On January 15, 1941, at 9:35 a.m., a terrible siren suddenly sounded on the battleship "War Weathiness".

"Report, a group of aircraft was found in the west-northwest direction, suspected enemy formation......"

It's finally here!

The hearts of all the people in the "war-weary" commander tower were chuckling. Although everyone is prepared to be bombed, and we also know that this is the price that must be paid. But the thought of the possibility of sinking the battleships and aircraft carriers of the Mediterranean Fleet gives me a feeling of being cut by a knife.

"Good!" Cunningham clapped his hands and stood up excitedly, "Order the Eagle to send out all the Spitfires, and tell the lads to block the first wave of enemy attacks no matter what!"

In addition, send a telegram to the Middle East Air Force Command and ask them to immediately send fighters from Crete to reinforcements! ”

Now the main forces of the British Mediterranean Fleet are located only more than 400 kilometers from Crete, completely within the combat radius of the P-39 "Flying Serpent" fighters. In Cunningham's "verdict" plan, the "flying snake" on Crete is definitely a winning hole card.

As long as the "Sea Spitfire" on the "Eagle" and the "Flying Serpent" from Crete can save the Mediterranean fleet from fatal heavy losses, then the Italian fleet will definitely be seduced. So that the carrier-based aircraft of the B fleet and the British fighters on the island of Crete had a chance to deliver a fatal blow to the aircraft carriers of the Italians!

At 9:51, under the command of Cunningham, the main forces of the huge Mediterranean Fleet had already set up a circular air defense array, and dozens of cruisers and destroyers were lined up in 4 circles, respectively, tightly centering eight battleships (a group of 2 battleships) and 1 aircraft carrier (the Eagle and Rodney, and the Lorraine in a circle).

At the same time, all 28 Sea Spitfires on the USS Eagle were lifted into the air, and then desperately pulled up to gain a high-altitude position. After battling the Fokker Zero for more than a year, the British pilots also found a way to confront each other. It is to avoid fighting and use the method of pulling up and diving to attack.

Of course, such tactics can only be used by fighters of the class of "Spitfire". And it has to be without BF-109 participating in the battle, otherwise as soon as the "Spitfire" is pulled up, the BF-109 waiting at high altitude will have a chance to make a contribution.

However, although there is certainly no BF-109 at high altitude today, the collective dive of these "Sea Spitfires" still did not shoot down a Fokker Zero. This is due to the fact that the main purpose of the first wave of the dive of these "Sea Spitfires" was to break up the German Ju88 fleet, which was preparing to break through from a height of 3000 meters. Do not allow these medium bombers, with 2 500 kg armor-piercing shells, to enter the dive position. The British Royal Navy, which had suffered a lot of losses in Scapa Flow, is now very afraid of this large aircraft with twin engines and diving.

Although its bomb delivery accuracy is not as good as that of the Ju87 and Fokker 99, the destructive power of two 500-kilogram armor-piercing shells is no joke. Not to mention aircraft carriers, even battleships of the Rodney's class have to be half-killed if they are hit by a few.

Therefore, these "Sea Spitfire" can't care about finding Fokker Zero-style trouble, so they can only choose to break up the formation of Ju88 first. But as soon as their altitude dropped, they were immediately targeted by the Fokker Zero, which was guarding Ju88 at an altitude of 3,000 meters. The fierce air battle immediately unfolded at medium and low altitudes, but most of the "Sea Spitfire" still used the tactic of diving and then pulling up to get rid of the Fokker Zero, and only 3 "Sea Spitfire" unfortunately became the ghosts of the Fokker Zero's cannons.

At the same time, the 48 Ju88s that had been broken up in formation circled and regrouped and quickly found the location of the aircraft carrier. Major Val T. Heisenberg, who once participated in the air raids on Scapa Bay, was the commander-in-chief of the 1st Assault Wave, and he had already seen the situation on the sea surface clearly, and there were only 1 aircraft carrier out of 4 circular anti-aircraft arrays!

"Only 1 aircraft carrier!" He was right to the navigator and telegraph operator Rudolf. Sergeant Schmidt said, "Rudolph, how many motherships do you see?" ”

"Major, I only found 1 mothership either." Hans. Schmidt replied.

"Send a telegram." Major Val T. Heisenberg said, "Battleships 8, aircraft carriers 1 were found." By the time Schmidt had finished sending the telegram, Major Heisenberg began to issue orders over the airborne radio.

"Attention squadrons, I am Major Heisenberg, commander of the first assault wave. The first targets of the attack were British aircraft carriers, and then battleships. First a dive attack was launched by Ju88, and only then S.M.79 ......"

After more than a year of actual combat, now the level of attack on ships by German naval aviation has increased significantly. The organization and sequence of attacks were more reasonable, and the accuracy of the bombs was higher. If the bombing of Scapa Bay had been carried out by the current elite of the Navy, the losses of the British would have at least doubled.

Having arranged the sequence of attacks via the on-board radio, Major Val T. Heisenberg was the first to begin the assault in the face of dense anti-aircraft fire. The anti-aircraft fire of the British, although desperately fired, did not form any interference with Major Heisenberg and his crew. The bombs were dropped at an altitude of about 700 meters, and the "Eagle" aircraft carrier desperately made an S-shaped maneuver, flashing two 500-kilogram bombs, but not much, and one of the bombs exploded only a few meters from the port side of the "Eagle" aircraft carrier, forming a near-miss. Fortunately, this was an armor-piercing shell with a thickened shell and a reduced charge (charge coefficient of 15%), and the power of the explosion below the waterline did not pose much of a threat to a converted aircraft carrier such as the Eagle.

But this was only the beginning, 5 minutes later, after paying the price of 2 Ju88s shot down and 1 more damaged. The 500-kilogram bomb dropped by a Ju88 bomber belonging to the 4th Bomber Aviation Regiment of the German Navy accurately hit the deck of the "Eagle" aircraft carrier, forming a penetration, and exploded in the hangar of the "Eagle" aircraft carrier.

Only three minutes later, two more Ju88 bombs hit the "Eagle" and opened two more large holes in the stern deck, one of which penetrated directly into the boiler room of the "Eagle", and a large explosion occurred in the boiler room, causing the "Eagle" to lose most of its power.

The aircraft carrier "Eagle", having eaten three 500-kilogram armor-piercing bombs, although still stubbornly afloat, has lost its combat capability.

"Damn Ju88......" Cunningham in the war-weariness commander tower witnessed the entire process of Ju88's dive attack on the Eagle carrier.

Although the aircraft carrier "Eagle", which was already outdated in his plan, had a small number of aircraft, and was slow, was also an outcast, it was crippled in the first wave of enemy attacks, which greatly surprised him.

"Admiral, the deck of the aircraft carrier Eagle has been blown out of 3 large holes, the hangar has caught fire, the boiler compartment has been destroyed, and it has lost its combat capability!"

The communications staff reported dismal news. Cunningham took a deep breath and said, "Permission to abandon the Eagle if necessary." Also, let all the 'Sea Spitfires' fight until they run out of fuel, and then the pilot parachutes. ”

The loss of the "Eagle" is frustrating, but the greatest threat to the entire fleet is the loss of the cover of carrier-based aircraft soon.

At this time, the attack of German and Italian fighters was not over. After heavy damage to the "Eagle", the remaining Ju88, which did not drop bombs, did not continue to bomb the "Eagle", but began to attack the battleship "Rodney" near the "Eagle". The final task of terminating the Eagle was to be given to the Italian S.M.79 torpedo bombers, and 10 minutes after the Ju88 stopped attacking, six S.M.79s fired torpedoes at the Eagle which was covered in fire and smoke, two of which hit the underwater part of the Eagle on the port side. The aircraft carrier, formerly known as the British battleship built for the Chilean Navy, lacked the necessary mine protection design, and 2 Italian torpedoes tore fatal holes in its hull. At the same time, the fire, which had spread to the entire ship, also hindered the damage management repair. As a last resort, the captain of the "Eagle" had to give the order to abandon the ship at 10:22.

Just when the "Eagle" was abandoned, the battleship "Rodney", which twisted on the surface of the sea to do S-shaped evasion, had already avoided 10 500-kilogram bombs, and also shot down 2 Ju88s with the ship's anti-aircraft guns. But its good fortune also came to an end, and at 10:23 a.m., by William. A bomb dropped by a Ju88 bomber piloted by Second Lieutenant Liszt accurately hit the top of the Z turret of the "Rodney". Unfortunately, the 7.1-inch (181mm) thick armor on the top of the Rodney's main turret withstood the test and was not penetrated by the bomb, but the huge shock from the bomb explosion caused damage to the 279 radar on the roof of the bridge, and the explosion at the top of the turret formed a huge fireball that inspired the Ju88 pilots to continue attacking the solidly armored battleship.

2 minutes later, by Franz. The bombs dropped by the Ju88 bombers piloted by Sergeant Cole finally made a successful move, piercing the bow of the USS Rodney, which was not protected by strong armor, and opened a huge hole in the bow deck. Another 1 minute passed, by Hans. The bomb dropped by Sergeant Webb's Ju88 bomber hit the deck near the stern of the USS Nelson again, destroying a secondary gun turret and igniting the lifeboat on the deck of a nearby lifeboat. From the sky, smoke billowed from the stern of the battleship "Rodney", as if it had been badly damaged.

Smoke and fire make the Rodney one of the most eye-catching targets on the sea! (To be continued.) )