Another World: Naval Storm

Chapter 131: The Moltke Sinks?

Leo and Captain Koro looked at each other, then sighed: "I don't know if this is lucky or unfortunate. It seems that God doesn't want to take me away."

The chase continued, with the Royal Princess and two Guardian-class dreadnoughts following behind with ease.

"Keep your distance and maintain your course. Keep a certain angle with the Moltke. Don't let the Moltke's midship superfiring turret fire at any angle." Liam added, "By the way, pay attention to the underwater torpedo launcher at the stern of the Moltke. I don't want the Royal Princess to be hit by a single one."

The battle continues. Leo and the Moltke have been forced into a desperate situation. I believe it won't be long before victory falls into Liam's hands.

Liam tightened her earphones, ready to watch how this round of bombardment would explode on the Moltke.

"General, General! An urgent order from Marshal Jericho!" Alex rushed over from the communications room anxiously.

"What? You want me to retreat?" Liam exclaimed.

"How is it possible?" Captain Comey of the Royal Princess was amazed and snatched the message to read it carefully.

"Retreat? Just like that? The Royal Navy's most formidable future enemy is on the Moltke! I lost three battlecruisers for him!" Liam was furious, "Three full battlecruisers in exchange for one Leo! I don't care about the Moltke. For the Kingdom of Talen, I gave up more than ten years of friendship. Now I just want to kill him!"

Liam disobeyed orders and continued to pursue the Moltke stubbornly. Marshal Jellicoe's telegrams came one after another, each one using harsher and harsher words. Dawson expressed his concern, fearing that Liam would be dismissed and court-martialed when he returned to his homeland. However, Liam only had eyes for the Moltke and he ignored it.

At 22:52, the stubborn pursuit of the Royal Princess battlecruiser paid off. With an explosion that resounded through the sky, a large hole was smashed on the starboard side of the Moltke battlecruiser, a 1mm secondary gun was destroyed, 150 men were killed, and the ammunition piled up in the secondary gun position was detonated, with explosions ringing out continuously.

"General, let's go! The Moltke will sink to the bottom of the sea without us!" The explosions and sparse flashes from the front told everyone that the Moltke might have been hit hard again.

"I didn't see the impact point! Come closer! I want to watch the Moltke sink!" Liam shouted.

Due to the obstruction of Moltke's superstructure and the fog, the observation tower could not see the impact point, but through the rising smoke and the flames of the explosion, it was judged that an ammunition depot might have been destroyed. Judging from the fact that the fire on Moltke has not been extinguished yet, Moltke's condition is indeed very bad.

"General! Please go down and have a rest! I am in command here now!" After a while, Captain Comey of the Royal Princess was surrounded by six fully armed sailors.

"What are you doing?" Alex demanded loudly, his right hand on the holster of his revolver, and the armed sailor next to Comey pointed his gun at Alex in response.

"Alex, don't get excited! Put down your guns! Marshal Jericho ordered me to take over the command! If you resist, I will have to fight back. I hope Alex and the general can forgive my offense!" Comey defended.

"Wait a minute!" Liam ignored the farce. These sailors were his old subordinates. They had no problem pointing guns at Alex, but they really didn't dare to point guns at Liam. This put Comey in a dilemma.

"It will be too late if you look again! More than a dozen telegrams from Marshal Jericho are all orders to retreat with harsh words! The next telegram may really order you to be killed!" Comey was also anxious. The Monarch had warned that the Drake light fleet had been discovered, and Major General Vincent had also reported the bad news of the sinking of the Bharadostan. If Liam didn't leave, the Royal Princess and other three ships might be in danger.

"Ding Ling Ling..." A staff officer picked up the phone to break the stalemate, "General! Report from the watchtower, the Moltke has sunk!"

"What is your basis?" Liam took the phone anxiously and asked in person.

"We saw that the Moltke tilted sharply to the right, and we suspected that the Moltke was taking on a lot of water!"

"Are you sure?"

"We are sure!" Everyone on the watchtower agreed and pledged so confidently.

"Okay!" Liam hung up the phone, turned to look at Comey and said, "Let's retreat!"

It was a pity that Liam did not personally witness the sinking of the Moltke, but it was Leo's luck that he saw Liam sail away.

Where Liam couldn't see, Moltke was trying to save itself. After the hull tilted violently 11 degrees to the right, Leo issued an order to save Moltke and poured water into the port compartment of the hull.

After the efforts of all officers and soldiers of the Moltke, they injected 1,200 tons of water before the Moltke capsized, thus stopping the capsizing trend. The Royal Princess battle patrol watchtower personnel did not notice the subsequent actions of the Moltke, and the tilted posture of the Moltke was still in their minds. The Moltke deceived their eyes.

"The Talens have retreated!" The waves pushed the scarred battlecruiser Moltke, and from one shout to countless shouts, the surviving officers and soldiers, regardless of their status, were shouting loudly.

After nearly six hours of chasing and fierce fighting, the Moltke was hit by a total of nine 6mm large-caliber shells and more than one hundred small-caliber shells including 343mm shells.

The main turret at the bow and the two turrets at the stern were destroyed, leaving only the two turrets amidships barely usable. Because the hull was tilted, balanced water injection had to be adopted. The amount of water taken in by the Moltke was as high as 4,500 tons, and the sea level almost reached the deck of the Moltke, which saved people the trouble of washing the blood-stained deck. Bullet holes of varying sizes covered the hull and superstructure.

The damaged steam pipes kept spewing out boiling steam, so that the crew members who could not enjoy the double-edged sword of ice and fire took turns going to the deck to enjoy the sea breeze.

Despite the dire situation, the Moltke still stubbornly floated on the sea. "Dead Knight" was the nickname given to it by the Talens after the war, but the Drakes did not quite agree with it.

"General, we received a telegram from the Second Reconnaissance Fleet's light cruiser, the Mallegrave! They are near us!" Dawson limped to Leo, who was resting on the bow deck, and said excitedly, "The Ocean Fleet is here. No matter what the outcome of the Battle of Shipwreck Bay is, our mission is accomplished!"

"Dawson, sit down quickly! If you are injured, just ask the communications officer to come over!" Leo quickly made a seat for him to sit down.

"I'm fine, General. I was hit by a falling heavy object. It's just a minor injury! The communications officer is resting. His arm was hit by shrapnel. It can't be saved and has to be amputated!" Dawson's voice began to drop, and his previous excitement was swept away.

"We have been seriously injured this time. I hope that the Ocean Fleet can complete the mission this time and defeat the Ocean Fleet to break through the blockade! Our sacrifice will be worth it!"