Chapter 708: Air Raid (II)
And with three aircraft carriers and the Counterattack Cruiser sunk, now it was finally the turn of the battleship.
Of course, this is not to say that the incoming Romanian carrier-based aircraft will ignore them. It's just that the focus of the attack is not on them, but there are still more than two dozen planes constantly doing the work of reducing their firepower, but because they are all docked together, the anti-aircraft firepower of these battleships has increased greatly.
These five battleships lined up together. The combined firepower of hundreds of anti-aircraft guns turned it into a firepower hedgehog, extremely fierce, and one bomber was disintegrated in mid-air because it couldn't dodge.
In the face of the zigzag arrangement of battleships, the Romanian carrier-based aircraft of the air attack could not be cared for. Because after a little longer, these battleships that are still immobile should be able to start, and then it will be even more difficult to deal with.
So you can't wait at this time.
Of course, the Romanian air raid force was not lacking in courage, and I saw the leader of the dive brigade of the Serachos, Major Lohrik, shouting at the tower. "The dive squad come with me and finish them off."
In other words, the skilled captain flew over the Nelson in his beloved dive bomber, and the anti-aircraft shells that exploded around it did not give him any fear. I saw that his hand pressed down hard, and he took his favorite plane into a dive state, and the 1000KG aerial bomb under his belly was so chilling.
In the face of such a heroic performance of his captain, other dive bombers also carried out dive attacks one after another. And the lethal behavior of the dive bombers made the torpedo planes also see the opportunity, and they were also in groups of three or four, and began to enter the low altitude, ready to throw torpedoes.
The other warships in the harbor did not understand what was going on when they saw the air attack planes, and immediately stepped up their firepower to try to scare them away. However, their actions were doomed to be futile, and the torpedo planes that attacked the military port made up their minds to throw torpedoes on these battleships this time, and would not give up even if they were hit.
So in the face of the anti-aircraft guns that continued to fire lethal fire, these torpedo planes fearlessly and bravely pounced on the five battleships.
Although torpedo planes were constantly hit, the Romanian shipborne torpedo planes that attacked this time were determined to take advantage of this opportunity to launch a large-scale attack.
In the face of this tactic of coordinated attack from top to bottom, there are naturally loopholes in anti-aircraft firepower.
Major Lohrik, who was the first to make an encouraging move, piloted his own dive bomber and completed the bombing maneuver. He completed the bomb dropping task under a lot of anti-aircraft firepower, not only with excellent technology, but also with very good luck.
The 1-ton bomb it carried lived up to his expectations, falling directly between the No. 2 and No. 3 batteries on the Nelson's foredeck. This 1-ton aerial bomb is mainly used against strong fortresses and large warships, its warhead is extremely strong, and it is also equipped with a time delay, which is conducive to exploding inside it after penetrating the top layer of armor.
"Boom!"
And the bomb did exactly as he had hoped, falling through the horizontal armor into the cabin and exploding violently, the violent explosion blew a large hole between the two batteries, and the smoke of the gangsters also interfered with the fire of the anti-aircraft guns. This also frightened the officers and men of the Nelson, because there was an ammunition room under the battery, and it was a great luck that the aerial bomb did not detonate the ammunition room.
It's just that they were happy a little earlier, and under the leadership of Major Lohrik, they bombed the docked battleships one after another.
"Boom, boom!"
The Sovereign received two bombs, one of which hit its chimney, sending billowing smoke and causing its anti-aircraft fire to immediately lose its accuracy.
"Boom!"
The War Weary also received a bomb, sweeping away its right anti-aircraft gun.
"Boom, boom, boom!"
The Malaya was unlucky to receive three shots in a row, hitting its stern, bridge, and bow. The bomb that hit the stern of the ship completely destroyed its power room, which also announced that the Malaya had no possibility of moving. Hitting the bridge cost nearly half of its anti-aircraft firepower, and the bow blew it out of a large hole.
If you want to say who is the luckiest among them, it is none other than the Rodney, which dropped two aerial bombs in a row.
It can also be seen from this that pilots who have not been tested in real combat will make mistakes to some extent. Even if it can be thrown into a two-meter circle during training, once it comes to actual combat, especially under the fire of many anti-aircraft fires of warships, it is considered elite to be able to shoot steadily. The battlefield is different from the training ground, and the land is different from the sea.
However, while the dive attack continued, more firepower had begun to take care of the more dangerous torpedo planes.
However, these anti-aircraft fires still could not stop the torpedo planes, and after entering the firing range, these torpedo planes immediately released their own torpedoes. A total of 49 torpedo machines in two batches were released, and 42 torpedo lines were released. These dense torpedo lines made the scalps tingle of those who saw them, which also alarmed the officers and men of the battleship, who now had to deal with a dive attack and an incoming torpedo on the other
In fact, the best way to face these torpedoes is to dodge, but now they can't move, where can they get the space to dodge, this is completely against a fixed target.
These densely packed torpedo throwers were in despair, and at this time all the firepower that could reach them was chasing these swift torpedoes.
"Boom~Boom~Boom!"
Several torpedoes were destroyed by fire. It's just that there are too many incoming torpedoes, and although several thrown torpedoes have been blown up, there are still a lot of torpedoes that break through the fire blockade and rush towards the five battleships. Although some torpedoes missed the course, there were still a few battleships that were accurately targeted.
And they were not far from the battleship, the situation was already very dangerous.
And in the face of such a dangerous moment, it can reflect the heritage of the British Navy for hundreds of years. I saw the air defense cruiser Luna at full speed in front of the Rodney, because three torpedoes were rushing straight towards it.
"Boom, boom, boom!"
After three explosions, the Luna, broken into several sections, disappeared into the sea.
The Luna's behavior immediately caused several warships to imitate it, and the cruiser Calypso also stepped forward to block the torpedoes for the Warweary, but its tonnage was not enough, and the torpedo passed through its bottom and continued to rush towards the Warweary.
The other two warships, which wanted to be similar, also failed to stop the torpedo for their own reasons.
"Boom, boom, boom!"
I saw several explosions from the other four battleships except the Cairodny.
The Nelson suffered the most damage, as a whopping six torpedoes hit it, and the violent explosion blew a huge gap in the Nelson's hull, causing it to tilt immediately. The attack of 6 torpedoes was enough to cause irreversible damage, which was also lethal enough for the Nelson.
In addition to the destined Nelson, it was the Malaya that suffered the most damage, and the Elizabeth V ship was hit by three torpedoes, and two large holes were blown out of the hull. Filling into the sea and submerging the power room and fuel room, and the fuel floating on the surface of the sea are even more terrifying.
As for the War Weary and the Sovereign, they were both torpedoed, but fortunately only one torpedo was hit, which was a great luck in misfortune.