Iron Cross

Chapter 884 Accident (13,2700 Votes Plus Additional Update)

After confirming their escape, the entire British fleet fled at top speed regardless of fuel, with an overall speed of up to 24 knots - this is the fastest speed that the Hornet can achieve.

But 24 knots is still too slow. Even the fleet cannot run 100 kilometers between the second wave of attacks and the third wave of attacks. It only takes a few minutes for the aircraft.

At 17:20, Major General Seydlitz, the German commander of the second sortie, carefully observed the enemy formation on the sea and decided to launch an attack from the left wing.

The previous German offensive frenzy had paralyzed the Hornet's take-off and landing capabilities. Now the British army no longer had an anti-aircraft fighter. Even after receiving a radar warning, he did not ask Nimitz for an anti-aircraft fighter - he thought this would The position of the US fleet was exposed, and Nimitz had no idea that the German army had arrived so soon.

Now all the German attack planes are free to attack, but the cautious Seydlitz decided to advance layer by layer - it is already a day of great victory, and the boys can save one more one:

At 17:21, the first group of attacks began. Three Ju-198s roared and dropped bombs. At the end, the seriously injured cruiser Liverpool was hit by four bombs in a row and began to sink slowly;

Two minutes later, Seydlitz ordered an attack on the George V. The second and third groups of dive attacks hit the opponent's rear deck, and the fourth and fifth groups of attacks tore open the opponent's seaplane hangar, and the entire upper deck was After the building was hit, it started to catch fire. The entire warship became a blazing hell. Hundreds of dead bodies were scattered on the deck. Even the gun barrels were stained with blood and hung with mutilated limbs. Flames shot out from the curled steel plates. The entire warship They were all shrouded in smoke and fire. However, this is just an ugly scene, and the George V core module has not been fundamentally damaged.

The surviving British officers and soldiers fought back desperately, and the 40mm and 20mm anti-aircraft guns that could fire continued to fire. The surrounding Aurora (Linxian-class light cruiser, the famous Chongqing in Chinese history), Orion (Leander-class) ) desperately rushed over and used anti-aircraft fire to try to reduce the burden on the George V. This style of play played into Seydlitz's plan, and he used Group 6-9 dive bombers to successfully sink two light cruisers.

Now that George V was alone, it was time for the torpedo planes to come on stage.

Groups 1-4 torpedo planes fired 12 torpedoes at the enemy ship at a distance of 1,500 meters. At 17:31, in order to avoid the torpedoes, the George V turned to the right. Raging waves hit the deck, the hull tilted, and the bridge windshield The glass was all shattered, and the flying glass scratched the captain's cheeks. He wiped away the blood on his face, looked at the thick smoke rising into the air and the very clear torpedo tracks on the sea, and turned on the loudspeaker: " Attention everyone, wear life jackets!”

The King George V finally dodged 9 torpedoes, and the remaining 3 were mercilessly stuck on its port side. Together with the torpedo that hit the first time, 4 torpedoes were hit on the port side. Facing the situation where more and more water was entering and damage control was completely helpless, the captain reluctantly announced the abandonment of the ship. At 17:39, this famous battleship began to sink due to too much water.

Now, except for a few destroyers on the left wing of the Hornet, there are no large warships that can withstand it. The few remaining cruisers tried to go around from the right wing to fill positions, but they were all stopped by Cunningham. He was determined to use the flagship as bait to attract more Firepower gives your companions a chance to escape.

Seydlitz finally had a chance to deal with the approaching Hornet. In order to deal with the Essex-class aircraft carrier with the flagship mark as soon as possible, he dispatched 5 groups of 15 lightning strike aircraft and more than 20 fighter jets. Siege the deck, use cannon shells to straf the aircraft carrier's anti-aircraft fire to cover the torpedo aircraft, the Hornet suffered casualties, but still fought back with continuous anti-aircraft fire.

At 17:46, after successfully avoiding three torpedoes, the fourth torpedo hit the stern of the Hornet, damaging the key rudder. Then another torpedo was hit in the front of the ship's center, causing a large amount of water to enter the ship. The entire warship sailed The speed is getting slower and slower. One minute later, the third torpedo hit the middle of the ship, tearing open a huge gap, and seawater continued to pour in.

The entire warship could only wander forward at a speed of 7 knots. Due to the damage to the steering gear, the route was very irregular, first heading northeast, and then turning due north and west. Hundreds of officers and soldiers in the bottom cabin climbed onto the sloping and damaged main deck, but more people were blocked by broken hatches, fire and seawater and were unable to escape.

"Sir, the warship is out of action. Let's retreat."

"Retreat?" Cunningham shook his head, "You go, I can't walk anymore, let me stay."

"Sir!" A young staff officer cried anxiously, "I will swim out on your back. I am a very good swimmer."

"Let me stay. The biggest mistake in my life was that I should not have come back from Africa alive. You are still young, so you can go." Cunningham's face was calm and decisive, "Let me stay with them... …”

At 17:49, Seydlitz once again passed by the Hornet at close range. The ship was tilted more than 20 degrees, and its anti-aircraft firepower was almost unusable. He saw groups of sailors wearing life-saving suits heading into the water. Li jumped and saw dozens of people clustered together near the bridge, and there seemed to be someone in a wheelchair in the middle. He was wondering who this was - the Germans did not know that Cunningham had broken his leg.

A fighter plane swooped down with a roar, intending to tear apart the Royal Navy officers and soldiers with machine gun shells, but seeing dozens of them standing upright with their arms linked, and using their bodies to block the elderly in the wheelchair, the pilot sighed, slowly released his finger on the shooting button, and silently flew over his head to see off the brave Royal Navy officers and soldiers. When he was closest to the deck, he seemed to hear a song:

"......

You are the most holy among all nations,

It is your mission to eliminate dictatorship and expel tyrants!

Mission, mission, mission,

Sacred mission!

Prosperity is with you,

Greatness and freedom are with you,

Fear and jealousy are the feelings of foreign races.

Rule, Britannia!

Britannia rules the ocean,

The British will never be slaves!"

At 17:52, in the tragic "Rule! Britannia! 》 (British Navy song), the Hornet capsized and turned upside down on the sea, then slowly sank. Royal Navy Admiral Andrew Brown Cunningham chose to sink with the ship accompanied by more than 40 subordinates who volunteered to follow him! In the end, less than 600 of the more than 3,600 officers and soldiers on the ship survived.

In the afterglow of the setting sun, Seydlitz led the remaining attack aircraft to besiege the Duke of York. More than 40 attack aircraft flew up and down, attacking the only remaining battleship of the Royal Navy with bombs and torpedoes like raindrops. There were flames of bomb explosions and water columns stirred up by torpedoes hitting the side of the ship.

The Duke of York was hit by a torpedo in the Battle of Newfoundland, and the injury was serious. It was originally expected to take half a year to repair. In the end, due to the shortage of warships, it took only 3 months to complete under the continuous operation of British and American naval workers in three shifts. However, the strength after the emergency repair was obviously still a certain gap from the original structure, so the ship soon faltered and was difficult to move. The accompanying light cruisers also suffered heavy casualties under the attack of German bombs and torpedoes.

"Our army was bombed by a large group of German aircraft and is about to be completely destroyed. Long live the Royal Navy! Long live Great Britain!" A staff officer stumbled into the bridge and handed the telegram to Nimitz. Before he could say anything, he burst into tears.

Nimitz took a few glances at the telegram, his face changed drastically, and he felt dizzy and fell down. Several staff officers hurriedly supported him.

"Sir! Sir!" There was chaos in the bridge of the Franklin. Although everyone knew that the next battle would be dangerous after the second attack wave, all fighters and even some SBD pilots with decent skills were ready to participate in air defense operations, but what everyone did not expect was that the third wave of German attacks did not fall on their side as expected, but fell on the already scarred Cunningham fleet.

The Hornet had not sunk when the telegram was sent, but it was abandoned after being hit by torpedoes continuously, so Cunningham sent a farewell telegram on behalf of the fleet.

When Nimitz woke up and repeatedly asked the telegraph room to inquire about the enemy situation, the Duke of York had also reached its end. The ship was hit by 4 torpedoes, took on more than 9,000 tons of water, tilted 19 degrees, the port railing was flooded, the bow was buried, and it twisted slowly at a speed of 3 knots, throwing the debris on the ship, the blown-up life rafts and some crew members who were preparing to escape into the sea.

Hundreds of Royal Navy officers and soldiers struggled to escape from the burning, undulating oil stains and tried their best to avoid the whirlpool caused by the sinking warship. At 18:07, after a violent shaking, the stern of the Duke of York was raised, and the propeller arched high out of the water. With the sound of flying wreckage and water curtain falling back to the sea surface, the ship sank more than 700 meters deep in the ocean. The two destroyers Scorpion and Intrepid rescued a total of more than 400 sailors. They were covered in oil, clinging to the life rafts tightly, and humming "God Save the King" in a chilling voice...

At 18:24, Seydlitz led a large fleet back to the port. In the last round of attacks today, all the British fleet's warships above the light cruiser level and even 7 destroyers were sunk. The British Empire also lost 2 aircraft carriers, 2 battleships, and 8 light cruisers. Only 9 destroyers survived and rescued officers and soldiers. The entire fleet had nearly 15,000 casualties, while the German army suffered only 14 aircraft, with a loss rate of 8%.

After this battle, the British Empire had no main battleships except for 4 unbuilt main battleships on its own land. The total tonnage in service (excluding the Dominion Fleet) was not even as large as the Argentine Navy.

The Royal Navy's history of traversing the world and dominating the world for more than 300 years was finally ruined by the aircraft carriers and carrier-based aircraft invented by it!

ps: The monthly tickets are declining, I beg for quick support……………………

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