Chapter 79: Naval Glory
In August, the Baltic Sea breeze was slow, and three battleships with the German navy flag made white water marks on the sea and slowly moved northward. They were followed by four black-painted submarines, one of which had a very young navy captain standing on the command tower, his eyes as blue as the sea, looking into the distance smugly.
When the war broke out in 1914, there were 762 surface ships and 74 submarines in the navy establishment of the Allies; Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire had 433 surface ships and 85 submarines. Due to the large number of naval theaters, the German Minister of the Navy Tirpitz deeply felt that his power was insufficient, so he put the main navy forces in the North Sea area in order to break the British naval blockade and at the same time contain the Russian navy in the Baltic Sea with a small amount of force.
When the main German navy was on standby in Wilhelmshaven and Kiel, Tirpitz gave Chentian's Baltic Squadron the right to move freely in the Baltic Sea area.
The mission of the Russian Baltic Fleet was to defend the Gulf of Finland and Petrograd. At the beginning of the war, they were busy deploying their forces in the Gulf of Finland, strengthening the defense, and waiting for the opportunity to meet the German navy's intrusion into the Gulf with heavy troops.
Carl von Dennitz, now 23 years old, joined the German Navy in 1910 and served on the cruiser Brest. In February 1912, he received a strange transfer order to report to the Baltic Squadron, and then he began his submarine career.
As expected by Chentian, Dunnitz is a natural submarine commander. This man was born for submarines. In just three months, he had a clear understanding of the performance and technology of submarines. Demonstrated unique talent in tactics. So, Chief Engineer, First Officer, and Deputy Captain, Dunnitz was promoted at an astonishing speed. In May 1914, he finally became the captain of the U-039 submarine, the youngest submarine in the history of the German Navy. Captain.
On August 23, Dunnitz and his U-039, along with another light cruiser, 2 destroyers and 3 submarines, formed a small task force. They set off from the port of Königsberg to the Gulf of Finland in the northeast corner of the Baltic Sea. The sea area, preparing to attack the merchant ships and Russian navy patrol ships there.
In the morning of the next day, the task force entered the combat area. Dunnitz and the submarine unit stayed behind to respond. The cruiser "Magdri" and the other two destroyers began to accelerate. Once they found the target, they would communicate via radio.
"Notify U-014, U-019, U-028 to deploy in rectangular tactics. U-014 occupies the northwest corner, U-019 goes to the southwest corner, U-028 goes to the southeast corner, we are at the northeast corner, ready to dive at any time!" The young Denitz was appointed as the interim commander of this submarine formation. In other German naval forces, it is impossible to become a captain with no qualifications, experience, or military exploits, but fortunately he was in Chentian. The Baltic Squadron, a very young fleet. Except for the light cruisers "Magdri" and "Augsburg" allocated by the Admiralty for more than 10 years, the others are new warships that have been launched recently. In addition to recruiting a group of skilled sailors, this The other sailors in the fleet are naval recruits who have only served for a few years, and the commanders of each ship are also young officers who graduated from the naval class of the Königsberg Military Academy and the German Naval Academy after 1910. Although youthfulness makes this army vigorous, but the lack of experience also has considerable hidden dangers, Chen Tian is very clear about this. Reluctantly, the German Navy has added too many new battleships in recent years, and other naval fleets simply cannot deploy experienced officers. Moreover, it is also believed that the Baltic Squadron will only be suppressed by the Russian Navy in the harbor. The combat high seas fleet. Therefore, new age-related naval records continue to appear in the Baltic Squadron-the youngest chief engineer, the youngest first officer, the youngest captain, and the youngest squadron commander, mainly capable and motivated. People can find a suitable position here. After several years of rigorous training, everyone is delighted to find that there are already a large number of vigorous and well-trained sailors and officers in the fleet. What these people currently lack is actual combat experience.
"Captain, the boats have sent a signal that they have reached the designated position, and our deployment has been reported to the captain of the Magdalene, Major Russ!" The correspondent's report pulled Dunnitz from his memory. Came back.
"Well, very good! Let's wait quietly and tell the boats to pay attention to the sea surface!" This is the first time that Dunnitz has participated in actual combat operations and the first time for the Baltic Sea Squadron.
"Magdri" originally belonged to a light cruiser of the German North Sea Fleet. Five years ago, at the request of Chentian, the Secretary of the Navy Tirpitz transferred the warship from the North Sea Fleet to the Baltic Squadron. The former captain and most of the sailors of "Magdri" have returned to the North Sea Fleet. Major Lars graduated from the Königsberg Military Academy with honors in the second place in the naval class three years ago. He has served as a destroyer first officer and a destroyer deputy. Captain, just promoted to captain of this cruiser four months ago. Russ also feels like a dream about his promotion speed. His wish since childhood was to be able to command his battleship to defeat the British navy. Although the battleship he commanded is somewhat different from his dream, and his opponent has become the Russian navy, he is only At the age of 27, the future is full of hope.
"Major, the reconnaissance plane sent back a report that there is a small Russian tugboat 20 nautical miles ahead!" The officers marked one by one on the chart in the command room. In 1 hour, the reconnaissance plane found a total of 2 small fishing boats and A tugboat is a target of some stuffy teeth.
"Continue scouting!" Lars silently looked at the calm sea in the distance, the air was fresh and transparent, and only a few plumes of smoke floated on his side. After being taken over by the Baltic Squadron, "Magdri" undergoes a large-scale modification. The turret at the rear of the ship was dismantled and replaced by a water reconnaissance aircraft. At present, they are carrying the "Flying Fish III" water reconnaissance aircraft with two wings and two seats and a transmitter, with a range of 200 nautical miles.
After a long wait, the reconnaissance plane finally sent back an exciting report-a Russian patrol ship, a destroyer with a displacement of about 1,500 tons and two gunboats of 300 tons were found 30 nautical miles to the east.
"Great, tell the ships to move forward at full speed!" Major Russ waved his fist. This time his mission was to tentatively attack. If he encounters a large Russian ship, he will lure the opponent to the submarine ambush circle, but what he just discovered is only A few small fishes and shrimps, he decided to rush over and wipe them easily. He will become the first German captain to sink an enemy ship. Thinking of the bright medal, he will destroy Dunnitz and his submarine force. I forgot to go behind my head.
After half an hour, the reconnaissance plane with almost exhausted fuel slowly landed next to the "Magdri", and it took Lass a quarter of an hour to retrieve the plane. Fearing that the missing fighter plane would let the Russian ships slip away, Lars did not let the reconnaissance plane take off again for reconnaissance.
Soon, a few wisps of smoke appeared on the eastern horizon, and Russ commanded the "Magdri" and the other two destroyers to line up in a line and sailed toward the Russian ship at a speed of 20 knots. At this time, several Russian ships also discovered Ras's fleet. They were the naval patrol ships "Warrior", "Zhishen" and "Cossack" of the Russian Baltic Fleet, with displacements of 1,450 tons, 390 tons and 380 tons, respectively. , The Russians' tonnage and firepower were far at a disadvantage, and they soon began to turn.
"Great, order the'Göttingen' and the'Shure' to keep speed!" Seeing this, Lars couldn't help but get excited.
When Ras's fleet was 8,000 yards away from the Russians, the Russian ship had completed its turn and began to retreat eastward at full speed. The destroyer "Warrior" sailed faster, and it dropped two other slow gunboats to escape the battlefield alone. .
"Captain,'Göttingen' sent a semaphore to ask whether to fire the gun!" 8000 yards have basically entered the range of the Ras fleet, but the two Russian gunboats behind are still chasing the Russian destroyer in front with all their strength, Ras is facing Choice.
"Go forward at full speed and shoot at the Russian gunboat with the bow cannon!" In the end, Lars did not choose to attack the opponent with a salvo of side cannons, but kept the course and aimed at the enemy with the bow of the ship, and pursued the opponent with all his strength while shelling the opponent. The standard displacement of the "Magdri" is 4,100 tons. The main guns are 10 Krupp-made 105 mm rapid-fire naval guns with 40 times the diameter. Two bows are arranged on the single mounts on both sides of the gun. It is powered by a light gun shield. Protection, the other 8 are equipped with gun shells or shields on both sides of the gun mounts. In addition, there are some 37mm small caliber artillery and some machine guns as auxiliary firepower, and two 450mm torpedoes are installed under the waterline. The launch tube, "Göttingen" and "Shur" are all standard-class destroyers built by the Königsberg shipyard, with a displacement of 1,080 tons and a maximum speed of 26 knots. The main guns are three 40-times diameter 105mm rapid-fire naval guns. One of the most powerful weapons on standard class destroyers are two 533 mm torpedo tubes with a range of 1,500 yards.
Russ' cruisers and destroyers opened fire, and then water jets rose around the Russian ship. The accuracy of shooting at high speed was not high. The dozens of artillery shells fired by Ras's fleet within a few minutes were all lost. At this time, the Russian gunboats also began to fight back with their two 76mm cannons at the stern, but for high-speed movement The German battleship in China, the Russians' hit rate is equally astonishing. At a distance of 4000 yards, a shell from "Göttingen" hit the middle of the Russian gunboat "Cossack", blasting the superstructure of the "Cossack" into a huge hole, and thick smoke billowed from the hole. Pop up.
"Great, I finally hit one!" Before Lars had time to be happy, a shell from another Russian gunboat hit the command tower of the "Magdri". Fortunately, the armor of the cruiser's command tower The thickness reached 100 millimeters. Only Ras and a few other officers were slightly injured. The blood quickly stained Ras' uniforms red.
"Full rudder on the right, kill it with a shipboard cannon!" Lars roared, and the medical soldiers who rushed over wrapped a thick gauze around his head.
Under the leadership of the "Magdi", the German fleet began to turn, and the power of the ship's cannon was finally released. The two Russian gunboats quickly ignited a raging fire. With a few loud noises, they sank into Finland one after another. In the dark green waters of the bay.
Just when the German ship was entangled with the two Russian ships, another Russian destroyer had disappeared in the distance. Ras's head was wrapped like a zongzi, and he looked helplessly at the Russian sailors struggling desperately on the sea.
"Contain the prisoners of war, and then return!"
The news of the Russ fleet's victory quickly spread back to Germany, leaving many veteran navies stunned, because the Baltic Squadron, which they dubbed the "doll fleet", actually won the first victory of the German surface ship. A victory!
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