Battle of Jutland Royal Oak

Opposite the huge German attack aircraft group, the British sailors remained unchanged.

In the entire British fleet, the best performers were the sailors on the battleship HMS Nelson.

The anti-aircraft firepower of the battleship Nelson consisted of six mkxxii 152mm high-level dual-purpose guns, six single-mounted mark viii 120mm high-level dual-purpose guns, six eight-mounted 41 mm "Boom" guns, and 61 20 mm "Oerlikon" guns "The cannon.

At first glance, this large number of guns seems to be very deterrent. In fact, due to the relatively slow pitching speed and horizontal rotation speed of the mkxxii high-level dual-purpose gun, and because of the use of sub-loaded ammunition, it must return to the elevation angle of 5 degrees when reloading, so The inability to shoot continuously, coupled with the problem of the ammunition chain of the "boom" gun, caused Nelson's short-range air defense to rely on the 61 20mm "Oerlikon" to support, so Nelson's pile of anti-aircraft guns were in actual combat. Far less effective than the German battleships.

Although the air defense capability of the battleship Nelson was insufficient, the sailors on the battleship Nelson, relying on accurate artillery, shot down several dive bombers with poor anti-aircraft guns, coupled with the desperate cover of the surrounding light cruisers, It was stunned that most of the incoming German dive bombers returned without success, and only 3 of the more than 30 dive bombers successfully hit the target.

The damage that these three dive bombers brought to the Nelson should not be underestimated. After all, the German dive bombers carried 1,100-pound bombs, and the explosive power was amazing.

These three 1,100-pound bombs directly reimbursed the Nelson's 1 mkxxii high-level dual-purpose gun, 3 "boom" and 17 "Oerlikon" anti-aircraft guns, which made the Nelson, which had insufficient anti-aircraft firepower, even worse.

In this round of dive bombing by the Germans, the damage to the Nelson was relatively minor. The most severely damaged battleships were the battleship HMS Vengeance and the battleship Royal Oak. The latter was hit by six 1,100-pound bombs, causing the No. 1 turret to be stuck. At 0 degrees, most of the anti-aircraft guns were destroyed, and five superstructures were on fire.

The former was hit with five 1,100-pound bombs, one of which blew up a secondary battery and detonated the ammunition piled next to the secondary battery, leaving a huge gap in the Vengeance's port deck.

The dive bomber group that had dropped the bombs raised its altitude again, and the officer in charge of commanding the dive bombers reported to the on-site commander of the operation: "Sir, the dive bomber group has completed its mission and requested to return."

"The request is approved," the commander said. "Prepare the torpedo attack fleet, target..."

Having said that, he looked at the battleship HMS Nelson whose anti-aircraft guns were still firing, sighed, and continued: "The target is adjusted, and the main targets are the battleship HMS Vengeance and the battleship Royal Oak."

"What? Sir, aren't we attacking their flagship USS Nelson?" The officer in charge of commanding the torpedo attack fleet asked in surprise after listening to the commander's words.

"No chance." The commander looked at the Nelson, which was surrounded and protected by British light cruisers, with regret, "The British light cruiser took this posture, obviously intending to use its own ship to block the attack on Nelson. The Thunder of the No. 1. Forget it, let it go this time, and kill the severely damaged Vengeance and Royal Oak first!"

"Okay." The commander of the torpedo squadron was also full of regrets. The name "Nelson" gave them a lot of pressure during the weakest period of the German Navy. This time, they managed to catch the "childhood shadow" of "Nelson". And because of the encircling protection law of the British Light Cruiser fleet, they were unable to speak, which made them very unwilling.

Following the commander's order, the torpedo attack planes that were planning to attack the Nelson turned their noses one after another and attacked the severely damaged Elizabeth and Royal Oak.

"Sir! The German torpedo squadron is coming towards us!" On the bridge of the Royal Oak, the first mate watched in horror as the German torpedo squadron that had been flying around the Nelson turned towards him, and hurried to the ship that was commanding the fire. long report.

"How many of our anti-aircraft guns can fire?" the captain asked.

"No, Captain!" the first officer replied in frustration, "It's all burned!"

After listening to the first officer's words, the captain was stunned for a while, but he quickly adjusted back to his state and said firmly: "Without the anti-aircraft guns, we will use guns! Order all the soldiers except the damage control personnel to pick up Assemble your guns on the deck, and we'll use the guns to drive the Germans back!"

"Understood!" The first mate said decisively, then returned to the bridge and transmitted the captain's order to all the soldiers through the in-ship broadcast.

Soon, the broad deck of the battleship Royal Oak was crowded with soldiers. Under the roaring firelight behind them, the captain himself took the lead and raised their rifles to the approaching Chinese-German torpedo aircraft at a low altitude close to the water.

The entire warship is commanded by the chief mate in the bridge.

"Left third of the rudder! Left third of the rudder!" The first officer looked at the German aircraft group surrounded by all directions, and tried his best to direct the warship to avoid it. Obviously, he did not intend to admit defeat easily.

Under the command of the chief officer with rich driving experience, the huge warship adjusted its course and avoided several torpedoes.

But a battleship is a battleship after all, and even if the first mate has a lot of experience, it cannot improve its poor mobility.

So after the Germans readjusted the attack position according to the Royal Oak's evasion route and dropped the second round of torpedoes, the Royal Oak was still hit.

"Bang!" An aerial torpedo slammed into the port side of the Royal Oak, and the violent explosion set off a huge splash, which swept more than a dozen soldiers on the deck into the sea.

"Sir! The underwater armor on the port side has been penetrated, and the four cabins b11-c2 are rapidly flooding!" The officer in charge of detecting the state of the warship quickly confirmed the damage and reported to the chief mate.

"Damage control! Is there a damage control team around? Let them close the watertight doors around the water inlet compartment!" The first officer asked the officer in charge of damage control with a particularly calm moment.

"Sir, there is no damage control team around, I will immediately dispatch the damage control team closest to the water entry point!"

"Bang!" Just as the Royal Oak was repairing nervously, another torpedo hit the Royal Oak, still on the port side.

"Where? Where did you get hit?" The first officer was shaken to the ground by the violent explosion, and he asked while struggling to get up.

"c7-c9!" The officer in charge of the state of the warship once again showed his high efficiency, "The water is rushing towards the D-section cabin!"

When the first officer heard the words, he immediately turned his head and asked the damage control officer, "How is it? Do you have a solution?"

"No way." The damage control officer smiled bitterly, "Sir, most of the damage control teams are on deck to fight fires. Now the damage control team at b11-c2 is the last damage control team in section b and c."