Not long after the battle began, it entered its climax. In this battle, both sides had only one objective: to find every possible way to sink the enemy's warships. Thus, both sides abandoned the probing of the opening moments and began blasting away at each other directly.
The clash of battle lines was like ancient knights clad in heavy armor, mounted on towering warhorses, lances in hand as they charged forward. It set one's blood boiling, yet it was also exceedingly brutal and bloody. After all, once a ship was hit, the consequences would be dire. If its armor stopped the enemy's armor-piercing shells, the problem would not be too serious. But if the armor failed to stop them? Then trouble would follow. Especially if vital compartments such as ammunition magazines or engine rooms were hit—that would be a catastrophe.
The fighting at the rear of the battle line was far fiercer than that in the front half. The Austro-Hungarian Empire Navy's four Radetzky-class Battleships were in constant peril under the encirclement offensive of the German Navy's superior Capital Ships. Although the Radetzky-class Battleships' main guns were continuously returning fire, it seemed to be of little use.
Boom!
A 380mm Shell fired by the German Navy's Battleship Westfalen struck the Battleship Tegetthoff. Its 48mm-thick deck armor was torn open as easily as paper. The shell punched straight through the bow deck and exploded inside. Flames and shockwaves swept in every direction, blasting the compartments beneath Tegetthoff's bow into a complete mess.
"God! We've been hit." Tegetthoff's captain went deathly pale.
"Sir, it isn't fatal. We just need to find a way to put out the fire now. Otherwise, the trouble will only get worse," the damage control officer reported.
Only then did the captain breathe a sigh of relief. He