"The target is only 70 nautical miles away from me! And the other party was seriously injured. Expect to sail at no more than 15 knots! Colonel Bronk muttered to himself. The battle of destroying an auxiliary cruiser of more than 10,000 tons was tempting, and it seemed to him that the result was within reach, but behind him, a huge fleet of up to 24 transport ships was sailing north. The total tonnage of these ships reached 210,000 tons! Loaded with food, raw materials, weapons and ammunition urgently needed for the European battlefield. It made it difficult for him to choose.

"In this sea area, the Germans did not have any armed forces, except for submarines and camouflaged assault ships. Even if the Juno leaves, the flotilla is still safe, it is only 10 a.m., if we reconnoiter by water planes, we can quickly determine the position of the other party, and then chase it at full speed, and the battle can be ended in a maximum of three hours, and the position of this assault ship is in our northeast direction, if the Juno takes a broken line, then it will soon be back in the fleet. "The deputy captain on the side is obviously a little tempted!

"Let's go and get back quickly." In the end, Colonel Bronk decided that the Juno would go north to eliminate the large camouflaged assault ship, and with the departure of the Juno, the TP35 transport fleet lost its most reliable means of aerial reconnaissance, and there was not only the Juno as a 10,000-ton warship in this area, but shortly after the departure of the Juno, the B battle group commanded by Colonel Hoffman finally appeared in the northwest direction of TP35. The B flotilla consisted of the aviation cruiser Nuremberg and the heavy cruiser Hamburg. They learned from the telegram about the route and composition of the TP35, the transport tonnage of 24 transport ships with a total of 210,000 tons, which was definitely a feast, and there was also an American light cruiser among them! This feast was lucrative and did not exceed the attack ceiling of Fleet B. Very tasty!

In order to ensure the density of firepower in the attack, Fleet B did not use its precious aviation capabilities at long distances. Instead, it was decided to attack at a distance of naval artillery attack, and the speed of the opposing fleet was no more than 10 knots. There is no problem of losing at all. At a distance of 30 km, the heavy cruiser Hamburg will be responsible for attacking the transport ship at close range, while the Nuremberg will be responsible for releasing 12 aircraft carrying 250kg bombs to assist the attack. The reconnaissance and tracking mission is in charge of the seaplane of the Hamburg, 4 seaplanes are constantly tracking the target under the cover of the clouds, and the aviation of the Nuremberg is preparing for the attack, the 170-meter-long flight deck is neatly arranged with 4 rows of BF109TF fighters, (the original deck length is 160, and later the German Navy felt that the flight deck length was not enough so it added 10 meters during the modification) Although the BF109 fighter is known for its short legs, But if you attack at a distance of only 50 kilometers from the target, even if you carry a bomb, you will never have a lack of range! Fleet B, under the command of Colonel Hoffman, slowly approached its prey like a lion ready to attack. And at this moment, the radio interception of Fleet B received a clear telegram from the Grain God, and Hoffman realized that there was a friendly ship not far from him!

And what is unexpected is that during the last reconnaissance before the attack, the light cruiser Juno, which was the focus of Colonel Hoffman's attention, actually disappeared! It's not in the TP35 transport fleet! Upon hearing this, a hint of disappointment appeared on Colonel Hoffman's face, if this goal was missed, then his victory would have been somewhat discounted, knowing that 8 of the 12 BF109TF aircraft on the Nuremberg and 9 240mm heavy guns on the Hamburg were for this light cruiser! However, the departure of the Juno is not without benefits, and there is no force in the TP35 fleet that can take the stage!

"The speed is 25 knots. 35 kilometers away from the target, it is expected to engage in half an hour! "At this time, the B fleet was making final combat preparations, and the BF109 fighters began to enter the glide position, with folded wings open. Then accompanied by the roar of the powerful DB605 engine, the small fighter with heavy bombs began to accelerate, and the battleship began to fly against the wind. At this time, the synthetic deck wind is up to about 30 knots. The plane sank slightly after leaving the deck, and then the strong buoyancy dragged the plane into the sky. In less than 10 minutes, all 12 fighters took off. They lined up in 3 4-plane formations and began to fly towards the target! And the Nuremberg, after releasing the fighters, also began to rush up with the Hamburg. They will bury this convoy with naval guns and aircraft!

The first to discover the German attack was the DD47 destroyer, a modification of a flat-plate destroyer built by the Americans shortly after the end of World War 1. THE SHIP'S ARMAMENT WAS A LITTLE BACKWARD, IT WAS A DESTROYER SPECIALLY USED FOR ANTI-SUBMARINE, IF IT WAS ANTI-AIRCRAFT FIREPOWER, ONLY A FEW 20MM ERLEY ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUNS AND 50 MACHINE GUNS WERE STILL USABLE, AND THE 127MM GUNS IN FRONT OF THE DECK WERE LIKE CHICKEN RIBS BECAUSE THE ROTATION SPEED WAS TOO SLOW AND THE PITCH ANGLE WAS NOT ENOUGH. The sparse number of anti-aircraft guns fired out a sparse barrage, and with such a level of firepower, not to mention covering the transport ship next to it, even self-defense was a little stretched. And the planes of the Germans did not even bother with these old frigates, but rushed directly to the merchant ships in the middle of the fleet!

The BF109 aircraft is not an excellent carrier-based attack aircraft, and its small body and weight make it a little sluggish after carrying a 250KG bomb. The short range made him even more clumsy. But don't worry, these drawbacks are not a problem when attacking undefended transports at close range, and the pilot can fly slowly and leisurely to the vicinity of the merchant ship and choose a good angle to carry out the dive bombing! A BF109 fighter jet even dropped a bomb at a height of 50 meters from the top of the merchant ship's mast, and the 250KG high-explosive bomb pierced the poor merchant ship with huge kinetic energy.

The hard warhead tore through the defenseless deck, and finally exploded close to the bottom of the ship after piercing several decks! The explosion of more than 100 kilograms of high explosives inside the hull is absolutely fatal for a civilian ship! The shock wave from the explosion carried a large amount of shrapnel across the entire cabin, and the huge impact directly tore the surrounding items to pieces, and a large hole was punched in the bottom of the ship, and the sea water poured into the hull without hindrance. The debris flying around directly damaged the watertight structure of the ship's hull, sinking a 10,000-ton civilian merchant ship with no defense. A 250KG bomb with just the right hit is enough!

In just a few minutes, the hapless merchant ship was in an uncontrollable state. In less than ten minutes, the merchant ship had a serious first capsillation! By the time the German planes had not dispersed, the transport ship had sunk to the bottom of the sea, leaving only some garbage and the surviving crew on the surface! There is definitely more than 1 unlucky guy in this wave of attacks! Although the aircraft was not suitable for bombing, in the hands of the elite of German naval aviation after many years of training, as well as attacking defenceless slow targets, 12 aircraft achieved 6 direct hits and 2 close misses! Seven transports were sunk, and another is still on the surface! For a time, the entire sea was covered with wreckage and crew members who fell overboard and called for help. The scene was extremely miserable, but in less than half an hour, the Allies lost 8 merchant ships with a total of 90,000 transport tonnage!

"Leave an auxiliary cruiser to rescue the overboard! All the other ships disbanded and dispersed! "The American officer who took over Bronke's command gave the order to disband the formation, although it is not known the scale of the opponent's attack force, but the plane that can shoot a squadron is at least an aviation cruiser! Such a level is already beyond the resistance of the TP35 transport fleet. After the order was given, all the merchant ships fled in all directions like wild horses, but unfortunately the Germans did not abandon the target like this, even if the BF109 fighters who had dropped their bombs still circled over the target, and from time to time dived to carry out cannon and machine gun attacks on the merchant ships. Fire snakes rolled on the deck surface, smashing the wheelhouse and bridge! A trail of blood peeked between the shattered partition and the glass. In the end, individual merchant ships finally couldn't withstand the tremendous pressure, raised white chess, turned off the power and announced their surrender!

While the Sea Eagles of the Second Empire were still hovering overhead, the two cruisers also rushed to the scene to participate in this hunting feast! The destroyer DD78 was the first to spot the two German cruisers that appeared in sight. But before he could send out the information, the heavy guns of the two cruisers had already let out a terrifying roar! The Hamburg first incorporated a merchant ship that was evacuating in reverse into the eyepiece of the conjunction-type rangefinder, and the distance between the two sides was quickly calculated. At the same time, after adding the navigation data of both sides, it was sent to the fire control machinery computer for calculation. The calculated data was sent to the individual turrets via communication lines, and the three 3-pack turrets were quickly pointed at the target. 1 minute later, the first round and a half volley were played!

At the beginning of the war, the quality of the German naval officers and men was very high, after several years of training, these imperial elites almost did not have the possibility of letting the opponent run away when attacking slow warships, at a distance of 20 kilometers, the second round and a half salvo of the Hamburg caught the target, and the third round and a half salvo formed a close miss, a 240KG shell fell in the water less than 10 meters away from the target ship, and the huge explosion directly tore a big hole in the part of the hull waterline! And in the fifth salvo, a shell accurately hit the stern of the target ship's hull, which entered the hull diagonally and exploded in the compartment above the propeller shaft! The violent explosion directly destroyed the ship's power system, and the two propellers were completely destroyed, and in just 5 minutes, the fate of the merchant ship was decided, although it could still float on the sea and survive.

In the face of two battleships with a full load displacement of 20,000 tons, several old destroyers are nothing more than rabbits trembling in front of elephants! But even so, the American cowboys still bravely rushed forward, how could the other party be too strong, as old-fashioned destroyers, these destroyers did not even have a speed of 32 knots! The biggest advantage of the light warship could not be maintained, the result of this duel had been decided before the start, in order to prevent the opponent from releasing a smoke screen to block the line of sight, the Hamburg released several seaplanes to assist in the observation before the attack, the smoke screen could block the optical observation in the front, but it did not have a very good effect in the face of the aircraft flying above its head.

The decisive charge of the four destroyers left the first drop of blood in the middle distance, and the Germans did not take these small boats seriously, and if the other side chose to talk about it, the Germans might really let them go. These cheap destroyers are not worth as much as a 10,000-ton transport! However, when these high-speed assassins rushed up with sharp blades, they really provoked the Germans, and all the guns quickly pointed at the approaching American destroyer at high speed, and at a position of 15 kilometers, the Hamburg fired the first salvo, and the huge fireball was connected in front of the artillery, and the shells flew towards the target with a whistling roar, and exploded a column of water dozens of meters high around the destroyer!

SOON A DESTROYER WAS CUT OFF HALF OF ITS CHIMNEY BY A 128MM SHELL, AND PUFFS OF SMOKE POURED INTO THE INSIDE OF THE HULL, WHICH LOOKED LIKE IT WAS ON FIRE FROM A DISTANCE, AND IN LESS THAN A MINUTE, ANOTHER 240MM HEAVY ARTILLERY SHELL HIT THE STERN OF THE DESTROYER. And there were plenty of depth charges on the stern that didn't have time to throw into the sea! The detonation caused by the explosion of the shell directly tore the tail of the poor destroyer off the hull and threw it into the air more than ten meters away, and then fell heavily, turning it into a pile of fragments under the violent impact! As the distance approached, the second victim was also seriously injured by the Nuremberg's secondary gun, and the destroyer, whose steering gear was damaged, could only keep spinning on the sea. The Americans also hesitated under heavy losses, and the third destroyer immediately turned after firing a torpedo at a distance of 7 kilometers, and the torpedoes fired at this distance had almost no precision scientific research. I saw a few white lines running through the sea water quickly crossing from 701 to 120 meters from the hull, and there was no threat to the German cruisers in battle! But even so, the destroyer could not escape the fate of destruction, and when he turned to the end of the project, a 100KG bomb dropped by a seaplane smashed into the root of the chimney, and the violent explosion directly blew the boiler below the deck to pieces! A white mist mixed with black smoke quickly spread from the hull, and the destroyer slowly stopped.

The battle was now decided, the two German cruisers could attack all the scattered transports without any hindrance, and the Nuremberg even had time to release a second wave of mixed aircraft composed of BF109 fighters and JU90 bombers in the hangar, and the second wave of 8 planes carrying bombs began to chase after targets that the heavy cruisers could not take care of! The roar of artillery fire and the screaming of planes lasted on this battlefield for more than 1 hour! By the time the battle was over, the TP35 transport fleet had been removed from the US transport fleet sequence! 15 of the 24 transport ships were destroyed, another 4 were captured, except for 5 that narrowly escaped, it can be described as a total annihilation, and the 210,000-ton carrying tonnage lost 180,000 tons! The tens of thousands of tons of supplies, ammunition, raw materials and even munitions in these merchant ships sank into the dark depths of the ocean with the demise of the transport ships. The first round of attacks by the German surface destruction fleet drenched the Entente's transport lines with blood!

Thanks to the book friend zhouyu1976 for the reward~~~, as well as the book friend canned submarine, piccolo big demon king 007 monthly pass support ~~~. (To be continued......)