Travel through the Qing Dynasty and become emperor

Chapter 985
Thinking about it carefully, since the opponent has set up a mine array in the bay, its main force should not take the risk of wandering in it, but is more likely to wait outside the bay far away from the minefield. From this point of view, there is no target worth protecting in the bay. .In the case of a large number of large ships gathered in the bay, the guy who ordered to lay mines in the bay, if it is not an undercover enemy, then 90.00% of the brains are broken.

trap!

This is a big trap set up to consume the strength of the Far East Combined Fleet!
Going forward will only result in greater losses. You must turn around immediately, retreat, get out of this damn trap as soon as possible, and go outside the bay to find the main force of the enemy. Yes, they must be waiting outside the bay, waiting for us to come back After struggling in the trap and being scarred, we hit our heads hard when we finally got out of the trap.Cunning yellow-skinned monkeys, it's useless to play this trick in front of me, Bernie, line up your battle lines honestly, and use the big ships and cannons to decide the outcome.

Thinking of this, Bernie sneered and ordered: "Order! The main column and the rear column, all ships turn around and withdraw from the bay on the spot. All ships pay close attention to mines and submarines. The avant-garde should immediately abandon the unnavigable ships and quickly transfer the officers and men on board. After that, follow the main column to retreat as soon as possible.”

Before the words were finished, a lookout shouted through the sound transmission tube: "There are a large number of aircraft behind the port side, the number is more than forty!"

"what!"

Bernie strode to the porthole on the left side of the bridge, and raised his binoculars to see: a dark cloud of steel roared and flew towards this side, and the cannons under the belly of the aircraft had already opened their ferocious fangs.

Where did the plane come from?American plane?impossible!There are at most [-] things that can fly into the sky in the entire Philippine archipelago, including hot air balloons.So, the enemy still has aircraft carriers here?Or rather, flew directly from the nearest land airport?
Bernie tightened his face and waved his hand: "Signal, the whole fleet is ready for air defense operations!"

As soon as the order was issued, another lookout reported: "There are a large number of tall and small ships ahead on the port side! The number is more than [-]!"

It really is a trap!Bernie gritted his teeth and forced himself to calm down. At a time like this, panic is tantamount to suicide, "Order, the entire fleet is ready to fight against lightning strikes! All destroyers immediately go forward to block the enemy's lightning strike forces!"

Only 46 of the "Blue Sky" fighters that took off from Linyuan Air Station successfully arrived in the sky above Manila Bay, and the other 8 returned early or fell behind due to various failures. lost.

The team was divided into 6 squadrons, and first launched an attack on the enemy's main column. The huge shadow of the "Malayan" made it the number one target of the attacking force. A total of 3 aircraft from the 23 squadrons launched from 3 directions. Assault, the other three squadrons each selected a battleship after "Malaya" and simultaneously charged from the enemy's port side.

Apart from the "Malayan" in the main column of the Far East Combined Fleet, the "Giant" and "Hercules" were each equipped with six three-inch anti-aircraft guns and several anti-aircraft machine guns. "Each is equipped with two three-inch anti-aircraft guns, a total of 33 anti-aircraft guns. These anti-aircraft guns have to face 44 Dragon Army aircraft attacking at the same time.It is much more difficult to fire from a sailing warship to a flying plane than bombarding a torpedo boat on the water with a flat-fire cannon. In addition to measuring the distance and relative degree, it is also necessary to calculate the height of the enemy plane in real time. The combat object is divided into two dimensions Turning it into three dimensions is a leaping challenge in itself.

In addition, these anti-aircraft guns are completely exposed on each deck without any special protection.

"Hit!"

"The yellow-skinned monkey went to feed the fish!"

Cheers erupted from the anti-aircraft gun position in the middle of the port side of the "Malaya". A few hundred yards directly in front of them, a huge plane threw a long black smoke and flung large and small debris into the sea. A large splash of gorgeous water splashed.

"Torpedo! Torpedo is coming!" A sailor exclaimed, but was slapped on the head by the officer next to him. "Go on with your duties and bring the shells over!"

As soon as the words fell, a string of bullets ping-pong-pong swept across the gun emplacement, and just happened to beat the officer's head into a mist of red liquid splashing.

The tracer bombs on the battleship and the aircraft weave a mysterious light net. At the other end of the light net, one or two giant double-winged birds spit out fireworks from time to time, or turn into a ball of fireballs scattered in the air. Or rushing towards the sea with a long black funeral belt; at this end of the light net, beautiful sparks of metal collisions flashed on the steel plate of the battleship, and bright blood bursting from flesh and blood bloomed from time to time on the unprotected gun emplacements flower.

Two minutes later, the French ship "Dandong" was hit by a mine, and immediately after that, the "Malayan" was also hit by a mine.

The squadrons hadn't finished dropping the torpedoes yet, and the command plane had already rushed to the battlefield. The five squadrons aimed at the five dreadnought battleships at the front of the enemy's main column and killed them.

While the blue sky heavy bombers were frantically killing enemy battleships, the Dragon Army's first lightning wave, composed of 3 mine boat teams totaling 30 torpedo boats and 5 destroyer team totaling 23 destroyers from Manila Bay, also fought against the enemy. The melee of the destroyer force started in the dark. Both sides came and went, torpedoes fired indiscriminately, artillery slammed across, and machine guns swept wildly. In a short while, several ships turned into flaming fireballs or overturned white belly dead fish.

During the fierce battle, the destroyer "Wangchao" of the Dragon Army was beaten into flames, and the steering gear lost control. In the chaos, it crashed into the British ship "Morris Reese" and was broken into two pieces on the spot. In the first half including the bridge, in just two or three minutes, the two ships disappeared from the sea almost simultaneously.

As the Franco-Dutch destroyer fleet of the enemy's front guard and the American destroyers and torpedo boats of the rear guard quickly rushed to support, the first lightning wave of the Dragon Army, mainly composed of old-fashioned lightning strike ships, gradually failed, and the hope of breaking into the enemy's main column to carry out lightning strikes became weak. Getting slimmer.

"There are a large number of small ships on the starboard side of the Panthera Peninsula! The high is close to the middle!" Three torpedoes were eaten within 20 minutes. When the police yelled in panic, his heart trembled, and he let go of the binoculars in his hand, and the strap of the binoculars was dangling on Bernie's chest.Just as Bernie came to his senses, a four planes that were close at hand and spouting flames suddenly passed by the porthole. In the blink of an eye, the bridge shook violently. Bernie, who was supported by the staff in time, saw A large area of ​​dazzling flames rose suddenly, covering the entire porthole on the left in an instant.

At about 2:05 in the afternoon, the No. 76 aircraft of the 4th Attack Squadron of the Third Army resolutely rushed towards the "Malayan" after being shot and caught fire, and plunged into the No. 1 anti-aircraft gun position at the lower left of the bridge. There was a lot of fuel on board. The fire caused by flammable materials once surrounded half of the bridge, and smoked and roasted a dry bridge crew including Vice Admiral Bernie.When Bernie was still suffering from the smoke and fire on the "Malaya", fifty or sixty torpedo boats from Panshilan Island flexibly dodged the blazing artillery fire from the battleships of the United Fleet, flying like flying fish. Rush towards the floating castles towering over the sea.

It turned out that this was the last trap set by Manila Bay. The second lightning wave consisted of 3 small torpedo boats consisting of 4 mineboat teams plus 58 mineboat teams from the most elite Dragon Army.These small, fast, and maneuverable mineboats have been hiding and waiting in several ports under the control of the Dragon Army on the east coast of the Pansiran Peninsula, and they have been fully camouflaged.According to the plan of the Fleet Command, after the combined attack of the cruiser interception line, the first thunder wave and the aviation attack force completely attracted the attention of the opponent, the second lightning wave suddenly attacked from the other side of the enemy fleet, catching the enemy by surprise.

The timing of the second lightning strike was just right.At this time, the enemy destroyer force had been completely attracted by the first lightning wave, and fell into a melee. The enemy's vanguard force was also fighting with the troops on the Longjun cruiser's blocking line, and it was difficult to withdraw. The colonial cruisers of the rearguard force had poor mobility. Difficult to stop in time.

The anti-lightning cannons on the battleships roared crazily, but several of the giant ships tilted after being struck by mines, and some of the anti-lightning cannons could not be used, so they had to steer hard to avoid them.However, here is the torpedo dropped by the plane, and there is the torpedo fired by the torpedo boat. How to avoid it?In addition, we must always be on the lookout for mines and submarines, and pay attention to whether there is any trace of the opponent's main force outside the bay. All these are aggravating the anxiety and tension of the captains.

In just a few minutes, five battleships were hit by mines on the starboard side, including three hit by the "Dandong", two hits each by the "Java" and "Britannia", and two hits each by the "Malayan" and "Nelson". one piece.

Before and after this, the port side of the "Malayan" took three air-dropped torpedoes, compared with two for the "Java", and one each for the "Giant" and "Dandong".

The "Malaya" is so strong and fortunate that the three breaches on the port side had already caused it to quickly tilt to the left, until a large amount of seawater poured into the gap suddenly dug out on the starboard side, which actually helped the hull regain its balance.Fortunately, after being hit by four torpedoes in a row, the power system of the "Malaya" did not experience any failure, and most of the damage control equipment was operating normally. The cabin of the ship was sealed and isolated in time, and the bridge fire caused by the impact of the plane during the air raid was also quickly extinguished. Bernie's flagship finally escaped unharmed.

The "Dandon" on which the French Lieutenant General Desai was on was not so lucky. After eating an air-dropped torpedo on the port side, three large-caliber torpedoes launched from the torpedo boat exploded on its starboard side one after another. The 590-ton hull Quickly tilted to the right, overturned and sank within a quarter of an hour, bringing [-] French officers and soldiers into the bottom of the sea.

(End of this chapter)