Ps: Today's training will not end until 11 o'clock in the evening, and it will be so late tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, so it is estimated that there will only be one shift in the past few days, sorry...... Wait until next time you have time to catch up.

"We have enemy aircraft carriers around us, but damn why didn't the reconnaissance planes send back a report?" Rear Admiral Lewis waved his fist angrily as he ordered all the Swordfish attack planes on the carrier to take off - and he was ready to attack as soon as the enemy fleet was found. There was a vague fear in his heart that the attack of the He-218 was only the beginning, and that a large-scale attack of the storm would soon come.

After 20 minutes, his fears became a reality, and six more He-218s gathered together one after another and began to attack the fleet. These He-218s, all tasked with searching the nearby sector, quickly gathered together after receiving a report from the mothership about the enemy situation, and despite the absence of any fighter escort, they still bravely attacked the British fleet.

After sinking a warship, the W fleet woke up like a dream, the anti-aircraft fire immediately became tighter, and the fighters also increased the alert range, but in the eyes of He-218, such a defense system was far from enough, and the speed of the more than 20 European swallows was too slow. Relying on the tacit understanding cultivated in peacetime training, the six He-218s immediately formed two three-plane attack formations and dived down against the escort aircraft carriers -- from the first day they became the HNA -- they were repeatedly stressed that unless there were special occasions, the first target of any dive bomber would always be the enemy aircraft carrier.

In the rapid and ferocious attack of the German army, the other two 10,000-ton escort aircraft carriers that had been releasing Swordfish attack aircraft, the Avenger and the Deception, each ate a bomb, the former was detonated and the fuel depot sank on the spot, although the latter was barely floating on the sea, but like a patient who had been disemboweled, and had no time to stitch up, it was blown into a mess from the deck to the bottom warehouse, completely losing the ability to take off and land aircraft, and the speed dropped to only 9 knots. Only 11 Swordfish took off from the two warships, and the rest of the planes either sank with the warships or were reduced to pieces.

The European Swallows finally achieved a result this time, but the remaining five He-218s still slipped away with speed.

It was only at this time that Lewis received a report from the reconnaissance planes that had spotted the enemy aircraft carrier fleet, and three minutes later the report was confirmed by the Sunderland maritime reconnaissance planes taking off from the Faroe Islands, and although the two planes were quickly sunk by the German escort battleships, the position of the German fleet was unmistakably told to the British - about 400 kilometers east of the W fleet and about 480 kilometers from the Faroe Islands. But in the face of this distance, Lewis could only smile bitterly: it was 4:17 now, and it would take nearly 2 hours for the slow Swordfish attack aircraft to fly over even after finding the target, and it would be completely dark by then, although the Swordfish had carried out night attacks in the Battle of Taranto, but that was the most elite British carrier-based aircraft pilots, and now the pilots on these escort aircraft carriers obviously do not have this level.

But this concern lasted only half a minute, interrupted by the sound of Major Johansson, who was the commander of the attack team in the air, reporting on the intercom

"Sir, we must attack immediately, this is our only chance today."

"But it's going to get dark soon, and you won't be able to fly back even if you can get there."

"We can't give up, the lads are lined up." He motioned for the group of Swordfish attack planes that were gradually completing their formation in the sky, and waved his wings, "The glory of the Royal Navy does not allow us to back down. ”

"But ......"

"Please, sir! Even if we fall into the sea, we can swim back! ”

"Once the attack is complete, fly to the Faroe Islands - that's the closest land base, and I'll have them turn on all the lights!" Almost tearfully, Lewis agreed to the brave pilots' request to make a sortie.

"Sir, don't worry, we're going to be able to blow up and sink those two damn aircraft carriers."

At 4:23, all the remaining 20 Swordfish attack planes of the fleet were concentrated and marched eastward, and Lewis was ruthless and selected 10 of the 21 European swallows escorted by the fleet to escort the formation.

However, less than 10 minutes after the Swordfish flew out, the German Ju-98 attack aircraft formation arrived, and it was worthy of colliding with the Swordfish attack planes. Seeing the large size of the enemy army, the Bf-219 and the European swallows on both sides of the escort coincidentally broke away from their own formation and attacked each other fiercely, and the result was mixed up. The Bf-219s not only had numerical and performance advantages, but also had superior pilots, and after a fierce fight, the German HNA only paid the price of one Bf-219 being shot down, shooting down 5 Euro Swallows and 9 Swordfish by the way. Facing the remaining enemy planes, Lieutenant Commander Hans sent a telegram to the mothership to alert it, and then flew towards the W fleet without hesitation.

Now there are 11 European swallows in the sky over the fleet, they are not at all the opponent of 15 Bf-219s, within 5 minutes, the Germans lost 1 more Bf-219, but all the European swallows were shot down, and now the entire W fleet is completely undefended.

Although time was tight and the remaining escort carriers were tempting, Lieutenant Colonel Hans, who was in command of the battle, was clearly not carried away by the situation, he looked at the dense escort ships near the enemy aircraft carriers, and decided to attack the left flank first, and the defense on this side was relatively weak.

The four Ju-98s immediately began to descend to drop torpedoes on the Kenya on the left flank, and although the latter wriggled its nimble body to avoid two of them, it still landed two torpedoes, after two dull explosions. The 10,000-ton cruiser immediately began to enter the water, and after less than 1 minute it slowly sank.

After the sinking of Kenya, the battleship USS Mississippi, which was originally on the inside, was exposed, and the second batch of 6 Ju-98s pounced down and threw torpedoes, although an O-class destroyer (Coincidental) tried his best to pounce on it to fill the gap, but he only blocked 1 torpedo for the flagship, and the brave destroyer was immediately sunk, and the Dedo (Dedo-class air defense cruiser) tried its best to counterattack in the air, although it shot down a Ju-98, it was also sunk by the torpedoes thrown by the attack aircraft, relying on the cover of these two warships, Coupled with the flexible operation of the engineer crew, the Mississippi, which could only reach a maximum speed of 21 knots, dodged the remaining three torpedoes, but in the end it was hit by one torpedo into the bow of the ship, and was blown open a large hole of nearly 3 meters, and more than 1,500 tons of seawater poured into it frantically. Although the ship's crew closed the watertight compartment in time, the entire hull inevitably tilted by 9 degrees, and the speed also dropped to only 17 knots. (To be continued.) )