Chapter 246: The Russian Fleet with the Same Fate
The Helios supership flew to the head of the Russian Navy's Catherine II ironclad battleship with a speed of only 13.5 knots, and let the ironclad battleship withstand 4 800 kg bombs, which means that all the bombs thrown at it by the Helios supership hit, although it did not sink Catherine II at once, but after an explosion, the ironclad battleship was almost blown up into a sieve.
The captain of the Catherine II had to order the abandonment of the ship, and finally the Catherine II slowly sank into the sea, and the Russian naval officers and men above were only killed by the bomb More than 50 people, and the other 580 people were successfully evacuated from the warship, and the lifeboat put down from the Catherine II stayed on the sea surface and waited for rescue.
The Pobedonosets, which was also at the same speed, was also hit by three 800-kilogram bombs of the Helios supership, and the deadliest one of the bombs penetrated the deck armor, drilled into an ammunition compartment for the supply of 305 mm main gun shells, detonated hundreds of shells inside, and blew off the keel of the Pobedonosets, and the hull of the ship was broken into two and sank into the sea, and only 5 of the 630 Russian naval officers and sailors on the warship finally escaped, floating on the sea and waiting for the rescue of other Russian warships.
The Joan of Arc-class large fast armored armored cruiser Trofimovna with a displacement of 11,092 tons was flown overhead by the Helios supership and dropped four 800-kilogram bombs, two of which hit the Trofimovna, one of which destroyed a 40-caliber 193-mm main gun and a nearby 40-caliber 138-mm secondary gun. Although it caused a lot of fire, it was not fatal. Fatal was another 1 bomb. Directly penetrated the 51 mm deck armor of the Trofimovna and drilled into an ammunition compartment for the main gun shells. Detonating hundreds of 193-millimeter shells inside, the large fast armored cruiser broke in two and sank to the bottom of the sea with all 600 Russian naval officers and sailors.
Although the Helios supership's record was a little worse than that of the Hercules supership of the same model, it also had a brilliant record of sinking 4 all-steel battleships, 2 ironclad battleships and 1 large fast armored cruiser, and the Helios also damaged many of the main warships of the Russian Navy.
The Borodino-class all-steel battleship Tucum was flown to the head by the Helios supership and dropped four 800-kilogram bombs, one of which hit the all-steel battleship with a displacement of 13,500 tons, destroying a twin 40-caliber 305 mm main gun turret, leaving the Tucum with half of its main gun firepower. Although a fire broke out, it was soon stopped.
The all-steel battleship Balakilevo of the same class was hit by two of the four 800-kilogram bombs dropped by the Helios supership, both of which penetrated the 76 mm deck armor of the Balarevo and blew out two large holes in the hull under the water surface on one side, although in the end, the Russian naval officers and sailors on the Balakilevo closed the watered cabin and injected seawater into the other side to maintain the balance of the hull. The Balakilevo did not sink, but the speed of the Balakilevo, which was loaded with more than 2,000 tons of seawater, had dropped from 18 to 14 knots.
The Catherine II-class ironclad battleship Chesma was hit by the Helios supership flying overhead, and one of the four 800-kilogram bombs dropped hit one. Blew up one single-unit 35-caliber 305-mm main gun, blew up the barrels of the main gun, and smashed another single-unit 35-caliber 305-mm main gun. Lost a third of the Chesma's main guns.
The Mars and Helios superships bombed the Russian Navy's Second Pacific Fleet together, sinking and damaging many Russian warships. In addition to sinking 1 large fast armored cruiser at the beginning of the bombing, the Mars large airship also sank 1 other large fast armored cruiser of the same class, the Duniasha.
Dunyasha was dropped four 300-kilogram bombs by the Mars airship. Two of them hit the target, one bomb penetrated the 51 mm deck armor and exploded in the hull, and the underwater armor on the side blew out a large hole more than 4 meters long and 2 meters wide, and the other bomb also penetrated the deck armor and exploded in the hull, detonating the ammunition compartment of a secondary shell, and the power of the explosion of hundreds of 138 mm shells blew up the warship with a displacement of 11,092 tons in two. All 600 Russian naval officers and sailors sank to the bottom of the Ussuri Bay with the warship, and none of them managed to escape.
In addition, the Mars airship also sank four protective cruisers, four destroyers and three torpedo boats of the Russian Navy's Second Pacific Fleet.
In addition, the Joan of Arc-class large fast armored cruiser Galina was hit by one of the four 800 kg bombs dropped by the large airship Mars, which penetrated the deck armor and exploded in the hull, destroying part of the steam engine pipes, causing the large fast armored cruiser to drop its speed from 21.8 knots to 18 knots.
Three protective cruisers and three destroyers of the Russian Navy's Second Pacific Fleet were also damaged by bombs dropped by the large airship Mars.
The two airships loaded with bombs that had been dropped on the head of the Russian Navy's Second Pacific Fleet turned around and left almost along with the three airships on the head of the French Navy's expeditionary fleet, and retreated towards Russky Island.
Captain Avdey, the flagship of the Russian Navy's Second Pacific Fleet, Astrakhan, said to the commander Rozhdestwinsky in despair: "Commander, the enemy's airship has finally flown away, and we have also shortened the distance between us and the fleet of the Northeast Navy to about 8,000 meters, but the losses of our fleet are too great, and the entire formation is also chaotic, do we continue to engage the Northeast Navy?" ”
The Russian Pacific Second Fleet was originally lined up in three battle lines before being bombed by airships, but in order to avoid the bombing of airships, these three battle lines are now completely chaotic, and many of the battleships above the original battle line have disappeared.
Although the commander Rozhdestwinsky's face was very ugly, he slammed the table in the bridge with his fist, and then shouted: "We haven't lost yet!" The enemy's airships have no bombs to retreat, and we, together with the French naval fleet, still have an advantage over the fleet of the Northeast Navy, Makarov, immediately let the main warships re-form the battle line, seize the T-shape, meet the opposite Northeast Navy, and the other warships follow the main warships. Pass on my order, for the honor of the Russian Navy, all officers and men of the Navy must fight to the end! In addition, let destroyers and torpedo boats immediately rescue the officers and men on the sea. ”
Afdjey hesitated for a moment and then replied loudly, "Yes! Your Excellency, Commander, I will immediately ask the Bannermen to inform the other warships. ”
When Rozhdestwinsky went to Avdjey to arrange for the flag soldiers to send flags to other warships, he walked to the observation window in the bridge and looked in the direction of Vladivostok with a telescope, he was now very worried about the First Pacific Fleet in Vladivostok, he knew that since Lin Daxin had airships that could carry a large number of bombs to bomb the French expeditionary fleet and his own fleet, he would not let go of the First Pacific Fleet in the port of Vladivostok, and he did not know what the situation of the First Pacific Fleet was now.
At this time, Makarov, the commander of the First Pacific Fleet of the Russian Navy, was already crying without tears, and when the French Expeditionary Fleet and the Russian Second Pacific Fleet were bombed indiscriminately by five airships of the Northeast Air Force, he led the main force of the Russian fleet in the port of Vladivostok in accordance with the agreement with Admiral Rozhdestvinsky, and led the main force in the port of Vladivostok from the channel reserved by the Russian Navy in the spider web-like mine array, almost pouring out of the nest, preparing to be in the Ussuri Bay outside the port of Vladivostok. Together with the Franco-Russian combined fleet, they attacked Lin Daxin's main force of the Northeast Navy.
When the warships of the Russian Second Pacific Fleet were sailing in the channel of the mine array, suddenly three behemoths flew in the sky, and Makarov recognized at a glance that this was an airship, and it was a particularly large airship, and he immediately thought that such a huge airship could carry bombs and bomb warships on the sea, so he was shocked and asked the whole fleet to be careful that the airships on their heads dropped bombs on them.
Makarov's idea was not wrong, and the three behemoths flew quickly to the head of the Russian First Pacific Fleet and threw bombs at the warships in the narrow channel.
In order to bomb the large warships in the port of Vladivostok in Russia, most of the three large airships were 800 kg of bombs, and the 300 kg bombs were only missing, and the 100 kg bombs were not loaded on the airship at all.
Although the warships of the First Pacific Fleet of the Russian Navy also immediately raised the angle of the small-caliber rapid-fire guns and fired fiercely at the three airships, like the Russian-French combined fleet, the small-caliber rapid-fire guns posed a very weak threat to the airships at an altitude of 2,000 meters because of the angle and range.
Moreover, the narrow channel in the mine array made it very difficult for the Russian warships to dodge the bombs of the airships, and it took three large airships less than 20 minutes to dump a total of 75 tons of bombs on the heads of the Russian warships. When the three airships that had dropped their bombs turned around and flew in the direction of Russky Island, the Russian Navy's First Pacific Fleet was left in a mess in the narrow channel. (To be continued......) R1292