Despair (Please Vote Monthly)

"Bastard! Faster!" Captain Hasegawa Kiyoshi of the Island Nation Navy destroyer Mikazuki roared at the top of his lungs. Even though this destroyer, whose maximum speed was only 29 knots, had already been pushed to 30 knots under forced-draft ventilation, he still found it too slow.

There was no helping it. A warship weaving through dense barrages of shells could be hit by the slightest misstep. They had to raise their speed as much as possible; otherwise, one moment of carelessness could see them struck by a shell. A destroyer with a displacement of only a few hundred tons simply could not withstand fierce bombardment. One large-caliber shell would be enough to finish them off.

Boom!

An 88mm shell struck Mikazuki's superstructure, blasting a huge hole in the hull and igniting a raging fire. As the warship sped onward, the wind fanned the flames, making them burn even more fiercely. No matter how hard the damage-control crews worked, they could not put out the blaze.

Captain Hasegawa Kiyoshi paid no attention to the fire. So long as the ship's vital compartments had not been hit, he did not care in the slightest. What he cared about was whether they could charge in front of the German Battlecruisers and launch torpedoes to sink them.

"Open fire! Sink that Island Nation destroyer!" The captain of the Battlecruiser Moltke had keenly spotted the threat.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Moltke's three triple-mounted 343mm Main Guns, five 150mm Secondary Guns on her broadsides, six 120mm Quick-firing Guns, and two 88mm Quick-firing Guns all poured shells toward Mikazuki.

For a moment, shells rained down like a storm. Explosions erupted continuously around Mikazuki, throwing up columns of water and making the destroyer seem as though she were caught in a tempest, liable to capsize at any moment.

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