Chapter 402: Sea Battle 10

"Boom..."

A huge ball of flame rose from the bow of the Sydney light cruiser, and a main gun turret was instantly turned into fragments. If the fire door of the ammunition depot had not been tightly closed, this cruiser belonging to the Australian Navy (actually part of the British Royal Navy) would have sunk to the bottom of the sea.

"Admiral, Sydney was hit by another bomb..."

"Neptune reports that the stern was penetrated by a bomb, and the bomb exploded in the engine room, and Neptune completely lost power..."

"It was the Orion light cruiser deck that caught fire..."

"Admiral, they are attacking our light cruiser, they want to..." Looking at the light cruisers being hit by bombs one after another outside the anti-aircraft formation, Major General Crutchley, the chief of staff of the Mediterranean Fleet, had guessed a little about the opponent's intentions.

"It seems that there will be a hard battle tonight."

Cunningham shook his head. He knew very well that the Italian fleet was chasing him, and if nothing unexpected happened, there would be an artillery battle tonight. He only had 4 intact battleships, while the other side had 6 intact battleships, including 2 powerful "Veneto" class! This class of battleships was a new generation in 1939 and 1940, and it was definitely a "default ship" with excessive protection and tonnage!

And according to reliable intelligence, the Italian battleships were also equipped with radars provided by Germany. Although the quality of the German radar may not be as good as the 279 radar, it would not be too far behind. Therefore, it is impossible for the Mediterranean Fleet to win the night battle tonight, and it can only seek a safe retreat.

And to retreat, the role of light cruisers and destroyers cannot be ignored. In particular, the light cruisers of the Mediterranean Fleet are equipped with radars, while most of the Italian cruisers have no radar available.

But now the German dive bombers are constantly dropping bombs on the light cruisers, which will make the Mediterranean Fleet lose its last trump card tonight...

"Admiral, disband the fleet after dark..." Major General Crutchley suggested in a low voice.

Disbanding the fleet would at least ensure that some of the "smart" ships could escape, but the "Rodney" and "Resolution" that had been severely damaged might be in trouble.

Cunningham glanced at Rear Admiral Crutchley, "Do you think the Rodney and Resolution can't be saved?"

Crutchley nodded sadly, "The Rodney's rudder was damaged, and the speed dropped to 15 knots. It can't escape at all."

It doesn't mean that the ship can't escape without a rudder, as long as there are other ships to help change the course. But such a ship can't fight, especially since the Rodney has no main guns at the stern and even the secondary guns have been blown up. In this case, a destroyer can sink the Rodney by releasing a torpedo from behind!

Cunningham smiled bitterly: "That's the Rodney!" He sighed, "Let's make one last effort!"

"How to try?"

"You can do this," Cunningham said, "We can set an ambush for the enemy like this..."

...

"Air raid! Torpedo plane!"

A non-commissioned officer on the lookout of the Eagle aircraft carrier, who was twisting left and right to do S-shaped maneuvers to avoid bombs falling from high altitude, suddenly screamed in horror.

Because he saw an incredible scene, dozens of planes suddenly appeared on the sea surface! Through the telescope, he found that the ones flying in the front were some very clumsy-looking biplanes. The experienced lookout non-commissioned officer knew that these low-flying biplanes must be carrying torpedoes. They must be British torpedo bombers like the Swordfish!

"Biplane torpedo plane!?" Admiral Anzu Akino opened his mouth wide when he heard the news, and he could put his fist in it.

"Aircraft carrier! The British aircraft carrier is nearby!" Admiral Anzu Akino has already reacted, "But where are they hiding?"

"Admiral, quickly recall the Fokker Zero!" A staff officer has already reacted, "We must stop the torpedo planes, otherwise the aircraft carrier will be finished!"

"Eagle" and "Sparrowhawk" are not the "Zeppelin" class that the Germans are building. They have solid anti-torpedo compartments and anti-sinking design (waterproof compartments at the bottom), so they will not be a big deal even if they are hit by a few aerial torpedoes. These two Italian aircraft carriers were converted from cruise ships. They were built on the foundation of cruise ships and had no anti-torpedo compartments. A single torpedo could cause fatal damage...

"Quickly give the Fokker aircraft an order and tell them to do whatever it takes..." Admiral Anzu Iaquino suddenly gritted his teeth, "Save the Eagle aircraft carrier at all costs! Let all the Fokker aircraft protect the Eagle!"

"Admiral, what about the Sparrowhawk?"

Admiral Anzu Iaquino said with a serious face: "In order to revive the Roman Empire, Italy must have an aircraft carrier... and the sacrifice of the Sparrowhawk and its crew will be remembered forever by the descendants of the new Roman Empire!"

After hearing this, the Italian naval officers in the command tower of the Eagle looked at Admiral Iaquino with admiration - an admiral is an admiral after all, and he is very capable.

The admiral's order was quickly transmitted through the radio to the German pilots such as Hessmann who were killing in the air.

Although the German 9th Carrier Aircraft Squadron was a newly formed unit, the pilots were all "old birds" who had flown carrier-based aircraft, and everyone had shot down more than 2 aircraft. Their skills were not comparable to those of the British Air Force pilots flying P-39 on Crete, and the performance of their Fokker Zero was far superior to that of the P-39. Therefore, the P-39 fighters and Blenheim bombers that flew from Crete were slaughtered one-sidedly, and more than 30 were shot down in less than 20 minutes! If there were not a small number of Fokker Zeros, they would have been shot down by now.

After receiving the order to defend the Eagle aircraft carrier, little Hessman and his comrades did not have the slightest desire to fight. They all abandoned the P-39 and Blenheim light bombers that were killed and disarmed, and gathered around the Eagle aircraft carrier.

Lieutenant Colonel Williamson, who served as the commander-in-chief of the "Royal Ark" and "Glorious" carrier-based aircraft air strike formations, also discovered that all the Fokker Zeros were concentrated on protecting an aircraft carrier.

Although he did not understand the intention of a certain Italian admiral's correct decision at the critical moment, he immediately ordered all 60 torpedo planes to deal with the "Sparrowhawk" without the protection of the Fokker Zero.

The first wave of attacks was launched by six "Albacore" planes led by Lieutenant Colonel Williamson. The six planes attacked under the sparse anti-aircraft fire from the "Sparrowhawk" and the two destroyers escorting it, and dropped torpedoes at a distance of less than 1,500 meters from the "Sparrowhawk". The "Sparrowhawk" desperately twisted on the sea to evade and avoided 5 torpedoes, but one still hit its midship, tearing a gap several meters wide. Hundreds of tons of seawater poured in immediately, but for a 20,000-ton cruise ship converted into an aircraft carrier, this was not an immediate fatal injury.

So the second and third waves of torpedo plane attacks were launched a few minutes later, and another three torpedoes hit the starboard side of the "Sparrowhawk", one of which also broke the engine room. Now the Sparrowhawk began to tilt at a speed that could be detected by the naked eye. In less than 5 minutes, it tilted more than 15 degrees to the right, and even part of the bottom of the ship was exposed above the water.

"Admiral, the captain of the Sparrowhawk requests to abandon the ship..."

After hearing the report from the staff, Admiral Anzu. Yakino gritted his teeth. He knew that the Sparrowhawk was finished!

Originally, he thought that the Sparrowhawk could hold on for a while longer, at least for 1 hour, so that the BF-110 and Fw-190 that took off from Sicily would arrive...

"Permission to abandon the ship!" Anzu. Yakino gritted his teeth and said, "Let everyone cheer up. Now we have to support it ourselves!"

...

"Oh my God, am I seeing right? The Sparrowhawk is going to sink!"

Someone's voice suddenly sounded in the earphones of little Hessman. He hurriedly looked in the direction of the Sparrowhawk, and his heart tightened immediately. This aircraft carrier of more than 20,000 tons almost flipped 90 degrees and was about to sink soon!

"Don't worry about the Sparrowhawk, our mission is to save the Eagle!" Little Hessman turned on the radio and ordered loudly. "Don't pay attention to those Blenheims either, blocking the torpedo planes is the most important thing!"

As soon as his order was issued, a fierce air battle broke out outside the anti-aircraft firepower circle of the Eagle and the several cruisers and destroyers guarding it. The British torpedo planes certainly would not rush hard, their speed was too slow, and there was no hope of breaking through the blockade formed by the Fokker Zero. But the British still had P-39 and "Fulmar", although the performance of these two aircraft was not as good as the Fokker Zero, but the number was twice as much, and now they rushed up and immediately fought with the Fokker Zero. From time to time, planes were hit and fell into the water. Because the exchange of fire occurred at low altitude, the pilots on these shot down planes did not even have the opportunity to parachute to escape!

"Now, now!" Lieutenant Colonel Williamson issued an order to the torpedo planes again, "Torpedo planes charge! For the British Empire, charge!"

Under Williamson's order, 6 torpedo planes rushed towards the anti-aircraft firepower network of the Italian aircraft carrier fleet. One was shot down on the spot, and the other 5 successfully dropped torpedoes.

"Torpedo!"

"Prepare for impact!"

"Boom..."

A black shadow like a barracuda hit the burly body of the Italian "Eagle" aircraft carrier from under the blue waves. Huge waves surged onto the deck, and the nearly 30,000-ton ship hull trembled violently, as if it was about to disintegrate in this huge explosion...