The Rise of the Third Reich

"Boom, boom, boom..."

The bombs landed on the armored deck of the "Ark Royal" aircraft carrier one after another, and then turned into scorching fireballs, devouring everything around them. It was unknown what ignited, causing a fire on the deck of the aircraft carrier. However, the weakness of the insufficient penetration capability of the 250kg aerial bomb was immediately revealed. Although the bomb delivery accuracy of these Fokker 99s exceeded 60%, none of the bombs could penetrate the core compartment and hangar armor of the "Ark Royal" . The power of the bomb falling from a high altitude and exploding only severely damaged the armored deck of the "Ark Royal", making it impossible for aircraft to take off and land on it, and did not cause fatal damage to the aircraft carrier.

"I am Lieutenant Hersman, the commander-in-chief of the air strike." At this time, little Hersman had led 24 escort fighters to clear away the direct cover aircraft above the "Ark Royal", and finally had the energy to direct the bombing. "Stop attacking the aircraft carrier, the new target is the cruiser!"

He had discovered that the 250 kilogram bomb dropped by Fokker 99 was unlikely to sink the "Ark Royal", so he ordered the remaining Fokker 99 to drop the bomb on the light cruiser "Fiji" that was escorting the "Ark Royal".

Upon hearing his order, the 14 Fokker 99s that had not yet dropped their bombs immediately turned their heads and dived towards the 8,000-ton light cruiser one after another. One of the 16 planes was hit and shot down. Ten of the bombs dropped by the remaining 15 planes hit the "Fiji", and two were near-misses. The 250 kilogram aerial bombs that have no effect on armored aircraft carriers are very powerful when attacking light cruisers. The "Fiji" that ate 10 bombs quickly turned into a sea of ​​fire. Three minutes later, the fire spread to the bow of the "Fiji" The ammunition depot exploded the 6-inch shells inside. With a loud noise, the cruiser broke into two sections and sank into the sea in a very short time.

But the attack on the "Ark Royal" did not end there. After the Fokker 99's attack ended, Hersman Jr. ordered 19 Fokker Zeros to escort the 33 Fokker 99s that had completed the attack (3 of which were shot down) back, and he and the remaining Fokker Zeros returned (One Fokker Zero also lost one), staying in the air near the "Ark Royal" to escort the 24 S.M.79s and 16 Fokker Zeros that were coming. They came from Stavanger, which is 820 kilometers away from the location of the "Royal Ark" and required a continuous flight of 2 and a half hours. Moreover, their take-off time was 45 minutes later than the time when little Hersman took off from the "Sedlitz", so it would take another hour to arrive.

While little Hersman was slowly waiting for S.M.79 to arrive, two more big things happened on the Shetland Islands.

First, the "Prince of Wales" was blown to pieces and finally ran aground in Lerwick Harbor. This 38,000-ton battleship was bombarded by two waves of aircraft, a total of 1,780 Ju88s and S.M.79s. It was hit by 4 1,000 kg bombs and 6 500 kg bombs. Two of the three main gun turrets were blown off. The bow of the ship, which had little armor, was almost blown to pieces. A large amount of seawater poured in, causing serious damage to the bow of the ship. water. In addition, the battleship's command tower was also hit by a 1,000-kilogram bomb. Except for the captain, John Rich, who was seriously injured, all other people in the command tower were killed. In the end, the chief engineer temporarily took over the command and reluctantly drove the battleship to Lerwick Beach and ran aground. Then the entire crew abandoned the ship and left.

And another big thing is happening now!

"Torpedo! Dodge quickly!"

Three more TBD torpedo bombers dropped three 450-kilogram aviation torpedoes despite heavy raindrops of anti-aircraft fire. Because it had to engage in an artillery battle with the four battleships of the British Home Fleet, the German First High Seas Fleet could not form an air defense array. Of course, it was impossible to provide complete coverage with the 24 direct-covering aircraft in the air. These direct cover aircraft can only focus on protecting medium and high altitudes and prevent SBD dive bombers from dropping 1,000-pound bombs. As for the TBD torpedo attack aircraft, it is up to the anti-aircraft guns to deal with them. The result was that the "Bismarck" was hit by a torpedo 5 minutes ago, and now three TBDs broke through the anti-aircraft fire network (Bismarck's anti-aircraft guns also shot down 6 TBDs).

Three black barracuda-like shadows dragged a white trail from under the blue waves towards the stern of the battleship "Bismarck". Captain Lindemann personally steered the ship and avoided two of them, but one torpedo still hit the Bismarck's burly body. The fully loaded ship with a displacement of more than 50,000 tons only trembled and continued to move forward as if it was unscathed. While sailing forward, it used eight 380mm naval guns to bombard the battleship "Nelson" 23,000 meters away.

Just when the people in the conning tower were proud of the strength of the "Bismarck", Colonel Lindemann suddenly shouted: "Admiral! The rudder seems to have failed..."

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

"The current heading is southwest..."

"Are we heading to the British mainland?" Gunther Lütjens asked.

The navigation officer of the "Bismarck" replied: "Admiral, if our course does not change, the fleet will sail to the Netherlands."

"Then 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 its speed advantage, the German fleet has always occupied a favorable position and can focus on 22 380mm heavy guns and 1 heavy gun to bombard the "Nelson", while the British fleet can only fight back with 6 16-inch cannons. Therefore, the advantage in the artillery battle was entirely on the side of the German fleet. The "Nelson" had been hit by several bullets. Although it was not "killed" like the "Hood", it was still beaten to the point of being on fire. If we could fight for a few more hours, we might be able to sink the "Nelson".

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

"Admiral, it seems the Germans have escaped?"

On the "Nelson", Admiral Tovey, commander of the British Home Fleet, watched the German fleet speed away and let out a sigh of relief.

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

"Heavily damaged and stranded on Lerwick Beach... 2 main battery turrets were blown off, and the bow of the ship was almost blown apart. The damage was very heavy!"

In fact, it is almost as good as sinking in the battle, and the "Prince of Wales" was stranded in Lerwick, which is very close to Bergen and Stavanger. German planes will definitely continue to come for air raids, and sooner or later it will be completely destroyed. Blow up.

"After all, it didn't sink. We have completed the mission." Admiral Tovey smiled bitterly, "However, we lost the 'Reputation' and the 'Hood' in this battle, and the 'Prince of Wales' was severely damaged and ran aground. The result of the battle was only one German mothership, really..."

Before he could finish his words, the communications officer spoke in a tone as if announcing a funeral: "Admiral, telegram from Fleet C, 'Ark Royal' was attacked by S.M.79 torpedo bombers again, hitting 3 torpedoes. It’s ****18 degrees now, a lot of water has entered the engine room, and the main engine has stopped running. Now Lieutenant General Somerville is organizing manpower to make full efforts to repair..."

"What?" Admiral Tovey opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but nothing came out. He knew... the local fleet would probably lose the "Ark Royal"! Because the Germans will not let go of an aircraft carrier that loses power.

Reputation, Hood, Prince of Wales, and now Ark Royal! In addition, the fierce air battles in these two or three days cost the UK at least thousands of aircraft and hundreds of pilots... What a heavy loss!

Without these important warships, the balance of naval strength between Britain and Germany has reversed in the North Sea, Norwegian Sea and English Channel. If the United States did not enter the war soon, Britain would lose the war.

"Vice Admiral, I suggest that the fleet headquarters be transferred." Colonel Scott walked into the command tower with a sad face. His trousers were soaked. It was obvious that he had just walked in the water.

"Can't you close the gap?" Lieutenant General Somerville looked at Scott and asked.

Scott shook his head, "The damage pipe is blocked as much as possible, but there is no power, the water pump cannot operate, and there is always more and more sea water..."

It is impossible to completely seal the gap. This requires major repairs at the shipyard. At sea, it can only be blocked haphazardly. Seawater will still flow into the gap, but less of it will come in. If the pump works, then as long as more water escapes than leaks in, the ship will not sink.

"Now we can only inject water to maintain balance and completely seal the engine room." Captain Scott said, "Then let other warships tow it back to Scotland... If the Germans attack again, the 'Royal Ark' will be completely finished! "

"They will definitely come again!" Lieutenant General Somerville smiled bitterly, "Let's arrange for most of the people to evacuate. As long as the war is not over, we still need these outstanding naval personnel."

Somerville's guess was not wrong. Just as he left the "Ark Royal", the Stavanger base sent hundreds of bombers, torpedo planes and fighter jets to form an attack group, heading in the direction of the "Ark Royal" It's coming. At the same time, two German motherships commanded by Helmut Heyer also took the risk of sending a second assault wave. Under the attack of these two waves of German attack aircraft, at 10:13 am on June 11, the aircraft carrier "Ark Royal" overturned and sank to the bottom of the sea.