Travel through the Qing Dynasty and become emperor

Chapter 700 The Contest in the Decisive Battle (2)
Simultaneously with his order, he telegraphed to Mountbatten at Narional Port Mannar, informing them of the new tension: "At 8:1 sharp, 5 enemy aircraft carrier, 5 cruisers and 010 destroyers were spotted. Enemy position 240 degrees , at a distance of [-] nautical miles, we are sailing towards the enemy."

At this time, all the reconnaissance planes conducting combat patrols were retracted, and the aircraft carrier team's heading was changed to 030 degrees. In order to reduce the threat of Sumatra shore-based aircraft and gain a favorable position against the Chinese fleet, the fleet's speed was increased to 30 knots.The ground crew on the aircraft carrier was busy refueling and replenishing ammunition for the aircraft that had just landed. In just one hour, an attack force composed of more than 1 aircraft could be fully prepared to attack the opponent's task force.However, within this hour, the situation of the battle took a sharp turn, and a shocking change occurred.

When the reconnaissance plane dispatched by the Dragon Army task force first reported the sight of the enemy aircraft carrier, the task force was located about 200 nautical miles northeast of the enemy aircraft carrier team.Commander-in-Chief Yu Chongguang immediately ordered the Kaiji and Huantai cruisers to advance rapidly to the southwest. Once the location of the enemy aircraft carrier was found, they would attack immediately.At this time, the aircraft carrier Chunzi, the flagship of the Dragon Army, had not yet returned to the ship because the 10 carrier-based planes sent to search for the enemy had not yet returned to the ship. Follow up after the flight.Yu Chongguang is well-known in the Imperial Navy for his wit and scheming. He believes that only by reducing the position between the enemy and ourselves to an appropriate distance, and choosing a favorable fighter to make the assault fleet take off, can the greatest combat results be achieved.Therefore, he did not rush to get his carrier plane to take off, but secretly waited for the opportunity.

At about 1:150 p.m., Yu Chongguang calculated that his fleet was still about [-] nautical miles away from the enemy fleet. He believed that the perfect opportunity to attack had come, so he ordered the carrier-based aircraft to take off.

After a deafening roar of aircraft engines, 35 Lanxiang dive bombers and 15 Swordfish torpedo planes left the USS Chunzi Aircraft Carrier, and under the escort of 10 Fenglei fighter jets, from two different heights, they first headed towards the aircraft carrier where the coalition formation was located. The waters flew away.Immediately afterwards, 33 Lanxiang dive bombers and 14 Swordfish torpedo planes on the battleships Baiyun and Lanyun took off one after another, and under the escort of 10 Fenglei fighters, they flew towards the enemy's waters.

The Dragon Army torpedo fleet approached the target at low altitude.Because of flying under the clouds, you can see targets in a wider range.At about 2:20, the Swordfish torpedo fleet spotted the enemy aircraft carrier formation.Due to cloud cover and other reasons, the Swordfish torpedo fleet has lost contact with the attack fighter fleet. Without the cover of fighter jets, Gao Zhihang, the leader of the team, still bravely led his fleet to attack the enemy fleet. .However, at this time, dozens of Lightning fighter jets that were scrambled into the air were circling at low altitude above the aircraft carrier fleet, protecting the fleet like an iron barrel.

The two sides launched a fierce exchange of fire, causing casualties to each other. When the battle was stalemate, the second wave of Swordfish torpedo aircraft flew over the enemy fleet.The 14 carrier-based aircraft were divided into two groups, ready to carry out torpedo attacks from the left and right sides of the "Hundred-eyed Giant". Failed to throw mine.Swordfish saw that the opponent's defense was tight, and immediately climbed to a height of 3000 meters to avoid the anti-aircraft artillery fired from the ship, and circled at high altitude to look for further opportunities.

The third wave of bombers flew to the predetermined sea area but did not find the enemy.Therefore, Liu Debian, who led the team, decided to conduct a square search and first flew north. This judgment was quickly proved to be correct. After more than ten minutes of searching, they finally found the enemy fleet.Liu Debian saw from his plane that the two aircraft carriers of the coalition forces were sailing in a diamond formation, heading due north, with the "Hundred-Eyed Giant" in front, the "Sports God" behind, and the rest of the escorting ships surrounding them. On all sides, a huge steel garland is formed.

Liu Debian commanded the fleet to approach from the south west, that is, from the left rear of the enemy fleet. He divided the 33 bombers into 4 groups, and targeted the nearest targets, namely the "Hundred-eyed Giant" in the west and the "Hundred-eyed Giant" in the south. The "Shenzhen" launched a concentrated attack.Prior to this, because the coalition forces had just been attacked by two batches of Swordfish torpedo planes, most of the fighter jets on combat patrols in the air were about to run out of fuel, and they landed on the ship to refuel and reload.The fighter jets still circling in the air have been attracted to the low altitude by the swordfish, thus relaxing their guard against the high altitude.In addition, there were clouds in the sky, and the bombers were hidden on the clouds, and the coalition forces failed to detect them in time.

In fact, it was this group of uninvited guests led by Liu Debian who pushed the coalition fleet into the abyss of death.

The first two torpedo plane attacks of the Dragon Army did not pose a major threat to the enemy ships, and the two aircraft carriers continued to prepare for attacking the Dragon Army task force.The planes were brought up from the hangar one by one and quickly lined up on the flight deck.

At 3:22, Cunningham received a report that all preparations were completed and the plane could take off immediately.He immediately gave the order to prepare for takeoff.

On the flight deck of the "Hundred-Eyed Giant", all the planes had been launched, and the huge aircraft carrier began to sail against the wind.As long as it starts to take off, it only takes a few minutes for all aircraft to leave the ship and take off.At this time, Cunningham was also very excited. He felt that victory was within his grasp, and the dozens of enemy torpedo planes alone could not pose a major threat to his fleet.However, he did not expect that the god of fate would not give him these few minutes.Just in the blink of an eye, something happened that left him dumbfounded.

At 3:44, the command "Start to take off" was issued from the microphone on the bridge of the Hundred Eyes Giant aircraft carrier. The flight captain waved the small white flag, and the first Lightning fighter flew off the flight deck at full power.Suddenly, Wangshao shouted: "Dive bombers!" It turned out that Liu Debian's fleet began to attack!

I saw three Lanxiang fighter planes dive vertically towards the "Hundred-Eyed Giant", and the shadow of the planes became bigger and bigger.Suddenly, many black things swayed down from under the wings.It's a bomb!The two bombs smashed straight towards the "Hundred-Eyed Giant", and immediately there was a dazzling flash, followed by the sound of a "boom" explosion as the bomb directly hit.In just a few seconds, horrific devastation was wrought. A large hole was blasted behind the elevator in the middle of the flight deck of the "Hundred-Eyed Giant", and the elevator was blown like a piece of burnt glass, collapsing towards the hangar.The steel plates of the flight deck rolled up in strange shapes, the tail of the bombed plane was upturned, and blue flames protruded from the plane, emitting thick smoke, and the fire began to spread rapidly.

Of the two bombs that hit the "Hundred-eyed Giant", one fell on the rear of the elevator in the middle, and the other fell on the rear section of the port side of the flight deck.Under normal circumstances, these two bombs would not have caused fatal damage to this huge aircraft carrier. However, the resulting explosion of gasoline and ammunition destroyed several entire sections of the ship, shook the bridge, and caused fatal damage. Pieces of it were flying all over the air.The torpedoes on the planes began to explode as the fire spread to the planes lined up on the flight deck.Shortly thereafter, the 800-kilogram bombs that had been unloaded from the plane and had not had time to be transported to the ammunition depot below also began to explode, thus making the fire even more uncontrollable.The entire hangar area became a sea of ​​flames, and the flames quickly burned towards the bridge.Due to the spread of the fire, the "Hundred-eyed Giant" completely lost its combat capability in a series of earth-shattering explosions, and its communication with the outside world was also cut off.Facing the raging fire, the chief of staff of the flagship proposed to immediately move the commander's flag to the "Hermes" aircraft carrier. Cunningham almost held back his tears and reluctantly agreed.

After Cunningham left with the command organization, only the captain, flight chief and others were left on the bridge.The captain commanded the crew of the "Hundred-Eyed Giant" to continue to work hard to control the fire, but their efforts were in vain.Because the generator stopped working, not only did the ship lose its lighting, but even the water pump used to extinguish the fire also lost its function.The fire doors of the hangar had been burned, all the chemical fire extinguishers were out of service, and explosions continued to occur on the deck, each explosion blasted through the deck and injured many people.The flight captain advised the captain to leave the bridge immediately and go to the anchor deck.With the support of the sailors, the captain climbed up the window of the bridge with difficulty.Soon, another explosion occurred in the hangar, and the shock wave from the explosion knocked the captain down on the flight deck, losing consciousness.

The flames continued to spread, increasing in intensity, and hot air rushed through the air intakes and into the lowest part of the warship, where the personnel working there began to pass out from suffocation.In order to save his subordinates, the electromechanical chief ran across the burning deck and ran up to report the situation of the engine room to the chief mate.The chief mate immediately ordered all the electromechanical personnel to come to the deck immediately.However, it was too late, and the orderly who tried to go down through the sea of ​​​​fire with this order never returned, and no one in the cabin was spared.

Casualties continued to mount, and the fire became increasingly out of control.At around 4:[-] p.m., the first officer decided to abandon the ship.The wounded began to be transferred to boats and motorboats, and many uninjured jumped into the sea, swimming away from the HMS Hundred-Eyed Giant, the proud flagship of the Royal Navy.

The captain also sent a telegram from a destroyer to Cunningham, requesting approval to sink the destroyed aircraft carrier, and soon got Cunningham's order to suspend the disposal of the aircraft carrier.After receiving this order, the captain returned to the "Hundred-eyed Giant" alone.He returned to the anchor deck, which had not been affected by the fire, tied himself to the anchor, and waited for death.

In the war room of the "Hermes", Cunningham has called a meeting of all the staff to study how to deal with the "Hundred-Eyed Giant". Should he agree with the captain and sink it?Or take the risk of another battle and rush into the combat sea area to drag it out?Or leave it to fate?They knew that if the "Hundred-eyed Giant" was abandoned, the Chinese might tow it away, and it would become a proud exhibit of the Chinese.

(End of this chapter)