Chapter 254 Surprise Attack 10

"Oh my God! We lost the Royal Oak!"

In the officer lounge of the battleship Nelson, the Navy Minister Winston Churchill, whose head and face were covered in blood, was so anxious that he almost cried.

He had only been the Navy Minister for 4 days when he suffered the most tragic defeat in the history of the British Navy. Although it was caused by the enemy's treacherous and shameless sneak attack, it was still a tragic defeat after all!

First, two precious aircraft carriers burned into floating torches, then the training ship Iron Duke battleship (already abandoned and sinking), and now the Royal Oak battleship sank! The battlecruiser Repulse seemed to have suffered heavy damage, the hull sank, and the bow was still smoking. I wonder what was ignited by the torpedo explosion? The Nelson and Rodney were also hit by several torpedoes, and it was impossible for them to sink. But if they were hit by torpedoes, they must be repaired, and they will inevitably lie in the dock for several months.

That is to say, in the next few months, the three battleships "Nelson", "Rodney" and "Repulse" will not be used (not to mention the "Royal Oak"). The strength of the Royal Navy in the North Sea and the Atlantic will be greatly reduced!

Boom...

There was another loud noise, and Churchill felt that the floor under his feet shook a few times. He hurriedly asked Sir Pound, "What's the matter?"

"It's the 'Glory'..." The Sir replied in a sad tone, "We are going to lose it, no, we have already lost it!"

After the "Wrath" and "Brave" burned into floating torches, the "Glory" aircraft carrier did not escape the bad luck. It was also dive-bombed by a whole squadron of Ju.88 bombers! And the German Air Force Captain Friedrich Voss, who commanded the bombing, took a risky high-angle dive (greater than 60 degrees). 15 Ju.88s rushed down from an altitude of 4,000 meters one after another, and sent 7 of the 30 SC-500 bombs into the body of the "Glory" aircraft carrier.

7 500 kg bombs! All of them penetrated the deck and exploded in the "belly" of the aircraft carrier. One of them hit the ammunition depot exactly...

"Minister, we only have the 'Hood', 'Reputation' and 'Ark Royal' available now." Sir Pound sat on the floor, his whole body was depressed.

He was an expert in the navy and knew what the Germans' "Scharnhurst" class and "Sedlitz" class were for. With the current strength of the German navy, even if the fleet in Scapa Flow was completely destroyed, it would be impossible to land in England.

The three battlecruisers and battleships of "Hood", "Revenge" and "Resolution" alone were not something that two "Scharn" class ships could deal with. Moreover, the "Warrior" battleship, which was being modified in the shipyard, was almost completed and could be delivered to the navy in October. Therefore, it was not possible for the German fleet to fight to seize the sea control of the English Channel. The only thing they could do was to use their speed to suddenly attack the British sea transportation lines in the Atlantic!

Therefore, Pound decided to concentrate the Home Fleet in Scapa Flow in order to intercept the German commerce-breaking fleet that tried to break into the Atlantic Ocean at the first time.

Now, Britain has lost three fast "fleet carriers". Among the remaining four aircraft carriers, "Eagle", "Argus" and "Hermes" can be ignored, because their speed is too slow and they can't keep up with the German commerce-breaking fleet. Only one "Ark Royal" can cover the attack of "Hood" and "Reputation".

But the German side has two "Scharnhurst" class and two "Sedlitz" class. Although it may not be able to fight a decisive battle with the British Royal Navy, it is difficult to catch them by circling in the Atlantic Ocean at high speed.

Churchill shook his head and said, "No, we still have two "Dunkirk" class and perhaps "Count Cavour"."

The "Dunkirk" class battlecruisers are the treasures of the French Navy, with a total of two, and the "Count Cavour" is an Italian battleship. The former is a new ship, which was completed in 1937 or 1938. The latter is an old ship that has been modernized and remodeled. The speed of these three ships is not slow, and they can barely be used to intercept and pursue the German commerce-breaking fleet.

"But Italy is still a neutral country!" Sir Pound reminded.

"No, they will not remain neutral forever!" Churchill said, "This world war will be a major reshuffle of power worldwide, and no ambitious major country can really stay out of it. Mussolini is ambitious, and everyone knows it. So he will definitely join, the only question is who he will stand on the side of!"

...

"Enemy plane! Enemy plane found!" Lieutenant General Graham at 5000 meters in the sky was counting the results of the battle, and suddenly a scream came from the headset. "It seems to be a 'Hurricane' fighter! Lieutenant General, we have to lower the altitude and let the Fokker Zero come to rescue..."

Lieutenant General Graham was startled. The Fw-200C he was riding was a reconnaissance plane modified from a passenger plane, which was not very durable. Just as he was gasping for air, the plane began to dive faster and faster, and the captain sent a distress signal to the Zero flying at low altitude.

"Big guy!" Captain Carter of the 67th Fighter Squadron of the Royal Air Force shouted excitedly. He found a "four-engine heavy bomber."

Yes, he flew from high altitude! Because the reinforcement request sent by the Home Fleet did not clearly state what aircraft was attacked. Therefore, Captain Carter took it for granted that it was the German four-engine heavy bombers that attacked Scapa Flow - after all, Scapa Flow is thousands of kilometers away from the German mainland, and the Royal Air Force only had four-engine heavy bombers and twin-engine heavy fighters. Can get it.

Therefore, Captain Carter's squadron went straight to an altitude of 6,000 meters as soon as it took off in order to seize a high-altitude position, and then flew over Scapa Flow.

"Haha, it can't escape without fighter jet escort!"

"Woohoo, it's mine, I want to knock it down so that I can get a result!"

The cheers of his subordinates came from Captain Carter's earphones. He was in a good mood as well. It was a good sign that he could achieve military success on the first day of the war. However, he still reminded his subordinates, saying: "Pay attention to maintaining the formation and covering each other. The first detachment and the second detachment rush with me. The third detachment and the fourth detachment continue to search."

Because it did not participate in the Spanish War, the Royal Air Force lagged behind in air combat tactics and still used the traditional three-machine wedge formation. This formation is mainly for aesthetic reasons, but it will encounter many problems in actual combat, such as it is easy for fighter planes to collide with their own people when they make emergency turns to dodge.

But for Captain Carter, the biggest mistake he made in today's battle was not the formation, but not thinking that the Germans had a long-range single-engine escort fighter!

Therefore, after seeing the Fw-200C dive to 4,000 meters, it began to level off. Captain Carter did not think much and led two detachments (6 Spitfires) to dive down and then leveled off and followed the Fw-200C. Seeing the huge Fw-200C getting closer and closer, it will soon enter the range of 8 machine guns. Suddenly someone shouted in his earphone: "Enemy plane! Enemy plane found, 300 meters below the left front, distance 2000, German fighter plane found!"

Captain Carter thought it was a twin-engine fighter like the BF-110 (which was very clumsy and couldn't defeat the Spitfire at all), so he didn't look at it and just shouted an order: "The second team will deal with the German fighters, and the first team will concentrate its firepower on their bombers!" "

As he spoke, the Naga Fw-200C had already entered the effective range of Captain Carter's fighter plane. He immediately aimed at the tail of the opponent's aircraft, then pressed the launch button. First, he fired a burst, and eight streaks of fire flew away. The bullets seemed to sweep away. Arrived at the Fw-200C. Captain Carter felt confident that he would hit the enemy plane and was about to open fire with all his strength when a horrified cry suddenly came from the earphones.

"I've been hit! I've been hit!"

"Oh God! What kind of plane is that? It went around behind me!"

"Too many, too many enemy planes, we are surrounded..."

what happened? Captain Carter could no longer concentrate. He lowered his head and looked to his left front and lower side, and saw a scene that made him unbelievable.

Four single-engine small fighter jets painted in light blue were chasing a Spitfire in a circle, while the other two Spitfires had disappeared. Those four small German planes were extremely nimble. No matter how they turned, the Spitfires were always bitten by the other side! Suddenly, two of the small German planes opened fire, a salvo of two machine guns and two 20mm cannons. The Spitfire was set on fire effortlessly. The plane plummeted into the sky with thick smoke, and no pilot bailed out.

What kind of plane is this? Where did they come from? Captain Carter broke out in a cold sweat. Before he could figure out these two questions, the four winning German planes raised their noses and began to climb, rushing towards Carter's position at extremely fast speeds.

"They want to grab high-altitude positions!" Carter suddenly shouted at the intercom, "Climb quickly, climb quickly!"

He and the other two wingmen no longer bothered to fight the Fw-200C, they all pulled up the aircraft and rushed to high altitude - in an air battle, being condescending has a great advantage, and you can use dive to accelerate the aircraft. Just look at the climbing speed and fighting agility of those small German planes and you will know that it is an excellent fighter with performance as good as the Spitfire! If they were allowed to compete at high altitudes, they would be in big trouble.

However, what surprised Captain Carter and the other two wingman pilots was that the German aircraft seemed to just want to drive them away from the Fw-200C. When the three Spitfire fighter jets rushed to an altitude of 6,000 meters, the four German aircraft and the Fw-200C were gone.

"Captain, the German plane is missing!" a wingman pilot's voice sounded in Carter's earphones.

"I know, I think they must have protected the Fw-200 and flew away!" Captain Carter said.

"Captain," the pilot of another wingman suddenly shouted, "look at Scapa Flow below! The Home Fleet seems to have suffered heavy damage!"