On the aircraft carrier Ark Royal, Dudley Pound was listening to reports from the damaged ships of his fleet, but before he could finish hearing the damage caused by the second wave of German aircraft attacks, an officer rushed over from the next telegraph room: "Sir, something is wrong!"

"News has just come from the destroyer Elli, the radar on the Elli has confirmed another group of German aircraft!" the telegraph officer looked at his superior, his eyes full of helplessness and panic. After all, these German planes were more and more numerous and more deadly, which made him feel dangerous.

"German aircraft of the 3rd batch? Dudley Pound looked at his overly panicked men, and didn't think the worst at first. But then he realized that something was wrong, because the news of the imminent arrival of the third batch of German attack aircraft had been known to this subordinate in front of him for a long time.

"Sir, it's not the third group of the Germans! it's the fourth group of attack planes! almost seventy, faster than we had estimated, more than we had estimated!" said the man to Dudley Pound. In the first two waves of attack aircraft groups, the German Navy was only conducting tentative attacks, and the fourth batch of attack aircraft groups, both in terms of number and speed of take-off, increased by more than one and a half stars.

Dudley Pound was stunned, he had just been forced to order his fleet to turn again, the formation of the entire fleet had not had time to adjust, and now Germany had raided again, which was simply asking for his old life.

"Hell, at such a time, why did the Germans suddenly become firm? Give orders to the carrier-based aircraft units in the air! Let them hold on!" Thinking of this, Dudley Pound hurriedly issued various orders, including emergency take-off of fighters, allowing the fleet to maintain its current course and continue sailing, and adjusting the formation of the fleet.

The British naval commander-in-chief was now in a state of flux, and his plan for a battleship assault was completely bankrupt because the German carrier-based aircraft hit the Queen Elizabeth. Now his fleet can't run away, and he can't fight, so he can only grit his teeth and hold on until a favorable opportunity comes.

"Let the battleship Villain and the battleship Nelson speed up! There is no way to hold out until night, the time for the decisive battle must be advanced!" Dudley Pound gritted his teeth and gave an order, only when the other two battleships arrived in time could it be possible to change the current situation of being passively beaten.

Before a series of orders could be fully conveyed, the third wave of German carrier-based aircraft had already killed the air defense circle of the Allied fleet, and the fighters of both sides were entangled in the sky, and from time to time fighters exploded in the air or crashed into the sea with thick black smoke. The battle is not a one-sided crushing, but a process of mutual consumption.

The losses of the German carrier-based aircraft were quite enormous, and when Lütjans received the report of the losses of the second wave of attack aircraft, he almost bit his tongue in fright. Less than 20 of the dozens of carrier-based aircraft in the second wave have returned, and the remaining planes have either been confirmed to have been shot down or are missing.

To cope with the rough waves of the Atlantic, German, American and British aircraft carriers were forced to use fully enclosed decks. Such a design increases the weight of the entire aircraft carrier on the waterline, and also limits the number of carrier-based aircraft in reserve.

In the Pacific, the same Essex-class aircraft carrier, the basic establishment of the United States is 90 carrier-based aircraft, and after the modification to adapt to the Atlantic, the carrier-based aircraft of the USS Franklin aircraft carrier has been reduced to 70. The German aircraft carriers were also only equipped with about 70 aircraft, so after two rounds of attacks, the German Navy almost had one aircraft carrier on board the aircraft, which was exhausted.

However, in the same way, the US aircraft carrier Franklin now has no carrier-based aircraft left, and what is worse is that the third batch of German carrier-based aircraft, because the exact location and formation of the Allied ship formation have been confirmed, are heading straight for the three Allied aircraft carriers. Forty-eight Stuka dive bombers with bombs and another 35 Stuka with torpedoes rushed into the Allied Navy's air defense circle.

"Fire! Hurry up and fire!" ordered a British officer standing on deck commanding the air defense. Behind him, there was an anti-aircraft gun position, where the multi-barreled anti-aircraft guns were aimed at the target in the sky, and they were pouring their ammunition frantically at the fastest speed. One shell after another was thrown out of the bomb bay and fell onto the deck with a clanging crunch.

The German Stuka bombers were not passively beaten, and when they began to dive, the 20 mm guns in the nose were aimed at the British battleships, firing frantically to achieve the purpose of suppressing the anti-aircraft guns on the ships. The planes swayed from side to side as they dived, using them to evade the various munitions strafed from the ships.

Soon, the distance between the two sides was drawn to a very close distance, and the Stuka bomber dropped the bomb, and then quickly pulled it up, but unfortunately when it pulled up, it hit a dense barrage, exploded in the air, and turned into a ball of flames and fell to the sea. The bomb it dropped hit the middle of the British heavy cruiser and exploded next to the chimney, kicking up billowing smoke.

The British cruiser immediately slowed down, and not far behind it, the side of the Ark Royal was exposed to the threat of German carrier-based aircraft. As if a crack had been made in the egg, the German carrier-based aircraft immediately seized the flaw, and more than a dozen planes swarmed up and aimed the torpedo under their belly at the aircraft carrier Ark Royal, which was turning slightly.

"There is a problem with the cover of the air defense!" an officer in charge of the broadside observation put down the telescope in his hand and shouted to Dudley Pound: "The Merry has been hit! It is slowing down! The German plane has come close!"

"Leave it to the air defense forces!" Dudley Pound waved his hand helplessly, of course it was impossible for him to stop the German carrier-based aircraft from continuing to attack the Allied fleet, so now he could only rely on the air defense of each ship to compete with the German carrier-based aircraft: "Let the Liverpool speed up and catch up to fill the position of the Merry!"

George, who was standing behind the captain of the Ark Royal, leaned into the captain's ear and suggested, "Captain, I'll go down and get ready, and organize the damage control personnel just in case." ”

The captain nodded slightly, then waved his hand back to signal his agreement. George glanced at Dudley Pound, who was standing on the bridge, pushed open the door to the bridge, and walked out. He descended the iron staircase to the office next to his usual office, where a full 30 experienced loss managers were already waiting, all of whom looked at George as he walked into the cabin.

"Gentlemen, the situation outside is very unoptimistic, I think it may be that we will be on the field in a moment! Get ready, gentlemen! His Majesty the King is with us!" George didn't talk nonsense, and directly assigned the responsible non-commissioned officers in each area, he didn't know where the entire battleship would be the first to be shot, so he could only distribute the forces evenly, and leave a large reserve force.

Most of his men took orders and left the cabin. The rest waited in silence, waiting for the least desirable thing to happen. The Ark Royal has been through many naval battles, most of them have returned to port unscathed - and now, the time has come to put it to the test, and all those on board are praying for good luck to continue.

The British did not have to wait too long, and in line with the principle of taking advantage of your illness to kill you, the German carrier-based aircraft prioritized the sinking of the cruiser Meli that had been shot. Two torpedoes exploded on the side of the Merry, one after the other, and the sea water poured into the hull at once, and the cruiser immediately began to tilt and sank at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The remaining German carrier-based aircraft, bypassing a diving American fighter, rushed towards the Ark Royal with great momentum. However, the first round of dives of these German planes did not succeed, because the anti-aircraft guns on the Ark Royal fiercely disrupted the dive formation of German aircraft.

However, when the German planes circled around and came back again, the anti-aircraft guns on both sides of the Ark Royal aircraft carrier obviously began to be confused. In the face of German planes rushing from all directions, these anti-aircraft guns fired desperately, but with little success.

"Boom!" A bomb dropped by a dive bomber landed on the sea near the side of the Ark Royal, and the huge shock wave made the steel on the Ark Royal distort a squeaky sound, but because of the distance, the bomb did not cause much damage to the aircraft carrier hull, and all the British sailors inside the ship were alarmed.

"God forbid!" Dudley Pound stood on the bridge and watched the huge bomb explode in the sea. The huge column of water was twice as tall as the conning tower he was standing on, so that the British commander, who had witnessed the whole process, subconsciously thanked God in his heart.

The battleship had not stopped as the waves swayed, and there was another lookout post, and the alarm of the approaching torpedoes on the side was heard: "Sideboard! Torpedoes dropped by German planes! Turn to the right at once! Turn to the right with full rudders! Otherwise, it will be too late!"

Beside Dudley Pound, the captain of the Ark Royal hurriedly gave the command to the helmsman to turn and avoid the torpedo: "Right full rudder!

Without the slightest hesitation, the sailor holding the steering wheel quickly exerted all his strength and struck the steering wheel directly to the right round and round. Then there was silence throughout the bridge, and everyone waited, waiting for the result of the evasion...... -

I'm sorry, Long Ling came back late today, and the second watch will be served in the middle of the night, so please watch it tomorrow morning......