In the crucial 10 minutes, the "Ark Royal" urgently dispatched eight "Sea Fire" fighters.

Also during these 10 minutes, the commander of the aviation operations of the Lu Xinhai Fleet made a fatal mistake.

At that time, the four "Sea Fire" fighters patrolling in the air did not return to cover the "Ark Royal," but were sent to intercept the bombers attacking the "Prince of Wales" and the "Prestige," and to be precise, to intercept the bombers that were flying toward the "Ark Royal."

Judging from the information disclosed later, before the bombing, the captain of the "Prince of Wales" made a judgment that there were still several bombers that did not drop bombs and were flying in the direction of the "Ark Royal", so he asked air defense fighters to intercept those bombers.

Actually, there is nothing wrong with this judgment.

Of the first 12 bombers to arrive, it was true that four did not drop bombs.

But the problem is that these four bombers carried out reconnaissance and guidance missions and did not carry bombs.

As a result, 4 of the most valuable fighters were sent to intercept 4 bombers that were not a threat!

At that time, only the four "Sea Fire" fighters that had already taken off were able to arrive in time, and the fighters that took off urgently did not have time to complete the climb.

At about 3:45, 12 long-range bombers of the second formation were killed.

Because the bombers that came out had already been intercepted, all 12 bombers were targeted and did not waste time on the search.

Once again, luck played a crucial role.

Five minutes earlier, the Ark Royal had been hiding beneath a cumulonimbus cloud, suffering from torrential rain.

As a result, when the Euman bombers arrived, the cumulonimbus clouds dissipated!

As in the first formation, only 8 bombers carried bombs, while the other 4 carried out forward-guided search missions.

Before the attack, the four bombers were already diving.

For the same reason, the eight "Sea Fires" that were urgently lifted into the air were climbing, and the eight bombers on bombing missions needed time to aim and drop bombs.

After dropping the bomb, you also need to remotely control the bomb to fly to the target.

In just 5 minutes, 8 bombers dropped bombs in turn.

Only this time, the air defense fighters did not waste time.

It is these few minutes that determine life and death.

In fact, as early as a few months ago, the Manman Air Force used radio-controlled bombs on the battlefield of Lu Xinhai, and achieved good results, sinking several cruisers of the Royal Navy of Bran, and once almost finished the "George V", which was carrying out an artillery mission near Malta.

After a few encounters, Bran's army also discovered that the bombers needed to remain over the battlefield after dropping bombs and until they hit.

The point is that as long as the bomber is interfered with, the bomb will most likely deviate from the target.

It was precisely in this way that the 8 "Sea Fires" that were urgently lifted into the air did not deal with the 4 bombers that were coming on, and to be precise, 6 of them continued to climb to the high altitude.

These 6 "Sea Fires" saved the "Ark Royal".

In the critical few minutes, five bombers evaded because of the attack and failed to complete the guidance work.

In addition, one of the bombers had broken guidance equipment and failed to complete it.

In the end, only 2 bombers completed the guidance, and of the 6 bombs dropped, 3 hit, and only 2 exploded.

To say that the "Ark Royal" did not sink, it is related to a low-level mistake made by the Manman Air Force.

One of the two bombs turned out to be a high-explosive bomb that exploded before it could penetrate the flight deck. Sideways shrapnel swept across the flight deck, killing hundreds of aviation crews and anti-aircraft gunners, without causing serious damage to the main structure of the aircraft carrier.

If it was an armor-piercing shell, the "Ark Royal" would probably have been blown up and sunk.

At this point, this fierce sea and air battle came to an end.

In fact, the Manman Air Force sent a total of three bomber formations, one of which flew in the wrong direction, and when it received the news and turned to arrive, the weather changed again, and all the warships of the Lu Xinhai Fleet hid under the clouds and did not have a chance to attack.

In addition, the 12 bombers had little fuel left, and after a round of searching, they returned.

If these 12 bombers catch the opportunity, the "Ark Royal" will not be able to escape either.

From this point of view, luck is not all on the side of the Manman Air Force.

In addition to the three bomber squadrons tasked with the attack mission, the Manman Air Force also sent four two-plane formations to search for the Lu Xinhai Fleet in front of the group.

In fact, it was discovered that the Lu Xinhai Fleet summoned a group of planes to attack a two-plane formation.

This is a common tactic used by the Riman Air Force to attack the Bran fleet on the side of Lu Xinhai.

If I want to say anything, this just reflects the embarrassment and helplessness of the Manman Air Force.

If there is a front-line airfield that can be used, even if it is a field airfield, and tactical aviation can be deployed in advance, do you still need to use bombers to carry out reconnaissance missions?

Even if the bomber has a longer range, it is not as efficient in carrying out reconnaissance missions as a tactical aircraft.

In this battle, the Manman Air Force dispatched more than 40 bombers, and without the cover of fighters, at a slight cost of losing 14 bombers, completed the killing of the "Prince of Wales" and "Prestige", and also paralyzed the last fleet aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy in Buran in one fell swoop.

In addition, 3 Sea Fire fighters were shot down.

It's just that the combat efficiency is absolutely unsurpassed in a big war.

Of course, it was not the bombers of the Terman Air Force that were powerful, but the radio-controlled bombs.

To be precise, it's actually a guided missile.

According to the information disclosed later, the bombs used by the Manman Air Force in this battle were equipped with rocket-booster engines, and the range was increased to 15 kilometers.

This distance, which exceeds the effective range of almost all anti-aircraft guns, can ensure the safety of bombers to the greatest extent.

Here's the problem, though.

Such a long bomb throwing distance has extremely high requirements for pilots, and it also increases the difficulty of remote control guidance.

The bombers on the attack mission all dropped bombs from a distance of more than 10 kilometers, and the weather was very bad.

The crew members of the returning bombers all saw the bombs hitting the enemy ship and the smoke clouds produced by the bombs exploding on the enemy ships, but they were so far away and their vision was quickly obscured by the clouds that they could not make an accurate judgment on the bombing results.

By the time the Manman Air Force dispatched a reconnaissance plane, it was already dark.

As a result, after the battle, the Manman Air Force only knew that it had hit 3 capital ships, and there was no way to be sure whether it had sunk these 3 ships.

At the time of the propaganda, it must have sunk the 3 Bran battleships in one bite.

It's just that from the war to the present, everyone knows that propaganda has moisture.

Propaganda is just propaganda, and the military will definitely not believe that.

It is precisely because of this that the Empire has not informed the Liang Xia Empire of this combat operation.

It was only today, after the Ark Royal returned to Telok Fortress and a large number of wounded were transferred to shore that the Ghman intelligence agencies received accurate information.

2 capital ships have been sunk, and the "Ark Royal" has also been heavily damaged and has lost its combat capability.

After the news was confirmed, the air force generals who came to the banquet told Bai Zhizhan.