The starter hit, Admiral Schell had never encountered such good luck since he was launched. This seemed to be something that Schanehorst or Gneisenau would encounter. Except for the light patrol on the far left, all the German warships in the first row began to enter a tense loading. Due to the range, Leipzig did not join the ranks of firing. Although her two 150 straws could match the other side, considering the speed and weight of the end, it would be embarrassing to release them.

Just as the front row warships were still loading, the second row of warships fired a round of volleys. The German Navy's high seas fleet had an absolute advantage in long-range firepower. Compared with the opponent's only three heavy patrols and one battleship, the German fleet had six warships that could join more than 20,000 meters of artillery bombardment.

All three warships relied on the shelling parameters reported by the front row warships to fire. These parameters have been corrected after the first round of shooting, so that the effect was immediate. Gneisenau made a beautiful blow to the Royal Navy's flagship Kent.

A shell hit the back of the British heavy cruiser directly. The 75-kilogram steel block still maintained a bullet speed of 300 meters per second at the end of the ballistic. First, it rubbed over the top of the watchtower on the left side of the Kent combat bridge and almost hit the secondary gun rangefinder on that side. The shell magically swept through three huge chimneys, tearing off four or five fixed steel cables, and then inserted into the heavy cruiser's seaplane ejection platform at a 17-degree angle.

After smashing through two thin layers of iron plates effortlessly, the fine fuse made by Germany continued to work as usual. The 42 kilograms of charge in the shell exploded in the cabin directly below the seaplane hangar. The explosion was very fierce, and the quality of German fireworks was excellent. The thin layer of Kent's armor was penetrated from the inside.

A hull of about eight meters long on the side of the heavy cruiser was knocked away, and the tear-open crack was riddled with holes, looking like an aluminum beer can with a shotgun shotgun.

What's more serious is that the explosion broke open the aviation fuel cabinet under the hangar, and within a few seconds the flames rushed to the hangar deck. Then the two walrus-style seaplanes in the hangar were lit, and several buckets of fuel and lubricating oil piled on one side of the hangar were on fire. The billowing and black smoke wrapped in red flames gushed out from the window of the hangar, and the entire tail of the hull was shrouded in a suffocating pungent smoke.

The damage duct personnel of the Royal Navy were well-trained. They bravely rushed into the thick smoke. The two damage duct teams approached the fire from the upper and lower floors of the deck at the same time. Then they encountered a second violent explosion. The oxygen cylinders and acetylene cylinders in the hangar exploded at high temperature. The instantaneous high-temperature flames and shock waves swept across the deck and corridor with high-speed flying debris, smashing the entire row of people into pieces.

Just after a harsh sound of metal breaking, the ceiling of the hangar collapsed. The steel beam crushed the two planes in the hangar. The fuel tanks that were filled with were immediately squeezed out, injecting thousands of gallons of high-quality fuel into the blazing fire again. The flames began to spread on the upper deck with the flowing fuel and flowed into the next cabin along the open staircase.

The Germans did not know the disaster on the Kent at this time, and they were applauding and celebrating to be able to accurately hit the enemy ship. The Luzov pocket battleship was not as lucky as her leader. Her three shells all deviated from the target, but one of the shells that had deviated from the side of the cruiser was in a terrible way, and gave the Berwick a close loss.

Although the German-class 28 heavy artillery shells are old-style. The bullet shape is relatively old and the armor-piercing ability is average, it is actually filled with 36 kilograms of explosives. The huge water pressure generated by the explosion knocked down the thin underwater hull of the Treaty heavy cruiser. The steel plate, which was only fifteen millimeters thick, was twisted and deformed, and the rivet was broken from the nail hole, and a five-meter-long hole was cracked, and sea water gushed into the freshwater tank on one side.

The results of Prince Eugen were the most brilliant in this round of artillery attacks. Thanks to the excellent fire control of the Count Hippel-class heavy cruiser, this brand new heavy cruiser embodies the latest military technology of the German Navy, and the huge rangefinder can almost compete with those battleships.

Three shots were almost lost. One shot hit, Prince Eugen surpassed all the lead ships. The unlucky victim was still the heavy cruiser Berwick, and the 203mm shell shot diagonally into her turret.

In front of the German semi-armor-piercing bomb, the 25mm layer of armor was as fragile as paper, and then a tragic explosion occurred without any avoidance.

The heavy cruiser had just finished a volley. The turret was being reloaded. The sailors had just removed the ammunition from the ammunition. Before they could fill the breeze of the cannon, a Krupp product carrying 21 kilograms of strong explosives smashed the front armor and broke in. The German shell first hit the tail of a 204mm main gun, and then took off to the ceiling of the turret. No one could see how the shell exploded, because before that, the broken armor fragments in the front of the turret rage in the turret like shrapnel, killing all the personnel in the turret in an instant.

The explosion flames lured the shells on the turret racks, to be precise, the launch cartridges placed under the shells. The violent shock wave bent the guide rails on the turret lift shaft, and stuck the fire cover that had not yet been closed. The burning flames rushed into the bullet-up chamber at the lower level of the turret along the bullet-loading shaft, immediately killing the sailors who were working in the cabin. At this time, they were unloading the new launch cartridges from the ammunition repository, and the warheads had been moved to the turret's bullet-up machine.

All this happened in an instant, and the whole process took less than two seconds. The British naval officers and soldiers had no time to understand what happened. A turret erupted like a volcano. The cap of the turret was lifted open, and the flying steel plate almost hit the bridge. The flames sprayed from all the openings on the turret to the surroundings. Then there was the second big explosion. The rising fireball exceeded the bridge and the mainmast. Following the fireball were various twisted and broken pipes and broken parts. A turret threw its internal organs into all directions.

The tragic scene of the explosion scared the captain of the USS Berick. He decisively ordered an emergency water injection into the front ammunition depot. He was afraid that the fire would spread to the ammunition depot in the bottom cabin, where hundreds of shells were stacked supplying the two front main turrets. Once the first half of the warship exploded, it would be blown to pieces.

At this time, the captain did not know that the fire door at the bottom of the turret A had actually been closed, and the ammunition depot was now very safe. As a result, the sailors strictly followed the captain's instructions to pour sea water into the front ammunition depot, resulting in the intact turret B which cut off the ammunition supply. The Berwick lost all the forward firepower five minutes after the war started.

As the fireballs of the explosion of Berwick's turret rose, Prince Eugen's armored command tower was filled with joy.

A person who thought of himself as a fearless knight was a little resistant to entering the armored room at first, because it seemed that he had lost the dignity of a demeanor officer hiding behind the thick steel plate. He stood in front of the enemy's artillery fire and let the sea breeze blow on his face with gunpowder, which was the romance of naval battle. However, after seeing the Scher break through the bridge of the opponent's battleship with one shot, the fearless knight took the lead in running into the armored command tower without hesitation.

"Did you see the fireball? Did you see the big fireball? God, we killed her!" Randolph shouted excitedly at a high power telescope.

"Not yet, she is still in the formation, neither slowing down nor losing control, but don't worry, our artillery hurt her very much. My subordinates are the best in the German navy, and we will soon send that British ship to the bottom of the sea." Von Hertz stood aside with a telescope, and he said to Randolph with pride.

"Hahaha, dear Christian, guess if those British people are already scared to their pants. They think they still have the ocean. These arrogant guys may be trembling in fear now, and regret proposing such overestimating challenges to us.

The German team led by the great head of state is invincible, and we are the strongest, both on land, sky and on the ocean. As the head of state's most trusted subordinate, I am extremely proud to be able to witness this fact in person." After saying that, Randolph put down his telescope, put on the most solemn posture he thought, and looked around at every officer and soldier in the command cabin.

Everyone was stunned for a moment, not knowing what he was doing. As a result, Von Hertz's brain turned the fastest. He stood in place and stood up straight, raising his right arm straight.

"Hi, Reinhart! Hi, Reinhart! Hi, Reinhart!" the navy colonel shouted loudly. The subordinates finally reacted and quickly followed the captain to salute, shouting the name of the head of state to show their loyalty.

"Hi! Reinhart!" Randolph was very satisfied with the scene in front of him. It was his talent and responsibility as a confidant to show his reputation as a confidant at any time and anywhere. Of course, more importantly, his little vanity can also be satisfied with this.

"The Head of State will be very happy to see the British Navy's defeat. Now he needs you to continue to work hard. I will truthfully report to the Head of State everything I have seen, so everyone, let's fight hard to get more glory and praise." Randolph turned around, continued to lift the telescope and looked ahead.
Chapter completed!