"Boom!" A huge fireball suddenly exploded on the deck of the battleship, and the fragments shot out in all directions, and the air waves burst out; The large cruiser "Boston", with a full load displacement of more than 23,000 tons, trembled violently under this sudden heavy blow, so that every crew member on it could not help but worry about whether its main structure would collapse. Near the explosion point on the starboard side, twisted and shattered steel plates rolled like twisted flowers, and a strong pungent smell of burning objects and burning explosives filled the air.

Smoke was pouring and fire was in full swing. U.S. soldiers wearing gas masks and holding rubber hoses engaged in a fierce battle with the rising flames; However, all the water dragons were rushing towards the center of the flames, and the momentum of their burning was still extremely amazing, and they were twenty meters away, and the American sailors had already felt the hot temperature on their faces, and they could no longer take a step forward. The power of the 800kg aerial bomb is unmatched by any kind of high-explosive artillery shell, and the half-ton high explosive charge filled in it is enough to cause damage to the unprotected parts of any ship. At this time, the large cruiser Boston ate this bomb under the dive bombardment of the other side, not only did the casualties of the crew instantly exceed 10%, but the key equipment, including a twin 127-mm secondary gun, seven small-caliber anti-aircraft guns, and a radio room, was also wiped out. The huge tremors also caused the hull plates of the zhì8 to shift significantly, and several watertight compartments had begun to be filled with raging seawater.

After receiving a report from the damage management department, Brigadier Chris, who commanded the fleet, was anxious; The ship's flooding inevitably meant a reduction in speed, and the best outcome for the Boston, which had a lot of destroyed surface equipment, was to return safely to its home port for several months of repairs. Before the departure of the fleet. I took into account all the possible situations. And luckily avoided the blockade and surveillance of German submarines all the way. But he didn't expect that the other party would use a valuable aircraft carrier to escort such a low-end operation. The seaplanes sent by themselves were effortlessly beaten down by the opposing side's regular fighters, so that the fleet could only wander around the North Atlantic Ocean like headless flies across 6,000 kilometers; In the face of the enemy's enemy attack planes, our own fleet, which has no air cover, can only rely on anti-aircraft artillery fire and evasion and evasion to support itself -- previous naval battles have proven many times that this kind of one-sided ship-to-air battle has no future at all!

"Damn the Germans, how dare they use the aircraft carriers separately like this, aren't they afraid of being broken by the fleet of the United States?" Chris stared at the German attack planes flying across the air, and roared loudly with shock and hatred. With a high-powered telescope hanging from his chest, he could clearly see the adjustments and preparations of the enemy aircraft before launching an attack: the tactical maneuver of calmly adjusting the formation outside the effective range of his small-caliber anti-aircraft guns in order to be able to cover each other in the attack. It's definitely not something that can be done with the interception of your own aircraft!

Soon, four bombers swooped down from different directions and heights on the starboard side, and once again launched another simultaneous attack on the Boston. Commodore Chris almost watched the opposing plane finish the series of actions of approaching-diving-dropping bombs, and then pulled up the nose of the plane in the unwilling eyes of all the American sailors, and rose into the air again with a roar in a rain of bullets. The black beer bottle-shaped object that suddenly grew in his sight gave him a strong urge to pull out his pistol and shoot into the sky in the extreme fear of dilated pupils.

"Boom!" The hull of the ship shook and the waves swayed. A bright burst of fire burst out of the hole in the deck, mingled with billowing black smoke. Although the explosive power of this armor-piercing bomb is far less earth-shattering than the high-explosive bomb just now. But it was the last blow any ship would have ever faced: falling at an angle of more than 70 degrees, they could effortlessly penetrate horizontal armor, which was already indestructible for shells at conventional engagement distances, and inflict fatal damage to the ship's core compartment. If you hit the power compartment, the speed will drop sharply, and if you hit the steering room, you will lose course; Hitting the motor compartment will directly affect the normal use of key equipment such as water pumps, turrets, and fans, and hitting the ammunition depot will directly end the battle! This time the Boston was very lucky, destroying the heavy armor-piercing bomb of an Essex-class aircraft carrier, hitting its unprotected secondary bow, but the bomb still destroyed the refrigerator compartment and its surrounding compartment next door under the violent detonation of the hull, and tore the double bottom of the area, causing a large amount of water to enter the bow. Compared with the displacement of the steel plate caused by the high-explosive bomb just now, the breach caused by the direct explosion of the armor-piercing bomb inside is undoubtedly much larger, which makes the most critical navigation ability of the Boston as an attack ship seriously deteriorate.

"The first wave of bombers sent back a report that they had achieved 4 hits and 1 close miss on a large enemy cruiser, and the American battleship was already in flames, and the black smoke rising from it made it impossible for our pilots to determine the specific injuries of the warship!" Two hundred kilometers away, on the heavy cruiser Hanover, the young adjutant reported excitedly to Colonel Cologne, who commanded the convoy. Although its own bomber formation also paid the price of one destruction and one wound in the attack, and two pilots were killed, such an outcome is undoubtedly the situation that the officers and men of either side are most happy to see. Even for a large battleship, it would be quite a matter of damage to eat four heavy bombs, and the blow to a cruiser whose armor indicators were far inferior to that would be even greater. What's more, there is still a wave of torpedo planes on their own side that have already lifted into the air; When the superstructure and anti-aircraft fire of the enemy ships have been blown to the ground, it is the perfect time for them to replenish their guns!

The ensuing battle was just as the German pilots had predicted. When the six torpedo planes arrived at the battlefield due to the limited single-wheel release capability of the escort aircraft carrier, the largest American battleship was still in flames and smoke; It was significantly buried in the bow, and both anti-aircraft fire and evasion speed had fallen to their lowest point since its commissioning. In the face of American warships that could only be slaughtered, the German pilots did not let go of this great opportunity to receive medals and bonuses; White tracks soon appeared on the surface of the sea, and their vigorous movements of 40 knots of high-speed wolf rush made the faces of the US Navy officers and men pale. Experienced German pilots soon spotted a gap in the air defense on the starboard side of the Boston and launched an intensive attack in this direction; Although the power of aviation torpedoes is the smallest of the various carrying platforms, they are still a terrifying existence that every warship officer and soldier fears like a femme fatale!

With the first mate's best efforts, the Boston, sailing at 26 knots, managed to avoid four of the torpedoes, but the other two successfully hit the target. Large swaths of the hull's steel armor and internal partitions were torn apart in an instant, and high-pressure waves began to rush into the interior of the hull. The situation faced by this cutting-edge warship, which has just been in service for less than two years, has finally reached an extremely grim stage: Not to mention the task of breaking the diplomatic relationship now, even returning to the base safely has become an unattainable luxury for the hundreds of officers and men on board.

Towards noon, the first group of bombers landed on the Nymph, and the pilots took time to eat and rest, while the ground crew was busy refueling the planes and loading bombs so that they could take to the air again in a short time. According to the reports sent back by the torpedo formation, the large American cruiser still insisted on floating on the surface of the sea and retreated to the northwest at a speed of 13 knots; While amazed by the tenacious vitality of the other side, the German aircraft carriers also became more determined to annihilate them in this sea area. After some intense preparation, the seven bombers were once again ejected from the short deck, and for the seriously wounded and struggling Boston, they were the last offensive swords to harvest the head.

"The 7th cruiser fleet has just suffered a crushing defeat in the sea area of A67. They were attacked by German aircraft carrier-based aircraft, and the cruiser Boston was unfortunately sunk; Combined with the intelligence that several submarines such as the S-201 and S-137 encountered enemy aircraft during the safari and were forced to dive to evade, we can almost conclude that some German aircraft carriers have been active in the Atlantic route as an escort force for their transport fleet. As a result, it will be difficult for traditional surface ships to break up diplomatic relations. As long as the weather is good, the superiority of the opponent's air power is enough to blind our fleet, and we can only withstand the beating of the opponent's aircraft without any power to fight back. And in bad weather and at night, when planes cannot be dispatched, the reconnaissance range of our fleet is also limited to only twenty kilometers, and to find a target throughout the Atlantic is tantamount to looking for a slender stitch left behind in the study. Admiral Johnson summed it up in his report afterwards.

"Unless a balanced fleet of fleet carriers is sent, a separate breakdown of the cruiser will not only fail to achieve the desired results, but will also carry a huge risk of losing warships in vain." Rear Admiral Nimitz, commander of the 1st Battle Fleet, had a flickering eye, and proposed a plan to his superiors that was intended to be a shame, "Since the Germans have used the aircraft carrier forces separately, then our army should seize this fighter and concentrate superior forces to deal a severe blow to the opponent." In addition, it is time for the Atlantic Fleet to strike again. (To be continued......)

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