The smoke of gunpowder obscured the morning sun, the heat wave drove away the coolness of the sea, the thunder of the dry day still echoed in people's ears, the majestic hull of the "Hood" was already shattered, Dudley Pound and more than 2,000 officers and men under his command died here, and the living did not give up the battle. www.biquge.info In less than four minutes, the British battle cruiser hit the German ship "Prince Heinrich" of the same magnitude five times, with two 16-inch main guns and three five. The 25-inch secondary shells, the German war cruisers that had been hit badly, were billowing with black smoke and a mess.

After the sinking of the "Hood", the German fleet had a two-to-one advantage in the capital ships, and the confidence and morale of the officers and men were greatly increased, which was an excellent opportunity to take advantage of the victory and expand the victory, but another enemy fleet of considerable strength had entered the battlefield, and William August very decisively ordered the turn, and the fleet drew the last section of the arc on the sea, and then sailed at high speed towards the island of Flores.

The two fleets fought to the death gradually drifted apart, and the Germans felt a little regretful, but more of a victorious exuberance, and the British suffered a heavy mental blow, and many people were disheartened and depressed.

Is this the end of the first fleet encounter of the Great War?

No!

A group of German fighters flying from the direction of Flores Island gave a negative answer.

When the US and British fleets launched a surprise attack on the Azores, four German fighter squadrons and four shore-based bomber squadrons were stationed on Flores Island, more than 180 nautical miles northwest of Texel Island, with 172 pilots in service, nearly 1,000 ground crews, and 218 fighters in active service plus various types of spare stocks, all of which were distributed in two military airfields and a concealed standby airfield. Because the U.S. and British fleet's operational strategy for the Azores was to first solve the German naval and air forces on Texel Island and the four surrounding islands, their carrier-based aircraft units did not visit Flores Island on the first day of the war, and the "nowhere to be found" of the German Atlantic Detachment limited the night shelling of the U.S. and British fleets to Texel Island, all of which laid the groundwork for the destruction of the "Hood" -- one of the two heavy aerial bombs that severely damaged it. It came from the 2nd Dive Bomber Squadron of the 4th Group of the 9th Bomber Wing of the German Navy that took off from Flores Island!

The second wave of German aircraft from Flores Island consisted of 33 fighters, including 12 Fokker G-51 fighters, 9 Ju-30 tactical bombers, 5 Ju-31 long-range reconnaissance/torpedo bombers, and 7 IK-22 torpedo bombers.

According to the most common attack tactics in the training exercise, some of the German Fokker fighters were on alert in the air, and some of them used their flexible and maneuverable flight performance to interfere and disperse the fire of the enemy ships. Under the cover of fighter aircraft, the Ju-30 group launched horizontal bombardment at an altitude of 500 meters, and each of them carried six high-explosive bombs weighing 100 kilograms each, which could pose a certain threat to the light armored parts of enemy light ships and large ships. With the arrival of the black bullet rain, the waves on the sea surface rolled and the waves were furious, and the British ships scattered to evade, and many flaws suddenly appeared in the air defense formation.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, German torpedo bombers attacked the huge "Rodney" from several directions at an altitude of less than 100 meters.

The Ju-31 and IK-22, both torpedo bombers and equipped with German troops, had completely different body shapes. The former is a land-based reconnaissance/torpedo bomber developed and manufactured on the basis of the Ju-30 "light crossbow", which can carry a 1250 kg G-7S aviation torpedo or two 500 kg heavy armor-piercing bombs under the belly, and the maximum flight speed and combat range in the full load state are reduced to a certain extent compared with the Ju-30; The latter is the star product of the Irish aviation industry, regarded as the best performing light torpedo bomber in the Allied camp, with large payload, stable flight and easy to operate, the 950-kilogram MK-VI aviation torpedo is the standard configuration of this type of torpedo - the torpedo that caused the American battleship "Ioda" to capsize and sink was the MK-V aviation torpedo developed by the Irish, and now the MK-VI has increased its power and speed on the basis of the former. The effective range has also been increased from 800 meters to 1,500 meters, but compared with the American and British aviation torpedoes, which have an effective range of about 3,000 meters, the Irish aviation torpedoes are like extremely sharp short blades, which can exert amazing power in the hands of skilled people.

12 torpedo planes in less than two minutes one after another to show the combat skills of low-altitude penetration, in the face of these very dangerous guys, the British officers and soldiers did not dare to be careless at all, those wearing Tony helmets, wearing life jackets, fighting in their respective gun positions gunners constantly loaded ammunition into anti-aircraft guns, machine guns and anti-aircraft machine guns, the roar of guns and guns continued to fire endlessly, the British gritted their teeth, eager to shoot down these German planes, but in this era, No warship of any country is so powerful that it is, and more often than not, the warship just consumes a lot of ammunition out of thin air, and the result is very little.

Without too many fancy maneuvers or swaying left and right to dodge, groups of German torpedo planes forced their way into the defensive circle of the British fleet, some dropped torpedoes at a distance of 1,000 meters, and some boldly approached to a position of five or six hundred meters before dropping torpedoes.

In front of these torpedoes, which were no more than three or four meters long and weighed about one ton, the "Rodney", with its heavy armor and multi-layer mine protection compartments, made a very embarrassing continuous turn, but this did not allow it to successfully evade all the torpedoes. Suddenly, a thunderclap resounded across the sea, and I saw a white wave of water explode on the starboard stern of the "Rodney", and the waves rushed straight to 100 meters, splashing far away, almost wrapping the part behind the main turret of the battleship No. 3......

"Rodney" was torpedoed!

This news was tantamount to a slap in the face for the British officers and men on the participating ships, but it was extremely tempting news for the German fleet, which had not yet sailed out of the British sight.

"The destructive power of the torpedo is not comparable to that of ordinary artillery shells, and if it is allowed to calmly withdraw to port, it will be able to regain its combat effectiveness after a few months of repairs, and if it can be sunk, it will disappear forever from the battle sequence of the British Navy." Colonel Schneider did not speak directly to William August, but his words were clear enough for the fleet commander a few paces away.

William August was silent, and Rawls, the chief of staff of the fleet, asked the communications officer very actively: "Can you contact the pilots who participated in the bombing, and ask them what the bombing effect is?" ”

After a while, the communications officer came eagerly to report that "our pilots have been contacted, and it was torpedo planes of the 15th Bomber Wing that took part in the bombing, and according to the pilots, it was an MK-VI that hit the enemy battlecruiser, and the hit was close to the tail of the enemy ship, and it was almost certain that it was a valid direct hit." ”

Rawls was not a reckless man, and after a moment's thought, he suggested to the fleet commander: "Sir, if the carrier-based aircraft of the 'Emperor Karl' and the air force of Flores Island can continue to bomb, let them deal with this lame British war cruiser!" ”

William August nodded slightly, and instructed the communications officer: "It is certain whether our 'Emperor Karl' and the air force units stationed on Flores Island can launch a follow-up attack in time. ”

As the communications officer took the order, William August looked at Karls, then at Colonel Schneider, who was gearing up, and asked, "How is our damage?" ”

Colonel Schneider immediately reported on the damage to the Count Tirpitz: "Our damage is more optimistic than expected, the damaged parts of the battleship have little impact on the operation, the wounded crew has been properly treated, the leaking watertight compartments have been contained, and the only minor trouble is the loss of about 600 tons of fuel." After returning to Flores Island, it is estimated that it will take a week to complete the wartime emergency repairs, and it is not advisable to force a voyage during this period. ”

With that, Colonel Schneider gave Rawls a look.

Rawls did not react obviously, but said seriously: "According to the previous report of the 'Prince Heinrich', it was hit by the enemy's main gun six times and the secondary gun four times in the naval battle, the main rangefinder was seriously damaged, the No. 4 main turret had mechanical failure and could not operate normally, the power system was working normally, and there were also personnel damage...... 7 officers were killed and 10 wounded, 69 officers were killed and 208 were wounded. ”

Seeing that William August did not speak, Colonel Schneider interjected: "Fortunately, we have a many-in-one tactic, even if the rangefinder of a battleship is completely destroyed, we can use the rangefinder data of friendly ships to shoot." ”

While they were talking, a staff officer picked up the phone for communication inside the ship, and then hurried over: "Sir, our rearguard destroyer has sent a signal to observe that the enemy fleet that had previously engaged us is withdrawing eastward at a speed of about 5 knots, while the other enemy fleet is chasing us at a speed of about 30 knots, and the two enemy fleets will meet in a few minutes. ”

Hearing this, William August shrugged: "It seems that we can only give the honor of sinking that enemy ship to the bomber pilots, who will go down in history for sinking the British super capital ship." ”

Speaking of this, the commander of the fleet raised his chin slightly, his chest was raised high, and his voice was raised by one degree: "This is the supreme glory!" ”

(End of chapter)