Chapter 442: Panic (1200 votes plus more)
Chapter 442: Panic (1200 votes plus more)
?? "Your Excellency, the battleship Bellerophon is sinking, and General Davidson requests to abandon the ship." The communications officer reported to Admiral John Jellicoe.
?? Admiral John Jellicoe's face was as dark as the bottom of a pot. Before that, he still dreamed of sinking about 20 capital ships of the German Navy in a decisive battle. However, before a decisive battle with the German Navy, they were besieged by the carrier-based aircraft of the German Navy and lost a capital ship again. What's more terrible is that the attack of those carrier-based aircraft of the German Navy has not ended yet! Who knows how many battleships they will lose in the next battle.
?? "They are allowed to abandon the ship!" Admiral John Jellicoe said through gritted teeth.
??Since the battleship Bellerophon can no longer be rescued, it is destined to sink. Under such circumstances, Admiral John Jellicoe naturally could not refuse their request to abandon the ship. After all, he hopes that the officers and soldiers of the Royal Navy will fight to the end, but this does not mean that he can deliberately murder them. In that case, even if the battle is over, he will be court-martialed. Unless, of course, he died in a naval battle.
??After receiving the order to abandon the ship, the officers and soldiers of the Royal Navy on the battleship 'Belle Rophon' rushed for the opportunity to board the lifeboat. However, there are only so many lifeboats, and it is almost impossible to get everyone on the lifeboats. Therefore, of the more than 700 naval officers and soldiers on the battleship Bellerophon, only less than 200 escaped in the end, and the rest sank into the sea along with the battleship.
??Compared to the battleship Bellerophon, the Magnificent and the Reckless had better luck. Although they also suffered a few torpedoes, they were not fatal. However, it also suffered heavy damage due to excessive water intake.
??When the carrier-based planes of the German Navy finished dropping their bombs and swaggered away, the Royal Navy fleet on the sea was deeply shocked. A round of attacks by the German Navy's carrier-based aircraft force cost them one battleship, and two battleships were severely damaged. This undoubtedly cast a shadow over their hearts in this naval battle.
"Your Excellency, Commander, I have to admit that the Germans are already far ahead of us. While we were still thinking about how to build warships with stronger firepower and stronger defenses to catch up with the Germans, they have already It has completed a gorgeous transformation, and it has actually applied the aircraft to naval warfare, and achieved extremely good results. It seems that the Royal Navy has already carried it after hundreds of years of dominating the world, which makes the Germans surpass us. This In one battle, we were not wronged!" Lieutenant General David Betty sighed.
??General John Jellicoe nodded, although he didn't want to admit it, but it was the fact. The Germans once again came to the front of the United Kingdom, and actually began to use aircraft to attack surface warships. This is something that the British Navy never thought of.
?? This also puts them in a more disadvantageous position in this war. If you want to win this war, it will undoubtedly be more difficult.
"This method of using aircraft to attack a surface fleet is indeed unheard of. It is indeed admirable that the Germans have come up with such a combat method. If the British Empire can achieve a breakthrough in this area, it may turn our defeat into victory." Admiral John Jellicoe said. Even at this time, he has not given up on defeating the Germans.
"Your Excellency, Commander, this is very difficult. We don't know how the German planes can fly such a long distance. In other words, they took off from the sea at all. If we want to figure this out, we need to study It will undoubtedly take a long time to come out and form combat effectiveness. The Germans will never give us that much time." Lieutenant General David Beatty said.
??As soon as he said this, Admiral John Jellicoe's eyes dimmed. Indeed, Germany has too great an advantage in this regard. If the UK wants to catch up, it will undoubtedly start from scratch. What's more, Germany has already occupied an absolute advantage in this war. Therefore, they will never give the UK a chance to catch up with them.
"Your Excellency, the German planes flew away, and we lost a lot. However, the German planes seem to be only capable of carrying light torpedoes, so they can only launch an attack on the 'Bellerophon-class' battleships. This is already The luckiest of misfortunes. If the German planes can launch an attack on our super dreadnoughts, it will be truly deadly." Lieutenant General David Beatty said.
?? "Yes, God bless the British Empire. British aircraft cannot pose a threat to our main battleship!" Admiral John Jellicoe said.
??When the British rejoiced that the German Navy's carrier-based aircraft attack was over, they didn't know that the second batch of 48 carrier-based aircraft was on their way. Moreover, these 48 carrier-based aircraft are all torpedo attack aircraft carrying torpedoes. For surface warships, the threat of torpedo attack aircraft is undoubtedly much greater than fighter jets.
??The aviation machine guns of fighter jets can at most cause some damage to the personnel on the battleship, but cannot pose a threat to the hull structure. However, the torpedoes carried by torpedo attack aircraft can pose a fatal threat to surface warships. Even light aviation torpedoes are equally deadly.
??Once the carrier-based aircraft of the German Navy can carry medium-sized or even heavy aviation torpedoes, they will be the real killers at sea, and will become a deadly threat to surface warships. However, due to technological reasons, the German Navy has not been able to succeed in this regard.
?? "General, the plane, the German plane is coming again." A British officer shouted loudly.
??General John Jellicoe and Lieutenant General David Beatty immediately rushed to the window, picked up the binoculars and looked towards the east sky.
??I saw that dozens of planes were flying towards them, and the torpedoes hanging under the belly of the planes were shining with cold edges.
?? "Damn it! There are at least forty or fifty planes here. Where did these German planes take off from?"
??Before the German Navy's aircraft had caused them to lose one battleship, and two battleships were sunk. Now, dozens of planes have appeared, wouldn't they have to pay even greater losses?