Chapter 1009: The life or death of the British fleet is just a thought of Charles
Captain Ethan looked bewildered: "But why can't we catch up?"
It is understandable that the battleship squadron could not catch up. The fastest battleship was only 22.75 knots, and the slowest was only 18 knots. It was indeed difficult to catch up with the enemy aircraft carrier with a speed of 20 knots.
But the mobile fleet has a speed of 31.5 knots, and those battlecruisers are designed to sacrifice armor thickness to increase speed. Why can't they catch up with enemy aircraft carriers that are traveling at 20 knots?
General Winter looked frustrated:
"Because we don't know the location of the enemy carriers, Ethan."
"They have shot down all our seaplanes, and I believe their fighters are still patrolling around the aircraft carrier."
"Any seaplane that approaches it will be shot down. It will be difficult for us to even get within 50 nautical miles."
(Note: Even if a seaplane spotted the carrier, it would be useless. In this period, planes did not have radios, and they could only report the carrier's coordinates after returning safely.)
Captain Ethan was stunned.
He understood what General Winter meant.
The French army gained air superiority and then used it to block the British air force, thus achieving "invisibility".
Due to the curvature of the earth, British warships could not observe targets more than 40 kilometers away, so neither the battleship division nor the mobile fleet knew where the enemy aircraft carrier was.
However, the enemy can clearly observe the direction and distance of the enemy fleet with their fighter planes.
Thus, the enemy fleet could play hide-and-seek with the British fleet.
The British fleet outflanked to the left, and the French fleet hid to the right.
The British fleet outflanked to the right, and the French fleet hid to the left.
Unable to grasp the target location, the British fleet wandered around the sea like a blind man, relying on guesswork.
The enemy, however, had comprehensive intelligence and made adjustments based on the course and position of the British fleet.
Therefore, the British fleet could never catch up with the French aircraft carriers.
Even if the British mobile fleet is faster, and even if the distance is not very far, only about 80 nautical miles!
(Note: This was the main reason why battleships were eliminated in subsequent wars. Battleships could only passively withstand attacks from aircraft carriers and had almost no ability to fight back. Also: The following units will no longer use "nautical miles" and will be uniformly used in "kilometers.")
"No." Ethan shook his head slightly. He didn't want to believe it.
If General Winter's conjecture is correct, it will mean the collapse of the entire naval warfare mode and the battleships will become scrap metal.
More importantly, the Royal Navy...
Britain is the country with the most battleships in the world, and has been building its maritime advantage based on this.
Now, you're telling me battleships are useless?
All battleships are behind?
Will this type of ship even be needed in the future?
"We have the advantage of speed," Captain Ethan said.
"We, our mobile fleet may be able to detect the target."
"You know, our lookouts standing at the top of the mast can potentially spot targets 50 kilometers away."
"Once they're discovered, there's nowhere for them to escape!"
There is some truth to this.
If the battlecruiser happened to lock onto the position of the aircraft carrier on the sea, it could approach at a speed of 11.5 knots per hour and be within range in about two hours.
Then, the French aircraft carrier will be chased by battlecruisers all the way until it is sunk.
But General Winter shook his head:
"You think too simply, Ethan."
"Have you forgotten that their aircraft carriers can launch bombers?"
"If I'm not mistaken, fast battlecruisers will be their primary targets."
Captain Ethan opened his mouth and was speechless for a moment.
Yes, the attack radius of an aircraft carrier is 150 kilometers. Even if the battlecruisers accidentally discover the target, they will be bombarded by bombers all the way within two hours of approaching the target.
If the battlecruisers could survive these two hours of bombardment while maintaining their speed and course, they would then have a chance of catching up with the French carriers.
And this is just a "possibility".
What the battlecruisers will face next is the joint attack of enemy destroyers and bombers.
"So." Ethan's face was pale, his eyes were dull, and his lips trembled like a patient. After a long time, he asked, "What should we do, General?"
General Winter smiled bitterly and shook his head.
At this time, the fleet should probably be ordered to return to escape the attack range of the French aircraft carriers, but General Winter was not in the mood at all.
It's all too late.
Charles was right, he was capable of sinking British warships, all of them, the entire Royal Navy.
He was not exaggerating; the French navy would even have to pay a negligible price.
What is the Royal Navy?
No. 1 in the world?
Control of the sea?
Can this be used to coerce Charles into agreeing to Britain's negotiation terms?
What a joke, what a joke!
General Winter felt like a clown. Charles could wipe out all of them with just a snap of his fingers, but he and the Minister of Munitions were overestimating their own abilities and trying to coerce him!
As if to confirm General Winter's suspicions, the signalman on the observation deck suddenly reported loudly: "General, the Renown is reporting an enemy situation, with a group of aircraft approaching!"
General Winter and Captain Ethan looked at each other, walked to the porthole with mixed feelings, raised their telescopes and looked in the direction of the mobile fleet.
At this time, the mobile fleet was more than 30 kilometers away from the flagship, and part of the hull of the "Reputation" was no longer visible, with only a small half of it and the turret and superstructure exposed.
But the small black dots in the sky were clearly visible, with inverted gull-shaped wings swooping down from high altitude at an extremely fast speed, just like seagulls flying over the sea to catch prey.
Then……
Boom boom
“Boom boom boom!”
…
Amidst bursts of explosions, black smoke billowed from both the Renown and the Repulse.
The signalman shouted: "They are being bombed by enemy aircraft. The Renown is requesting reinforcements."
Soon the signalman added: "The Repulse is requesting reinforcements. They are unable to stop the enemy bombardment."
General Winter didn't give any orders. He just said, "Hmm." "Our warships have almost no air defense weapons, especially those against vertical dive bombers like this."
Captain Ethan glanced down at the anti-aircraft guns and machine guns on the deck and reluctantly admitted, "Yes, their maximum inclination angle is only about 70 degrees, which is impossible to aim at a target diving overhead."
"So, we are targets." General Winter smiled bitterly. "In front of them, we are just targets. We don't even have the ability to resist."
Then he turned to Captain Ethan and asked, "Now, do you still think we can find and sink the French aircraft carrier?"
Captain Ethan looked pale.
The facts were before him and he had to admit it.
Whether the British fleet lives or dies is just a thought in Charles' mind!
(End of this chapter)
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