Chapter 1007 How did they sink our aircraft carrier?
General Winter was in charge of Project Ballista.
At this time, he was commanding on the flagship battleship "Canada".
(The picture above shows the battleship Canada, with a displacement of 28,000 tons and a speed of 22.75 knots. Chile purchased the ship from Britain, but due to the outbreak of war, Britain negotiated with Chile to purchase it from Chile for 2.5 million pounds. It was renamed Canada and entered service in 1915.)
During the pre-war meeting, the Minister of Munitions outlined the division of labor:
"We have reason to believe that the German High Seas Fleet may enter the war."
"From this perspective, we must place the main force of the Royal Navy in the North Sea."
"Only in this way can we trap the German fleet and ensure the safety of the homeland."
The Prime Minister, the First Lord of the Admiralty, and General Winter had no objection.
The security of the North Sea was a top priority, and the German High Seas Fleet was the Royal Navy's main rival.
As for the French Navy, they have more small ships and can be crushed by advanced battleships.
Therefore, most of the ships sent by the British to the Mediterranean were outdated pre-dreadnought battleships, with two battlecruisers for maneuvering.
Among all the ships, the battleship "Canada", which entered service in 1915, was considered advanced, so it was selected by General Winter as his flagship.
General Winter remained on the main battlefield from beginning to end.
His naval warfare thinking has not changed yet. As a member of the navy, General Winter always believes that naval warfare should be a ship-to-ship and gun-to-gun battle with the enemy.
As for fighter jets, they are just auxiliary.
Therefore, he naturally regarded the two "aircraft carriers" as auxiliary rather than main forces.
This is also the reason why he used a battleship as his flagship instead of an aircraft carrier.
At that time, General Winter was in the command tower holding a telescope and observing the battle situation ahead.
So far, I'm quite satisfied. Everything is going according to plan and the Third Fleet is systematically depleting the French navy and aircraft.
From his perspective, the enemy aircraft was forced to retreat under the pressure of the "SE5a" fighter.
(Note: The French Camel fighter planes calmly destroyed the seaplanes in an ambush by the SE5a and then escaped unscathed. However, the fighter planes were not equipped with radios and could not communicate with the sea surface. General Winter, who did not understand air combat, misunderstood this as a defeat for the French fighter planes.)
"The Quartermaster General is right," said General Winter, complacently. "Charles' fighter planes are no match for us. They don't even dare to use 'torpedo planes'."
"Of course, General." Captain Ethan adjusted his brand new uniform and said sarcastically:
"I heard that Charles was vomiting for several days while rushing to the Dardanelles."
"From this point of view we have already won."
"The Shire may be king on land, but on the seas, no one can match the Royal Navy!"
This should have been done a long time ago, Colonel Ethan thought. If the Royal Navy had joined the war earlier, the Shire would not have developed to this point.
General Winter nodded slightly.
Originally, he was a little worried that Charles would have some strange ideas to change the situation of the battle.
But as he watched the French seaplanes being shot down one after another in the air, his remaining worries were thrown away.
That's your weakness, Ciel.
Even if you can win every battle on the European continent, and even unite Germany, Greece, Belgium, and African colonies.
But as long as you lose at sea, all the results will still belong to Britain, and you cannot change it.
The navy is a strategic force, and we have achieved strategic victory!
(Note: Before the rapid development of the air force, the navy could be called a strategic force. Whoever had a strong navy had more overseas colonies and interests. Victory on land could not change this situation.)
However, just as General Winter breathed a sigh of relief and was enjoying the Royal Navy's victory with a watch-the-show mentality, the signalman came forward and reported:
"General, our First and Second Fleets are under attack."
The First Fleet is composed of the aircraft carrier "Argus" as its core, and the Second Fleet is the "Wrath" fleet.
General Winter took the report lightly.
"Are they French torpedo boats?" he asked.
The main French fleet is here, and they only have a few small boats to attack the first and second fleets.
"Don't worry about it." General Winter ordered: "Our destroyers will take care of them..."
I don't want the signalman to answer:
"No, General, it's an enemy plane."
"They are attacking our aircraft carrier from the southwest. Rear Admiral Brent is requesting reinforcements!"
General Winter's expression changed slightly. He turned to look at the signalman: "Plane? Why are there enemy planes in the southwest?"
Planes taking off from the island of Malta could not reach the location of the aircraft carrier.
Even if they did reach it, they wouldn't have enough fuel to return after completing the attack.
The signalman shook his head blankly. "I don't know, General. And there are quite a few. The report says there are at least forty of them."
The signalman handed the telegram to General Winter.
General Winter took the telegram and glanced at it doubtfully. Suddenly he remembered something and quickly walked to his desk, staring at the nautical chart.
Colonel Ethan followed and asked doubtfully, "Is the problem serious?"
General Winter smiled softly, "No, it's just the French aircraft carrier that showed up."
"French aircraft carrier?"
"Yes." General Winter nodded and drew a circle in the southwest waters. "Their aircraft carriers should be in this area."
Colonel Ethan said, "Oh!" "Those planes took off from aircraft carriers. So, this is Charles' plan to defeat us?"
General Winter and Colonel Ethan looked at each other and smiled, their eyes full of disdain.
They were not panicked at all.
The reason was that they thought Charles' aircraft carrier was the same as the British aircraft carrier, which could only launch fighters but not bombers.
To be precise, it is the huge "torpedo plane" that cannot take off, and this is the type of "torpedo plane" they are worried about.
If it is just a fighter jet equipped with machine guns, what threat can it pose to warships?
Those machine guns are not enough to scratch the aircraft carriers and destroyers!
This is also one of the reasons why the British Navy did not pay attention to warship air defense until this time. Most people felt that there was not much need.
With fighter jets taking off from aircraft carriers to deal with "torpedo planes", warships only need a small amount of air defense as the last layer of defense.
However, just as they were slowly discussing how to "encircle and suppress" the French aircraft carrier, the signalman ran over again.
"General." He looked horrified.
"The Argus is engulfed in flames, and the carrier-based aircraft have suffered heavy losses."
"The 'Wrath' was sunk, and none of its aircraft survived."
"Major General Brent is missing. Colonel Aubey has taken over command and requested reinforcements!"
General Winter and Colonel Ethan were shocked:
"What? That's impossible!"
"How did they sink our aircraft carrier?"
(End of this chapter)
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