Chapter 1,188 Bombing 4
Chapter 1188 Bombing 4
The battleship Baden, which was the focus of the British Air Force's attack, also encountered the biggest crisis since it entered service! The small British crew rushed towards the fake flagship from all directions. Countless bombs fell like raindrops, exploding curtains of water around the battleship.
"The British air strikes were very violent. Their technology was very good and bold. They even braved anti-aircraft fire to enter the battlefield from a height of less than 400 meters. More than once, I saw British bombers being blown to pieces by anti-aircraft guns. Pakistan The boarding and the surrounding frigates fought very well, and I simply couldn't ask them to do better." On the Bayern, Vice Admiral Scheer commented as he looked at the battleship Baden, which was covered by artillery fire and water curtains in the distance.
Although most of them are rookies, there are still some NBs in the British bomber force responsible for attacking the Baden. Being able to fly a big guy with a wingspan of 38 meters from a height of 300 meters above a German warship, and then steadily drop a 1,000-pound bomb onto the front deck. This is definitely the product of a combination of technology and luck. !
When this high-explosive bomb weighing 1,000 pounds easily penetrated the uppermost deck, and then exploded in the bow cabin of the Baden! The picric acid explosive weighing nearly 300KG is really powerful. It is about equal to the lethality of about 5 15-inch high-explosive bombs that were hit in the same place! A dazzling fireball rushed out of the deck, and the violent explosion even lifted the top deck dozens of meters away!
Even the No. 1 turret was stuck due to deck deformation! The large amount of air that poured in greatly contributed to the spread of the flames. Under the strong sea breeze, it didn't take long for the front deck of the No. 1 turret of the Baden to be almost covered in flames!
"I will never forget the scene when it was hit by a heavy bomb for the first time. The warship with a displacement of nearly 30,000 tons seemed to be shaking in the huge explosion. A dazzling fire soared from the deck, and the raging flames directly Out of control, we had to mobilize all damage control personnel to put out the fire. After the battle, when we finally put out the fire, some parts of the bow were burned to the point where only the skeleton was left! Such a large-tonnage ship The bomb was really terrifying!" An officer of the Baden recalled the situation at that time.
Another semi-armor-piercing bomb that hit also caused very heavy losses to the Baden. This bomb modified from a 9.2-inch shell was dived by an FB27 bomber at an angle of 30 degrees, from a height of 500 meters. A parabola was drawn in the air and landed accurately at the bottom of the rear chimney of the Baden!
Under the influence of huge inertia, the armor-piercing projectile weighing nearly 200KG directly penetrated the outer shield of the chimney and exploded on the honeycomb armor at the bottom! Although the armor protection was trustworthy, the flying shrapnel still destroyed a large number of flues, and the fragments fell one after another and blocked many smoke exhaust channels. As a result, the desk boiler quickly went out. Along the flue, the flames and thick smoke entered a generator room behind the chimney, causing a generator to strike.
As for the other bombs that fell,
Although they cannot pose a fatal threat to the core compartment of the battleship, they still cause great losses to the battleship. The entire battleship passed through flames and smoke. For a while, Prince Ruprecht was worried that such bombing would eventually cause the battleship to be burned down! Fortunately, the structure of the Bavaria-class battleship was strong enough, the armor protection area was relatively large, and the power system was powerful. In the end, this war-torn battleship successfully turned around under the attack of British bombers.
The Württemberg nearby was also not spared. One 500-pound bomb and one 150-pound bomb fell on the battleship, destroying the rangefinder on the top of the battleship and conveniently hitting the middle of the hull. The Bavaria where the prince was was also bombed. A bomb landed near a communications antenna, halting radio communications in Bavaria for 90 minutes. Another bomb landed on the turret and was deflected by the thick horizontal armor. There was not much impact. Two other bombs caused fires within a certain area.
The battleship was still badly beaten and scarred. The loss of some auxiliary battleships became inevitable. Taking the prince's main fleet as an example, in this battle, one light cruiser was sunk, this one was sunk by a direct hit on the waterline, two light cruisers were injured, and two destroyers were sunk by accident. ..... For a small ship of several hundred tons, even a 250-pound bomb that is nearly missed may be fatal!
Two hours later, when the last British bomber disappeared from sight, Ruprecht and the officers and soldiers of the German Navy could finally breathe a sigh of relief. They knew that the new combat tool, the aircraft, was very terrifying. , but I didn’t expect that the British’s hasty attack would cause so much trouble to the powerful High Seas Fleet!
"The British fleet is not as annoying as these bombers! We have fought so many times with the Royal Navy, but in terms of losses, the British bombers performed much better than their battleships!" Scheer said of the British. air strikes.
"Look, this is just the beginning! Maybe in the future, no, very soon, we may not be safe in the port! Their long-range bombers can even take off from the British mainland and bomb William Harbor!" To be honest, this time The bombing also left the prince with lingering fears. He did not expect that the British would have such a powerful aviation force at this time, and the level was even as good as the beginning of 1918 in history!
This time, thanks to the hasty preparation of the British, in addition to the large number, both in terms of tactics, personnel quality, and weapon selection. The hit accuracy can be described as a mess. But even so, the German fleet was still in a hurry.
"The statistics are out. This time the British used a total of nearly 190 bombers of various types. Mainly from Falth Bay and the two surrounding airports. If we want to continue to compete with the British in the future, then the construction of our aircraft carriers will probably We need to hurry up, and the performance of carrier-based aircraft must also be improved." Scheer said with a worried look. In fact, from the hit rate point of view, this data is not high. 190 aircraft, carrying at least 500 bombs of various weights, only had about 10 direct hits, which is 2% of the hits. But even so, no one can ignore this sharp sword from the sky.
"We will discuss these things after we get back. All injured warships will take a short rest in Wilhelmshaven after returning and immediately go to our eastern naval base through the Kiel Canal for repairs. I will arrange for the Bavarian Air Force to strengthen the defense of Wilhelmshaven as soon as possible." The prince thought. After thinking about it, he said.
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