Starting with the smashing of Dunkirk

Chapter 164 The Decisive Battle Between Twenty Battleships

With the start of the artillery battle, the battle fleet formations of both sides became completely clear.

Rear Admiral Hermann and Admiral von Essen, respectively, were hiding in the command towers of the battleships "Nassau" and "Sevastopol," observing the enemy fleet opposite them with high-powered telescopes.

On Rear Admiral Hermann's side, leading the formation were four Nassau-class battleships, in the following order: HMS Nassau, HMS Westfalen, HMS Rhineland, and HMS Posen.

Then came the three Frederick III-class pre-dreadnought battleships: Frederick III, Grand Duke Karl, and Barbarossa.

Therefore, the battle line consisted of a total of 7 battleships.

The "Nassau-class" is already well-known. In short, it was the earliest German dreadnought, capable of carrying up to eight 280mm 50-caliber main guns on a single side, with the thickest part of the main armor being 300mm. It was just a bit slow, with a top speed of 19 knots.

The Frederick III-class destroyers were a batch of older ships built in 98, with main guns only 240mm in caliber, similar to the Wichelsbach-class destroyers previously sold to the Ottoman Black Sea Fleet. They belonged to the category of pre-dreadnoughts with a high rate of fire for their main guns, but lacking in firepower.

At the same time, the Frederick III-class ships had a major weakness: their top speed was only 17 knots. By carrying these few burdens, they could further slow down the Hermann squadron's "escape" speed, making the slow escape seem more realistic and more likely to entice the enemy to continue the pursuit.

Five Frederick III-class destroyers were built, and they are currently in good condition. However, two of them are named HMS Wilhelm I and HMS Wilhelm II. Admiral Paul, Commander-in-Chief of the High Seas Fleet, felt it would be disrespectful to bring those ships out to lure the enemy, so he detained them.

William I was, after all, the founder of the empire, and the current emperor had a good relationship with his grandfather. In contrast, the current emperor's relationship with his father, Frederick III, was not so good.

The current emperor is hostile to the British, but the late emperor was diplomatically more pro-Britannia because his wife was a princess of Bretonnia. Therefore, using a warship named after the late emperor as bait is not a big problem.

……

Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the Lusa fleet, Admiral von Essen arranged his battle lines in the following pattern:

First are the four Gangut-class ships: Gangut, Petropavlovsk-Kazakhstan, Sevastopol, and Poltava.

Following that are all the pre-dreadnoughts currently operational in the Baltic Fleet:
Including two former dreadnoughts of the Paul I class, the Paul I and the San Andrew;

One Borodino-class pre-dreadnought battleship, the Slava;

Three Catherine II-class ships: Rostislav, Twelve Apostles, and Georgie;

In other words, the Lusa Fleet consists of 4+6, a total of 10 capital ships.

Both sides had four dreadnoughts. In terms of firepower, the Lusa Fleet was clearly stronger, after all, the Nassau-class was built in 1907, while the Gangut-class was built in 1911.

In the early years of the Dreadnought's development, a four-year design timeframe was enough to miss out on many technological innovations.

In terms of pre-dreadnoughts, the ratio of German to Russo-Druid is 3 to 6.

The Lussars' "Paul I-class" and "Borodino-class" were considered to be "pre-dreadnought peak/half-dreadnought ships," designed in 1904 and 1907 respectively.

Therefore, these three ships are clearly half a level better than the German Frederick III-class.

However, the last three Catherine II-class ships of the Russo were merely filler. These ships were designed in 1888 and were already 25 years old. Their speed was only 16 knots, and their displacement was just over 10,000 tons, less than that of armored cruisers a decade or so later.

Although it was equipped with three twin-mounted 305mm main guns, a total of six, which seemed to provide a good firepower density, it used old-fashioned 35-caliber guns from 1886, and the firing arc was very poor, meaning that at most only four guns could fire simultaneously in any direction.

……

"The enemy fleet has a more significant speed difference than ours. Their Gangut-class ships can reach a high speed of 24 knots, which is between ordinary battleships and battlecruisers, but their old Catherine II-class ships can only reach 16 knots, which is one knot slower than our pre-dreadnought ships."

We should, while ensuring all main gun turrets have firing arcs, retreat southwestward as much as possible, fighting and moving while maintaining distance. This way, if the enemy becomes eager for battle, their Gangut-class battleships will be forced to accelerate, while their three Catherine II-class battleships won't be able to, and the situation will quickly change from 7 against 10 back to 7 against 7.

After repeatedly observing the firing range of both enemy and friendly fleets through his binoculars, Rear Admiral Hermann quickly made an accurate assessment.

By taking advantage of the speed difference, it is possible to prevent the enemy's three slowest old ships from entering the battlefield in time.

This is also the most common problem that occurs when dreadnoughts and pre-dreadnoughts operate in formation together. If they have to enter the battlefield together, the dreadnoughts have to accommodate the slow speed of the pre-dreadnoughts.

Under normal circumstances, few countries' navies would organize themselves in this way, but today's situation is very special. Both sides are doing it, so this disadvantage is evened out.

The German fleet quickly turned slightly under the command of Rear Admiral Hermann, while all the cannons continued to bombard the port side.

Upon seeing this, General von Essen also headed southwest, and his heading was about 30 degrees more westward than that of Major General Hermann, so that he could approach while fighting.

After an initial half-hour engagement, the distance between the two sides quickly decreased from 20 kilometers to 16-17 kilometers.

Both sides' former dreadnoughts, due to their poor fire control, were unable to engage in long-range artillery battles and continued to fire shells at each other inaccurately.

However, the dreadnoughts had already achieved their first hit against each other.

Rear Admiral Hermann's flagship, the HMS Nassau, hit the lead ship of the Lusa Fleet, the HMS Gangut, at a distance of 16700 meters, with a 280mm armor-piercing shell at 7:46 a.m., 31 minutes after the start of the battle.

With a loud, metallic clang, a violent explosion followed, and a cloud of fire rose instantly from the middle of the deck of the Gangut.

"Hit! Was the blast on the chimney, or turret number 2, or turret number 3?"

Rear Admiral Hermann was thrilled, after all, he was personally on board the HMS Nassau, keeping a close eye on the opposing lead ship (but not the flagship), and that shell exploded under his watchful eye.

The fireball looked quite large, which initially filled Herman with anticipation, but after seven or eight seconds, as the smoke and fire gradually dissipated, he realized that the enemy's two central main gun turrets were completely unharmed.

As for the large burst of fire earlier, it was actually because the twin 3-inch anti-torpedo boat secondary guns deployed by the Lusa people on top of the main turret were blown up, and a pile of small 3-inch shells piled up there also detonated. However, these shells were too small, so although they looked impressive, they actually caused "smoke but no damage" to the main turret.

The unique and unusual small-caliber secondary gun layout of the "Gangut-class" was unavoidable.

Because the main gun turrets of the Gangut-class destroyers occupied almost the entire deck, with main gun turrets even located amidships, and had to rotate to the sides to fire, there was no room for secondary gun turrets on the sides. Doing so would have obstructed the main guns' firing arc. Therefore, they had to cramm small-caliber dual-purpose guns onto the top of the main gun turrets.

This arrangement is quite reminiscent of Mao's style of "soldiers buying tickets to hang outside tanks and marching alongside them," actually using flesh as a human shield for iron.

Once hit by the enemy, the main turret itself will be unharmed, but the small cannons and artillerymen on its top will be wiped out.

In addition, the explosion also caused the main chimney, which is sandwiched between the two central main gun turrets, to be penetrated by some shrapnel.

The thick smoke no longer billowed entirely from the top of the chimney, but instead seeped out from small holes in the damaged sidewalls. While this did not affect the warship's propulsion, it did cause the smoke to interfere with the fire control observations on the bridge of the "Gangut".

"Damn it, the enemy's main gun turret armor is very strong; our 280mm shells can't penetrate it at all!"

Major General Hermann cursed in frustration.

The main armor belt of the "Gangut-class" is actually thinner than that of the Demacian battlecruisers, measuring only 227 millimeters, or 9 inches.

Therefore, in theory, the Gangut-class might not fare well in this exchange of fire, as its attributes are too heavily focused on speed and firepower, sacrificing protection.

Its 9-inch main armor belt can be easily penetrated by the Nassau's 280mm gun, unless the engagement distance is too far.

However, there are exceptions to the Gangut-class's weak protection. Its main gun turrets are very well protected, with all four turrets having 305mm thick steel plates, enough to withstand the 280mm guns of the Nassau-class, and even the 305mm guns of the Heligoland-class would not be able to penetrate them.

The Lusa people focused their limited steel armor protection weight on "protection against fire," ensuring that the enemy couldn't penetrate their main gun turret or destroy their ammunition silos. As for other areas, they figured they couldn't defend against them anyway, so let them penetrate.

In this respect, the German armor distribution strategy is exactly the opposite. The Nassau-class main guns have a caliber of 280mm, so the frontal turret armor is also set to 280mm, while the waterline main armor has 300mm.

In other words, the German warship's waterline main armor was 1 inch thicker than the turret front, emphasizing the ship's overall anti-sinking capability. The Japanese warship, however, had main armor 3 inches thinner than the turret front. The initial hit missed, and it didn't significantly disrupt the morale of either side.

All the artillerymen continued to load and unload shells with great enthusiasm, making precise adjustments under the calibration orders of their commanders, and firing round after round of deadly shells.

7时55分和58，距离首次命中后仅仅9和12分钟，在15300米的距离上，“拿骚号”又命中了“甘古特号”两炮。

The other ships have not yet been deployed, which is because the battle lines of both sides are gradually advancing at an acute angle, and the warships closer to the front of the formation are closer to each other.

The Nassau and Gangut were already 15 kilometers away, and the distance between the ships behind them would increase by about 1 kilometer each. The rear of the formation was more than 20 kilometers apart, so of course they couldn't hit each other from that distance.

The Lussauers couldn't be lucky every time, so the second shot hit the galley deck, easily destroying the three 152mm secondary guns on the starboard bow of the Gangut. The shells waiting to be fired on the gun emplacements exploded, further tearing open the galley deck.

The third shot hit the Gangut's starboard main armor belt and penetrated it completely, tearing a hole 1.5 meters above the waterline.

As the ship undulated and the waves surged periodically, tens of tons of seawater would rush in each time the starboard side dipped, causing the starboard oil tank to leak.

The dark, heavy oil immediately spread across the sea, forming a black contrail.

"What's going on! The enemy hit the 'Gangut' three times! But they didn't hit it once! What have these useless guys been doing during training?!"

Admiral von Essen was also anxiously watching through his binoculars, and was even tempted to smash them. Fortunately, the binoculars in the command tower were all fixed to the bulkheads, which prevented them from being smashed.

“Commander! They must have done their best. You know that the ‘Gangut’ was not in good combat readiness this time.”

Captain Lev Mikravich of the Sevastopol sincerely comforted the Commander-in-Chief, telling him to calm down.

Upon hearing this, General von Essen was also disheartened.

He was certainly aware that the Gangut was in poor condition; in fact, that was why he reassigned the Sevastopol as his temporary flagship.

Because of the riot by sailors before departure, the Gangut was the hardest hit area. In the end, more than 700 sailors were shot by the Tsar's Guard, more than 200 of whom were from the Gangut.

About 20% of the crew were killed the night before the battle, and they had to be replaced by trainees who were temporarily reassigned, or new recruits were assigned to unimportant manual labor, while other positions were slightly adjusted.

Take the artillery post as an example. Because more than 10% of the artillerymen were killed, many gun positions were filled by the Tsar's Guard who were on board to supervise the battle, who were doing the physical work of carrying shells, while the veteran loaders were responsible for operating the turret's turning and elevation.

Such adjustments will definitely affect combat effectiveness; it is quite normal for the entire fleet's firing speed and accuracy to decrease by one or two percent as a result.

A fleet forced into battle by the Tsar suffered misfortune right from the start.

The Gangut endured three enemy shells in vain before finally achieving its first victory at 8:01 AM.

A 305mm armor-piercing shell struck the port side of the HMS Nassau near the main gun turret. Although it did not hit directly, it damaged the turret ring and destroyed the bearings, rendering the turret completely unable to rotate.

The Nassau's firepower was thus reduced by a quarter, which seems to be a positive result.

Subsequently, the ships of both sides positioned at the 2nd and 3rd positions of the battle line also opened fire one after another.

At approximately 8:10 AM, the "Westfalen" hit the "Petropavlovsk" twice with its guns, breaching its bow. The latter, however, achieved nothing and was hit without any result.

Around 8:15, the Rhineland also hit the Sevastopol with two shots. Shrapnel swept across the Sevastopol's main gun turret top 3-inch gun and destroyed the secondary bridge, causing severe damage to the superstructure and heavy casualties.

However, the Sevastopol returned fire with two shots at the Rhineland, with a hit rate that was in no way inferior. But soon the Russa people discovered an astonishing scene—both shots hit the Rhineland’s main armor belt squarely, but they did not penetrate it; they only exploded on the surface, causing some armor fragments to fall off.

"What?! It finally hit its target, but it couldn't penetrate it?!"

General von Essen felt his blood pressure spike.

The Sevastopol was in the best condition of all four Gangut-class ships because it was not involved in any sailor riots, no one was executed, and all the soldiers were well-trained. This is why it was chosen by the Commander-in-Chief as the temporary flagship.

Their artillery skills lived up to their reputation, achieving a 1-1 accuracy against the Demacians and upholding the dignity of the Lusa Navy.

But surprisingly, none of them could be penetrated!
The Lusa's 305mm main guns could not penetrate the German ship's 300mm main armor, at least not at a distance of 16 kilometers.

The German warships' "low attack, high defense" characteristics were clearly revealed at this moment.

However, the German ships' "low attack" was just enough to deal with the Russo-style 9-inch main armament, creating a very awkward situation.

If today's battle had been the Battle of Jutland instead of the Battle of Hanco Point, and the opposing Britannian Bellerophon-class destroyers were facing, the Nassau's firepower wouldn't have made it so easy to penetrate its main armor. Sometimes, a difference of just 1-2 inches in steel plate thickness is crucial.

A serious problem confronted General von Essen: his own soldiers had suffered some casualties, were not well-trained, lacked artillery skills, and now had insufficient penetration power. Engaging in battle at a distance of 15 kilometers would be too costly.

At this point, you either retreat or continue to advance rapidly, ideally to engage in combat at around 12 kilometers. That way, you can change the situation from "the enemy can penetrate my main armor, but I cannot penetrate the enemy's main armor" to "both sides can penetrate each other's armor".

However, if the distance is reduced to 12 kilometers, the hit rate for both sides will increase dramatically. That would be a pure gamble. If things go wrong, the damaged warships will have a hard time withdrawing and will have to fight to the very end.

General von Eisen wanted to "cut his losses" and discussed the matter with the brigade commander of the Tsar's Guard brigade who was supervising the battle.

However, the other party stated that he did not understand the navy and that he was only there to help His Majesty monitor whether anyone in the navy had defected.

Von Essen thought to himself that the battle had gone on for so long and that his side was at a complete loss. They hadn't gained any substantial results. They couldn't possibly say that making a few small dents in the armor belt of the Rhineland or damaging a turret of the Nassau was a "victory," could they?
If they retreat at such a loss, they will likely be executed as "traitors who set up the scheme."

Let's fight to the death and prove our honor.

Fight!

"Speed ​​up and close the distance! All ships, reduce the engagement distance to 12 kilometers! Our gunnery coordination is insufficient; we can only close the distance to ensure we penetrate each other's defenses!"

"Turn right 15 degrees and head 235 degrees. Ignore the two enemy ships at the front of the formation. Have the 'Gangut' and 'Petropavlovsk' switch their fire on the enemy's third ship, the 'Rhineland'!"

General von Eisen gritted his teeth and issued this tragic order.

露沙人的4艘“甘古特级”全部提到了极速的24节，以7节的航速差、45度的大夹角，理论上每小时就可以和敌舰拉进9公里的距离。

So, closing the gap by another 3 kilometers can be done in just 20 minutes.

However, raising the angle of the formation to 45 degrees also presents a serious problem: the two ships at the front of the formation will have to engage the ship directly opposite them one-on-one, and their second main gun turrets will lose their firing range.

This forced them to abandon their current objective and fire at the enemy fleet one or even two positions behind it.

If both sides had already achieved considerable success and hit the enemy with several effective shots, General von Eisen would never have given such an incompetent order.

Once the target is switched, all the previous firing data is invalidated, and the firing must be recalibrated.

The problem is that, given the current situation, the Gangut's gunnery is terrible. After firing at the Nassau for a long time, it only managed to hit the main gun breech once and achieved no further results. The second ship, on the other hand, has yet to achieve any results.

Since that's the case, changing targets now won't incur too high a sunk cost. Anyway, the first two ships lost hundreds of sailors, and their combat quality was already low, so let them take the hits and switch targets.

Von Essen now only wants to concentrate the firepower of his first three ships to take down the Rhineland. Even if it means sacrificing the Gangut in exchange for its life, it would be worth it and would give the Tsar an explanation.

(End of this chapter)