Chapter 905

"Launch complete!" With a loud cry, in the narrow metal space, the loaders began to be busy. The huge bolt was pulled from inside, and a hot wave filled the bore. The machinery began to roar, the engine began to rotate, the chain began to roll, and the whole space was full of harsh sounds.

Soon, a shell rose from the steel channel under its feet. It was pushed into the transport elevator from tens of meters under its feet. Then, with the rolling of the engine, it passed the armor protection partition and the thicker main armor layer of the warship, and came to the interior of the main gun turret.

"Loader!" Another shout rang out. Several people began to unload the heavy shell from the elevator with simple hoisting machinery. They chanted slogans and put the shell on the loading track.

Then, with the operation of electric machinery, the shell was pushed into the 406 mm caliber cannon bore by a metal rod with a soft head, and the long push rod, with the repeated movement of the machinery, returned to its original position.

"Charge!" Such a huge caliber shell is not an integral shell, nor is it a separately loaded warhead or propellant. The propellant required for this shell is basically very similar to that of the * * bag, and it can be loaded manually ↙ According to the requirements of range and so on, we need to stack package by package the propelling charges in order, and push them into the bore again by the push rod just now.

Soon, these propellants had been neatly stacked on the loading track. The reason why all large caliber guns can't fire continuously and have to return to a fixed angle for loading is that the ammunition of these huge guns must rely on a complex loading auxiliary system, and this system can't follow the gun in pitch motion.

"Wow!" With a series of sounds, these propelling charges were pushed into the gun bore, and then the two loaders skillfully folded the loading track left and right. After all, when the gun was launched, it needed a certain distance from the back seat. If the sliding track was not put away, it would be smashed by the recoil force of the gun.

"Gun one is loaded! Ready A sergeant in the loading hand, after standing back in his position, reported loudly.

The firing correction Sergeant over there also put down the phone in his hand almost at the same time and repeated the firing data he had just received: "the angle remains unchanged! Correct 0 to the left. 2. Wait for the order to fire! "

The gun angle operation group not far behind him repeated his command loudly, and while repeating it, they fiddled with their hands on the electric auxiliary instrument panel: "the firing angle remains unchanged, correct 0 to the left. 2... Ready! "

With their shouts, the tail of No.1 gun began to sink, which also indicated that the muzzle of the gun was rising rapidly. When it returned to the same height as when it had just been fired, the cannon was still waiting there.

"Fire!" With a command, a huge roar came from outside the deck. The whole battleship trembled at the earth shaking roar, and everyone could not help narrowing their eyes.

The propellant burst out, forming a thick smoke blocking the sky. It gushed out from the 406 mm diameter muzzle, and even blew a breeze on the nearby sea. The huge shell cut through the sky and flew to the distant target. Then it finally landed on the sea not far away from the target, and exploded, forming a water column dozens of stories high.

In the shooting command post near the command tower on the top of the warship, a sergeant put down his telescope, grabbed the phone beside him, and reported his observation to the microphone loudly: "artillery No.1! Near miss! Altitude correction 0. 1！”

On the bridge, the captain of the battleship Washington frowned and looked helplessly at the distant sea. He didn't expect that the Japanese battleship would take the initiative to entangle him. At this time, he would never get the support of the friendly aircraft again.

You should know that the artillery combat level of the US battleship is only average. The ammunition of this kind of big killer is expensive and the firing life of the gun barrel is relatively short. Who has nothing to practice shooting with this kind of weapon? Therefore, the level of artillery warfare of the US Navy also basically depends on faith. Of course, to put it another way, who is not fighting by faith when firing guns and fighting each other on the shaking sea?

Obviously, the belief of the Japanese army is more abundant. They just hit the tail of the North Carolina. Although they did not cause any fatal damage, this is the only time the two sides have hit the opponent so far. Relying on the advantage of quantity, the Americans used intensive artillery fire to screen the sea near the Japanese battleship "Ri", while the Japanese fought back desperately, trying to hold down the US troops and prevent them from reinforcing other battlefields.

"Boom!" Just in the anxiety, the No.2 artillery opened fire again. This shell did not make any contribution either. It flew over the chimney of the Japanese warship and landed behind the Japanese warship. It was still a huge explosion or a spectacular water column. However, the Japanese warship floated on the sea in good condition.

"Gun two missed the target, straddling! Keep the angle and keep shooting! Keep your angle and keep shooting In the firing command post, the observer cried out excitedly. Generally speaking, as long as the artillery straddles, the distance to hit the target will be closer.

Inside the bridge, the adjutant turned his back and asked Halsey, who was struggling to end the battle as soon as possible: "sir! If not, it's better to take off the calibration plane for observation... "At the beginning, the US warships and the plane were bullying the Japanese army, so there was no need to take off the calibration plane to recuperate the artillery. As a result, now there is a sticky artillery battle. The artillery of both sides are in the visual distance, so there is no chance to delay firing, I went to take off some school jet aircraft, but now the US warships have obvious advantages, but they fail repeatedly, which makes the chief mate have to think of a better way“ Boom The No.3 gun opened fire at this time, and then just when the US captain was ready to order to stop the gun firing and take off the calibration plane to correct the gun firing, a miracle happened... The No.3 gun of the No.A turret on the bow of the no.washington hit the No.A turret on the bow of the Japanese battleship, and one shell hit the armor plate accurately, A turret of the Japanese army was completely reimbursed, which also reduced the artillery density of the Japanese army. Watching the Japanese warship take off the fire and start to burn, there was a cheer from the American warship. Although we all know that we are using two new battleships to hit our family and an old battleship. It's not very glorious to bully more than less, but it's better to hit than not to hit. So no one cares about those details and starts to work harder to adjust the artillery“ Hit! Hit! Keep firing! Keep firing When the observer in the shooting Command Post reported, he was so excited that even his voice changed a little. You can hear his excitement. After all, winning Japan in the shelling is a very inspiring thing for the Americans. The cheering atmosphere didn't last long. The cheering of the Americans on this side was not over. The battleship North Carolina on the other side was also hit by the main gun of the battleship sun. For a moment, the cheering of the Americans was depressed. It seemed that the short-term joy just now disappeared with the North Carolina being shot. After all, the Japanese battleship is an old battleship. It is equipped with 356 mm main guns instead of 406 mm main guns installed on four US Navy battleships. Therefore, the penetrating power of the shells can not be compared with that of the U.S. artillery. Although the Japanese Navy has hit the U.S. warships twice in a row, it has not caused any substantial damage to the U.S. warships. After all, the warships of the U.S. Navy were just launched in 1939, while the Japanese Navy's Nikko was an antique in 1918. Even after a modern modification, it can no longer meet the needs of the decisive battle. So when the Japanese warship hit the US battleship for the third time, it still didn't slow down the North Carolina. After such a hit exchange, the Americans also forgot to take off the calibration plane. Since they can hit the opponent, it is no longer necessary to stop shooting and go to the observation plane which is not very useful to take off on deck. The cannons of the two sides are firing at each other, and the Japanese are very accurate. Like their teacher, the British, they are very good at sea artillery. However, their cannon caliber was a little small, which could not cause fatal injuries to American warships. The American cannons are powerful enough, but they are not very accurate... The good play continues. Just when the US Washington drew the distance closer to 20 kilometers, they finally hit each other again. The middle part of the ship of the Japanese battleship was hit by the North Carolina, and the stern of the North Carolina battleship was hit again. This time, both sides paid a heavy price. The battleship Rihao immediately caught fire, and the turret in the middle of the ship was silent. The Americans seem to have hit its important position. The Japanese battleship, which could barely fight the first world war just now, has lost its combat power at this moment. Of course, the North Carolina, the new battleship of the United States, also failed to find a bargain. Although it hit its opponent in one fell swoop and made him lose the ability to fight, it seems that its tail has also been hit, and its speed has dropped to less than half of its original speed