Chapter 588: Kill chickens and dogs

   "My God! It's coming. Be prepared for impact!"

   The officers and soldiers of the British Navy on the battleship 'Indian' watched the torpedo hit the side of the battleship helplessly. Although the battleship made an emergency evasion, the distance was too close, and the speed of the torpedo was too fast, so that they could not react at all.

   "Boom!"

  A medium torpedo hit the port side of the battleship "Indian". The waterline armor, which was only 228 mm thick, was torn apart in a violent explosion like paper.

  The battleships of the British Navy have always attached importance to firepower and speed, and despised defense. Not only the dreadnought ship, but even the previous pre-dreadnought ship were built according to this design idea.

  This also makes the battleships of the British Navy quite poor in carrying out strikes.

  When the torpedo exploded, the sailors of the Royal Navy on the battleship "Indian" were stunned. The unlucky ones were even thrown into the sea by the shock, and their life and death were unknown.

  Although, the battleship "Indian" seemed to have better luck, and was only hit by one torpedo. But even this is enough for them to drink a pot. The large hole torn open by the torpedo explosion caused seawater to pour into it crazily. The damage control personnel tried their best, but they couldn't plug the hole. As a last resort, the watertight compartment had to be closed. However, due to too much water entering the sea, the warships were tilted to a certain extent, which affected the speed to a certain extent.

   Before the captain of the battleship 'Indian' could breathe a sigh of relief, four bombers attacked them again. These four bombers carrying aerial bombs launched an attack at an altitude of thousands of meters. Due to the structure of the aircraft, the angle of the dive was not too large, and it almost swooped towards the battleship 'Indian' from the air.

   At a height of about 500 meters from the sea, the four bombers dropped their bombs and then changed their attack course.

   "Boom! Boom!"

   Of the four bombs, only one hit the battleship 'Indian', and the other three fell into the sea. After the bomb exploded, a high column of water was splashed into the sky. However, the bomb that hit the battleship 'Indian' easily penetrated the deck armor of the battleship, exploded inside the battleship, blew up several adjacent compartments, caused a raging fire, and further damaged the 'Indian' 'The battleship inflicted damage.

  Facing the attack of the German Navy's carrier-based aircraft force, these former dreadnoughts and armored cruisers of the Royal Navy desperately fled. They rushed left and right, trying to avoid the blow from the air. However, this made their formation even more chaotic.

   Warships were constantly hit by bombs or torpedoes dropped by German Navy carrier-based aircraft. The weak defense made these warships of the British Navy bad luck.

  Once hit by a torpedo, the waterline armor can hardly resist it. Once the sea water pours into the battleship, it will further cause greater losses to their battleship.

   "General, the battleship 'Indian' was severely damaged." A staff officer reported to Lieutenant General Caveson.

   Lieutenant General Cavison's face was already dark as if it was the bottom of a pot. It's only been ten minutes since the battle started, and some of their warships were severely damaged. This shows how powerful the attack power of these German aircraft is.

   "Let them decide for themselves!" Lieutenant General Cavison said. In his words, there was a deep unwillingness and helplessness. Facing the attack of the German Navy's carrier-based aircraft, they had nothing to do. Now there is only passive beating.

   "Yes, General." The officer immediately sent a telegram.

  The battleship 'Indian' became the first former dreadnought ship of the British Navy to be sunk in this battle. In addition to being hit by a torpedo and a bomb at the beginning, in the ensuing battle, he was hit by two more torpedoes and a bomb. This is already a fatal injury for a battleship with a displacement of more than 16,000 tons.

  Although the structure of the hull was relatively complete, the battleship was flooded with too much water, which eventually caused the battleship to suffer from insufficient buoyancy and sank into the sea.

   "God! The 'Indian' was killed by the Germans. It's hard to imagine that those things like toys have such great power."

   "Yes! The Germans are so powerful that they actually developed such a terrifying weapon!"

  Originally, many officers and soldiers of the Royal Navy sneered at the fact that the German Navy used planes to sink a huge warship. Thinking that in front of a huge battleship like a hill, the plane is like a child's toy, how could it have such a strong attack power? However, now that the facts are in front of them, they can't help but not believe it! The huge battleship looked so vulnerable in front of those small planes. The German Navy used those planes to kill their huge warships easily, just like killing chickens and dogs.

  The battleship 'Montague' is the fifth ship of the 'Duncan-class' battleships. The full-load displacement of this battleship is more than 14,000 tons, and it is equipped with two twin 305mm main guns and twelve 152mm secondary guns. This kind of firepower makes it an absolute capital ship in the era of pre-dreadnought ships.

   It's just that now the battleship is fleeing in embarrassment under the pursuit of the German Navy's carrier-based aircraft.

   "Hurry up, speed up, the German planes are catching up!" The captain of the battleship 'Montague' ordered.

   "Sir, we have already ventilated the boiler with forced ventilation. Further forced ventilation will make the boiler of the battleship unbearable." The chief engineer reported.

  The battleship "Montague" was designed with a maximum speed of only 19 knots. After serving for more than ten years, the maximum speed is only 16 or 17 knots left, which is why it has been maintained. Otherwise, the speed of the battleship may drop further. Even though the battleship has undergone forced ventilation, the speed has barely increased to 18 knots. Such a speed is undoubtedly not enough in front of a plane of up to 200 kilometers per hour.

   "Damn! Why didn't our warships install anti-aircraft machine guns and anti-aircraft guns? Otherwise, we wouldn't just be beaten passively!" The gunner's face was unwilling.

  British warships lacking anti-aircraft weapons can only be beaten passively, or pray to God that the German bombs and torpedoes will not hit their warships. Other than that, there seemed to be no other way.

  Although the battleship "Montagu" fled frantically, it still failed to escape, and was soon sent to the bottom of the sea by the German Navy's carrier-based aircraft.