765 West Wind Flame (11)

February 24, 10 a.m., 120 nautical miles northwest of the Chagos Archipelago. ※※※※※ I ※ I ※ ※

At the top of the triangular mast of the Malaya, the lookout nervously looked at the edge of the fire net woven by the rapid-fire gun, and four black dots drilled out of the belly of a large aircraft and dived down towards the ship.

At the sound of his shout, the bow of the nearly 30,000-ton Malaya suddenly tilted to the left, and when it was about to avoid all the bombs, a huge column of water rose up 10 meters on the starboard side.

The column of water rose into the air, rose to more than ten meters, and then scattered in all directions, pounced on the starboard side of the battleship, and smashed a black mixture in the sea water towards the auxiliary gun position.

When the sea receded, he found that the barrel of a 127mm rapid-fire gun on the No. 4 secondary gun position on the starboard side under his feet had been bent, and it should have been bent by shrapnel from the appearance.

Twenty Chinese bombers began to leave, and although the bombs dropped by such twin-engine bombers from high altitudes did little damage to the fleet, the Chinese seemed to be happy to visit each other and visit several times a day.

In his opinion, the real danger should be torpedoes and small torpedo planes!

The torpedo machine could drop torpedoes at close range in a dense network of rapid-fire guns and machine guns, while the large torpedoes fired by enemy destroyers and submarines could not even be seen, and many times he did not understand what hit the battleship, until the ship was destroyed and realized that it was a torpedo.

What is the technique that is capable of hiding the wake of a torpedo? How many ** are in the torpedo? Can a giant ship like the USS Northampton break? What hell would it look like if it hit the Malaya?!

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but shudder.

From the 21st, three days and three nights were a nightmare for everyone in the Indian Grand Fleet, with planes dropping strings of bombs and torpedoes in the sky during the day, and waves of desperate destroyers and powerful torpedoes at night, and submarines that seemed to be everywhere.

On the first day, he lost 2 decoy flotillas and at least 8 warships, during the night he lost 3 capital ships, on the second day, although he took precautions in advance, he still lost 4 cruisers and 5 armed ships, and yesterday he lost 9 cruisers and destroyers, including 3 Linxian-class cruisers, during the day and at night.

That is, from the beginning to the present, the fleet has lost 3 capital ships and all 4 old battleships, as well as a total of 29 cruisers and destroyers, and even as many as 17 armed ships converted from merchant ships.

Of the total 80 ships, including three Y-decoy fleets, only 34 are currently in front of us, and almost every one of them is wounded.

There is 1 day left until Seychelles and 5 days left in South Africa, what will the lieutenant general do?

Amid the loud shouts of the sailors, the damaged 127 mm secondary gun under his feet was pulled out of the crack with hemp rope, and then thrown into the sea without looking at it, and the waves instantly swallowed the secondary gun, which was worth thousands of pounds. (Full text reading, all in. (.i. Want. Wen. Learning Network)

Suddenly, the sea breeze brought a tooth-aching creak, and the companion suddenly shouted in horror: "Look, it's the Arizona!" ”

The lookout hurriedly followed the fingers of his comrades, only to see that the deck of the battleship Arizona, which was protected by two American Brooklyn-class light cruisers in the center not far away, suddenly tilted, and the two twin 15-inch guns in the bow of the ship were cocked high, and the stern began to sink little by little.

Just looking at the speed at which the stern was sinking, everyone knew that the Arizona could not be saved!

Thousands of sailors, standing on deck, watched blankly, after being torpedoed by an aircraft on the first day, and hit by a torpedo fired by a destroyer on the third night, and the Arizona, which had just been hit again by an aerial bomb, could be described as doom.

On the tall cage mast, an American colleague hung on the edge of the mast and shouted loudly, and gradually his hands began to lose his weight and finally fell into the sea.

The bow began to lift out of the water little by little, the second half was already completely submerged in the seawater, no one spoke, everyone held their breath, and the 30,000-ton battleship sank little by little in front of them, and the shock and impact were so great that Campbell even forgot to give the rescue order.

The barrels, handrails, and bridges of the ship are full of people as long as they can be fixed, but this struggle is too pale, and in the end they can only fall into the sea, and if they are lucky, they can fall near the lifeboat, and if they are not good, they will fall directly in the center of the whirlpool, because this is not shallow water near the offshore sea, the sailors who fall near the whirlpool will be pulled to the bottom of the sea by centrifugal force.

Ten minutes later, the ship, which was sunk by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor, sank deep in the Indian Ocean, but fortunately most of the sailors escaped in time because of the slow sink, and most of them returned to the United States after spending nearly five years in the camp.

There's nothing more terrifying than watching a super-battleship sink in front of your eyes, tens of thousands of tons of steel twisted and deformed in your eyes, and thick armor and hull can't block the pervasive seawater.

For Campbell, and with the sinking of the USS Arizona, he faces another tricky matter.

In front of him is a mess, although there are still 6 capital ships after the sinking of the Arizona, but the last two American capital ships are already fighting, there are still 15 cruisers, but only 2 American Brooklyn-class and 4 Weymouth-class can support the situation, the others are old protective cruisers of less than 3000 tons, and the ammunition consumption is very serious, because most of the supply ships carried by the armed ships have been sunk, so there is no replenishment, and there are only 4 destroyers left, This meant that if he encountered a submarine again, he would have to take the cruiser to the anti-submarine force.

Seriously, all his planes were gone, and the converted mothership was sunk during the day before yesterday, which made the fleet lose its aerial eye, which forced him to send the cruiser to reconnoiter around, further weakening the air defense of the main central force.

But that large Chinese aircraft carrier is still nearby!

Campbell looked at the rising sun, and the bottom of his heart was an inexhaustible chill, judging from the situation a few days ago, the enemy's torpedo planes would arrive within one hour after the bombers left, and the two seriously damaged American capital ships would be able to resist this wave of attack?

According to the plan, this is the turning point of his crossing of the Indian Ocean, and at a speed of 16 knots, he can join the South African fleet tomorrow afternoon, but the problem is that he now needs to make a choice, that is, to take 2 American capital ships with or not.

Because the damage report just received said that the Pennsylvania and Chester, the speed has also dropped to 14 knots after entering the water!

Emotionally speaking, he wanted to bring it, after all, it was two capital ships with 15-inch guns, although they have now lost their combat effectiveness, but as long as they return to Europe for repairs, they can continue to serve, which is far less time-saving than building two ships.

But from the point of view of the safety of the entire fleet, he did not want to carry them, because the speed of the two ships had been severely reduced after entering the water, and if they were to be protected, the fleet would have to be lowered to 14 knots, which meant that it was impossible to get rid of the dangerous submarines.

In addition to the submarines, another reason for not wanting to bring was the four Hebei-class battleships that were chased from Gapo, and previous intelligence had confirmed that these four battleships set off at the same time as he left Mumbai, and the Chinese had always had an advantage in speed, which meant that they were coming soon.

48 356mm heavy guns, the loss of two more American capital ships, and an aircraft carrier eyeing the side, in the case that the speed is not as good as the other side, you don't have to think about it to know the end.

But where can they go if they don't bring it? And if he doesn't bring allies in a critical moment, how can the prime minister face the U.S. government that has just come to power? If it provokes them, will it lead the United States to withdraw from the war?

So it feels tricky.

Sweeping his gaze over and over the Chagos Archipelago, can he let the two US capital ships go there for a while?

"General."

Just when he couldn't decide, Cameron suddenly walked in: "There's one thing I think I should let you know?" ”

"Oh? What's the matter? ”

"General." Cameron pointed to the charts and said, "Just Nelson told me that we had been thinking about avoiding the pursuit from Gapo, but what if they didn't chase us?!" ”

"What do you mean?!" Campbell's face was already horrified, the almost non-stop raids and bombardments for several days had indeed made him overlook something, and now that he thought about it, it was probably ...... deadly!

"If the information is true, then the enemy from Gapo should have arrived an hour ago, but none of the reconnaissance ships we sent around have found anything, and they are ......." After a pause, Cameron looked at the sky and said with a solemn face: "It's been 2 hours!" ”

"2 hours!"

Campbell finally couldn't sit still, when the Chinese bombers on Gan Island left for a few days, the enemy's second wave of torpedo planes would definitely arrive in one more hour, but now it didn't come for two hours, could it be ......?

Wave after wave of attacks and bombings made everyone numb, thinking about how to dodge the bombing, how to prepare for night raids, etc., but ignoring the changes hundreds of nautical miles away!

"Damn it!"

Campbell stomped his foot and quickly flipped through the charts to calculate carefully.

It is about 370 nautical miles from the Chagos Archipelago to the Seychelles, and the Chinese aircraft carriers can attack from 100 nautical miles away, which means that they are only 270 nautical miles away from the Seychelles!

The Chinese aircraft carrier group once set a record of 23 consecutive maneuvers of 1,000 nautical miles in Australia! At this rate, it would take them about 14 hours to reach Seychelles, and 16 hours have passed since yesterday evening, which means .......

They can fully maneuver to the vicinity of the Seychelles!

And if the 4 Hebei-class ships departing from Gapo give up the pursuit and cross the Indian Ocean from Malé, they only need to maintain a speed of more than 20 knots, and now they should also reach the waters near Seychelles!

"God!"

The South African fleet led by Hill is still waiting for itself there! They don't know anything!

"Contact Hill and tell him to be careful......."

Before Campbell finished speaking, the staff officer had already rushed into the cabin: "General, I just received a telegram from the port of Seychelles that Spanish Vice Admiral Tonis led 2 battleships entered the port to refuel coal 1 hour ago. ”

He asked....... The staff officer didn't seem to believe it either, and after looking at the telegram to confirm it, he continued: "Ask when we will arrive." ”

Poof!

Campbell slumped back in his chair, his face turning pale for a moment.

RO！ ~！