Chapter 1115 Missiles in the Atlantic Ocean End

Northeast of the Bermuda Islands, seven battleships flying the Stars and Stripes are rising and falling in the vast Atlantic Ocean. The one in the middle is the Belarus battleship with a huge hull like a mountain. It is the third ship of the Soviet class. At 5:50 on September 7, 1944, Bermuda Islands time, it is the only surviving battleship among the four Soviet class battleships, and it is also the only super battleship currently owned by the US Navy.

The tall hull is riding the wind and waves on the sea, looking majestic and majestic. At any time in the past, the huge tonnage and physique of the Belarus alone are enough to make its captain feel extremely proud and confident.

But the current captain of the Belarus battleship, Colonel Warner Robert Edsel, wants to use some magic to reduce the huge hull of the Belarus by 70 to 80 percent.

Because the eight battleships with huge hulls like the Belarus have all been sunk by the Germans!

The Belarus is the last survivor! But Colonel Edsel would never believe that the Germans would let their battleships go. Eight of them were overturned, and there was still one left. How could they not deal with the last one?

Battleships carrying missiles, planes carrying bombs or torpedoes, and those elusive submarines must be on their way to hunt down the Belarus.

As long as the Belarus has not entered the "absolute protection circle" of shore-based aircraft on Newfoundland Island, everyone knows that this mighty battleship may be sunk by the Germans at any time!

As a naval colonel obsessed with big ships and cannons, Edsel never thought that the Germans had so many ways to sink battleships!

Use missiles, submarines, shore-based night bombers to drop torpedoes, and of course use carrier-based aircraft on aircraft carriers, oh, and battleships. At least the Ukraine "died" quite normally, and was sunk by three German battleships.

Now I don't know what kind of tragic fate is waiting for the Belarus?

In the extraordinarily tall command tower of the Belarus battleship, when Edsel was trying to drive away ominous thoughts from his mind, a panicking telephone ring suddenly rang, followed by a report from the battleship's electronics officer: "Colonel, radar detected enemy aircraft, bearing 218, number 60, distance 120, altitude 3000..."

Here they come!

Fortunately...

The people in the command tower of the Belarus first felt a tightness in their hearts, and then they breathed a sigh of relief.

The tightness in their hearts was because the Belarus was about to be attacked by air, and the slight relief was because the number of enemy aircraft coming was not large, only 60.

With the powerful anti-aircraft firepower and solid armor of the Soviet-class battleship, it should not be impossible to deal with 60 enemy aircraft, right?

"When can the aircraft covering us arrive?" Colonel Edsel asked immediately.

The communications officer immediately replied, "The 24 F6F fighters that took off from the USS Bunker Hill will arrive at around 7:10."

Halsey, who was now captured, certainly would not forget to send out aircraft carriers to cover the five precious battleships that escaped. Among them, the formation with the Essex-class USS Bunker Hill as the core was used to cover the Belarus.

However, this formation did not act with the Belarus - Halsey did not want the aircraft carrier and battleship to be sunk by the Germans together - but was 200 nautical miles west of the Belarus. Because the sun always comes out from the east, when the first ray of sunlight in the morning shines on the Belarus battleship, the USS Bunker Hill 200 nautical miles to the west is still shrouded in darkness.

Originally, taking off from an aircraft carrier at night was a compulsory course for American carrier-based pilots, but the US Navy Air Force lost too many elites in the Second Battle of the Hawaiian Islands. Although the pilots transferred from the Army Aviation were not bad in technology, they still did not master the ability to take off from the small aircraft carrier deck at night.

So they could only wait until the sky got a little brighter before sending out planes to cover the Belarus. But they never expected that Hessman, who had learned the strengths and weaknesses of the US Navy's carrier-based aircraft by consulting some Japanese naval pilots, would have a time difference. If carrier-based aircraft were sent out at 3 a.m., bombs could be dropped on the deck of the American battleship at almost 6 a.m.!

They had to endure bombs for an hour! Colonel Edsel took a deep breath: "Sound the alarm, form an anti-aircraft formation!"

Less than 15 minutes after Edsel's order was issued, 24 Fw190TEs and 36 Fokker 636s led by Colonel Heinz Barr had already approached the air near the Belarus.

At this time, Colonel Heinz Barr was surprised to find that there was no American fighter in the sky!

And there were only 7 ships with the Stars and Stripes on the sea!

"Thank God!" Colonel Barr made a cross on his chest and pressed the throat communicator, "There is no enemy plane, and there are not enough escort ships! This is a good opportunity given to us by God... We must sink that Soviet-class ship no matter what!"

As he spoke, the 127mm dual-purpose anti-aircraft gun had already started to rumble.

The density of anti-aircraft firepower is still quite high. There are 20 127mm dual-purpose guns on the Belarus battleship, 12 127mm dual-purpose guns on a Cleveland-class light cruiser, and 5 127mm dual-purpose guns on each of the 6 Fletcher-class destroyers, a total of 62 guns. Moreover, these 127mm dual-purpose guns fired radio proximity fuze ammunition, and immediately fired a rain of bullets in front of the attack route of 60 German fighter planes.

In front of the solid barrier composed of bursts of black smoke, the experienced Colonel Barr did not choose to charge hard. Instead, he led his men to circle around the US fleet that formed a circle on the sea at a speed of less than 400 kilometers per hour.

The muzzles of the 127mm guns on the US ships also moved with the 60 planes in the sky, always using radio proximity shells to block the route of the German planes' charge.

However, Colonel Barr knew that the Americans could not maintain such a high density of firepower, because the barrel of the 127mm dual-purpose gun would also heat up. Sure enough, less than a quarter of an hour later, the density of the black smoke in the sky had become much thinner.

Colonel Barr knew that the opportunity for a breakthrough had arrived, so he ordered loudly: "The 2nd Fighter Squadron broke in from the starboard side of the Soviet class (Belarus); the 3rd Fighter Squadron broke in from the port side of the Soviet; the 1st Reconnaissance Bomber Squadron followed me to break in from the stern and launch the first wave of attacks! Now, spread out the formation, charge at full speed, and charge!"

With Colonel Barr's order, the engines of 60 fighter planes in the sky roared at the same time, and the speed of the aircraft quickly increased from less than 400 kilometers per hour to more than 600 kilometers!

After accelerating, the 60 aircraft no longer circled around the US fleet, but suddenly split into three groups, from an altitude of more than 3,000 meters, and suddenly broke into the anti-aircraft firepower circle of the US fleet from three different directions.

This series of changes happened in a very short period of time. The 127mm guns on the 7 American ships had no time to react, and all the black smoke exploded behind the three groups of German planes.

However, successfully avoiding the radio proximity shells fired by the 127mm guns was only the beginning of success. The sailors on the 7 ships on the sea were all veterans with extremely quick reactions.

While the 127mm guns were empty, the 40mm anti-aircraft guns and 20mm machine guns began to spit out flames. The Belarus battleship on the sea also began to twist its body greatly and took an S-shaped evasive route.

"Follow me!"

Colonel Barr shouted, retracted the throttle, lowered the speed brake, and pushed the joystick down. The plane broke in from the stern of the aircraft carrier and began to dive rapidly at a large angle of more than 70 degrees. Countless 40mm and 20mm bullets dragged flames from both sides of Colonel Barr's canopy, and his plane shook from time to time, but this would not affect Colonel Barr's mind.

Now it's a dive! Dive to the bottom and drop the bomb. As long as it can hit, the battleship on the sea is almost finished!

The plane's altitude dropped rapidly, and in the blink of an eye, the alarm indicator on the altimeter lit up. The bombardier (also a telegraph operator and observer) sitting behind Colonel Barr immediately pressed the bomb button, and a 500-kilogram armor-piercing bomb broke away from the belly of the aircraft and fell suddenly towards the battleship on the water!

Then the second, third, fourth... one after another Fw190TE reconnaissance bombers completed the dive bombing action. Some of the planes were shot down by dense rain of bullets, most of the planes were hit, and several were still covered with wounds.

However, the sturdy fuselage of Fw190TE ensured that most of the planes were able to successfully drop bombs, and finally 21 bombs (3 planes were shot down) fell from the sky!

Boom!

Just as Colonel Barr pulled up the plane and climbed rapidly, a violent and pleasant explosion sounded from the sea.

The bomb hit the battleship!

Colonel Barr turned his head and saw a ball of fire and thick smoke rising from the midship of the giant battleship on the sea.

Boom! Boom! Boom...

Just as Colonel Barr's plane accelerated to the clouds, the sound of explosions followed one after another, and another 3 500 kg armor-piercing bombs hit the deck and the top of the main gun turret of the Belarus, which was strong on the outside but weak on the inside.

When all 21 Fw190TEs completed the bombing, this seemingly invincible super battleship was surrounded by fire and thick smoke.

At this time, there were still 32 Fokker 636 fighters in the sky (4 of which were shot down) that had not completed the bombing!

The battleship Belarus...is finished.