Chapter 442 A familiar scene (please subscribe, please vote)

"Yes, the airship reported that there are at least twelve old battleships, one large cruiser, one Warrior-class cruiser and three Frigate-class destroyers in Kwajalein Atoll, as well as some torpedo boats and gunboats."

"Twelve old-fashioned battleships? These are big fish!" George Yilu raised his eyebrows. Old-fashioned battleships are also battleships! Since the Battle of Kii Waterway a few years ago, the British Empire has been at war with the Ming Empire.

They have suffered losses time and time again in previous conflicts, and have never really gained a fight. As a result, the Ming Dynasty has become more and more confident. The people of the Ming Dynasty who originally did not support fighting a world war are now beginning to support their country's war. And the British

The morale of the people here is getting lower and lower. Now we are about to fight a decisive sea battle, but the morale of the troops is still very low.

The night battle on Guadalcanal a few days ago further damaged morale. Although Admiral William Bagga had ordered the news to be blocked, the news that the war was defeated was still spreading on various warships.

If the fleet can fight a turnaround in Kwajalein Atoll and sink ten or eight battleships under such circumstances, then the morale of the military will immediately rise!

In addition, the old battleship also has its benefits. The air defense of old battleships is relatively weak and the speed is slow. Pigeon aircraft are enough to deal with them.

Thinking of this, George Yilu asked again: "Have you discovered the Ming Dynasty's aircraft-carrying battleship? How many aircraft are there at the airport on Kwajalein Atoll?"

"There is no Ming-made aircraft-carrying ship. There are only a few planes at the airport on Kwajalein Atoll, and they are seaplanes."

George Elliot took a breath and finally made up his mind, so he turned to the aviation staff officer: "Are the carrier-based aircraft ready?"

"Okay, the first wave of 72 Pigeon aircraft, 36 of them are equipped with a 100-pound high-explosive bomb, and 36 are equipped with a 100-pound armor-piercing bomb." The fleet's aviation staff paused, thought for a moment, and said, "

Should we change them all to armor-piercing bullets?”

The D Fleet of the British Australian Fleet commanded by George Elliot is now the vanguard of the entire Royal Navy's Australian Fleet, gathering 6 of the 8 aircraft-carrying armored cruisers under the Australian Grand Fleet. And William Baga gave him

The mission is to "blow up, blow up, blow up." Blow up whatever you catch around Kwajalein Atoll! Various facilities on Kwajalein Atoll, the Ming Dynasty Navy fleet parked in the lagoon, and the Ming Dynasty Navy fleet coming for reinforcements. What are you coming for?

Just blow up whatever you want! Keep blowing until it can’t be blown anymore, until it can’t be blown up anymore, until there’s nothing left to blow up.

When the D fleet is finished blowing up. Or letting people blow it up! William Baga will command all or part of the warships of the four cruiser detachments BEGH (including only a few destroyers in the B detachment) and the D detachment (including 2 destroyers).

Two fleets, A and C (carrying aircraft and patrolling), rushed forward for a decisive battle.

"No need," George Elliot looked at his watch, and then glanced at the excited looks in the bridge, "There's no need to waste time, I'll remember everything after I blow it up one more time.

Planes carrying high-explosive bombs should give priority to destroying airports! Planes carrying armor-piercing bombs should give priority to attacking the enemy's large surface ships! Tell the pilots below that the British Empire needs each of them to fulfill their duties!"

"yes!"

Amidst the roar, the bows of six aircraft-carrying armored cruisers shuttled in the wind, and the howling deck wind blew the skin on the wings of the pigeon aircraft, which looked a bit similar to the spread wings of a flying bird.

ring.

As the flight commander waved the flag, a pigeon aircraft at the end of the flight deck had turned its in-line engine to the maximum. The sear holding the aircraft suddenly released, and the pigeon aircraft roared towards

He reached the end of the deck, then "thumped" a few times, jumped up, and escaped the gravity discovered by King Zhuge Wuzhong.

As the "Fighting Pigeons" took off one after another, in less than 10 minutes, 72 Pigeon planes had left the deck. The flight deck, which had been as crowded as the busiest subway in London just a moment ago, suddenly felt a little empty.

——Half of the aircraft were missing, and the remaining half belonged to the second assault wave. They originally folded their wings and huddled on the aircraft decks at the stern of the aircraft-carrying ships.

Now that the first attack wave has taken off, they can finally be pushed out, loaded with bombs, and then flown out to bomb Kwajalein Atoll.

Since the pigeon aircraft has a short range and a combat radius of less than 100 kilometers with full fuel and ammunition, it is basically a deck defender. Therefore, one of their attack waves can only go back and forth, leaving the second attack wave

The time is not long. The ground crew on the deck must seize the time to push out the second wave of aircraft, hang up the bombs and fill up the fuel, and then they must rush to send the second assault wave out before the first wave of aircraft comes back. Otherwise, the second wave of assaults will be sent out before the first wave of aircraft comes back.

A wave of pigeon planes will be unable to land.

This really can't be wasted for a moment!

Because there can't be any delay, the ground crew on the deck come as quickly as possible. In the past few days, when designing the aircraft-carrying armored cruiser, the speed of deck operations was also fully considered. Therefore, the ammunition depot and the aircraft's fuel depot were directly connected.

It is installed in the deck superstructure on the side. Sometimes, for the convenience of operation, the deck personnel will pull the bomb out of the warehouse and place it under the deck building.

Of course, the scene of George Elliot's D Fleet "flying pigeons" could not be concealed from the Ming Dynasty Naval Aviation's seaplanes and airships hovering over the Kwajalein Atoll. Because the range of the "pigeon planes" was too close, D Fleet could only fly.

You can only "let the doves fly" when you go to the edge of Kwajalein Atoll. If there is a mountaintop tens to hundreds of meters above Kwajalein Atoll, you can see the aircraft-carrying armored cruiser on the sea directly from the mountain with a telescope.

Therefore, the news that the British fleet was "letting go" was immediately sent via telegram to the Pacific Fleet flagship "Nanking" which had just left Pearl Harbor.

It has a standard displacement of 16,000 tons and a full-load displacement of 25,000 tons. It is equipped with a 46,000-horsepower fuel-steam turbine power system. Its top speed can reach 27 knots. It also has the world's most advanced and most powerful long- and short-wave radio stations.

The "Nanjing" is actually just a headquarters that can move on the sea plus a sea hotel. It will definitely allow the headquarters staff, including Zhuge Weidao, to have a pleasant "journey".

While Zhuge Weidao was leaning on the railing and looking at the sea view, Zhuge Yangyang, chief of staff of the Pacific Fleet who was from the same clan as him and about the same age but a generation younger, came up with the telegram he had just received.

"Military gate, the British aircraft carriers have arrived near Kwajalein Atoll. There are 6 aircraft carriers in total. They are all aircraft-carrying armored cruisers. They are currently launching carrier-based aircraft to prepare to bomb Kwajalein Atoll!"

"Where is our aircraft carrier?" Zhuge Weidao immediately turned around and walked towards the combat command center of the "Nanjing" while asking Zhuge Yangyang, "How far is it from Kwajalein Atoll?"

"There are still close to 300 kilometers!" Zhuge Yangyang said, "It's a bit out of reach! Moreover, there are only two Shu Zhongwang airborne aircraft battlecruisers in the second battleship fleet, and the total can only carry less than 100 carriers, which is a little less."
Chapter completed!