Three Hundred and Sixty-Three Battle of the North Sea

It was over, and for the Royal Navy, it seemed that everything was over. The first ray of dawn appeared on the distant horizon, the darkness receded instantly, and a golden light appeared on the sea.

At this time, the Renown was burning and exploded violently. Although it still insisted on not sinking on the sea, it was obviously impossible to expect this battleship to pursue it. The situation on the Hood's side is not much better. The Hood, which was hit by a torpedo at the tail of the battleship, was destroyed with one propeller and two tail rudders, so the speed could not catch up with the German fleet.

The cruisers and destroyers can still continue to pursue, but it is hard to say whether they can take advantage of the two German armored ships, not to mention that there are more urgent situations that need to be dealt with by them.

Because with the arrival of the light, there are also close-up planes taken off by the German Naval Aviation Base. These planes lined up densely in the clouds, looking like locusts appeared in the sky.

The battle where the British navy had the upper hand changed the situation in an instant. The chasing party became the hunted prey at dawn, and the British navy immediately fell into an unprecedented crisis.

The poor I-class destroyer had already been smashed into pieces. Under the firepower of the cruiser and battlecruiser, the entire destroyer only survived for less than two minutes. It sank into the sea before even the lifeboat could be put down. It also became the first British warship to be sunk in this pursuit battle.

The disaster has only just begun at this moment. In order to hunt down the German naval fleet, the warships rushing to the front this time are all relatively powerful warships in sea combat. Most of them have not been modernized, and some cruisers are even decent. No anti-aircraft guns. Including the Hood and the Renown, the air defense capabilities of this British pursuit fleet can be said to be the weakest.

So when the German fighter planes began to dive and attack, Lieutenant General Holland could only order to break up the formation and let all the warships flee separately. This is tantamount to giving up on the Renown, which is on fire and has no resistance, and it is tantamount to saying that the Hood, whose speed has been reduced to half its original speed, is sentenced to death.

The German dive bombers in the sky began to attack, one plane after another dived down, one after another aerial bombs were thrown at the British warship, and soon the Hood paid a huge price for her design flaws .

Because the battlecruiser Hood pursues speed too much, its armor is not as thick as that of battleships. In order to prevent torpedoes and resist close-range shooting from other warships, the side armor is deliberately thickened, so the entire battleship The weight was a bit excessive during construction.

The result of the final compromise was that the horizontal armor of the entire battleship was weakened. The designers and builders hoped that the battleship could use its super high speed to avoid long-range artillery battles. And this defect in horizontal armor protection has always plagued the Hood and became a huge weakness of the Hood. Shen's main reason.

Now the Hood is forced to use only slightly thin horizontal armor,

It is undoubtedly a very tragic thing to resist the aerial bombs dropped by the Stuka dive bombers. Because of its slow speed and large size, the Hood immediately became the main target of German aircraft, and soon it was hit by an aerial bomb on the bow.

This bomb did not hit any fatal equipment and ammunition depots. This is the luck of the Hood's misfortune. The bomb destroyed part of the Hood's cabin and broke and damaged the anchor chain on the bow.

January 7, 1938, the 21st day after the official war between Germany and the British and French allied forces, became a disaster day for the British Navy. On this morning, the British Navy began to lose its own warships.

At 5:07, the Renown sent out the last telegram. Lieutenant General Huo Lan was silent after seeing this telegram. A very short sentence was written on it: 2 torpedoes were hit again, I am sinking, and the order to abandon ship has been issued.

At 5:11, the British cruiser HMS Edinburgh sent a telegram announcing that it was sinking. Britain lost its first battleship of the day. The cruiser was within sight of the Hood, and Vice Admiral Holland watched as the destroyer caught fire and then sank to the bottom of the sea.

At 5:37, the Hood, where Lieutenant Admiral Holland was located, was hit by the seventh aerial bomb, and the entire hull began to tilt severely. The flagship command flag of the British Navy Fleet was hit by shrapnel and fell into the sea .

"Colonel Cole! Send a telegram to London." Lieutenant General Holland looked at the chart table which had tilted to a certain extent and was already very unstable, sighed and said: "The content of the telegram is as follows: Dear Minister Churchill, the English Channel The battle ended with a disastrous defeat for our army. The whole army fought bravely, and the cause of failure was Holland. May God still shine on the British Empire."

"General!" Colonel Cole, the captain of the Hood, was injured by shrapnel just now, and now his face was still bloodstained. He stared at Holland unwillingly, and asked dejectedly: "Our army still has the Ark Royal leading the battle." Blocking the fleet, we haven't lost yet! We haven't lost yet!"

At this time, another telegram was sent to the command room. After receiving the telegram, Holland looked even paler. Because of what this telegram said, he felt even more unforgivable.

The cruisers Linxian and Alora had just raised the white flag and surrendered to the German Navy. After witnessing his huge fleet scattered like birds and beasts, and seeing the huge battleship around him being smashed into scrap iron by German fighter planes and sinking into the bottom of the sea, not everyone still firmly believes that our army will win, at least this The commanders of the two cruisers of the same level are more willing to use humiliating methods to save the lives of the sailors and soldiers on their battleships.

From this point of view, this time the huge British navy's pursuit fleet really didn't escape much. Holland felt a sweetness in his throat, as if he was about to vomit hot liquid. He swayed, but finally managed not to fall.

At the same moment, the High Seas Fleet of the German Navy turned its bow. On the bridge of the Reich aircraft carrier, Lütjens was holding a cup of hot coffee and staring at the planes taking off on the deck. One after another, the Fs rushed past, jumped up at the end of the runway, and rushed into the sky.

His fleet would have been completely annihilated by the British Navy, but at this moment, a turn of events made him complete a turning point against the sky. Now not far away, the British fleet is collapsing, and even two British warships have raised the white flag. Not far away, the armored battleship Lützow was leaving the formation to receive the two surrendered British cruisers.

The battlecruiser Hood, which was desperately chasing him an hour ago, is now dying, and it is only a matter of time before it sinks. As for the other Renown, all that was left was an oil stain on the sea surface and thousands of crew members floating in the water waiting for rescue. He doesn't need to do anything more, the German Navy's High Seas Fleet is already a sure winner in this epic naval battle.

"Report!" An aviation liaison officer walked behind Lütjens, stood at attention and saluted, and the voice of the report changed its tone. Just a few minutes ago, they successfully turned defeat into victory, which made these officers cheer wildly. Voice: "The base naval aviation unit is returning due to fuel and ammunition problems. Before returning, they reported by radio that the rest will be left to us!"

"Order the troops to delay the launch of torpedo planes and dive bombers." Lütjens ordered, "Start sending reconnaissance planes around."

He thought for a while and added: "Order Gunter Lal to lead the formation of air defense fighter jets to take off to ensure the safety of the sky above our army! The helicopter also took off immediately to guard and monitor the surrounding sea."

"Yes! General!" The aviation liaison officer stood at attention and saluted: "Yuan Akado? Long live Rudolph!"

"Long live Yuan!" Lütjens had just won the most important battle in his life, and he was in a particularly good mood. He stood at attention with a smile and replied, "It turns out that the German High Seas Fleet is invincible!"

"Invincible! Victory! Invincible! Long live!" On the bridge, some officers and sailors cheered loudly, and the entire bridge's large headquarters immediately filled with the joy of victory.

However, when there was cheers on the Imperial aircraft carrier, the radar soldiers on the German Z-class destroyer directly in front of the fleet suddenly frowned.

"Sir!" After confirming that he was not misjudged, he immediately shouted to the officer not far away.

"What's the matter?" The officer walked to his side and asked.

"Directly ahead, 110 kilometers away, there is a fleet of unknown planes. There are about... 10 of them, no, at least 15 of them!" the radar soldier said with certainty.

"My God!" The officer looked at the radar screen, and immediately shouted to the captain standing in the bridge command room: "British planes are coming! Captain! British planes! At least 15!"

After only a dozen seconds, the emergency air defense battle alarm sounded on the destroyer, and all the artillery was pointed at the sky. And on its mast, the signal light kept flashing, and it seemed that it was using all its means to notify other warships of an important news: the British plane was coming.

A few minutes later, Lütjens solemnly issued an order for the fleet's air defense: "All warships! Immediately start alerting the air! Anti-aircraft guns prepare ammunition! Immediately after the planes take off, they form formation, and the fighter force of Günter Lal is now taking off. Are you done? Continue to take off! Until enough fighter jets take off to ensure the safety of the fleet's air defense! Hurry up!"

...