Chapter 364: A Sudden Turn for the Worse

“Boom!” The main guns of the Hood, even after it had listed to a certain angle, still fired one last shot. The huge cannons let out a roar that was like a cry of grief. Because the warship was already listing and could not aim, this shell landed in the sea about a thousand meters away from the perimeter of the German High Seas Fleet.

This one shot was the mournful struggle of the battleship era. This one shot was Vice-Admiral Holland’s final elegy. Although defeat was already a foregone conclusion, Vice-Admiral Holland had completed a great feat, a feat of chasing the German High Seas Fleet for nine hours and forty-seven minutes. He had also completed the tragic attempt, the first in human history, of a desperate battle between a battlecruiser and an enemy carrier fleet.

The shell hit the surface of the water, kicking up a huge waterspout that was taller than a warship, letting the sailors on the German warships get a taste of the true power of the 381mm main guns on a battleship. Of course, this night of desperate flight had also let the German Navy get a taste of why the British Empire had been called the hegemon of the seas for a hundred years.

In the sky above, the British Swordfish attack plane formation had sortied in full force this time. The planes that had taken off from the Ark Royal, plus the planes that had taken off from the Hermes, this time a full forty Swordfish attack planes had been dispatched, with an escort of fifteen of the new Roc fighters from the Ark Royal.

This Roc fighter was the naval version of the British Air Force’s Defiant, that is, the strange fighter with an electric turret and four 7.7mm machine guns on its back. Of course, the performance of this fighter could not be compared with the German Fw-190, but it was indeed much, much stronger than the Bulldog biplane that the British Navy had originally used. So the navy’s most advanced aircraft carrier, the Ark Royal, had been equipped with this fighter to catch up with the German Navy’s aerial gap.

And it was precisely for this reason that, at this very moment, the dense reflection signals on the German alert radar were not fifteen British fighters, but a full fifty-five planes. Of course, when the several German radar picket destroyers had confirmed the number of British planes for a second time, they had raised the alert level to the highest, and the number of British fighters had also been corrected to at least forty.

“My God! Do you really no longer bless the British Empire?” On the aircraft carrier Ark Royal, the flagship of the British northern blockade fleet, the chief damage control officer, George, let the early morning sea breeze blow on his face and said with a sigh, “A telegram just came from Vice-Admiral Holland. He is sinking with the Hood.”

In fact, George had somewhat wronged God. Logically speaking, God was still quite partial to the British Navy. In the battle at night, the British Royal Navy’s battlecruiser Hood had hit the German Navy’s Admiral Graf Spee with its second salvo. This could be said to be the result of the British naval gunners’ excellent training, but no one doubted the element of luck in it.

Moreover, in the process of Lütjens’s escape at night, because he had been overly cautious, he had only changed course once and had been discovered by a British submarine. This was also the result of the British fleet’s overflowing luck. Just imagine, if Lütjens had left a bait and had led his troops to risk another turn, there was at least a seventy percent chance that he could have avoided the British fleet. But the reality was that Lütjens had not done so and had almost sent the entire High Seas Fleet to its doom.

In addition, the overall coordination and communication of the German Navy in this pursuit was still a bit slow. For example, on the route of the pursuit, there was a German submarine that happened to be right near the British Navy’s route. If it could have been contacted in advance, then this submarine might have created a miracle of interception midway. It was a pity that this submarine had dived without receiving an order, because it had mistaken the passing German High Seas Fleet for a British warship. And as everyone knows, a submarine cannot receive communication signals underwater, so this submarine had also missed the order from its headquarters.

But then again, if one were to compare the luck of the German High Seas Fleet, the luck of the British Navy was undoubtedly extremely poor. First, in the choice of the pursuit force, they had, by a stroke of bad luck, chosen the navy’s number one spy ship, which was more than half filled with German spies. Second, in the process of the pursuit, they should not have broken formation and charged freely at the end, which had given the spy destroyer an opportunity.

Of course, the clear sky and the calm winds and waves the next day, which had allowed the German Navy to take off with its carrier-based aircraft and to counter-attack smoothly, was also the last straw that broke the camel’s back. So the favored son of God, the British Royal Navy, this time had encountered God’s own son, the German Navy. Thus, despite occupying the right time, the right place, and the right people, they had no choice but to taste the bitter fruit of defeat.

Günther Rall was piloting his plane to confirm the intruding target on the radar. And behind his Fw-190, were a full twenty fighters piloted by the German naval air arm. It was precisely because they were waiting for these fighters to form up in the sky that the British attack group was now less than ten kilometers away from the German carrier fleet.

“All fighters are forbidden from dogfighting! The highest objective is to destroy the enemy’s torpedo bombers and bombers. Understood?” Günther Rall reminded his comrades-in-arms over the radio as he climbed to engage the enemy.

In his headset came the voice from the German carrier’s air operations command room. “Radar confirms you have already encountered the enemy! Watch below you! Don’t let a single British plane get through!”

“The enemy planes are right below! Pay attention and find your targets!” Günther Rall commanded loudly, slightly wiggling his control stick to adjust the plane’s attitude.

“Understood, Captain! I am climbing with you. I see the British fighters below,” his wingman replied loudly.

“Above the British fighters, there are those Defiant fighters that the air force encountered. They have electric turrets. I see them!” the pilot of another plane reported the enemy situation he had seen.

“Deal with them according to the air force’s tactics! Dive from a long distance and use the propeller hub cannon to suppress them! Pay attention to your firing accuracy! We cannot waste ammunition!” Günther Rall had no time to arrange a detailed attack plan, because not far behind them was the core air defense circle of the German High Seas Fleet.

He pushed the plane’s control stick, and the Fw-190 fighter nimbly began its most proficient diving maneuver. With the roar of the fighter’s engine, this reliable plane had already reached a speed of 620 kilometers per hour, which pressed Günther Rall’s back tightly against his seat.

“Rat-tat! Rat-tat!” The tightly-packed British Roc fighters began to fire at the diving German fighters. But because the caliber of their machine guns was too small, these bullets formed a constantly scattering net of fire in the sky.

But soon the German fighters began to return fire. The shells from the 30mm nose-mounted cannon were swift and powerful, instantly suppressing the small-caliber machine guns on the Rocs’ electric turrets.

Günther Rall had no time to chat with these British fighters now. He led the charge, was the first to open fire, and directly blew a pitiful Roc fighter to pieces. In terms of the terrifying 30mm cannon’s design, it had been equipped on the Fw-190 early on by the German Air Force to deal with large bombers. Now, to use it against these smaller enemy fighters was simply like using a butcher’s knife to kill a chicken.

The performance advantage of the German fighters was something the British Navy had not yet filled. So this engagement seemed to have no suspense. Not counting the Swordfish attack planes, 20 German Fw-190s challenging 15 Rocs. If the German fighter units, which had a numerical advantage, could not win, then that would seem to be against all reason.

In one diving attack, the German fighters had broken up the formation of the British fighter group. Two of the British fighters were trailing black smoke and falling to the sea, and another two were directly blown to pieces in the air. And the German air force had also, in passing, shot down two Swordfish attack planes, completing a clean and neat interception.

The British fighters were in a panic for a while but still charged in the direction of the German carrier fleet. But they soon knew that this desperate style of fighting was not feasible, because in the direction of the German carrier formation, another sixteen Fw-190s had flown over. The German carriers had a full 280-plus planes (because a few helicopters had been added half a month ago), while the British carrier fleet at this time had only a pitiful 80-plus planes in total.

This was an absolute numerical gap, a gap that could not be filled in the short term, and also the only advantage the German Navy had in being able to seize command of the sea in the short term. So while the German Navy had sent out two batches of 80 attack planes and fighter formations to attack the Hood, it could still spare 36 fighters for fleet air defense.

What is a grand gesture? This was a grand gesture! The British attack plane units immediately fell into disarray. Although they were still flying in the direction of the German carriers, their formation had been completely disrupted into a tangled mess by the German fighters.

The British planes, having lost their formation cover, became even more passive. Their disadvantage in speed and the gap in technology left the entire British air unit without even the capital to resist. As the 36 German fighters tore at them, a full 20 of the British planes had already been shot down, and the remaining planes could not even maintain their attack formation.

Although they could even see the German carrier fleet in the distance, the British pilots were still unable to get any closer to their target. They had made several attempts but had been shot down by the German fighters. In desperation, the remaining British Swordfish attack planes had no choice but to brace themselves and drop their torpedoes into the sea.

At this distance, the British torpedoes could certainly not hit the German ships. At most, they could cause a bit of a panic in the entire German fleet, and then the fleet formation would be slightly disordered. Most of the torpedoes’ directions could not even affect the German Navy at all.

However, while the British naval air arm was forced to drop its torpedoes, the German navy’s interceptor fighter formation had no intention of letting these pitiful British Swordfish go. After another charge and kill, only a pitiful two of the British Navy’s fighters, the Rocs, were left to accelerate and flee. The remaining 53 planes were all lost in the airspace near the German Navy.

Of course, the two fleeing Rocs might have been congratulating themselves on their narrow escape, but they did not seem to have noticed the 20 German Fw-190s, armed with torpedoes and small bombs, that were following them above the cloud layer.

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