Chapter 15: Germany, Germany! (4)

  Lützow and Lion were still exchanging broadsides at a distance of 17,000 yards, the two approaching ships heading straight for each other. At 18:05, the sea battle reached its climax, with Lion firing sixteen salvoes in just nine minutes, and the seventeenth salvo already loaded! The frenzied gunners, to ensure the rate of fire, even opened the hatches of the shell rooms, magazines and hoists above the armor covers. Without a doubt, the British had the upper hand in terms of firing speed!

  After the ninth salvo, two 13.5-inch armor-piercing shells hit the Russian cruiser Lützow, striking one of its main turrets and igniting a fire in the right midship section after exploding its magazine, killing thirteen gunners and nine damage control crew members. The British scored again with their seventeenth salvo when another 13.5-inch armor-piercing shell hit the upper armor belt just above the waterline on the starboard side below the second funnel of Lützow.

  The explosion produced thick smoke, and the threatened coal bunker was penetrated. The damage control team members put on gas masks, turned on the fire pumps, connected the hoses, and rushed into the dense fog without hesitation, trying to strangle the disaster in its cradle. The wounded sailor, unable to move due to his injuries, covered his wound and coughed violently in the smoke, while the medical officer and his stretcher team rushed over and carried the injured sailor back to the sickbay.

  The British certainly showed the tactical finesse of the Royal Navy, but Wang Haitao's first reconnaissance fleet was also a seasoned elite force. Although they were not equipped with ballistic computers, the quality of the German staff was the best ballistic computer! After the initial excitement and tension, the German gunners performed their tactical actions as smoothly as their routine training, under the command of the fire control tower, counterattacking fiercely and sharply!

  At 6:00 p.m., a 350mm shell beautifully passed over the Lion, and the wireless antenna on the Lion disappeared. The First Battlecruiser Squadron temporarily lost command.

  At 18:04, another 350mm armour-piercing shell hit the outer wall of the P turret on the port side of the Lion's armoured deck, exploding deep within the turret.

  The 2.5-inch (6 mm) horizontal armor near the P turret bulged upwards like fragile paper, then ruptured, and the 9-inch (229 mm) gunhouse armor twisted, emitting a screeching sound. The propellant in the gun house and loading chamber ignited instantly, killing 70 crew members by asphyxiation due to lung burns. The blast force was far from over; the standard displacement of 26,250 tons battleship suddenly turned thirty degrees to starboard, blowing more air into the open turret, spreading the white flames everywhere, and it seemed that the P turret magazine explosion was inevitable. At this time, Franz J. Harvey, a major in the Royal Marine, who had lost both legs and was dying, struggled to crawl to the voice tube, ordering the closure of the magazine doors and the start of flooding.

  Lion was thus saved, and the gallant Captain Harvey was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross. However, Lion had paid dearly for her survival: Q turret was completely destroyed, the ship was badly damaged, and her speed was reduced.

  ****

  No matter how Colonel Egidy, the captain of SMS Szent István, cursed, something ridiculous happened: whether it was a problem with the light or the carelessness of the lookout, in short, HMS Royal Princess picked the wrong opponent and directed all its firepower at Szent István.

  Thinking of the Tiger's attack on the Bellerophon and the Royal Princess, Captain von Roith thought he couldn't help but envy Captain Ludwig von Reuter's good luck, at least the Derfflinger could attack the Royal Princess without distraction, while his Seydlitz had to withstand eight 15-inch main guns and eight 13.5-inch main guns.

  As time went on, the fire control systems of the Royal Princess and the Tiger-class cruisers gradually improved, while the Seydlitz took two near-misses in a row.

  The performance of British armour-piercing shells had been questioned by some observers even before the end of the Battle of Dogger Bank, but the dismal hit rate of British warships in that battle obscured this issue. The main explosive component of British capped armour-piercing shells was lyddite, a crystalline substance with a yellowish tint at room temperature, which had slightly greater power and brisance than German explosives, but was prone to chemical reaction with the metal of the shell casing, making it highly flammable and difficult to store.

  The German armor-piercing shell mainly uses high-explosive explosive as the warhead, and the performance of the time fuze is also more stable, so there is no problem with the shell exploding prematurely. This armor-piercing shell has a stronger penetration power than the British one. However, if we talk about the power of near-miss shells, the German armor-piercing shell will be greatly discounted. Specifically, even if the German near-miss shell does not directly hit the explosion point, it is only 4-5 feet away from the hull, but because the warhead and the blunt stabilizer are more mature in technology, they always explode under water, so there will be a protective layer composed of seawater between the explosion point and the ship's hull, which will greatly reduce the impact of the explosion on the ship's compartment wall and block the shrapnel, making it only cause very little or even no damage. Even if an indirect hit occasionally occurs, it will only pose threats such as vibration, displacement, and indentation of the bottom armor to the warship.

  Although the British armor-piercing shells had an early detonation problem, when these "problem" armor-piercing shells formed near-misses, their power would often increase greatly. When the British armor-piercing shells touched the water surface, there was a considerable probability of premature detonation, and the explosion produced a water column and high-speed fragments that posed a significant threat to the upper armor above the main armor belt at the waterline.

  Two near-misses had one shell being a masterpiece of the Royal Princess, the premature detonation forming a shallow yellow water column that roared and slapped against the battleship Sedritz, damaging a lifeboat covered with canvas. The fragments of the shell also scraped out sparks on the 200mm side armor of the Levsof, which then emitted a terrifying, ear-piercing scream.

  The near-miss shell from the Tiger's salvo that had not detonated prematurely instead penetrated the water and exploded about 10 feet (3 meters) underwater, causing a shockwave that compressed the water between the point of explosion and the bottom plating of the Seydlitz. This formed countless tiny air bubbles that pushed the main force vessel to port by nearly half a meter and caused violent vibrations.

  The hull seemed to jump, and the stokers, stripped to the waist, repeating the motions of shoveling coal, turning around, and throwing coal, were instantly thrown off balance. Many of those who were not in good shape bumped into the hard coal bunker outlet or the dense network of boiler water pipes and fittings, and immediately had their heads cracked and bleeding. The damage control personnel who were inspecting the previous 15-inch near-miss shell damage felt a violent tremor under their feet, as if a powerful force was recklessly rushing towards them, easily knocking them to the ground.

  "Damage control, confirm whether Seydlitz has been hit and report the damage situation!" The command tower of Seydlitz, with its 400mm frontal armor, had a shock-absorbing effect, but the impact force generated by the explosion still came through clearly from the bottom of the feet. Experienced Colonel Moritz von Egidy grabbed the internal phone handset and inquired about the situation in each compartment.

  "The first near miss, not a direct hit on the hull!" Seydlitz was steaming at full speed, the huge roar of the wind, the thunder of the engines and the 350mm main guns, even the explosion of the near miss was drowned out. The ship's surroundings were filled with towering water columns, higher than the smokestacks, and even splashing onto the chilled lookouts on high. Occasionally a bright flash would appear in front, something whizzing past, that was the scattered shrapnel flying around the ship. Brave lookouts, ignoring the turbulent waters and flying shrapnel, carefully checked the fall of the British shells and transmitted the information back to the command tower.

  "The second shell landed 5 meters off the starboard side, damage unknown!"

  "Damage control reports, near miss, hull not breached! Minor damage to lower compartments!"

  The lookout and the damage control team's messages came back one after another, but Colonel Ogotti's brow still had a thick layer of worry that hadn't dissipated. "Loyter, if we don't resolve the Royal Princess soon, I'm afraid the Sedritz will suffer greatly!"

  ****

  The two Invincibles in the rear division, along with Moltke and von der Tann, were delayed due to navigational issues and did not enter gunnery range until around 18:00. Indomitable and Inflexible opened fire with their sixteen 12-inch (305 mm) guns, but were quickly suppressed by the return fire from Moltke and von der Tann.

  The previous rounds of gunfire from the Deutschland were all over-shots, with occasional near-misses that fell 30-40 meters away from the Indomitable's hull, which was enough to make the waterline belt armor 4-6 inches, horizontal armor 0.75-2.5 inches, turret front armor 7 inches, and command tower front armor 10 inches of the Indomitable battleship shake violently!

  However, the British were clearly luckier than the ill-fated Deutschland. At 6:10, after thirteen salvoes, a single 305 mm armour-piercing shell unexpectedly hit Deutschland's bow. The 250 mm waterline belt of main armour on Deutschland would have been sufficient against the battered Invincible, but the bow was not covered.

  The Deutschland's 70mm bow armor was mercilessly pierced by British AP shells, tons of seawater poured in, and the 20,000-ton battleship had a slight tendency to lean forward slightly. To maintain the balance of the warship, the captain of the Deutschland had no choice but to order the stern compartments to be flooded to level it out, and the 27.1-knot overloaded speed suddenly slowed down.

  "Commander, we've hit the target ship's bow section! The target ship is slowing down!" The excited voice of the observer in the observation tower of the Indomitable resounded in the ears of Captain Indomitable. Just as the crew of the Indomitable was cheering and celebrating, at the other end of the British battle line, HMS Princess Royal was being continuously hit by Derfflinger and was on the verge of collapse.