The diffuse smoke blocked the morning sunshine, the surging heat waves drove away the coolness of the sea, and the thunder in the dry weather was still echoing in people's ears. The majestic and powerful hull of the "Hod" was broken, Dudley Pound and his more than 2,000 officers and soldiers died here, and the living did not give up on fighting. The lonely "Rodney" resolutely led the remaining ships to exchange fire with the German fleet. In less than four minutes, the British Battle Patrol hit the German ship "Prince Heinrich" of the same magnitude five times. Two of them were 16-inch main shells and three of them were 5.25-inch secondary shells. The black smoke from the German Battle Patrol was rolling in ruins.

After sinking the Hood, the German fleet had a 2-1 advantage in terms of main ships, and the soldiers' confidence increased sharply and their morale was overwhelming. It was an excellent time to take advantage of the victory to expand the results, but another considerable enemy fleet had entered the battlefield. William August ordered the turn very decisively, and the fleet drew the last section of the arc on the sea and then drove towards Floris Island at high speed.

The two fleets that fought desperately gradually drifted away. The Germans were a little regretful, but more of the excitement of winning the flag. The British suffered a heavy mental blow, and many people were discouraged and depressed.

Is the first fleet confrontation in the war ending?

No!

A group of German fighter jets flying from the island of Floris gave a negative answer.

When the US and British fleet launched a raid on the Azores Island, Floris Island, located more than 180 nautical miles northwest of Texel, was stationed with four German fighter squadrons and four shore-based bomber squadrons. There were 172 pilots in service and nearly 1,000 ground crews. There were 218 active fighter jets and various types of backup stocks, and all personnel and equipment were distributed in two military airports and a hidden backup airport. Since the US and British fleet's combat strategy against the Azores was to solve the German army first.

The naval and air force of Texel Island and the surrounding four islands, so their carrier-based aircraft troops did not visit Floris Island on the first day of the war. The "disappearance" of the German Atlantic Squadron limited the night shelling of the US and British fleets to Texel Island. All of this laid the groundwork for the demise of the "Hood" and one of the two heavy aviation bombs that severely damaged it came from the 2nd dive bomber squadron of the 4th Battalion of the 9th Bomber Wing of the German Navy that took off from Floris Island!

The second wave of German aircraft group that came from Floris Island had 33 fighters, including 12 Fokker G-51 fighters, 9 Ju-30 tactical bombers, 5 Ju-31 long-range reconnaissance/torpedo bombers and 7 IK-22 torpedo bombers. This time, the one that presented a wonderful performance will be the least outstanding appearance of the love-making torpedo bomber.

According to the most commonly used attack tactics in training exercises, some of the German Fokker fighters were on guard in the air, and some used their flexible and maneuverable flight performance to disperse the firepower of enemy ships. Under the cover and support of the fighter, the ju-30 aircraft group launched horizontal bombing at a flight altitude of 500 meters. Each of them was equipped with 6 high-explosive bombs with a single weight of 100 kilograms, which could pose a certain threat to the light armored parts of enemy ships and large ships. With the arrival of black bomb rain, the sea waves rolled and the waves were infuriated. British ships scattered to avoid them, and the air defense formation suddenly showed many flaws.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, the German torpedo bomber attacked the huge "Rodney" from several directions at a flight altitude below 100 meters.

Both torpedo bombers, the ju-31 and ik-22 equipped with the German team have completely different figures. The former is a land-based reconnaissance/torpedo bomber developed and manufactured on the basis of the ju-30 "light crossbow". It can carry a 1250 kg G-7s aerial torpedo or two 500 kg heavy armor-piercing bombs under the belly of the aircraft. The maximum flight speed and combat range at full load are both reduced to a certain extent than the ju-30; the latter is a star product of the Irish aviation manufacturing industry and is regarded as the light torpedo bomber with the best performance in the Allies' camp. It has a large payload, stable flight and

Easy to operate, the 950-kilogram mk-vi aerial torpedo is the standard configuration of this type of torpedo that hit the US battleship "Iowa" and caused it to overturn and sink. The mk-vi developed by the Irish. Now the mk-vi has increased its power based on the former, increased its speed, and increased its effective range from 800 meters to 1,500 meters. However, compared with the American and British aerial torpedoes with an effective range of about 3,000 meters, the Irish aviation torpedo is like a sharp short blade, which can exert amazing power in the hands of skilled people.

The 12 torpedo aircraft successively used low-altitude penetration combat skills in less than two minutes apart. Faced with these very dangerous guys, the British officers and soldiers did not dare to be careless at all. The gunners who wore Tony helmets and life jackets and fought on their respective gun positions kept loading ammunition into anti-aircraft guns, machine guns and anti-aircraft machine guns. The roar of guns and guns continued to fire. The British gritted their teeth and wanted to shoot down these German aircraft in full. However, in this era, no warship in any country was so powerful that it was so powerful. Most of the time, warships only consumed a lot of ammunition out of thin air, but in the end they had few gains.

Without too many fancy moves or dodging left and right, groups of German torpedoes forcibly broke into the British fleet's defense circle. Some projected torpedoes at a distance of 1,000 meters, and some boldly approached five or six hundred meters before dropping torpedoes. These aerial torpedoes caused splashes when entering the water were far less than the size of the shells when they fell, but they were enough to make hundreds of hearts hang up at the same time in an instant.

In front of these torpedoes that are only three or four meters long and weigh more than one ton, the Rodney, which has heavy armor and multi-layer lightning protection compartment, turned in a mess, but this did not allow it to successfully avoid all the torpedoes. Suddenly, a thunder sounded across the sea, and a white wave of water exploded at the rear of the starboard side of the "Rodney", and the waves rushed straight to a hundred meters and splashed from afar, almost wrapping the part behind the main turret of the warship No. 3. The huge warship had several meters of displacement due to the violent impact...

The "Rodney" was hit by a torpedo!

This news is like a wake-up call for the British officers and soldiers on the battleships, but for the German fleet that had not yet sailed out of the British vision, it was extremely tempting news.

"The destructive power of the torpedo is not comparable to that of ordinary shells. If it is hit, it is likely to lose most of its maneuver power. If it is allowed to withdraw to the port calmly, it can restore its combat power after several months of maintenance. If it can be sunk, it will disappear from the battle sequence of the British Navy forever." Although Colonel Schneider did not directly advise William August, his self-talk was enough to make the fleet commander who was a few steps away clearly heard.

William August didn't say anything, and the fleet chief of staff Rawls, who was standing by, actively asked the communication officer: "Can you contact the pilots participating in the bombing and ask them how the bombing was effective."

After a while, the communications officer came to report anxiously: "We contacted our pilot. The torpedo aircraft of the 15th Bomber Wing participated in the bombing. According to the pilot, the one who hit the enemy battlecruiser was an mk-vi, and the hit position was close to the tail of the enemy ship. It is basically certain that it was an effective direct hit."

Rawls was not a reckless man. He thought for a moment and suggested to the fleet commander: "Sir, if the carrier-based aircraft of the 'Emperor Carl' and the air forces on Floris can continue to bomb, let them solve this lame British battle patrol!"

William August nodded slightly and ordered the communications officer: "Can our Emperor Carl and the air force stationed on Floris to launch a follow-up attack in a timely manner."

The communications officer took the order and left. William August looked at Carls, then looked at Colonel Schneider, who was ready to go, and asked, "How is our injury?"

Colonel Schneider immediately responded to the damage report of the "Earl of Tirpitz" and said: "Our damage is more optimistic than expected. The damaged parts of the warship have no effect on the operation. The injured crew has received proper treatment. The watertight cabins that leaked in the early stage have been controlled. The only minor trouble is that they lost about 600 tons of fuel. After returning to Floris, it is estimated that it will take a week to end the wartime emergency repairs. It is not recommended to force a voyage during this period."

After saying that, Colonel Schneider threw a look at Rawls.

Rawls did not have a clear reaction, but said seriously: "According to the previous report of the 'Prince Heinrich', it was hit by the enemy's main gun six times and the secondary gun four times in the naval battle, the main rangefinder was seriously damaged, the main turret of No. 4 failed to operate normally, the power system worked normally, and the personnel were injured... 7 officers were killed, 10 injured, 69 killed crew members, and 208 injured."

Seeing that William August did not speak out, Colonel Schneider interrupted: "Fortunately, we have a multi-in-one tactic. Even if the rangefinder of a warship is completely destroyed, we can use the rangefinder data of the friendly ship to shoot."

Just as they were talking, a staff officer picked up a call for communication within the ship and hurriedly walked: "Sir, our defender destroyer sent a signal to observe that the enemy fleet that had previously fought with us was evacuating eastward at a speed of about 5 knots, and the other enemy fleet was chasing us at a speed of about 30 knots. The two enemy fleets will join in a few minutes."

After hearing this, William August shrugged: "It seems that we can only give the honor of sinking that enemy ship to the bomber pilots, who will be recorded in history for sinking the British super battleship."
Chapter completed!