"Young boys, we are facing unprecedented difficulties. If you are filled with fear, fate will despise you. If you are extremely firm in your heart and believe that this powerful warship can overcome the difficulties, fate will open your arms to you!"

On the platform outside the "Earl of Tirpitz" combat bridge, Captain Colonel Schneider inspires his crew with a loud voice. He was hit hard by enemy planes one after another, and the evacuation of the fleet commander and his staff team, the morale of the officers and soldiers on the ship was indeed greatly affected. What's worse is that this super battlecruiser can only retreat toward Floris at a very slow speed. The enemy planes will come to bomb at any time. How much chance can this seriously injured trapped beast escape?

As Colonel Schneider said, only those who are determined can grasp their own destiny. The crew either repair weapons or carry ammunition, and take advantage of the gap between enemy air strikes to prepare as much as possible for the subsequent battle.

"Note! The second preparatory group, add two people to the No. 3 gun position, and add three people to the No. 4 gun position! Move quickly!"

In the side passage of the "Earl of Tirpitz", a second lieutenant wearing a German steel helmet issued a loud command to his sailors. Two young sailors, who were not burly but very young, quickly ran to a double-mounted 88mm gun battle position near the side of the ship. This high-level dual-purpose gun was used to deal with torpedo boats in the early days. It was usually equipped with two ammunitions of high-explosive bombs and shrapnel. As the aircraft gradually became an important role on the battlefield, the German Navy quickly discovered the air defense potential of this artillery. Surprisingly, from the era of dreadnoughts, it was surprising that from the time of the former dreadnoughts.

The Germans listed 45-diameter 88mm guns as standard equipment. More than 30 years later, the Countess Tirpitz-class battlecruiser still used the same type of artillery. The difference is that in order to enhance fire density and increase shooting speed, the German Navy began to adopt dual-equipment configurations and used mechanical semi-automatic loading technology to this medium- and short-range air defense weapon. Although the Germans were satisfied with the Countess Tirpitz-class air defense system, from the perspective of actual combat effectiveness, traditional optical vision and manual control still could not keep up with the development speed of fighter technology.

Three sailors running towards another anti-aircraft artillery battle position, one as burly as a bear, one as thin and tall, and the other was short and sturdy. Although they were wearing the same helmet and the essential inflatable life jacket, they looked uncoordinated. After arriving at the gun position, they each stood in their own position. At this moment, the harsh air defense sirens sounded shrill, and at the access of the naked eye, several small black dots were slowly getting bigger.

"Be careful!" The captain blew his whistle and shouted loudly: "All gunners, listen to my order to open fire! No orders are allowed to open fire without authorization!"

The officers issued the same orders in the nearby gun positions that were slightly abruptly above the side of the ship. In this kind of nose-opening atmosphere, the gunners began to adjust the angle of the anti-aircraft gun as the target approached. In just a few minutes, the planes in sight kept approaching, and their appearance changed from mosquito-sized to children's toys. At this time, the officers left the location of the command tube of the battle position, and after blew the whistle again, they shouted to their subordinates:

"Be careful! This batch is our plane, don't fire! Be careful!"

At this time, some people noticed another group of black spots appeared at the far end of their sight, and the fighter planes on their side, which were performing alert missions in nearby airspace, were approaching them in a flexible dual-plane formation.

After a while, the officers received new instructions from the command tube. They blew the whistle one by one, and then shouted at their gunners: "Press down the muzzle, pay attention to the front! Ammunition loading!"

The gunners quickly stuffed heavy shells into the barrel, and at this time, a fierce air battle had already broken out in the airspace less than 10 nautical miles ahead of the fleet. In front of the fierce Grumman F3F fighter, the Fokker G-51 tried his best to give full play to its performance advantages. Taking advantage of the fierce fighter jets between the two sides, the US dive bombers and torpedo bombers rushed over without any scruples, and the subsequent sound of artillery sounded more like military music played for their attack.

In response to the fierce air strikes of enemy fighter jets, the German fleet adjusted anti-aircraft guns of all sizes to combat states in accordance with the order of daily exercises. Each ship quickly formed a ring-shaped defensive formation battleship in accordance with the instructions of the flagship to center, cruisers and destroyers surrounded the surroundings, maintaining a maneuver distance of about half a nautical mile between each ship, and the speed was uniformly increased to 28 knots.

In the telescope, the fighters of both sides chased each other, making various dazzling actions from time to time, and the fighters of both sides continued to fall with black smoke or simply disintegrated in the air. It can be seen that German fighter pilots had tried their best to cover their fleet, but when the previous batch of fighters returned and the latter batch of fighters had not arrived, there were only a dozen Foxghurricanes fighting here, and there were more than 20 enemy planes coming. The relative number of the number made it easy for American pilots to find space in battle. Soon, a team of US bombers with bullets on their belly got rid of the entanglement of German fighter jets and came in a low-altitude attack.

The officers and soldiers of the German fleet had no time to think too much. Facing the direction of the enemy plane, the light cruiser on the outermost side opened fire first. The guns and shells shot like rain quickly bloomed in the air and turned into black fireworks. Due to the lack of wind on the sea, the black smoke quickly connected into pieces. From the sea, it seemed that a tight protection network had been formed. However, the invading American carrier-based aircraft still stubbornly passed through the artificial cloud layer and appeared in sight.

At close enough, someone shouted: "Damn torpedo planes, don't let them get close!"

A team of six US fighter jets quickly lowered to a height of only thirty or forty meters from the sea. Several nearby German warships quickly lowered the air defense firepower on the side, thus forming dense barrage within a certain range. This posture made many crew members feel that they should be able to block the attack of enemy aircraft. However, the wings of several white-painted TBD "Destroyer" shook and bypassed the area with the most dense barrage. When the Germans were speculating on their attempts, the howling sound of the plane diving came from above their heads. When they looked up, the two sb2u "guardians" suddenly dived down.

"Oh no, my God!"

On the battle bridge of the German light cruiser "Vulture", William August widened his eyes by the scene in front of him, and couldn't stop his ears. Ten seconds ago, a heavy aviation bomb accurately landed on the rear deck of the "Earl of Tirpitz". The flames raised when the bomb exploded far exceeded the top of the mast. The terrible impact swept across the deck, and many sailors fighting on the open-air artillery position were blown away.

Some were lamenting for bad luck, while others were thinking about how to avoid greater losses. The anxious Fleet Chief of Staff Rawls immediately suggested: "Sir, please order nearby ships to concentrate air defense firepower to the south of the Count. Most enemy bombers attack from that direction!"

The sound of artillery and explosions made the commander of the German Atlantic Squadron, who was still full of confidence, frown. He quickly ordered: "Charge the artillery fire on the side of the ship to strengthen the defense on the port side of the Count!"

A few minutes later, the Germans watched a small group of torpedo bombers pass through dense firepower nets like ghosts and drop torpedoes on the sea more than a thousand meters away from the "Earl of Tirpitz".

Facing the torpedoes galloping from the sea, the "Earl Tirpitz" with severe water in the bottom cabin forcibly speeded up, trying to use continuous steering to evade fatal attacks. Several light ships around were desperately using naval guns to conduct intercepting fire, but such efforts still had little effect. At the last moment, the officers and soldiers of the destroyers sailing nearby also tried to match with their high sense of responsibility and fearlessness. However, the Americans obviously set the depth of their large ships for their aviation torpedoes, which made them pass straight through the bottom of the German destroyer and finally hit the armor belt at the bottom of the port side of the "Earl Tirpitz".

"Hell, we're going to lose it!"

Seeing the huge water column rising up on the side of the ship and continuing to rise and spread around, William August screamed out. At this moment, the thinking in his mind did not pause, but instead was running at a speed that was much higher than usual. When the ship's losses were inevitable, how to retain more experienced combatants in the future became the top priority. So when everyone was still shocked that their flagship was hit by torpedo again, he shouted hurriedly: "Send a signal to the Count. If the injury cannot be repaired, arrange for personnel to be evacuated immediately!"

Immediately afterwards, William August ordered: "Send a signal to other nearby destroyers and do your best to assist the evacuation of the Count!"

At this time, other officers gradually recovered from their great surprises. A staff officer asked in disappointment: "Are we just giving up on it?"

William August lowered his eyes in disappointment and squeezed out a sentence with difficulty and slowly: "Perhaps the era of naval warfare in which artillery battle determines the outcome is over."

Although the Count Tirpitz class is a battle cruiser, its protection level has exceeded that of most dreadnoughts. It may be more appropriate to define it as a fast battleship, but even with an excellent protective design, they are difficult to withstand the repeated attacks of large-caliber armor-piercing bombs, aviation torpedoes and heavy armor-piercing bombs. Due to the deterioration of the damage, the emergency repair of the leak was soon declared to be a failure. About twenty minutes later, Captain Colonel Schneider announced that the ship was abandoned, and the officers and crew working in the combat position and the lower cabin began to evacuate in an orderly manner.
Chapter completed!