, the German army may break through the obstacles of the Strait of Calais at any time and rush into the British Strait to provide cover for this landing fleet, so the British people can’t wait. They must take action as soon as possible to destroy this landing fleet before the German escort fleet arrives!
In the sight of the British army, the sea was brightly lit, and there were busy German ships everywhere. Most of them were landing ships without any weapons. This kind of warship was slow, weak in firepower, and equipped with a small number of artillery, and most of them were anti-aircraft guns, so their anti-sea capabilities were not strong.
After all, when the landing ship is dispatched, generally speaking, the navy of their own side has already mastered the control of the sea, otherwise it would be impossible to dispatch landing ships to land on the beach.
In the absence of control of the sea It was a very risky thing to send a landing force ashore. If the enemy’s navy controlled the nearby waters, the landing force’s retreat would be cut off. Without a retreat, they could not retreat, nor could they get supplies from the mainland, so they could only be trapped on the island!
At this time, a huge opportunity was placed in front of the British.
Although they didn’t know why the Germans would take such a risk, they sent out the landing fleet without the main fleet, and successfully transported a 100,000-man force ashore!
However, for the Royal Navy, no matter what their enemies were thinking, as long as they could destroy the German landing fleet, they would be invincible in this war!
At least in the short term, the German army could not threaten the British mainland, so even if all the warships of this small fleet were used up, as long as they could complete their mission, they would make a profit!
……
While the fleet of the Sun Never Sets was trying to use the cover of the night and the terrain to quietly approach the German landing fleet and then launch an attack on it, the German warships quietly set up a pocket formation, waiting for their arrival!
As the flagship of this operation, the light cruiser Nuremberg, the German soldiers were closely observing the situation on the sea.
Because of the night, they temporarily missed their enemies, but the enemy’s whereabouts were clearly displayed on the radar screen!
“There are 42 targets in total, 13 slightly larger targets and 9 smaller ones. Judging from the size, the 13 large targets are estimated to be 1,300-ton destroyers. The tonnage of the 29 targets is estimated to be less than 200 tons. They may be torpedo boats or gunboats!”
Several radar soldiers immediately reported and summarized the latest situation of the enemy based on the radar observations, and reported the latest situation of the enemy to the fleet commander.
Spruance, who had previously released false news that he was heading north with Nimitz’s aircraft carrier battle group, looked serious at this time and stared at the distant coastline for a while.
“Notify the navy, we will provide them with sea guidance, let them set off immediately, and cooperate with us to destroy this small fleet!”
The tonnage of the Nuremberg light cruiser is not large, and its firepower is not enough in front of the main battleships or even heavy cruisers!
The main gun of the Nuremberg is a 150mm triple-mounted naval gun, which is generally the secondary gun of a battleship. It is several times smaller than the 300 or even 400mm caliber main gun of a battleship, and even worse than the 210mm caliber main gun of a heavy cruiser.
The range and power of the 150-meter main gun are not considered large in large-scale naval battles, and may not pose much of a threat to enemy battleships.
However, this caliber of artillery is a powerful weapon when facing destroyers and smaller torpedo boats and gunboats!
Boom boom boom!
Without waiting for the air force’s planes to enter the field, the Nuremberg began to fire.
Another light cruiser of the same level also opened fire with her. The two warships have 18 150mm main guns and 2488mm secondary guns.
In addition, there are dozens of 3mm guns and 20mm guns, but these two types of guns are more used for air defense.
Germany The sudden opening of fire from the German army instantly bankrupted the British army’s sneak attack plan!
Whoosh!
Several German warships fired flares, immediately illuminating the situation in a large area of the surrounding sea.
Under the illumination of the flares, the British warships that had intended to advance secretly completely lost the opportunity for a sneak attack. They are now facing a dilemma!
Should they ignore the attack of the German escort fleet next to them and rush directly to the German landing fleet?
Or should they stop and deal with the German escort fleet first?
The British commander quickly weighed the strength of both sides. The German escort fleet was not large, and there were only two 5,000-ton ships at the head. The armor of this type of cruiser is not thick, and it can be completely destroyed by torpedoes. The British army just happens to have a large number of torpedo boats. They only need to send a few torpedo boats to attack these two light cruisers, and they can easily kill them!
However, at this time, the German landing forces have all landed, and their landing fleet is returning. If the British army wastes time on these German escort fleets, the German landing fleet is likely to escape!
Once they are allowed to escape, they will become a huge security risk for the British Empire in the future!
And the order they received was to destroy the German landing fleet. , so without much thought, the British small fleet immediately abandoned the two light cruisers that were not easy to mess with and rushed towards the German landing fleet!
The hit rate of torpedoes in this era was not high, and the range was not far. If you want to improve the hit rate, the best way is to shoot at close range, use torpedo boats to rush to the front of the enemy, and launch a close-range torpedo attack. In this way, it will be difficult for the enemy to escape!