Chapter 765 West Wind 11

On February 24, at 10 a.m., 120 nautical miles northwest of the Chagos Islands.

On the top of the triangle mast of the Malaya, the lookout looked nervously at the edge of the fire net woven by the rapid-fire gun. Four black spots drilled under the belly of a large aircraft and quickly dived down to the ship.

In his shouts, the fore of nearly 30,000 tons of Malaya suddenly deflected to the left. When it was about to avoid all the bombs, a huge column of water was raised at a close distance of 10 meters on the starboard side.

The water column rose into the air, rose to more than ten meters, and then scattered in all directions. It rushed to the starboard side of the warship, and a touch of black mixed in the sea and smashed it into the secondary gun position.

After the sea receded, he found that the barrel of a 127mm rapid-fire gun on the starboard No. 4 secondary gun under his feet had been bent, which should have been bent by shrapnel in appearance.

Twenty Chinese bombers began to leave. Although the bombs dropped by these double-engine bombers from high altitude did little damage to the fleet, the Chinese seem to enjoy it and come here several times a day.

In his opinion, the real danger should be torpedoes and small torpedo planes!

Torpedo planes can drop torpedoes at close range in dense quick-fire guns and machine gun fire nets, and the large torpedoes launched by enemy destroyers and submarines can't even be seen. Many times he didn't understand what hit the warship until the ship was destroyed and people didn't realize that it was a torpedo.

What technology can hide the tail of torpedoes? How many explosives are in the torpedo? Can a giant ship like Northampton break? If it hits the Malaya, what kind of hell scene would it be?!

Thinking of this, he couldn't help shivering.

From the 21st, for three days and three nights, it is like a nightmare for everyone in the Indian Grand Fleet. During the day, there are waves of bombs and torpedoes dropped by planes in the sky, waves of desperate destroyers and amazingly powerful torpedoes, and seemingly ubiquitous submarines at night.

On the first day, two bait fleets and at least eight warships were lost, and three capital ships were lost at night. Although the next day, four cruisers and five armed ships were lost. Yesterday, nine cruisers, including three Linxian-class cruisers, were lost in one breath. Destroyer.

That is to say, from the departure to the present, the fleet has lost three new capital ships and all four old battleships, a total of 29 cruisers and destroyers, and even 17 armed ships modified with merchant ships.

There are a total of 80 ships, including three Y bait fleets, leaving only 34 at present, and almost every one is injured.

There are still 1 day away from Seychelles and 5 days away from South Africa. What will the General do?

In the loud shouting of the sailors, the damaged 127mm secondary gun under his feet was pulled out of the cracks with a hemp rope, and then threw it into the sea without looking at it. The waves instantly swallowed the secondary gun worth thousands of pounds.

Suddenly, the sea breeze brought a sour creak, and the partner immediately shouted in horror: "Look, it's the Arizona!"

The lookout quickly followed his comrades-in-arms' fingers and saw that the deck of the USS Arizona, which was protected by two Brooklyn-class light cruisers in the center, suddenly tilted not far away. The two double 15-inch cannons of the bows tilted high, and the stern began to sink little by little.

Just looking at the speed of the stern sinking, everyone knows that Arizona can't be saved!

Thousands of sailors stood on the deck and watched. After being attacked by aircraft torpedoes on the first day, they were hit by torpedoes fired by destroyers on the third night. The Arizona, which had just been hit by an air bomb again, can be described as bad luck.

On the tall cage mast, an American colleague hung on the edge of the mast and shouted loudly. Gradually, his hands began to be unable to support his body weight, and finally fell into the sea.

The bow began to lift out of the water little by little, and the back half was completely immersed in the sea. No one spoke. Everyone held their breath. 30,000 tons of battleships sank little by little in front of their eyes. The shock and impact were so great that Campbell even forgot to give the rescue order.

On the barrel, on the armrest, on the bridge, as long as it can be fixed, it is full of people, but this struggle is really too pale. In the end, they can only fall into the sea. Fortunately, they can fall near the lifeboat. Unfortunately, they fall directly in the middle of the whirlpool. Because this is not shallow water near the sea, it falls into the deep sea whirlpool. Nearby sailors will be pulled into the bottom of the sea by centrifugal force.

Ten minutes later, the doom warship, which was sunk in Pearl Harbor by Japan, sank deep in the Indian Ocean. The only luck was that the sinking was relatively slow, and most of the sailors escaped in time. Most of them returned to the United States after staying in the prisoner-of-war camp for nearly five years.

There is nothing more terrible than watching a super battleship sink in front of you. Tens of thousands of tons of steel are twisted and deformed in the eyes, but the thick armor and hull can't stop the pervasive seawater.

For Campbell, and the Arizona eventually sank, he faced another tricky thing.

In front of him is a mess. Although there are still six capital ships after the sinking of the Arizona, the last two American capital ships are already in battle, and there are still 15 cruisers, but only two of the American Brooklyn class and four Weymouth class can support the situation, and the others are old shortcomings. The 3,000-ton protected cruiser consumes a lot of ammunition. Because most of the supply armed ships were sunk, they could not be replenished, and there were only four destroyers left, which meant that if he encountered the submarine again, he would have to take the cruiser to anti-submarine.

What's more serious is that all his planes were gone, and the modified mother ship was sunk in the daytime the day before yesterday, causing the fleet to suddenly lose its eyes in the air, which forced him to send cruisers around to investigate, further weakening the air defense force of the central main force.

But the large Chinese aircraft carrier is still nearby!

Campbell looked at the higher and higher sun, and there was an endless chill in his heart. According to the situation a few days ago, within an hour after the bomber left, the enemy's torpedo plane would arrive. Can the two seriously damaged American capital ships withstand this wave of attack?

According to the plan, this is the turning point for him to cross the Indian Ocean. He can meet the South African fleet tomorrow afternoon at a speed of 16 knots, but the problem is that he needs to make a choice now, that is, not to bring two American capital ships.

Because of the damage report just received, the speed of the Pennsylvania and Chester has also dropped to 14 knots after entering the water!

Emotionally, he hopes to take it with him. After all, they are two capital ships with 15-inch heavy guns. Although they have lost their combat effectiveness now, they can continue to serve as long as they return to Europe for maintenance, which is far more time-saving than building two new ships.

But in terms of the safety of the whole fleet, he did not want to carry them, because the two ships had seriously slowed down after entering the water. If they were to protect them, the fleet must also descend to 14 knots, which means that they could not get rid of the most dangerous submarines.

In addition to submarines, another reason why they don't want to bring them is the four Hebei-class battleships from Singapore. Previous intelligence has confirmed that these four battleships set sail while he left Mumbai. The Chinese have always had an advantage in speed, which means that they are coming soon.

48 356mm heavy guns, two American capital ships were lost, and an aircraft carrier was staring at the side. In the case that the speed was not as fast as the other side, you don't have to think about the outcome.

If they don't bring it, where can they go? And without allies at the most critical moment, how can the Prime Minister face the new American political axe that has just come to power? If it angers them, will it cause the United States to withdraw from the war?

That's why I feel tricky.

I glanced at the Chagos Islands over and over again. Can the two American capital ships go there to take refuge?

"General."

Just when he couldn't decide, Cameron suddenly came in: "There is one thing that I think I should let you know?"

"Oh? What's the matter?"

"General." Cameron pointed to the chart and said, "Just now, Nelson told me that we had been thinking about avoiding the pursuit from Singapore, but what if they didn't chase us?"

"What do you mean?!" Campbell's face has appeared in surprise. The almost uninterrupted attacks and bombings in the past few days have indeed made him ignore some things. Now that I think about it, these are likely to be fatal!

"If the information is true, the enemy from Singapore should have arrived an hour ago, but the reconnaissance ships we sent around were not found, and." After a pause, Cameron looked at the sky and said solemnly, "It's been 2 hours!"

"2 hours!"

Campbell finally couldn't sit still. After the Chinese bombers on Gan Island left in a few days, the enemy's second wave of torpedo planes would definitely arrive for an hour at most, but now they haven't come for two hours, right?

Waves of attacks and bombings have made everyone numb, thinking about how to avoid bombing, how to prepare for night attacks and other issues, but ignoring the changes hundreds of nautical miles away!

"Damn it!"

Campbell stamped his feet and quickly opened the chart to calculate it carefully.

About 370 nautical miles from the Chagos Islands to Seychelles, the Chinese aircraft carrier can launch an attack from 100 nautical miles away, which means that they are only 270 nautical miles away from Seychelles!

China's aircraft carrier formation has set a record of 23 consecutive manoeuvres of 1,000 nautical miles in Australia! At this rate, it only takes about 14 hours for them to reach Seychelles, which means that 16 hours have passed since yesterday evening.

They can completely maneuver near Seychelles!

If the four Hebei-class ships from Singapore give up chasing across the Indian Ocean from Malé, they only need to maintain a speed of more than 20 knots, and now they should also reach the sea near Seychelles!

"God!"

The South African fleet led by Hill is still waiting for itself there! They know nothing!

"Contact Hill quickly and tell him to be careful."

Before Campbell finished speaking, the staff rushed into the cabin: "General, I just received a telegram from the port of Seychelles. Spanish Lieutenant General Tonis led two battleships to enter the port to add coal an hour ago."

"He asked." The staff officer didn't seem to believe it. After looking at the telegram to confirm, he continued, "Ask us when we will arrive."

Puff!

Campbell suddenly fell into the chair, and his face suddenly turned pale.

(to be continued)