Starting with the smashing of Dunkirk

Chapter 24 Even when a lion hunts a rabbit, it doesn't forget to defeat them one by one.
Major General Hipper fully utilized the advantage of the enemy being in the open while he was in the shadows, rapidly closing the distance between the two sides.

His captains were still somewhat afraid—in the darkness, if enemy destroyers spotted them in advance and secretly rushed up to launch torpedoes, it would pose a significant threat to the German battlecruisers.

Torpedoes are too difficult to warn of in the dark, and too difficult to avoid in advance.

However, on October 29, 1914, which is September 12 in the lunar calendar, the moonlight was still relatively bright, and it was impossible for it to be discovered only when they got extremely close.

As the two sides drew closer, when they were about 15 kilometers apart, Hipper discovered more details about the enemy situation.

"Commander, based on the distribution of muzzle flashes observed from the enemy fleet, it is preliminarily determined that the enemy ships are divided into two groups. The eastern group appears to consist of three capital ships and a few auxiliary vessels, which are currently bombarding Ostend City!"
Ten kilometers west of the main fleet, another capital ship and numerous auxiliary vessels are shelling the town of Neoport and positions along the coastal highway!

Hipper's spirits lifted again: The enemy had actually split their forces? If he acted quickly enough, he might be able to defeat them one by one and prevent them from reaching the battlefield all at once!

But he still had some questions and muttered to himself, "Why did the enemy divide their forces? Are they in such a hurry to bombard both Ostend and Neoport at the same time?"

Fortunately, Lelouch, who was nearby, was very familiar with the army's situation and immediately determined the possible reason:

"General, I think I know what's going on! It must be that Colonel Lister's flexible defense has been causing the enemy so much trouble that they want to take advantage of their numerical superiority and crush our army across the board."

And look, there are two huge fires on the sea outside Ostend! Those must be damaged enemy ships! The Britannians probably don't know that during our capture of Ostend, the Billy King's army surrendered too quickly, so they didn't destroy the city's defenses!
When Colonel Lister and I stormed in, the colonel had also taken over the coastal fortress, which had eight 210mm coastal guns! The Britannians must have underestimated us at first, trying to get their light warships close in and fire to take advantage of the situation, but they were severely damaged by the colonel's coastal gun counterattack!
The enemy must have suffered losses before withdrawing their light ships further away from Ostend and deploying them to Neoport in the west to specifically target our forces, who were unable to retaliate.

Coastal defense guns are quite accurate against warships because they are fixed-point firing guns, and the ballistic tables are known through peacetime calibration. In actual combat, all that is needed is to report the coordinates and fire according to the table. The anti-ship effect of a single 210mm coastal defense gun may be more powerful than that of an armored cruiser with four 210mm main guns.

In other words, Ostend wasn't big enough, so it was only equipped with 210mm coastal defense guns. If it were facing a large city like Antwerp today, it might have been the turn of 280mm or even 305mm fortress guns.

With the presence of the 210mm coastal defense guns, enemy small boats dared not approach, and the only option was to use battleships to long-range slingshots to remove the coastal defense guns.

After listening to Lelouch's analysis, Hipper's last doubts and hesitations vanished, and his mind became completely clear.

The reasons are no longer important. Now that the situation has been set in stone, all I have to do is seize this golden opportunity and strike hard!
"Since most of the enemy's auxiliary ships have avoided Ostend, we no longer need to worry about our capital ships being ambushed by enemy torpedoes as we approach. All battlecruisers and armored cruisers, target the three enemy battleships of Ostend, approach at full speed! Attention! Change from column formation to line formation!"

Armored cruisers were responsible for driving away a small number of enemy auxiliary ships on the east side and preventing the enemy from entering torpedo positions, while battlecruisers were divided into groups to target the enemy capital ships!
All light cruisers and destroyers, engage the enemy's secondary fleet on the western flank, and may fire freely. Simply create chaos in the darkness and slow the enemy's western fleet as it approaches!

The ships immediately began to turn as Hipper ordered, and their formation quickly changed from a column to a line, advancing side by side.

After adjusting their formation, the two sides were less than ten kilometers apart.

After sailing another two kilometers or so for the break-in period, when the two ships were about 6 to 7 kilometers apart, the lookout on the Derfflinger transmitted another important message:
"Enemy ship A's main guns have ceased firing! One minute has passed since the last round of firing!"

Hipper remained focused on waiting for news. His original plan was to close the distance to within five kilometers. If he hadn't been discovered yet, that would be ideal, allowing him to calmly turn and open fire.

Upon hearing this news, he decisively ordered: "The enemy must have spotted us! All capital ships, hard port! Head due east and enter the battle line! Reduce to cruising speed! Two Derfflinger-class ships, target the enemy's easternmost capital ship! Two Blücher-class ships, target the enemy's second-largest capital ship! Open fire at will!"

……

Why did Lieutenant General Hastings, who is located seven kilometers south of Hipper, suddenly cease fire?

Of course, it was because as he kept bombarding, the lookouts in the fleet finally spotted a bunch of dark figures appearing to the north.

"General! Unidentified warships have appeared in the north! Number unknown!"

Vice Admiral Hastings, who was on the bridge of the former dreadnought USS Solemnity, was slightly startled upon hearing this.

The force that appears at this point is definitely not friendly, because he has not been notified.

So he immediately ordered the main guns to cease fire, and all three of the former dreadnoughts that were bombarding the coastal fortress of Ostend turned their hydraulics to maximum and spun their turrets wildly.

The city of Ostend lies on the southern coast, Hastings' fleet is in the middle, and the mysterious visitors are to the north. To switch targets, the warship's main gun turrets would have to make a 180-degree turn, enough time for the old-fashioned hydraulic mechanisms to spin for two minutes.

This ceasefire interval is therefore quite obvious.

Two minutes later, the Formidable-class HMS Majesty and the Sovereign-class HMS Vengeance finally turned their 305mm main guns northward.

The oldest of the three ships, the HMS Hood, a Sovereign-class vessel, still uses old-fashioned 343mm main guns from the late 19th century because it has not been fitted with fully enclosed turrets for its 305mm main guns. It takes five minutes to complete a 180° turn.

Seeing that it was too late, Hastings ordered the few auxiliary ships around him to engage at all costs, attempting to intercept and delay the enemy, as the battleship's main guns turned.

The Linxian-class light cruiser HMS Daredevil, the Bristol-class light cruisers HMS Glasgow and HMS Gloucester, and five destroyers immediately rushed toward the dark figure from the east, west, and north flanks of the capital ship.

However, the German forces on the other side quickly fired two volleys of flares at the heads of the light cruisers and destroyers using their secondary guns.

With the technology of 1914, flares were generally launched from auxiliary ships; large-caliber main guns wouldn't be used to fire them. However, the secondary guns of battlecruisers and armored cruisers were sufficient for launching them, so these flares were currently being fired by the secondary guns of the German ships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau.

沙恩霍斯特级装甲舰拥有8门（双联装4座）210毫米主炮，6门150毫米副炮（单装每侧三门，廊炮结构）和16门88毫米速射炮。

The illumination rounds fired simultaneously from the three 150mm secondary guns can ensure that the target sea area is illuminated for about one minute.

The auxiliary ships of the Burkina Faso were quickly covered and illuminated, but they could not launch torpedoes immediately and could only grit their teeth and continue to charge forward. The range of torpedoes in 1914 was also very limited. The 533 mm torpedoes of Germany and Burkina Faso had a range of only 4 kilometers (at high speeds of 30 knots and above), while the 450 mm torpedoes of France and Russia had a range of only 2 to 3 kilometers.

To ensure a high hit rate, the torpedoes must be launched only when the target is within 2 kilometers.

With at least 5-6 kilometers remaining between the two sides, and torpedoes yet to enter firing range, the Scharnhorst-class destroyers unleashed a barrage of 210mm guns, firing every 12 seconds, at full speed on the Burkina Faso light cruisers. Meanwhile, the 88mm rapid-fire guns began sweeping fire at the destroyers.

The cruiser HMS Daredevil, which had just performed a great service by rescuing King Albert I of Billy Kings a few days earlier, was first targeted by a concentrated barrage of 16 210mm guns from Shane and Gneisenau at a distance of 5 kilometers. The first volley of shells landed around the Daredevil, creating a crossfire.

Just 12 seconds later, the "Daredevil" was hit by a near miss that exploded in the nearby sea, which blew off some of its upper deck facilities.

Twelve seconds later, two 210mm shells struck the hull, igniting a massive fire throughout the Linxian-class ship and blasting two large holes in the hull. Although the damage wasn't near the waterline and didn't cause significant flooding, the upper deck's firepower system was completely destroyed.

The German patrols relentlessly bombarded it for another half minute, with three more 210mm shells hitting it in succession. Finally, the "Bold" broke in two in a massive explosion. The captain, who had been chatting and laughing with King Billy King just three days earlier, was also torn to pieces. Of the nearly 400 crew members, very few survived. However, the fate of the "Bold" was not enough to serve as a warning to the other ships, who continued their relentless attacks.

In fact, this was because they had no other choice—the surviving Bristol-class light cruisers also only had two 150mm guns. Such weak main gun firepower meant that only one 150mm gun could fire when charging head-on, but two could fire when turning sideways. Was this difference meaningful?

Since that's the case, we might as well not rely on the extra output from the 150mm gun at the stern and just focus on getting close enough to lay torpedoes as quickly as possible.

Unfortunately, the laws of nature cannot be overcome by courage.

What does it mean to charge under the fire of 16 210mm guns firing every 12 seconds? Especially when the distance between the two sides is so close that they can fire horizontally without considering elevation, as long as the Scharnhorst-class destroyer finds the right left or right azimuth angle, it is almost guaranteed to hit.

The Glasgow and Gloucester also exploded during this desperate charge.

The former ultimately failed to enter torpedo range, while the latter did, but as it turned to find a torpedo launch angle, it was immediately destroyed by the enemy's 210mm guns just as it exposed its broad sides.

As for those five destroyers, the German captains didn't even need to directly command them to engage in targeted attacks; the free firing of their 88mm rapid-fire guns alone was enough to give them a run for their money.

Each Scharn-class destroyer had 16 rapid-fire guns, eight on each side, capable of firing one shot every three seconds. While the 88mm shells couldn't sink the destroyer's hull, they could inflict severe damage, stall its speed, and render it unable to command or firepower. Several destroyers either caught fire on their decks or had their superstructures destroyed, rendering them unable to fire and subsequently turning back and fleeing into the distance.

Even if they continued to charge, they would no longer have the ability to launch torpedoes, as their combat command and firepower systems had already been destroyed.

Choosing to flee further away might allow the ship to sink more slowly, thus drawing enemy fire for a little longer.

"If the Britannians had two to three times the number of close escort troops, they might be able to break through tonight with a desperate torpedo charge."

Unfortunately, fate was on our side. Most of their auxiliary ships, threatened by the coastal defenses of Ostend, were idle on the east side and were thus relocated to the west!

On board the "Defflinger," Hipper watched as the two Scharn-class ships at the outpost, along with the six 150mm and six 88mm secondary guns on each side of his own ship, wiped out the few enemy auxiliary vessels that were charging with torpedoes. He was both impressed by the enemy's courage and knew that their efforts were in vain.

Torpedo attacks must be carried out on a large scale to have a chance of success; piecemeal tactics are just throwing away lives.

The result of sacrificing lives is merely to buy one's own capital ships a mere ten minutes or so, allowing them to turn their turrets around, adjust their positions, and make initial observations of the enemy ships' positions.

The problem is that in nighttime conditions, before the Demania battlecruiser's main guns fire, the Britannians can only lateralize the guns and cannot perform rangefinding. In other words, they can only roughly adjust the left and right angles of the main guns, but they still don't know how much to adjust them to determine the distance.

Because at night, distance measurement mainly relies on observing the distance between the gunfire of the enemy ship's fore and aft main gun turrets through a rangefinder to estimate the size and distance of the enemy ship.

If the enemy ship's main guns in the distance don't fire or emit sparks, the distance between the fore and aft main gun turrets cannot be measured.

In contrast, the Britannian battleships had already fired many rounds of main gun fire, and the Demacian observers had repeatedly measured the distances well in advance.

The Demacian Scharnhorst-class cruisers' 210mm main guns had been firing continuously, and theoretically, the capital ships could also range the Scharnhorst-class ships and concentrate their fire—but the problem is, everyone knows that the Scharnhorst-class's 210mm main guns pose no threat to pre-dreadnoughts. In the decisive battle, who would dare waste firepower on secondary targets that pose no threat to their capital ships?
For example, if Hood and Bismarck were to fight one-on-one, would Hood continue to waste her main gun firepower on Eugen even though she knew that the other's lead ship was Eugen?

Thus, when Hipper dealt with the enemy auxiliary ships and shifted all his attention back to the decisive battle between the capital ships, the Britannians still failed to gain the upper hand and had to start all over again from the same starting line.

"Boom~Boom~Boom~"

12-inch and 11-inch shells from the German warships rose into the air alternately, creating four dense clusters of muzzle flashes on the sea surface.

After seeing the muzzle flash, only a dozen seconds later, a bunch of shells flew over the "Solemn"!

Lieutenant General Hastings broke out in a cold sweat upon hearing the whistling sound overhead.

"What? How can the enemy's artillery be so accurate? How long did they observe us in secret beforehand?"

As a veteran naval officer, Vice Admiral Hastings certainly knew that finding the left and right directions in naval battles was relatively easy; the real challenge was accurate distance measurement.

But the enemy's first volley of shells flew right over their heads, which at least shows that they had identified the left and right positions from the start, but their rangefinding was off.

"Retaliate immediately! Then fine-tune the ranging as soon as possible!"

Hastings was in a great hurry, and the 12 main guns of the three pre-dreadnoughts were also fired at the enemy.

They were able to find the left and right directions fairly well, but their distances were much further off from the enemy's. They had to quickly adjust the ranging results based on the distance between the enemy's main gun flashes.

更要命的是，黑斯廷斯手头这三艘船，只有3*4=12门主炮。对面的希佩尔却有4*8=32门主炮。

Hipper didn't even wait for the precise range measurement results. He simply estimated from experience that the first wave had gone too far, and immediately ordered: "Don't wait for the calibration results! Reduce the range by 300 yards for each wave, fire half salvo! Keep firing until you get lucky!"

Some of the more rigid officers had not yet grasped Hipper's deeper meaning, but this did not prevent them from strictly following orders.

The German ships quickly complied with the requirements, and the half-salvo firing could further reduce the interval between each round of shelling by half, increasing the frequency from three rounds per minute to five rounds per minute.

Just one minute later, as the pre-aiming range shortened by more than a thousand yards, a 12-inch shell finally struck the superstructure of the "Solemn" and blasted the smokestack off at the base with a "boom".

Black smoke, mixed with flames, billowed directly from the ship's hull, turning the "Solemn" into an extremely conspicuous target in the darkness, no longer needing any lighting for marking.

-

P.S.: It's the new book release period, but it's already at 9,000 words today...

Honestly, is this the update speed of a new book that's only been published for less than two weeks? I also want to get through this battle as soon as possible.

Moreover, it's a niche topic; if I don't write about it, no one else on the site will ever write about it again.

Please comment! Please follow for more updates! Please add to your favorites! Please vote!

(End of this chapter)