"Aha! Sink it! Sink it! We sank that American Battlecruiser! Well done! His Majesty the Great Joachim! ”

Seeing that the "Lexington" had exploded violently and then sank rapidly, Rear Admiral von Heinke, commander of the "Frederick Caesar" convoy, cheered with joy in front of all the officers, and the excitement of being attacked by enemy submarines and cruisers earlier, and the excitement of sinking and wounding the enemy ships by skillful counterattacks, were all vented at this time. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Compared to the flamboyant Rear Admiral Heynck, Colonel Farrell's composure made it seem as if he was more suitable for the position of regimental commander. At this moment of rejoicing and cheering, the colonel still did not forget his duty and always carefully watched the changes in the situation of the battle. After a while, he reminded Heinck: "General, our 'Longford' has already dispatched four Osprey bombers. ”

The German rear admiral followed the sound from the air and saw four bomb-laden biplanes with a striking clover logo painted on the underside of their wings. In this era of the rise of monoplanes, a large number of different types of biplanes are still in service in the ranks of the aviation forces of various countries, born in the 20s IK-30T "Osprey" is one of them, they fly at the speed of bomb-carrying like a stupid goose walking on land, but the structure is solid, low cost, easy to maneuver, competent for low-altitude bombing and dive bombing, and the bombing hit has been greatly improved compared with the earlier carrier-based aircraft, more importantly, because of the use of biplane structure, Their take-off range is less than two-thirds that of the German-made Ju-17T, making them ideal for use on an auxiliary carrier like the USS Longford.

At the outbreak of the war, Germany and Ireland had a combined fleet of 16 aircraft carriers, three more than the United States and Britain. Among these 16 aircraft carriers, the real main aircraft carriers are 3 Zeppelin-class and 7 Confederate-class, and the remaining 6 are training aircraft carriers and half auxiliary aircraft carriers. When Germany declared war on Britain, the Longford was still lying on the slipway of the Royal Shipyard in Limerick, and if it had not been refitted, it would have ended up as a standard freighter with a weight of 6,000 tons and a cargo capacity of 5,000 tons.

From a standard freighter to an auxiliary aircraft carrier, the idea did not come overnight. In the early 30s, when the outbreak of war seemed inevitable, in order to cope with the possible losses of their own merchant ships, Germany and Ireland jointly designed several standard freighters with low construction costs and man-hours, suitable for wartime mass construction. By the summer of 1932, the first standard freighter was completed, and all the performance reached the expected level, after which Germany began to build standard freighters at a rate of 36 per year and Ireland at a rate of 12 per year, and in March 1933, Germany's industrial production began to shift to the wartime track, and the number of German shipyards involved in the construction of standard freighters increased from 6 to 16, and the assembly line began to run at full capacity, and under the condition of ensuring the supply of raw materials, the Germans could build at least 180 standard freighters per year, Production in Ireland is expected to reach 50 ships per year.

In order to meet the needs of wartime escort, the German and Irish naval technical departments developed a plan to convert standard freighters into auxiliary aircraft carriers before the war. According to the plan, 20-25 standard freighters will be converted into auxiliary aircraft carriers in the first year of the war, and more auxiliary aircraft carriers will be converted according to the development of the war.

After the outbreak of the war, according to the existing technical plan, Ireland's Royal Immerrick Shipyard quickly refitted the "Longford" and two other standard freighters in the construction stage, during which although affected by the British bombing, the "Longford" still completed all the refit works within seven weeks, and before the completion of the completion of the service, some officers and crews had already begun boarding training, and then the fighters, service and pilots were on board, and the comprehensive plan made it form combat effectiveness in the shortest possible time.

The Irish auxiliary aircraft carrier was named the Royal Guards class, and the Germans did not seem to like the name very much, and the auxiliary aircraft carrier that entered service with the German Navy was officially given the official title of "Leopold Class" in honor of the late German Field Marshal Leopold, who had made great achievements in the previous war. Due to the different types of carrier-based aircraft used, Ireland's Royal Guard-class has a carrier capacity of 18+2, that is, 18 normal carrier aircraft, 2 spare aircraft, and the usual configuration is 10 IR-29T, 4 IK-30T and 4 IK-20T, while the German Leopold class is usually 16+2, with a typical configuration of 8 He-25, 4 Ju-17T and 4 Ar-33.

After the last war, naval officers and military researchers of various countries realized the potential for the development of carrier-based aviation, and all kinds of predictions, known and unknown, were perfectly reflected in the battle for the Azores, so even if the S fleet did not send a clear order, von Heinke would automatically send the carrier-based aircraft unit of the "Longford" to the battle. However, when he looked up and saw the four "Ospreys" flying slowly, he did not show any expectation, but said with some worry: "The 'Ospreys' are definitely good at attacking enemy submarines during the day, but I don't think I'm optimistic about letting them pass through the dense artillery fire of the enemy ships and accurately drop bombs, but I hope that the officers and sailors on the enemy ships will patronize the threat from the water and ignore the air defense." ”

Although the Irish Navy is not large, it is relatively well-equipped with ships, and one of the purposes of the frequent pre-war naval and air exercises is to give each warship commander a clear and intuitive understanding of the mode of naval and air combat under the existing technical and tactical conditions. Although Colonel Farrell had no experience in aircraft carriers, he was able to analyze the situation in front of him more objectively: "Judging from the current situation, the enemy has no intention of fighting. The destroyers were either covering the retreat of the battleships or rushing to rescue the survivors, and perhaps the cruisers were still on guard against attacks from the air, but the smoke on the surface of the sea affected the observation of the lookouts and gunners, and as long as the pilots were smart enough to find a good opportunity to attack, damaging an enemy ship and slowing it down would basically be a death sentence. ”

Ever since Farrell commanded the Ruger in a good battle, Heinck's attitude towards him has been much more respectful. Hearing his response, he explained: "I do not mean to belittle the pilots of the Irish Navy, but I feel that the sole ruler of this naval battle is His Majesty Joachim, and that the force that will end the battle should also be the battleships under his personal command." ”

It would not be too surprising for an Irish officer to show such an almost obsessive adoration for his monarch, but it was in the presence of an arrogant German rear admiral, and Farrell was a little uncomfortable, and he said without a smile: "You are indeed an admirer of His Majesty the King of Ireland, General Heinck." ”

Shortly after four "Ospreys" flew over the "Ruger", four more biplanes flew in from the east. Their shape is significantly different from that of the Osprey, and they are equipped with cigar-shaped aerial torpedoes under the belly, so the purpose of the aircraft is clear at a glance. The US crew may not be able to recognize the origin of these carrier-based bombers at a glance, but as long as the "Swordfish" is mentioned, the vast majority of Americans will presumably grit their teeth and clench their fists, and the new US battleship "Ioda" that was newly commissioned in the Gulf of Mexico was given by this torpedo bomber. Although Lian Po is old now, as long as he uses it properly, he can still make his opponent suffer.

After the "Lexington" was damaged, several American and British destroyers accompanying it began to release smoke screens in an organized manner, first, to prevent the American battle cruiser from being hit again, and second, to cover the two Queen Elizabeth-class maneuvers, and the explosion of the "Lexington" ammunition depot and the subsequent capsizing process also produced a large amount of smoke, which made the sea area where the US and British fleets were located like sea fog, and the line of sight was greatly affected whether it was observed from the sea or from the air, and the allies who had won a great victory temporarily slowed down the pace of shelling. Changing course in response to the opponent's adjustments, the distance between the two fleets was gradually reduced to about 24,000 kilometers. When the two Queen Elizabeth-class battleships and several accompanying light ships left the relatively dense smoke area, the three German battleships opened fire again, and the two British battleships quickly launched a counterattack, and the second phase of long-range artillery combat began.

The four "Ospreys" that flew to the battlefield did not rush to attack, and they circled around the perimeter of the US and British fleets, observing the battlefield situation while waiting for the arrival of the "Swordfish." The distance of the artillery battle was reduced by two or three thousand meters, and the accuracy of the artillery bombardment on both sides was significantly improved compared with before, and the first two rounds of artillery bombardment by the Allied fleet were in close proximity to the American and British ships, and most of the crew's attention was now focused on the sea. Seeing that the textbook opportunity has appeared, the four "Ospreys" entered the dive state from a height of more than 2,000 meters, but unlike the sharp and large-angle dive of the Ju-17, the mechanical auxiliary devices and bombing sights of the "Osprey" are set at a 45-degree angle, and only when forced to do so, the pilots will take the risk of trying a dive of more than 50 degrees or even close to 60 degrees.

As the lead force for small-scale bombing, the "Osprey" that took off from the "Longford" each carried one 200-kilogram bomb and two 50-kilogram aerial bombs, two bombing the "war-weary" and two bombing the "Balham." As Colonel Farrell speculated, the American and British ships failed to organize effective anti-aircraft fire in time, and by the time the anti-aircraft guns rang out intensively, the four "Ospreys" had already dropped their bombs. Previously ravaged by the Ju-17, the nervous American and British crews set the advance amount according to the flight trajectory of the German dive bombers, and as a result, most of the shells exploded at a distance from the "Osprey", and the four Irish carrier-based planes calmly pulled up and gave the opportunity to perform to the torpedo bombers that followed.

The four "Swordfish" flying close to the sea seemed to be strolling leisurely, slowly passing through the gradually drifting smoke, quietly approaching from the stern direction of the American and British ships, and when they were closer to the target, they suddenly swung their wings and drew an S-shaped trajectory in the air, and when they gradually aimed their noses at the starboard side of the two British battleships, the cannonballs rising from the enemy ships suddenly exploded around them, and the air waves set off by the explosion made them tremble like blades in the wind. This did not prevent the trained Irish pilots from dropping torpedoes in the right places.

Steam torpedoes are speeding in, white waves are irritating people's nerves, and the two battleships begin to turn desperately, but how can their huge hulls avoid the torpedoes dropped at very close range? With a loud bang that made people palpitate, the stern of the "war-weary" ship was hit by a mine, the right propeller was damaged on the spot, a large amount of seawater poured into the breach, and the battleship suddenly lost its ability to move.

(End of chapter)