"Order the lightning strike formation to attack and disrupt the enemy's rhythm."
Faced with the crisis in his own battleship formation, Carden decisively played the lightning strike card.
At the same time, a telegram was transmitted from the flagship Orion to the entire fleet.
"The British Empire needs everyone to do their job!"
Yes, Carden uttered Nelson's famous quote that every British naval officer knew at this time. Perhaps in his heart, he also hoped that he could be like Nelson and win the Battle of Trafalgar.
And this telegram also kicked off the bloodiest scene in the naval battle!
More than thirty destroyers and torpedo boats of various types launched a charge against the combined fleet not far away!
The movement of more than thirty small warships is not small at all. How could the Combined Fleet not see it if they are not blind? Not to mention that the Combined Fleet also has an airship, a weapon for reconnaissance.
In the sea area of this battle, the Italian airship force had four airships of various types in the sky paying close attention to every move on the battlefield.
So before the Lightning Strike formation even rushed out, Leifer had already received the news.
"That's really the trick!"
Looking at the lightning strike formation rushing towards us like a swimming dragon, it is impossible to say that we are not afraid. Torpedoes are the product of small and large. A giant ship of 20,000 to 30,000 tons will be damaged by just one torpedo hit.
If it is attacked by three or four torpedoes, no matter how powerful the warship is, it will not be able to withstand it.
Of course, torpedoes have such huge power, but they also have many shortcomings. Their short range and obvious trajectory make them unable to be used as conventional tactics.
"The fleet avoids, concentrate all firepower on the opponent's destroyers and torpedo boats, pay attention to maintain the formation, all cruisers and destroyers intercept! Target enemy ship!" Leifer issued a series of orders within a few seconds.
Following Leifer's order, the battleship formation that was shelling the opponent adjusted its target and opened fire at the incoming enemy lightning strike formation.
At this time, the roar of large-caliber artillery sounded again, and countless shells hit the enemy ships.
"Boom!"
A 305mm large-caliber shell accurately hit an charging torpedo boat. The violent explosion caused the torpedo boat to disappear directly on the sea. As for the personnel, they did not need to think too much and could only pray that the other party rests in peace in heaven.
However, the loss of one torpedo boat could not deter the charging lightning strike formation.
As the formation commander, Lieutenant Colonel Bennett, issued an order on his flagship, the USS Custer. "The formation will increase its speed to the highest speed and launch lightning strikes on the rear half of the enemy's battleships."
Lieutenant Colonel Bennett can tell at first glance that he has experience in lightning strikes and knows how to use lightning strike tactics to maximize the effect. Only launching lightning strikes on the second half of the battleships not only improves the success rate, but also causes the opponent's battle formation to become disjointed.
Find the most advantageous opportunity for your own formation. It can be said that an expert will know if there is any as soon as he takes action.
However, it is not easy at all for Colonel Bennett to achieve his goal, because in addition to having to withstand the baptism of battleship artillery, there is also the interception of opponents.
The Lightning Strike formation only increased its speed when they saw a group of warships from the opponent appearing in front of them. This was the opponent's formation that came to intercept them.
"Rush over."
Seeing the opponent's interception formation, Colonel Bennett ordered the formation to rush over.
Facing an enemy ship charging head-on, the warship responsible for intercepting it will not show mercy.
The interception formation, headed by four Piedmont-class cruisers, 2 Verona-class cruisers and 16 destroyers, showed the enemy what powerful interception firepower is. A large number of 105 and 150 mm naval guns were used to target incoming enemy ships.
A sharp blow.
The first to suffer were the larger battleships in the lightning strike formation. Among them, the No. 13 ship Moresby, a Horde-class destroyer, was hit by 150mm shells one after another and was brought to a standstill on the spot.
"We will avenge the Moresby, pushing to maximum power."
Seeing that the friendly ships were stopped, Lieutenant Colonel Bennett couldn't care less at this time and kept asking the ships to increase their speed.
At this time, for the ships performing lightning strike missions, the only thing they can rely on is speed. Any counterattack at this time is in vain, because the deck is bumpy at a speed of up to 30 knots. At this time, you can hit five ships with naval guns.
Targets a hundred meters away are favored by God. And now there is no turning back. We can only accelerate and accelerate. Any hesitation is harmful.
The ships carrying out the lightning strike mission also understood this truth, so they rushed towards their targets regardless of their red eyes.
"Boom boom boom!"
Although the British destroyers charged in spite of the hail of bullets, their intercepting opponents were unwilling to give them a chance, and shells continued to hit them one after another as they got closer to the distance.
"The countercurrent was sunk."
"The Pelican stalled."
"The Petal is on fire."
"..."
Bad news keeps coming to the flagship USS Custer one after another, but Lieutenant Colonel Bennett is completely indifferent to it. He only has his own target, the USS United Forces, in his eyes.
Even if his warship was hit by multiple artillery shells and there were casualties, it did not make him frown.
The lightning strike formation suffered huge casualties and rushed towards the enemy target.
"It's close."
"Closer."
As the distance approached, the lookout hand exclaimed, "We are already three thousand meters away."
"No, we have to get closer." Of course Lieutenant Colonel Bennett understood what the lookout meant. The torpedo is already within its effective range when it enters a distance of three thousand meters. However, this is only the effective range, and its hit rate will increase.
Very low, and Commander Bennett wanted to hit the target hard.
The Custer's move towards the United Forces immediately attracted the attention of the surrounding warships.
"Open fire and kill this enemy ship."
At this moment, the USS United Forces also discovered this threat. Then the ship's small and medium-caliber artillery fired continuously at it. The nearby USS Intrepid and USS Tegelhof also noticed him and also provided fire support.
While attacking the Custer under artillery fire, he continued charging with his head covered.
"Two thousand five hundred meters."
"Two thousand meters."
The lookouts reporting the count were already trembling because there was too much artillery fire around them. If they were not careful, they would be killed here.
"Launch torpedoes."
The torpedo operator finally heard the command of the Lieutenant Colonel to launch, and then six torpedoes jumped into the sea, and then he fled for his life. In fact, Lieutenant Colonel Bennett wanted to get closer, but there were too many bullets falling around him.
He didn't dare to continue gambling.
"Watch for torpedoes at three o'clock."
At this time, all countries were using thermally powered torpedoes. The traces of these torpedoes were very obvious and easy to observe.
Therefore, after the lookout saw the white line coming towards him, he immediately raised the alarm loudly.
Faced with the torpedo attack, several warships immediately became busy. They either slowed down to avoid it or accelerated away. Only the United Forces was a little difficult to deal with because these five torpedoes were mainly aimed at it.
"Accelerate, bring the speed to 20 knots."
Captain Constanti, the captain of the United Forces, immediately issued the order.
At this moment, the United Forces was only traveling at a speed of seventeen knots. Looking at the rapidly approaching torpedoes, Colonel Constanti found that it was impossible to completely avoid the torpedoes.
"Turn right quickly, quickly."
At this moment, he could only choose the least harmful method, which was to use the bow of the ship to catch the mine. At his urging, the United Forces turned sharply to the right.
At this moment the torpedo was very close to the United Forces.
"Impact preparation."
When the navigator saw that the torpedo was about to attack, he immediately shouted a warning.
At this moment, two torpedoes passed by the left side of the ship, and one torpedo passed by the right side of the ship. However, there were still two torpedoes that could not be avoided, and one directly hit the left side of the bow. There was only a loud bang.
There was a sound from the left side of the bow, and a two-meter-large hole was blown directly into the bow. Sea water poured directly into the cabin along the big hole.
"Close the hatch quickly, close the hatch quickly."
Several hatches connected to the bow of the ship were constantly closed to avoid being affected by sea water.
Hey, is there another torpedo?
Sorry, I heard a bang and then disappeared. Torpedoes are not 100% effective, and their failure rate is not low.
When they heard an explosion, the officers and soldiers on board the United Forces all cheered. They all thought it represented good luck.
After some emergency repairs and inspections, the United Forces can continue to fight, but at the cost of carrying five to six hundred tons of seawater and a two-knot reduction in top speed.
In the end, only four ships completed the launch of this lightning strike mission, and only one, the Custer, returned alive in the end. The others were sunk into the sea, and their battle damage rate was horribly high.
