Following the order of Admiral William Machar, the Bismarck and other three giant battleships slowly opened the distance from the Battleship Warspite. Vice Admiral Whitworth could only scold him for being shameless. There is no way, even if it were him, he might make the same choice.
"Send them to hell!! Listen to my order, fire!" Admiral William Marshal shouted. Indeed, he could not hold back his excitement now and would not kill even a single blow on the British Royal Navy. A small achievement is enough to make the navy of any country ecstatic, because no country has ever been able to achieve it. Even Napoleon, who traveled across Europe and achieved absolute hegemony on the European continent, could not do it against the British Royal Navy. A good idea, the Battle of Trafalgar on both sides heralded the defeat of Napoleon's plan to conquer Britain. From then on, no country on the ocean dared to challenge the British maritime hegemony.
A century later, as a rising empire and a country unwilling to accept the status quo, Germany replaced France and once again challenged Britain's maritime hegemony. After William II came to the throne, he immediately began to prepare to expand the navy. By the time of World War I, Germany The Navy is already the second largest navy in the world, and the High Seas Fleet is also the second largest fleet in the world after the British Home Fleet. It can be said that the German Navy at that time was able to move sideways in the world, but due to its poor geographical location, But let the world's second-largest navy have the world's largest navy as its goalkeeper.
Of course, the German navy was not without its efforts. The Battle of Jutland was a clear example of Germany's efforts to break through the British blockade. Admiral William Machar, who was still a lieutenant at the time, participated in that event as an ordinary member of the High Seas Fleet. A sea battle. The Battle of Jutland was a naval battle between Britain and Germany in the North Sea near the Jutland Peninsula in Denmark. This was the largest naval battle in World War I and the only decisive battle in which both warring parties deployed their main fleets.
In the end, the German High Seas Fleet led by Admiral Scheer achieved a tactical victory by sinking more British ships with a relatively small loss of ships; the Royal Navy Home Fleet commanded by Admiral Jellicoe succeeded The German navy was blocked in German ports, rendering the latter almost useless in the later stages of the war, thus achieving a strategic victory.
Admiral William Machar, who was only a lieutenant at the time, could not change the passive situation of the entire German Navy at all. But twenty years later, William Machar was already an admiral of the German Navy and the commander of the High Seas Fleet.
Although the current German High Seas Fleet is far inferior to the High Seas Fleet under William II, it does not matter. The current British Home Fleet is no longer the British Home Fleet during World War I. As more and more new warships are launched, William Machar believes that the situation he faces is far better than that of his predecessors. The Tirpitz is about to be launched, and the Bismarck has been mostly completed. All prove the bright future of the German Navy.
"Boom..." In this tug of war, the battleship Bismarck finally achieved results. A shell penetrated the main armor belt of the battleship Warspite, causing water to enter a boiler room, and the battleship's speed further slowed down. Now Even if the Warspite tried its best to escape, it was still too weak to do so.
The two battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau took turns bombarding the Warspite with their 283MM main guns, attracting the attention of the Warspite battleship, while the Bismarck battleship hid far away, methodically They made preparations and fired salvos again and again. Each salvo always had a few shells exploding on the battleship Warspite.
"Boom..." There was an earth-shattering explosion, and the entire Warspite battleship was surrounded by thick smoke. Admiral William Marshall looked at the Warspite battleship with great surprise, anticipating that these dozens of minutes had already appeared in his mind. Scenes that have been played countless times.
Black smoke began to billow from the huge hull of the Battleship Warspite, a series of explosions sounded, fire began to burn on the battleship, and massive amounts of fuel leaked from the battleship. After a long time, William Marshal's navy reacted and shouted, "What are you doing standing still? Sink it!"
In the shouts of Admiral William Marshall, people who had forgotten what to do all reacted, and the main turret once again aimed at the battleship Warspite. Rear Admiral Bundy, who had just rushed out of Lombards Bay, , and stared blankly at the tragic scene of the culprit who had forced himself to flee in panic and hide in Lombax Bay a few dozen minutes ago, and was already preparing to abandon the ship.
"Fuck, you have today too!" Major General Bondi said through gritted teeth, "Fire at me, I want to give Warspite some of my own thoughts!"
"Huh? Your Majesty General, we have no more artillery shells!" the staff officer next to him replied blankly.
"Then use torpedoes!" Major General Bondi ordered, unwilling to give up.
"But we have run out of torpedoes!" the staff officer said sheepishly.
"Idiot!" Major General Bundy yelled, "Ask if there are any on other ships!"
Finally, on the destroyer Kuna, the sailors finally found a spare torpedo.
"Aim it for me, be sure to hit the key position!" Major General Bondi ordered.
"Promise to complete the order!"
"Whoosh..." The direct torpedo that was launched rapidly broke through the water and rushed towards the dying battleship Warspite at high speed, becoming the last straw that broke the camel's back. Amidst the huge explosion, the battleship Warspite could no longer hold on and began to sink slowly.
Admiral William Marshall happily ordered, "Send a report to the base camp. Around the port of Narvik, the battleship Bismarck, the battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenno encountered British forces. The naval battleship Warspite was finally sunk after a fierce exchange of fire, and the destroyer fleet was successfully rescued in Narvik Port. Except for the sinking of two destroyer fleets, the rest of the destroyer fleet was safe and sound. Rear Admiral Bundy's tenacious spirit of resistance, He also performed brilliantly!”
The staff officer recorded the order of Admiral William Machar seriously, and then said, "Your Excellency, General, how to deal with the escaped British destroyer!"
"Stop chasing! We have achieved enough results today!" Admiral William Machar said calmly.
The British Home Fleet led by Lord House personally can be said to have concentrated a considerable part of the British Home Fleet: the "Rodney", the "Repulse" and the two aircraft carriers that just came to rendezvous a few hours ago - the "Glory" and "Fury". Among them, "Fury" was originally going to perform merchant ship escort missions in the Atlantic waters in a few days. After receiving the order from the Royal Naval Operations Department, it came together with "Glorious". The ship also carried a lot of weapons for Use aerial bombs to attack German submarines and armor-piercing bombs and torpedoes to deal with pocket battleships.
Along with it came the battleship HMS Imperial Power led by his old friend, Lieutenant General Nelty Ramsey. Although Sir Blackhouse and Lieutenant General Nelty Ramsey had different opinions. , there was a brief unpleasantness, but this did not delay the two people's mentality of serving the country together, so after receiving the news of Vice Admiral Whitworth's request for help, Sir Blackhouse immediately called Nelty Lamb. Lieutenant General West.
However, when the British Home Fleet led by Lord House personally rushed over from the Shetland Islands in a mighty manner, the battleship Warspite had already sunk, and the German naval fleet that sank him had also disappeared without a trace.
In order to evacuate as soon as possible, the battleship Bismarck and the battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau gave Rear Admiral Bundy enough oil to sail to the port of Trondheim from their own oil storage tanks. This was absolutely great news for Major General Bondi, who no longer had enough fuel. In order to evacuate before the powerful British Home Fleet arrived, the German Navy almost completed this work to the limit of what humans could achieve, and then Evacuate immediately.
In order to increase the defense power of the German Army at Narvik, Admiral William Machar hesitated for a long time, and finally reluctantly decided that except for retaining the minimum number of personnel on the battleship, all the rest were allowed to go ashore to fight with the Army. The brothers worked together to defend the port of Narvik, and a total of more than 3,000 navy sailors were sent ashore.
At this time, Major General Edward Dieter, who was responsible for defending the port of Narvik, was also short of troops and in great need of reinforcements. The arrival of 3,000 sailors just solved Major General Edward Dieter's urgent need. Edward Dieter Major General Er organized these sailors into an infantry brigade, and together with his own soldiers, they defended the port of Narvik.
Just like Rear Admiral Edward Dieter thought, after the British Royal Navy's Home Fleet confirmed that the battleship HMS Warspite had been sunk by the German Navy, it immediately launched a retaliatory bombardment of Narvik Port. Under the command of Major General Edward Dieter, all German troops retreated into the mountains, with only a few dozen casualties. Most of the British fleet's bombardment fell on the locally resident Norwegians.
After a whole day of preparation, the British fleet began to land. Early the next morning, at dawn, the British fired a burst of artillery and then sent out marines and armed sailors. At this time, an army from Scotland The infantry regiment has also arrived by ship - if the Germans delay taking action for a few days, Britain will be the first to send troops to invade Norway. When the Germans rush to implement the "Weser Exercise", a large number of British infantry have also completed their assembly at the home port, ready to be ready at any time. Ready to depart. Major General Edward Dieter led the German troops who were forced to hide in the surrounding mountains and continued to harass them. The British were unable to completely hold the port of Narvik.