At the same time as the first Eagle dropped its bombs, almost all the Eagles in the sky rushed towards their respective targets, like a group of predatory golden eagles, dropping bombs one after another on the warships below, and these
Almost without exception, the planes aimed at the battleships, and even Marshal Fisher's Britannia became the target of six bombers. Looking at the bombers falling almost vertically from the sky, those British sailors
They screamed and fired wildly, but their efforts achieved a result. An Eagle was shot down by the anti-aircraft machine gun of the protecting cruiser next to it, but the problem was that the Eagle with its blazing fire was immediately connected to the plane.
He crashed into the light cruiser with the bomb.
Then in the flames of the explosion, this warship with a displacement of less than 5,000 tons actually suffered a terrible ammunition explosion. Not only did it blow itself into two pieces, but the fragments were also returned to the Britannia, which was less than a hundred meters away.
Caused heavy casualties.
At the same time, the other two bombers successfully dropped bombs on the Britannia. One of them exploded on the sea less than ten meters away, while the other smashed directly into the stern deck, and then swept across with huge explosion power.
All around, the fuel pipe of a diesel engine broke during the explosion. The Britannia, which was racing at 27 knots, immediately slowed down. At the same time, the leaked diesel fuel caused a fire. The damage control crews could only brave the flames and fight desperately.
Fighting, the whole ship was in chaos.
"Marshal, you'd better prepare to find another ship." Betty, who went to check the situation, walked up to Marshal Fisher with a greasy look on her face and said.
"It's not necessary. This is the flagship, and I am the commander. I will live and die with it." Fisher said lightly. Although it sounded heroic and noble, the helpless sadness was difficult to conceal. This
A naval marshal who could almost be said to have single-handedly created what was once the world's largest and most perfect battle fleet, now understood that the era of battleships was over. In just a few minutes, all twelve battleships on the sea were hit.
The Guba was hit by six bombs in a very short period of time. The fire caused by the leakage of diesel oil almost engulfed this battleship with a displacement of nearly 20,000 tons. Its end was doomed.
So far, only three bombers have been shot down. Even if he killed them, he would not think that the value of these three bombers would exceed 30,000 pounds, and the value of the Guba was 2.5 million pounds. This was completely a scam.
A battle of unequal value. As the former First Sea Lord, he knew very well what the real war was about.
"The era of battleships has passed. The future belongs to the sky. Our old friend has laid a big plan. When we cheer for his diesel engines and perfect battleships to bid farewell to the steam age, who can
Guess, he actually spent twenty years spinning a lie?" He said with a wry smile.
"What kind of plane is that?" General Betty didn't have much impression. His status was too low to be qualified to associate with Emperor Yang, and he was not on the same level as Fisher, an old friend who had been with Yang Feng for more than ten years. He noticed
Suddenly, a second batch of bombers appeared in the sky.
"What's down there?" He held up his binoculars and looked at the hundred Swordfish that started to descend in astonishment. Suddenly, as if his tail had been stepped on, he picked up the phone and screamed, regardless of the fleet commander next to him: "Inform all ships, don't
Let the enemy plane get closer, it's a torpedo attack plane!"
But at this time, the first Swordfish had already pounced on the battleship Ireland close to the sea. This battleship had already been hit by two bombs before. Fortunately, it was also an Edward VII class. Its protective performance was still good, and it was only slightly injured.
, at this time, all the anti-aircraft firepower was blocking the four bombers overhead. Those anti-aircraft gunners did not notice the sudden appearance of the small aircraft on the sea two kilometers away. When they discovered the Swordfish and quickly adjusted their firepower, the opponent had already rushed there.
Less than 1.5 kilometers away.
At the same time as the British naval guns opened fire, the attacking Swordfish quickly dropped a torpedo. The steam gas torpedo dragged an obvious track under the clear water and headed straight for the Ireland. The sailors on the Ireland were dumbfounded. They
I never expected that this plane was carrying torpedoes. Even the captain in the command room slowed down. When he woke up and yelled at the helmsman at the top of his lungs to turn the steering wheel, the torpedo at a speed of forty knots was hitting him.
Under the waterline in the middle of the ship, the explosive power of 170 kilograms of antimony instantly tore a large hole more than 20 meters long under the waterline, and seawater began to pour in crazily.
At the same time, the other two Swordfish also dropped torpedoes at it. Although one was blocked by a destroyer that sacrificed its life to protect the master, the remaining one almost hit the same position as the first one. The water
The explosion at a depth of four meters turned the seawater into the most terrifying weapon. The impact of water pressure easily nearly doubled the size of the crack, and the Ireland began to sink in a very short time.
Of course, it was not the most unlucky. The most unlucky thing was a British light cruiser. This cruiser, which was protecting the battleship Africa, was thrown directly from the sea by the force of a torpedo explosion, and then the hole formed by the explosion below was destroyed.
It fell down after being filled with sea water. The front and rear ends were supported by the buoyancy of the sea water, but the middle part was suspended. The weight of thousands of tons became the deadliest killer at this time. The warship, which was more than 100 meters long, broke instantly.
With the addition of these torpedo attack aircraft, this sea-air battle has entered a climax. Overhead are dive bombers dropping bombs or strafing, and on the sea are torpedo planes attacking at low altitudes. Under the sound of anti-aircraft gunfire and the screams of Allied sailors,
Amidst the sound, the harsh roar of falling bombs and the huge explosion of torpedoes kept ringing. One battleship after another slowly sank with flames, and columns of smoke rose into the sky under the sun.
"Marshal, should we consider retreating?" Betty said. The fire on the Britannia has been controlled, but it has lost one-third of its speed, and two main guns cannot be used. It should be said that this is extremely lucky.
, otherwise this flagship should become a torch like the Guba.
"Retreat? Can we outrun these 200-knot bombers?" Fisher said with a wry smile.
"But if we don't retreat, once their main fleet is encircled, we will have no hope. The fleet cannot fight in this state. It will be night in four hours. Their bombers cannot attack at night. We
You have one night to escape," Betty said.
Fisher was shocked. He was so preoccupied with these bombers that he forgot that there was a battle fleet nearby that was not inferior to him in strength. Moreover, at this time, the Guba and Ireland were completely hopeless, and the Africa was hit.
Six torpedoes were directly blown into torches, and the remaining nine battleships were all injured. There was no hope for a decisive battle between the battleships. What's more, these planes would fly over again to bomb after they went back to refuel and reload. Then they would face the sky and the sea.
Attacking at the same time, his fleet, which carries all the hopes of the Allied Powers, may have only one way to be completely annihilated.
"Retreat, retreat immediately!" He ordered without hesitation.
At this time, the air raid was almost coming to an end. After all, those Eagle fighter-bombers could only carry a 250-kilogram bomb at most, which was a huge gap from the large dive bombers during World War II, not to mention the Swordfish.
But their air attack alone caused the complete destruction of three battleships of the Allied Allied Forces. The Ireland was almost sunk. The sailors on the Guba and Africa had already begun to abandon the ship. There was also a heavy ship.
Cruisers and four light cruisers were sunk, and even more were injured. However, their own losses were only ten carrier-based aircraft, which can be said to be minimal.
Just as the combined fleet turned and prepared to escape below, the carrier-based aircraft groups in the sky also began to return one after another. They needed to go back to refuel and reload before conducting a second round of air strikes.
Fisher abandoned all the warships that had no hope, and then led his fleet to turn around and head northeast. Of course, it was not to return to Port Heroes. There was no point in going back there. He could only sit back and wait for death. His goal was to return directly to the British mainland.
But unfortunately, at the same time, Yang Yonglin also got the news of his escape. The fleet, which was sailing at full speed, turned around again. The two Hongwu-class battlecruisers left the slower battleship fleet and increased their speed to the limit of thirty-five knots.
Cutting to the Combined Fleet, at the same time, the four Hongwu-class battle cruisers responsible for escorting the aircraft carrier formation also left the similarly slower aircraft carriers and rushed towards the Combined Fleet.
The second ship Dingzhen, escorted by a group of cruisers and destroyers, began to recover the carrier-based aircraft, and at the same time refueled and loaded them. As for the loss, it was easy to replenish them with spare ones. The Eagle and Swordfish each had twenty
In addition, the original Essex-class Dingyuan-class aircraft carrier can even carry more than a hundred of the large carrier-based aircraft from World War II, not to mention these Eagles and Swordfish. This is why Emperor Yang did not equip them.
Because of the larger aircraft, what he needs most now is quantity.
Just when the carrier-based aircraft took off again from Dingzhen, Yang Yonglin had already caught up with Fisher's fleet. The densely packed light spots on the radar screen of the Momotari, the flagship of the American Task Force, were racing at a high speed of 35 knots.
The closer it gets, according to calculations it is almost entering the 30-kilometer range of the 280 main gun.
"Prepare to fire, aim at the largest ship!" As his order was issued, various parameters obtained by the radar began to be input into the ballistic computer of the firing director, and then the calculated data was transmitted to each turret in the form of electric current.
The turret rotated and the gun barrels were raised. The eighteen barrels of the six triple 280 main guns of the Momotari and its sister ship Chang'an were all pointed at Fisher's flagship Britannia. (Unfinished)
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