Chapter 1163 Kronstadt (Plus 2)

From a distance perspective, it seems that the German naval formation could be attacked by Soviet naval aviation at any time after entering the Baltic Sea.

Although the Soviet Navy does not receive much attention, after all, they are also capable of combat, and in this environment of the Baltic Sea, they are really vulnerable.

In fact, the Soviet Navy did not have this capability at all.

Although Germany did not take care of cleaning up the Baltic Fleet, it was not soft on their naval aviation. On the first day of the war, they wiped out their strength on the ground.

The Soviet Air Force can still mobilize planes from the rear, but the Naval Air Force is different. They can't be mobilized from another naval base, right? In this way, the Soviet naval aviation was temporarily disabled.

Therefore, the German fleet can enter the Baltic Sea with confidence, even if there are a few sporadic planes flying, the fleet's intensive anti-aircraft fire, and the fleet's escort fighter jets, it is enough to make the other party drink a pot.

Moreover, the current Baltic Fleet has not discovered the attack of the German fleet at all. They lack maritime patrol aircraft, not to mention that now they are going to run back.

Tallinn, the base of the Baltic Fleet, is full of thick smoke. These smokes are artificially placed. Of course, there is also the factor of the fleet's own boiler. Now, the black smoke in the boiler is even denser.

Amid the black smoke, the flagship Mara was the first to move out of its berth.

The Mara was a Gangut-class and was the only first-class battleship of the Soviets. In fact, its armor was not thick, which was a compromise for high speed.

Although it is very old and has undergone a modern improvement a few years ago, it can now accelerate to 30 knots when its boiler is running at full power.

On the bridge, Captain Peter's face was very solemn.

The war on the ground is too fast, the Germans are attacking so fast, their Soviets, what will happen in the future?

Peter shook his head and put those thoughts behind him. Now, they had received the task of returning to defend Petersburg, assisting the ground troops and blocking the attacking German army.

No matter how powerful those armored soldiers are, in front of the battleship's naval guns, they are all scum.

The huge warship drew waves on the sea. After sailing for a few hours, it was already possible to see the military port of Kronstadt, which is also the main military port of the Baltic Fleet.

This place was originally from Finland. Hundreds of years ago, Peter the Great at that time noticed this Kotlin Island floating out of the Gulf of Finland. It is only 29 kilometers away from Petersburg and belongs to the gateway of Russia. It is defended here. is quite important.

So, after the island was seized from Finland, that is, in 1703, at the same time that Petersburg began to be built, it was also built as an important military port.

Kronstadt means the royal city.

The Gulf of Finland itself is not very deep and in winter it is completely frozen. Therefore, the construction of the Soviets was quite simple. They drove the workers to transport thousands of oak boxes full of stones from the ice to the local area and sank them into the ice caves. They built several artificial islands, and then Forts were built on these islands.

These forts completely blocked the waterway to Petersburg. There are only two very narrow waterways that can still sail, and the strong fortresses on both sides can guard the waterway tightly and firmly.

The five forts thus formed were the main defenses at the mouth of the Gulf of Finland. Once built, they have played their due role in history, such as their successful repelling of the combined British and French fleets in the Crimean War.

The Kronstadt fortress was enlarged and fortified again in the 19th century. Four new batteries were built from 1856 to 1871, and they controlled the main entrance to the Gulf of Finland, and another seven controlled the shallower Northern Passage. All of these forts were very low, protected by extremely thick armor, equipped with Krupp turrets.

Originally, this was the base of the Baltic Fleet. It was not until the three Baltic countries were conquered by the Soviet Union that the Baltic Fleet moved its fleet base to Tallinn, and they came back in less than a year.

Revisiting the old place, Peter has mixed feelings in his heart.

The central waterway and the cannons on both sides are so clear. I remembered that when I first joined the army a few decades ago, I became an artilleryman of the coastal defense artillery here. Thinking of the cruel battle, Peter was in front of him. , as if there was a scene of artillery fire.

Behind the Mara, the October Revolution also followed into the waterway. In order to hurry, the two warships each took a waterway. The two warships of the same model were galloping at high speed.

Behind them, there are large and small warships, gathered towards the waterway.

In the sky, there are white clouds floating. Although the weather is very cold, the air is quite good. The fresh cold wind makes the watchman on the Mara very comfortable.

He put his hand to his mouth and sighed, then continued to raise the telescope to observe the sky above his head.

When he twisted the telescope into the cloud layer, suddenly, a light blue navy-painted plane emerged from the cloud layer, and the black cross on the back of the fuselage was so striking.

In an instant, he became anxious: "Stuka, the German Stuka, jumped out of the clouds, fast, fast!"

Although the relationship between Germany and the Soviet Union was very good in the past, due to the geographical location, the main enemy of the Baltic Fleet was the Germans. Therefore, the fleet's lookout posts were quite clear about the Germans' weapons and equipment.

Now, when he saw the plane rushing out of the clouds, he immediately judged the model, and the battleship, which was waiting in battle, immediately sounded the air defense alarm.

Discover the German dive bombers!

As the largest warship in the Tsarist Russia era, the Gangut class actually has quite a few weapons. For example, he has four triple-mounted 305mm 52-caliber guns as main guns, and 16 120mm 50-caliber guns as secondary guns. It's just that the secondary gun does not have the function of shooting at the air.

Its anti-aircraft weapons are pitiful, only two 76mm anti-aircraft guns and four 47mm anti-aircraft guns, and eight anti-aircraft machine guns.

Although it has been observed that dive bombers have become the biggest threat to the fleet in recent naval battles, and the Baltic Fleet has also submitted a report to add more anti-aircraft guns to such battleships, the improvement project has not yet been approved. just started.

At the stern, the anti-aircraft artillerymen with 47mm anti-aircraft guns were busy immediately.

When they came out of the port and could not use the smoke to escape, they were ready and waited at their gun positions. Now they suddenly found the situation, the gunner immediately shook the high and low planes quickly, and the anti-aircraft artillery commander on the side had already Ordered.

"The distance is 20, the direction is 009 to the left, the height is 75, adjust a secret position, send it in five bursts, and let it go!"

"Tom, tom, tom tom tom..." Black smoke came out of the muzzle, yellow-orange shells were thrown from one end, and the 47mm anti-aircraft artillery shells had already flew into the sky.

At such times, the Soviet naval soldiers showed their high quality, but unfortunately, compared with them, the quality of the German soldiers was higher.