Chapter 363

It's over. For the Royal Navy, it seems that everything is over. In the distance, the first ray of dawn appeared on the horizon. The darkness retreated and the sea was shining with gold.

At this time, prestige was burning, fire and violent explosion. Although it still insisted on not sinking on the sea, it was obviously impossible to expect this warship to pursue. And the situation on the side of the hood is not much better. The hull with a torpedo in the rear of the warship was destroyed, with a propeller and two rudders, so it can't catch up with the German fleet.

Cruisers and destroyers can continue to pursue, but it's hard to say whether the two German armored ships can take advantage of it, not to mention that there are more urgent situations for them to deal with.

Because along with the arrival of the light, there are nearly 100 planes from the German naval air force. The planes formed a dense formation in the clouds, which looked like locusts appeared in the sky.

The battle in which the British navy had the most advantage changed the situation in an instant. The pursuer became the prey at dawn, and the British Navy immediately fell into an unprecedented crisis.

The poor class I destroyer has been beaten into a sieve. The whole destroyer only survived for less than two minutes under the fire of cruisers and battlecruisers, and even the lifeboat sank into the sea before it could be put down. It also became the first British warship to be sunk in the chase.

At this moment, the disaster is just beginning. In order to pursue and kill the German naval fleet, the warships on the front line this time are all powerful warships fighting against the sea. Most of them have not been modernized. Some cruisers do not even have decent anti-aircraft guns. Including the hood and prestige, the British pursuit fleet has the weakest air defense capability.

So when the German planes began to dive, lieutenant general Holland could only order the formation to be broken up and all the warships to escape. This is no different from giving up the prestige, which is burning and has no resistance. It is also equivalent to the death sentence for the hood, whose speed has been reduced to half of its original speed.

In the sky, German dive bombers began to attack, one by one aircraft dive down, one by one aerial bomb was thrown to the British warship, and soon hood paid a huge price for her design defects.

Because of the excessive pursuit of speed, the hull Battlecruiser is not as thick as the battleship in the use of armor. In order to prevent torpedoes and resist the close range fire of other warships, the side armor is intentionally thickened, so the weight of the whole battleship is a little over the standard during the construction.

The final compromise result is that the horizontal armor of the whole battleship is weakened. The designers and builders hope that the battleship can use its super high speed to avoid long-range artillery battle. The defect of this level of armor protection has been bothering the hood, which has become a huge weakness of the hood. This is also the main reason why the hood was sunk in a long-range artillery battle after encountering the Bismarck in another time and space.

Now the hood is forced to use only slightly thin horizontal armor to resist the aerial bomb dropped by the Stuka dive bomber, which is undoubtedly a very tragic thing. Because of its slow speed and large size, the hood immediately became the main target of German aircraft, and soon it was hit by an air bomb in the bow.

The bomb did not hit any lethal equipment and ammunition depot. Fortunately, the bomb destroyed part of hood's cabin and broke the bow anchor chain.

January 27, 1938, the 21st day after the formal war between Germany and the British and French allied forces, became a disaster day for the British navy. On this morning, the British Navy began to lose its warships.

At 5:07, the last telegram was sent by prestige, and lieutenant general Holland was speechless when he saw it. It is written with a very short sentence: hit two torpedoes again, I am sinking, and have given the order to abandon the ship.

At 5:11, the British cruiser, the Edinburgh, sent a telegram announcing that it was sinking. Britain lost its third warship of the day. The cruiser was in the view of the hood, and lieutenant general Holland watched the destroyer burn and sink to the bottom of the sea.

At 5:37, lieutenant general Holland's hood was hit by the seventh aerial bomb, the whole ship had begun to tilt seriously, and the flagship flag of the British navy fleet was hit by shrapnel and fell into the sea.

"Colonel Cole! Send a telegram to London. " Lieutenant general Holland looked at the chart table, which had been tilted to a certain extent and was very unstable, sighed and said: "the message reads as follows: Dear Prime Minister Churchill, the battle of the English Channel ended with our army's tragic defeat. The whole army fought bravely. Holland was the only one who failed. May God still shine on the British Empire. "

"General!" The captain of the hood, Col. Cole, was injured by shrapnel just now, and now he still has blood on his face. He looked at Holland reluctantly and asked dejectedly: "our army has the blocking fleet led by the Royal ark, and now we haven't lost! We haven't lost yet

At this time, another telegram was sent to the command room. Holland took the telegram and looked even paler. Because what the telegram said made him feel more guilty.

Cruisers lynx and Arola had just set up their white flags and surrendered to the German Navy. After witnessing the breakup of their huge fleet, and watching the huge warships around them smashed into scrap iron and sank to the bottom of the sea by German fighters, not everyone still firmly believes that our army will win. At least the commanders of the two cruisers of the same level are more willing to save the lives of the sailors and soldiers on their warships in a humiliating way. So it seems that this time the huge British Navy's pursuit fleet, really did not escape much ah. Holland felt his throat sweet, as if there was hot liquid to vomit out. He shook his body, but he did not fall down. At the same time, the high seas fleet of the German Navy turned its bow. On the bridge of the aircraft carrier Empire, lutjans was staring at the planes taking off from the deck with a cup of hot coffee. One by one, the fw-190 raced over the runway, leaped up at the end of the runway and rushed into the sky. His fleet would have been completely annihilated by the British navy, but at this moment, fortune turned for him to complete the turning point. Now not far away, the British fleet is collapsing, and even two British warships have put up white flags. Not far away, the armored warship luzov was breaking away from the formation to receive the two surrendered British cruisers. It's only a matter of time before the sinking of the USS hood Battlecruiser, which was in desperate pursuit of him an hour ago. The other prestige, however, has left only a patch of oil on the sea and thousands of crew floating in the water waiting for rescue. No need for him to do anything more, this sea battle has been a sure victory for the high seas fleet of the German Navy“ Report An aviation liaison officer walked up behind lutjans, stood at attention and saluted him. The voice of the report changed its tone. Just a few minutes ago, they successfully turned defeat into victory, which made these officers give a crazy cheering: "because of the problem of fuel and ammunition, the Navy aviation unit is returning. Before they returned, they radioed and said, "we'll take care of the rest!"“ Order troops to delay take-off of torpedoes and dive bombers. " "Start sending reconnaissance planes around," lutjans ordered He thought for a moment and added, "order Gunter? Laer led the air defense fighter formation to take off to ensure the safety of our army! The helicopter immediately took off, alerted and searched the surrounding sea“ Yes! General The aviation liaison officer saluted: "head of state akado? Long live Rudolph“ Long live the Fuehrer Lutjans had just won the most important battle in his life. He was in a good mood. He stood at attention with a smile and replied: "facts have proved that the German high seas fleet is invincible!"“ Invincible! Victory! Invincible! Long live On the bridge, some officers and sailors cheered loudly. The whole broad headquarters of the bridge was filled with joy of victory. But just as the Empire was cheering, the radars on the German class Z destroyer in front of the fleet frowned“ Sir After confirming that he was not misjudged, he immediately yelled at the officer not far away“ What's the matter? " The officer came up to him and asked“ Straight ahead, 110 kilometers away, there are about... 10 unidentified aircraft, no, at least 15! " The radar soldier affirmed“ My God The officer looked at the radar screen and immediately called out to the captain standing in the bridge command room, "the British are coming! captain! British plane! At least 15! " After only ten seconds, the destroyer sounded the emergency air defense battle alarm, and all the guns pointed to the sky. And on its mast, the signal lights keep flashing, it seems that it is using all its own means to inform other warships of an important news: the British plane is coming. A few minutes later, lutjans solemnly ordered the fleet air defense: "all warships! Air alert now! The antiaircraft gun is ready! We'll be in formation as soon as the plane takes off, Gunter? Are LAL's fighters taking off now? Take off again! Until we take off enough fighters to ensure the fleet's air defense safety! Come on