Chapter 882 Accident (11)

"Let us go back? Is there any mistake? We have only been out for half an hour..." Major Tony, who led the second US attack wave, could not believe his ears after receiving the news. What happened in the rear?

"Sir, the order is confirmed, please return."

"Hey!" Tony punched the airplane window so hard that he almost punched a hole in the SBD, "What the hell is this bad fight going on!"

"It is estimated that the fleet suffered heavy losses." The pilot sighed, "I looked up at the sky before departure. It seemed that a German attack group had arrived."

"Return!" Tony quickly ordered through the radio, "Attention everyone, the attack aircraft discarded the auxiliary fuel tanks, bombs, and torpedoes and returned as quickly as possible. The fighter jets retained the auxiliary fuel tanks and returned to the fleet for cover."

Tony was still calm. The fleet's order was to abandon the auxiliary fuel tanks, bombs, and torpedoes and return. However, he heard that the fleet had just experienced an air attack. He believed that the original anti-aircraft fighters were definitely not enough, and he must bring all the 15 fully fueled fighters in his hand. go back.

Now, the other two aircraft carriers of the TF46 fleet are retrieving the F6F fighters that have just experienced a bloody battle at full speed. Their fuel can still support them, but many of the aircraft's ammunition has been completely exhausted.

However, all these details were now taken over by the staff. Cunningham and Nimitz were discussing the next course of action and proposed "dividing their forces" to escape.

"If we divide our forces, the fleet's overall air defense firepower will drop by one level."

"But we can save at least half of them." Cunningham said, "We still have some time. If we don't act separately, everyone will die together."

"Okay, old friend, you've convinced me, how do you divide it?"

"You take the Franklin and the two Iowas toward Newfoundland, and I'll take the Hornet toward Great Britain!"

"No, I'll switch with you!"

"Forget it, take care of the disabled at this critical moment." Cunningham patted his broken leg and said, "I'll excuse you for a trip."

Tears welled in Nimitz's eyes, but in the end he didn't say anything. He just held Cunningham's hand tightly: "Take care!"

The dispute between the two is of course not about who should change warships, but that the Hornet carries the flagship logo. Whoever stays here represents the fleet command center here, and will definitely be the first priority target of the German army, and the risk is greater. Whoever stays means giving the hope of life to the other person.

The staff officers of the two countries hugged each other and said goodbye, full of infinite sadness. It was completely unknown whether they would meet again next time.

At 14:14, TF46 officially divided its forces. Nimitz took his staff on a transport boat to the Franklin. Then the overall course of the US fleet turned to the west-northwest, and the Hornet took the British fleet to the northeast - now 3 These battleships are all British ships.

As the fleet divided its forces, the second attack wave that rushed back also divided its forces. Some went to the Franklin and some to the Hornet. Everyone made a tacit choice: American aircraft went to the American fleet, and British aircraft went to the British fleet.

"Sir, General Nimitz has also raised the flagship logo."

"Yeah, let's keep hanging on."

"This... is good." Jin Yan's staff officer wanted to say that it was not necessary, but seeing the officer's resolute attitude, he was too embarrassed to say anything else.

"This may be the last battle for the Royal Navy, so brace yourself."

"The last battle?" Everyone looked at each other, not knowing why.

"In the five years since the war, many warships of the Royal Navy have been buried in the sea, and officers and soldiers have suffered numerous casualties. Now only these few battleships are left, which is a huge sacrifice. Among them, I made the most mistakes and suffered the biggest losses. Every time I think about it, I can't help but sigh." Canning An Zai bowed slightly to everyone in his wheelchair and said, "Everyone is affected."

"Sir, we can't give up. There are still two battleships and two armored aircraft carriers in the mainland that are about to be formed. We..."

"There is no hope." Cunningham shook his head and sighed, "Regardless of today's losses, after this battle is over, the Americans will not and will not be able to assist us anymore. The future of the British Empire is bleak. With those four battleships There is no difference between the four battleships, and they are all dead in the end.”

The staff members looked gloomy and were silent. The youngest ones even started crying in anxiety.

"Do you know why I want to build British ships? I just hope to retain some vitality and dignity for the British Empire. Now it seems to be in vain." Cunningham took a deep breath, "In the future, everyone must use their brains more when encountering wars. Keep your eyes open and don’t be confused like me.”

"Sir, we still have a chance."

"The British Empire was destroyed on the basis of 'there is still a chance.'" Cunningham lamented sadly, "I thought, like you, that we still had a chance, but this was a scam. Don't say whether we can win or not. Even if it can win, will the British Empire still have its previous status? The dominions and colonies are all gone, the national treasury is heavily in debt, and the people are living in poverty... Which one do you think is better, the system with the United States as the world hegemon or the system with Germany as the world hegemon? I think there is no essential difference. If we had negotiated peace with Hitler in 1940, the British Empire would have been in a much higher position than it is now. It was politicians who pushed the entire country and nation into the abyss for their own interests. —Of course, people like me are indispensable for pushing the situation forward, so I’m guilty of a lot of sins!”

Everyone was silent. In fact, the commander's attitude had changed subtly since the "British people and British ships" policy. He believed that the Americans only aided Britain for their own interests and shameful purposes. While the British were fighting for the United States, the United States was still using various tricks and might even sell out Britain in exchange for Germany giving up Japan. In this case, why should the British Empire force itself?

"If the situation in Britain is not good in the future, there will definitely be people clamoring to set up another government in Canada, claiming to "resist to the end", and may even use various names to lure soldiers to Canada together. I hope you don't fall for it." Cunningham took a deep breath, "The Royal Navy is a whole and can never be divided. It can be defeated, but it should never kill each other! Lost? Just come next time, it's not like the Germans haven't lost before."

"Commander, the radar reports that a large group of planes are coming."

A staff officer asked nervously: "Can you distinguish between the enemy and us?"

"No need to distinguish, this is definitely the enemy." Cunningham shook his head and said, "Even if our first attack wave rushes with all its strength, It will take an hour and a half to return. It is definitely the enemy. Notify the fleet to prepare for air defense. "

"Why can the enemy be so fast?"

"I understand, I understand..." Cunningham finally figured out the secret, tears streaming down his face, "This should be the combined effect of the angled deck and the German army in Azores, or in other words, the enemy decided to reinforce as soon as they met the enemy. A few days ago, you all wondered why the German fleet was always circling in a small sea area. This is the reason."

He quickly drew arrows from the three corners of Azores, Brest, and La Coruña with red and blue pencils. Everyone was shocked to find that the three distances were actually very close.

"It's a pity that we thought we still had an advantage, but we didn't expect to live in a false illusion."

At 14:27, the second wave of German attack arrived at the scene. At this time, the British and American fleets had already split up. It was impossible to gather together to attack. They could only choose one to attack. After consideration, Colonel Clement, who led the team, believed that it was possible to launch a landing campaign against Britain in the future, so he aimed the main attack direction at the Cunningham Fleet.

The second wave of the German attack had only 100 aircraft, which was smaller than the first wave, but the entire Cunningham Fleet had only 20 anti-aircraft fighters in total, and the force comparison was even more disparate, which was completely insufficient to cover the overall air defense of the fleet.

"Sir, what should we do? The enemy is all heading for Commander Cunningham's fleet."

Nimitz witnessed this situation and felt heartbroken. He wanted to order all his fighters to rush over to support several times, but when he thought of the subsequent third wave of attacks, he could only hold back and finally said: "Send 12 planes to support."

There were only 25 fighters over the US fleet. Withdrawing 12 meant that only half were left, which was also very dangerous. A staff officer moved his mouth, but in the end he did not say it.

At 14:31, the attack officially began. Tony's first target was the Ajax light cruiser (Leander class) on the periphery. Six Ju-198s quickly sent the 7,000-ton light cruiser into the sea with six bombs, avenging the Count Spey - when the Count Spey was besieged in the La Plata River, Ajax was the vanguard and tracked all the way.

One minute later, the Orion, a ship of the same class, followed the footsteps of the Ajax and was sunk by five bombs - the ship had fought many times with Germany and Italy in the Mediterranean, and could be considered an old acquaintance.

As soon as the two light cruisers covering the left wing left, Kleiman immediately ordered the Ju-198 carrying torpedoes to launch a torpedo attack. Unfortunately, only one of the 24 attack aircraft was shot down, and the rest were successfully completed. Due to the weakening of the outer firepower, the torpedo landing point this time was closer to the core of the fleet and directly penetrated into the inner layer. The first target was the Hornet where Cunningham was.

At 14:36, the King George V, which was covering the flagship, was hit by a torpedo first, with a large hole torn on the port side. However, with the concerted efforts of British officers and soldiers to plug the leak, the ship took on more than 2,000 tons of water and slowed down by 3 knots, but the rest was normal. Another unlucky ship hit by a torpedo was the Belfast. This warship was probably excited about the anti-aircraft firepower operation - it had just shot down a Bf-219 and forgot about the torpedo, and was hit by a torpedo in an inexplicable state. He was not as strong as the King George V and was immediately severely damaged.

Seeing the opportunity, two groups of 8 Ju-198s quickly dived down to attack. The ship was hit by 6 bombs in 3 minutes, and the captain was forced to announce the abandonment of the ship.

The exciting moment finally came, the next target: the flagship Hornet where Cunningham was.