"Boom, boom, boom..."

The bombs fell one after another on the armored deck of the Ark Royal aircraft carrier, and then turned into hot fireballs, swallowing up all the objects around them. I don’t know what was lit, and it caused a fire on the deck of the aircraft carrier. However, the weakness of the 250 kilogram bombs was not sufficiently exposed immediately. Although the accuracy rate of these Folk 99s was more than 80%, none of them could penetrate the solid and thick armored deck of the Ark Royal. The power generated by the bomb falling and explosion from a high altitude only made the surface of the armored deck of the aircraft carrier become bumpy and charred.

"I am Lieutenant Hessman, commander-in-chief of the air strikes," Hessman, a young man, had already led 24 escort fighters to clean up the direct cover aircraft over the "Ark of Royal" and finally had the energy to command the bombing. "Stop attacking the aircraft carrier, the new target is a cruiser!"

He had discovered that the 250-kilogram bomb dropped by the Folk 99 had little effect on the Ark of Royal, so he ordered the remaining Fok 99 to drop the bomb on the Fiji, the light cruiser that escorted the Ark of Royal.

Hearing his order, the 14 Folk 99s that had not yet dropped the bomb immediately turned their nose and dived in turn at the 8,000-ton light cruiser. One of the 16 aircraft was shot down, and 10 of the bombs dropped by the remaining 15 aircraft hit the Fiji, and two were nearly missing bombs. The 250-kilogram aviation bomb that had no effect on armored aircraft carriers was very powerful when attacking the light cruiser. The Fiji, which had eaten 10 bombs, quickly turned into a sea of ​​fire. Three minutes later, the fire spread to the ammunition depot at the bow of the USS Fiji, and exploded the 6-inch shells inside. With a loud bang, the cruiser broke into two sections and sank into the sea in a very short time.

However, the attack on the Ark of Royal did not end there. After the attack of the Fokker 99, Hessman ordered 19 Fokker Zero to escort 33 Fokker 99s (three were shot down) to return, and he and the remaining Fokker Zero (one of the Fokker Zero also lost one) stayed in the air near the Ark of Royal, for the 24 S.m.79s and 16 escort Fokker Zero. They came from Stavanger, 820 kilometers away from the Ark of Royal, and needed to fly 2 and a half hours in a row. Moreover, their takeoff time was 45 minutes later than the time when Hessman took off from Seedlees, so it took another hour to arrive.

And while Hessman was slowly waiting for s.m.79 to arrive, two major events happened on the Shetland Islands.

First, the "Prince of Wales" was bombed to pieces and finally stranded in the port of Lewick. The 38,000-ton battleship was bombed by two waves of aircraft, a total of 178,000-kilogram bombs and 6 500-kilogram bombs. Two of the three main gun turrets were blown off. The bow without any armor was almost destroyed. A large amount of sea water poured in, causing serious water to flow into the bow. In addition, the commander of the battleship also suffered a 1,000-kilogram bomb. Except for the captain John Ritchie, all the others in the commander tower were killed. Finally, the commander took over the command and barely drove the battleship to Lewick Beach and stranded it. Then all the crew abandoned the ship and left.

And another big thing is happening now!

"Torpedo! Dodge!"

Three TBD torpedo bombers drove down three 450 kilogram aerial torpedoes with dense anti-aircraft firepower like raindrops. Because they wanted to fight against four battleship guns from the British local fleet, the German First High Seas Fleet could not form an air defense array. Of course, it was impossible to cover the entire area with 24 direct cover aircraft in the air. These direct cover aircraft could only focus on protecting medium and high altitudes, and prevent the SBD dive bombers from dropping 1,000 pounds of bombs. As for the TBD torpedo attack aircraft, they were dealt with by anti-aircraft guns. As a result, the Bismarck hit a torpedo 5 minutes ago, and now three TBDs have broken through the anti-aircraft fire network (Bismark's anti-aircraft guns also shot down 6 TBDs).

Three black shadows like pikes dragged a white trail from the blue waves and rushed to the stern of the battleship Bismarck. Captain Lindman personally steered and avoided two of them, but a torpedo hit the burly body of the Bismarck. The hull with a load displacement of more than 50,000 tons just trembled and continued to move forward as if it was unscathed. While sailing forward, he also used 8 ship guns to bombard the battleship Nelson 000 meters away.

Just as the people in the commander tower were proud of the sturdiness of the "Bismar", Colonel Lindman suddenly shouted: "Admiral! The rudder seems to have failed..."

"The rudder failed?" Gunther Lütjens was startled by Linderman's words, "Then where are we driving now?"

"The current course is southwest..."

"We are driving to the UK?" asked Gunther Lütjens.

The navigator of the Bismarck replied: "Admiral, if our course remains unchanged, the fleet will sail to the Netherlands."

"Then let's go at full speed and get rid of the British fleet!" Gunther Lütjens gritted his teeth and looked at the "Nelson" in the distance with some reluctance. Because of the advantage of speed, the German fleet has always occupied a favorable position, and can concentrate 22 heavy artillery and 16 heavy artillery to bombard the "Nelson", while the British fleet can only fight back with 6 16-inch cannons. Therefore, the advantage of artillery battle is completely on the side of the German fleet. The "Nelson" has been shot several times. Although it is not "souled" like the "Houd", it is also beaten to the point of fire. If it can be shot for a few more hours, it might be able to sank the "Nelson".

But now, we can only let the Nelson go and withdraw from the battle with our tail. Of course, it is not possible to run all the way to the Netherlands. After withdrawing from the battle, the Bismarck will be led by the Tirpitz to change course and then retreat to Wilhelmshaven for overhaul.

"Admiral, it seems that the Germans have escaped?"

On the "Nelson", General Tovey, the commander of the British local fleet, watched the German fleet accelerate away, and breathed a sigh of relief.

"How is the situation with the Prince of Wales?" asked Admiral Tovey.

"The heavy damage was stranded on Lewick Beach... Two main turrets were blown off, the bow was almost destroyed, and the damage was very heavy!"

In fact, it is almost the same as Zhan Shen, and the "Prince of Wales" was stranded in Lerwick, which is very close to Bergen and Stavanger. German planes will definitely continue to attack air strikes and completely blow it up sooner or later.

"After all, we have completed the mission without sinking." Admiral Tovey smiled bitterly, "But we lost the 'reputation' in this battle, the 'Houd' and the 'Prince of Wales' were stranded again. The results achieved were only a German mothership, which is really..."

Before he finished speaking, the communication officer spoke in a tone that seemed to be a death: "Admiral, the fleet's telegram, the 'Ark of Royal' was attacked by the s.m.79 torpedo bomber and was hit by three torpedoes. Now ****18 degrees, a large amount of water in the engine compartment was in full swing, and the host stopped operating. Now Lieutenant General Somerville is organizing personnel to repair it with all his might..."

"What?" Admiral Tovey opened his mouth, trying to say anything, but he couldn't say anything. He knew... the local fleet would most likely lose the "Ark of Royal"! Because the Germans would not let go of an aircraft carrier that lost power.

"Reputation", "Hood", "Prince of Wales", and now "Ark of Royal" is added! In addition, the fierce air battles in the past two or three days have caused Britain to lose at least thousands of aircraft and hundreds of pilots... It's really a heavy loss!

Losing these important warships, the comparison of the strength of the British and German naval forces has been reversed in the North Sea, the Norwegian Sea and the English Channel. If the United States cannot join the war as soon as possible, Britain will lose the war.

"Lieutenant General, I suggest transferring the fleet headquarters." Colonel Scott walked into the commander's tower with a sad face. His trouser legs were soaked, and he had obviously just walked in the water.

"Can't block the gap?" Lieutenant General Somerville asked, looking at Scott.

Scott shook his head, "The damage tube is blocked as much as possible, but without power, the pump cannot operate, and the sea water is always increasing..."

It is impossible to completely block the gap. This requires a dock overhaul. You can only block it in the sea. The sea water will still pour into the gap, just less in. If the pump can be used, then as long as the water discharged is more than leaking in, the ship will not sink.

"Now, we can only fill water to maintain balance and completely seal the engine compartment," said Colonel Scott. "Then let other warships drag back to Scotland... If the Germans attack again, the 'Ark of Royal' will be completely finished!"

"They will definitely come again!" Lieutenant General Somerville smiled bitterly, "Appoint most people to evacuate. As long as the war is not over, we still need these excellent naval soldiers."
Chapter completed!