Chapter 1390 Hunters over Hampton (Second update, please subscribe)
Eastern Time, 7:39 a.m., April 21, about forty minutes after the declaration of war.
The torpedo attack team flew low over the peaceful anchorage of Hampton Roads, picking up the six dreadnought battleships parked at the middle berth of the berth. As for the old pre-dreadnought battleships... they simply ignored them.
The sailors who were lying on the bow deck of the "Virginia" and cleaning the deck with talc, all looked up in the direction of the sound with some confusion after hearing a roar coming from afar.
"What is that?"
People looked with astonishment at a group of strange-looking creatures with wings, which were almost flying over the sea towards the warship. The American sailors on the ship couldn't help but feel a little confused.
"What's that flying in the sky?"
Before the sailors could figure out what was going on, they saw something suddenly dropped from the belly of the leading plane. The torpedo stirred up a large wave on the sea surface and then dragged its wake towards the Virginia at high speed. At the same time, the plane that had completed the bombing quickly rose.
One, two, three!
The American sailors, who had not yet figured out what was going on, watched helplessly as those "monsters" dropped torpedoes in front of them.
"Boom..." As the rapidly climbing plane passed over the "Virginia", the strong airflow blew away the sailors' hats and woke them up.
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack..."
It was not known who shouted first, but the American sailors who had come to their senses were somewhat confused, but they still rushed to their respective posts. The extremely rigorous training they had received during the round-the-world voyage immediately showed up at this moment.
However, even if they rushed to the post, what could they do?
At this moment, the torpedo hit the warship accurately with a "boom" and a loud noise.
The warship was shaking violently.
Then there was another loud noise. The American officers and soldiers who were knocked to the ground by the violent shaking looked at each other in confusion. What happened?
The ammunition magazine on that warship exploded?
Almost no one thought it would be an enemy attack.
Enemy attack?
How is this possible?
"Quick! Enemy attack!"
Major General Robin shouted excitedly. As his superior shouted, the officers who reacted got up and ran outside desperately. At this time, two loud noises and violent shaking knocked them to the ground again.
Six torpedo attack planes dropped torpedoes at a distance of less than 300 meters, and four of them hit the starboard side of the "Virginia" in less than three minutes. The severe water inflow on the starboard side had caused it to tilt rapidly to the starboard side, and capsizing was only a matter of time.
Compared to the "Virginia", the "Kentucky" which was moored next to it was not very lucky. The 4th Squadron, which was responsible for attacking it, immediately rushed to other targets after discovering that it was moored on the left side of the "Virginia" and there was insufficient space on the starboard side to drop bombs, leaving it to the second round of bomber forces.
In the dining room of the USS Kentucky, the sailors who were dining were stunned by the explosion and stood there at a loss, seemingly waiting for orders from their superiors. At this moment, a sailor rushed in.
"Quick, quick! We are being bombed! Quick! Quick!"
The sailors who reacted rushed out of the restaurant and a shrill alarm sounded.
"Boom, boom, boom..."
The US sailors on the Kentucky reacted and aimed their 30mm anti-aircraft guns at targets in the air. Although the anti-aircraft guns had a high firing rate, their ballistic trajectory was very curved. The shells that dragged the fire dragons into the sky were not only difficult to hit fast-flying aircraft, but also had a slow gun mount rotation speed, making it difficult to adjust the firing range in a hurry. They only fired a spreading fire dragon, but could not pose a substantial threat to the aircraft.
In comparison, the machine gunners' strafing on the plane was even more deadly. Under the machine gunners' strafing, the deck was littered with dead and wounded sailors, and blood flowed through the cracks in the deck.
The strange way of warfare was something they had never seen before, even the planes... they had never seen them before today.
In just a few minutes, the U.S. Navy fleet anchored in Hampton Roads suffered unprecedented losses.
The starboard side of the "Virginia" was hit by four torpedoes in succession. Due to the lack of damage control personnel and command failure, the ship tilted severely in just a few minutes. Before the captain could order water to be injected to maintain balance, half of the bottom of the ship was exposed above the sea and the warship turned upside down.
The Pennsylvania and Michigan were hit by three and five torpedoes respectively, but because the officer on duty promptly ordered the injection of water to maintain balance, the ships slowly sank in the harbor at a depth of 16 meters after the injection of water.
The five battleships, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Maryland, were hit by one or two torpedoes respectively. Facing the air attack, these world-class dreadnought battleships had almost no room to fight back. The sailors could only desperately try to save the battleships while firing back with anti-airship guns.
When the torpedo planes were about to complete their attack mission, the bombers, which had just finished their strafing, were about to enter their bombing course. At this time, the anti-airship guns on the ships formed a barrage of bullets in the sky above the fleet. The bombers were full of anti-airship shells with flames.
Despite this, the bomber group still approached the target at full speed. Xu Gang, the pilot of the first attack team, targeted the "Rhode Island". On his port side was the "Virginia" which had turned upside down. After aiming at the target, he pressed the sight when he began to dive. The "cross" sight line accurately aimed at the "Rhode Island", which was already moving slowly.
As the target continued to enlarge, Xu Gang suddenly pulled the bomb handle. With a "click", the heavy fuselage suddenly became much lighter at the moment the bomb was dropped.
A 300-kilogram armor-piercing bomb dropped on the Rhode Island...
Suddenly, a deafening explosion occurred on the "Rhode Island". For a moment, thick smoke billowed, and the smoke column of the explosion was more than a thousand meters high. This black and red fire column almost made the fighter planes in the air feel the impact. Under the impact of the shock wave, the plane swayed violently, and the pilots could only do their best to restore the balance of the plane from the shaking.
Then they all stared with their mouths wide open at the thousand-meter-high smoke cloud in the sky.
"Sir, look, that, that..."
The excited people were so speechless looking at the column of smoke, while Lu Deren shouted excitedly.
"Great! It must have hit the ship's ammunition magazine! It was that ship..."
Although the armor-piercing route could occasionally penetrate a few dozen millimeters of armored deck during dive bombing, that was all. After all, even the horizontal armor of warships of this era - which was almost non-existent - but the multi-layered cabins still greatly weakened the armor-piercing power of armor-piercing aerial bombs.
Most of the time, armor-piercing bombs explode inside the ship's cabin, causing damage to the warship from the inside.
Only by extremely rare chance would the bomb have the chance to penetrate the ammunition depot. On warships of this era, although the ammunition depot was below the waterline, there was no armor plate protection on the top. The bomb happened to hit the position between the two turrets, and the violent explosion after the explosion directly detonated the nearby ammunition depot.
"Rhode Island! It's the Rhode Island!"
The pilots shouted excitedly, but their shouts were inaudible to outsiders. In an era without radio communication equipment, they could only vent their excitement by shouting loudly.
In the excitement, all of them became more and more fanatical, just like hunters who smelled blood.
At this time, for the fledgling Imperial Naval Air Force, what they were engaged in was no longer a battle, but a hunt, and the entire Hampton Roads was their hunting ground.
Although the anti-airship guns on the warships posed a certain threat to them, the pilots still continued to aim and attack like hunters. Sometimes, because there was no suitable time to drop bombs, they would fly over the target, then adjust the angle and start over again. They were just like they were on the training ground, except that the former targets had become warships.
During the battle, some of the air formations dropped bombs, while others missed the chance to aim. Some squadrons even entered three or four times but still failed to hit the target. This gave the American gunners on the ship an opportunity. They seized the opportunity and fired shells at the planes when they entered the bombing dive again. At the moment when one or two fire dragons hit the planes, the planes fell into the sea with black smoke...
The old group is down, so I created a new book club group: 739209015. Everyone is welcome to join and discuss and deduce the plot together.
(End of this chapter)
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