But even five torpedoes were only fatal to Ark Royal. Cunningham never imagined that this was the battlefield where the Germans had planned a decisive naval battle.

He didn't even expect that the Germans would have the courage to fight the British Navy on the sea. You know, even if the British Navy lost some battleships, the entire German Navy and the British Navy would look like a horse riding a horse in a decisive battle.

A mule, a farmer with a wooden gun duels with a knight in full armor on a horse.

But such a ridiculous thing happened. The farmer knocked over the knight's horse armor and even wanted to stab the knight's horse to death.

"Boom!!" A huge roar came. The torpedo of Dönitz's submarine force hit the starboard side below the ship island. The violent explosion tore apart the hull of Ark Royal, and the rushing water was surging in.

A large amount of water entered the "Ark Royal" main engine to stop operating, and the aircraft carrier tilted 18 degrees to the right. The aircraft carrier of the "Ark Royal" immediately dropped to 18 knots, which gave the sea wolves lurking under the sea a chance.

.

"Repair the damage immediately! Drop depth charges immediately! Quick!!" Cunningham roared on the Cambridge, and the sailors on the battleship immediately took action.

Historically, the development of depth bombs was carried out almost simultaneously with the development of submarines. After the Germans achieved success in using submarines during World War I, the British also began to develop weapons to deal with German submarines.

Especially in September 1914, the German U-9 submarine sank three 12,000-ton British armored cruisers in less than 90 minutes offshore Belgium. In February 1915, Germany announced that it would use submarines to blockade Britain.

By the end of the year, more than 600 Allied and neutral ships had been sunk.

This forced the British to speed up their research and development of submarine restraint weapons. Under this environment, the world's first true depth bomb was successfully developed in the UK at the end of 1915.

This kind of bomb looks like a metal can for garbage, but is filled with explosives. It is equipped with a hydraulic fuse and a trigger fuse. The depth bomb is dropped into the water by a surface ship and will explode once it touches the submarine or reaches a predetermined depth. The deepest

Up to 200 meters.

When a depth charge explodes, it will generate huge pressure, and submarines within 10 meters of the center of the explosion will be severely damaged. In July 1916, the depth charge finally revealed its combat capabilities.

At that time, a British patrol boat discovered a German U-shaped submarine snorkeling in the water. The former immediately dropped depth bombs from the stern of the boat to attack the submarine and sink it in one fell swoop. This was the first effective attack by depth bombs.

This small battle proved the practical capabilities of depth charges.

The birth of depth charges gave the then-invincible submarine a nemesis for the first time.

After that, the British habitually equipped their warships with depth bombs to prepare for submarine battles that might come at any time. However, since World War I, Britain has never encountered a submarine attack. This has made most people ignore

Those depth charges on battleships.

Only Cunningham, an old sailor who had managed the First World War, could remember the terror of those German submarines. At the same time, he could also remember those submarine nemesis—depth charges—that had been placed on warships but forgotten.

"Boom!!" Unfortunately, the old sailor could no longer direct his sailors to drop depth charges. After the German submarine discovered that it had not sunk the Ark Royal, it immediately launched a second round of attacks.

attack.

The U-81 of the German Navy's submarine force was the first to launch the second wave of attacks. After Captain Gugenberg discovered that the Ark Royal had not been sunk, he immediately commanded the U-81 boat to quickly load torpedoes and then suddenly thought about attacking

"Ark Royal" fired 4 torpedoes again.

Because the shock wave launched was too strong and the pressure suddenly decreased, the submarine rose suddenly and surfaced. Fortunately, the chief engineer ordered all crew members to enter the forward cabin and urgently adjusted the water tank for a sudden dive, so the submarine was not discovered by the British.

Captain Guttenberg's luck was really excellent. Not only was he not discovered when he surfaced, but two of the four torpedoes fired by his submarine directly hit the Ark Royal! And this time even

One torpedo hit the Ark Royal's boiler directly!

The damage just now has made Ark Royal almost immobile, and the two torpedoes that hit it were fatal. The explosion of the boiler killed most of the damage control officers who were trying to repair the battleship.

The rest were also injured by flying shrapnel and broken boiler fragments. The entire battleship suddenly stopped, and then the huge gap began to pour into the water. The sailors inside the battleship kept wailing and trying to escape.

Admiral Cunningham, who was on the bridge, closed his eyes in pain. He knew that the Ark Royal was now helpless, and its fate waiting for it would undoubtedly be sinking.

"Boom! Boom! Boom..." Continuous explosions sounded from the sea. When the painful Cunningham looked up, he saw devastation everywhere.

The light cruiser Curaco, the light cruiser HMS Nymph, the escort aircraft carrier HMS Daring... and other seven or eight ships that are extremely important to the British Navy are billowing black smoke on the sea.

The Audacity even continued to emit fire and thick smoke. Cunningham seemed to be able to hear the desperate wails from the sailors on the Audacity. But at this time, as the commander of the navy, he could do nothing.

After being bombarded by five torpedoes in a row, the Ark Royal completely lost power. Even the battleship was now unable to generate electricity. The entire battleship was constantly flooding and rushing towards the bottom of the sea without hesitation.

"God! Why did you give up on England!!" Cunningham roared angrily and loudly in the command room on the bridge, while his subordinate adjutant dragged him out of the command room regardless.

If we don't leave, we won't be able to leave. Now the battleship is silent. What Cunningham should do is to evacuate quickly. Fortunately, the British have good training, and they still don't panic even at this time.

Most of the people were under command to maintain good order, then boarded the lifeboats and left the sinking battleship. Along with them, there were several British ships that were attacked by German submarine forces.

"Boom! Boom! Boom..." Although they lost the command of the flagship, the experienced British navy did not give up the battle. On the contrary, their fighting spirit became even higher.

Countless warships were constantly adjusting their cannons and firing back at the German warships frantically. The Germans were not easy to mess with, and their artillery kept roaring, trying to kill them before the British navy could exert its force.

Completely buried in this sea area.

Those fighter planes that lost their aircraft carriers could only linger in the air to assist the fighters of other aircraft carriers in combat. At this time, the German fighter planes had cleared a large number of British fighter planes, and the JU-88 bombers began to take off one after another and attack the British Navy.

Kill and go.

This is the first time that the Germans have used three-dimensional operations including air, sea and underwater operations. Obviously they are not yet skilled in this type of joint operations.

Even in terms of cooperation, some small mistakes continued to occur. However, the British navy on the opposite side had never tried to fight in this way. Those British warships could only make tactical judgments based on their own experience.

Obviously, those previous tactical judgments were no longer suitable for such a battle. The British continued to adjust their artillery speeds against the German warships while dropping depth charges into the water.

At the same time, he did not forget to fire into the air to try to stop those German fighters and bombers from carrying out air strikes on him.

Since the British naval battleships were too widely dispersed, there was no way to achieve fire coverage against the fighters in the air. Not to mention the submarines underwater, those depth bombs were just for self-comfort.

"Chirp...boom!!" The German bombers once again achieved success. A JU-88 directly hit the British light cruiser "Living Statue" with a "Mace" heavy rocket-propelled bomb.

A mace hit the light cruiser, and the result can be imagined. Under the roar of the huge explosion, the Living Statue was blown into two pieces without even having time to hum.

The mace hit directly the ammunition depot of the Living Statue, and the explosion of the ammunition depot triggered an explosion of the boiler. The huge power caused the entire battleship to be blown into two pieces, and even the sailors above had no time to react to the Living Statue.

It has already sunk...

Although more and more British naval forces are arriving on the battlefield, the situation is becoming increasingly unfavorable to the British Navy. A large number of German fighter planes have basically controlled the situation in the air. The large European carrier-based fighter jets equipped by the British Navy are not BF-109 at all.

opponent.

As of now, there are less than 50 large European carrier-based fighter jets on several British aircraft carriers with more than 200. Of course, the Germans are not much better. Graf Zeppelin and Peter Strasser

The Er can only carry more than 80 fighters.

In addition to the twelve fixed new JU-88 bombers, they only brought 60 fighter jets. After a war, although the Germans had an advantage in fighter jets, Germany's losses were heavy.

Six JU-88s were shot down, while more than thirty BF-109s were destroyed in fierce battles.

"Hurry up and notify the Air Force! If their Spitfire hasn't arrived yet, then ask the Imperial Air Force to come here to salvage our warship!" Cunningham, who was rescued on the Glory, roared with blood-red eyes.

No wonder the general was so angry. He could see that the planes in the sky were his biggest threat. They could clearly see their route and report their coordinates to the warships behind them.
Chapter completed!