The Boiling Sea (1300-vote bonus chapter)

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The German Navy's Battleship Bavaria fired first. Her three triple-mounted 50-caliber 380mm Main Gun turrets hurled one-ton shells viciously toward the Combined Fleet's flagship, Battleship Vengeance.

The other German military warships opened fire as well.

For a time, the sea thundered with cannon fire. Shell after shell, driven by immense kinetic force, slammed toward the enemy warships. The shells struck the sea, throwing up towering columns of water. As the spray fell, it crackled and popped, as though the entire ocean were boiling.

On another battlefield, the German Navy's 2nd Battle Line and the Combined Fleet's 2nd Battle Line also began exchanging fire. The German Navy's eleven Battleships faced eleven Battleships the British had purchased from the United States. Battleship Arkansas had been sunk by German Navy carrier-based aircraft, leaving only eleven.

Although both sides had equal numbers, the German Navy undoubtedly held the advantage in warship performance. The British Navy's two Nevada-class Battleships and two New York-class Battleships carried 356mm Main Guns, while all the remaining ships carried 305mm Main Guns. The German Navy's three Kaiser-class Battleships and four Helgoland-class Battleships were all equipped with 343mm Main Guns. Only the four Nassau-class Battleships carried 305mm Main Guns. The German Navy's 50-caliber 343mm Main Guns were not at all inferior in power to the American Navy's 45-caliber 356mm Main Guns, and their armor-piercing capability was even more formidable.

Among the remaining British Navy Battleships, aside from the Wyoming-class Battleships, which carried 50-caliber 305mm Main Guns, the rest were equipped with 45-caliber 305mm Main Guns. The German Navy's four Nassau-class Battleships, meanwhile, were all fitted with 50-caliber 305mm Main Guns.

In terms of defense, the Nevada-class Battleships were indeed exceptionally tough. But the German Navy's Battleships were no slouches in defense either. It was simply that, aside from