On the dark sea, the light cruiser "Herta" belonging to the 4th reconnaissance fleet of the German High Seas Fleet was like an armored soldier trapped in the deep forest, holding a sword in one hand and a shield in the other, walking quickly with twelve vigilance. At the top of its mast, the black hawk cross flag was rolling uneasyly. In the fortress-shaped closed lookout, four sailors were each looking in one direction. Senior soldiers with beards sometimes walked between them, and sometimes contacted the bridge through the sound tube.

In the port side of the "Herta", faint lights appear and disappear, like ghost fires in the wilderness, but if you look closely, you will find that it is actually beating regularly.

Accompanied by the jumping lights, the sailors responsible for observing the situation on this side reported to the sergeant: "Flagship lights: Pay attention to the northwest...the enemy ship is close to medium...the distance is six thousand meters..."

At this time, looking northwest, the vision was in chaos, and there was no trace of the ship at all, but not seeing it did not mean that it did not exist. The sergeant quickly forwarded the lantern signal sent by the flagship to the bridge without any hesitation.

Under the dispatch of the captain, the "Herta" began to turn left, and the 9 150mm naval guns arranged on the front and rear decks in triple form turned right, with the muzzles pointing to the northwest. The searchlights located on the main and auxiliary bridges and the platform on the side of the chimney were also aimed at that direction under the control of the sailors. All the combatants were waiting for instructions at their respective posts, as if arrows were on the strings, ready to go.

The disappearing light signal appeared again, but before the complete signal transmission was completed, the "Herta" was illuminated by the light beam that suddenly appeared on the sea. There was almost no interval afterwards. The blazing artillery flames bloomed on the northwest sea, and dense artillery fire immediately fell down...

Throughout the 1910s and 1920s, the US government pursued an isolationist policy, trying to avoid alliances that assume political and military obligations to foreign countries, thereby safeguarding and expanding the interests of the United States. However, it was deterred by the rapid expansion of the German Empire, especially as the German forces approached the United States from the Atlantic, Pacific and South America. On the one hand, the United States helped Britain rebuild their Royal Navy, and on the other hand, it also stepped up its own maritime power. By the end of the 1920s, the shipbuilding competition suddenly evolved into the ultimate sprint for the three strong German, US and UK. Almost astronomical investment brought one new and stronger warship after another. Under the flying ribbon, people could foresee the fierce future wars even more.

At this moment, on the sea about 500 nautical miles east of the Azores, the attack on the German light cruiser "Herta" was the US Brooklyn-class light cruiser "Nashville" built in this special period. The firepower configuration is exactly the same as the Brooklyn-class, which is famous for its strong combat power in history. The five triple-mounted 6-inch guns push the surface attack power of a light cruiser to the extreme. This 47-caliber naval gun has a range of nearly 24,000 meters. With advanced mechanical auxiliary loading methods, the maximum fire rate can reach 8 rounds per minute.

Corresponding to the powerful firepower output, the Brooklyn class is equipped with advanced optical range measurement equipment and a shooting control command system, so as to ensure that the shooting accuracy at medium and long distances reaches first-class level.

With the terrifying firepower alone, the Brooklyn class has not been given the honor of "the strongest light patrol" by the Americans. Its turret front armor is 6.5 inches, or 165 mm, far exceeding the turret armor of ordinary light cruisers about 60 mm. In addition, it uses a 2.5-4 inch main armor belt, a 4-inch lightning belt, 2.5-inch servo cabin armor and 1.5 inch horizontal armor. The overall protection level is even comparable to many active heavy cruisers.

Facing the German ship "Herta", which is also a light cruiser, the "Nashville" showed its hideous fangs in the dark. After a fierce artillery fire, the German light cruiser, which was more than 1,000 meters apart, caught fire in many places. Seeing this, the German ship commander turned aside and took a sharp turn to avoid it, and fired to the enemy ship, and sent a signal to the flagship "Ruger": Our ship was shot and caught fire, and the enemy ship was 1,200 meters northwest of our ship.

Combined with radar detection data, the "Ruger" opened fire on the "Nashville" 5,500 meters away. The maximum fire rate of the dual main gun it equipped is 5 rounds per minute, and the firepower output per unit time is actually inferior to that of the Brooklyn class, which is one-third less tonnage than itself. However, its 203mm shell is enough to penetrate any part of the American cruiser at such a combat distance, and its single-shot destructive power is more than twice that of the opponent.

The Nashville, also equipped with radar facilities, certainly knew who was shooting at it in the dark. It abandoned its weak prey and turned to deal with the fast-coming Luger. At this time, another Brooklyn-class Honolulu was returning, preparing to attack from the side of the Irish heavy cruiser.

As long as the largest sheepdog is solved, two American cruisers can rush into the flock and start killing.

From a philosophical perspective, the strongest light patrol has not surpassed the scope of light patrols and is still "lower" in front of heavy patrols. However, from a practical perspective, as long as the tactics are appropriate and the luck is not bad, a light patrol can completely kill a heavy patrol.

But from a philosophical perspective, no one can build a perfect battleship. The Brooklyn-class has outstanding advantages and many shortcomings: firstly, the speed of the Brooklyn-class main engine reached an astonishing 100,000 horsepower, due to the standard displacement of 10,125 tons, the Explorer-class light cruiser, which is proud of the Irish, is 35% higher than that of the Irishman's proud Explorer-class light cruiser. The maximum speed of its sea test is 32.5 knots, and the maximum speed under combat load is only 31 knots. It ranks last among the light cruisers built and put into service in the 20s. The tactical power is far less agile than that of the ordinary light cruiser of 6,000 tons; secondly, the air defense capability is relatively weak. Since the five triple main turrets occupy a large amount of deck space, the Brooklyn-class carries fewer air defense weapons, except for the 4 28mm quad-mounted machine guns, it is easy to get the best of the 4 28mm quad-mounted machine guns.

The close-defense weapon, whether it is 4 single-mounted 127mm high-level dual-purpose guns or 8 12.7mm Browning machine guns, are very weak, and the Brooklyn class uses a single-layer horizontal deck, and its ability to deal with vertical attacks is very weak. It should be noted that during the Battle of Azore, more than 60% of the results of the aviation troops on both sides were obtained by aviation bombs; in addition, the Brooklyn class protected the combat bridge with 25-40mm thick armored steel plates, while the German light cruisers' protective armor at this position is the thickest of the ship, usually above 100mm, so as to properly protect the command personnel as possible in fierce battles; in the end, the Brooklyn class is a rare light cruiser without torpedo weapons, which means that they have almost no way to meet the enemy's main battleship, nor can they adopt corresponding cover or interference tactics in a evenly matched battle...

Before the friendly ship arrived at the shooting position, the Nashville adopted a flexible strategy of fighting and walking, not fighting with the opponent, nor setting a distance from the enemy ship. It sometimes launched a storm-like rapid shooting with 15 main guns, and sometimes attacked the opponent with 6 back guns, calmly controlling the rhythm of the battle.

As a heavy cruiser with balanced performance, the speed of the "Ruger" has no advantage in front of the US ship, so it did not pursue the opponent's relentlessly, but instead shot while covering the injured friendly ships to withdraw from the battle. Before the second US ship arrived at the double-team position, the Irish heavy cruiser fired 64 main shells and 48 secondary shells, while the opponent fired 215 main shells and 16 secondary shells. All shells did not get direct hits.

Seeing that the two-on-one strategy of double-teaming enemy ships was about to succeed, the Americans had already begun to sharpen their fists, but on their radar screen, the target suddenly changed its course and its movement speed suddenly increased. At this time, the "Ruge" became a tiger going down the mountain, and rushed towards the US ship "Honolulu".

In just three minutes, the distance between the two ships was shortened from more than 7,000 meters to 3,000 meters.

Although the opponent was a heavy cruiser built in contemporaries, the "Honolulu" did not evade the battle in a panic. It adjusted its course steadily, and all 15 152mm main guns pointed to starboard, preparing to use a dense and fierce artillery fire to slash the opponent's aura.

The Brooklyn-class design and construction did not have radar equipment. It was not until 1932 that it was learned that German and Ireland ships were equipped with radars in large quantities. The wealthy Americans quickly carried out a large-scale technological upgrade to their navy. Ships of light cruisers and above were almost unanimously equipped with radars. This hasty project was somewhat like a duck-to-door on the shelves. Not only did the US Navy ship commanders lack understanding and trust in this new equipment.

However, these radar equipment from the laboratory to the factory production line still lacks practicality and stability. However, no matter what, the application of radar is fundamentally changing the traditional naval combat mode. The line of sight is back in front of us. Although the US-made radar detection accuracy of the "Honolulu" is not as accurate as that of the Irish mc-iib, it cannot be used as fire control. It is used to identify the location of enemy ships in night battles and guide the searchlights and naval guns to adjust the angle in advance.
Chapter completed!