"Detection of a large enemy force, 5 battleships, 2 aircraft carriers, Colombo azimuth 110, 180 nautical miles, course 330, speed 15 knots."

After quickly reading the telegram handed by the messenger, Raleigh climbed down the high, narrow iron ladder to the chart room, which was located under the left buoy.

Picking up the compass and measuring tape, and measuring the latitude and longitude of the target on the chart, Raleigh saw the clue.

It seems that the other side wants to stick to the coast of Ceylon and go north, so as to be protected by its own shore-based aviation.

In any case, it is necessary to report to the fleet command first, and maybe you will receive an order to attack the enemy forces in the future...... In that case, his "Penglai" will no longer be just one of the many eyes and ears of the main fleet......

With some uncertain expectation, Raleigh hurriedly added the target latitude and longitude data he had just measured in the blank space of the message, and handed it back to the messenger who followed: "Forward the fleet headquarters as soon as possible." ”

As soon as the messenger left the chart room, the panicked shout of a rookie lookout came from the loudspeaker on the wall: "Unidentified floating object! Below two o'clock! Distance - 50! The lower left three lookout reports! ”

Raleigh was startled, and he jumped to the porthole on the side of the chart room, grabbed the binoculars and looked down to the side: a catamaran floating ship that was almost a mold from the main ship was slowly rising from the sea of clouds, and the conspicuous three-layer concentric circle mark in the center of the side of the floating body was...... Outside to inside, blue, white, red! Briton! Hell yes! How come the British also have ...... Stop, now is not the time to think about this!

The Compass Bridge and Combat Command Center was next door to the chart room, and Raleigh stepped in step by step, turned on the whole ship's radio and decisively ordered: "All crew on the port side are ready for air combat!" Standby convoy emergency sortie, target, enemy air ship below port side! ”

The two "Yundian B" fighters, which were hanging under the aviation carrying compartment at any time, immediately got into the pilots who were on standby. The electric crankshaft attached to the hook starts the engine at once, and the pilot's gesture confirms that the engine speed is up to the mark. The ground worker above let go of the hook lock, and the plane, which was so small compared to the mothership, at first fell like a piece of mud from a carrot that had just been pulled out of the field, and it fell slowly, but only with a puff of smoke. It gained the aerodynamic power it needed to lift its heavier-than-air self at an altitude of 3,000 meters, and then flipped on its side, swooping down on its target, a huge empty ship that was almost structurally indistinguishable from its own mothership, and seemed to be only slightly smaller.

Meanwhile. Dozens of gun barrels and gun barrels ranging from 7.62 mm to 37 mm were installed under the port side buoys and aviation cabins, and they were neatly turned and aimed at the target four or five thousand meters away......

Raleigh Kong, who experienced actual combat for the first time. At this point, the palms of my hands were almost sweating. A huge sense of frustration weighed heavily on his heart: the more than a dozen reconnaissance planes that had been sent out earlier had not been able to detect the existence of such a huge enemy flying carrier, and as soon as they came up, they had pushed the other side to the limit range of the 37 machine guns, and such a large thing could jump out unguarded, and what about the planes that were completely out of the same level in size? Isn't the "Penglai", the eyes and ears of the fleet, a joke in itself?

"Full speed on both sides! Right full rudder! Horizontal helmsmen pay attention to control the longitudinal attitude! Let's get ahead of it! ”

Although the original design of the "Penglai" did not include a battle with the enemy's air ships, since it had been encountered, what reason was there not to fight?

And no matter what the other side is, there will be such an empty ship with a two-hull clamp structure, if the performance and purpose of this thing are the same as the "Penglai", then it will be a huge threat to our surface fleet - especially in terms of affecting the concealment of our fleet. It cannot be eliminated without being immediate.

With that in mind. Major Raklikorn nervously but with high morale drove his huge "Penglai" towards an unknown opponent who seemed to be of equal strength. The first shot of naval aviation in the Indian raider operation was fired!

Yes, the first gun, albeit only a 3 mm cannon and not a large-caliber cannon on a surface battleship, could fire 100 and a half kilogram of small shells per minute, instead of one or two hundreds of kilograms per minute...... Correspondingly, they need to deal with the target, the latter is supposed to be able to penetrate hundreds of millimeters of hardened steel armor at a distance of 10,000 or 20,000 meters, while the former only needs to be successfully detonated at a distance of a few meters near the target, so that the shrapnel can penetrate the thin aluminum hard shell of the outer layer of the floating body and cut through the airbag made of multiple layers of fabric inside.

When Raleigh Kong gave the order to "open fire", he saw a series of dazzling cannon flames suddenly flash on the hull of the opponent's ship.

In an instant, less than 3,000 meters in a straight line, against the backdrop of the vast sea of clouds and the gray-blue sky above them, two sky cities comparable to clouds were intertwined with dense tracer bullet marks, and around them, several winged flies that seemed too small to be worth mentioning frantically wrestled and intertwined—no, biting their tails.

After witnessing a terrifying fire from an engine near port side, Raleigh suddenly realized that between two empty ships loaded with rapid-fire guns and filled with dangerous hydrogen and gasoline, there was no difference between two empty ships loaded with rapid-fire guns and filled with dangerous hydrogen and gasoline!

"Stop shooting! Throw away all the ballast! Horizontal rudder bottom! Float at full speed! The damage management team is doing their best to fight the fire! ”

Less than half a minute after the series of commands were clearly issued, Luo Likong hurriedly urged the air control center: "Report the pressure of the airbags in each compartment!" ”

As the horizontal rudder was lowered a little, the bow of the "Penglai" began to lift upward, and the sandbags used as ballast were also thrown out of the various weighing compartments one after another, however, Raleigh could not see a significant increase in the reading from the altimeter at hand - it was clear that the buoy was starting to leak.

Bad news followed: "The total pressure of the left third-cabin airbag continues to drop!" Now it's seventy-nine! ”

"Leak found in the fourth main fuel tank on the left!"

"Engine No. 2 from the left stops ......"

"The hull continues to tilt to the port side!"

Beads of sweat continued to drip out of Raleigh's empty head, and the sweat that slipped down kept blinding his vision, and he already had a vague premonition that the most terrible thing was about to happen.

Well, what about enemy ships?

The enemy ship, which was dragging a long smoke ribbon, was sinking continuously, and at this time half of the hull had already submerged into the sea of clouds.

Suddenly, a dazzling burst of light instantly filled the entire field of vision, and then the entire "Penglai" creaked violently, and Raleigh's empty feet were empty, and his head hit the solid metal compass disk......

When he opened his eyes again, several officers were surrounding him, wrapping his head in bandages, and there was a constant creepy sound of metal deforming and even breaking.

"What about enemy ships?" Raleigh asked the first mate.

"It's exploded, I've never seen such a powerful explosion...... Blew the clouds open a big hole and penetrated into the sea, ***, I thought we were all finished......"

Luo Likong struggled to stand up, and asked in a weak voice: "How is the situation of this ship?" ”

The first mate scratched his head and smiled: "It's really a big disaster, the fire has been extinguished, and through emergency deflation and air regulation, the hull of the ship has almost been balanced, but the altitude can only barely be maintained at five hundred meters, and you can still run back if you die." Just ......"

"Just what?" Raleigh thought it was not good.

"It looks like we're about to be caught up by a storm, we can't go up and we can't run...... The abrupt tilt of the left buoy has already cracked several beams connecting the cabin, and I'm afraid we'll be torn apart by a storm or ignited by a bolt of lightning - the devil knows how much hydrogen is left in those leaky airbags......"

With the help of the first mate, he stood up, and through the porthole of the glass shattered by shrapnel, the strong wind mixed with the slight cool moisture was blowing on his face, and not far away, a whole cloud curtain that covered the sky and showed a hideous evil image was rolling in the dark, and the floor under his feet squeaked and shook sharply from side to side, and he didn't even want to stand upright if he didn't hold on to anything.

Under the cool breeze and rain that penetrated his heart, Raleigh no longer felt nervous, or even guilty.

He lowered his head and straightened his sleeves, and turned around with difficulty to look around at everyone: "What is your opinion?" ”

At 15:40 on September 6, 1915, the Chinese Navy's first double-floating giant flying carrier "Penglai" was forced to abandon the ship on the third day of its first combat voyage, and the captain of the ship, Major Luo Likong, and 139 crew members were rescued, 10 of the 24 planes of the 91st Special Service Wing on board the ship sank with the ship, 7 pilots were rescued after forced landing, 3 landed on the aircraft carrier of the mobile force, and 4 were missing with people and planes.