The Athletic God with a standard displacement of 11,000 tons carries 20 carrier-based aircraft, in addition to the eight Sea Fighters, there are also 12 Swordfish attack aircraft, but as a ship-to-ship attack aircraft, the ceiling of the Swordfish is only more than 3,000 meters, seeing the J-5 flying freely at an altitude of seven or eight thousand meters, the captain of the Athletic God did not even have the slightest idea of letting the Swordfish take off, but just ordered the only three four-inch anti-aircraft guns on the ship to shoot desperately.

After leading the fighter brigade back to the most comfortable altitude of 8,000 meters in the Jian-5, Gao Jian roared in the communicator: "Stinky boys, who is so fast?" Lao Tzu got into a fight. ”

In the channel of the brigade, there was a burst of laughter, and in this battle, another pilot shot down five enemy planes and was promoted to ace pilot.

The real feast will come from the twenty-four H-5s of the two bomber groups, and with their arrival, the artillery fire over Phillip Bay has become more intense. In addition to the Athletics and two battleships, this Mediterranean squadron also had two heavy cruisers, one light cruiser, and more than a dozen destroyers. Unlike the slow rate of fire of large-caliber guns on battleships, a large number of destroyers weaved a barrage over the fleet with dense firepower. Although the first large-caliber shells in the middle were wiped out, the bomber pilots felt that the greater threat was the anti-aircraft guns with a small caliber and a fast rate of fire, so the bomber group did not rush to aim at the large ships in the center of the fleet, but took the lead in dropping 500-kilogram medium bombs on the periphery of the slightly weaker anti-aircraft fire, and the targets were precisely those destroyers with a displacement of 1 to 2,000 tons in the outermost circle of the fleet. This is the stripping tactic formulated by Zhong Yi for the Air Force, which is the name of it, that is, the bombers start to attack from the outermost periphery, peeling off the outer protection of the Mediterranean Fleet layer by layer, anyway, the channel is blocked by mines, and they can't escape. Of course, Zhong Yi had another sentence at the end, and Yun Jiu did not convey it to the bomber pilots: Can a woman who has been stripped naked still resist?

In the first attack, the bomber group did not carry large aerial bombs and tuna torpedoes, all medium bombs of 500 kilograms, but for Tribal and Shakespeare-class destroyers with a displacement of less than two thousand tons, the results were still catastrophic. Ten minutes later, seven destroyers lost their combat effectiveness, and most of them were directly hit by bombs and broken in two. and the most powerful light cruiser, the Cereal, was also under the watchful eye of the pilots, and two bombs were hit on the left chord and the aft deck at the same time. This 5,000-ton veteran ship of World War I was like a dolphin jumping up in the sea, smashing heavily into the sea and slowly sinking.

Seeing his masterpiece, Yun Jiu, who personally set up the plane, smiled, "Attention all planes, the bombs that have been dropped will return on their own, change the big guys, and we will play bigger next time." ”

With the departure of the H-5s, the hustle and bustle of Phillip Bay finally fell silent for a while, and the smoke of the damaged battleships was billowing out, and the oil stains floating on the sea and the wreckage of the sunken battleships reminded people that the Royal Mediterranean Squadron had just been attacked.

In the command room on the bridge of the Royal Oak, Admiral Pound was silent, looking at the boat on the sea that was busy searching for and rescuing the sailors who had fallen into the water, and even Captain Rich walked in, and Mr. Admiral's tall body did not move.

Major General Rich hesitated for a moment, but still said softly: "Commander, the number of enemy bombers is not very large, but I believe that they must have a second attack." ”

The Admiral heard Richie's words, but didn't make any response, and Richie couldn't care about being polite, "Admiral......"

"Is there any news from the Brock?" The admiral did not turn around.

"Well, the Brock has reached the mouth of the sea, and it can be confirmed that the Hunter has been sunk by the opposing planes, and the captain, Lieutenant Commander Cambich, reports that they are hurrying to clear mines."

As if he had expected this outcome, Admiral Pound was not surprised that the Hunter was sunk, "Order the tribal-class destroyers to take the lead and make a course with their main guns, and we must leave Phillip Bay and return to the Tasman Sea." ”

Hearing this order, Richie frowned, but doubted that the Royal Navy Father, who had participated in the Battle of Jutland, undoubtedly required great courage, and the rear admiral still saluted and turned to carry out the order. But at this moment, Richie definitely did not expect that it was this order that hastened the demise of the Mediterranean detachment.

Five destroyers took the lead, two heavy cruisers followed, and the Athletic and another battleship, the Malaya, flanked the flagship, the Royal Elephant Tree, in a formation that resembled a football field. But the Italians are something to play back, and the British are not good at it, just like the next battle.

When Yun Jiu led the bombers back to the sky over Phillip Bay again, he found that the warships of the Royal Navy had sailed into the narrow channel of the estuary, and the aircraft carrier Athletic, which the commander had told to be sunk, was in a position of delay, and it was several nautical miles away from the destroyer in front of it...... What, can you still resist?

"Tuna ready, target Athletic God!" Yun Jiu calmed down his ecstasy and calmly gave the order in the communicator.

The six H-5s loaded with tuna torpedoes immediately broke away from the group and descended in altitude, and according to the pre-arranged attack sequence, the first H-5 descended to a height of 1,000 meters above the sea surface, and the two slender tuna broke free from the flanks and smashed into the water in a graceful attitude.

Seeing that the bomb-5 that threw the thunder had been safely pulled up and returned to the formation, but there was still no movement on the water surface, Yun Jiu scolded: "Damn, the water is not deep enough, and it has sunk to the bottom." ”

There is no way, Phillip Bay is not deep in the first place, not to mention the inlet channel here, it is too difficult to drop torpedoes by air. "Again, if you descend to 500 meters, you really can't do it, so you have to use bombs."

The second H-5 received the order to immediately descend in altitude, the nose was aimed at the tail of the aircraft carrier, and the two anti-aircraft guns in the rear of the Athletic fired frantically, but the pilot of the bomber was not affected, and pressed the firing button of the torpedo at an altitude of 500 meters, and then immediately pulled it up -- and without pulling it up again, it landed into the sea.

There was still no movement, just when Yun Jiu was about to give up the torpedo attack and change to a large bomb bombardment, there was a sudden loud bang in the rear of the Athletic God, and the 11,000-ton displacement of the Athletic God shook like a small fishing boat in the wind and waves, and a tuna tore a hole several meters large in the left rear chord of the aircraft carrier, and the turbulent sea water rushed into the cabin at once, leaving no chance for the British to lose control, the hull of the ship began to tilt, and the swordfish that did not take off on the deck fell into the sea, and the captain had no choice but to order to abandon the ship, and a few minutes later, The ancestor of this modern aircraft carrier, head up and tail down, was completely swallowed by the merciless sea.