At two points, the Chicheng was shot for the first time.

Although ferocious and dense anti-aircraft artillery fire shot down three dive bombers in a row, the bomb dropped by the fourth "Hornet" accurately hit the "Chichen".

This ordinary 250-kilogram-level aviation bomb gave the "Chichen" a fatal blow!

The key is that the hit point is too tricky.

It actually hit the No. 2 elevator in the middle of the flight deck!

In addition, the "Hornet"'s bomb drop height was less than 500 meters, and the bomb drop speed exceeded 500 kilometers per hour. Although after the bomb drop, the "Hornet" was hit by anti-aircraft artillery and then hit the sea head-on, and all two pilots were killed, this life-for-life fighting style directly destroyed the last glimmer of hope of the "Chichen", and also brought hundreds of officers and soldiers from the Nai Navy to accompany them.

Relying on a fast enough speed, the aviation bomb penetrated the hangar deck after smashing through the lift deck, and then penetrated through two layers of decks in succession.

Finally, the bomb detonated in the No. 2 boiler bin.

If the "Chincheng" is compared to a person, then this bomb is a Dam bomb!

The violent explosion not only destroyed the No. 2 boiler warehouse and dozens of adjacent cabins, killing hundreds of officers and soldiers, but also caused the keel to break and a thirty-meter-long hole was torn out on the port side of the hull, which caused one-third of the cabin on the left to be flooded by sea water.

If you want to say it, it would be a blessing that the Chicheng Ship did not explode directly.

With such a serious water inlet, the Chicheng is definitely out of salvation.

The huge damage caused by a bomb has a lot to do with the modification completed by the Chicheng last year, or the initial design of the aircraft carrier.

Initially, the "Chichen" had a three-layer flight deck, which was to be precise, a three-stage flight deck arranged in a stepped manner, and a double-layer hangar behind it. After serving, it was discovered that this tricky design was meaningless, and it was only four years ago that it returned to the shipyard for a comprehensive renovation.

This renovation mainly consists of flattening the flight deck, setting up a semi-enclosed hangar below, and adding a very small island in the middle of the port side. As for the annoying chimney, it is also set on the side side to eliminate the interference caused by smoke exhaust on the deck by bending downwards.

In addition, a lift was installed in the middle of the flight deck.

The purpose of adding this elevator is to increase the speed of dispatching and recycling of carrier-based aircraft and shorten the conversion cycle between the flight deck and the hangar. Don’t forget that in the previous design, the carrier-based aircraft can take off directly from the hangar, and the first flight deck on the top is mainly used to recycle carrier-based aircraft.

However, the lift installed during the renovation will inevitably damage the overall strength of the flight deck.

In addition, the hangar deck under the elevator is not strengthened!

Perhaps the engineers felt that the flight deck had been strengthened by the Bran Royal Navy, so there was no need to strengthen the hangar deck anymore. Besides, the structural strength of the elevator itself is not low, which is equivalent to adding a roof with some protective effect above the hangar deck.

Of course, it must be related to the discharge volume that is already seriously exceeding the standard.

After this improvement, the standard displacement of the Chicheng USS has exceeded 36,000 tons. The power system, which was not originally strong, has not been strengthened. The speed has been reduced from the previous 33 knots to 31.2 knots, so we must find ways to reduce the tonnage.

In any case, just one bomb "ends" the "Chincheng".

Although the "Chichen" did not sink immediately after being bombed, and the officers and soldiers of the ship did not give up and were still striving to rescue them. However, judging from the damage to the hull, especially the large number of water in the cabin, even if there is no attack from behind, the "Chichen" would definitely sink.

In fact, the negative impact of transformation cannot be ignored, that is, the increase in tonnage leads to an increase in draft, which greatly reduces the reserve buoyancy, that is, the resistance to sinking is weakened.

In addition, the armored flight deck is used to increase the center of gravity and reduce the stability of the hull.

In short, since the transformation of the battlecruiser, there have been many problems with the design of the "Chichen" and some of them cannot be compensated or solved with the transformation. It has not been shown before, but it has not experienced the test of war, and this time it has all been exposed.

Of course, similar fatal flaws are found in almost all "treaty-type" fleet aircraft carriers, and even more serious.

The "Chincheng" that did not sink immediately became a magnet that attracted bombs and torpedoes.

Just three minutes later, at 2:13, the Chicheng was shot again.

The hit point was at the back of the flight deck and penetrated the flight deck, but it did not penetrate the hangar deck, detonated inside the hangar, destroying half of the hangar, and also blowing away several anti-aircraft guns arranged at the back of the battleship, causing the high-aircraft firepower in the rear half of the battleship to be weakened by more than half.

At 2:17, the Chicheng was attacked the most violently.

Leading by Major Shenpu, the captain of the First Battalion of the First Ship-Both Air Force, twenty-two "Flying Fish" were divided into two groups of aircraft and launched attacks from both sides at the same time. At least seventeen of them dropped torpedoes less than a thousand meters away from the "Chichen".

Subsequently, at least seven hit the "Chincheng".

There is no doubt that this is definitely a fatal blow.

Not to mention aircraft carriers, even the battleships with thick skin and flesh will definitely not withstand the bombardment of seven aircraft torpedoes with a weight of more than 200 kilograms!

According to the tests conducted by the Imperial Navy, this kind of aviation torpedo nicknamed "Ship" can sink a destroyer in one case.

Within the next three minutes, the Chicheng bombs were hit by two 250 kilogram-level bombs.

Although both bombs were detonated inside the hull, they did not cause any more serious damage except for killing and injuring hundreds of officers and soldiers.

By 2:20, the officers and soldiers of the "Chichen" basically gave up their efforts.

At the same time, the "Linghe" sank hundreds of kilometers away.

Under the captain's mandatory request, officers and soldiers of the Motor Fleet Command, including Lan Yun, boarded the traffic boat and left the flagship that was about to sink.

Ten minutes later, at about 2:30, the captain of the "Chichen" issued an order to abandon the ship and ordered the valve of the bottom cabin to let the warship sink.

Then, the officers and soldiers of the "Chichen" began to evacuate and took a lifeboat to the light cruiser that was coming to pick up.

This huge warship still floated tenaciously on the sea.

It’s not that it won’t sink, but that it doesn’t sink that fast.

However, this is not a bad thing for the officers and soldiers of the "Chichen".

Because the warship did not sink immediately, there was enough time to organize the officers and soldiers to evacuate calmly and provide assistance to the wounded.

After struggling for more than an hour, the Chicheng was completely swallowed up by the sea water at around 4 pm.

According to the war report released by the Nai Navy later, less than 500 of the approximately 1,700 officers and soldiers on the Chicheng, returned to the local area alive, but some of them were killed on other warships, and about 1,000 were killed and killed by the Chicheng.

Among the officers and soldiers who fell, they were mainly personnel from the turbine and navigation departments.

However, the "Chichen" was not the first Nayi aircraft carrier to sink.
Chapter completed!