Another World: Naval Storm

Chapter 130: Battle between Friends

"Liam is a stubborn person! His persistence will bring danger to the fleet!" Jericho vented his emotions. He was overwhelmed by the bad news.

The Royal Navy was suspicious in Shipwreck Bay, as if Drake warships were appearing everywhere.

"Tell the support fleet our location, we are finally going to meet up with them!" Commodore Wallace, captain of the HMS Monarch, finally breathed a sigh of relief.

At 21:55, the dreadnought HMS Monarch spotted a light cruiser and torpedo boat approaching about 2500 meters to the left front. Wallace and others were convinced that they were reconnaissance forces assigned to the Grand Fleet, so they sent them friendly light signals instead of secret commands.

The battleship Monarch was responded by a barrage of torpedoes. Major General Thomas, commander of the Second Reconnaissance Fleet, who was confused by the Talens' operations, quickly realized that this was a perfect opportunity for a sneak attack.

He ordered four light cruisers to lead the way, the eight destroyers of the First Destroyer Squadron to attack in two waves, and the eight destroyers of the Second Destroyer Squadron to form the fourth and fifth attack waves.

At 21:59, the Drake light cruiser reached a distance of 1500 meters at full power at the maximum speed and eagerly fired eight 8mm torpedoes at the HMS Monarch.

The first wave of attack was completed, and four light cruisers, in groups of two, sailed away from the left and right to make way for the best attack positions.

The second wave of 8 torpedoes was quickly launched, and the third, fourth and fifth waves of attacks ended before they even began.

The attacking actions of the light cruisers and destroyers and the several long white lines vaguely visible in the moonlight made the foolish officers and soldiers of the Monarch wake up. All the searchlights on the Monarch were urgently turned on. The high-power searchlights illuminated the sea area near the Monarch. The 102mm secondary guns and 47mm machine guns fired shells frantically. The rain of bullets formed an interception line around the ship, trying to block the torpedo attack. The huge ship of more than tons made emergency evasive maneuvers.

It has to be said that the Monarch had very good luck. Its violently spewing rapid-fire cannon sank a destroyer on the spot, severely damaged another, and repelled the attack of the third wave of destroyers. Seeing that the fourth and fifth waves of destroyers had no chance to move forward, they turned around in advance to avoid the Monarch's shells.

Because Rear Admiral Thomas did not expect to encounter the Monarch, preparations were inadequate and most of the torpedoes missed the target.

Only two torpedoes hit the target accurately. Unfortunately, one torpedo did not explode after hitting the main armor of the Monarch due to a problem with its fuse, allowing the Talen people to escape.

But good luck does not always come. The Monarch, which had used up all its luck, was hit by another torpedo. Just this one torpedo seriously damaged the Talen dreadnought, which cost more than two million gold pounds.

As the first ship of the Guardian-class battleship, the main armor of the Monarch reached 304mm, but the terrible charge of the Drake's 455mm torpedo made the Monarch's armor ineffective.

The 455mm torpedo with a warhead filled with more than 100 kilograms of high explosives blew a hole several meters in diameter in the armored center of the Monarch at the waterline. Two secondary gun wells, the midship boiler room, the coal bunker and several other nearby cabins were destroyed. The sea water rushed in, and thick smoke, steam and flames spread everywhere with the leaked fuel.

The damage control team of the Monarch hurriedly launched self-rescue operations. They closed the sealed cabins near the fire source as much as possible to prevent the fire from spreading.

"Tell all the officers and men on the ship to hold on. The main force of the Grand Fleet has already come to reinforce us! Turn northwest, we will meet up with the Grand Fleet there!" Commodore Wallace, the captain of the HMS Monarch, made up a story. He couldn't let his men lose hope now. He guessed that the Ocean Fleet had already come to reinforce them in advance, and the actual situation was indeed as he thought.

The severely damaged Monarch wanted to escape, but Major General Thomas would certainly not let the duck in hand get away.

The light cruiser Malège led the eight battleships of the 1st Destroyer Squadron to continue to reinforce the Moltke, while he led four light cruisers and eight light ships to chase and harass the Monarch.

At 22:22, three battlecruisers led by Admiral Apeven rushed over, and the nightmare of the Monarch was about to end under the Drake's artillery fire.

*****

There was often sea fog rising on the surface of the North Sea in December, which gave Leo an opportunity to play a trick. An artificial smoke screen gave Leo and the Moltke a break.

After several hours of fighting, the main gun ammunition of the Moltke was visibly reduced, and Liam kept chasing after Moltke.

The Royal Princess battlecruiser reacted quickly and adjusted its status after realizing it had been tricked. The four 4mm main guns on the bow stuck to the Moltke and continued to bombard it.

At 22:38, the Royal Princess's combat cruising speed dropped to 17 knots due to the continuous large amount of water taking in the hull. However, the Moltke's condition was even worse. It was severely damaged and could only barely maintain a speed of 15 knots.

"Turn on the searchlight for me! I want to see the status of the Moltke clearly!" Liam stretched her neck to see the Moltke clearly through the telescope.

"General, this will expose our target!" Captain Comey of the Royal Princess stopped him.

"What are you exposing? Leo already knows our location, open it!" Liam scolded.

As the distance between the two sides was shortened to 3000 meters again, the Royal Princess battlecruiser turned on the searchlight at Liam's insistence, making the Moltke stand out in the darkness.

"Commander, aren't we giving the Moltke a better chance to counterattack?" Colonel Comey, captain of the Royal Princess, said worriedly.

"You'll know when you take a look!" Liam handed the telescope to Comey and asked him to look at the Moltke.

"Huh? Haha..."

Under the illumination of the searchlight, the entire hull of the Moltke is clearly visible. The forecastle of the Moltke-class battlecruiser is extended to the stern, and a main turret is added to the stern, with a back-to-back layout. It uses a 50-caliber 280mm main gun, which is close to the 305mm caliber main gun of the Tallon Navy and is lighter in weight. In terms of quantity and power, the main gun can pose a fatal threat to the fragile defensive armor of Tallon's similar battlecruisers.

But this threat is gone now. The two twin turrets at the rear of the Moltke have been destroyed and silenced. The hit rate of the Tallen gunners in the dark is not as bad as they thought. It is now like an undefended lamb to be slaughtered, and it may be sunk by the Royal Princess at any time.

With the help of searchlights, the hit rate of the Talen gunners was significantly improved, and the secondary guns began to pour down on the already blackened superstructure of the Moltke.

At 22:48, the main guns of the Royal Princess continued to fire, and a 343mm armor-piercing explosive shell hit the stern of the Moltke. The shells continuously penetrated the defensive armor and horizontal armor of the stern turret, and finally exploded in the ammunition depot.

The Talen armor-piercing shells, which usually performed poorly, did not cause any trouble this time, but the damage they ultimately caused was too insignificant. The turret ammunition depot was spared from explosion because the ammunition was exhausted. Except for four sailors who were killed because they were in the turret, the Moltke was safe and sound.