Published at 13th of February 2023 06:55:02 AM
"General, our heavy cruiser was completely suppressed by the Germans. The 'Mikuma' was sunk, and the situation of several other ships is also very bad." Major General Suzuki Yoshio reported.
Lieutenant General Takasu Shiro's face was gloomy, as if dripping water. For island navies, heavy cruisers are also very important warships. After all, the island country is not as rich and powerful as Germany, and can build those heavy cruisers in batches. The loss of a heavy cruiser is enough to make them feel distressed for a long time.
The cruisers of the German Navy are almost all cutting-edge warships, and the age of the ships is almost less than ten years. Moreover, the German Navy builds cruisers, almost all of which are built in large quantities, and a dozen or twenty ships will be started at one time. Compared with other navies, such a handwriting is indeed much larger. Of course, this was done only when the technical conditions of the German Navy were mature. In naval battles with the aircraft carrier as the core, other warships are more responsible for air defense and anti-submarine tasks, and the carrier-based aircraft on the aircraft carrier are the most important combat power. This makes other warships not need to have too outstanding performance.
"Let them hold on, we will soon catch up with the German aircraft carrier." Lieutenant General Takasu Shiro ordered. At this time, Lieutenant General Takasu Shiro still only had the German Navy's aircraft carrier in his eyes. He will not rest until he sinks an aircraft carrier of the German Navy.
"Hi, General!" Major General Suzuki Yoshio nodded.
The current island nation fleet has no other choice. They had to sink the German Navy's aircraft carrier before they could reverse the situation, regain their advantage in the ensuing naval battle, and defeat the German Navy. Other losses are within the tolerable range.
The four "Amagi-class" battlecruisers of the island navy, under the protection of light cruisers and destroyers, rushed towards the German Navy's aircraft carrier fleet at high speed. In particular, the speed of the battlecruisers 'Akagi' and 'Atago' soared to 33 knots. This speed is already six knots higher than the maximum speed of the "Wilhelm the Great" aircraft carrier of the German Navy.
In two hours, the battlecruiser 'Akagi' and the battlecruiser 'Atago' have narrowed the distance to about eighteen kilometers. Moreover, the distance is still being shortened further.
"Fire!"
The captain of the battlecruiser 'Akagi', Commander Muto Cunzhi ordered.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
The five twin-mounted 410mm main guns of the battlecruiser "Akagi" began to fire, and heavy shells roared and smashed into the aircraft carrier "Wilhelm the Great".
Although, because of the long distance, the hit rate is very low. However, the shells fell around the "Wilhelm the Great" aircraft carrier, splashing water jets into the sky, which made the German sailors on the aircraft carrier very worried.
"General, the Germans are catching up." Rear Admiral Lunducci, chief of staff of the Indian Ocean Fleet aircraft carrier formation, said.
Walter Walser just nodded helplessly. Although, he really wanted to lead the "Wilhelm the Great" aircraft carrier to escape. But he knew that this was impossible. The battlecruisers of the islanders had already caught up, and they could not escape this time.
"Order the pilots and ground crew on the aircraft carrier to start transferring!" Lieutenant General Walter Walser ordered.
Even if the aircraft carrier "Wilhelm the Great" will be sunk, those personnel must be transferred as soon as possible. In this way, once a new aircraft carrier enters service, it will soon be able to form combat effectiveness. If even personnel are lost, that is a real heavy loss.
"General, should we dispatch destroyers to launch lightning strikes on the islanders' battlecruisers?" Major General Renducci suggested. If the torpedo launched by the destroyer can hit the battlecruiser of the island navy, the crisis may be alleviated.
Lieutenant General Walter Walzer thought for a while, but shook his head: "There is no need for this. Those battlecruisers of the islanders are protected by light cruisers and destroyers around them. Our destroyers want to approach and launch lightning strikes, almost There is no such possibility. In addition, the speed of their battlecruisers has increased to more than 30 knots. It may be difficult for torpedoes to hit such high-speed battlecruisers."
Indeed, torpedoes are hard to hit when warships are sailing at high speed. Forcibly launching a lightning strike will only cost the lives of one's own destroyers. Therefore, Lieutenant General Walter Walser gave up this idea and chose to preserve his strength.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
The battlecruiser "Atago" of the island navy also joined in. Constantly fired at the "Wilhelm the Great" aircraft carrier with the main gun.
At this moment, the personnel on the "Wilhelm the Great" aircraft carrier has begun to transfer. A large number of pilots and ground crews are given priority to leave in traffic boats. There was a surge of anger in everyone's heart, but there was nothing they could do. If it was daytime, they would have sunk the islanders' warships with their carrier-based aircraft. Now, they can only suffer passively.
Many people vowed that they would never give the islanders such a chance again next time. They will fly carrier-based aircraft and sink all the warships of the islanders.
"Boom!"
A 410mm artillery shell hit the aircraft carrier "Wilhelm the Kaiser". At this moment, the combat distance has been shortened to 12 kilometers, and the hit rate of the island navy has naturally increased a lot.
The flight deck of the "Wilhelm the Great" aircraft carrier was simply impossible to withstand a shell weighing more than one ton, and it was easily torn apart. The shell exploded in the hangar, destroying many of the carrier-based aircraft parked inside, and at the same time ignited a raging fire.
"Yo Xi, good job!" Seeing the fire coming out of the "Wilhelm the Kaiser" aircraft carrier, Lieutenant General Takasu Shiro finally showed a smile on his face.
Subsequently, the aircraft carrier "Wilhelm the Great" was hit continuously. Heavy 410mm artillery shells caused severe damage to this aircraft carrier with a displacement of more than 25,000 tons.
At 3:42 a.m. on February 4, the oil depot of the aircraft carrier "Wilhelm the Great" was ignited by a spreading fire, and a suicide explosion occurred. The explosion destroyed many cabins on the lower deck of the aircraft carrier, and the high-temperature flames even melted the steel plates. At the same time, sea water was poured into the battleship frantically. Under such circumstances, the aircraft carrier "Wilhelm the Great" sank into the sea after only persisting for more than ten minutes. This made the "Wilhelm the Kaiser" aircraft carrier the first aircraft carrier to be sunk in this war.