Chapter 644 Air-launched Torpedo

Major General Kavis quickly raised his telescope to follow the bomber hovering in the sky, but it had already disappeared into the fog like a clever seagull.

With a bad premonition, Major General Kavis ordered: "Pay attention to the bombers in the sky and shoot them down with machine guns!"

"Yes, General!"

Although the staff officer responded and passed the order down, he was still puzzled.

Reconnaissance planes are used to find the location of the enemy fleet. After discovering the enemy fleet, reconnaissance planes will no longer work. Is it wise to divert attention to deal with those reconnaissance planes at this time?

"Boom!" There was a loud noise.

Major General Kavis noticed that a cruiser on the flank burst out a column of water, and the next second its hull lost balance and circled in place, and then fell weakly behind.

"General." The staff reported: "It's the Stettin, it was hit by a torpedo!"

"Torpedo?" Major General Caves raised his telescope and looked at the French fleet in the distance: "The enemy is at least 3 kilometers away from us, how could they launch torpedoes at this distance?"

At this time, the range of most torpedoes is within 2 kilometers, and even torpedoes with a range of 3 kilometers can hardly hit the target at this distance.

(Note: At this time, the speed of torpedoes is mostly within 40 knots. If the speed is not fast, it will form a waterline on the sea surface, and ships often have time to dodge)

But soon, the response of the signalman confirmed this.

"General." The signalman reported: "The Stettin reported that the torpedo was launched from the enemy ship. The Stettin made an emergency evasion, but the enemy torpedo changed direction at the last moment and hit the hull."

"What?" Major General Caves' face changed drastically: "The torpedo changed direction?"

The staff analyzed: "General, this may be a coincidence. The waves changed the direction of the torpedo and hit the Stettin."

Major General Caves nodded slightly, and this was the only explanation.

Otherwise, is it still a wire-guided torpedo?

If so, it would be terrible!

But soon another destroyer was hit by a torpedo.

What's even more bizarre is that the destroyer's report is exactly the same as Stettin's: "Two torpedoes attacked at the same time, we evaded, dodged one, and the other changed direction and hit the hull."

Rear Admiral Caves looked ashen.

If it was one warship, it could be said to be a coincidence, but if it was two warships, one of them was a G101 destroyer with a maximum speed of 33.5 knots.

(The picture above is a German G101 destroyer)

The speed of this type of destroyer is even comparable to that of a torpedo, but it couldn't avoid the attack of a torpedo?

No, it's not a coincidence.

This is most likely Charles' invention, a torpedo that can change direction in time to track enemy warships, a wire-guided torpedo!

At this time, Rear Admiral Caves understood why the French fleet dared to defend the German fleet of three battlecruisers with cruisers and destroyers.

It's not them who should run away, but us!

However, what shocked Major General Cavis even more was what happened next.

The two bombers circled with their backs to the sun, lowered their altitude, and made a nearly perfect arc to cut into the port side of the "Sedlifi" at a vertical angle.

Major General Cavis raised his telescope and froze for a long time without reacting.

The two bombers were carrying torpedoes under their bellies!

They were indeed torpedoes, he was not mistaken!

"Order the "Sedlifi" to evade urgently!" Major General Cavis almost shouted the order.

But it was too late.

The two bombers descended to a low altitude of about 20 meters one after the other, and then kept approaching the "Sedlifi".

The "Sedlifi" seemed to have sensed the danger and changed its course.

But the bomber didn't drop the torpedo until it was about one kilometer away, and then it quickly rose, with the belly of the plane almost touching the mast of the battlecruiser. Major General Cavis even saw the flag on the mast being blown in the opposite direction by the strong wind of the plane.

Then, Major General Cavis immediately turned his attention to the sea, where there were two white water lines approaching the "Sedlifi" quickly, like two sharks rushing towards their prey.

"It's a torpedo!" Only then did the sailors realize the danger, and they exclaimed: "God, am I seeing it wrong? They actually use planes to drop torpedoes?"

"Sedlifi" urgently evaded with full right rudder, and there were also quick-reacting sailors shooting at torpedoes with rifles.

But the reaction time left for them was too short. One minute later, only two "booms" were heard, and the "Sedlifi" was paralyzed in place in two water columns.

Soon, its hull began to tilt and even capsized.

The sailors didn't even have time to lower the lifeboats, they just jumped into the water to escape with screams and shouts.

The sailors of other warships were stunned by this scene. They finally saw a reality: the enemy could sink their battleships with planes, and their battleships didn't even have decent anti-aircraft weapons.

No mistakes!

"General!" The staff looked at Major General Kavis with fear in his eyes.

Major General Kavis understood what this meant. He should retreat at this time, otherwise the entire fleet would be destroyed.

Major General Kavis didn't say anything. He looked at the sky expressionlessly, walked to the other side and observed for a while, and said in a deep voice: "They still have 4 bombers left. I noticed that each of their bombers can only carry one torpedo."

It means that the French only have 4 torpedoes left, so we still have a chance to win.

But the staff officer reminded: "General, this may be just one of their flying squadrons."

The implication is that another flying squadron may be on the way or out of the sight of the warship.

Major General Caves gritted his teeth: "Order all units to avoid the torpedoes dropped by enemy bombers!"

"Yes, General." The staff officer helplessly passed on Major General Caves' order.

Major General Caves was not unaware of the danger, he knew that he should retreat now.

The reason why he ordered to continue fighting was because he considered another problem:

If French bombers can carry torpedoes to attack warships, does it mean that the British "Caproni" bomber can also?

In addition, there are torpedoes with a range of 3 kilometers that can turn. Does the Royal Navy also have them?

If the answer is yes, then where can the German High Seas Fleet escape to?

Forever stay in the port and rot?

No, never!

I would rather die here than stay in the port until the last moment!

Just as I was thinking, two more bombers descended to low altitude. This time, their target was obviously the "Lützow".

"Full left rudder!" Major General Cavis ordered.

But the planes were too fast. In the blink of an eye, they dropped two torpedoes one after another, and two more terrifying waterlines. They even grasped the lead time and approached the "Lützow" accurately...