Another World: Naval Storm

Chapter 121: The First Battle of Ship Burial Bay

The light cruiser HMS Byford was riddled with 150mm and 88mm shells in a short time. What was even more fatal was that the battlecruiser HMS Von der Bella also joined the attack.

The light cruiser HMS Hundred John, with a full load displacement of 6000 tons, could deal with any light cruiser of the Drake Navy, but in front of some battlecruisers with the title of cruiser terminator, the counterattack of the light cruiser HMS Hundred John seemed to be scratching an itch and did not cause any damage to the Moltke at all.

At 18:01, the light cruiser HMS Hundred John sank due to the explosion of its ammunition depot under the attack of the battlecruiser Drake.

The Leo fleet easily took down the first blood of the Liam fleet. Without time to rest, it sailed at full speed towards the northeast.

"Oh, fortunately there are only 3 battlecruisers and 1 armored cruiser! If Leo has 5 battlecruisers, I can't guarantee that I can destroy Leo's fleet before Draco's reinforcements arrive!" The strength of Leo's fleet just reached the bottom line of Liam's determination to fight a decisive battle, and his trump card is the 3 dreadnoughts.

[Alert! Report to the commander, enemy ship spotted! ]

[Alert! Report to the commander, enemy ship spotted! ]

At 16:25, Leo's fleet arrived at the west side of the Burial Ship Bay. The wildly flashing red alarm began to sound when Liam's fleet approached 60 kilometers, and now both sides can be seen from the watchtower.

There is no escape, the only option is to fight.

The Queen Mary, the vanguard of Talen's First Battlecruiser Fleet, opened fire first, and a 343mm heavy armor-piercing shell informed both sides that the battle had begun.

The solid armor-piercing shell pierced the sky and came towards us with a terrifying roar. It passed over the main mast of the battlecruiser Moltke and smashed straight into the water of the North Atlas Sea.

The shell created a perfect splash, but it was a shame that so many hunks were risking their lives that no one was watching.

The battlecruiser command tower of the Moltke was busy. Leo's turn order had already been issued, and the navigators of the three warships followed the turn signal of the Moltke and turned together. The Leo fleet began to turn from a column to a horizontal column, heading east, successfully opening an angle with the Liam fleet coming from the northeast, occupying a more advantageous shooting position.

The successful turn put Leo's fleet on the side facing the moon, occupying an excellent shooting position. Leo's fleet could hide in the moon's shadow.

"Your Excellency the Commander, seven enemy battleships have been spotted! The distance is about 7 nautical miles!" Why is it so clear? Because these seven warships have lights on their ships and can be seen from a long distance.

The seven battleships of the Third Battleship Squadron were searching in the waters northeast of Shipwreck Bay. Upon receiving the farewell telegram from the light cruiser HMS Byrne, they immediately rushed to meet up with Liam at full speed.

"Got it!" Leo had known about it for a long time. He wanted to neutralize the four battlecruisers of Liam's fleet first. It was four against four, and the difference in strength was not big. The other three dreadnoughts had not joined the battle yet, so there was no need to consider them.

In the era of giant ships and big guns, both sides were equipped with a large number of large-caliber naval guns in an attempt to sink enemy warships at the farthest distance.

On the sea surface of Ship Burial Bay, the two sides had approached a distance of 4000 meters due to darkness. The close-range bayonet fight tested the heart and precise artillery skills of both sides.

Both sides changed their formations at almost the same time. The Talens also planned to change from a loose search formation to a tight slanted column, but unfortunately, the Drakes were faster than them!

The battlecruisers Moltke and Von der Bella opened fire first. Moltke's 10 280mm guns and Von der Bella's 8 280mm guns were aimed at the oncoming battlecruisers Queen Mary and Tiger.

The swamp with 18 main guns swallowed up the Queen Mary and Tiger that broke into this death barrage, and shells continued to explode on the two Talen battlecruisers.

The Queen Mary, which served as the vanguard, was hit by five near misses in an instant. Many of its secondary guns and rapid-fire guns were destroyed, and the gunners were in a miserable state. It was God's blessing that they were able to survive and be swept into the sea with their bodies intact.

Even more terrifying was the ammunition depots at various locations on the Queen Mary battlecruiser. If they were hit by shells and caused a sympathetic explosion, no matter how large the ship was, it would sink to the bottom of the sea in no time. Fortunately, the ammunition depots on the Queen Mary were safe and sound. But the battleship's superstructure was in a terrible state. The powerful impact of the Drakes' high-explosive shells easily tore people into a bloody mist.

At 18:37, a 280mm armor-piercing shell hit the main turret A at the bow of the Queen Mary battlecruiser. The armor-piercing shell easily tore through the side armor of turret A, which was less than 190mm in diameter, and penetrated deep into the hull along the ammunition hoisting pipe.

Below the ammunition hoist was the ammunition loading room connected to the ammunition depot. A little spark could detonate it and shatter the bow of the 20,000-ton battlecruiser. Fortunately, God took pity on the Talens again, and this situation did not occur. The Queen Mary escaped.

You should know that the armor protection of the Queen Mary has always been criticized. The maximum thickness of the main armor belt on the side of the ship is only 102 to 229 mm, the horizontal armor thickness of the deck is 25 to 61 mm, the front armor thickness of the turret is about 229 mm, and the armor thickness of the bridge and command tower is 254 mm.

Such weak armor protection is basically like paper in front of the large-caliber naval guns of the battleship. In fact, the armor protection of any part of the Queen Mary cannot withstand the attack of its own 343mm naval guns, and it has no confidence when facing the smallest caliber 280mm guns on the Drake Empire Navy's battleships.

When facing enemy battleships, the best option for the Queen Mary is to run away, rather than acting as a vanguard and rushing in front of the Drake battlecruiser as it is now.

The battlecruiser Queen Mary was hit hard, and the battlecruiser Tiger, which was lagging behind, was not much better off and was also severely damaged.

At 16:39, another 280mm armor-piercing shell hit the stern of the Tiger battlecruiser. Thanks to the rigorous and meticulous character of the Drake people, this armor-piercing shell was of very good quality. It tore open the waterline armor belt on the port side and penetrated the battleship, and then shot out from the starboard side. Except for a few unlucky guys who were smashed by the armor-piercing shell, the Tiger battlecruiser was able to hold on.

At 18:41, the fourth round of shelling from the battlecruiser Moltke hit the battlecruiser Tiger again. At a distance of about 4000 meters, 229mm of the battlecruiser Tiger's main armor was penetrated. This time, God's blessing failed.

Another 280mm shell penetrated the bow A turret and successfully detonated the ammunition depot under the turret. The turret was blown away for more than ten meters by the impact of the explosion, and the bow of the ship was like being pressed down to the sea surface by a pair of huge hands.

The Tiger battlecruiser's forward speed was slowed down, and the huge ship with a standard displacement of tons shook violently in the explosion, and no one could stand.

"Good, you fought very well. If the battlecruisers were equipped with Krupp 305mm naval guns, the two battlecruisers would have sunk by now!" The losses on our side were minimal, and Leo was very satisfied with the current battle situation.