Chapter 253 Surprise Attack 9

September 3, 1939, 3:45 pm, British time, Scapa Flow.

The flag message "England needs everyone to do their duty" was hung on the battleship "Nelson". At the same time, every British ship in Scapa Flow received the same order.

"The war has just begun!" Admiral Charles Forbes stood in the command tower of the "Nelson" and said to everyone around him, "Even if the Germans have achieved a temporary victory with treacherous and unfaithful sneak attacks, it is impossible for England to surrender!"

"Yes, sir!" Everyone replied.

"Air raid!" Then someone shouted, "Another batch of torpedo planes are rushing towards us!"

Charles Forbes was not in a hurry. He grabbed the handrail beside him and turned his head to look at the scene outside the command tower that he would never forget.

On the sea, two huge aircraft carriers were on fire, they were the "Wrath" and the "Brave". Three minutes ago, the fleet chief of staff reported to Forbes: The "Wrath" was hit by three bombs, one on the bow and two in the middle of the ship, all of which penetrated the deck! One of them even penetrated the hangar! The huge explosion almost destroyed the deck and caused a fire in the hangar. Now the fire is spreading and it is getting hard to control!

Charles Forbes knew that the "Wrath" was finished. The hangar was destroyed, the deck was destroyed, and there was a fire that devoured everything - it might have ignited the aviation fuel, and it might have exploded the ammunition! In the end, even if the aircraft carrier did not sink, the repair work might take a year or even two years to complete.

In addition, the "Courageous" aircraft carrier was hit by two bombs, both of which were heavy bombs! And all of them penetrated the thin deck effortlessly, and one of them also ignited the hangar. The fire also spread on the "Courageous". The damage suffered by this aircraft carrier was almost the same as that of the "Wrath"! If the battlefield was not in Scapa Flow, it and the "Furious" would have to be abandoned...

In addition to the "Furious" and the "Brave", the "Iron Duke" battleship, which served as a training ship, also became the prey of German torpedo attack aircraft because of its huge size. It was hit by 6 torpedoes in 5 minutes and is now seriously tilted to the right. The captain has requested to abandon the ship.

And another "old" battleship, the "Royal Oak", is now also under attack by German torpedo bombers!

Suddenly, a loud noise came from the middle of the main island of the Onyk Islands that make up Scapa Flow. Admiral Forbes looked over and saw a huge mushroom cloud rising into the sky!

"This is..." Admiral Forbes gritted his teeth. He knew that the oil depot in Scapa Flow was destroyed! The 200,000 tons of heavy oil and 10,000 tons of aviation fuel stored there are burning!

This is the masterpiece of He-111. While some He-111s bombed the anti-aircraft gun positions, some He-111s bombed the oil depots, naval airports and port facilities (mainly docks) in Scapa Flow, which are crucial for a naval base.

On the other side of Scapa Flow, the battlecruiser "Repulse", known as the "Royal Navy Repair" (because the ship underwent two major modifications during the interwar period and stayed in the dock for too long), is now being attacked by torpedo planes...

"Torpedo Plane Squadron 20, follow me! Target "Repulse"!" The formation led by Lieutenant Adolf Ingelhart has now entered the position to attack the "Royal Oak".

He is one of the few pilots who is a true naval officer in the German Naval Aviation Force - he is from a naval family, and one of his uncles is the commander of the battleship division who participated in the Battle of Jutland. So he knows which ships in Scapa Flow are not worth attacking at all, and which ships must be sunk or severely damaged!

For example, the three aircraft carriers converted from large light cruisers are opponents that "must be eliminated".

Unfortunately, the "Ark Royal" and "Hood" have already left Scapa Flow, otherwise these two ships must be destroyed!

In addition, the two "Reputation" class battlecruisers left over from World War I are also very valuable targets for attack.

Because any German naval officer (referring to the real navy, not the guys who switched from the air force) knows that in the huge British Royal Navy, the four fast aircraft carriers "Ark Royal", "Wrath", "Brave", and "Glory" and the three battlecruisers "Hood", "Reputation", and "Repulse" are the real threats to the German Navy!

These seven giant ships not only have enough combat power, but also are fast enough! For the German Navy, which mainly fights by breaking up trade at sea, they are all huge threats. If the British Royal Navy loses them, then the entire Atlantic will be left to the two "Scharnhurst" and two "Seidlitz" classes (the second ship of the Seidlitz class, "Admiral Seckt", will be completed before the end of the year) to come and go.

Because the British heavy cruisers that could catch up with them could not beat the "Shanhurst" class at all, and the battleships that could beat the "Shan", such as the "Nelson", could catch up with the "Shanhurst" class with a pitiful maximum speed of 23.8 knots?

As for the other two classes of battleships of the British Royal Navy, the "Queen Elizabeth" class and the "Renghen" class (also known as the R class) battleships, they only have a maximum speed of 25 to 23 knots. They may have been a powerful weapon in the last war, but now... what use are they?

So when the attack plan was issued, Lieutenant Adolf Inglehart raised objections to the "outsiders" of the naval aviation force, saying that there was no need to attack battleships, but that they should concentrate their firepower on sinking aircraft carriers and battlecruisers. As long as the four fast aircraft carriers "Ark Royal", "Wrath", "Brave" and "Glory" and the three battlecruisers "Hood", "Reputation" and "Repulse" were sunk.

Then before the new "King George V" class battleships and "Glorious" class aircraft carriers were completed, the British Royal Navy had no way to deal with the ships of the German commerce-breaking fleet.

But those guys in the "Air Force and Marine Corps" did not listen to his opinions at all, and still listed all battleships and battlecruisers as "equal priority" targets for torpedo planes.

Fortunately, as the captain of the 20th Torpedo Squadron, Lieutenant Adolf Inglehart still had the right to choose targets among battleships and battlecruisers.

"Altitude 20, horizontal attack, torpedoes at 1500 meters!" Another series of orders came from Lieutenant Adolf Inglehart.

The 15 torpedo planes under his command were now divided into three horizontal formations of 5 planes, almost shoulder to shoulder, and rushed straight towards the Repulse. The Repulse was a battlecruiser that had just undergone a comprehensive modernization and had very strong anti-aircraft firepower. In particular, the 2-pound anti-aircraft guns installed after the modernization were powerful and could weave a fire net to block torpedo planes within 3800 yards.

But today, such a dense fire net could not stop Lieutenant Adolf Inglehart and his comrades.

Countless orange-red flashes rushed towards Inglehart, and then slid past him. The plane passed through the fire net and slowly approached the battlecruiser in front. Suddenly, Inglehart felt the distance between the planes vibrate, and then again!

It must have been hit by a bullet, maybe by shrapnel!

Inglehart didn't know how long the plane could hold out. He found that the battlecruiser in front was "getting bigger and bigger" and was already within 2,000 meters.

"Torpedo! Release! Now!" he shouted. Then he felt the plane jump up and the torpedo was released. Just as Inglehart was about to pull up the plane and leave, the He-115 shook again!

"Hit! The right engine was hit!" The navigator's scream came from the headset. It turned out that one of the engines of the He-111 was destroyed.

"Nothing, one engine can fly back!" Inglehart comforted his crew loudly, while carefully maneuvering the plane, leaving the fire range of the 2-pound anti-aircraft gun with difficulty.

"Boom!"

A muffled sound came from below.

"We hit it!" This time it was the bombardier cheering.

Inglehart looked down and saw a huge water column at the stern of the "Repulse", which was obviously hit by a torpedo.

At 3:48 and 3:49 p.m., the Repulse was attacked by three groups of 15 He-111 torpedo bombers, and six F5 torpedoes hit the huge warship. One destroyed the rudder, three hit the port side torpedo belt, and two opened large holes at the bow and stern - the torpedo belt is mainly distributed in the middle of the ship, and the bow and stern cannot be installed with torpedo belts.

Seawater immediately poured into the hull of the Repulse, and the battlecruiser began to tilt seriously to the left.

At 3:52, the Repulse began to pour water to the starboard side to maintain balance to avoid capsizing.

At the same time, the Royal Oak encountered a second wave of torpedo attacks, this time by a three-column attack formation of 9 He-115s (three planes in each column). Due to the previous round of fierce attacks, the starboard side of the Royal Oak had been hit by four bullets. Three of them hit the anti-torpedo belt, without causing much damage, and one penetrated the bow, causing a large amount of seawater to pour in, causing the battleship to tilt several degrees to the right.

In addition, in the earlier bombing of the He-111, the "Royal Oak" was also hit by two SC-250 high-explosive bombs. Although it did not penetrate the armor, one of them hit a seaplane on the catapult (near the bow), and caused a fire. The thick smoke blocked the sight of part of the anti-aircraft guns, making it impossible for the gunners to aim. So 111 attacked from near the bow. It successfully dropped 9 F5 torpedoes on the sea 1,500 meters away from the "Royal Oak". Three of them hit, almost destroying the bow of the "Royal Oak". Seawater poured in at an unimaginable speed. A few minutes later, the entire bow was submerged in the sea, and the "Royal Oak" was about to sink into the sea...