The Battle of Jutland · Carrier Aircraft Attack

Following Bastian's order for the fleet's air defense, the remaining 13 German heavy cruisers raised their anti-aircraft gun barrels, pointing to the direction of the British carrier aircraft.

Merkel skillfully maneuvered a twin-mounted 40mm anti-aircraft gun, aimed the barrel in the direction of the British carrier group, and then said to Hans beside him: "Hey, man, after training for so long, this time finally To be honest, I'm a little nervous."

"Me too," Hans replied to Merkel as he skillfully pushed the 40mm shell into the anti-aircraft gun magazine, "but this time we have to be thankful that we finally left the damn Helgoland battleship, Otherwise, we might really die here this time with the stupid 37mm anti-aircraft gun on the Helgoland."

"Huh, yes." Merkel breathed a sigh of relief, tried to calm down her mood, and said, "It's funny to think that we used to sweat on the 37mm anti-aircraft gun, haha, the rate of fire of that anti-aircraft gun. It all depends on how fast your hands are!"

"Thank you to Rheinmetall, they designed this 40mm automatic gun." Hans thought about how he used to carry a bag full of shells and tried to reload shells, and smiled, "Although we used to use the 40mm automatic gun. The stupid 37mm gun was also designed by them."

Just as the two of you were chatting with each other, the British carrier-based aircraft group entered the outer air defense circle of the German fleet.

The British carrier fleet consists of the "Tube Nose Swallow" fighter jets and the old-fashioned "Swordfish" torpedo attack aircraft. Although the design of these two aircraft is not a failure, but they are too outdated, especially the "Swordfish" The torpedo attack aircraft still has two wings.

And they are facing the German flak25a 128mm anti-aircraft gun (responsible for long-range air defense) + flak18 88mm anti-aircraft gun (responsible for medium-range air defense) + 40mm rapid-fire anti-aircraft gun (responsible for process air defense) + 20mm "Oerlikon" (responsible for process air defense network.

This air defense network is advanced in concept, strong in performance and flawless. It also takes into account the three layers of medium, far and near. In particular, the shell fuze used by the flak25a 128mm anti-aircraft gun is the latest vt proximity fuze developed by Germany. It will automatically detonate, greatly improving the lethality.

Therefore, when the British old-fashioned aircraft group just stepped into the range of the German air defense circle, they suffered a devastating blow. More than 20 aircraft were shot down at once, and this number is still rising.

However, the British navy is worthy of being the British navy, and its personnel are of extremely high quality.

After being stunned for a while at the beginning, they immediately readjusted their aircraft formation, with fighter jets acting as meat shields on the periphery, protecting the output core torpedo attack aircraft in the middle, and using their own sacrifices to create opportunities for the torpedo attack aircraft.

The pilots of the torpedo attack group saw that their comrades in the fighter group did not hesitate to act as human shields and sacrifice themselves in order to create conditions for themselves. The warship rushed away.

Finally, after making huge sacrifices, the British carrier fleet finally approached their respective targets and began to reduce their altitude and speed to prepare to release torpedoes.

When the German air defense soldiers saw the British plane coming over, they immediately became anxious, their adrenaline surged, and they even got a lot more accurate.

"Bah ah!" Merkel manipulated the double-mounted 40mm anti-aircraft gun in his hand, and shot down a "Swordfish" that was slowing down and dropping torpedoes, and the shells in the anti-aircraft gun magazine were also fired. Finish.

"Hans, cannonball!" Merkel shouted.

"Immediately!" Hans agreed, and quickly removed the two empty magazines that had been inserted into the anti-aircraft gun, then turned around and picked up a 20-round magazine, loaded it into a gun, and went back again. He picked up another magazine and loaded the other gun.

"Okay, man!" Hans patted Merkel on the shoulder, signaling that the shells were loaded.

Merkel nodded, pulled the gun bolt skillfully with both hands, and skillfully slipped a "Swordfish" into the aiming ring and fired.

As the German anti-aircraft gunners became more and more skilled, the densely packed British carrier-based aircraft group began to thin, but they also successfully approached the German warships.

Finally, the two "Swordfish" torpedo attack planes relied on the flesh shields of five "Tube Nose Yan" carrier-based fighters, and successfully approached a Luen-class heavy cruiser, and reduced their speed and altitude to a safe level. The extent to which torpedoes are dropped.

"Plop! Plop!" After two falling sounds, the two 533mm aerial torpedoes successfully escaped from the torpedo attack aircraft, activated the propeller, and shot towards the Luen-class heavy cruiser not far away at a speed of 65 knots.

"Warning! Warning! There is a torpedo on the left! There is a torpedo on the left!" The sailor in charge of observing the sea found two white torpedo wakes. He raised the alarm and shouted loudly.

"Left full rudder! Left full rudder! Slow down left full rudder!" The captain ran to the left porthole, stared nervously at the two white wakes that were getting closer, and commanded loudly.

"Understood! Slow down the left rudder!" The helmsman efficiently executed the captain's order, operating the huge warship to flexibly cut inwards to avoid torpedoes.

It is a pity that these two torpedoes were dropped by planes, which are very close to the warship, so although the captain gave the correct order in time, the helmsman also executed the command of the captain at the first time, so they could not escape completely. , but was hit with one shot.

"Bang!" With a loud noise, a huge splash rose on the port side of the warship. The entire warship in progress was slightly paused due to the huge thrust brought by the torpedo explosion. It exploded and shook and fell to the ground.

However, they soon struggled to get up, holding on to the things around them, and began to check the damage.

The captain also held the table with one hand and covered his head, which was bleeding from the fall and hit the corner of the table with the other, and got up from the ground.

"Situation...report...report...damages!" The captain shouted inarticulately after being hit.

The adjutant listened to the captain's order, quickly picked up the phone on the ship, and called the damage control team to confirm the situation.

After dozens of seconds, the adjutant understood the situation, hung up the phone, ran to the side of the bloody, terrifying captain, and reported: "The left side of the bow was directly hit by a torpedo, and a 6-meter-long strip was torn open. , the 1.5-meter wide opening, the seawater has filled the four cabins of the bow!"

"Damage... control, is damage control useful?" the captain asked nervously.

"The damage control team has already dealt with it there, captain." The adjutant said with an ugly face, "but even if we control the damage, we will lose most of our combat effectiveness due to the hull entering the water and leaning to the left. Captain, let's withdraw !"