Chapter 15: Denmark, Denmark! (5)

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  At 18:15, the sky was darkening, the sea breeze had completely stopped, and the sparse sea fog and choking smell of gunpowder finally brewed into a gloomy haze covering the Jutland Sea area. The sailors on the spotting top of HMS Princess Royal, belonging to the 9th Destroyer Flotilla of the 1st Battle Cruiser Squadron, could only search for the target ship's silhouette in the dim light.

  "Hit on the target ship! The shell landed at the edge of the rear superfiring turret on the stern of the target ship, and the armor-piercing shell penetrated its horizontal armor belt!" In the observation officer's binoculars in the command tower of HMS Royal Princess, the huge shadow of the target ship seemed to jump suddenly, a burst of thick smoke exploded violently on the quarterdeck, and orange-yellow flames flickered in the smoke.

  A joyful noise inside the command tower of HMS Royal Princess. The Derfflinger-class battlecruiser was the most powerful class of battleship in German history, with defensive capabilities and firepower that were in no way inferior to those of the clumsy Dreadnoughts, whether or not armor-piercing shells could penetrate the upper armor belt on the sides and then again penetrate the gun turrets or the thick defensive armor of the magazine. At least one Derfflinger-class main turret was damaged in combat!

  "Armor-piercing shell, all turrets fire at will, prepare to launch!"

  In naval battles, the more times you fire, the more water columns splash on one side of the target ship, and the easier it is to observe. In the era of dreadnoughts, the combat distance was usually over 10,000 meters, and it was not easy to measure the distance and correct the shooting at this distance, so half-turret simultaneous firing also became a common technique in steam-era dreadnought naval battles.

  The British cheered as the already damaged Derfflinger opened a salvo that was unimpressive at first, but proved to be one of the most decisive hits in the opening phases of the Battle of Jutland amidst the lamentations of her captain, Moritz von Egidy.

  Armor-piercing shells are neatly lined up on the ammunition storage racks in the magazine, sailors wearing cotton clothing and special shoes carefully operate the hydraulic manipulator handles on the hatch to retrieve the armor-piercing shells, sending the 300-kilogram armor-piercing warhead to the hoist. In the propellant powder magazine, dangerous propellants are stored in metal tubular containers, which are also sent to the hoist and together with the armor-piercing shell are sent to the ammunition loading room. Experienced ammunition loaders adjust the amount of propellant according to data from the fire control tower to ensure shooting accuracy, then place the propellant and shell facing the breech, and push the breech into place with a rammer. When all this is done, the hoist returns to the magazine to load the second salvo's shells and propellants, and the breech is raised to the gun position, ready to push the armor-piercing shell into the barrel.

  After the loading tube returns to the ammunition loading room, the breech will automatically lock, at which point all safety interlocks have been removed and the "Firing Preparation Complete" indicator light on the fire control command tower gunner's console lights up. After each main turret completes firing preparation, a salvo aimed at throwing 2.4 tons of shells at the target ship can be carried out.

  "Fire!"

  Accompanied by the thunder of powerful commands, the four main turrets of the Derfflinger fired a half-salvo, and four armor-piercing shells were ejected from the barrels. A few seconds later, the remaining four main guns also opened fire on the target ship. Of course, the next salvo would not make the Royal Princess wait too long. Even in wartime conditions, the crazy German gunners could still let the 4 x 45-caliber 350mm main guns shoot at a rate of 2.1 rounds per minute!

  Good news of hitting the target ship had not been fully fermented, and many staff were still confused about the situation of the naval battle. At this time, four shells carrying a decisive and ruthless atmosphere rushed towards HMS Princess Royal at long range. On March 3, 1915, at 18:17, there was no wind on the North Sea coast of Jutland, the sky was darkening, and sea fog was spreading. Disaster had already arrived. Three 350mm armor-piercing shells fell around HMS Princess Royal, and the broken shell fragments collided with countless colors on the hull of "Perfect Cat" covered with pearl white naval paint. At the same time, a 350mm capped armor-piercing shell seemed to be riding a fireball and broke through the air, smashing towards HMS Princess Royal like a broken bamboo.

  With a loud crash, the two layers of horizontal armor on the left side of the X turret at the bow of HMS Royal Princess, totaling only 2 inches (50 mm) thick, were shattered like paper by the 300 kg armor-piercing projectile. The dense fragments flew into the air and rotated and danced on the forecastle deck!

  In naval battles, the closer the combat distance, the flatter the trajectory of the shell when fired, and the higher the trajectory when the combat distance increases. This means that under the condition of main battery simultaneous firing, shells will fall around the target ship like raindrops with an almost vertical trajectory.

  When designing the Lion-class battlecruiser, the British Empire's designers didn't consider long-range combat at all. If the 9-inch (229mm) waterline belt armor on HMS Princess Royal was trash, then the "perfect cat" had two layers of horizontal protection, each only 1 inch thick, and the steering gear above had only 2.5 inches (60mm) of horizontal armor, which can be called heavenly wrath!

  But the story doesn't end there, as the armor-piercing shell easily penetrated the "perfect cat" of horizontal armor on the Emperor's new clothes, and the so-called 9-inch cannon turret armor was also subjected to great humiliation! The Royal Princess's so-called 9-inch cannon turret armor actually consisted of a 6-inch (152mm) side upper belt armor and a 3-inch (76mm) cannon turret elevator and loading tube armor. The 350mm AP shell that came crashing down at the speed of sound naturally penetrated the elevator without any effort, exploding in the ammunition loading room.

  Following wartime custom, each main turret's ammunition loading room always had eight bags of propellant charges. The armour-piercing shell exploded very quickly and detonated these propellant charges, instantly asphyxiating the more than ten ammunition handlers who were in the propellant charge rooms.

  The Royal Princess had a magazine below the gun loading room, consisting of four separate compartments and one transport space. Below that was the ammunition depot for storing shells. These rooms were separated by 4-inch and 2-inch thick watertight bulkheads with explosion-proof doors. The 50mm thick watertight bulkhead armor plating and armored hatch cover in the gun loading room could not withstand the energy generated by an armor-piercing shell explosion. However, the open hatches of the magazine and ammunition depot, as well as the unprotected hatch covers above the hoist tubes, became the final straw that broke the camel's back due to the Royal Navy gunners' pursuit of a high rate of fire in violation of safety regulations!

  The fire spread along the passage between the gunpowder loading room and the gunpowder magazine, killing thirty-one sailors and medical personnel who rushed to the scene instantly. The order of the turret commander was identical with that of HMS Lion, but this time it would be a painful welcome for the British!

  The fire pumps could not stop the big fire from spreading through the passageway between the ammunition depots, the electrically driven ammunition depot hatches did not close in time, and the seawater valves were not opened. The raging fire forced the damage control team to retreat through the connecting passageway between turret A's and turret B's ammunition depots, so that the explosion of turret A's ammunition depot could no longer be avoided!

  The oxygen near the A turret was sucked out, and 14 damage control personnel who were still fighting the fire died on the spot. With a loud roar, the Royal Princess shook violently, and the explosion of the magazine containing over 100 shells produced a shockwave, flames, smoke, and flying shrapnel that spewed out of the hole created by the armor-piercing shell. The top of the smoke cloud was over 300 feet (76 meters) above sea level, and the firelight illuminated hundreds of meters of surrounding sea area! Two coal bunkers, four boilers, and one electrical room near the A turret were destroyed, and hundreds of tons of seawater rushed in immediately. The hundreds-of-tons-heavy A turret was thrown into the air, and then crashed heavily onto the bow, directly crushing the horizontal armor deck of the bow!

  The rapidly running HMS Royal Princess instantly turned from a noble princess into an old man with stumbling steps, the hull tilted forward, and the speed dropped from 26.1 knots to 20 knots. To prevent the B turret magazine from also being detonated, the captain of the Royal Princess ordered the sea valve of the B turret to be opened, while flooding the stern compartment to balance it. At this time, the seawater in the hull of the Royal Princess had already approached one thousand tons, and the speed dropped to fifteen knots.

  Thick smoke lingered over the Royal Princess, making observation and counterattack a luxury. Even the bigwigs in the command tower had to don gas masks to continue their posts, as the ventilation fans could no longer bring in fresh air, only choking fumes.

  The Deutschland-class battleship SMS Derfflinger approached the optimal firing position, and in less than two minutes, HMS Princess Royal was hit twice. The No. 1 funnel and the engine room, boiler room on the right side were completely destroyed, accompanied by the screeching sound of twisted steel plates and white steam from the Parsons-type steam turbine pipes. The hull of HMS Princess Royal tilted 10 degrees to the right. The captain did not flood the left compartment to maintain balance because HMS Princess Royal had already taken in 2300 tons of water.

  At 18:23, all efforts to save HMS Queen Mary failed and the captain ordered the crew to abandon ship and open all seacocks. At 18:27, HMS Queen Mary became the first battleship casualty of the Battle of Jutland, capsizing before finally sinking into the icy mud of the North Sea floor.