"Order the lightning strike formation to attack and disrupt the enemy's rhythm."

In response to the crisis in his own battleship formation, Carden decisively played the lightning strike card.

At the same time, a telegram was transmitted throughout the fleet from the flagship Orion.

"The British Empire needs everyone to do their job!"

Yes, at this time Carden uttered the words of Nelson known to every British naval officer, and perhaps in his heart he wished that he could be like Nelson and win the Battle of Trafalgar.

And this telegram also kicked off the bloodiest scene of this naval battle at the same time!

More than thirty destroyers and torpedo boats of various types launched a charge against the combined fleet not far away!

The movement of more than 30 small warships is not small at all, and the combined fleet is not blind, how can it not be seen, let alone the combined fleet and the reconnaissance weapon airship.

In the waters of this engagement, the Italian airship unit has four airships of various types in the sky, closely watching every move on the battlefield.

So before the lightning strike formation rushed out, Leffel had already received the news.

"Sure enough, it's a trick!"

Look at the lightning strike formation that rushes towards you like a swimming dragon. It is impossible to say that you are not afraid, the torpedo is the product of small and large, a huge ship of 20,000 or 30,000 tons, only one torpedo hit will be traumatized. If it is attacked by three or four torpedoes, no matter how mighty the battleship is, it will not be able to carry it.

Of course, the torpedo has such great power, but it also has many shortcomings, such as its short range and obvious trajectory, which makes it impossible to use it as a conventional tactic.

"The fleet evasive, concentrate all its firepower to attack the opposing destroyers and torpedo boats, pay attention to maintaining formation, and all cruisers and destroyers intercept them! Target enemy ship! In a matter of seconds, Leffel gave a series of orders.

With Leffel's order, the battleship formation, which was shelling the opponent, adjusted its target and opened fire on the incoming enemy lightning formation.

At this time, the roar of large-caliber artillery sounded again, and countless shells attacked the enemy ships.

"Boom!"

A 305 mm large-caliber shell accurately hit a charging torpedo boat, and the violent explosion caused the torpedo boat to disappear directly into the sea. As for the personnel, they don't have to think about it, they can only pray that the other party will rest in heaven.

However, the loss of one torpedo boat could not frighten the charging lightning strike formation.

As the formation commander, Lieutenant Colonel Bennett issued an order on his own flagship, the Caster. "The formation raised the speed to the highest and launched a lightning strike on the rear half of the enemy's battleships."

Lieutenant Colonel Bennett was experienced in lightning strikes and knew how to use lightning strike tactics to maximize the effect. Launching a lightning strike only on the second half of the battleship not only increases the success rate, but also causes the opponent's battle formation to be disjointed before and after, and seeks the most favorable opportunity for your own formation. It can be said that as soon as an expert makes a move, he will know if there is one.

However, it was not easy for Colonel Bennett to achieve his goal, because in addition to the baptism of battleship artillery, there was also the interception of the opponent.

Before the lightning strike formation raised its speed, they saw a group of battleships from the opposing side appear in front of them, which was the opposing formation that had come to intercept them.

"Rush over."

Seeing the opposing interception formation, Colonel Bennett ordered the formation to rush over.

In the face of the oncoming enemy ships, the battleships responsible for intercepting them will not be relentless.

The interception formation, led by four Piedmont-class cruisers, two Verona-class cruisers, and sixteen destroyers, demonstrated to the enemy what it means to have powerful interception firepower. A large number of 105 and 150 mm naval guns were a heavy blow to the invading enemy ships.

The first to suffer was the larger warships in the lightning strike formation, among which the Moresby, the thirteenth ship of the Horde-class destroyer, was hit by a series of 150-millimeter shells and stopped on the spot.

"We're going to avenge the Moresby, with maximum horsepower."

Seeing that the friendly ships were stopped, Lieutenant Commander Bennett couldn't care about it at this time, and made every effort to increase the speed of each ship.

At this time, the only thing that can be relied on for ships carrying out lightning strike missions is speed. Any counterattack at this point is in vain, because the deck at a speed of up to thirty knots is bumpy, and it is God's favor that you can hit a target five hundred meters away with naval guns. And now there is no turning back, you can only accelerate and accelerate again, and any hesitation is harmful.

And the ships that carried out the lightning strike mission also understood this truth, so they rushed towards their targets regardless of their red eyes and burying their heads.

"Boom, boom!"

Although the British destroyers charged in spite of the rain of bullets, the intercepting opponents were unwilling to give them a chance, and one shell after another continued to be taken out and hit as the distance approached.

"The countercurrent was sunk."

"The pelicans stalled."

"The Petal is on fire."

“……”

Bad news continues to reach the flagship Caster, but Lieutenant Colonel Bennett is indifferent to this, and he only has his own target, the United Forces, in his eyes.

Even if his own battleship was hit by multiple shells, there were already casualties, and it didn't make him frown.

The lightning strike formation, suffering heavy casualties, gritted its teeth and rushed towards the enemy target.

"It's close."

"It's closer."

As the distance approached, the lookout exclaimed. "It's three kilometers away."

"No, we're going to get closer." Lieutenant Colonel Bennett, of course, understood what the lookout meant, and the torpedo was already in effective range at a distance of three thousand meters. However, this is only the effective range, and its hit rate will be very low, and Lieutenant Colonel Bennett wants to give the target a hard shot.

The Custer's lunge towards the Combined Forces immediately attracted the attention of the surrounding warships.

"Open fire and take out this enemy ship."

At this moment, the United Forces also spotted this threat. The ship's small and medium-caliber guns then continued to fire at him, and the Dreadnought and Taghoff next to him also noticed him and provided fire support.

And under artillery fire attacked the Custer, and continued to charge with his head covered.

"Two thousand five hundred meters."

"Two thousand meters."

At this moment, the lookout who reported the number was already trembling, because there was too much artillery fire around. If one is not careful, they will have to die here.

"Launch the torpedo."

The torpedo operator finally heard the lieutenant colonel's order to fire, and then the six torpedoes jumped into the sea, and the next thing was to flee for their lives. In fact, Lieutenant Colonel Bennett still wanted to get closer, but there were too many bullets falling around, and he didn't dare to continue to gamble.

"Pay attention to the torpedo at three o'clock."

Thermodynamic torpedoes, which were used by all countries at this time, were very obvious and easy to observe.

Therefore, when the lookout saw the white line coming towards him, he immediately raised his alarm loudly.

In the face of a torpedo attack, several battleships were immediately busy, and they either slowed down to avoid it, or accelerated away, only the United Forces was a little difficult, because these five torpedoes were mainly coming at it.

"Speed up, speed up to 20 knots."

The captain of the United Forces, Colonel Constandi, immediately gave the order.

At this moment, the United Forces was only seventeen knots of speed, and looking at the rapidly approaching torpedoes, Colonel Constanty found that it was impossible to completely dodge the torpedoes.

"Turn right, quick."

At this moment, he can only choose the least harmful method, which is to take the bow of the ship to catch the mine. At his urging, the United Power made a sharp right turn.

At this moment the torpedo is already very close to the United Forces.

"Crash ready."

Seeing that the torpedo was coming, the navigator immediately raised his voice to warn.

At this moment two torpedoes crossed the left side of the ship, and one torpedo from the right side of the ship. However, there were two more torpedoes that could not be dodged, and one hit the left side of the bow directly. I heard a loud bang from the left side of the bow, and the bow of the ship was directly blasted out of a two-meter hole. Seawater poured directly into the cabin through the large hole.

"Close the hatch quickly, close the hatch quickly."

Several hatches connected to the bow of the ship are constantly closed to avoid being swept into the sea.

Hey, and a torpedo?

Sorry, since I heard a bang, then there was no more. Torpedoes are not 100% effective, and their failure rate is not low.

Hearing an explosion made the officers and men on the United Force cheer. They all believe that this represents good luck.

And after some emergency repairs and inspections, the United Forces was able to continue fighting, but at the cost of five or six hundred tons of seawater, as well as a two-knot reduction in top speed.

In the end, only four ships were launched to complete this lightning strike mission, and only one of the Karst returned alive in the end, and the others were sunk like the sea, and its high battle damage rate was terrifying.

The battle will continue.

(End of chapter)