Bismarck

He felt that he was definitely not in sync with the Bismarck-class battleships. Last time he encountered the Bismarck, and this time he encountered the Tirpitz. Every time that class of battleships appeared, his luck would be very bad.

He slammed the table angrily and roared at his men: "Are all our planes broken today? We were beaten like this by their twenty-odd planes?! Tell those pilots, no matter how powerful the Germans are, there are only twenty-four fighter planes flying in the sky! No matter how strong they are, it is impossible for them to have unlimited fuel and ammunition!! Besides, we have 102 planes. Even if we are 102 pigs, we can still rush a few of them in!"

A group of staff officers stared at their feet, listening to their boss's lecture with guilty looks on their faces. There was nothing they could do, because they were the closest people to the boss. They had to nod from time to time to show that they were wrong, even though it didn't really matter to them.

"Why look at the ground? Do you think you can win by looking at the ground?" Tovey snorted coldly. "Radio operator, give me an order! The Jaegers of the second and third echelons, advance at full speed! Continue the attack! Go in and sink the Zeppelin at all costs! Even if it means sacrificing lives, we must clear a path!"

"Yes!"

Under Tovey's strict order, the fifty-four Jaegers from the two groups that were originally following behind mustered up their courage, and taking advantage of the opportunity when the BF109T was entangled with the first group, they quickly split into two sides, bypassed the chaotic battlefield, and rushed towards the Zeppelin that was less than kilometers away.

"Oh no! There are too many of them..."

Looking at the fleet of planes whizzing past them, both the Bar in the sky and the Top on the water discovered the British's plan. They wanted to bomb the Zeppelin directly - a concentrated bombing by fifty-four planes, just thinking about it made their scalps tingle!

The two men simultaneously gave orders to their men to move closer to the main fleet.

"Fighter Squadron One, don't worry about those British fighters for now, go fight the other two squadrons of Jaguars first! Fight and retreat as well, Squadron Two! First priority is to intercept that squadron of Jaguars!"

"Captain, we are running low on ammunition!"

"If that's not enough, just use planes to hit us! Stop as many as you can!" Bal said bluntly.

He had just pulled out a neat barrel roll to shake the target in front of him, and then another Fulmar was hit by an accurate shot and exploded in mid-air. Although the continuous maneuvering and strong overload made Bal, who was already an ace pilot, breathless, he didn't have time to relax. Bal scanned the surrounding airspace, immediately turned on the radio microphone, and gave orders to his pilots.

"We are now 127 kilometers away from the aircraft carrier... Destroyer fleet! Maintain the current formation and continue to move towards the Zeppelin! Also, load the 37 main gun with VT shells and prepare to use salvo mode, targeting the enemy's Jaegers! The 20 gun is responsible for medium-range anti-aircraft fire, and the gun is responsible for the ship's own air defense! Give the order immediately!!"

Almost the same order also appeared on the bridge of the destroyer fleet flagship Z18 Hans Luedermann.

After Top gave the order, he did not forget to say to the guide sent by the Air Force to the destroyer: "Notify the pilots in the sky that the two sides of the fleet are within the firing range of 127, please do not fly in by mistake..."

"Okay, I'll notify them right away!" The air force guide saluted, turned and walked out.

The BF109s in the sky began to disperse and chase the skuas that flew across the interception line - although in the previous round of dogfighting, including Bal's, three more fulmars and five or six skuas were killed by the German warhawks.

However, the remaining fulmars at the back, although seriously outnumbered and far inferior in quality, still stubbornly clung to the German goshawks, trying their best to drag them into a dogfight that would be more advantageous to them - and as long as their sacrifice could hold back the German fighters, the pressure on the skuas would be greatly reduced!

Use your life to create a path for attack!

The skuas from the other two large groups, seeing the Fulmars's cover without regard for their own safety, simply relied on their superior numbers, used the rear machine guns to cover each other's comrades' tails, and huddled together to pounce on the Zeppelin.

Soon, the Jaeger fleet flew to a distance of 127 kilometers from the Zeppelin, which was within the effective range of the destroyers' mm guns.

Although the main guns of the destroyers were not optimized for anti-aircraft performance and their anti-aircraft efficiency was not very ideal, the 127 20MM guns of the eight destroyers, equipped with VT fuses and an effective range of nearly ten kilometers, were not a negligible presence - not to mention that the eight destroyers also had more than continuous anti-aircraft guns and more than quadruple mm anti-aircraft guns, and their firepower was also very fierce. In addition, there were more than goshawks following closely behind, constantly hunting down the lagging skuas?

So there were a few unlucky ones who were in a panic and flew into the anti-aircraft fire circle of the German destroyers below in order to avoid the pursuit of the hawks. In the black smoke, they saw the destroyers below firing a series of anti-aircraft shells at them, exploding a group of fireworks around the planes, and then, there was nothing else...

For a moment, all they saw were those stupid sjaas, twisting their bodies in all kinds of weird postures hysterically under the sky full of fire and the pursuit of falcons - just to escape from this deadly hunting ground as soon as possible. The destroyers on the sea also relied on the anti-aircraft firepower of the echelon formation to cover each other and desperately fired at the British aircraft group.

There was a melee between the sea and the sky, with smoke rising everywhere.

Faced with the combined firepower of Germany's sea and air forces, the British aircraft fleet suffered heavy losses.

Only four or five Fulmars were left, struggling desperately to escape from the pursuit of the BF109T. The more clumsy Jaguars were even more so. Facing the falcon and fire net formed by the joint air-sea suppression, the stupid Jaguars were caught one after another. They either fled in a panic with smoke and fire, dropping bombs, or were hit repeatedly because they could not dodge, and even fell down one after another. In just two minutes, seven of the remaining Jaguars were wiped out.

But even so, the British relied on the large number of their planes and still had a lot of them slipping through the net and flying closer and closer to the Zeppelin's position. Although these slippers had begun to be sparsely populated by anti-aircraft guns and BF109Ts, they still continued to form a formation and move towards the Zeppelin.

ps: Second update, please vote~

Chapter 213: Battle of Newcastle (VII)

The battle in the sky was still in a stalemate, and both sides were making their last efforts - the British were desperately attacking the Zeppelins, while the German warhawks were trying every means to intercept them.

Although the BF109Ts in the sky had obvious performance advantages, they did not have unlimited ammunition. Each time a British fighter was shot down, a large amount of ammunition was consumed. After a series of consumption, the machine guns were soon exhausted - even if the leader had ordered to save ammunition, ammunition warnings continued to appear.

The British showed their absolute numerical advantage at this time, and they exchanged their companions' sacrifice for a precious opportunity. The skuas of the squadron quickly bypassed the German fighters that had no ammunition, and the remaining few fulmars began to fight back.

"Captain, my ammunition is almost gone!"

"Report, my ammunition has been used up, requesting evacuation!!"

"My plane is damaged, requesting evacuation!!"

"Damn it, my engine was hit and it's not working..."

"Skydive, skydive quickly!!"

Similar voices were heard on the radio station for a while, and almost at the same time, the situation in the air took a sharp turn for the worse.

The advantage in quality was not enough to counter the absolute advantage in numbers, and the German war eagles soon got into trouble - and this situation might also occur on the continent in the future.

Some of the damaged or ammunition-less fighters have begun preparing to return and land on the Zeppelin aircraft carrier.

But... since these BF109Ts have run out of ammunition or are damaged, the pressure on the Jaegers has been greatly reduced...

To make matters worse, several groups of Jaguar aircraft seemed to think that the destroyer's anti-aircraft firepower was an obstacle to their bombing of the Zeppelin, and began to dive towards the destroyer's position!

Although the 37mm and 20mm anti-aircraft guns had been firing fiercely, and although the dive stability of the Jaguars was really poor, and although two Jaguars were soon turned into ghosts in the sky over the British Isles amid the fierce gunfire of the destroyers, and three other injured planes dropped their bombs and staggered back to the rear... However, even so, the Jaguars could not resist the desperate mentality and dived down one after another...

Finally, a team of three Jaegers broke through the destroyer's interception fire net, and three 500-pound bombs fell straight down from a height of 1000 meters! The Z8 Bruno Heinemann, the last destroyer in the destroyer formation, was unable to dodge, and only avoided two water columns, and a ball of fire exploded at the tail! Then its speed slowed down in an instant, and its course began to be out of control. Soon it completely lost its combat effectiveness and collapsed on the sea.

The bomb that fell from a height of 1000 meters penetrated its hull, detonated inside and tore off its tail, leaving almost the entire stern gone.

The seawater rushed in and immediately exceeded its maximum drainage capacity. Even though the captain deployed damage control troops as quickly as possible and the pumps were overloaded, as the water inflow became more and more severe, everyone could see that the destroyer was beyond saving.

Under the influence of gravity, the bow of the ship rose higher and higher, gradually revealing the dark red hull underwater, and water had already flooded onto the deck from the stern.

The order to abandon ship was issued, but the captain, as the highest officer, had to be the last to leave the ship according to the abandon ship rules, so he was still commanding from the bridge, while the deputy captain packed up the logbook and threw it into the lifeboat. From time to time, sailors jumped off the ship wearing life jackets, or people began to rush to unlock the lifeboat...

Seeing this scene, everyone's face was gloomy...

However, the tragedy of the Z8 Bruno Heinemann destroyer was not the end, but only the beginning.

Relying on their absolute advantage in military strength, more and more Jaguars began to dive towards the group of destroyers "blocking the way". As the dive bombers attacked, one 500-pound bomb after another fell around the destroyers like hail - paving the way for the large group of aircraft to bomb the Zeppelin!

Before the German destroyer fleet could recover from the loss of the Z8 Bruno Heinemann, another destroyer, the Z15 Erich Steinbrink, was hit by a bomb in the middle!

The bomb penetrated the destroyer's thin horizontal armor and hit the inside of the boiler room...

"Boom——" a shocking explosion.

The fragile body of the destroyer was like a balloon that suddenly inflated. After expanding to its limit, it turned into scattered debris and parts. The entire hull sank suddenly, and then broke into two sections!

In a hurry to get close to the fleet, the destroyer's boilers were all overloaded, and after being hit by the bomb, they caused a secondary explosion...

Then it capsized and sank rapidly. Almost no one could escape from this sudden disaster, no matter if it was a sailor or an officer, no matter if it was the crew in the engine room or the captain on the bridge. In just forty seconds, the destroyer, which was broken into two sections, sank to the cold seabed with hundreds of sailors buried with it.

In less than a minute, two destroyers were sunk!

"Damn it!" Top gritted his teeth and pounded his fist on the chart table until his hand hurt, but there was nothing he could do: "The air raid is so intense now, we can't go to rescue them. We can only go and meet up with the main force first, and then find a way to rescue them later..."

The staff officers and sailors under his command could only lower their heads reluctantly and helplessly. The British planes in the sky were still bombing, and they were unable to take care of themselves and could only turn their heads away helplessly. They could not bear to even look at the damaged destroyer and their comrades who fell into the water.

This is war!

In Zeppelin's command room, Bismarck, who was temporarily taking over the control of the aircraft carrier, was trying hard to control the huge body of the aircraft carrier to keep it stable. Although the tonnage was much smaller than his own, the center of gravity of the aircraft carrier was much higher than that of the battleship, and he was a little uncomfortable at first.

But now I have adapted to it a little bit. Even though it is not my own body and I cannot be 100% proficient in it, at least I can perform some evasive maneuvers.

At the rear of the deck, four BF109Ts in the hangar were being lifted onto the deck via the rear elevator, forming a temporary emergency team and lining up in the parking area of ​​the flight deck.

"Zeppelin, the pitch and roll of the deck have been controlled. Now we are heading against the wind, and we can take off!"

"Received! Fighter Squadron 3, take off!!"

Following Zeppelin's cold voice, twelve BF109T fighter planes, led by her, took off from the deck.

ps: The monster is here! The aircraft carrier is in the sky!!! Please vote for me~ I will update again in the evening

Chapter 214: Battle of Newcastle (VIII)

Under the dispatch of Flensburg, the sailors of the Zeppelin were using the last bit of time to quickly empty the two-story hangar near the front elevator and push the JU87Cs in the hangar to the rear elevator to facilitate the reception of the recovered aircraft.

The Zeppelin's damage control team was also well prepared. A large number of damage control teams were on high alert. They closed the hangar fire door, evacuated the oil and gas in the gasoline pipes and filled the pipes with carbon dioxide, opened some of the flight deck doors (to relieve pressure when the bomb exploded), opened all the drainage pipes from the deck to the armored decks (to drain the burning gasoline that might overflow everywhere as quickly as possible), and piled the perforated steel plates and supporting equipment for temporary repairs to the flight deck in the hangar. In fact, many of them were small ideas proposed by Bismarck based on World War II materials that were later made public. However, a certain aircraft carrier said that she still felt they made sense, so she also prepared these things.

As a liberal arts student in her previous life, it is hard for her to recall so much just based on her hobbies and some TV programs...

"Bismarck! I'll leave my main body to you!" Zeppelin's voice came from Bismarck's WIFI, who was standing in front of the chart table in the command cabin. She couldn't help but look back at the porthole, and saw a plane with a white edelweiss painted on the side of the fuselage leaving the flight deck, proudly shaking its wings in mid-air, and then began to circle and climb.

Behind her, one BF109T after another took off swiftly in the easterly wind from the North Sea under the rising sun, quickly forming small teams and flying towards the jaegers in the sky...

"What's wrong?" Seeing that his secretary ship was abnormally distracted, Lütjens asked.

"Oh, nothing, it was Zeppelin who flew to the war by himself, and she told me to protect her ship..." While answering Lütjens, she couldn't help but think of the promise she made with Zeppelin when she persuaded Zeppelin to change his mind in Gdynia Port...

"Bismarck, let us work together. I will hold up your sky!"

"No problem, I'll escort you then!"

It seemed that not much time had passed before this promise became a reality. Zeppelin personally piloted a fighter plane and fought for the fleet in the vast sky.

Although it was on a battlefield covered in smoke, if you think about it carefully, it still felt a bit warm.

Promise - and protection...

However, she couldn't be distracted in such a tense and intense battlefield. After calming down, she still grabbed the microphone of the radio...

"Attention all air units! This is the Zeppelin aircraft carrier! Fighters above the destroyer fleet, please be aware that the Tirpitz is about to use its 380mm main gun to provide air defense cover for the destroyers! To prevent accidental injuries, please be vigilant."

"Received! We will leave the airspace immediately!" Bal's voice sounded in the channels of all pilots.

"Got it!" At their feet, Top curled his lips and answered a little depressed.

After all, this happened right after the Z15 Erich Steinbrink was sunk. If it could have been a minute earlier... Although Top also knew that for the bulky battleship main gun, it was not an easy task to shoot at the air 20 kilometers away...

Besides, there is a group of skuas starting to dive towards their formation above...

30 seconds passed in a flash, and a round of 380mm high-explosive bombs exploded accurately over the destroyer fleet. Instantly, a Jaguar fell down with a trail of black smoke. The Jaguar, which was already very unstable, could not even control the aircraft to hit the destroyer after being hit by the 380mm high-explosive bomb! All he could do was watch the deep blue sea in front of him, like a wall of desperate sighs, rapidly approaching his eyes...

There were two other planes that were flying lower and lower, and it looked like they were doomed.

"Tsk, do I owe that Lindemann another favor?" For some reason, Top always felt that there was something wrong with Lindemann, whether it was his personality or his ability. He even didn't know why, but he was a little dissatisfied with Lindemann being the captain of Tirpitz. But he was just a little dissatisfied. As an old sailor, he would not do anything like those military politicians who would trip him up or repay kindness with enmity.

Top pursed his lips in frustration, then turned on the microphone and ordered his men: "Destroyers, keep firing hard. The 127mm guns should prioritize attacking the skuas flying towards Tirpitz and his men! Also, prepare to rendezvous with the battleships!"

The remaining six destroyers, under the command of Top, used their 127MM main guns to shoot out black smoke and desperately drove away the jaguars in the sky. Now there was only less than one squadron of BF109T fighters in the sky, also trying to drive away the jaguars waiting for an opportunity. However... because the distance was too close, the destroyers and fighters had to consider each other's range of activities, and because of the fear of accidental injury, the interception effect was greatly reduced.

Only two Jaguars were shot down or injured and left the battlefield, and the British counterattack was also fierce. In a huge fireball, the Z4 Richard Bates, which had been desperately firing at the front of the team, was also sunk in the fierce air attack!

Top now only had five destroyers left, including Z5 Paul Jacob, Z6 Theodor Riedel, Z10 Hans Rody, Z14 Friedrich Ian, and the destroyer fleet's flagship Z18 Hans Ludmann. They had been badly damaged in the fierce air raid, and the anti-aircraft firepower of some ships began to weaken, and some began to fall behind in speed...

The remaining British aircraft still swooped down on the Zeppelin! ---- Only less than 20 kilometers away!

The scattered Jaegers, regardless of whether they were together before, all gathered together and quickly organized into many evacuation groups in the form of squadrons or even squadrons, and pounced fiercely at the Zeppelin from all directions!

Moreover, minus the skuas that were still bombing the destroyers, there were still thirty-six skuas flying towards the Zeppelin!

Fortunately, in just five minutes, not only did all twelve fighters led by Zeppelin fly from the flight deck, but they also took advantage of this time to climb to an altitude of more than 127 meters and began to dive down towards the group of jaegers. The remaining destroyers and the three large warships were also within ten kilometers. The 105mm main guns of the destroyers and the 380mm secondary guns of the Tirpitz and Hipper were within a distance where they could cover each other. As for the mm main guns of the Tirpitz, the average speed of one round of artillery fire per minute did not slow down - although one minute was enough time for the enemy planes to get close to another four or five kilometers...

ps: Ask for monthly ticket~~

Chapter 215: Battle of Newcastle (IX)

"Um... Zeppelin, I'll take care of the group of planes flying over the destroyer! You go deal with the group of skuas in front?"

After struggling for a while, Tirpitz decided to call Zeppelin by his name. He still felt a little awkward calling her sister, even though she was taller than him...

Listening to the lazy, cute and timid voice of Tirpitz on the WIFI, Zeppelin couldn't help but smile on his usually icy and serious face. The corners of his mouth slightly turned up, and he softened his voice rarely. This Tirpitz is much more interesting than her sister.

"Okay, I got it. Then I'll leave my ship to you." Zeppelin looked back in the cockpit and saw several huge warships getting farther and farther away, and soon shrank to the size of a basketball. At the same time, the group of aircraft in front was already very close.

"Yes! Okay, Zeppelin, don't worry!" Tirpitz happily agreed. "I wish you all the best~"

As soon as he turned off the WIFI, Tirpitz shouted happily to Lindemann: "Lindemann, good news, Zeppelin and I have agreed that I will deal with the group of planes above the destroyer!"

"And then?" Lindemann asked curiously, "Why are you so happy?"

"This way we don't have to turn!" Tirpitz said as a matter of course.

"Forehead···"

Lindemann, who knew very well the character of his own battleship, couldn't help but hold his forehead with his hand. He knew what this sentence meant.

Aren't you just afraid of trouble?

"You're so lazy even to turn around..." Lindeman said helplessly as he patted Tizi's head.

"Don't tell me I don't know what you're thinking. You're actually looking at that group, which is smaller in number and farther away, and the Hipper, which is firing directly with the firing parameters you gave, is helping you share the target..."

"How could this be?"

"Now the distance is so close, they can rush into the anti-aircraft defense zone from our front in a minute at most. What will happen to Zeppelin and your sister then?!"