"Boom!" An orange-red fireball scythes on the side of Fort C in the Gibraltar Fort. hair, gravel splashed everywhere. After the explosion of a 343-mm armor-piercing projectile, a large crater was left on the side of the turret, which was more than a meter deep! It's just that for the British troops inside the fort, there is no threat for the time being. Although the hardness of the limestone is not high, the rock layer several meters thick can still form a good protection for the British troops inside the fort!

The artillery battle between the Indian Ocean Fleet of the Chinese Navy and the British Navy at the fortress of Gibraltar was very fierce, and the high-caliber naval artillery shells and fortress artillery shells flew in the air, and the sharp whistling sound produced by the shells piercing the air resounded on the sea near Gibraltar.

On the battleship 'Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty, Admiral Li Haitao held a telescope and observed the shelling. The 11 battleships did not line up in a battle line, but dispersed and fired freely at the Gibraltar fortress

The fortress has strong defenses, and if it is lined up, the probability of being hit is much higher. Spread out, cruise on the surface of the sea, and then launch a bombardment on the fortress to minimize the chance of being hit!

"Commander, the British fortresses are relatively strong! According to the information we have obtained, the five forts of the British were built directly by hollowing out two terraces south of Gibraltar, and the limestone above the forts was several meters thick. If you want to break down, I'm afraid it's a little difficult! Vice Admiral Wu Zhiyuan, chief of staff of the fleet, said! The main artillery shells of the battleship, the trajectory of firing and hitting the target, was a parabola. It's very difficult to hit the top of the target! It is even more difficult to prove that the fortress of the British Navy was bombarded!

"It's okay! We still have enough time, and tomorrow the aircraft carrier Jiuhua Mountain and the aircraft carrier Putuo Mountain will arrive. When the time comes, deliver pinpoint strikes on these batteries with dive bombers! The heavy aerial bombs carried by dive bombers were dropped from a height of several hundred meters, which was much more powerful than the 343-mm naval guns! As long as two heavy aerial bombs hit the British batteries, these batteries will only be destroyed! Admiral Li Haitao said! Although the British fortress was strong, he didn't care! Even if the fleet can't destroy these fortresses, as long as the carrier-based aircraft are dispatched, they will always smash the turtle shells of these fortresses! And once the five batteries on the outskirts of Gibraltar were destroyed, the British Navy's fortifications of the fortress of Gibraltar would be almost wiped out! When the time comes, under the cover of fierce naval artillery, the Chinese marines can easily seize Gibraltar!

Lieutenant General Wu Zhiyuan nodded, he had also watched the performance of carrier-based aircraft, and the Chinese Navy's air force's 'Fish Eagle's dive bombers carried special armor-piercing bombs, and when they dived and dropped bombs at an altitude of 500 meters, the hit rate was as high as 80 percent or more. Each armor-piercing projectile is capable of piercing through a solid rock layer two or three meters thick. For these limestones, there is no problem. Up to two armor-piercing shells can penetrate the top defenses of a turret and destroy the entire turret! By the time all five batteries in Gibraltar were destroyed, the British would have to be destroyed!

"Boom!" A 343-mm gun fired from the battleship Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty hit the front of Fort A of the Gibraltar fortress, but when the smoke cleared, only a crater of more than one meter in diameter appeared on the front of Fort A. And the A battery continued to fire, as if the shelling had not done him any damage!

On a rocky hill north of Gibraltar, the commander of the British Navy's Mediterranean Fleet, Roslyn. Lieutenant General Wells is also watching this artillery battle! He was very satisfied with the forts of the Gibraltar forts. In just half an hour, he had already seen the fort's batteries hit several times. However, the batteries continued to fire. It is clear that the strong protection of the battery withstood the shelling of the Mediterranean Fleet of the Chinese Navy. It's just that until now, the batteries of the fortress of Gibraltar have not been able to hit the warships of the Chinese Navy. Lieutenant General Wells was somewhat dissatisfied. After all, no matter how good the defense of the turret is, as the number of hits increases, the protection will gradually decrease! Once the rock formations around or on top of the fort are destroyed, the fort will no longer be able to hold on. Only when the defense is still strong can we inflict serious damage on the Chinese Navy first, so that we can continue to hold on. Of course, Roslyn. Vice Admiral Wells did not expect to defeat the Indian Ocean Fleet of the Chinese Navy by relying on the fortress of Gibraltar, he knew that there was absolutely no such possibility! However, if he could use this fortress to damage or even sink as many warships of the Chinese Navy as possible, he would be satisfied!

"It seems that the losses of the Royal Navy of the British Empire over the years have lost a number of the best officers and men! Otherwise, the current result is definitely not like this! "Roslyn. Lieutenant General Wells muttered! The British Navy's failures made the British Navy lose a large number of warships at the same time, but also a large number of well-trained soldiers, although there are many new soldiers, but the quality is too poor, far from being able to compare with the previous elite troops! In Rosslyn. In the opinion of Vice Admiral Wells, this is also an important reason for the loss of the British Navy's supremacy at sea! I think that at the beginning, in the Victorian era, the British naval officers and men were the best in the world!

"Boom!" A 280-mm armor-piercing projectile fired from Fort B of Gibraltar hit the bow of the battleship Iron Duke of the Chinese Navy. After the shell exploded, a large hole was blown out of the bow of the ship, but other than that, it only caused more than a dozen casualties among the navy soldiers, and did not cause any greater casualties to the battleship Iron Duke, nor did it have any effect on the combat power of the battleship Iron Duke!

The fierce artillery battle lasted from a little over one o'clock in the afternoon until 5 p.m. During this period, several battleships of the Chinese Navy were hit, but fortunately, the armor of these battleships was relatively thick, and the places where they were hit were not critical, and they did not cause excessive damage. And the losses of the fortress of Gibraltar of the British Navy will be much more fought! Battery B, located in the southernmost part, suffered the most severe blows, with at least hundreds of 343-mm armor-piercing shells hitting! Even though the defense of battery B was very strong, it was still not able to withstand the shelling of so many armor-piercing shells.

At 4 o'clock in the afternoon, this battery was destroyed, and the British naval artillery inside suffered heavy losses, and all the fortress guns and shore defense guns were almost destroyed! The other four batteries also suffered more or less heavy losses!

After a day of high-intensity combat, the soldiers of the Indian Ocean Fleet of the Chinese Navy were also very tired.

In order to ensure the combat effectiveness of the fleet, Admiral Li Haitao ordered to withdraw from contact with the British Navy and withdraw from the battle. The Indian Ocean Fleet of the Chinese Navy retreated to a place a full 50 kilometers from Gibraltar to rest.

At the same time, a fleet of two aircraft carriers and a dozen light cruisers, as well as destroyers, was heading towards the Strait of Gibraltar. This fleet is the aircraft carrier Jiuhuashan and the aircraft carrier Putuoshan, which sailed from North America to the Strait of Gibraltar and is ready to join the Indian Ocean Fleet in combat!

At 11 p.m. on May 13, the aircraft carrier Jiuhuashan and the aircraft carrier Putuoshan converged with the Indian Ocean Fleet and were incorporated into the Indian Ocean Fleet for operations. The arrival of the two aircraft carriers greatly increased Admiral Li Haitao's confidence.

Ignoring the fact that it was already late at night, Admiral Li Haitao took a transport boat to the aircraft carrier Jiuhuashan and the aircraft carrier Putuoshan, and personally met with Vice Admiral Chen Yuankun, commander of the aircraft carrier formation, who had led the aircraft carrier formation, to discuss tomorrow's operation!

For the aircraft carriers 'Jiuhua Mountain, and 'Putuo Mountain, there was no problem at all with the bombing of the British fortress of Gibraltar! The two aircraft carriers have a total of 160 carrier-based aircraft, including 52 HBD's Fish Eagle and dive bombers. It only takes one bombardment to destroy the remaining 4 turrets of the Gibraltar Fortress!

After getting the assurance of Lieutenant General Chen Yuankun, Admiral Li Haitao was completely relieved!

On the morning of May 14, the weather was clear, the sea breeze was not strong, and the wind and waves on the sea surface were very small, which was conducive to the take-off of carrier-based aircraft! When the sun was just rising, the decks of the aircraft carriers Jiuhuashan and Putuoshan were already busy, and the ground crews were inspecting the fighters, and then refueling the fighters and adding bombs. The main fighter that took off this time was the H50

'Fish eagles, dive bombers, and also take off some 'puffins, fighter jets escort these H50' fish eagles, dive bombers!

At 6:05 a.m., the first HBD's Fish Eagle dive bomber took off from the aircraft carrier Jiuhua Mountain, followed by a total of 48 HBD' Eagle and dive bombers of two groups in less than twenty minutes, and after completing the formation in the sky, they began to fly towards the fortress of Gibraltar, 50 kilometers away. Because this time it was carrying a special armor-piercing projectile, weighing nearly six hundred kilograms, the speed of the hbd'Fish Eagle and dive bomber dropped a lot, and the 50-kilometer range took almost half an hour!

After the take-off of the dive bomber group, a squadron of 12 F58 Puffin fighters took off, and then quickly accelerated to catch up with the dive bomber group, serving as escort and reconnaissance! At this time, the lead ship of the Indian Ocean Fleet of the Chinese Navy had already arrived off the coast of Gibraltar, but this time the capital ship was not in a hurry to attack! With the Navy's dive bombers out of the way, there is no need for them to continue to waste shells!