Alien Arms Empire

Chapter 615 615 Powerful Aerial Bomb

If you are bombing destroyers or cruisers during World War II, the hit rate of dive bombs is actually not as high as imagined.

 It was not easy for aircraft to deal with ships during World War II. Faced with the intensive anti-aircraft firepower on battleships, it was generally difficult for aircraft to obtain a very good attack window.

Those anti-aircraft guns on battleships are not used to shoot down aircraft, but to force the aircraft to attack at less than good attack distances or attack angles as much as possible, giving the battleships an opportunity to avoid torpedoes or bombs.

 But without such intensive and sustained anti-aircraft firepower, warships would have little chance when facing aircraft.

As long as there is an angle that is not covered by the barrage, the aircraft can cut in at this angle and cause battle damage to the battleship at close range. At the same time, the entire battleship will lose more anti-aircraft gun positions, making the battleship fall into a vicious cycle.

 In addition, during the Second World War, both battleships and cruisers and destroyers had high speeds.

 After encountering enemy aircraft, they will quickly perform S-shaped maneuvers to avoid torpedoes and bombs that may be dropped by the aircraft.

 The speed of these battleships is at least 25 knots, and the highest speed is even 35 knots. To hit a warship that is desperately maneuvering, it actually requires a lot of experience and luck.

It is a pity that the Cyric fleet in front of them does not have these conditions for resistance: they do not have dedicated anti-aircraft weapons, let alone anti-aircraft barrages, they do not even have anti-aircraft guns.

In addition, the general speed of these battleships is only a dozen knots after conversion. It is a bit of a fantasy to expect this "battle damage speed" to avoid bomb attacks.

The first aerial bomb crashed directly into the sea, and then exploded and caused huge waves. The water column soaring into the sky was even higher than the Stuka plane being pulled up.

The destructive power of the 500-kilogram aerial bomb was quite astonishing. Even if it did not directly hit the battleship, it still caused the entire battleship to sway.

The soldiers of Cyric standing on the deck were so frightened that their faces turned pale. They grabbed what they could around them to prevent themselves from being thrown into the sea.

 Some unlucky ones even lost their rifles just to stand still, because they had never seen such a large water column in their lives!

Before the aroused water splash had time to fall, a new aerial bomb swooped down and directly smashed into the thin deck of the battleship.

Although the horizontal armor of these warships is more or less tens of millimeters in order to make themselves stronger, it is a joke to say how useful these armors can be.

 They were originally designed to fight naval guns with a caliber of tens of millimeters to a hundred millimeters at long range.

  And what penetrated this layer of armor was a 500kg aerial bomb! Its speed and weight are simply not something that thin layer of armor can resist.

The aerial bomb penetrated the deck at once, shattering the wood laid on the deck, smashing the steel plates and leaving a twisted section around the hole.

Then it went all the way down, smashing through the second deck of the ship, followed by the third deck... Finally, it stopped in the engine room almost near the bottom of the ship, next to the large propeller shaft that was constantly rotating.

The delay fuse finally stopped rotating, and the detonator fired the charge in the aerial bomb. The flames that expanded in an instant devastated the compartment, and instantly caused all the surrounding partitions to swell.

 The extremely strong large shaft broke in the explosion, and the flames engulfed the engine compartment, killing everyone inside at their jobs.

The fragments, sharper than flying swords, cut through everything that blocked their path, penetrating steel walls, personnel and equipment, and ammunition stored in ammunition depots.

The propellant of the cannonball was ignited by these hot shrapnel, and then exploded immediately. The power of the explosive ammunition was ten times and a hundred times that of the aerial bomb, and an even more outrageous shock wave spread throughout the entire battleship in an instant.

The outer shell of the battleship instantly expanded due to the internal explosion, and the deck at the stern of the ship was even lifted high by the explosion.

The bridge of this Cyric battleship collapsed due to the shock of the explosion, and the entire hull disintegrated and fractured during the explosion.

It was instantly broken by the incoming seawater. Half of the soldiers on the deck were shocked to death by the explosion and fell to the deck. Before the other half had time to get up, they found that the battleship under their feet was beginning to tilt rapidly.

It only took about a minute for the battleship to completely lose its ability to move amid the billowing smoke.

Its stern has sunk below the sea level, while its bow is still stubbornly floating on the water. However, due to the drag of the heavy body, the remaining bow of the ship began to rise, revealing the underwater part painted red.

“…” Seeing the sunk battleship not far away, Cyric’s commander couldn’t believe his eyes. If it were a serious naval battle, the battleship that had just sunk could at least last for a long time, right? But just now two planes swooped down and sank it in just a few dozen seconds!

"Damn it..." The naval commander of the Gobel Kingdom was also frightened by the scene in front of him at this moment. He had never seen such a naval battle.

Even if the naval battles in the past were extremely brutal, this scene would never appear: the explosion just now and the water column that soared into the sky before, were like a nightmare for a veteran like him.

The naval commander-in-chief of the Gobel Kingdom has never fought such a battle, and he has no experience in anti-aircraft defense. He didn't know how to deal with the threat from the air, so he couldn't issue any combat orders.

 The standard S-type anti-air defense maneuvers and standard air defense formations of later generations have not yet become popular. So the navy commander of the Gobel Kingdom wanted to do something, but found that he couldn't do anything.

Another Stuka dive bomber soared into the sky and dived towards the outer battleship deck. After several attempts, Datang's pilots also found some patterns.

Targets in the core area of ​​the fleet will receive fire cover from warships on both sides. Although this cover has little effect, it will still cause some trouble and increase the risk of some attacks.

 Hence, it is relatively easier and more cost-effective to attack warships on the periphery of the fleet. Obviously, these warships can only rely on their own firepower for air defense.

Like peeling an onion, attacking the outermost battleship has a high chance of success and can weaken the fleet's defense.

“Boom!” Due to lack of experience, the bomb dropped by this dive-dropping Stuka bomber did not hit the target. To be honest, it was still difficult to hit the moving target.

However, more planes began to swoop down, and the pilots in the bumpy cockpit aimed their sights at the sailing warship as much as possible.

 Occasionally a bullet will fly towards you, but it will not cause much damage. At the lowest point near the battleships, the pilots pressed the bomb release button and continued to drop bombs near these battleships.

 Some of the bombs fell into the water, stirring up water jets. Some of the bombs hit the battleship directly, replicating previous explosions.

 For these warships whose technology is not very advanced, the power of 500 kilograms of aerial bombs is a bit too terrifying.

Basically, as long as it hits, whether the bomb hits the ammunition depot or hits near the boiler, it will cause devastating damage.

 Datang Group has never sold high-end battleships, especially battleships with innovative armor designs. Cyric is completely exploring the design of battleships on his own, taking the unruly path of having a donkey dung egg with a shiny surface.

This kind of clumsy plagiarism relies on technical support such as power systems and artillery sold by the Datang Group. There is no problem in being barely usable, but it will be exposed at the critical moment.

Inexperienced armor design, unscientific compartment design, important area armor protection sacrificed for speed, and even non-existent fire repair system...

 Everything made today's unique naval battle bloody. Tang Jun's planes dived and dropped bombs one after another. In order not to interfere with each other, they were far apart.

 As for Cyric's sneak attack fleet floating on the sea, all that was left was despair. In the blink of an eye, they had sunk three warships, and they only had 45 warships in total.

 “Should we let the fleet disperse?” Cyric’s commander had the idea of ​​​​parting ways and escaping for his own life.

"After we disperse, we won't be able to protect each other, so we will die faster?" The navy commander of the Gobel Kingdom glanced at the other party and rejected the other party's opinion.

 Then, the general from Gobol put forward his own idea: "We have only one choice now, surrender! Let the troops hang the white flag, and then pray that they will treat the prisoners better."

"This is impossible! Absolutely impossible!" Cyric's commander stared angrily at the Navy Commander-in-Chief of the Gobel Kingdom, his tone full of hostility: "Surrender is never allowed! Even if these warships sink, they cannot be handed over. To the enemy!"

  No matter how bad the battleship is, it is still a battleship! If these warships are handed over to the Tang Kingdom, the strength of the Tang Kingdom's naval fleet will become stronger.

 So, for Cyric's commander, even if all the warships here are annihilated, it is more acceptable than surrender.

"Then we have only one option: speed up and leave here." The navy commander of the Gobel Kingdom also knew that the other party would definitely not agree, so he could only speak with a wry smile.

He has no way to disobey Cyric's orders. His country has been tied to Cyric's chariot. His family, his children, and everything about him no longer belongs to him: "Continue to persist." Let’s see whether we all die first or their planes run out of ammunition first.”

 (End of this chapter)