Chapter 466 The Rookie of the British Empire
"God, did I read that right?"
Another 1,000-kilogram bomb fell on the unlucky fast tanker. It exploded in the belly of the tanker and broke the tanker's keel. The 30,000-ton giant ship actually broke into two pieces in the middle!
"Oh my god, that's not a 500-kilogram bomb. It's a 1,000-kilogram bomb! The Germans actually used a 1,000-kilogram bomb!" Lieutenant General Phillips, standing on the battlecruiser "Reputation", shouted Wailed.
The 250 kilogram bomb "Reputation" is not too scared, the 500 kilogram bomb is likely to cause serious damage to the "Reputation", and the 1,000 kilogram... let alone the "Reputation" as a battlecruiser, it is thick-skinned The armored battleship "Nelson" can't stand it either. If it hits a vital point, it will definitely kill you!
Are these German Nazis too cruel?
Before Lieutenant General Phillips finished speaking, the Ju88s that had been circling the "aircraft carrier" in the sky roared towards the battlecruiser "Reputation"...
Lieutenant General Phillips lowered his head in pain. He knew that it would be difficult for his flagship "Reputation" to escape this disaster. The British Empire will soon lose a valuable battlecruiser!
…
Vice Admiral James Somerville's flag flies high on the "Ark Royal". Probably to highlight the status of the aircraft carrier as the core of the fleet, this time Somerville did not choose the "King George V" class as his flagship, but chose the "Ark Royal" aircraft carrier that had made great achievements in the Mediterranean.
But standing on the bridge of the "Ark Royal", looking at the "Sea Spitfire" carrier-based fighter jet that fell to pieces on the deck, he felt powerless.
"Lieutenant Admiral, the landing speed of the Sea Spitfire is too fast. If you are not a very skilled veteran, it will easily cause an accident." Captain Scott, the captain of the aircraft carrier, stood behind Somerville and whispered. "The current loss of experienced veteran pilots is too serious. Only half of the Sea Spitfire pilots on Ark Royal have more than 500 hours of flying time..."
"There is a shortage of good pilots everywhere now, and the Royal Navy must overcome this difficulty." Somerville shook his head slightly, and there was nothing he could do about the matter.
In fact, the skills of the carrier-based aircraft pilots on the "Ark Royal" aircraft carrier are considered very good at the moment. There are actually more than a dozen veterans who joined the Royal Naval Air Force before 1939. What really gave Somerville a headache was the carrier-based aircraft pilots and sailors on the three new aircraft carriers, the "Formidable", the "Victory" and the "Indomitable". These three new aircraft carriers were only completed from the end of 1940 to the first half of 1941, and were put into service without even completing sea trials. Most of the sailors, pilots and ground crew on board were novices. The captains of the three aircraft carriers were on tenterhooks every day. The few "Sea Spitfires" they dropped were all small ones, for fear that some big accident would blow up the aircraft carriers. This would be a disservice to the people and the king.
"Lieutenant General, the most troublesome thing now is not the Spitfire, but the Dauntless dive bomber the Americans gave us!"
"Dreadnought? That's a good airplane!" Somerville asked puzzledly. "I've never heard of a fearless wrestling style..."
The Dreadnought is slow and easy to control when landing on the ship. Of course, it is unlikely to fall on the deck. But Colonel Scott still looked like he was about to cry. He told Somerville: "The pilots of the carrier-based dive bombers suffered heavy losses in previous battles, and the entire army was wiped out several times. Now 'Ark Royal' The pilots flying Dauntless dive bombers on HMS 'Formidable', 'Victory' and 'Indomitable' were almost all rookies and did not know how to dive bomb at all."
The British Royal Air Force has a very large fighter force, so it is relatively easy to recruit carrier-based fighter pilots. Veterans with 500 or 1,000 hours are hard to find, but "veteran rookies" with 200 or 300 hours of flying are still enough. After a month or two of training, you can barely fly a plane to take off and land on an aircraft carrier.
However, the Royal Air Force does not have dive bombers of its own, and naturally has no way to send pilots for shore-based dive bombers to the Royal Navy. The Royal Navy's carrier-based dive bomber pilots suffered particularly serious losses, and were wiped out in several battles.
"In the beginning we had good pilots, but no good airplanes." Colonel Scott sighed and complained, "But now we have good airplanes, but no good pilots. Now those who fly the Dreadnought The rookies didn’t even have a 20% bomb hit rate during training. I really doubt they could even hit a single bomb on the battlefield!”
In training, the hit rate was not even 20%. In actual combat, facing the firepower of anti-aircraft artillery and enemy aircraft, maybe nothing could be blown up!
Lieutenant General Somerville shuddered when he thought of this possibility. The victory or defeat of this battle all depends on the four fleet aircraft carriers, and the main strike force of these four aircraft carriers is 51 plus SBD Dauntless dive bombers (Ark Royal 24, HMS Formidable, HMS Victory, and HMS Indomitable 9 each) aircraft) and 39 TBD Destroyer torpedo bombers (12 from Ark Royal, 9 each from HMS Formidable, HMS Victory, and HMS Indomitable). The TBD Destroyer torpedo bomber can only exert sufficient power when the SBD Dauntless dive bomber severely damages its opponent.
If the SBD Dauntless attack is ineffective, then the TBD Destroyer's attack will have no effect either!
This means that the four aircraft carriers that were highly expected do not have much attack power...
"20% is enough!" Somerville took a breath, he knew that the British Empire had no choice. If the fleet was not dispatched this time, the Germans would capture Gibraltar and the Shetland Islands. Then in a few weeks, the combined fleets of Germany, Italy and France would come to challenge the English Channel.
And the Battle of the English Channel, the Royal Navy cannot escape it anyway!
Somerville gritted his teeth and said: "We have 51 SBD Dreadnoughts. As long as there is a 20% hit rate, no, as long as there is a 10% hit rate, there will be 5 1,000-pound bombs hitting the target, which is enough to severely damage the German High Seas Fleet!"
The SBD Dreadnought dive bomber can carry a 1,000-pound bomb. If the three battleships and two aircraft carriers of the German High Seas Fleet are hit by one each, I am afraid that they will not be able to go to the battlefield again without two or three months of repairs. Moreover, Somerville still had 39 TBD Destroyer torpedo bombers, and thousands of shore-based aircraft at the airports in northern Scotland, the Onyx Islands, and the Faroe Islands. Once the two German aircraft carriers were unable to take off and land, the anti-aircraft firepower of the German fleet would be greatly weakened, and it might be hit by more bombs and torpedoes...
"Sir, a telegram from the Renown!" At this time, the communications officer of the Ark Royal suddenly reported in a trembling voice, "The Renown has just been attacked by 150 German aircraft and hit by three 1,000-kilogram bombs and three torpedoes! Vice Admiral Phillips has ordered the ship to be abandoned..."
"What?" Vice Admiral Somerville took a breath, "We lost the Renown?"
"Didn't we send P-51 and P-40 to cover? How could it be..." The brows of Captain Scott, the captain of the Ark Royal, were getting tighter and tighter.
This is not a good sign! Just as the battle began, Britain lost a 33,700-ton battlecruiser, and it was under the cover of P-51 and P-40...
...
On the evening of June 8, off the coast of Bergen, Norway, two German aircraft carriers with many aircraft parked on their decks were slowly sailing north along the Norwegian coastline under the protection of two heavy cruisers, four light cruisers and 12 destroyers.
The "disposable aircraft" plan proposed by Helmut Heyer was approved by Raeder and Jeschonnek. Four squadrons (12 each) of Fokker 99 took off from Bergen and Stavanger at noon on June 8 and landed on the "Seydlitz" and "Seckert".
Now there are a total of 112 regular aircraft on the two aircraft carriers, and 8 spare aircraft.
Because of the 48 newly added Fokker 99s, the two aircraft carriers now have a certain attack power and can leave the battleships and act alone.
"Lieutenant General, a report from the Navy Headquarters, one hour ago, our shore-based aircraft sank another British aircraft carrier! The location is in the waters west of Ireland. This is a large aircraft carrier of about 30,000 tons, and it has been confirmed!" This is of course another tanker covered with wooden boards to pretend to be an aircraft carrier - in the field of "ship makeup", the level of the British Royal Navy is still very high. Not to mention that the pilots in the chaotic battlefield may make a mistake, even the staff in the rear could not tell that there was a fake with a blurry photo. The fleet's chief of staff, Colonel Fritz Hinze, who is also the captain of the "Sedlitz", took a copy of the telegram he had just received and told Lieutenant General Heyer, "This is also a large aircraft carrier. Today, the British have lost 2 aircraft carriers and 1 battlecruiser, and at least 150 aircraft have been shot down. Lieutenant General, it seems that British aircraft carriers no longer pose a threat to us." According to the intelligence held by Germany, Britain has 7-8 aircraft carriers in the homeland and the Atlantic direction, including 3-4 large aircraft carriers. Now two large aircraft carriers (actually tankers) have been sunk, and the remaining ones are 1-2 aircraft carriers.
"It cannot be said that they do not pose a threat," Helmut Heyer shook his head, "They should have 1-2 fleet aircraft carriers, one of which is the Royal Ark, which can carry 60-70 aircraft carriers, which is still very dangerous!"
At this moment, the communications officer on the "Seydlitz" suddenly shouted: "Sir, our submarine has found the "Hood", it is in the waters between the Faroe Islands and Iceland!"