After driving away the British fighters, the bombers visited the port of Alexandria again, accompanied by the fighters.
I saw dense firepower in the port. British officers and soldiers operated various anti-aircraft weapons and kept firing at the incoming Romanian aircraft.
Faced with the anti-aircraft firepower at the port and on the warships, Lieutenant Colonel Elsted, who led the team this time, clearly felt that the firepower had not improved much.
I saw him immediately giving the order. "The first dive squadron began to attack the ground. The second dive squadron started to attack the shipyard. The third dive squadron attacked Malaya. The fourth and fifth squadrons were on guard.
.”
As his words fell, the RU18T dive bombers immediately flew in several waves towards their respective targets.
And he did not stop and continued to command. "The first squadron of HF201 fighter jets immediately harassed the ground air defense. The first and second squadrons of H57 torpedo planes were waiting for the opportunity to find their targets."
As a result, several more planes separated from the team.
In the face of several incoming Romanian aircraft formations, the anti-aircraft firepower at the port became even more intense. There were even British soldiers chasing the incoming aircraft with Lewis and cloth machine guns.
Cunningham and Hawkins, who were watching the battle somewhere in the port, felt their hearts skip a beat when they saw a formation of bombers leaving.
"No, I'm going to blow up the shipyard."
This is what Hawkins couldn't help but shout out. There is a naval shipyard in Alexandria, which mainly provides repair and maintenance work for warships. But looking at the direction it is heading to, it is obvious that it is going straight to the naval shipyard.
Sure enough, two minutes later, the sound of anti-aircraft fire from the naval shipyard was loud, but several violent explosions could still be heard. When you heard it, you knew it was the explosion of a 500KG bomb.
After a while, the phone rang, and the officer on the side picked up the phone.
"Here's... okay... um... got it."
The officer who put down the phone came to Cunningham to report, "Your Excellency, Commander, we just received a call from the Navy Shipyard. The shipyard was attacked and suffered heavy losses. The specific losses cannot be estimated. However, according to preliminary estimates, the shipyard wants to repair large-scale
For warships, it will take at least 5 months.”
"Okay, got it."
After sending the officer away, Cunningham still paid close attention to the situation in the port.
But the officer's report made Hawkins unable to sit still. "This cannot continue. We must find a way."
Facing Hawkins' words, Cunningham replied without looking back. "No matter what you do, all the losses you have suffered so far are not as important as saving these warships."
That's right, Cunningham concentrated most of his anti-aircraft firepower on the port just to protect these battleships.
At this moment, two dive bombers trying to break through were hit by anti-aircraft fire and turned into two fireballs in the air.
This caused Cunningham to cheer repeatedly, "Well done, that's how boys should play."
However, this may have angered the air attack fleet. The Romanian incoming aircraft fleet was seen, and the warships that were not in charge of the port began to target the surrounding air defense facilities.
"boom!"
A temporary anti-aircraft firepower point surrounded by sandbags was hit by a 60KG aerial bomb. The soldier operating the 20mm anti-aircraft gun was engulfed by the explosion before he even had time to scream. The 20mm anti-aircraft gun he operated,
It was thrown high into the air by the shock wave of the explosion and fell heavily to the ground. However, it could be seen from the barrel that was broken into several sections that the anti-aircraft gun was completely scrapped.
Such battles were staged everywhere in Alexandria. However, the dive bombers were the best at this. They were experts at dealing with these fixed firepower points.
As one of the few 4.5-inch anti-aircraft gun positions in Alexandria, Air Defense Position No. 3 is a rare steel-rod-earth structure air defense tower. The installation of four 4.5-inch anti-aircraft guns on it is very important to defend Alexandria. During the last air raid,
Two 4.5-inch anti-aircraft guns were destroyed.
This time, there was another air raid in Romania. The gunners of the remaining two 4.5-inch anti-aircraft guns kept spraying artillery fire with the idea of revenge for their colleagues.
Its violent counterattack naturally attracted the attention of the air raid group. Two dive bombers climbed to high altitude and began to dive attack it.
The shrieking siren sounded from far away to near, but the No. 3 air defense battlefield was still holding on.
At this time, there was a loud "boom", and a dive bomber was blown up in the air. The huge fireball told others about the achievements of the No. 3 air defense tower, but behind the fireball, another dive bomber drilled
After coming out and descending to the dangerous warning line of 800 meters, he dropped the 1,000KG bomb.
The huge bombs carried the acceleration brought by the dive bombers and slid straight through the roof of the tower that could withstand 500-pound bombs.
"Boom~"
With a huge explosion, the air defense tower turned into a puff of dust. Donilke, who was the dive bomber, waved his hand vigorously to express his excitement that the air defense tower that killed his comrades was destroyed.
.
After gradually destroying the surrounding firepower, the remaining bombers began to attack the port warships.
This time the bombing changed the strategy. Although the small warships that had always been annoying became the target, the light cruiser became the focus, and the 10,000-ton light cruiser Edinburgh became a thorn in the side of the air raid group.
This light cruiser has powerful anti-aircraft firepower. In addition to 12 152-caliber main guns, it also has 12 4-inch (101.6 mm) caliber anti-aircraft guns, 16 QF 2-pound (40 mm caliber) bomb guns, and 8
12.7 mm caliber anti-aircraft machine gun.
In the previous air raid, it caused great interference to the aircraft fleet, but now they plan to attack this stupid warship first.
I saw four dive bombers, one on the left and one on the right, attacking it. The 1,000 kilogram bomb under its belly was enough to immobilize it.
It was obvious that the Edinburgh also knew this. Its anti-aircraft guns fired even more fiercely, its speed increased, and it performed various maneuvers in the narrow harbor.
"Boom~"
A dive bomber was hit, giving the officers and soldiers on board the Edinburgh a boost of confidence.
However, the remaining three dive bombers were never hit again. They reached the predetermined altitude and dropped the bombs on their belly.
Facing the bombs falling from the sky, the captain of the Edinburgh even operated the rudder himself in an attempt to avoid the incoming bombs.
"boom!"
A bomb fell into the sea nearby, and the explosion caused ripples in the water and rocked the Edinburgh.
"boom!"
The second bomb was not so lucky. It fell on the No. 2 turret. The weak top armor could not stop it from penetrating. The explosion exploded in the turret and blew it away at the same time. The scattered fragments caused a large number of casualties.
, reducing the anti-aircraft firepower by half.
"boom!"
The third bomb did not fall on the ship, but fell into the sea along the stern of the ship. The explosion caused by it accidentally blew up the rudder of the ship.
This caused the Edinburgh to completely lose control, and it crashed into the destroyer Dujuan, which was unable to dodge. This warship, which was only a thousand tons, was no match for a ten thousand-ton light cruiser, and was directly hit and sunk.
The Edinburgh was also hit to the right at the same time, and on his right was the Warspite. Seeing the Edinburgh heading straight for him, the Warspite was frightened and could only quickly get out of the way. Such a move made the Warspite
Warspite widened the distance between it and the other two battleships, and at the same time allowed the attack fleet to see an opportunity.
I saw the impatient H57 torpedo machine that had been waiting for a long time and immediately pounced on it. Its target was obviously Warspite, which had been temporarily isolated.
When the Warspite saw the incoming torpedo machine, it naturally did not dare to neglect it. In addition to maximizing its anti-aircraft firepower, it also began to prepare for the torpedo attack.
Warspite was seen heading directly towards the southwest corner, where the Malaya had been bombarded in turn. However, the Malaya relied on the advantage of being grounded and was not afraid at all, and fought the incoming fighters vigorously.
It was obvious that Warspite's thoughts were known to the incoming aircraft. The H57 torpedo plane lowered its altitude and rushed towards it despite the air defense attack. It arrived at the launch area and dropped the torpedo on the belly of the aircraft.
Nearly a dozen torpedoes rushed straight towards Warspite. This caused Warspite to immediately turn the rudder to the left, Kankan avoided the most dangerous three torpedoes on the left, and then began to turn the rudder to the right to avoid the ones coming from the right.
of torpedoes.
However, more than a dozen torpedoes came from all directions, which made it impossible for the Warspite to completely avoid it. Only two torpedoes were hit amidships. Seawater poured into the cabin crazily, making the Warspite even slower.
And this naturally led to a larger wave of torpedo plane attacks.
Nearly twenty torpedo planes were dispatched together to launch a siege on Warspite. After being hit by 7 torpedoes, Warspite could no longer hold on. The sinking of Warspite also let the other two battleships know that they would survive here.
, directly after each suffered the cost of a torpedo, they ran aground to the shore. As for the Nelson, after the air attack group fired two torpedoes on it to confirm that it had rolled over, they left it alone.
This attack caused the Mediterranean Fleet to lose two battleships again. However, unknown to the attacking fleet, there was a dispute between the fleet commander, Vice Admiral Midrafael, and the chief of staff.
