Looking out of the starboard side from the towering barrel bridge of the battleship Emanuele II, the violent explosion of the Aquila inside the hull produced a large amount of black smoke, which poured out from the holes in the deck and various openings in the hull, and most of the space on the huge flight deck was filled with thick smoke. Fleets of crew members were looming to spray water below deck with water hoses, and near the stern, the pilots had already fled from the carrier-based planes parked there ready to launch the next wave of attacks, and in a hurry, the crews had not had time to unload the bombs hanging under their bellies and wings, and the fuel and ammunition tanks of these fighters were also filled with dangerous fuel and ammunition

"It was an absolutely dark day for the Italian Navy!" Looking at the bleak scene in sight, the commander of the fleet, Vice Admiral Biangkelly, could not help but lament such a lament.

Commodore Gyogis, captain of the "Emanuele II", reminded him: "The current situation has not deteriorated to the point of no return, and we still have the opportunity to evacuate the battlefield with the Aquila, and you, the backbone of this fleet, must not give up your efforts at this time." ”

Biangelli looked at Giorgis, who was about the same age as himself, with some surprise, and then looked at the "Aquila" not far away again, and nodded with feeling: "You are right, until the last moment, you must not give up hope." ”

"It was, after all, our best aircraft carrier, and the construction investment at that time amounted to a staggering 32oo lire!" The Giogis Navy said not without envy. According to the exchange rate at the time, the construction cost of the Winner-class jointly designed and built by Germany and Ireland was only 216o lire, and the export price was only about 24oo lire, and according to the purchasing power, the construction cost of a "Aquila" reached 85% of the Emanuele II-class battleship, you must know that the main guns and gun mounts of the battleship are much more expensive than any part of the aircraft carrier!

In fact, as the ace aircraft carrier carefully built by the Italian Navy, the "Aquila" proposed at the design stage that the protection should be comprehensively superior to the Winner class of the German-Irish joint design. Although the defense standards were lowered in the later stages of the design to ensure aircraft capacity and absolute range, it still has better survivability than ordinary aircraft carriers.

Two aerial bombs may not be fatal to it.

Unfortunately, Lieutenant General Biangkelly's luck was soon shattered by the harsh reality. I saw the "Aquila" signal with the flag: The ship's boiler compartment exploded, the power was lost by one-half, the watertight compartment was broken everywhere, and the leakage had not been controlled

There was no room for Biankelly to think about it, and in an instant, rockets flew in with long trails of white smoke, and they were not as "gentle" as the air-to-air rockets that were temporarily used against light ships. These weapons, designed specifically for attacking ships, can hit targets with 15 to 2 times the tone when fully added, and the specially designed armor-piercing warheads have the opportunity to penetrate the core armor zone of the battleship.

Since the beginning of the battle, although the air defense system of the "Aquila" has only lost one twin antiaircraft gun and a small number of antiaircraft gun operators, its overall air defense efficiency has seriously declined due to the soft damage caused by the explosion: the wolf smoke in all directions has not only interfered with the observation of the gun positions, but also affected the wave of the officers and men, and the main attention of the bridge commander has temporarily shifted to the repair of damage management, the organization of anti-aircraft fire has become loose and chaotic, and finally and most importantly, the power supply system on the ship has begun to break down frequentlyThe supply and delivery of anti-aircraft artillery ammunition is no longer as smooth as that of training exercises, the firing of some gun positions is intermittent, and there are more and more loopholes in the air defense system.

At a critical juncture, the Italians decisively used the multiple rocket launchers that they considered "the killer weapon of air defense". This kind of anti-aircraft rocket launcher improved from anti-submarine rocket technology can form a large-area defensive barrage in just a dozen seconds, and theoretically can intercept the forced penetration of enemy fighters and rockets, but when these rockets with time-delay fuses exploded in an area of three or four hundred meters away from the aircraft carrier, the anti-ship rockets projected by the carrier-based attack aircraft of the new United Kingdom Navy several kilometers away have already crossed the defensive barrage area, and except for a few that deviate from the target, the rest or directly hit the hull of the Italian aircraft carrier. Or burrow into the water at the nearboard position, and a series of violent explosions suddenly plunged this heavy aircraft carrier of more than 40,000 tons into man-made raging waves!

Boom, boom, boom

The flames of the explosion of the anti-ship rocket went far beyond the top of the aircraft carrier island-style bridge. In the blink of an eye, the black smoke swallowed up the carrier-based aircraft on the deck that had not had time to be put into the hangar, and many of the damage control personnel were blown into the sea like leaves by the attack wave generated by the explosion, and the anti-aircraft fire on the ship also decreased sharply.

Bursts of fireworks were reflected in his eyes, and Biankelly's face suddenly darkened, and he muttered, "What the hell, it looks like we're going to lose it!" ”

Giorgis, who was still cheering up Biankelly just now, was also completely stunned at the moment. How could this veteran officer, who had served in the Italian Navy for more than 30 years and had never been absent from joint military exercises of the Allied Navy in recent years, ever seen such an astonishing scene?

Shocked, Biankelly's mind did not pause, but began to operate at a much higher degree than usual. When the loss of ships is inevitable, how to retain more experienced fighters for the future becomes a top priority. So, when the vast majority of them were still shocked by the successive hits of the "Aquila", he decisively ordered:

"Give our aircraft carrier a signal, and the following personnel immediately proceed to transfer: first, carrier-based aircraft pilots; second, aviation combat command personnel; Thirdly, carrier-based aircraft maintenance and repair personnel! If the aircraft carrier is injured and cannot be repaired, the rest of the personnel should be transferred immediately! ”

After the first order was delivered, Biankelly pondered for a moment and continued to order: "Give the destroyers a signal to fully assist in the evacuation of the Aquila crew. ”

It was only then that the staff officers on the combat bridge recovered from their deep shock. A staff officer asked with a sad face: "What about the planes that attacked?" ”

Billankelly thought about it for a moment: "Let them end their mission early and fly to Sardinia." Contact the Sardinian Navy Command and get them ready to respond. ”

"Didn't you notify the Air Force?" The staff officer asked again.

Biankelly gritted his teeth: "Okay! We telegraphed to the Sardinian Air Force command and told them that we had suffered a shameful defeat and let those guys see our jokes! In this case, it is better to keep as many planes as possible than to lose them all! ”

No matter how strong the level of protection of the "Aquila" is, it is only a heavy cruiser-level defense, and it is far from the level of a battleship. Under the repeated bombardment of heavy aviation armor-piercing shells and anti-ship rockets, the Italian aircraft carrier was covered in bruises and embarrassed. Half of the eight oil-fired boilers were destroyed by aerial bombs, and the other half were shut down one by one due to damaged pipelines and poor oil supply. Although the ship's damage management personnel did not hesitate to take the risk of diving into the watertight compartment, and all kinds of leakage plugging and emergency repair measures were put into battle, the hull was already riddled with holes, and the degree of pumping and drainage could not catch up with the leakage at the bottom of the ship, and with the increase of the hull inclination angle, the aircraft in the hangar exploded due to collision, cutting off the backup pipeline to maintain the drainage system, and no one was powerless to return to the sky.

Under such circumstances, the captain of the ship, Rear Admiral Mandragora, had no choice but to announce the abandonment of the ship.

The capsizing of the Aquila was a foregone conclusion, but the naval pilots of the new United Kingdom were not aware of this. After completely expelling the Italian air force, two groups of IR-44Ts hovering over the battlefield took turns to dive down and carry out strafing attacks on Italian warships, including the "Aquila" with thick smoke. Although the machine guns and cannons of the fighters were limited, the officers and men of the Italian Navy had lost their previous fighting spirit and courage. Under the interference of enemy fighters, several Italian destroyers trying to get close to the "Aquila" hurriedly changed their rudders, so that the retreat of the surviving crews was repeatedly delayed.

According to the training procedures of the Italian Navy, the emergency evacuation of all large ships should take less than 40 minutes, and the entire process from the time the captain of the ship, Rear Admiral Mandragora, ordered the abandonment of the ship to the evacuation of the "Aquila" by the last crew member, actually lasted an hour and 45 minutes. During this period, the naval aviation of the new United Kingdom carried out only one wave of air strikes, and realizing that the Italian aircraft carrier was sinking, they did not kill them, but grabbed the two main battleships under the command of Billankelly and beat them severely.

The Emanuele II and Umberto I were hastily withdrawn by a group of light ships, and their figures eventually disappeared from the distant sea, while the Aquila remained quietly floating in the western Mediterranean. After completing the crew transfer mission, the remaining Italian destroyers and submarine hunters began to set off for their home, and their decks were crowded with officers and sailors who had been working on the "Aquila", and everyone looked at the "Aquila" with helplessness, and what made them feel even more sad was that in order to prevent this aircraft carrier from becoming a trophy of the enemy, their own destroyers had to torpedo it to the bottom of the sea.

This tragic scene brought tears to the eyes of many people. They hated the ambitious new United Kingdom and the Austro-Hungarian leadership, who had joined forces in wars to inflict repeated defeats on Italy; It was the old-fashioned Italian military and political officials who hated it, and those arrogant and conceited fellows knew that their arms could not twist their thighs, but they still wanted to have an affair with the Japanese for their own interests, although they benefited a lot economically, but they annoyed the Germans, causing them to connive at the younger brother to come and smash the field, and now they had to lose all the years of accumulation

(End of chapter)