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Chapter 1014 1014: The Gap in the Real Battlefield
Admiral Avis's ship "Duncan" was still enduring enemy air raids.
Perhaps to increase pressure, the French Army intensified the bombing, shifting from just targeting "Duncan" to other warships.
Two nautical miles away, the battleship "Exmouth" of the same class was under attack by more than a dozen bombers.
The French pilots seemed to have gained experience; they first used fighters to precisely "clear" the few onboard machine guns and "boom boom" guns used for anti-aircraft, then bombers could confidently attack them.
But soon, Major General Avis realized their intent was not just that.
While he was being bombed and feeling overwhelmed, a swarm of aircraft blotted out half the western sky.
Major General Avis was startled by the sheer number of French planes.
A closer look revealed that they were old "Caproni" bombers, about 30 of them, appearing formidable due to their large size.
But then, Major General Avis's pupils unconsciously enlarged:
"Caproni" bombers signify torpedoes.
Without the "Camel" fighter protection and with the ship's anti-aircraft fire almost destroyed by enemy planes, they couldn't withstand the "Caproni" attack.
Sure enough, in the next moment, the "Caproni" bombers lowered their altitude, flying close to the sea surface, pairing up to find their targets.
After a steady flight for a distance, they released torpedoes into the water one after another, leaving trails in the sea instantly.
Simultaneously, the French Fleet launched a counterattack:
Battleships opened full fire from behind, shells firing at the British fleet, round after round without concern for accuracy, simply aiming to bombard around the fleet.
Towering columns of water soared tens of meters into the air among the British fleet, evaporating rapidly in the heat of the shells, creating water vapor that disrupted the British Army's view.
Meanwhile, French destroyers advanced towards the British fleet at high speed, firing as they moved, covering Thunder Strike Ships charging towards the British Thunder Strike Ships.
This was the classic harassment of the French "Green Water Navy," which Admiral Avis had witnessed countless times during the operation.
"Counterattack!" Admiral Avis shouted: "Organize defenses, watch out for torpedoes!"
Usually, the British fleet handled it easily.
The strategy was for battleships to change course to keep a distance from enemy Thunder Strike Ships, continuously bombing with artillery, while destroyers shuttled in between, using cannons to physically "drive away" these fly-like Thunder Strike Ships.
Though enemy Thunder Strike Ships were fast, they were forced to abandon their attack under this strategy; otherwise, they might be eliminated long before reaching the target battleship.
But this time was different.
Major General Avis felt he was under a full-scale attack:
Above, enemy bombers were diving with terrifying howls, dropping bombs accurately.
Nearby, enemy fighters strafed, turning their targets to lookouts and signalmen on the masts after finishing with machine guns and "bang bang" guns.
Underwater were torpedoes dropped by "Caproni" bombers, steadily approaching.
At sea level, the enemy fleet launched its assault...
At this point, Major General Avis suddenly discovered that there were new inverse gull-wing fighters dropping torpedoes into the water.
God, what are these?
Major General Avis felt surrounded by enemy bullets, bombs, and torpedoes, unable to evade them, left only to choose either to take the bombs on the chin or catch the torpedoes by hand.
"Boom boom!"
"Boom boom boom!"
...
Explosions erupted, and towering columns of water rose again on the sea.
The whole world was in chaos; the originally neat formation turned to individual combat, ships unable to communicate or command themselves, scattered though still within the same sea area.
Major General Avis climbed from the pulsating blasts to find the surrounding area in shambles, the "Exmouth" hit by a torpedo, slightly tilting and slowly coming to a stop.
Then, two inverse gull-wing "torpedo planes" approached again, targeting the left side of "Exmouth" and releasing two torpedoes in succession.
(Note: During World War II, a tactic for torpedo attacks on warships was summarized: attack the side where the target ship is taking on water, speeding up its imbalance and sinking. Otherwise, attacking the other side to balance the water might save it, maintaining combat capability.)
"Boom boom!" Two loud bangs again.
The "Exmouth" was beyond rescue, with an increasingly severe and rapidly accelerating tilt, finally collapsing onto the sea with tsunami-like waves.
Sailors on board tumbled out like spilled beans, screams, cries for help, sobs.
Then suddenly everything ceased, leaving only the wreckage of the warship slowly sinking, with its massive stern propeller still rotating in the air, seemingly unwilling, trying to grasp the last hope for survival before disappearing.
Major General Avis stared in disbelief.
A battleship, a 13,600-ton standard displacement battleship, one capable of threatening a small nation, was sunk so easily, hardly having the chance to fire much.
Soon, several cruisers and destroyers were hit by torpedoes.
Those were attacks initiated by French Thunder Strike Ships.
A violent explosion, a destroyer perhaps hit by the enemy battleship's main gun, and its superstructure erupted into flames, with debris flying everywhere.
Major General Avis murmured: "Damn, this isn't war, it's not fair!"
He seemed to imply that naval battles should be ship-to-ship, gun-to-gun, and introducing air power was vile cheating, not the battleship-style naval combat!
"General!" The first officer stumbled up, holding a telegram:
"Orders from London, the Prime Minister commands you to attack Malta airport."
"He said it's the key to our victory, you must persist."
"Our reinforcements are being organized, a powerful fleet of Dreadnoughts tasked to destroy the French Navy."
Avis didn't take the telegram, remained stunned for a moment, then laughed hoarsely:
"Destroy the French Navy? They're still thinking about destroying the French Navy?"
"These bastards have no idea. They should come here and see."
"The Royal Navy is finished, everything is over, England is finished!"
...
It's not really London's command center's fault.
But the development and change of the battlefield were too rapid, the limited words of a telegram could hardly convey the true disparity of the battlefield to the command center.