"Oh God!" A captain of the Royal Navy's First Fleet opened his mouth wide as he looked at the whizzing swarm of warplanes on the opposite side, unaware that the pipe in his mouth had fallen to the ground.

"That's ...... German fighters? An anti-aircraft gun shooter on the battleship Hu Dehao looked blankly at the transparent group of German fighters that was getting closer and closer, and muttered to his companion beside him.

The companion didn't speak, he just looked at the German fighter planes that dominated the skies and was dazed. The dense black dots have become bigger and bigger, clearer and clearer, and more and more terrifying.

The battleship Hood, to be precise, the battlecruiser Hood, made a special trip to summarize the experience of that battle after the Battle of Jutland, increased the main armor belt on the side from 8 inches to 12 inches, strengthened the protection of the critical parts of the sideboard, improved the fire protection facilities of the ammunition depot, and increased the total weight of armor from the original design of 10,100 tons to 13,550 tons, and increased the weight of the hull structure.

In addition, the battleship Hood also installed protruding anti-torpedo bulging compartments below the waterline on both sides of the hull to protect the ammunition magazine and power compartment, improving the ability to defend against torpedoes and providing additional buoyancy.

It can be said that the Hood has taken into account all dangerous situations on the surface and under the water, and has made corresponding protection. But the only thing is that it does not take into account the crisis from the sky.

The Hood's greatest weakness comes from its weak top armor. Among the German carrier-based bombers, the Stuka bombers equipped with them happened to be the "precision aerial cannons" that were specially designed to restrain the battleships. The so-called fear of what comes, is nothing more than the current situation.

Seven or eight F-190 fighters with small bombs had already swept over the head of the First Squadron of the Royal Navy's Home Fleet, dropping the explosives that had been tried for the first time.

As soon as the sturdy fighters swept past the stern of the Hood, another group of Stuka bombers descended vertically from above like falcons, dropping more weighty bombs straight onto the Hood's thin top armor.

It has to be said that Stuka is really a smart decision as an aircraft carrier carrier for bombing missions.

Compared with the traditional large "horizontal bomber", a small "dive bomber" such as the Stuka has obvious advantages in attack accuracy and cost.

On the one hand, the dive bombing method can use the dive to reduce or eliminate the forward inertia of the dropped bomb, so as to effectively improve the hit rate of the bomb. If the pilot is good enough, one or two bombs can cause very good results, especially when attacking warships, when the bombers on the British aircraft carriers do not have high-precision sights, and the large and medium-sized horizontal bombers have to carry out horizontal bombing at a higher altitude, and the hit rate is naturally very low, but the Stuka on the German aircraft carriers can bomb the British warships with exceptional accuracy.

The cost of building and developing those large aircraft was very high, which was not suitable for the needs of German aircraft carriers, and it was a pity that they were destroyed. It is quite a cost-effective small bomber Stuka, both because of its small size and weight. The "Zeppelin-class" aircraft carriers have expanded the number of carrier-based aircraft, and for Germany's aircraft carrier tactics, they have found a relatively cheap but usable carrier-based aircraft, which can be described as killing two birds with one stone.

Airplanes are not good, which is also a small reason why the British do not look at aircraft carrier tactics.

After all, most of their carrier-based aircraft are "Swordfish" biplane torpedo planes, which are backward in performance, slow in flight, and have a small bomb load, and their crosshairs are not on the same level as the German Stuka bombers.

The junk of carrier-based aircraft further weakened the power of aircraft carrier tactics by British naval commanders.

And at this moment, when every battleship of the British First Squadron was filled with this flying German warplane, they finally re-realized the significance of aircraft carrier tactics.

"Fire! Fire! The British captains, who reacted, frantically ordered the anti-aircraft guns to launch a counterattack.

The anti-aircraft guns of the battleships spewed tongues of fire one after another, firing into the sky as best they could, trying to regain a little initiative.

Unfortunately, it's just a pointless struggle.

As the German fighters approached again and again, they dived, locked, and fired. The losses of each British battleship were rapidly accumulating.

"Boom!" A bomb hit the port side of the battleship Hood, but fortunately the bomb exploded when it fell into the sea and did not cause serious damage.

But the other warships were not so lucky. The two main battleships, "Nelson" and "Rodney", were suddenly blown into a sea of fire because they were besieged by dozens of Gastuka, and began to sink slowly in the thick black smoke.

In the distance, many destroyers were even blown up by Stuka's impactful large special explosives, and they instantly lost their combat effectiveness.

Farther away, the other warships, which had remained mobile for the time being, began to retreat anxiously under the orders of Sir Forbes.

The entire formation of the British First Squadron had been torn apart and disrupted. The remaining battleships, which still had not yet blown up their anti-aircraft guns, were desperately moving westward, trying to take the opportunity to separate the bombing circle of the German fighters and regain their position.

Of course, with this little ship-based anti-aircraft guns and the average speed of the fleet of more than 20 knots, it is absolutely impossible to escape all the way from the pursuit of German fighters.

Their only hope was to withstand this wave of German fighter attacks, to gain five to ten minutes of repair time for the First Fleet, to calm the gap between the German fighters returning and to move further west.

Over there, the Second Squadron under General Cunningham's command had already taken off a large number of warplanes from the aircraft carrier, and was hurrying here to meet the First Squadron.

As long as you can hold out until the arrival of your own fighters, everything will still have a chance to turn around. Perhaps, the first squadron will exchange huge warship losses for German fighter losses, and it can also create an opportunity for your own fighter group to defeat the German fighter group!

Once the British fleet defeated the German one, the next moment would be the time for the Royal Navy to counterattack the German High Seas Fleet.

At this moment, the battle loss rate of the British First Squadron has exceeded 30 percent. Of the 6 battleships, 3 are already almost scrapped. And the battered and crumbling battleship Hood seems to be about to become the fourth battleship to lose its combat effectiveness. Because of the focus on the battleships of the British First Detachment, they were "taken care of" by a large number of Stuka.

Of course, the situation of cruisers and destroyers is not much better, and it is also a posture of a ghost crying wolf.

In the face of the near-crushing German offensive, few men were strong enough to face death without changing their countenance. In the same way, it is difficult for those British captains to indifferently watch their beloved warships and soldiers being slaughtered without choosing to evade and retreat.

The honor of the Royal Navy seems to be less important at this moment. This revenge battle at sea in order to avenge Narvik's revenge is not a good opportunity for the Royal Navy to be imagined.

Leaving behind lives and warships may be able to play an even greater role in the future, and preserve every bit of extraordinarily precious power for this country.

And choose to bet everything under this almost one-sided situation, even if you win a crushing victory, you may be sent to a military court!

Leave, leave now! Go to the British Second Fleet and join up with the carrier-based aircraft of the British Empire!

At this moment, the British First Squadron did not have the same pride as at the beginning of the battle, but only an instinctive sense of crisis and escape......