Chapter 475 Take Off at Night

Although the United Kingdom still regards itself as an old capitalist country, it is already in decline. For example, most of the warships of the British Navy were built during the First World War.

The same is true for the current HMS Athletics, an aircraft carrier ordered by the Royal Navy in 1917. Due to various reasons, it was not completed until 1923, so the first specially designed aircraft carrier fell into the hands of Fengxiang.

The previous aircraft carriers were all refitted with other warships, and this aircraft carrier is an aircraft carrier with a new design.

For example, it has a full-pass flight deck; a closed bow has strong wave resistance; the bridge, mast and funnel are combined into a large island located on the starboard side of the hull on the right side of the full-pass flight deck, which is For the first time, an aircraft carrier adopts an island superstructure design.

In particular, the design of this ship island has been passed down to later generations and has become a pioneer of various aircraft carriers. Not only is it beneficial to flight and navigation command, but also has higher strength than lateral chimneys and collapsible chimneys, and is beneficial to hull sealing.

The 10,000-ton aircraft carrier had 20 aircraft at the time. However, as the size of the carrier-based aircraft increased, the number of carrier-based aircraft dropped to 16.

After being commissioned, the Athletics was sent to the Far East and has been cruising in Southeast Asia and the China Sea. In this way, until now, after the air raid on Scapa Flow, the Athletics has been hastily relocated back to the Atlantic Ocean to undertake the important task of revenge.

These days, the British navy has been searching for the whereabouts of the German navy, but has found nothing, and now, since there is the whereabouts of the German warships, of course they will not let it go!

"Take off the carrier aircraft and immediately launch an attack on the German warship!" Tovey said to Onslow.

"Yes, we will carry out the attack mission immediately!" Onslow was confident.

The heritage of the old navy lies in this!

Generally speaking, naval carrier-based aircraft cannot be dispatched at night. For example, in later generations, even if the Americans are showing off their power in the world, less than 50% of their naval carrier-based aircraft pilots have the ability to fly at night.

And now, the British navy has to conduct night operations!

Their biggest reliance is precisely because of their backward carrier-based aircraft, the Swordfish torpedo aircraft.

Taking off and landing on an aircraft carrier is very risky. The unstable deck and the crosswind that may come at any time make taking off and landing full of risks, especially when landing, even if the deck lights are on. For a flying aircraft, the deck Still a piece of shit.

The higher the takeoff and landing speed, the greater the risk of night work.

In this comparison, the Swordfish is a perfect match, because the Swordfish is a biplane. One of the great advantages of biplanes is that the speed is low. Yes, here, the low speed is an advantage, which makes it more Taking off and landing is easier!

The British have done this more than once in history.

In Taranto Britain successfully used swordfish in night torpedo warfare, and in the subsequent Indian Ocean naval battle, Somerville also planned to use large mackerel to attack the Japanese fleet at night.

Biplanes are so confident.

And now, the British Navy's attack has begun again!

All the deck lights were turned on, illuminating the flight deck. On the takeoff line, a swordfish torpedo was ready. Under the belly, the six-meter-long torpedo was so conspicuous.

Pilot Ted, sitting in the open cabin with his back seat empty, the gunner was canceled.

At night, air combat was almost impossible, so the recoil gunner was superfluous, and in the recoil position, an additional fuel tank was installed to carry more fuel.

Now, at 8:30 p.m., looking at the runway lights ahead, Ted shouted over the radio, "Swordfish request takeoff."

"You can take off, I wish you good luck." The sound of the bridge came from the headphones.

Pushing the throttle to the maximum, the 750-horsepower Bristol Centaur XXX9-cylinder air-cooled engine roared, and the fully powered Swordfish torpedo slid on the narrow deck, and before it reached the front of the deck, it took off into the air.

The advantage of the biplane is that the take-off and landing speed is low. As long as there is a flat piece of land, it can take off!

In the back, swordfish took off one after another, and this first attack wave consisted of 12 swordfish.

Six each carried a torpedo, four carried bombs, and two carried bombs and flares.

The Germans would never have imagined that they would attack at night. When the flares came on, it was when the Deutsche was sunk!

Ted looked at the dark night sky around him, and now he was flying entirely by instruments, which only the most experienced and sophisticated pilots can do.

The biggest advantage of this attack is that the distance is very close. The German warship is only 30 nautical miles away from our own side. Even if the swordfish's flight is slow, it will take up to 20 minutes to fly there.

Our mission is not necessarily to sink the opponent. As long as the opponent is injured and the opponent loses the ability to move, several cruisers in the fleet can come up and use naval guns to sink the Deutschland.

Gotta do it nicely!

They didn't know that their whereabouts had been discovered by the Germans.

Deutsches.

On a huge hemispherical screen, bright lines were spinning in circles, and those bright spots were almost always there.

The radar soldiers were engrossed, they knew that battle would come at any moment, and they were the eyes of the Deutsches.

Suddenly, on the radar screen, several extra blips appeared!

These light spots are so small that they almost loom over the screen, but they are definitely not disturbing echoes, but... planes!

Among those British fleets at sea, there are actually aircraft carriers!

"Report, it was found that the British took off the carrier-based plane, and it is expected to arrive in fifteen minutes!" Colonel Stanger received the news on the bridge.

"All ships, sound the air defense siren, turn off all lights, and put the anti-aircraft gunners in place." Colonel Stanger said, "Let us welcome the arrival of the British with heavy artillery fire."

In the original time and space, the Deutschland was equipped with a 37mm hand-pulled machine, which did not have enough firepower in the face of the Swordfish attack aircraft, but now, the Deutsche is a very powerful air defense ship!

It has three twin-mounted 105mm anti-aircraft guns and sixteen 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns. This firepower is enough to make the opponent tremble. No matter how many planes come, it is sure to shoot down the opponent!

A sharp anti-aircraft alarm sounded throughout the warship, and upon hearing the sound of the anti-aircraft alarm, the anti-aircraft gunners were quickly running towards the gun positions of the anti-aircraft guns.

"What's going on out there?" Bruce asked.

His attitude is quite good, so the treatment he received is not bad, and the cool breeze on the deck is also because the interior space of the warship is not enough, and the German naval soldier with the submachine gun who is watching over them is still very kind to him. Polite.

"There is an air strike," the German naval soldier told him.

"I asked to go to war," Bruce said. "I also operated antiaircraft artillery, especially Bofors, during my service in the U.S. Navy."