The captain Armored Cruiser of the 'Kasuga' Sakamoto Shigenori is Commander of the Combined Fleet Armored Cruiser formation. The order he received was to lead the Armored Cruiser formation and the Protected Cruiser formation to eliminate the German Expeditionary Fleet cruisers and destroyers. Clear the way for Combined Fleet's destroyer to launch a lightning strike.
"The Germany people only have 8 Light Cruiser and 21 destroyers. With the strength of our Armored Cruiser and Protected Cruiser formations, there will be no problem in dealing with them!" Colonel Sakamoto Shigenori looked confident. After all, Armored Cruiser and Light Cruiser are not at the same level at all. Armored Cruiser's main gun can easily tear Light Cruiser apart. However, Light Cruiser's main gun can hardly cause fatal damage to Armored Cruiser. As for destroyers, that goes without saying.
"Order the formation, close the distance to eight thousand meters, and then open fire!" Sakamoto Shigenori ordered.
"Hi, sir. But what about the Protected Cruiser formation? I'm afraid they need to close the distance even further!" A staff officer put forward an opinion.
"Protected Cruiser formation, let them wait for a moment. With our Armored Cruiser, it is enough to deal with the small and medium-sized warships of the Germany people." Colonel Sakamoto Shigenori looked very confident.
Seeing this, the staff officer had no choice but to say nothing more.
"Fire!" Following the command from the gunnery commander, the Kasuga's 40-caliber 254mm single cannon Armored Cruiser and twin-mounted 45-caliber 203mm Main Gun began shelling. In addition, the seven 40-caliber 152mm single-mounted guns on the sides also started firing.
The other seven Armored Cruiser followed closely and launched an attack. 203mm Main Gun and the 152mm secondary gun began to pour shells.
German Navy's eight Light Cruisers, all equipped with 150mm Main Gun, also began to fight back. Different from another time and space, German Navy in this time and space has a soft spot for Triple Turrets. Therefore, even these Light Cruiser use three triple-mounted main guns, not the four-seat twin-mounted main guns of another time and space. At the same time, the caliber ratio of the main gun has also been increased from 45 times the caliber to 50 times the caliber to further enhance the main gun's armor-piercing capability.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
The cruisers of both sides started a fierce fight, but Light Cruiser of German Navy was at an inherent disadvantage when facing Armored Cruiser of Island Nation Navy. This made them suffer greatly during the battle.
Fortunately, the 5-seat 150mm Secondary Gun and 6-seat 120mm Quick-firing Gun on the side of Battlecruiser can provide support for them. In addition, the main gun and secondary gun of Island Nation Navy and Armored Cruiser have a far slower rate of fire than German Navy. The two sides went back and forth, and the fight was almost evenly matched.
"Boom! Boom!"
Two 150mm Shell hit the "Kasuga" Armored Cruiser in succession. Even though its main armor is 150 mm thick, it is still difficult to withstand the 150mm Main Gun fired by a 50 times caliber main gun. Especially the superstructure was easily penetrated and ignited a raging fire. Although such injuries are not fatal to Armored Cruiser, which has a displacement of more than 8,000 tons, it will also cause great harm to them once the fire continues to spread.
"Baga!" Commander Sakamoto Shigenori, after seeing this situation, his teeth were almost broken. He never expected that eight of his own Armored Cruisers would face German Navys and eight Light Cruisers, but still not be able to gain an advantage. In this case, how can this battle be fought?
The battle between cruisers was undoubtedly more brutal. After all, Capital Ships generally has thick armor. Even if it is hit, it may not be able to penetrate the armor. But the cruiser is different. The cruiser's armor is very weak. Once hit, it may be penetrated, causing considerable damage to the battleship.
"Boom!"
A 203mm shell hit the bow of the cruiser 'Karlsruhe'. The 60mm thick armor was no different from paper in front of the 203mm shell, and it was penetrated immediately. After the shell exploded, a raging fire broke out in the cabin under the bow of the ship.
Soon, more and more Germany cruisers were also hit. Although, during the battle, they also hit Island Nation Navy's Armored Cruiser many times, and those Armored Cruiser they hit ignited a raging fire. However, it was still unable to sink those Armored Cruiser.
"General, our Light Cruiser is really at a disadvantage against Island Nation's Armored Cruiser." Rear Admiral Mauff said.
Vice Admiral Spee nodded, now he had to make a choice. Should we deal with those Capital Ships of Island Nation Navy first, or their Armored Cruiser. If you choose to deal with Armored Cruiser of Island Nation Navy, you have to temporarily let go of Capital Ships of Island Nation Navy. However, if you choose to deal with Capital Ships of Island Nation Navy first, then your own cruiser formation will definitely suffer heavy losses. If not, they might all be sunk by Island Nation Navy.
"Boom!"
A huge explosion sounded, and the number 'Karlsruhe' Light Cruiser was shrouded in smoke and fire. When the smoke cleared, the 'Karlsruhe' number Light Cruiser had become tattered and began to sink rapidly.
"Damn! The ammunition depot of the 'Karlsruhe' was hit. Light Cruiser's armor can never withstand 203mm Main Gun!" Rear Admiral Mauff sighed.
"This is the first battleship we have lost in this battle!" Vice Admiral Spee's face was also frighteningly dark.
Originally, Vice Admiral Spee hoped to defeat Island Nation Navy in this naval battle without losing a single battleship. However, the sinking of the 'Karlsruhe' number Light Cruiser completely frustrated his hope. This made Vice Admiral Spee very dissatisfied. However, Vice Admiral Spee knows that this is war. There will always be casualties in war, and it is almost impossible to truly achieve zero casualties.
"General, Island Nation people don't want to get rid of our cruisers and destroyers first, right?" Rear Admiral Mauff suddenly said.
Vice Admiral Spee also had a flash of inspiration in his mind. He suddenly realized that he seemed to have missed something.
"Damn it, the Island Nation people know that Capital Ships is not our opponent, so they want to take the wrong approach. They plan to deal with our cruisers and then our destroyers. In this case, they can use a huge number of destroyers to Encirclement Offensive our Battlecruiser!" Vice Admiral Spee said.
Rear Admiral Mauff's face suddenly turned livid.