Viewed from above, the four German Navy carrier-based planes rushing towards the British flagship formed a diamond-shaped formation, with the lead plane rushing to the front, two wingmen lined up on the left and right, and one slightly behind. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

The Hubert-E3 carrier-based bomber piloted by Sergeant Major 2nd Class Janes Budke was on the right side of this diamond shape, and he held the control stick tightly with both hands to keep his plane in a 15-degree angle of dive -- a large number of training tests have shown that dive bombing has a higher hit rate than flat flight bombing, and the larger the dive angle, the easier it is to hit the target, but the dive angle of the aircraft is not controlled by the pilot at will, if the fuselage is not strong enough, the power is not strong enough, and the operation is not sensitive enough, A high-angle dive could well turn into a disaster. Because of the bloody lesson, the Hubert-E attack aircraft was limited to a dive angle of less than 10 degrees when flying at full speed, while the E3 carrier-based bomber was designed to be strengthened, coupled with a more powerful and stable engine, and successfully carried out an amazing attempt to dive at an angle of 35 degrees during flight tests, but when it came to actual combat, the pilots were told not to dive at an angle of more than 20 degrees unless it was a last resort.

Fifteen degrees on paper was only an insignificant angle, but on the battlefield, Budek really felt the big change brought about by this small angle, his plane easily avoided the barrage area formed by enemy artillery fire, and then quickly approached the British battleship with a striking appearance, he saw the fleet commander's flag on its flagpole, and the new hull, the stout three-legged mast and the huge main turret all reminded the Germans that this was a valuable target!

Seeing the silhouette of the British battleship rapidly enlarge from the size of a toy, the bridge, chimney, turret, crane, lifeboat, and even the round portholes became clearly recognizable, Budke felt his heart beat twice as fast as he reminded his partner in the noisy semi-enclosed cockpit: "Prepare to drop the bomb!" ”

The bombardier in the back seat is staring at the sight, and if the firing control commander equipped on the capital ship is compared to a piano, then this simple optical sight is only a harmonica. The harmonica can also play beautiful melodies, but there is a huge gap between the sound quality, style and effect and the piano, but having a harmonica is better than just whistling.

The British battleships on the sea were getting closer and closer, and Budek felt that he would have to load the plane if he didn't pull it up in time. At this time, the leader in front finally dropped three black bombs.

Buduk hurriedly shouted: "Drop the bomb!" Bombing! ”

After the three aerial bombs weighing 100 kg each left the pylon, the plane obviously trembled upward, and Budek lost no time in pulling the control stick back, but a completely unexpected scene appeared: the left wing was suddenly hit by a shell, although the shell did not explode, but the upper wing broke on the spot, and the rope that fixed the two layers of wings was instantly stretched, and the plane could barely maintain its balance, but in the blink of an eye, the lower wing on the right side was also broken from the root, and the plane then entered a spiral state of loss of control, It swept past the mast of the British flagship, and then crashed headlong into the sea......

On the British super-dreadnought "Iron Duke", which was sailing north with the fleet, whether it was the officers directing the anti-air shooting, or the crew who were loading shells on the gun emplacement, their attention at the moment was focused on the downed German plane, but before they had time to cheer, one by one columns with circular tails fell from the sky, most of them fell into the sea, one after another roared up a column of water tens of meters high, but one of them fell impartially to the aft deck, and smashed down heavily on the side of the No. 5 turret pointing at the stern.

With this smash, the hard oak deck was suddenly smashed out of a large hole.

With the improvement of the technology of the industrial revolution, ships switched to carburized steel for armor plates, but large ships such as battleships and armored cruisers will still be covered with a layer of wooden planks on the horizontal armor to prevent the crew from walking on the steel deck for a long time and cause fatigue and beriberi, resulting in a decrease in work efficiency and combat efficiency. The Iron Duke class had a teak deck of 25 to 63 mm thick on top of 76-150 mm thick armor plates, but this teak deck did not do much to defend against attacks.

The British sailors on the aft deck were stunned by the sight, and under the main turret was the main ammunition depot, and if the bomb detonated the ammunition depot, the battleship would be finished. If you're unlucky, few of the people on the boat will survive!

In fact, the place where the bomb smashed through the deck was five or six meters away from the seat of the No. 5 main turret, and in this position, the first floor below the deck should be the officer's office, the second floor was the ordinary sailor's quarters, and the third and fourth floors belonged to the bilge, which was the engine and auxiliary equipment compartment. For a British super-dreadnought like the "Iron Duke", which has a fairly mature defensive design, there are armor plates of a certain thickness between each deck, and the ammunition depot, bomb supply channel, power compartment, and smoke exhaust channel are firmly wrapped by a layer of relatively thick armor, in order to prevent shells that penetrate the hull armor from causing fatal damage to the battleship.

A few seconds later, a violent explosion came as expected, blazing flames erupted from the breach where the bomb had been smashed, forming a mushroom-shaped cloud of smoke above the deck, and the whole battleship could feel a noticeable tremor, and those experienced and delicate crew members even realized that this tremor reached the level of a large-caliber naval gun hitting the hull, and they couldn't help but hold their breath and wait for what was about to happen, but fortunately, the terrible situation of the explosion at the ammunition depot did not appear, and the penetration force of the bomb was smaller than most people thought, After all, this is just an aerial bomb weighing as much as an 8-inch shell and with a much smaller kinetic energy than an ordinary shell, and the reason why it can enter the interior of the hull is entirely because the deck armor is the weakest point of the dreadnought's defense. However, when aerial bombs and artillery shells penetrate the outer wall and enter the hull by virtue of their automatic capabilities, the difference in structure between the two determines the contrast in the power of the explosion. Such an armor-piercing aerial bomb is loaded with 40 kg of TNT explosives, while the equivalent weight of an 8-inch caliber armor-piercing bomb has a charge of only about 10 kg, and the high-explosive bomb is only 20 kg, which is why the hull of the "Iron Duke" trembles so strongly.

On the bridge of the Iron Duke, Sir Jackson stared at a pair of stunned and dazed eyes. It was easy to get the honor of commanding the British home fleet, and to carry the hopes of the whole of Britain to go on a heroic battle, and now before even the shadow of the German fleet was seen, his flagship had already been hit in the head...... Jericho's depression of looking at the sky and beating his chest, he finally had a personal experience.

Looking at the smoking butt of the battleship, Jackson let out a long sigh: "You're right, Charles, in the face of an opponent like the German Navy, we can't have the slightest hesitation and hesitation. ”

At this time, the damage of the "Iron Duke" is unknown, which may not hinder the subsequent combat operations, and may have laid a fatal foreshadowing. During Jericho's tenure as commander of the Home Fleet, Vice Admiral Madden had repeatedly tasted the bitterness of defeat, and although Jericho's command had some mistakes, he had never made a major mistake, and the Germans' decisive grasp of the timing of the attack, the flexible use of naval tactics, and the excellent performance of the German capital ships were the fundamental reasons for the successive setbacks of the British fleet. With such helplessness, Madden said in a deep tone: "When considering attacking the German fleet through the Faroe Islands, we should not take it lightly, thinking that such bad weather will render the planes of the German fleet useless. I have to admit that the Germans have an unparalleled talent in mechanics, which is really enviable and jealous. ”

Jackson had lost his previous ambitions, and he said pessimistically: "Judging from the current situation, the Germans may have discovered our position long ago, and they should have enough time to adjust their battle arrays, and the surprise attack we had envisaged before has completely lost the opportunity, and we will either turn around and retreat, or fight hard." What do you guys think? ”

The veteran Edward uncharacteristically sternly said: "Until the strength of the opponent is determined, we should continue to move forward, and we must not let the officers and soldiers be troubled by fear." In this battle, whether we were defeated by the Germans or retreated on our own, the British Navy would lose the confidence to fight again, and the glory of the past would also be lost. ”

Jackson was speechless, and Madden lamented: "What a sad thing it is to lose the fighting spirit of the Navy to lose the soul of a man!" ”

Moments later, the bridge received a report from the damage officer. The aerial bomb that fell from the sky only penetrated two decks and did not directly enter the power compartment of the battleship, and the violent explosion directly blew up two auxiliary equipment compartments and blew through one broadside coal tank (the Iron Duke class uses a hybrid structure with the coexistence of oil and coal-fired boilers, and the fuel tanks on the side are divided into two types: coal and oil tanks), and a fire broke out in the second and third compartments in the aft starboard side. After a preliminary count, a total of 1 officer, 1 non-commissioned officer and 9 sailors were killed, and the number of wounded has reached 33, and more injuries may occur in the process of extinguishing the fire and repairing the damage.

It's not rosy, but it's not too bad either. Jackson's bleak face improved slightly, and the veteran Edward said impassionedly: "God bless, Britain will win this battle!" Quick, let's keep up with the three German planes, and their return should be in the direction of the German fleet. ”

Hearing this, Jackson woke up like a dream. Seeing that the three German carrier-based bombers were still in sight, he hurriedly asked the communications officer to send a communication signal to his seaplanes.

Seeing that the German planes were flying to the west, Madden frowned: "Not to mention whether our planes can catch up with them, the Germans should not reveal their true location so easily, with their cunning, they may take the opportunity to mislead us." ”

Jackson was annoyed: "Can we just sit back and wait for the German fleet to come and attack us when they are happy?" ”

Madden looked at Jackson in surprise, as the commander of a main fleet, only by keeping a cool head at all times can he not be distracted by the opponent's tactics and strategies, and then make wrong judgments. Every thought and decision he made had a direct bearing on the fate of dozens of ships and tens of thousands of naval officers and men.

(End of chapter)