afterglow

Chapter 346: Encirclement and annihilation; suck my torpedoes!

At this time, the telegrams sent back by the first wave of air strike groups had been translated, and Dong Yunzhang on the Longshuo and the Daming Naval Base at the Sanya Naval Base were informed of the current situation.

"The coordinates are 5°3' north latitude and 103°2' east longitude. The enemy's main fleet is confirmed. The enemy fleet includes one Prestige class, one Queen class, the aircraft carrier Eagle and eight destroyers, with a speed of 8 knots and a heading of 18 degrees. "

"The visibility in the local sea area is good, the clouds are thick, and the lower cloud height is 1700 meters. The enemy fleet has noticed the headquarters and is increasing its speed. The headquarters is preparing to launch an attack. Sincerely."

At the same time, at the Jiading Air Force Base, yellow flares signaling takeoff soared into the sky from the tower.

Thirty twin-engine torpedo planes belonging to the Seventh Torpedo Bomber Detachment of the Ming Navy accelerated one after another, and then took off one after another.

Immediately afterwards, a group of P-35 fighter jets from the Annan Royal Air Force slowly slid onto the runway, and then took off with a roar. They would escort the Ming army's torpedo aircraft formation.

Since the production capacity of local aircraft manufacturing companies in the Ming Dynasty generally gives priority to meeting the needs of the Ming army, if countries such as North Korea and Annan are in a hurry, they can only order weapons and equipment from other countries.

This batch of 85 export-type P-35 fighter jets comes from the American Republic Aircraft Company and is numbered EP-12. It uses a 1050-horsepower engine and has empty weapons. The Annan Air Force installed four of them after arrival. 7.36mm machine gun.

Now the main force of the Annan royal army is launching a massive attack on British Burma, and the air force is also competing for Myanmar's air supremacy. Therefore, the Annan people are willing to dispatch some of the most cutting-edge fighter jets to escort them despite their busy schedule. It can be said to be very face-saving.

When these land-based aircraft just saw the sea, the carrier-based aircraft formation had already launched a rapid attack hundreds of kilometers away.

The high-explosive shells fired by the British fleet's 102mm anti-aircraft guns blew up clouds of smoke between the clouds. They looked scary, but most of them were hundreds of meters away from the formation and had no effect.

"Attention, all units, attack the enemy aircraft carrier, attack the enemy aircraft carrier, one, two, three in order!"

"Okay!"

"Look at the deck! They seem to be trying to take off?"

The Ming army pilots could clearly see the battleships of Fleet A heading northwest on the sea. They kept flashing the conspicuous fire of firing.

The response of the large-caliber anti-aircraft guns was slow and the rate of fire was slow. The Ming army aircraft groups continued to fly in almost at a leisurely pace, as if those black and gray smoke balls did not exist.

The British sailors found themselves with nothing to do but stare until the incoming aircraft came within range of the MkV banger cannons?

Objectively speaking, in the early days of the war, the multi-barreled bang-bang cannon was actually not bad - it had fierce firepower and powerful power.The disadvantage is that its barrel is short, its ammunition is short, and its muzzle velocity is only more than 700 meters per second, making it unable to effectively attack enemy aircraft at mid-range.

"They're descending at high speed!"

"Incoming! Incoming!"

"Full left rudder."

"Yes! Full rudder left!"

Captain Dylan, the captain of the USS Eagle, tried to maintain a calm attitude and ordered evasive maneuvers.

At the same time, the bang-bang cannons of each ship finally opened fire.

"Bang bang—bang bang bang bang—"

The British have not yet equipped the bang-pom guns with tracer bullets, which has further reduced the defense efficiency of these four- and eight-gun bang guns.

The three carrier-based dive bombers of Taiwei Zuoyuan's "East Admiral" detachment were the first to launch an attack as the vanguard of the entire team, and immediately switched to dive bombers when they were about to fly to Eagle.

The three bombers were arranged in a Z-shaped formation and dived towards the Eagle aircraft carrier at an angle of approximately 80°.

This aircraft carrier converted from a battleship is one of the early attempts of the British Royal Navy. Its characteristic is that the flight deck is not square. The front of the deck is still the same pointed bow as an ordinary battleship. The bridge is tall and large. At the same time, her aircraft carrying capacity is very low. .

Now, her rudder has been turned to the limit, driving the entire battleship to turn to the maximum, drawing a white arc track on the sea.

Height 1500 meters.

Facing the intensive barrage coming towards us, the dive bomber numbered FH-TWZ-1-1 took the lead. Captain Guo Youjun, the squad leader, stared straight at the growing British aircraft carrier in front of him with a stern expression.

He reached out and pulled a switch, and immediately, the air brake speed brakes on both sides of the fuselage were opened.

The resistance increased instantly, and the dive speed of the entire aircraft was reduced, but it was also more stable.

Height 1000 meters.

Countless 40mm high-explosive shells and 12.7mm machine gun shells passed by the aircraft. It can be said that half of Fleet A's anti-aircraft firepower was concentrated on these three aircraft.

Different from the scenes in movies and TV dramas, because the Bang Bang Cannon does not have tracer bullets, and there is no proximity fuse, there is no chaotic look like "the sky is filled with tracer bullets and black clouds of explosions".

Now, the Ming army pilots could only see the target's anti-aircraft guns flashing with muzzle flashes, and the surrounding sky was quite clean.

Although there are laser-like ballistics, they are very sparse - they come from those weak Vickers 12.7mm machine guns.

Height 500 meters.

"Five hundred meters!!!" the rear seat gunner shouted loudly.

Before he finished speaking, Guo Youjun pulled the bombardment lever, and then pulled the joystick to the upper right to withdraw.

The dive bomber dropped a 460kg armor-piercing explosive bomb at a speed of approximately 250km/h, then successfully pulled up and accelerated away.

The bomb fell into the sea next to it and exploded into a column of water rising into the sky.

The other two planes also dropped bombs one after another. One of them easily penetrated the wooden flight deck and the thin steel frame, and then detonated in the hangar!
"boom!"

A Swordfish torpedo plane in the hangar was immediately blown to pieces. The sailors and several Sea Fighter fighter jets nearby were also affected, swaying around and suffering heavy casualties.

All the pilots in the formation saw this scene - a fleeting flame burst out from the deck of the aircraft carrier, followed by a large plume of gray-black smoke.

"Hit it——"

"Oh--"

"Hit! Right on the deck!"

Instantly, the radio was filled with cheers and cheers from the pilots.

This was just the beginning, and subsequent attacks followed.

In one minute, the pilots of the second and third teams dropped aerial bombs on the Eagle aircraft carrier one after another.

Her rear elevator was destroyed by an aerial bomb; a 250kg aerial bomb also hit the side of the bridge. The explosion shattered almost all the glass and tore a huge hole, causing more than 30 casualties.

However, during the process of pulling away, FH-TWZ-2-3 was hit in the tail by a 40mm high-explosive bomb.

The huge explosion blew it into two pieces on the spot, and it suddenly fell into the sea. The aluminum skin fragments fell like raindrops.

"Captain! Damage statistics completed! The damage to the middle flight deck has been controlled; the tail elevator is completely destroyed and cannot be repaired; the bridge fire is spreading, but it can be dealt with."

Before Colonel Dylan could reply, a staff officer shouted sharply: "Torpedo plane! Nine o'clock direction!"

Ten Type [-] carrier-based torpedo planes of the "Left Law Enforcement" team have already cut into the attack route and flew towards the front of the Eagle.

"They're torpedoing!"

"Remain calm, Major. Now, turn 15 degrees to right."

"Yes, turn the right rudder 15 degrees." The torpedo pilots drove the aircraft steadily with great courage. They had to accurately predict the lead time so that the torpedo could coincide with the target's route.

The Ming Army's Type 448 Type B 44mm aerial torpedo currently in service has a maximum speed of 1600 knots and a range of [-] meters. However, because it has a head reduction box and a tail stabilization box, its release restrictions are less than those of other countries.

The head reduction box is essentially a large wooden box. It is placed on the head of the torpedo to reduce the falling speed and fall apart when the torpedo hits the water to help absorb the impact.

The tail stabilizing box is also a wooden box, which can help stabilize the torpedo's posture in the air and will fall after falling into the water.

With the support of the two, the Ming Army torpedo aircraft can release torpedoes at a speed of up to 400km/h and a height of 150m without causing the torpedo to malfunction.

Several torpedoes made conspicuous splashes when they hit the water, and quickly headed towards the Eagle aircraft carrier.

"Adjust the course to 175." After giving the order, Colonel Dylan said to himself: "Why did they release (the torpedo) at such a high altitude?"

A total of three torpedoes in the first round did not hit, and the Eagle easily avoided them.

But things were different next. The remaining six torpedo planes were divided into two groups and cut into the attack routes from directions 215 and 340 respectively.

In this way, no matter how the Eagle turned to evade, it would always be within the attack route of one of the groups of torpedo planes.

However, this cross-attack strategy tests the quality and understanding among pilots.

The engine inside the torpedo was running at full power, and the abundant power drove the propeller to rotate rapidly. The exhaust gas bubbles formed an obvious white track on the sea surface.

"Torpedo! Starboard!"

"We can get away with it!"

The aircraft carrier turned left and right, causing the officers and soldiers to stagger around.

After evading four more torpedoes, the Eagle, which tried its best to turn, finally encountered a situation that it could not avoid.

"Torpedo approaching! 200 yards!"

"Prepare for the shock!"

"Boom!!!"

A torpedo hit the left rear part of the Eagle's hull diagonally, and a water column of tens of meters high was actually close to the height of the bridge.

The powerful impact shocked all the officers and soldiers on the ship, and many people fell directly to the ground.

However, those who fell to the ground finally managed to get up. Before they could stand still, another huge explosion suddenly occurred.

A water column suddenly appeared at the stern of the ship, and the violent underwater impact directly damaged a rudder and a propeller of the Eagle.

"Not bad! Two thunders were hit!"

"Report, the No. [-] aircraft of the first team was severely damaged... I went, nearly one-third of the left wing was broken."

"Can you hold on? If not, just turn around and fly to the shore for a while, then parachute."

"Fuck! My back seat is dying. Fuck, it's all bloody..."

Because of improvements in torpedo delivery, the Ming Army's torpedo aircraft did not need to decelerate into slow moving targets. At most, they became short-lived and fast targets. Once the torpedoes were aimed and discarded, they could immediately turn around and accelerate away.

Compared to the dive bomber formation that was almost face-to-face, the torpedo plane formation that only stayed within the range of the banger cannon for a short while did not crash.

Even the seriously injured YH-TWZ-1-2 aircraft finally flew back to Taiwei Zuoyuan.

"The Chinese attack is not bad."

"The Eagle was hit by three bombs and two torpedoes. How are they doing?"

"Oh, saw the signal flag, they're not at risk of sinking."

The superb skills of the Ming Dynasty naval aviation greatly impressed the Royal Navy officers and soldiers.

Unlike ordinary sailors, the officers immediately realized the seriousness of the problem after sighing and became very nervous and worried - Damn it!I used to underestimate aircraft attacks!
In underestimating the power of aviation, many Royal Navy officers believed that aerial bombs were unlikely to pose a threat to capital ships.

Even if the superstructure is blown to pieces, as long as the interior of the thick armored fort hull is not damaged, the ship cannot sink.

As for aviation torpedoes, the underwater defenses of capital ships are often designed to withstand the explosion of 533 pounds of TNT. Even if this cannot cope with the [-]mm class ship torpedo, it is not afraid of small aviation torpedoes.

Besides, the fleet's anti-aircraft firepower is not a piece of cake. How could the same warship be hit multiple times?The opposing aviation force will definitely give up after suffering heavy losses.

The experienced British sailors were reloading ammunition for the four-pack and eight-pack Bang Bang guns while joking as if nothing had happened, as if it was just a drill.

The departure of the Ming army aircraft group made the sea area calm, and some people even had the time to take out their lighters and light cigarettes.

However, before a single cigarette was burned out, the attack formation from Taiwei Youyuan arrived.

Because Taiwei Youyuan had more time to prepare, the second wave of air attacks consisted of up to 18 dive bombers and 13 torpedoes.

The fierce offensive and defensive battle lasted for about 10 minutes, and the Ming army's aircraft fleet came and went quickly.

Due to the damage to the rudder and propeller, the Eagle's maneuvering to avoid the air attack was not effective this time. She was hit by 2 more aerial bombs and 2 torpedoes.

Rolling black smoke rose from several places. The ship's hull tilted 5 degrees to the right. Its speed was only 9 knots and it was almost on the verge of collapse.

This time, in addition to the Eagle, other warships were also attacked.

The S-class destroyer Victory, which was hit by a torpedo, was slowly sinking, and sailors wearing life jackets jumped into the sea one after another.

The battleship Warrior was hit by 3 aerial bombs and 1 torpedo, but was temporarily unharmed.

At this time, most people finally understood how serious the situation was, but many people still had a sense of luck.

"Where's our air force?!"

"Why haven't the Far East Air Force planes arrived yet?!"

The officers and soldiers of Fleet A did not know that in order to prevent British aircraft from Singapore and Kuantan from supporting them, the Air Force's Second Light Bombing Detachment, which had transferred to Kota Bharu Airport, carried out air attacks on the two places in the early morning.

Apparently, the air support promised by Commander-in-Chief Lieutenant General Arthur Tedder could not be reached.

At 2:27 on February 8, the nightmares who finally broke their luck arrived on the battlefield.

Although a serious accident occurred when two aircraft collided with each other on the way, the 28 fighters of the Navy's [-]th Shore-based Torpedo Aircraft Detachment still caught their prey on time.

These Type 350A torpedo bombers quickly transformed into a "/"-shaped left trapezoidal formation, increased from cruising speed to a top speed of [-]km/h at sea level, and rushed straight towards the British fleet.

Outside the fleet, the air defense observation post of the Royal Australian Navy destroyer HMS Vampire was watching the incoming aircraft group.

Through the telescope, he saw two graffiti on the side of the leading twin-engine aircraft, which was blue on top and white on the bottom:

"Suck my torpedo, limey!"

"Is that all you've got?"

(End of this chapter)