The Power of Torpedoes

At 7 o'clock in the morning on September 2, the second wave of 32 "Swordfish" torpedo aircraft took off from the "Lisa", and the other 9 "Seahawk II" fighter-bombers and 2 "ostrich I" bombers also took off at the same time. The deck of "Super Duck Mama" rose to the sky. They formed in the gentle sea breeze of the North Sea in the early morning, and flew towards Scarpaflor under the leadership of the commander Captain Lieb.

At 7:37, during the flight of the second wave of shock formations, a patrol consisting of three British cruisers appeared on the surface 60 nautical miles northeast of the aircraft carrier formation. Captain Lieb then sent a telegram back to the Heydrich fleet. And left 5 "Swordfish" and 3 "Sea Eagle II" to attack this small British fleet.

Corporal Waltney of the British Navy was a gun commander for the secondary guns of the light cruiser "Aurora" and has served in the navy for 3 years. Nini said the most: I am a small person on the "Aurora", and the "Aurora" is a trick in the British Navy, but don't underestimate me and the "Aurora" because we belong to— -Heroic and invincible invincible invincible destruction of the fearless British navy!

However, what happened this morning became a nightmare for Nini and all British navies. When the raid occurred, the reconnaissance formation composed of the "Aurora" and the other two cruisers "Parrot" and "Oxford" was returning to Skars. On the way to the military port of Pavlo, the small reconnaissance formation and 5 other reconnaissance formations originally patrolling the North Sea were temporarily dispatched to the southern part of the North Sea due to a powerful reconnaissance fleet of the German High Seas Fleet suddenly sailing out of Wilhelmshaven. Watch the German fleet in the sea. As a result, in the evening, when Nini's formation had just approached the southern part of the North Sea, the abominable German fleet returned to Wilhelmshaven in a frightful manner.

"Oh! The little trick is tossed by the big guys!" Nini couldn't help sighing, and he was tumbling hundreds of nautical miles in pain for a whole day. When the sun was just rising this morning, he took his four little brothers to practice how to operate the guns. What he was responsible for was a 2-inch anti-torpedo boat secondary gun. The practice day after day was hardly involved in actual combat. opportunity. A few days ago, another fellow of his took part in a sneak attack on the Gulf of Helgoland in Germany. That fellow greeted him when he came to him with a shiny medal for two days.

Just as the pointer of Nini's pocket watch passed 7:30, the communicator in the telegraph room suddenly rushed out and shouted: "Port Scarpaflo was attacked by the Germans!"

All the sailors stopped their work and watched the communicator yelling and running towards the control tower.

"The port of Scarpaflo was attacked? How could it be possible! Did the German submarine do it?" Nini whispered to discuss with his little brothers. Since the start of the war, several British merchant ships and small warships have been attacked by Germans in the southern North Sea. The submarine was sunk, but the submarine nets have been installed at the exit of the Scarpaflor port channel, and there is a large area of ​​mines. In this case, the German submarine can also sneak in. He felt that the German captain was amazing.

At this moment, Nini faintly heard a roar of engines suddenly coming from the sea to the southeast. Unlike the muddy sound of ships' engines, this roar sounded very crisp, as if it came from...

"Look at the sky!" The sailor on the watchtower suddenly cried, "A group of strange birds appeared in the southwestern sky!"

The officers of the "Aurora" ran to the bridge one after another, and the captain put down the telescope and shouted:

"All the sailors entered their respective positions. It was a German plane. The German plane raided our Scarpaflor port this morning!"

"God! I heard you right!" Nini looked at his little brothers dullly, and they nodded that they had also heard the incredible news in their ears.

Two minutes later, Nini saw several planes leaving their fleet and flying towards this side. The rest of the ship, including the captain, were all standing in their posts at a loss. The cannons on the ship had no elevation angle. Over 25 degrees, the shield of the machine gun on the ship also limits the elevation angle of the machine gun to a very small angle. It is impossible to reach the aircraft in the sky, and he does not understand how those aircraft cause damage to the warship, but they quickly found The answer.

"God! Look, they are carrying torpedoes!" An officer on the bridge saw the weapons of the planes through his telescope.

"Quick! Go ahead at full speed and notify the Parrot and Oxford to avoid the torpedoes!" Just as the captain ordered, two aircraft not far away had dropped the torpedoes, and the torpedoes splashed high on the water. Then it was submerged in the water. A few seconds later, two white water marks appeared on the calm sea, and the extension lines of the two water marks intersect the course of the British fleet at right angles.

"God bless!" Nini leaned his hands on the railing and looked at the light cruiser "Parrot" at the forefront of the fleet. The battleship had just started to turn, and a torpedo hit it impartially, and the back of the battleship rose. A group of tall flames, twisted steel squeaked and pierced, and sailors jumped into the water like dumplings. A few seconds later, there was a continuous explosion inside the "Parrot", and countless broken wooden boards and iron blocks were raised high. Rise, scattered on the sea hundreds of meters.

Nini covered his ears helplessly, only to find another torpedo rushing towards his warship. The "Goddess of Dawn" began to turn quickly, and more than 300 sailors on the ship watched the torpedoes grazing the ship's side, and the more than 300 hanging hearts were finally temporarily released.

However, the British sailors soon heard the sound of splashing and splashing, and the other three torpedoes dropped the torpedoes at the same time. The three torpedoes galloped in a neat line. Nini seemed to see the god of death waving bloody at himself again. sickle.

"Aurora" and "Oxford" twisted their bodies with their own speed of 25 knots, and actually avoided the three torpedoes one by one. When several torpedo planes flew overhead, the British sailors could even see it. The German pilot above was waving his fists at them.

"God, save us!" Nini's little brothers knelt on the gun stand and began to pray.

After evading the catastrophe, the cannons on the British battleship began to sound, although all the shells made a low arc and landed in the distant sea.

"Shoot! Shoot at the German plane!" Nini knew very well that prayer was useless.

"Boss, is this useful?" One of Nini's younger brother asked puzzledly while carrying the cannonball.

"I don't know, it's okay to scare them!"

At this time, the remaining three "Sea Hawk II" have begun to fly smoothly before the bombing. The 100KG bomb in their belly is already eager to try. They solemnly dropped themselves 100 meters from the British warship. Bomb.

The bridge of the "Oxford" cruiser was directly hit by a bomb, and the other one exploded in the water half a meter of the port side. The "Oxford" was billowed in smoke for a while, and the water that poured into the cabin made it quickly start to tilt. After working hard for a few minutes, the sailors decided to give up, and the lifeboats have not yet put down a few. The 5,600-ton "Oxford" had already turned upside down, and more than a hundred British sailors who had not had time to escape were buried in the belly of the fish.

I don't know if it was Nini's luck or the good luck brought by the name of the "Aurora" itself. The only bomb that was thrown at it exploded 5 meters to the starboard side, except for the three sailors on the starboard side who were injured by shrapnel. In addition, the "Goddess of Dawn" has not been damaged for the time being.

After throwing torpedoes and bombs, eight planes began beating the "Aurora" with machine guns. An instigated bullet punched holes on the deck and bulkhead of the battleship. The sailors exposed to the gun positions were also hit by bullets. Gradually weakened. Nini's four younger brothers were also killed and two injured, and he had to give up the useless shooting and drag them back into the cabin. The officers in the command tower also hid in the command room protected by the lower armor. They are reporting the situation here to Scarpaflo base and asking for instructions on the next step.

※※※

At 8:15, the German Navy Captain Lieb brought the remaining 27 "Swordfish", 6 "Seahawk II" and 2 "Ostrich I" to Scarpaflor amidst the panic shouts of the British. port.

As one of the key breakthroughs in "Operation Destiny", the torpedo aircraft led by Captain Lieb targeted the battlecruisers in the British fleet with relatively weak armor but sufficient firepower. The sufficient firepower meant that they were placed in their ammunition depots. A lot of ammunition...

In the straight channel leading to the port, each torpedo marked the mark of death. A battlecruiser "Invincible" and two other cruisers were slowly heading out of the port in the channel. The British sailors at the bow of the ship were all With fearful eyes, I watched the white track galloping from the front...

Boom! Boom!

Accompanied by two huge explosions, two of the torpedoes falling from the three "Swordfish" hit the bow of the "Invincible". The immense power of the torpedoes instantly pierced the warship's bow armor and detonated immediately. After removing the ammunition depot under the former main gun, it became the second battlecruiser to be blown to pieces after the Indomitable. The other torpedo was not wasted either. The light cruiser "Southampton" not far behind the "Invincible" became a burial object. Its bow was almost lifted off the water by the torpedo, and the high bow immediately Falling heavily, hitting the water fiercely, quickly joined the ranks of blocking the channel.

In the harbor, due to the close distance between berths and berths, the torpedo planes did not have much room for use in the first wave of air strikes, but at this moment, many warships have slowly left their berths, and at the same time put themselves in the open In the middle of the harbor.

"The 1st'Swordfish' team followed me! Try to reduce the height!" Lieb's vigorous roar almost drifted over the entire harbor, but his voice was quickly overshadowed by explosions from other places. He drove the "Swordfish" plane marked 022 and almost wiped the mast and flew over a destroyer. A relatively wide area of ​​water appeared in front of him. There was no shelter on the water. A huge ship suddenly appeared about 500 meters ahead. The huge British flag on the British battleship is rustling in the wind.

Lieb dropped his torpedo only 2 or 3 meters above the surface of the water. The belly of No.022 was even wetted by the splash of the torpedo when the torpedo fell. His two wingmen also dropped 4 meters above the surface of the water. Two torpedoes were taken. Three torpedoes left beautiful white waves on the surface of the water in tandem, like scratches on the blue cloth with chalk along a ruler.

Libra got up the plane and started to turn, and three loud noises came from behind him half a week later.

"Damn!" Lieb heard the explosion clearly. Only one torpedo hit the steel and exploded. The other two sounds were the sound of torpedoes coming into close contact with the dock. After his 022 hovered for a week, black smoke appeared on the port side of the battleship, a small hole appeared on the waterline in the middle of the ship, and two waves on the pier about 30 meters to the right of the battleship were falling. Because the height of the other two "swordfish" throwing torpedoes was too high, the torpedoes passed through the bottom of the ship before they could surface.

Lieb's frustration did not last long. The violent explosions and the rising fireworks in the harbor made him very pleased. He hovered while calculating the record of this wave of air strikes: at least 5 large and small warships were sunk, Eight ships were injured, and thick smoke has enveloped the entire harbor.

The mood of the commander of the British Grand Fleet, Jellied, has fallen to the bottom. He stood at the window with frustration and watched the free shuttle over the harbor and the planes painted with huge iron crosses ravaging his warships. The navigation channel had been broken by the three ships. Most of the battleship was blocked. At the beginning of this air raid, almost all the warships used secondary artillery to fire at the German planes, but they had no effect at all. Instead, they blew up the vicinity of the pier in a mess. It was the machine gun firepower on the destroyer that posed a certain threat to those fly-like German planes. I just saw that the tail of a German torpedo was hit by a machine gun bullet, and Gerrid almost jumped up with excitement, but that plane After leaving a few pieces of wood in the air, he staggered back home.

"Quickly send the signal, all warships move quickly, leave the port as soon as possible to avoid the German attack! There are also destroyers, to protect the battleships from the port!" The British admiral discovered that if his fleet does not leave the port, it will be caught by German aircraft. Ships sinking in the harbor, these huge warships have a chance to evade only when they drive to the wide sea, and it is more important to find out where these planes took off as soon as possible.

Two strange-looking airplanes suddenly burst out of the thick smoke. Unlike the surrounding German airplanes that carried out air strikes, their structure looks much simpler. Except for the two layers of wings covered with cloth, the entire fuselage is almost only a wooden skeleton. An ugly-looking engine is placed in the middle of the body. The propeller is located at the rear of the engine. Two elongated pontoons are installed under the fuselage. The tail wing of the aircraft is almost half the length of the wing, which is a "German Swan" with sleek lines on the fuselage. In comparison, these two can be called the "British Ugly Duckling". Despite this, the two circular logos on the two wings of the British Navy's reconnaissance aircraft made many sailors cheer.

"The British are crazy or stupid, do they want to block our attack with such a plane?" Lieb was a little puzzled, but still beckoned his wingman to follow him towards the British plane.

British pilot Brown flew slowly over the harbour in his "Big Bird" water reconnaissance plane. The scorching and sulphurous smoke from time to time made him cough, and the hellish scene below made him dumbfounded. When he flew over here half an hour ago, everything below seemed to have returned to life, but only half an hour made it a miserable place on earth. How long did the overbearing British navy suffer such humiliation?

While Brown was silently mourning for the British navy, Lieb brought his three "swordfish" rushed over. Their machine guns began to fire at the British aircraft at a position of 500 meters, and when they reached 300 meters, they worried about the country and the people. Mr. Brown, the British Lieutenant of the British Navy, has turned his "big bird" with his folded wings and planted to the sea.

"The posture of the British falling into the water is much uglier than the torpedo!" Lieb murmured and flew towards another British reconnaissance plane. Before the British plane could turn around, he was sent down by Lieb in a long shot and gathered with its companions. .

The first time I saw the scene of the plane show, all the British sailors looked at the sky stupidly. If they once occupied the world's oceans, then the world's sky now belongs to these German war eagles.

The air began to heat up as the sun's position rose, and the sea breeze also lost the coolness of the morning.

In the middle of the North Sea, rows of battleships are heading north silently. The waves are cut by countless sharp bows, leaving wide marks on the sea, and bright flags are grinning in the wind. .

In the world's second largest fleet, the German Minister of the Navy, the Commander of the North Sea Fleet, and the Grand Marshal Tirpitz stood in the command room of the flagship "Frederick the Great" and stared at the endless front with his deep gaze. The sea, he seemed to be able to see a fierce battle going on at the other end of the sea.

"Adjutant, haven't received the signal from the Baltic Squadron?" Even though the weather was getting warmer, Tirpitz was still neatly dressed in the uniform of the Navy Generalissimo. He glanced at the adjutant who was wiping his sweat next to him, and asked unhurriedly. Tao.

"Yes, your Excellency Grand Marshal, so far we have not received their radio signal, we...?"

"Well, good! No news is good news!" Tirpitz nodded and continued to look forward. The Baltic Squadron commanded by Prince Heydrich will break the radio silence only when the sneak attack fails or the main British fleet discovers and starts chasing them. Now, the High Seas Fleet can only believe in its companions and continue to move forward in silence.

The radio station in Wilhelmshaven continued to use the call sign of the Tirpitz flagship to communicate with the German naval bases, creating the illusion that the high seas fleet was still in the port.