The Rise of the Third Reich

September 3, 1939, 3:45 pm British time, Scapa Flow.

The banner "England needs everyone to do their duty" was hoisted on the battleship "Nelson". At the same time, every British ship in Scapa Flow received the same order.

"The war has just begun!" Admiral Charles Forbes stood in the command tower of the "Nelson" and said to everyone around him. "Even if the Germans use treacherous and unfaithful sneak attacks to achieve temporary victory, it will still be a temporary victory." It is impossible to bring England to its knees!"

"Yes, Your Excellency!" everyone replied.

"Air attack!" Then someone shouted, "Another group of torpedo planes are rushing towards us!"

Charles Forbes calmly grabbed the handrail beside him and turned to look at the scene outside the command tower that he would never forget.

On the sea, two huge aircraft carriers were on fire, the "Fury" and the "Brave". Three minutes ago, the fleet chief of staff reported to Forbes: The Fury was hit by three bombs, one on the bow and two on the midship, all of which penetrated the deck! One of them even penetrated the hangar! The huge explosion nearly destroyed the deck and caused a fire in the hangar. Now the fire is spreading and becoming uncontrollable!

Charles Forbes knew that the Fury was doomed. The hangar was destroyed, the deck was destroyed, and there was an all-consuming fire—possibly igniting the aviation fuel and maybe exploding the munitions! In the end, even if the aircraft carrier does not sink, the repair work may take a year or even two to complete.

In addition, the USS Brave aircraft carrier was hit by 2 bullets, both of which were heavy bombs! And all of them penetrated the thin deck effortlessly, and one of them also set fire to the hangar. The fire also spread aboard the Valiant. This aircraft carrier suffered almost the same damage as the "Fury"! If the battlefield was not in Scapa Flow, it and the Fury would have to be abandoned...

In addition to "furious" and "brave", the battleship "Iron Duke", which was used as a training ship, also became the prey of German torpedo attack aircraft because of its huge size. It was hit by 6 torpedoes in 5 minutes and is now leaning seriously to the right. , the captain has requested to abandon the ship.

And another "old" battleship, the "Royal Oak", is now being attacked by German torpedo bombers!

Suddenly, a shocking loud noise came from the middle of the mainland island, the main island of the Onik Islands that makes up Scapa Flow. Admiral Forbes looked over and saw a huge mushroom cloud rising into the sky!

"This is..." Admiral Forbes gritted his teeth. He knew that this was the destruction of the oil depot in Scapa Flow! The 200,000 tons of heavy oil and 10,000 tons of aviation fuel stored there are burning!

This is the masterpiece of He-111. While some He-111 bombed the anti-aircraft artillery positions, some He-111 bombed the oil depots, naval airfields and port facilities (mainly shipyards) in Scapa Flow. These three were important for A naval base is vital.

On the other side of Scapa Flow, the HMS Repulse, known as the "Royal Navy Repair HMS" (because the ship underwent two major refits during the interwar period and stayed in the dock for too long), battled The cruiser is now also being attacked by torpedo planes...

"Torpedo Squadron 20, charge with me! The target is the Counterattack!" The formation led by Lieutenant Adolf Inglehart has now entered the position to attack the Royal Oak.

He was one of the few pilots in the German Naval Air Force who was a true naval officer - he came from a naval family, and one of his uncles was the commander of a battleship squadron that participated in the Battle of Jutland. So he knows which ships in Scapa Flow have no attack value at all, and which ships must be sunk or severely damaged!

For example, the three aircraft carriers converted from large light cruisers are opponents that "must be eliminated".

It is a pity that the "Ark Royal" and the "Hood" have already left Scapa Flow, otherwise these two ships would also be destroyed!

In addition, the two "Prestigious" class battlecruisers left over from World War I are also very valuable targets for attack.

Because any German naval officer (referring to the real navy, not the guy who transferred from the Air Force) knows that among the huge British Royal Navy, the real threats to the German Navy are the "Royal Ark" and "Fury" , "Brave" and "Glory" four fast aircraft carriers and three battlecruisers "Hood", "Prestige" and "Counterattack"!

These seven giant ships not only have enough combat power, but they are also fast enough! For the German Navy, whose main combat method is to break diplomatic relations at sea, they are all huge threats. If the Royal Navy loses them, then the entire Atlantic Ocean will be left with two "Scharnhursts" and two "Seidlitz" classes (the second ship of the Seidlitz class, "Admiral Seckett", will Completed before the end of the year) has come and gone.

Because the British heavy cruisers that could catch up with them couldn't defeat the "Shanehurst" class at all, and the battleships that could defeat the "Shane", such as the "Nelson", had a pitiful top speed of 23.8 knots. Can you catch up to the "Sharnhurst" level?

As for the other two classes of battleships of the British Royal Navy, the "Queen Elizabeth" class and the "Revenge" class (also known as the R-class) battleships, they only have a maximum speed of 25 to 23 knots, which may have been powerful in the last war. Weapons, but now... what are they for?

Therefore, when the attack plan was issued, Lieutenant Adolf Inglehart raised objections to the "laymen" of naval aviation. There was no need to attack battleships at all, but should focus on sinking aircraft carriers and battlecruisers. As long as the four fast aircraft carriers "Ark Royal", "Rage", "Brave" and "Glory" were sunk and the three battlecruisers "Hood", "Reputation" and "Counterattack" were sunk.

So before the completion of the cutting-edge "King George V" class battleships and "Glorious" class aircraft carriers, the British Royal Navy has no ships that can deal with the German break-up fleet.

But those "Air Force Marine Corps" guys didn't listen to his opinion at all, and still listed all battleships and battlecruisers as "equal priority" targets for torpedo planes.

Fortunately, as the squadron leader of the 20th Torpedo Squadron, Lieutenant Adolf Inglehart still has the right to choose targets among battleships and battlecruisers.

"Altitude 20, horizontal attack, release torpedoes at 1,500 meters!" Another series of orders came from the mouth of Lieutenant Adolf Inglehart.

The 15 torpedo planes under his command were divided into three horizontal formations of five planes, and they rushed towards the Repulse almost side by side. The Repulse is a battle cruiser that has just undergone comprehensive modernization and modification, and its anti-aircraft firepower is very powerful. In particular, the 2-pound anti-aircraft gun installed after modernization is so powerful that it can weave a fire net that blocks torpedo planes within 3,800 yards.

But today, such a dense fire net could not stop Lieutenant Adolf Inglehart and his comrades.

Countless orange-red flashes of light rushed towards Inglehart, and then slid past him. The aircraft passed through the fire net, slowly approaching the battlecruiser in front. Suddenly, Inglehart felt a vibration from the distance of the plane, and then another!

He must have been shot, possibly by shrapnel!

Inglehart didn't know how long the plane could last. He found that the battlecruiser ahead was "getting bigger and bigger" and was already within 2,000 meters away.

"Torpedo! Fire! Now!" he shouted. Then I felt the plane jump upwards and the torpedo was released. Just when Inglehart was about to pull up the plane and leave, the He-115 suddenly shook again!

"Hit! The right engine has been hit!" The navigator's scream came from the earphones. It turned out that one of the engines of the He-111 was destroyed.

"Nothing, even one engine can fly back!" Inglehart loudly comforted his crew members, while carefully maneuvering the aircraft and struggling to stay out of the fire range of the 2-pound anti-aircraft gun.

"Boom!"

A muffled sound came from below.

"We've hit it!" this time it was the bombardier who cheered.

Inglehart looked down and saw a huge water column appearing at the stern of the "Repulse", which was obviously hit by a torpedo.

At 3:48 and 3:49 p.m., the battlecruiser "Repulse" was attacked by 3 batches of 15 He-111 torpedo bombers. Six F5 torpedoes hit this huge warship. One of them destroyed the rudder, three hit the port side mine protection belt, and two opened large holes in the bow and stern of the ship - the mine protection belts are mainly distributed in the middle of the ship, the bow and the ship Lightning protection belts cannot be installed on the stern.

Seawater suddenly poured into the hull of the "Repulse", and the battlecruiser began to tilt severely to the left.

At 3:52, the battlecruiser "Repulse" began to inject water to the starboard side to maintain balance and avoid capsizing.

At the same time, the "Royal Oak" encountered a second wave of torpedo attacks, this time a three-row attack array composed of 9 He-115s (each row had three aircraft). Due to the previous fierce attack, the starboard side of the "Royal Oak" had been hit by 4 bullets. Three hit the mine protection belt without causing much damage, and one penetrated the bow of the ship. A large amount of seawater was injected, causing the battleship to tilt several degrees to the right.

In addition, in the earlier He-111 bombing, the "Royal Oak" was also hit by two SC-250 high-explosive bombs. Although it did not penetrate the armor, one hit a seaplane on a catapult (near the bow) and caused a fire. The thick smoke obscured part of the anti-aircraft gun's sight, making it impossible for the gunner to aim. As a result, nine German He-111s attacked from near the bow of the ship. Successfully dropped 9 F5 torpedoes on the sea 1,500 meters away from the "Royal Oak". Three of them hit, almost smashing the bow of the "Royal Oak". Water poured in at an unimaginable speed. After a few minutes, the entire bow of the ship was submerged in the sea, and the "Royal Oak" was about to sink into the sea. …