At noon, one hour after the end of the first battle of the German Navy's Baltic Squadron, the "Magdri" and two other destroyers contained the fallen Russian sailors and began to return. In this battle, 126 Russian sailors were killed and 67 others were captured. Only the "Magdri" light cruiser in Russ' fleet was hit by two shells, one hit the upper part of the control tower, and the other exploded in the middle and rear. The water reconnaissance plane was hit by a piece of shrapnel and could not continue its reconnaissance mission. A total of 12 German naval officers and soldiers were injured. The chimney of the destroyer Shure was hit by an artillery shell. No sailors were injured. However, the boiler on the ship could not be used normally, and the speed could only reach 12 knots. 'S fleet can only return slowly to the southwest at this speed.
After receiving the report of the battle of the Ras Fleet, Dunnitz was happy for the German navy's victory, but also worried about the damage to the Shure. After all, this is the sphere of influence of the Russian Navy. Now the Las Fleet is more than 100 nautical miles away from the submarine force. Once an accident occurs, not only will the previous combat plan be impossible to implement, the fleet will even have catastrophic consequences.
Dunnitz was not Bailey, but what happened next proved his unfortunate premonition.
On the watchtower of the cruiser "Magdri", Sailor Greiner was sitting there, reminiscing about the battle just now. Although "Magdri" was only a light cruiser, two salvos from the port side at that time paralyzed the Russian gunboat on the sea and remained motionless. It was truly majestic. When I return to my hometown, I must brag to my family and relatives that only their fleets of the entire German Navy have participated in the real battle.
"Glena, your kid is sitting here in a daze, be careful that Sergeant Geyer swallows you!" Sailor Rosen yelled at Glenor, who was sitting on it, as he climbed up the lookout tower.
"Rosen, my brother, you have finally come to change the guard, it's so boring!" Greiner reached out and pulled Rosen up.
"God!" Rosen was stunned when he climbed up. There were a few black plumes of smoke in the sky behind Glenor, and those plumes were getting closer and thicker.
"A battleship appears in the rear!" Rosen shouted hoarsely.
Russ rushed out of the command room, and from the telescope he could already see two huge ship shadows at the end of the sea.
"Everyone is in position, ready to fight!"
The sailors on the cruiser and destroyer hurried to their battle positions. Rosen and Glenor squeezed into the small watchtower and looked at the distance in horror. The outlines of the two ships became clearer and clearer in their eyes. .
"God, they are so beautiful!" Greiner exclaimed softly.
"God! Quickly report to Captain Denitz that we have encountered a Russian capital ship, and the other side will soon catch up to us!" Major Russ, who was standing on the bridge, was also panicked and disturbed, because he knew very well. His three ships were not Russian rivals at all. He originally thought that all Russian warships had been sunk by the Japanese in the Tsushima Strait. However, in order to suppress the German power in the Baltic Sea, the Russians built it three years ago. Several such coastal defense ships were used.
If you have seen the Ushakov-class coastal defense ship of Russia, you will definitely be impressed by its simple lines-the hull with a displacement of 5,000 tons, a length of 88.4 meters, a width of 16.1 meters, and a height of 5.79 meters looks smooth and full. The elven dwarf warriors are generally robust and powerful. There is no extra setting on the deck. A dual 254mm main gun at the bow and tail of the ship is like two axes in the hands of a dwarf warrior. The speed of 16 knots is also in line with the slow and steady movement of the dwarf warrior. . Unfortunately, this time their enemies are slower than them.
"Major Russ, Captain Denitz reports that he and the submarine unit are still 50 nautical miles southwest of us, and they are coming here!" Russ knew that this meant that he had to wait for two hours to wait for reinforcements. , And the Russian ship is less than 6 or 7 nautical miles away, and within an hour, he will enter the opponent's range. Now the only solution is to use the speed of the "Magdry" and "Gödingen" to divert the Russians away. .
"Send a signal to the Göttingen and the Shure. The Shure continues to retreat to the southwest at full speed, and the Göttingen turns to meet the Russian warships with us!"
After Russ' warship drew a perfect arc on the sea, it sailed towards the Russian warship at full speed. In the dull air, two German naval flags were flying high. The chimney of the battleship spit out thick black smoke plumes, the bow split the sea waves, the white waves splashed, rushed down and broke into pieces of white foam.
"Two Russian warships, oriented northeast to the east, arranged in columns, at a distance of 24,000 yards!"
A drop of sweat slipped slowly from Russ's gauze-wrapped forehead, but he could no longer care about wiping the sweat.
"Go ahead at full speed! Order the'Göttingen' to follow us!"
"Magdri" did its best to reach its maximum speed of 21.5 knots. For a fast and flexible standard-class destroyer such as "Gödingen", this speed can only be regarded as a very ordinary cruising speed.
"20,000 yards!"
Rosen and Greiner on the watchtower stared nervously, and they seemed to be able to see the thick artillery of the opposing ship's warship turning towards them.
"Rosen!" Greiner gently pulled his companion's sleeve.
"Why?" Rosen's eyes never left the Russian battleship on the front right.
"Are not you afraid?"
Rosen turned his head and saw Greiner's eyes full of fear.
"Don't worry, we will have nothing to do. The Russians will soon be driven into the sea by us!" Rosen comforted poor Greiner, but his body couldn't help shaking.
"Oh! Oh!" At this time, the Russian prisoners in the cabin seemed to have realized what was happening. They shouted loudly and beat the cabin hard.
The German sailor guarding them slammed the hatch with a rifle but could not suppress the Russian madness, and he spat into the sea depressed.
"Damn Russians, your companions will be with you soon!"
"15,000 yards, the Russians fired!" the rangefinder on the command tower shouted loudly.
The muzzle of the main gun of the first Russian warship flashed, and soon after a thousand yards in front of the starboard of the "Magdri", two huge jets of water were stirred up.
"Turn! All turn right 15 degrees!" Lars turned his warship to the opponent facing the Russians, so that the Russian ship behind could not shell himself.
"The Russian ship started to turn! The distance is 11,000 yards!"
In order to exert the power of the stern cannon, the Russians prepared to face their warships laterally against Ras's fleet.
"All turn left 15 degrees!" Lars stared closely at the Russian ship in the distance, his "Magdri" always facing the ship's bow. Looking at the water jets rising nearby, everyone on the ship was praying, praying that the other party's 254mm shells would never take care of themselves.
"8,000 yards! It's in our range!" The rangefinder shouted excitedly, as if the Russian was about to be sunk by himself.
"Send a signal to the'Gödingen', we turn to the left, let them advance at full speed, rush over and cast torpedoes!"
After that, the "Magdri" began to rapidly turn to the left, and the entire hull tilted to port, almost throwing Rosen and Glenor out of the watchtower.
"Man, hold on!" The two grabbed the handrails inside the watchtower tightly.
Finally, the "Magdri" began to hit the starboard fire and fired at the Russian ship. The first round of shelling was very lucky to hit the front deck of the Russian ship in front. However, the shells of the 105mm rapid-fire gun had a thickness of 152mm, For the Ushakov-class coastal defense ship with a deck thickness of 25-50mm, it can't cause too much damage. Lars pinned all his hopes on the torpedo attack "Gödingen".
As the distance got closer and closer, the second Russian warship also joined the bombardment of the "Magdri". More and more shells fell, getting closer and closer, and a shell that fell five meters to the starboard set off a huge bomb. The shock wave shook this poor warship vigorously.
"Hurry up, hurry up!" Lars stared at the "Gödingen" in the distance. As long as he could insist on shooting against the Russian ships to attract their firepower, the "Gödingen" would have hope to charge. Cast a torpedo at a distance of 1500 yards.
With a loud bang, the "Magdri" finally received a heavy blow from the opponent. A shell fired by the main gun of the Russian ship hit its rear deck, and the reconnaissance aircraft and tail facilities were blown to pieces. , It seems that the engine room has also suffered considerable damage.
"Engine room, report the damage!" Lars shouted loudly while holding the microphone, but there was no response.
"God!" He kept praying, and there shouldn't be any problems with the engine room, otherwise he would have to stay where he was and be abused by the Russians.
The other sailors on the ship rushed to the engine room to find that all the engineers there had been killed, but the shrapnel did not cause much damage to the equipment there, and the'Magdri' was still advancing at a speed of 20 knots.
The artillery shells from both sides kept slashing across the sea. From time to time, artillery shells slammed into the hull of the ship. The control tower of a Russian ship in front was bombarded by two artillery shells in succession. The hard tower wall was finally drilled through. The Russian captain and staff members were killed and injured, but the "Magdri" has paid a heavy price. Not only was the ship covered with bruises and bruises, but the speed was also reduced to 17 knots.
Chi Chi! The two torpedoes rushed out of the launch tube with the expectation of hundreds of German sailors, and rushed straight to the Russian ship in front. Because the control tower was severely damaged, the Russian ship did not turn in time. Soon After being hit hard by two torpedoes, the round hull began to shake violently. Two 533mm torpedoes exploded two huge holes in its hard hull. A large amount of seawater poured into the cabin, and the Russian ship quickly began to capsize. The Russian sailors on the ship also jumped into the sea water, agitating patches of spray.
"Send a signal, retreat!" Russ barely supported his exhausted body and stood there, the previous injury and excessive tension almost made him collapse.
The "Magdri" dragged the shattered and smoking hull together with the "Gettingen" and turned to start returning. The remaining Russian ship had to stop to rescue hundreds of Russian sailors who were struggling in the water.
When the afterglow of the setting sun shone on the watchtower of the "Magdri", Rosen and Glenr looked at each other's dark faces and couldn't help laughing out loud. The feeling of the rest of their lives was so beautiful.
The 17 sailors in the engine room did not have such good luck. The shrapnel of the Russian shells claimed their young lives. They also went to heaven with them to report to the "Magdri" gun positions 1, 3, 4, and 8. The 24 sailors on board, the 7 sailors on the gun positions on the front deck of the "Gettingen", and the 103 sailors on the Russian Ushakov-class coastal defense ship "Russia".