After a brief discussion with the leader of the dive bomber formation, the captain of the "Swordfish" torpedo squadron directed the remaining torpedo planes to regroup outside the middle air defense circle of the Frankfurt, and then turned the nose and rushed towards the Frankfurt again.

Twelve dive bombers also flew 1,500 meters above the Frankfurt at the same time to make final preparations.

"For the king, for the glory of the Royal Navy!" Seeing that the torpedo formation was about to enter the range of the German small-caliber anti-aircraft guns, the captain of the bomber formation understood that it was time for him to attack.

At the command of the captain, 12 dive bombers formed a formation, and the latter one carried out a dive with its tail biting.

The sailors on the Frankfurt had long noticed this group of "vultures" that had been circling for a long time, and at the beginning of the attack of the British formation, they turned their guns and covered the offensive line of the British formation with heavy fire.

In the face of the concentrated fire of the anti-aircraft guns on the German warships, the three British bombers rushing to the front were smashed to pieces in a few seconds, and the pilots inside did not even have a chance to parachute.

However, at the dive bomber's airspeed of up to 500 kilometers per hour, the short distance of 1,000 meters only takes seven seconds.

Seven seconds later, seven of the 12 dive bombers reached the ideal altitude of about 500 meters unharmed, dropping seven 1,000-pound bombs representing destruction.

Seven 1,000-pound high-explosive bombs struck the Frankfurt with a sharp whistle.

As the fleet with the largest number of aircraft carriers today, the High Seas Fleet naturally knows the methods of attack on aircraft carriers and carrier-based aircraft, and how to deal with attacks by naval aviation.

The Frankfurt was no exception, and it began to maneuver erratically as soon as the British bomber formation entered the dive, in the words of Commander Becker, "I don't know where the Frankfurt is going to turn in the next second." ”

The British "Barracuda" torpedo bombers that dropped aerial bombs were not designed to carry out dive bombing missions, and it was enough to embarrass them by letting them carry out dive bombing missions, but now, coupled with the Frankfurt's miraculous evasive maneuvers, it directly caused four of the seven aerial bombs to splash the Frankfurt with water, and only two of them made close misses and one achieved a direct hit.

However, the Frankfurt was a heavy cruiser after all, and the 1,000-pound bombs dropped by the British could threaten aircraft carriers and even battleships!

The bomb hit the Frankfurt's firing No. 2 turret, and the huge explosion instantly engulfed the entire amidships, and all the glass on the bridge was shattered by the powerful shock wave in an instant, killing and injuring many officers in all directions.

Becker's constant standing by the porthole, coupled with the fact that he squatted down and hid behind the wall at the moment of the explosion, allowed him to avoid most of the glass shards, except for a dozen or so shards on his back.

He shook his blown head, staggered to his feet, and looked around the chaotic bridge.

The officers in the bridge were wounded, but except for a few unlucky ones who were hit in the head by fragments and other fatal parts, few were killed directly.

"Check the extent of the damage to the hull." Becker struggled to stabilize his body and ordered the second officer, who was covered in blood not far from his face.

"Yes!" The second officer saluted with trembling hands, wiped the blood from his face, and then swayed out of the bridge.

It didn't take long for a group of medics with red crosses on white backgrounds on their arms to run in, bandage the wounds of the wounded, and carry the dead off the bridge.

Soon, the second officer returned to the bridge.

"Captain, the situation is a little bad, those two near-misses tore a hole on the port side that is three meters long and 0.5 meters wide and a fifty meter long and 1.5 meters wide, the former one caused two compartments to leak, and the No. 2 fuel tank is also in that position, and now a large amount of seawater is pouring into the No. 2 oil depot through the fuel tank."

"It's easy to plug the oil tank if it's damaged, right? Just close the valve. ”

"Unfortunately, closing the valve doesn't work, because the latter one is on the No. 2 oil depot." The second officer shrugged his shoulders, "Now the second oil depot is almost full. ”

"Phew......" Becker exhaled, trying to stabilize his mood and not wanting to punch the second mate so much, "Forget it, the second oil depot will be filled when it is full, anyway, we emptied the oil there when we sailed, and now ...... Let's think we're sailing with a full tank of fuel. What about on deck? How much damage did that bomb do? ”

The second mate glanced at the No. 2 turret, which was burning with fire at the moment.

"Obviously, the second turret is scrapped...... But thank God, the British used not an armor-piercing or semi-armor-piercing bomb, but a high-explosive bomb, and the fire door of our main ammunition depot also worked, so the 1,000-pound bomb did not detonate the ammunition in the main ammunition depot, otherwise the Frankfurt would have been halved......" said the second officer, "but if it burns like this, sooner or later the ammunition depot will be detonated......"

"Then fill the main ammunition depot with water." Becker said.

"But there are soldiers down there, the explosion shattered the other exits below, trapping a dozen soldiers in the ammunition depot inside, and the damage management said it would take at least half an hour for them to break through those doors......"

"Do you think we can wait another half an hour?" Becker pointed to the blazing No. 2 turret, "If it continues to burn like this, it won't take ten minutes for the ammunition depot of the No. 2 turret to blow the entire ship in half!" ”

"Captain! Starboard torpedo! As the two men were arguing, one of the officers in charge of liaison with the post shouted.

The faces of the two changed, and they hurriedly ran to the starboard covered bridge and looked at the sea.

At this time, 6 "Swordfish" also happened to fly arrogantly over the Frankfurt, as if mocking them.

While the Frankfurt was busy managing damage and determining damage, the "Swordfish" successfully stuck to an extremely close distance of one kilometer and dropped six aerial torpedoes.

"Damn! Right full rudder! Cut inside to circumvent the torpedo! Becker sprinted into the bridge and shouted to the helmsman.

The second officer also had a tacit understanding and ran in, picked up the radio microphone in the ship and shouted: "Starboard torpedo!" Everyone grabs the fixation next to them and prepares for the collision! ”

Britain threw an MK8 533mm torpedo with a speed of 45.5 knots, and a kilometer of travel took about 43 seconds.

Originally, a 45.5-knot torpedo was difficult for the Frankfurt to pose a threat, because 43 seconds was enough for the Frankfurt to make a turn, but because the Frankfurt had just eaten two near-lost bombs, the hull was flooded, which greatly slowed down its turn.

"Bang! Boom! With two loud noises and two splashes of water tens of meters high, two torpedoes slammed into the port side of the Frankfurt, and the 340KG of TNT explosives in the torpedo department mercilessly tore the chrysanthemums of the Frankfurt to pieces!