Travel through the Qing Dynasty and become emperor

Chapter 697 Let the bomb fly!

The battleship "Manchester" was pierced through the steel deck by an armor-piercing projectile, causing the bow ammunition compartment to explode and sparking a pyrotechnic column hundreds of meters high.People clearly saw the bodies of some people flying into the sky amidst the explosives, and the turret weighing hundreds of tons also flew into the sky.The mast was skewed, and the huge hull was completely swallowed by the raging fire.

Although the battleship "Oglala" was only hit by one torpedo and two bombs, the ship also caught fire, black smoke billowed out, and it was completely burned.

The battleship "Helena" was also intensively attacked by the torpedo fleet. It was hit by 9 torpedoes in total, and a long and wide crack was blasted on the port side. The hull tilted and half sank into the water.

The "Marseille" was relatively lucky. Because it was close to the side of Ford Island, it was only hit by one torpedo.But this torpedo also caused the fire on the ship to burn, and the smoke rose into the sky.

Abhishek's flagship "Rahiva" narrowly escaped the fate of being destroyed because it was temporarily moored in the naval shipyard for repairs, but it also ate a few bombs.

When Mountbatten came to his combat command, 8 of the 7 battleships in the backbone of the fleet under his command had been sunk or severely damaged, while the enemy had only lost 9 aircraft at this time.He let out a painful moan through his teeth.However, it was not only the loss of the warship that really tore his heart, but the misfortune and death suffered by his officers and men.For Mountbatten, these officers and soldiers are not just statistics that mark the strength of the troops.At that time, almost every Union warship was a small amicable group, in which almost everyone knew each other.A soldier enlists and is assigned to a ship, where he may spend two to 30 years until he retires.Joint service, combat camaraderie, and intermarriage between families are like invisible bonds linking naval officers and soldiers.Mountbatten knew thousands of officers and soldiers, he could call out the names of hundreds of officers and soldiers, and made friends with dozens of officers and soldiers.All these people, from the seasoned captain to the innocent sailor, are his subordinates, and he is responsible for them.

With a heavy heart, Mountbatten walked slowly to the window.Suddenly, a ricochet pierced through the glass and hit the admiral, leaving a black stain on the white military uniform, and the bullet fell to the ground with a "ding".Mountbatten seemed indifferent, and slowly bent down to pick it up.It was a 5mm bullet, and the bullet had lost much energy after passing through the window glass, so it left only a black spot on his military uniform.Looking at the bullet, he longed for some future chance to exact revenge on that dreadful day.Yet he knew full well that this devastating blow might mean the end of his mission as admiral, and perhaps even his naval career.His heart was full of sadness and disappointment, and he said to himself: "If this bullet kills me, it means that God is so merciful."

After the first round of air strikes, there was a temporary calm in the military port. Several white ships with red crosses painted on the sides and tops appeared on the smoky sea. The burning ship sailed away, braving the danger of explosion and burning fire to rescue the wounded.

However, the disaster did not end there.Just over 50 minutes later, the second attack wave composed of 171 Dragon Army fighters came over aggressively again.Lieutenant Commander Zhang Tingmeng was the commander-in-chief of the second attack wave. He led a horizontal bomber fleet composed of 54 aircraft. After approaching the Adam Bridge, he circled to the east side and attacked the Mannar Military Airport, Adam Bridge Airport and Sneka Airport.The dive bomber fleet commanded by Lieutenant Commander Yan Yucong consisted of 81 planes, flew over the mountains to the east, and arrived at the Mannar military port to attack the ships in the port.The air supremacy fighter team commanded by Lieutenant Wang Shuming consisted of 36 aircraft, and was mainly responsible for competing for air supremacy over the Adam Bridge.

At this time, the sky over the entire Mannar military port was covered by broken clouds, and thick smoke was billowing below, seriously hindering the dive bomber fleet from finding targets.If you fly high, it is difficult to find the target; if you fly low, you cannot dive.At the same time, under Mountbatten's hasty command, all the anti-aircraft guns of the New Crusaders have begun to shoot into the air, forming a dense fire net over the military port.When the anti-aircraft guns on the warship fired salvos into the air, columnar cluster barrages were formed in the air, and the Chinese warhawks flying in the air could clearly see these barrages.

Lieutenant Commander Yan Yucong did not hesitate, but boldly dived in the direction of the cluster barrage.When the plane dived to a certain height, he could clearly see the enemy ship that was firing, and immediately corrected his aim to bomb the enemy ship.The remaining 80 dive bombers immediately followed Yan Yucong's tactics, first looking for the cluster barrage, and then swooping down towards it.

But Lieutenant Wang Shuming was looking for "monsters" to attack.He saw that there was a place where the barrage was the densest, and he thought it must be the "behemoth", so he immediately led the squadron to dive in the direction of the barrage.But after going down, it turned out that it was a group of land forts, so I had to drive the plane up again, and looked for the target again.

The 81 planes of the dive bomber fleet adopted this method and mainly attacked the battleships in the harbor, followed by cruisers, and many destroyers.

This wave of attacks turned Mannar Naval Port into a hell of thick smoke. Black, dark red, and mushroom-shaped billowing smoke and dust sprayed into the air, like a large group of storm clouds that gathered and then dispersed, filling the air everywhere. Spicy, foul-smelling, choking breath.

The "Marseille", which was injured in the first attack wave, sailed into the channel after starting up. It didn't want to wait to die in this "grave", it wanted to leave this port as soon as possible. There was a hole in the bow of the "Marseille" that was blown open as big as a house, and the broken flag on the mast was fluttering, which seemed to indicate resistance to the enemy plane.When it slowly passed by the burning "Oglala", it saw three survivors swimming beside the ship, so it threw a rope from the ship, and the three people climbed onto the "Marseille".When the "Marseille" passed by the capsized battleship "Konya", a sense of dread gripped the hearts of everyone on board.

At this time, Zhang Tingmeng's pilots saw the "Marseille" breaking the waves below them, thinking that this was an excellent opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. They could not only sink the battleship, but also use the sunken ship to block the military port.As a result, the bomber fleet rushed over and launched an attack like a revolving lantern.In the hailstorm of bullets, the "Marseille" was hit by 6 bombs, thick smoke and fire rose from the deck, and the stern of the ship was sinking.

At this extremely critical moment, the "Marseille" suddenly changed its course and rushed to the left.In order to prevent his own battleship from blocking the channel at the entrance of the military port when it sank, the captain deliberately rushed to the beach.As a result, the battleship ran aground at Cape Hospitre.It was not until 10:45 that the tugboat towed the battleship to the west of the channel at the entrance of the naval port.The front of the warship has been blown up and the forecastle has been severely damaged.A total of 3 officers and 47 soldiers on the ship were killed, and another 5 officers and 104 soldiers were injured.Fortunately, when the "Marseille" was severely damaged, neither the captain nor the navigator was on board, and only a reserve officer served as the temporary command.

The second wave of attacks also lasted about an hour.This attack further expanded the results of the first wave of attacks.However, due to the intensified anti-aircraft fire of the coalition forces, the Dragon Army lost a total of 1 aircraft in the second wave of attack.Among them, there were 20 fighter jets and 6 dive bombers.

Sa Zhenbing and his combat staff were on the bridge of the Xiazi aircraft carrier, staring at the sky intently.Small black dots finally appeared in the far south, and the planes of the first attack wave returned.Some of the returning planes flew in formation, and some flew alone.Soon, the planes landed on three aircraft carriers one after another.

All flight officers who returned to the Xiazi aircraft carrier immediately reported to the ship's staff officer in charge of aviation affairs, reported the results of the battle to him, and then he gathered them together and reported to the commander-in-chief Sa Zhenbing who was eagerly waiting for the final statistics.

The pilot of Gao Zhihang, the commander in charge of the first wave of bombing missions, landed the plane on the deck of the Xiazi. As soon as he got out of the plane, a sailor ran over to convey the order, saying that the commander-in-chief wanted to see him immediately. .Gao Zhihang was not in a hurry to see the commander-in-chief, and decided to wait until he checked his own observation results with those of the flight captains before going.After checking, he found that the observation results of the flight captains were almost exactly the same as his observation results.At this point, he thought it was time to give his boss a fairly accurate estimate.At this moment, another signal soldier informed Gao Zhihang to report to the commander-in-chief.He just came to the war room and saw Sa Zhenbing and a team of combat staff discussing in a low voice to the military map.

As soon as Sa Zhenbing saw Gao Zhihang, he couldn't wait to ask: "How was the result?"

"Four battleships sank," Gao Zhihang replied, "I saw it with my own eyes, and four battleships were destroyed." Then, he listed the bombing situations of the pilots one by one according to the location and type of coalition warships.

Before Gao Zhihang finished his report, Sa Zhenbing interrupted him and said, "Do you think it is impossible for the enemy's fleet to sail out of Mannar Naval Port in the future?"

Gao Zhihang replied: "The main force of the United Fleet will never sail out of the Mannar naval port."

Sa Zhenbing smiled and nodded, and then asked: "What do you think the next goal should be?"

"The next targets should be the naval docks, oil depots, and those accidentally discovered ships." Gao Zhihang didn't think it was necessary to attack the battleships again.

Sa Zhenbing also asked about the possibility of a counterattack by the New Crusaders, but Gao Zhihang believed that we had already mastered the air supremacy of the Gulf of Mannar and had hit seven inches of the enemy.

Sa Zhenbing suddenly asked again: "Where do you think the missing enemy aircraft carrier will be?"

(End of this chapter)