The three of them could scarcely believe what they had seen, and at this moment, I am afraid that even the most determined "big ship and big gun" will doubt whether the battleship will survive the future naval battle. The violent shaking of the seaplane quickly brought the three men to their senses, and they immediately marked the location of the torpedo hit point on the drawings.

At this time, the third group of "gannets" gave up the bombing of the "Dongting Lake". The four bombers circled half a circle over the sea and pounced on the heavy cruiser "Jiading" anchored northeast of the battleship "Dongting Lake" from the northeast. The four bombers formed an echelon and quickly approached the "Jiading", obviously, the pilots on the four bombers were a little excited, and they also saw the beginning of the scene. When they reached the point of entry of the torpedo, four bombers turned to the right at the same time, but only three torpedoes were dropped, and the torpedo in the belly of the third "gannet" in the formation was not able to be thrown at all!

"Pull it up, pull it up—" Hao Dongjue suddenly shouted loudly.

Tan Renhao was taken aback, and when he turned his eyes to look at the "gannet" that had not dropped its torpedo, the fighter plane was like a stupid goose, and the fuselage was planted sideways towards the sea.

"Hey, it's over!" As soon as Hao Dongjue's voice fell, the "gannet" smashed headlong on the sea, and the wooden right wing was immediately broken, and then the fuselage fell into the sea, raising a white wave. "The turning angle was too large, and the pilot simply did not get used to carrying the heavier 'Swordfish' torpedo, and by the time he reacted, it was too late!"

Tan Renhao patted his companion on the shoulder, fortunately in the misfortune, the "gannet" used an open cockpit, and the moment the plane entered the water, the pilot successfully escaped and did not sink to the bottom of the sea with the fighter.

At the moment when the pilot surfaced, the heavy cruiser "Jiading," which was more than 1,000 meters away from the point where the plane crashed into the sea, was hit by a torpedo near the engine room of the amidships, and the powerful destructive force of the 250 kg* explosion tore the battleship with a displacement of more than 8,000 tons in half in an instant. When the water column generated by the explosion fell to the sea, the battleship that was blown in two quickly disappeared into two huge whirlpools, except for some light fragments that were still floating on the sea, in less than five minutes, this heavy cruiser, which had fought for the north and south of the empire and participated in the first global war, the Battle of Eight Battles Island, the Battle of Colombo, and the Battle of the Cape of Good Hope, the heavy cruiser, which had made great achievements, completely disappeared from the sea.

The three young officers were stunned, and even the two pilots in front of them couldn't believe their eyes. In the past, only heavy torpedoes carried on destroyers could inflict heavy damage on large warships such as heavy cruisers, and it took several torpedoes to sink a heavy cruiser. This time, an aerial torpedo dropped by naval aviation sent the large battleship to the bottom of the sea, and it was blown in two. Obviously, the new torpedoes equipped by naval aviation are already more powerful than everyone imagined.

"The dive bomber is coming!"

As soon as the captain in front reminded him, the three people in the back immediately looked up at the top of the seaplane, and the twelve small black dots were divided into three groups, which were twelve dive bombers carrying 500 kg of aerial bombs. The bombers followed exactly the same tactics as the torpedo bombers, forming small formations of four and then dropping bombs in three groups. Because the heavy cruiser "Jiading" had already been sunk, three batches of dive bombers launched an "attack" on the battleship "Dongting Lake".

The "Pelicans" made an extremely piercing whistling sound during the dive, and the first four "Pelicans" swooped down from an altitude of more than 3,000 meters almost at a vertical angle. When it was still about 500 meters above the sea, the four "Pelicans" pulled up the nose of the plane almost at the same time, and then four small black dots separated from the belly of the plane. That's four 500-kilogram aviation armor-piercing shells. The four bombs already had a speed of nearly 300 knots when they detached from the dive bomber, and when they landed on the battleship, their speed would be close to 400 knots.

One of the first four bombs hit the position of the No. 1 turret on the battleship "Dongting Lake", and the other three were near-misses. Because the turret had been removed (mainly the guns on it could still be used), the bombs went straight into the hull. The moment the bomb exploded, the bow of the battleship "Dongting Lake" shook violently, as if a huge spring had been installed underneath, and the bow of the battleship was almost lifted out of the water, and at the same time, a huge wave of fire rushed out of the seat of the No. 1 turret, rising hundreds of meters high.

Tan Renhao also keenly noticed that the powerful destructive force generated by the explosion almost completely destroyed the No. 1 turret, and also destroyed the hull structure on both sides, leaving a crack that was at least half a meter wide. If the "Dongting Lake" was not used to be "blown up" and sunk, then such structural damage was enough to completely scrap the battleship. At this time, the battleship "Dongting Lake" also began to sink slowly, apparently at first the armor-piercing shell broke the keel of the battleship, and it is even possible that it completely penetrated the bottom of the battleship, causing a large influx of seawater. Tan Renhao immediately recorded these two points, which were an important basis for proving that aerial bombs could sink warships.

Two other groups of eight "Pelicans" also began to dive one after another, three more bombs hit the "Dongting Lake" one after another, and the other five bombs all fell within a distance of less than 20 meters on both sides of the battleship. The three bombs hit the bridge of the battleship, on the power compartment in the middle of the battleship, and on the aft deck, respectively. The bridge of the battleship was almost completely blown up, and if there were people inside, I am afraid that none of them would survive. The bomb that hit the power compartment penetrated directly through the three decks above, and only exploded after entering the bilge, with great power, almost all the external facilities above it were blown away, leaving a huge hole in the middle of the battleship. And the bomb that hit the aft deck of the battleship did not explode, it must have been damaged by the detonating device.

By the time 12 horizontal bombers dropped bombs from an altitude of 3,000 meters, two-thirds of the surface of the battleship "Dongting Lake" had already sunk below the surface, and the stern of the battleship was raised high. As a result, those twenty-four 250-kilogram aerial bombs became a salute for the funeral of this huge battleship.