Bismarck

The ship was hit by 23 main gun shells, and the whole ship was on fire and smoke billowed. The superstructure was blown to pieces, and almost all the sighting equipment was destroyed. If the Bismarck's main body had not been still trying to operate, it would have been impossible to fight back. The hull was damaged in many places, and the water intake reached 8,000 tons. The crooked hull had reached its limit of reserve buoyancy. If it took on more water, it would inevitably sink... The speed was only 18 knots, and the only firepower left was the last rear main turret...

If it were any other battleship, it would have been paralyzed long ago, but even so, the last remaining D (Dura) main turret was still under the control of Bismarck, making a final resistance towards the Hood...

Just like a dying warrior still singing a war song.

"Lütjens is such a respectable opponent..." Hood's commander, Taritovey, looked at the Bismarck, which still did not give up resistance, and after a long silence, he murmured.

Listening to her commander's sigh, the literary lady with red-rimmed glasses nodded slightly in silence, sitting at the window sill, looking at her fellow soldiers fighting to the death and refusing to surrender.

Bismarck is also a respectable girl.

"Commander, should we call on them to surrender?" An aide asked Tovey out of some chivalrous spirit.

"Lütjens is a true soldier, he won't accept surrender... Never mind, you can ask him, but the bombardment will continue unless they give up resistance and raise the white flag."

The staff member left, and Tovey continued to focus on the battle that had already been decided. The other officers also began their work. Only Hood remained silent, standing in front of the window, wondering what he was thinking...

--

"Captain, the British have made a broadcast, asking us to surrender..."

In the commander's tower where heavy casualties had occurred, a communications staff officer shouted with gritted teeth.

Everyone looked at their captain, but no one, including Bismarck, had a cowardly look in their eyes...

All I have is the courage to face death head on.

Having resisted to this point, we have already put life and death aside.

"Surrender?!" Gunnery Chief Hyde was the first to shout. "We will never surrender!"

"We will fight with Bismarck until the last moment!"

"We will never surrender!"

"no way!"

Bismarck stood in front of his captain.

"Captain, give the order."

Lütjens glanced around, seeing the fighting spirit and anger in everyone's eyes. Even his usually meticulous expression could not help but slightly redden his eyes, and he said with a choked voice:

"... I have fought together with you all to get here. On behalf of the Greater German Navy, I thank you all for your efforts and sacrifices... The honor of the Greater German Navy will be defended with our lives!"

"Communications staff, tell Tovey that we will never surrender!"

"Well said!" Hyde, whose face was already covered in smoke, grinned, revealing a mouthful of white teeth on his blackened face. He reached out to open the microphone leading to the rear main turret and shouted inside: "Load armor-piercing shells! Get ready for battle!"

But his eyes were looking at Bismarck, as if saying: The sighting system has been scrapped, now it all depends on you.

Seeing the look in his old comrade's eyes, which was already very weak, Bismarck nodded vigorously.

"Hood, don't we love and hate each other? Even if I am destined to sink here, I want you to come down and accompany me!"

"Distance 18000 yards (16400 meters), bearing 75 degrees right front! Target the British naval flagship Hood! Fire!!"

The last main gun fired, carrying Bismarck's final roar.

With Bismarck concentrating his last bit of energy on aiming, two shells flew straight towards the Hood...

At this time, Hood was also reporting some battle situations to Tovey:

"General, the Royal Air Force just reported that their airport was attacked by the German Air Force, and a squadron of bombers sent out earlier was intercepted by the German BF110 long-range fighter and BF109T carrier-based long-range fighter, causing heavy losses. In the BF109 family, only the carrier-based model has a range of more than nautical miles to intercept bombers. So they said they couldn't come to join the battle. In addition, our fleet in the Irish Sea will take several hours to arrive..."

"...The Luftwaffe? They reacted quickly enough... Never mind. We can take down the Bismarck anyway..."

But before he could finish his words, Tovey saw his secretary ship's expression suddenly change, and then rushed towards him...

Hood was the first to notice the Bismarck's desperate bombardment, but she also found that the two shells... were too close and the trajectory was too straight to be avoided!

The most dangerous shell was the one that was flying towards his own command tower!

"Commander! Be careful!" Hood tried his best to evade, and at the same time, he pounced on Tovey, who was still in a daze, and knocked him to the ground.

The Hood's evasive action caused a shell that could have hit the rear main turret to bounce off the armor on top of the turret and fly into the sea, but in the next moment, the Hood's command tower was engulfed by a violent fireball!

The violent explosion made the entire command tower completely disappear from everyone's sight. Of course, it was just shrouded in smoke. Hood naturally focused on strengthening the armor of the command tower after the battle began. It was still able to resist the Bismarck of 380. If the Bismarck had used powerful charges, perhaps the outcome would have been different.

"Commander!"

"Go save the Commander!"

"captain--"

The damage control team who were putting out the fire on the side of the ship were suddenly knocked to the ground by the violent vibration. When they looked up again, they found that the command tower had been twisted beyond recognition.

Everyone's eyes widened with anger. They immediately put down what they were holding and rushed to the bridge.

The damage control team of the Hood hurriedly picked up fire extinguishers and crowbars and began to pry the armored door of the command tower. However, the deformed armored door was stuck tightly on the door frame and was not so easy to open.

As a last resort, they had to fetch a cutting machine and carry out cutting operations on this dangerous battlefield.

Although Hood's conning tower was not directly penetrated, the interior of the tower was also shaken horribly. The fire caused by the shelling was billowing with smoke, and various broken armor plates were scattered from the bulkheads. Driven by the shock wave, they were like bullets. The vibrating and flying parts and steel fragments made the bridge full of blood and flesh, as if it were hell on earth. There were officers and sailors lying on the ground everywhere, and many of them had their heads cut open.

But the only good news was that behind the main gun director that had been blown to pieces, Tovey, who was covered in dust but not seriously injured, was helping the secretary Miss Elizabeth up.

Her head felt the same as Bismarck had felt before, as if she had been hit by a sledgehammer. She did not faint, but she lost all her combat abilities for a short period of time.

"Hoo...Hoo...Commander, I'm fine..." Secretary Elizabeth's glasses had flown away to who knows where, maybe they hit a corner and broke. She supported her forehead while leaning on the chart table, and said half-jokingly: "Commander, if I get disfigured, will it look bad..."

"How could that be! You're so beautiful, you'll be fine." Seeing the damage control team open the protective door, the very few other surviving officers in the command tower also climbed up.

While Tovey was trying to comfort his secretary ship who was gradually getting up, he gritted his teeth and opened the microphone cover of a communication line that seemed to be still usable: "This is Tovey! I order you to continue attacking the Bismarck! Drive to their bow and sink her!"

"Bismarck, I really didn't expect that..." Hood clenched his fists.

The enraged Hood began to accelerate, her boilers began to increase the load frantically, and under the guidance of the powerful propeller, she headed towards the front of the Bismarck!

At this time, Hood was no longer able to care about the wound that was barely blocked by damage control, as the ship was taking in water due to the waves at high speed.

The distance is rapidly closing.

The Bismarck, whose right propulsion shaft was no longer working, had difficulty turning its course to the left due to insufficient power and steering ability, so that its only remaining rear main gun could continue to fire at the Hood...

"Damn it... Is that the end..." Bismarck gritted his teeth.

If Hood seizes the advantageous position, he will be beaten.

"If you don't turn around, you'll be out of range!" the gunner reminded loudly.

"I know!" Bismarck replied.

"Put up the emergency rudder!" Lütjens acted promptly and put the retracted emergency rudder back into use.

Now their mind is no longer on escaping, but on how to send Hood to hell as well. They would rather sacrifice speed than not aim their guns at her!

The sailors of the Bismarck had begun to re-hang the external emergency rudder, but even so, the turning speed was slower than the movement speed of the Hood.

It can be said that it is too late, and the highly mobile Hood will crush her.

Bismarck's only rear main gun fired repeatedly, but the sparse barrage was no match for even the Hood's six 381mm main guns, and it was unable to stop the British tactical intentions at all. Instead, the bow was hit by another shell...

Seeing that the Hood was about to go beyond the limit of the rear main gun's firing range, Lütjens gritted his teeth and said, "Prepare to turn right! Let's turn to the other side and fight them to the death..."

But at this moment, he couldn't continue shouting, because Lütjens was shocked to find that the Hood seemed to be changing its course... and the hull began to drift slightly?

Is this... the rhythm of turning right to disengage?

Lütjens was a little surprised and looked at Bismarck who was also confused.

"What is Hood doing?"

He was puzzled because it was Hood who had the upper hand and yet made such an evasive move.

However, Bismarck, who had the ability to detect, soon found out the reason and became more energetic. Her lips trembled as she shouted...

"Captain, there are reinforcements! Our reinforcements!"

She didn't know what kind of mood she was in when she said this, but the excitement made her unforgettable. Even if she recalled this scene countless times in the days to come, she still felt that it was the most beautiful scene she had ever seen.

Even though the person who came was not that powerful, she knew that at least she was not abandoned!

ps: Well, do you know who is coming? Hahaha, if you want to know, please give me a reward and a monthly ticket. I will continue to update later! Maybe there will be 8000 words today.

Chapter 356: The Disappearance of Hood

Hood was moving at full speed, and the waves kept hitting the already low sides.

On the bridge of the Hood, everyone was waiting for the Hood to get into position and launch the final attack on Bismarck.

However, at this moment, Hood, whose glasses had been lost somewhere, suddenly rushed up.

In full view of everyone, he grabbed the steering wheel from the first mate like a madman, and everyone was stunned.

What's happening here?

She was desperately trying to steer the left rudder, and without paying any attention to her ladylike manners, she shouted loudly to Tovey and the first mate at the helm: "There is a submarine in front of the left! Watch out for torpedoes!"

Hood suddenly used her mental power to detect the unusual object on the sea, and she recognized it immediately.

damn it!

If Bismarck's shot had not left her dizzy and she had not yet fully recovered the ability to control the ship, she would never have discovered it until now!

Change rudder!

Hurry up!

Hood found that the rudder was somewhat unresponsive to his will.

At this time, the first mate was still faithfully performing his mission and steering to the right. So in this situation, Hood had no choice but to rush over and grab the steering wheel.

But Hood forgot his identity.

She is just a secretary.

---

Submarine? Tovey and the first mate at the helm both looked puzzled...

"Where did the submarine come from?" The first mate was unhappy. Although Elizabeth was Tovey's secretary, her military rank was lower than his. And looking at the back, Tovey also had a confused expression on his face, not knowing what was going on.

A secretary who takes it upon himself?

The first mate felt that this was the first time he had seen such a situation in his military career - a secretary actually dared to grab the steering wheel.

are you crazy?

"Elizabeth, you will be court-martialed for this! Stop making trouble!" The first mate yelled, pushed the anxious Hood away, and turned the rudder back. "If we do this, we won't be able to fire! Can you take responsibility?"

Tovey didn't say anything, but Tovey, who didn't know the truth, glared at his secretary sternly.

"But there really is a submarine!" Hood was almost crying. As she explained, she tried her best to control the rudder at the stern, and a speed difference appeared.

"Left front, half past ten, 5000 yards (4570 meters), there's a periscope!"

She also reported the location of the submarine, but no one believed her.

"Periscope?" Tovey glanced out the window. The sea had already started to stir after the sun had set. Everything was hazy in the dark night. The Bismarck, which was more than a dozen kilometers away, could still be aimed at with radar, but a periscope five thousand yards away...

Even with flares and searchlights, a periscope four or five kilometers away cannot be seen clearly with the naked eye or even a telescope, right?

"You said... you can see the periscope?" Tovey looked at his female secretary with an expression as if she was an idiot. The suspicious look in Hood's eyes made him feel desperate.

"Was she scared silly by the previous bombardment? She is just a girl..." Tovey was unhappy, but he said calmly: "Elizabeth, go down and rest first. You were injured just now. Go to your room and don't stay in the bridge!"

"But..." Hood was about to cry. She tried to defend herself while holding back her headache, but was rudely interrupted by Tovey.

"Stop fooling around! Go down and have some rest!"

At this moment, more than a minute had passed, and the distance had shortened to only 3600 yards ( meters)...

This is far below the maximum range of the torpedo! And Hood is only at 23 knots now!

The Bismarck behind it, with its only two main guns, was also trying its best to gain angles and continued firing.

What’s even worse is that if a large warship wants to turn its rudder, there will be a delay of at least one and a half to two minutes due to its huge inertia!

Hood finally found the feeling of controlling his rudder.

Without caring about being exposed, Hood gritted his teeth and spun the rudder at the stern madly to one side. The first mate suddenly felt a strong force resisting him, and then in less than a second he lost control of the steering wheel in his hand. Under the horrified gaze of the first mate and Tovey, the battlecruiser Hood began to show the unique drift before turning the rudder again.

The steering wheel began to spin with its own consciousness.

The best evasive move has been made. If we turn right at this distance, we will expose our entire side to the submarine.