How dangerous is it to lose a huge fleet of carrier-based aircraft?

No one knows it better than Cunningham.

When the British Navy Shanghai ordered the returning carrier-based aircraft to go to the land airfield in Tunisia, it was still lamenting that it was fortunate that the Mediterranean Sea was not very large, so that the lives of those precious naval pilots could be saved.

But in the next moment, he realized that the Mediterranean Sea was indeed a big bathtub, and it was really not suitable for the activities of large fleets - especially aircraft carrier formations.

The main forces of the Northern Fleet, which sailed from the Valletta base in Malta, were finally in the waters off the island of Linosa and received a call back from the Linglong reconnaissance aircraft: the British fleet had been discovered.

With the roar of Guan Canghai, the bells of the eight marshal-class aircraft carriers that had been uninterrupted for several minutes suddenly rang. The distance of more than 300 nautical miles has already entered the combat range of all carrier-based aircraft of the Northern Fleet.

"Destroy the C fleet", this idea that is difficult to resist the temptation, made Guan Canghai enter a state full of blood and buffs in an instant.

Under the command of Cunningham, the C Fleet had given up the idea of returning directly to Gibraltar on the main route north of Jalit Island, and in the face of the Allied air fleet, which still had the ability to attack, the C Fleet, which had lost most of its carrier-based aircraft, continued to sail on the main route, which was undoubtedly self-defeating.

So, Cunningham made what he now thought was the most correct choice, but soon realized that it was the most wrong.

If the C Fleet does not turn around and uses several escort carriers that have been wounded and lowered at speed, or even ships such as the Radiance, to hold back the attack of the Allied aircraft carrier formation, while the other ships continue to sail at full speed towards Algiers, perhaps in the next wave of Allied attacks, the C Fleet will inevitably suffer more damage, but it can make the main force of the Northern Fleet out of reach.

With the current strength of the Allied aircraft carrier group in the western Mediterranean, it is not capable of completely annihilating the still huge C fleet. Not to mention the lack of battle between the Gongjin and the Harrier, there is already a serious shortage of air-to-ground missiles in the fleet, which is not enough to support the next wave of saturation attacks.

However, there are not so many ifs and assumptions in this world.

In the fateful choice that claimed to affect the fate of the empire, Cunningham firmly ordered the fleet to turn, and took all the wounded warships with him, and entered the Jarlit Strait at a speed of less than twenty knots.

Detouring the narrow Jarlit Strait wasted the last chance for the C Fleet to escape from the tiger's mouth. And taking the damaged Radiance and Elizabeth with them is to completely send the C fleet to the final graveyard.

Forty minutes later, a large dark cloud quickly chased in the direction of the Tunis Strait.

It was not a dark cloud, it was a group of carrier-based aircraft of the Northern Fleet that obscured the sky.

Guan Canghai, who was in a state of excitement, launched a life-fighting blow. He flew all the carrier-based aircraft in the fleet to launch the most fierce attack on the C fleet. Three squadrons of Brute Dragons even took off the hung Hong's Penguin-3 air-to-surface missiles and replaced them with old-fashioned 500-kilogram large aerial bombs.

Isn't it said that it will be difficult for the Hong-3 to inflict fatal damage on battleships? Then play old-fashioned diving. Didn't all Japanese battleships sink like this?

What kind of general leads what kind of soldiers, the pilots of the three squadrons of the brute dragon are more excited than Commander Guan, and they all forget about the combat regulations of the naval aviation unit.

Dive bombing, which is only played by the bravest pilots, is known as flying in hell.

"Nima, why are these boys so happy?"

Commander Guan thought that it would be necessary to organize death squads so that the pilots could give up safe missile attacks and resume dangerous dive attacks! Unexpectedly, as soon as he proposed this idea, the squadron leaders of several flying squadrons came over and snatched this extremely dangerous mission as if they were fighting.

"These crazy people!" After scolding, Guan Canghai himself laughed, isn't he the same? More than 500 carrier-based aircraft on eight aircraft carriers were all dispatched. If the multinational forces could launch a counterattack, the Northern Fleet would have only a few spare Eagle planes in the air.

"How can there be immortals in war? Luck is always reserved for those who dare to take risks! Thinking of the few words that Jiang Yunzhi often put on his lips, Guan Canghai Zhongmou Ship smiled in the command room, "This sentence is too special for Lao Tzu's taste!" ”

At 8:22 p.m., several "eagle" squadrons, the vanguard of the attack aircraft group of the Northern Fleet, rushed to the Jarlit Strait, and the black smoke still emitted from several wounded battleships in the relatively narrow channel of the Strait became the pilots' last indicators. However, the Liao Liao interceptor planes that took off in the C fleet were not enough for many "eagles" to ravage, just like a rabbit being shared by a large group of vultures, and the big guys were still unsatisfied.

However, Guan Canghai didn't expect that the Gongjin formation, which was responsible for blocking and containing the mission, would beat the C fleet so badly. In his imagination, even if the C fleet suffered heavy losses, it would definitely have a strong counterattack ability.

Therefore, a large number of "eagles" with bombs hanging on their bombs circled and stared at the "eagles" in the eyes, looking for the surrounding air targets.

"Nima, what about the air force of the multinational force? This strait is so close to land, and there will be no planes to rescue their fleet! ”

The 30001 "Eagle", which was in control of himself, made a beautiful sideflip maneuver, and the commander of the attack aircraft group, Senior Colonel Gao Jian, muttered. The other "Eagle" pilots in the channel laughed arrogantly.

I didn't hear that there were more enemy planes! If Guan Canghai hears this, he will be angry.

The air-to-air missiles mounted under the wings were all air-to-air missiles, and Gao Jian was not bored enough to hit the battleship with a cannon, so he had to complain a few words at high altitude, and led nearly 200 "Eagles" to give up the airspace above the C fleet.

With the arrival of that dark cloud, Cunningham's eyes were already full of defeat. The British shipborne radar was not bad, and the light spots that almost filled the screen completely shattered the last glimmer of hope in the admiral's heart. Even the piercing air defense sirens sounding on the warships were deaf.

Cunningham just kept muttering the word "finish"?

More than a dozen coastal airfields in Tunisia were bombed at almost the same time, and hundreds of Allied warplanes waiting to take off were destroyed on the ground. The Allied skunk bombs drilled into the ground and made one large crater after another on the runway that were more than ten meters deep, so deep that the fighter could bury them inside. The carrier-based aircraft returning there had to make a forced landing on the sea and on the beach.

This means that Fleet C has lost all possible rescues, including its own carrier-based aircraft force, and can you count on the fighters that have been forced to land again after running out of fuel and returning to the skies over the Strait of Jallit?

And, even if you can come back, is there any point? Cunningham opened his closed eyes violently, and glanced up at the "Eagle" group in the sky, "Nima, there are so many, and I am not afraid of bumping into myself." ”

In other words, Cunningham deserves to be an epic boss, and the admiral's fragmented thoughts have indeed had an effect. In the Battle of the Jarlit Strait, two idle "Eagles" collided and both crashed, which was also the only loss of the "Eagle" group led by Gao Jian.

But the damage of Cunningham's boss ultimate is limited to this, and the Allied attack on the ship, which is more saturated than saturated, has been launched in the scolding of Gao Jian.

Such a large group of aircraft, and all of them are sonic and subsonic fighters, the early warning system of the Fengshen Pterodactyl immediately became a waste, and the chaotic air was completely coordinated between the leaders of the various squadrons.

Gao Jian had a headache watching from high in the air, and he was disturbed when he listened, and shouted: "Regardless of the results of the battle, according to the chord number of the aircraft carrier to which the carrier-based aircraft squadron belongs, attack in turn." Immediately after shooting, return home. ”

"Haha, captain, just leave after shooting, you obviously don't admit it if you lift your pants"

"Haha......"

"Fuck off! Don't talk nonsense, don't add to Lao Tzu's blockage! "When is it, I still have the heart to make a yellow joke, just now the two "eagles" collided, and the green tendons on Gao Jianqi's forehead were exposed. What could be more humiliating? I didn't get beaten by the enemy, so I continued to play on my own.

Sometimes, things that seem complicated are actually very simple as long as you get to the point. For example, chasing a girl...... Well, for example, on this battlefield, the idea of the high sword is very useful.

The Brute Dragon's radar is also the Dolphin-6, which can attack four targets at the same time, and each Brute Dragon has eight Hongs, which is a matter of two salvos, and it will leave after shooting...... After shooting, return home.

The air attack gradually became orderly, and in the British Mediterranean Fleet, with this indiscriminate attack, several small and medium-sized destroyers and frigates were sunk, and the British army's protective ring of close fire protection was opened.

The frequency of large capital warships being hit gradually increased, especially when the three Brute Dragon squadrons, which did not hang missiles and bombs, used the firepower of the C fleet to concentrate their firepower on the "Hong's penguins" and suddenly broke into the fleet's fire circle and dived and dropped large aerial bombs.

More and more brute dragon formations approached to attack, and the pterodactyl torpedo planes that arrived later also began to drop in altitude, aiming at their targets to release "bluefin tuna".

The three-dimensional attack launched at the same time in the upper, middle and lower channels quickly achieved results.

The R-class battleship Sovereign suddenly let out a loud bang, drowning out the rest of the battlefield. The roar of the plane and the explosion of the Hong's -3 missile are almost like mosquitoes humming compared to them.

Everyone's eyes couldn't help but be attracted by this loud noise, and they saw that the huge body of the Monarch was easily broken in the explosion like a piece of cake, and it was broken in two.

In the communication channel of the Manlong squadron of the aircraft carrier Boyan, there was a burst of ugly and arrogant laughter. "Bullshit R-level, it's not like Lao Tzu can mess with a bomb."

Blown in two by a single bomb, the Sovereign is undoubtedly quite a cup.

However, the aerial bomb thrown by the high-speed dive-flying dragon already carried great kinetic energy, not to mention that it was a 500-kilogram large aerial bomb, which battleship was hit at the root of the chimney, and then penetrated into the boiler room and exploded, and then caused the explosion of the heavy oil furnace, can it survive?

With such an attack, I'm afraid that a lump of iron will also be blown up (smashed) out of a big hole.

Within five minutes, nearly 30,000 tons of the Sovereign sank into the not deep Jalit Strait.

The sinking of the Sovereign was like a domino, the main battleship of the C Fleet was hit by bombs, and several large ships on fire seemed to be about to roast the waters of the Jarlit Strait.

No one wants to sink to the bottom of the sea, no one wants to die without a place to bury, but Cunningham knows that he has a chance to fulfill this wish that is easy for others to achieve.

"So what?" From the day he became a naval officer, Cunningham was not afraid to sleep at the bottom of the sea, and for naval people, it was the best destination.

"My life is not enough, but is this Jarlit Strait the last graveyard of Fleet C?"