Chapter 397: Sea Battle 5
On January 15, 1941, at 9:35 a.m., a shrill alarm suddenly sounded on the battleship "Warspite".
"Report, a large fleet of aircraft was spotted in the northwest-west direction, suspected to be an enemy formation..."
It's finally here!
Everyone in the command tower of the "Warspite" felt a little nervous. Although everyone was prepared to be bombed, and they also knew that this was a price that had to be paid. But when they thought that the battleships and aircraft carriers of the Mediterranean Fleet might be sunk, they felt like being cut by a knife.
"Okay!" Cunningham clapped his hands and stood up excitedly, "Order the Eagle to send out all the Spitfires and tell the boys to stop the enemy's first wave of attack at all costs!
In addition, send a telegram to the Middle East Air Force Command, asking them to immediately send fighters stationed in Crete to reinforce!"
The main force of the British Mediterranean Fleet is now only more than 400 kilometers away from Crete, which is completely within the combat radius of the P-39 "Flying Snake" fighter. In the "Judgment" plan formulated by Cunningham, the "Flying Snake" on Crete is definitely a winning trump card.
As long as the "Sea Spitfire" on the "Eagle" and the "Flying Snake" flying from Crete can protect the Mediterranean Fleet from suffering fatal damage, the Italian fleet will definitely be lured out. In this way, the carrier-based aircraft of Fleet B and the British fighter planes on Crete will have the opportunity to give the Italian aircraft carrier a fatal blow!
At 9:51, under the command of Cunningham, the main force of the huge Mediterranean Fleet had set up a circular air defense formation. Dozens of cruisers and destroyers were arranged in 4 circles, and eight battleships (two battleships in a group) and 1 aircraft carrier (Eagle, Rodney, and Lorraine were in a circle) were tightly surrounded in the center.
At the same time, all 28 Sea Spitfires on the Eagle aircraft carrier took off, and then desperately pulled up to obtain a high-altitude position. After more than a year of fighting with the Fokker Zero, British pilots also found a way to fight back. That is to avoid fighting and use the method of pulling up and diving to attack.
Of course, such tactics can only be effective when used by fighters of the Spitfire level. And it must be in the absence of BF-109 to participate in the battle, otherwise once the Spitfire pulls up, the BF-109 waiting at high altitude will have a chance to make a contribution.
However, although there is definitely no BF-109 in the sky today, the collective dive of these "Sea Spitfires" still did not shoot down a Fokker Zero. This is because the main purpose of the first wave of dives of these "Sea Spitfires" is to disperse the German Ju88 fleet that is preparing to break through from an altitude of 3,000 meters. Prevent these medium bombers carrying two 500 kg armor-piercing bombs from entering the dive position. The British Royal Navy, which suffered a great loss in Scapa Flow, is now very afraid of this twin-engine large aircraft that can dive.
Although its bombing accuracy is not as good as that of Ju87 and Fokker 99, the destructive power of two 500 kg armor-piercing bombs is not a joke. Not to mention an aircraft carrier, even a battleship of the Rodney class would be paralyzed if it was hit by a few missiles.
So these "Sea Fires" could not bother to trouble the Fokker Zero, and could only choose to break up the Ju88 formation first. But as soon as their altitude dropped, they were immediately targeted by the Fokker Zero escorting the Ju88 at an altitude of 3,000 meters. Fierce air battles immediately unfolded at medium and low altitudes, but most of the "Sea Fires" still used the tactics of diving and then pulling up to get rid of the Fokker Zero. Only 3 "Sea Fires" unfortunately became the dead souls under the Fokker Zero machine guns.
At the same time, the 48 Ju88s that were broken up formed a formation again after circling a circle, and quickly found the location of the aircraft carrier. Major Val T. Heisenberg, who had participated in the Scapa Flow air raid, was the commander-in-chief of the first assault wave. He had seen the situation on the sea clearly. There was only one aircraft carrier in the four circular air defense arrays!
"There is only one aircraft carrier!" He said to Sergeant Rudolf Schmidt, the navigator and telegraph operator beside him, "Rudolf, how many carriers did you see?"
"Major, I only found one carrier too." Hans Schmidt replied.
"Send a telegram." Major Val T. Heisenberg said, "Found battleship 8, aircraft carrier 1." After Schmidt finished sending the telegram, Major Heisenberg began to issue orders through the airborne radio.
"Attention, all squadrons, I am Major Heisenberg, the commander of the first assault wave. The first target of attack is the British aircraft carrier, and then the battleship. First, the Ju88 will launch a dive attack, and then the S.M.79..."
After more than a year of actual combat, the level of German naval aviation's attack on ships has been significantly improved. The organization and sequence of the attack are more reasonable, and the accuracy of bombing is also higher. If the Scapa Flow bombing was carried out by the current naval aviation elite, the British losses would at least double.
After arranging the attack sequence through the airborne radio, Major Val T. Heisenberg was the first to start the attack under the dense anti-aircraft fire. Although the British anti-aircraft artillery fired desperately, it did not cause any interference to Major Heisenberg and his crew members. The bomb was dropped at an altitude of about 700 meters. The "Eagle" aircraft carrier desperately made an S-shaped maneuver and dodged two 500 kg bombs, but it did not dodge much. One of the bombs exploded only a few meters away from the port side of the "Eagle" aircraft carrier, resulting in a near miss. Fortunately, this is an armor-piercing shell with a thickened shell and reduced charge (charge coefficient 15%). The power generated by the explosion below the waterline does not pose much threat to aircraft carriers converted from battleships such as the "Eagle".
But this is just the beginning. Five minutes later, after paying the price of 2 Ju88s being shot down and another being damaged. A Ju88 bomber belonging to the 4th Bomber Aviation Regiment of the German Naval Aviation dropped a 500 kg bomb that accurately hit the deck of the Eagle aircraft carrier, forming a penetration and exploding in the hangar of the Eagle aircraft carrier. The huge explosion tore all the personnel and backup aircraft in the hangar into pieces and caused a raging fire.
Only 3 minutes later, two more Ju88 bombs hit the Eagle again, opening two more large holes on the stern deck. One of the bombs penetrated directly into the boiler room of the Eagle, causing a big explosion in the boiler room, causing the Eagle to lose most of its power.
Although the Eagle aircraft carrier, which had eaten three 500 kg armor-piercing bombs, was still floating tenaciously, it had lost its combat capability.
"Damn Ju88..." Cunningham in the command tower of the Warspite witnessed the entire process of the Ju88 launching a dive attack on the Eagle aircraft carrier.
Although in his plan, the Eagle, which was already old, had a small number of aircraft and was slow, was also abandoned, but it was crippled in the first wave of enemy attacks, which was far beyond his expectations.
"Admiral, the deck of the Eagle was blown out with three large holes, the hangar was on fire, and the boiler room was destroyed. It has lost its combat capability!"
The communications staff reported the frustrating news. Cunningham took a deep breath and said, "It is allowed to abandon the Eagle when necessary. In addition, let all the Seafires fight until the fuel is exhausted, and then the pilots parachute."
Losing the Eagle was certainly frustrating, but the biggest threat to the entire fleet was that it would soon lose the cover of carrier-based aircraft.
At this time, the attack of German and Italian fighters had not ended. After severely damaging the Eagle, the remaining Ju88s that had not dropped bombs did not continue to bomb the Eagle, but began to attack the Rodney battleship near the Eagle. The final task of ending the Eagle would be handed over to the Italian S.M.79 torpedo bombers. Ten minutes after the Ju88 stopped attacking, six S.M.79s fired torpedoes at the Eagle, which was shrouded in fire and smoke, two of which hit the underwater part of the Eagle's port side. This aircraft carrier, formerly a battleship built by the British for the Chilean Navy, lacked the necessary anti-torpedo design, and two Italian torpedoes tore a fatal hole in its hull. At the same time, the fire that had spread to the entire ship also hindered damage control and repair. As a last resort, the captain of the Eagle had to order the abandonment of the ship at 10:22.
Just when the Eagle was abandoned, the battleship Rodney, which twisted on the sea to do an S-shaped evasion, had avoided 10 500-kilogram bombs and shot down two Ju88s with its anti-aircraft guns. But its good luck came to an end. At 10:23, a bomb dropped by a Ju88 bomber piloted by Lieutenant William Lister accurately hit the top of the Z turret of the "Rodney". Unfortunately, the 7.1-inch (181mm) thick armor on the top of the main turret of the "Rodney" withstood the test and was not penetrated by the bomb, but the huge vibration caused by the explosion of the bomb damaged the 279 radar on the top of the bridge, and the huge fireball formed by the explosion on the top of the turret still inspired the Ju88 pilot to continue attacking the battleship with solid armor.
2 minutes later, the bomb dropped by the Ju88 bomber piloted by Sergeant Franz Kohl finally succeeded, penetrating the bow of the "Rodney" without solid armor protection, and opening a huge gap on the bow deck. One minute later, the bomb dropped by Sergeant Hans Weber's Ju88 bomber hit the deck near the stern of the Nelson again, directly destroying a secondary gun turret and igniting the lifeboat on the nearby lifeboat deck. From the sky, the stern of the battleship Rodney was filled with thick smoke, as if it had been severely damaged.
The thick smoke and fire made the Rodney the most eye-catching target on the sea!