With a sharp grinding sound, another IR-30T carrier-based fighter landed on the straight and spacious flight deck of the "Ulster". Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 Before it could come to a complete standstill, several flight crews quickly stepped forward, starting with the wings and the rear of the fuselage, and pushed it to the rest zone at the stern of the ship. There were already more than a dozen fighters and bombers that had taken part in the first wave of air strikes, and the aircrews quickly folded their wings to make as much space as possible for the subsequent landings.

In addition to the use of large-capacity double-decker hangars, another very important reason is that their current Grumman F3F, Boeing F4B, Walter SB2U, and Douglas TBD are all folded wing structures, and most of the fuselages of these carrier-based aircraft are short, and the rear fuselage is quite cramped, which affects some performance, but can occupy less hangars and install more aircraft. In order to maintain its superior air combat performance as much as possible, the naval version of the British-made "Mountain Hawk" fighter "Sea Hawk" and the H-25, Germany's main carrier-based aircraft, finally adopted fixed wings, which directly affected the overall aircraft carrying capacity of the two aircraft carriers.

After pushing open the canopy, unbuckling the seat belt, removing the landing bag, and removing the flight cap with the oxygen mask and communication equipment, the pilot took a deep breath and climbed out of the flight cockpit.

The aircrew on the side saluted him one after another: "Congratulations on your return!" ”

The young pilot with blond-brown hair and a long face nodded politely, and he turned to look at his plane, where there were two strings of bullet holes on the outside of the wings and the middle and rear of the fuselage, and the enemy's bullets only hit the fuel tank by a dozen centimeters.

The pilot stared at the bullet holes in disbelief, then silently made a cross in front of his forehead and chest.

At this time, a thick meat hand slapped his shoulder from behind, and a hearty voice came to his ears: "Hey, Ain, did you shoot two or three?" I saw you do the Inmaiman flip, it's so beautiful, the guy you shot down was completely stunned! Hahaha! ”

The wide-fronted, long-faced pilot turned his head and smiled reluctantly at his companion: "You're doing a good job too!" ”

The man was stocky, with a neck almost as thick as his head, and a neat head, and when he caught a glimpse of the bullet holes on his companion's landline, he made a surprised expression and walked over and reached out to touch them: "Ho, Ain, it seems that Lady Luck is with you today, there are at least forty bullet holes here, and you are unscathed." ”

"yes, I almost paid a terrible price for my little mistakes - one time I neglected my back while sliding to attack, and another time I paused when I changed my roll, a mistake I shouldn't have made, but I ...... on the battlefield."

Ban Cuntou opened his mouth and showed a relieved smile: "Don't blame yourself, when you first go to the battlefield, everyone's mood must be very nervous, I think it's good to be able to play half of the training level, and you have at least eighty percent of your performance." Take your time! With the lessons of the previous time, the future will get better and better. ”

The shrill grinding sound was accompanied by a gust of airflow, and another carrier-based plane landed, and the two turned to look at the "Osprey", its incomplete cockpit canopy was worrying to look at, and they didn't know what the pilot's condition was. The waiting aircrew and a small team of ambulance personnel quickly stepped forward, and after the engine stopped, the pilot in the front seat quickly got up and turned, nervously checking on his partner's injuries. After a while, the ambulance crew lifted the bloodied bombardier down, and the pilot in the front seat was almost crying.

Witnessing this scene, the pilot with a wide forehead and a long face became more and more complicated.

Ban Cuntou patted his arm: "Let's go!" Go for a soda, a cake, and a good rest, there are definitely many more missions ahead, and today is the most critical day. ”

In the command room of the island bridge, Captain Colonel Stephen Coleman was looking out of the square porthole on the flight deck. In terms of results, the first wave of air strikes by the Allied fleet against the enemy was a great success, but this did not mean that they were sure of victory. Since the enemy's ground forces had largely occupied the island of Texel and had established a field airfield on the island, the situation in the battle had become very delicate, and an unexpected loss could change the current situation.

The Ulster class is a so-called standard aircraft carrier designed and built by Ireland, known as the Confederate class in the German Navy, Italy and Austria-Hungary each ordered one, namely the Italian "Garibaldi" and the Austro-Hungarian "Tegethof", the Ottoman Navy originally planned to order two, but the Egyptian uprising, the conflict in the North Caucasus and the war in Persia caused the Ottoman Empire's military spending to surge, so this plan was withdrawn indefinitely. The biggest advantage of the standard ships is their simplicity and practicality, the Confederate and Ulster-class are only about half the construction cost of the Zeppelin-class, and with the opening of the curtain of war, Germany and Ireland have already begun the assembly line production of medium-sized aircraft carriers, and it will only take eight to nine months to build the first batch - six by Ireland and twelve by Germany.

The flip side of simplicity and practicality is its fragility, the "Ulster" is a prototype ship of the Ulster-class and Confederate-class ships, with a standard displacement of only 20,350 tons, and a level of protection comparable to that of a standard military courtesy-class heavy cruiser, which, with a little less luck, can be sent to the bottom of the sea with a torpedo or a couple of aerial bombs. Half an hour earlier, the Allied fleet was attacked by US and British planes, and a medium-sized aerial bomb landed near the port side of the "Ulster," which immediately blew through the armor two meters below its waterline, causing a leak in one oil tank and two watertight tanks. What if it landed not a medium bomb but a heavy bomb of more than 200 kilograms that landed near the side of the country, or if it had received a direct hit?

"Sir, the Zeppelin issued an order, and the third group of planes began to assemble in 30 minutes, and the formation departed in 40 minutes, and the ships must not be delayed."

After listening to the staff officer's briefing, Colonel Coleman responded very calmly: "Got it. ”

Compared with the expensive capital aircraft carriers, the Ulster-class and the Confederate class are simple but not simple, they are equipped with two conventional lifts and one spare lift, and the design of the hangar and flight deck is very reasonable, so it can carry four carrier-based aircraft squadrons with a displacement of more than 20,000 tons, and complete the take-off and recovery of carrier-based aircraft at a relatively fast speed. At present, half of the carrier-based planes in the first wave of sorties have landed, and as long as the remaining planes are not delayed in the middle of the way, all the recovery work can be completed within 10 minutes, and then the returning planes will be returned to the hangar, and the third batch of fighters ready to go will be sent to the deck, which is just enough time.

In the first attack wave, in order to be able to strike hard at the enemy's aircraft carrier formation, the Allied fleet sent nearly sixty percent of all carrier-based aircraft, and then in the second attack wave, they sent 84 carrier-based aircraft to make up for the knife, so the third attack wave attacked only 68 carrier-based aircraft, and each aircraft carrier sent an average of one squadron. It was just after 5 o'clock, and there was at least one more wave before dark, and it was likely to be the battle that would decide the outcome of the battle.

After almost a cup of coffee, the pilots who participated in the first wave of air strikes and returned safely were summoned to the operational conference room of the "Ulster". Prior to this, most of the information about the enemy fleet was provided by the Azores garrison troops, and it was mainly written descriptions, only Admiral Beinck's flagship received more intuitive information such as aerial photographs delivered by the aircraft sent by the garrison command before the battle was launched, and these valuable resources did not have time to share with the pilots participating in the battle of each aircraft carrier, and the enemy situation will change accordingly over time, so the pilots are facing opponents who they do not really understand, The good news is that this won't last forever. After the first round of air raids, the returning planes brought back a large amount of aerial film, and the squadron leaders also made detailed records of the battlefield situation, which were important references for formulating follow-up action plans.

"According to the confirmation of the Azores garrison troops, the enemy initially had a total of eight aircraft carriers, one was sunk, and another six were damaged successively, and we found five enemy aircraft carriers in the attack, and two of them were severely damaged, I just went to the dark room to see the film, and they are less likely to recover their combat effectiveness in a short time, that is, we will focus on attacking the remaining three aircraft carriers, one Yorktown class of the US Navy, and two Tejas class of the British Navy."

The air combat commander of the "Ulster" was Major Derek, who had just turned forty years old, and this high-spirited officer had a neat comb of twenty-eight hairs, and his appearance and clothing were meticulously groomed, and behind him was a blackboard attached to the bulkhead, on which the distribution of the enemy fleet was marked with chalk, and the three aircraft carriers were circled separately.

"These two Tejas class aircraft carriers are somewhat similar in appearance to our Zeppelin-class, they are characterized by very fast speed, very strong self-defense firepower, and it is difficult for torpedo planes to pose a threat to them, so our plan is to use torpedo planes to distract them, Captain Brennan with a team of dive bombers to attack this ship in the north, and Captain O'Brien with another team to attack this ship in the south. Since the enemy's aircraft carriers and escort warships are equipped with a large number of anti-aircraft guns, it is recommended that you control the height of the bombs to more than 200 meters, otherwise it will be easy to be hit by the enemy when pulling up. As for fighter squadrons, if you arrive over the enemy fleet without strong resistance from enemy aircraft, and there are planes parked on the deck of the enemy aircraft carrier, you are allowed to strafe at low altitudes, and when you pull up, be careful to avoid the enemy's dense fire......"

The operational deployment was underway, and the figure of the captain of the ship, Colonel Coleman, suddenly appeared at the door of the conference room, and the pilots stood up in unison.

The Colonel walked to the blackboard: "Gentlemen, you have fought very well, and all of Ireland will be proud of you. In a little while, you will embark on a new journey, not worry, not proud, but remember that you are the elite soldiers of the Royal Irish Navy, the eagles of the sea to whom His Majesty has high hopes. ”

The pilots responded in unison: "The Sea Hawk is invincible!" ”

Colonel Coleman saluted the crowd with a solemn expression, and then motioned for Major Derek to continue the combat deployment, and he did not leave, but found an empty chair near the door and sat down.

Derek cleared his throat: "Gentlemen, the battlefield is full of possibilities, although we judge that the enemy's aviation has been dealt a heavy blow, we still have to be prepared to encounter a strong resistance. If when you approach the enemy fleet and find a large number of enemy planes in front, the fighters should not charge blindly, the German Navy's Heinkel fighters will open the way at the front, and the first task of the IR-30T is to protect the bomber formation, so your flight altitude only needs to be two or three hundred meters higher than the bomber formation. If an enemy plane swoops down from the height of the clouds, do not avoid it, and meet it decisively......"

In order to allow the pilots to be able to deal with various situations in stride, and to keep up with the German allies as much as possible, Derek made a very detailed deployment. When he was almost finished, the alarm bell sounded in the cabin of the fighter planes for an emergency lift-off, which meant that the third group of carrier-based aircraft was about to depart.

"You still have about half an hour to rest, go to the restaurant to eat something to replenish your energy, and relax your mind. Disbanded now! ”

After the pilots stood up again, Major Derek followed Colonel Coleman towards the bridge. By the time they were in the command room with a wide line of sight, an IR-30T with an auxiliary fuel tank had just taken off from the flight deck, and in the waiting area at the stern, a number of carrier-based aircraft that had been started were rapidly turning their propellers.

"A quarter of an hour ago, we received a telegram from the Command of the Garrison of the Azores, in which the latest aerial reconnaissance of the island of Texel revealed that the enemy had opened five field airfields on the island and deployed about 100 combat aircraft, and that the Command of the Garrison had warned us to be vigilant against these enemy aircraft, and that I was worried about more than that. Enemy planes have already launched an air strike on us, albeit not successfully, but at least probing our strength. If the enemy commander is convinced that we have only five battleships, he should send the main fleet to full speed to fight a fleet artillery battle with us or force us to temporarily withdraw from the Azores, in which case whether our next wave of air attacks will continue to attack the enemy's carrier formation or block the enemy's battlefleet is a matter of careful consideration. ”

Major Derek, a clever man who knows a little bit, nodded approvingly, and asked, "But you didn't interrupt me from deploying as planned. ”

"I reported my proposal to Admiral Setwick, presumably with Admiral Schwitter and Admiral Beinck of the German Navy, and before they came to a conclusion, all we could do was to prepare as planned. If they insist that the destruction of enemy aircraft carriers is the first priority, we can only carry it out and have no other way. ”

When he said this, Colonel Coleman's tone was slightly melancholy, with his rank and position was not enough to influence the strategic choice of the Allied fleet, but with his vision and resources, he may not be able to make a correct judgment, for example, he did not know that the three Mackensen-class battlecruisers of the German Navy would arrive in a few hours, although their individual combat power was not as good as the Count Tirpitz class, but it was enough to match the existence of the British monarch-class and the American Colorado-class battleships, Their addition will allow Bernke, who is good at fleet command, to gain more tactical space and the opportunity to take the enemy by surprise.

(End of chapter)