Chapter 563 Sunset Is Over

When the Italian 10th Bomber Aviation Regiment under the command of Major Mussolini completed the first round of attacks (each plane dropped one Hs293 bomb), there were still 58 P.108S in the sky. One plane was directly hit by a 4.5-inch anti-aircraft shell and blew into pieces, and another plane was hit by shrapnel from an anti-aircraft shell and had an engine damaged. The fuel tank was also leaked and was forced to return early.

And the "manually guided" Hs293 glide bombs dropped by these P.108S bombers were not always accurate. After all, the current "manual guidance" cannot be compared with the GPS guidance of later generations. Of the 59 bombs dropped, about 40%, or 24, hit the target, but the British fleet on the water was still badly damaged.

The battleship King George V was hit by five Hs293 bombs in succession. Except for one that did not explode, the other four all exploded. One of them hit the Y turret at the stern, causing the secondary gun director at the stern of the turret to malfunction; one penetrated the bow upper deck and exploded between the upper and middle decks, causing a small fire; one bomb hit the command tower with solid armor protection, but did not cause any damage; another bomb went into the water before hitting the battleship and then hit the stern of the battleship before exploding, blowing a big hole in the thin anti-torpedo armor of the King George V class. However, such damage was not fatal to the King George V class.

But the four aircraft carriers, HMS Glorious, HMS Victorious, HMS Formidable and HMS Indomitable, were not so lucky. The Hs293 glide bomb is actually a 500 kg semi-armor-piercing bomb. The penetration performance of this bomb is not as good as that of an armor-piercing bomb, and it is a bit difficult to use it against battleships such as the King George V class. But it is more than enough to bomb the flight deck of an aircraft carrier.

Even an armored aircraft carrier like the Glorious class cannot withstand the attack of a 500 kg semi-armor-piercing bomb. Because the so-called armored flight deck does not mean that the entire flight deck is armored, but only a section of the flight deck (which can guarantee basic take-off and landing requirements) has relatively strong armor, otherwise the armored deck of this class of aircraft carriers would be unreasonably heavy. As for the rest, there is either only a thin layer of steel plate or simply only a wooden deck, which cannot withstand the impact of the Hs293.

In just the first round of attack, the Glorious was hit by 4 bombs. The first bomb penetrated from the bow flight deck, which had no armor, and penetrated several layers of decks before detonating in the internal non-commissioned officer cabin. The vibration of the explosion and the fire caused destroyed many pipes and lines, and temporarily disabled the radar; the first bomb hit the Glorious's chimney, breaking the thick chimney on the spot and causing the steam pipe to rupture, and the speed dropped to 15 knots. At the same time, the shrapnel produced by the explosion swept across the deck like raindrops. Fortunately, all the planes had taken off at that time, and the deck There were not many maintenance personnel on board, so no serious casualties were caused; the third bomb penetrated the lifting platform near the bow (also a thin armor area), and then exploded outside the hangar. Although it did not penetrate the bulkhead of the hangar, it completely destroyed the bow lifting platform and caused a fire; the fourth bomb fell on the flight deck in the middle of the ship with solid armor. Although a 500 kg semi-armor-piercing bomb falling from an altitude of more than 5,000 meters is enough to penetrate 185 mm armor, this is far more than the armor thickness of the Glorious class flight deck. However, since the Hs293 is a glide bomb, the falling speed is not as fast as ordinary bombs, so it cannot penetrate, but is stuck between the steel plate and the wooden board of the flight deck, causing a big explosion, and still opened a huge hole in the flight deck.

The Victory was slightly luckier than the Glorious. Two of the five Hs293 glide bombs that hit it were duds. The other three Hs293 glide bombs that exploded hit the aircraft carrier's bridge, the stern flight deck, and a turret of a twin 4.5-inch secondary gun on the port side. Although a fire was caused and the 4.5-inch shells exploded, the aircraft deck function of the aircraft carrier was not lost, and the power system remained intact.

The Formidable was the most unlucky of the four Glorious-class ships, with six Hs293 glide bombs hitting it. Moreover, one of them hit the stern below the waterline, which was not the key protection area of ​​the Glorious-class aircraft carrier at all. The huge power generated by the explosion of 250 kilograms of explosives immediately opened a big hole in the stern of the Formidable, and even the bulkhead of the nearby engine room was blown out. A large amount of seawater poured into an engine room, quickly submerging it, and also caused the aircraft carrier to lose one-third of its power. The other five bombs hit the bow deck, the midship deck, the stern lifting platform, the upper part of the bridge, and the bottom of the chimney, causing huge damage! Especially the bomb that hit the bottom of the chimney penetrated the engine room and exploded, destroying another engine room and damaging the steam pipe, causing the carrier to lose power completely and unable to drain water. If the power is not restored as soon as possible, the carrier will be dead!

The Indomitable was also lucky. Four Hs293 glide bombs hit its flight deck, three of which penetrated, destroying the non-commissioned officer cabin, the bow elevator platform and several unimportant cabins at the stern, causing a fire. Another one hit the midship flight deck at a smaller angle, but did not penetrate or destroy the deck.

"God, are you going to abandon the British Empire?" Cunningham stared blankly at the aircraft carrier that was swaying on the sea and still on fire. He listened to Chief of Staff Lister reporting the damage in a trembling voice. The heart is there.

It was obviously dozens of four-engine heavy bombers dropping bombs horizontally at an altitude of 9,000 meters... This must have been completely inaccurate. With great luck, one or two bombs were hit. How come you are so "always on target" now? In the blink of an eye, all four aircraft carriers were severely damaged!

Is the British Empire really going to end?

"The enemy plane is coming, approaching us!"

Just when Sir Cunningham could hardly think anymore, 24 F4Fs serving as direct cover finally received the order to climb to an altitude of 9,000 meters. For a carrier-based fighter that focuses on medium and low altitudes, it is very difficult to fly that high - this requires a specially designed supercharger and aerodynamic shape. The supercharger used at high altitudes is purely cumbersome at medium and low altitudes. The aerodynamic shape is good for climbing but is detrimental to maneuverability. Therefore, there were no high-altitude and low-altitude all-purpose models in World War II (but a large series of high-low altitude all-purpose aircraft did exist. , such as the P51 series, which has high-altitude models and low-altitude models).

After hearing the report from his subordinates, Major Bruno Mussolini did not want to take risks and quickly ordered the flight altitude to be increased by 2,000 meters to an altitude of 11,000 meters. Of course those F4Fs can climb up, but their engines don't have turbochargers, and their power output drops drastically at altitudes like 11,000. The aircraft seemed to be in slow motion and became very easy to hit. In front of the 58 P.108S heavy bombers that maintained a flying formation to cover each other, the machine guns of the 24 F4Fs, which were panting and struggling to maintain altitude and lacked firepower, opened fire. The Fokker Zero is a huge threat, but the solid P.108S is not enough) It really doesn't pose much of a threat.

"Continue to maintain the formation and pay attention to covering each other." When all the planes climbed into position, Bruno Mussolini had already ordered loudly in a tone of irrepressible excitement, "Continue to attack the British aircraft carriers and battleships on the water, for Italy and The Roman Empire, we will sink them all!”

…

"Commander, that's a kind of bomb with wings and tail and trailing wires!"

The staff officer who was sent by Lister to see the bomb was already out of breath and ran back to the command tower and began to report his findings to Cunningham and Lister.

"Drag wires?" Cunningham turned to look at the fleet's communications officer, Major Jackson. If there was anyone in the Home Fleet Command who was most familiar with things like wires and signal transmission, it was undoubtedly Major Jackson.

"Commander, I think the Germans have invented a bomb that can fly by remote control!" Major Jackson immediately guessed what was going on. "No wonder they are so accurate..."

"A bomb that can fly remotely?" Cunningham immediately asked, "Is this kind of bomb difficult to make?"

Cunningham has already thought of imitating this kind of bomb with "eyes". If such a bomb can be dropped by a mosquito plane, then the defense war for the British mainland may still be fought.

"Theoretically it's not difficult, because it's controlled by wires, and it's technically feasible." Major Jackson replied, "I think we can make the same weapon soon. But this kind of bomb must be difficult to operate. It won't take more than a few months." It’s impossible to hit the target with it.”

His prediction was correct. The Hs293 glide bomb is very difficult to control, and its operator must undergo at least 6 months of rigorous training before being able to take up the job.

"How many months?" Cunningham smiled bitterly, "I hope that before then, the Germans will not rush across the channel in millions and tear our empire into pieces."

"Bomb, it's here again!" Suddenly someone shouted, interrupting the conversation between Cunningham and Major Jackson.

The 58 P.108S heavy bombers in the sky have set up a new attack formation at an altitude of 11,000 meters, and a new round of remote-controlled gliding bomb attacks have begun!

Seeing the small black dots gliding down in the sky, Sir Cunningham sighed bitterly. He knew that his fleet was finished, and the British Empire would be finished soon. The sunset of the Empire on which the Sun Never Sets would soon come.