1 September 1939, 3.45pm UK time, Scapa Bay.

The banner "England needs everyone to do their duty" was hoisted on the battleship "Nelson". At the same time, every British ship in Scapa Gulf, received the same order.

"The war has just begun!" Charles. Admiral Forbes, standing in the command tower of the "Nelson", said to everyone around him, "Even if the Germans achieve a temporary victory by treacherous and untrustworthy sneak attacks, it is impossible to bring England to its knees!" ”

"Yes, Your Excellency!" The crowd replied.

"Air strike!" Then someone shouted, "Another batch of torpedo planes is coming at us!" ”

Charles. Forbes was unhurried, grabbed the handrail beside him, and turned his head to look at the scene outside the command tower that he would never forget.

On the sea, two huge aircraft carriers are on fire, the "Fury" and the "Brave". 3 minutes ago, the Chief of Staff of the Fleet reported to Forbes: "Fury" was hit by 3 bombs, one in the bow and two in the amidships, all of which penetrated the deck! One of them also went into the hangar! A huge explosion almost destroyed the deck and also caused a fire in the hangar. Now the fire is spreading and it is becoming difficult to control!

Charles. Forbes knew that the rage was coming to an end. The hangars were destroyed, the decks were destroyed, and the fire that engulfed everything - probably ignited aviation fuel, and maybe detonated munitions! In the end, even if the aircraft carrier is unsinkable, the repair work may take a year or even two years to complete.

In addition, the aircraft carrier "Brave" was hit by 2 bullets, which were also bombshells! And all effortlessly penetrated the thin deck, one of which also set the hangar on fire. The fire also spread on the "Brave". The losses on this aircraft carrier were almost the same as on the Fury! If the battlefield had not been in Scapa Bay, it and the Fury would have had to be abandoned......

In addition to "Fury" and "Bravery", the battleship "Iron Duke", which served as a training ship, also fell prey to German torpedo attack aircraft because of its huge size, and was hit by 6 torpedoes in 5 minutes, and now it is seriously tilted to the right, and the captain has asked to abandon the ship.

And another "old" battleship, the "Royal Oak", is now also under onslaught from German torpedo bombers!

Suddenly, a loud and earth-shattering noise came from the middle of the mainland island, the main island of the Ornik Islands, which make up Scarpa Bay. Admiral Forbes looked over and saw a huge mushroom cloud rising into the sky!

"It's ......" Admiral Forbes gritted his teeth, he knew it was Scarpa Bay's oil depot destroyed! 200,000 tons of heavy fuel oil and 10,000 tons of aviation fuel stored there are burning!

This is the masterpiece of the He-111, and while some of the He-111s bombed anti-aircraft artillery positions, some of them bombarded the oil depots, naval airfields, and port facilities (mainly shipyards) of Scapa Bay, all three of which were crucial for a naval base.

On the other side of Scarpa Bay, the battlecruiser Counter-Attack, known as HMS Repair (because the ship had undergone two major refits during the interwar and had spent too much time in the dockyard......

"Torpedo Squadron 20, follow me! Target 'Counterattack'! "Adolf. The formation led by Lieutenant Inglehardt had now entered the position to attack the "Royal Oak".

He was one of the few pilots in the German naval air force who had a true naval officer - he came from a naval family, and one of his uncles was the commander of a battleship detachment that had participated in the Battle of Jutland. So he knew what ships in Scapa Bay had no attack value at all, and what ships had to be sunk or heavily damaged!

For example, the three aircraft carriers converted from large light cruisers are opponents that "must be eliminated".

It's a pity that both the "Ark Royal" and the "Hood" have left Scapa Bay, otherwise these two ships would have been destroyed!

In addition, two Prestige-class battlecruisers left over from the First World War were also very valuable targets.

Because any German naval officer (referring to the real navy, not the air force) knows that in the huge British Royal Navy, the four fast aircraft carriers "Ark Royal", "Fury", "Brave", and "Glory" and the three battle cruisers "Hood", "Prestige", and "Counterattack" really pose a great threat to the German Navy!

These seven giant ships not only have enough combat power, but they are also fast enough! For the German Navy, which mainly uses maritime diplomacy as its main mode of operation, it is a huge threat. If the British Royal Navy loses them, then the entire Atlantic will be left to the hands of two "Scharnhurst" and two "Sedlitz" class (the second ship of the Sedlitz class, "Admiral Seckert", will be completed by the end of the year).

Because the British heavy cruisers that could catch up with them could not beat the "Scharnhurst" class at all, and the battleships that could defeat the "Shane", such as the "Nelson", had a poor maximum speed of 23.8 knots that allowed it to catch up with the "Scharnhurst" class?

As for the other two classes of battleships of the British Royal Navy, the "Queen Elizabeth" class and the "Revenge" class (also known as the R-class) battleships, they are only the maximum speed of 25 to 23 knots, which may have been a formidable weapon in the last war, but now ...... What are they for?

So when the plan of attack was issued, Adolf. Lieutenant Inglehardt objected to the "laymen" of naval aviation that it was not necessary to attack the battleships at all, but to concentrate fire on sinking aircraft carriers and battlecruisers. As long as the four fast aircraft carriers "Ark Royal", "Fury", "Brave" and "Glory" and the three battle cruisers "Hood", "Prestige" and "Counterattack" were sunk.

Then before the completion of the cutting-edge "King George V" class battleships and "Brilliant" class aircraft carriers, the British Royal Navy simply did not have ships capable of destroying the German fleet.

But the guys of the "Air Force and Navy" did not listen to him at all, and still listed all the battleships and battlecruisers as "equal priority" targets for torpedo aircraft.

Fortunately, as the squadron leader of the 20th Torpedo Squadron, Adolf . Lieutenant Inglehardt still had the right to choose targets on battleships and battlecruisers.

"Height 20, horizontal attack, 1500 meters to drop torpedoes!" Another barrage of orders from Adolf. From the mouth of Lieutenant Ingerhardt.

The 15 torpedo planes under his command were divided into three 5-plane horizontal formations at this time, and almost shoulder to shoulder rushed towards the counterattack. The Counterattack is a combat patrol that has just been completely modernized, and the anti-aircraft fire is very powerful. In particular, its modernized 2-pounder cannon was so powerful that it could weave a net of fire to stop torpedo machines within 3,800 yards.

But today, such a dense network of fire could not stop Adolf. Lieutenant Inglehart and his comrades.

Countless orange-red flashes swooped down on Ingerhardt, then slid past him, and the plane flew through the net of fire, slowly approaching the battlecruiser in front of him. Suddenly, Inglehardt felt the distance of the plane shake, and then again!

It must have been shot, probably shrapnel!

Inglehardt did not know how long the plane would last, and he found that the battlecruisers in front were "getting bigger", and the distance was already within 2000 meters.

"Torpedo! Put! Right now! He shouted. Then I felt the plane jump upwards and drop the torpedo. Just when Inglehardt was about to pull up the plane and leave, the He-115 was suddenly shocked again!

"Shot! Shot in the right engine! "The screams of the navigator came from the headphones, and it turned out to be that one of the engines of the He-111 was destroyed.

"Nothing, one engine can fly back!" Inglehardt loudly comforted his crew while carefully maneuvering the plane, struggling out of the range of fire of the 2-pounder gun.

"Boom!"

A muffled sound came from below.

"We hit it!" This time, it was the bombardiers cheering.

Inglehardt looked down and saw a huge column of water appear in the stern of the "Counterattack", apparently hit by a torpedo.

At 3:48 p.m. and 3:49 p.m., the battlecruiser "Counterattack" was attacked by three groups of 15 He-111 torpedo bombers, and six F5 torpedoes hit the huge warship. One of them destroyed the rudder, three hit the port side mine belt, and two made large holes in the bow and stern - the mine belts were mainly distributed in the amidships, and the bow and stern could not be fitted.

Sea water suddenly poured into the hull of the "Counterattack", and the battle cruiser began to tilt sharply to the left.

At 3:52, the battlecruiser "Counterattack" began to pour water on the starboard side to keep it balanced so as not to capsize.

At the same time, the "Royal Oak" was subjected to a second wave of torpedo attacks, this time in a three-column attack formation of nine He-115s (three aircraft each). As a result of a previous round of onslaught, the starboard side of the "Royal Oak" has already been hit by 4 bullets. Three hit the mine belt and did not cause much damage, and one broke through the bow and injected a large amount of seawater, which tilted the battleship several degrees to the right.

In addition, during the bombing of the earlier He-111, the "Royal Oak" also hit 2 SC-250 high-explosive bombs. Although it did not penetrate the armor, one of them hit a seaplane placed on a catapult (near the bow) and caused a large fire, and the smoke obscured the view of some of the anti-aircraft guns, making it impossible for the gunner to aim. As a result, 9 German He-111s struck from near the bow. Successfully dropped 9 F5 torpedoes on the sea 1,500 meters away from the "Royal Oak". Three of them hit, almost shattering the bow of the "Royal Oak", the sea water poured in at an unimaginable speed, and a few minutes later, the entire bow of the ship was submerged in the sea, and the "Royal Oak" was about to sink into the sea...... (To be continued.) )