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Text Chapter 961 Destroy Taranto!

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    Political undercurrents have not affected superficial military cooperation.  High quality updates

    November 3, 1940, Saturday.

    With two days left before the announcement of the US election, after a series of feints and cover-ups, Zhu Bin followed Cunningham to the Tyrrhenian Sea with three aircraft carriers and eleven escort ships.  At this time, he did not know that Hopkins had just left Beijing, nor did he know that the United States' attitude of declaring war had made Jiang Baili regret this action.

    Lanzhou is the second ship of the Liaoning-class aircraft carrier and the first Liaoning-class aircraft carrier to enter service.  The more than 30,000-ton ship lay quietly in the night in the calm Tyrrhenian Sea. The deck was busy, like a giant beast that could go berserk at any time.  Behind the two wings are the slightly smaller Tibet and Xikang, also preparing to take off into the wind.  The last one, which is similar in size to the Sichuan-class aircraft carrier, is the British HMS Glorious aircraft carrier.  Farther away, Cunningham's flagship Repulse was leading a total of twenty-two escort ships from both sides to spread out in a standard escort defense formation.  "These old British guys are really two-pronged. I'm afraid Italy's eyes are still focused on the Ionian Sea." Deng Haogan walked over and raised his binoculars to stare at the Glorious, hoping to see how the British naval aviation was different from his own.  .

    Marquis Zhu Bin also admired Cunningham.  Being able to maneuver continuously in the narrow Mediterranean Sea, avoiding the eyes and ears all over the sea, and bringing the fleet safely to the Italian "inland sea" surrounded by Sicily and Sardinia is enough to illustrate his ability and the background of the British Navy.  You must know that they are now less than seventy nautical miles away from the Italian coast, which is equivalent to being right under Italy's nose.  "Normally, to attack Taranto from Alexandria, we must go through the Ionian Sea, but this guy is amazing! Our sonar didn't even detect an Italian submarine all the way here.  .¡±

    "After all, they have been a maritime overlord for hundreds of years." Deng Haoqian also envied the British Navy's heritage, but he was very annoyed with the British character: "It has a profound heritage and good strength. But, this character is too bad.  !" He shook his head as he spoke: "Guess, what did Jiang Zhe say to me? Mader! Those British navigators actually wanted to climb up to the mast to see our radar structure while he wasn't paying attention. Come out.  These days, the hangar, the elevator, the powerif it weren't for the electronic cabin and the prohibition on the use of cameras, I guess these guys would be able to put their films in boxes."

    Jiang Zhe is the captain of the Liaoning. As the most advanced aircraft carrier in the world, Cunningham certainly has to "investigate" such a good opportunity.  Marquis Zhu Bin chuckled.  This kind of thing is normal, not to mention he is not a fuel-efficient lamp.  Not to mention that I learned a lot of fleet navigation and maneuvering skills from following Cunningham this time, and the dozens of staff officers brought by Bai Yutang have all entered the British fleet under various names.

    According to the agreement between the two navies, Cunningham was in charge of the command this time, so the two of them had a lot of leisure.  Zhu Binhou handed the specially brewed tea to Deng Haoqian: "Try it, the authentic Dahongpao."

    "Oh? That's not common." Deng Hao took a sip, and it really left a lasting impression on his teeth, so he simply put the small tea box on the table into his pocket.  When Zhu Binhou saw this, he couldn't help but laugh: "You guy. You don't want me to drink some good tea."

    "This is called sharing blessings." Deng Haogan was shameless and deliberately changed the topic: "Commander, I went to Chagos to see it, and the progress is very fast. They said they would be able to move in after the New Year. Here it is.  The U.S. Atlantic Fleet has two aircraft carriers and ten battleships, and they will definitely send a few of them. I guess Cunningham will drive us away if we don¡¯t leave.¡±

    Marquis Zhu Bin nodded: "Never mind it. It's not our turn to worry about it anyway. However, India is making rapid progress. Commander Li and the others have captured Ranchi and Jamshedpur, and completely occupied Jharkhand. High-quality update Commander Bai  The two divisions sent to Bombay are also about to go to Hyderabad, preparing to attack Orissa from the north to the south. As long as we can occupy it, we can surround the East and West Bengal occupied by the Japanese. So after this fight, we will definitely take back our fists and fight next year.  The main tasks are Andaman, Sumatra, and coordinating the armies in the Horn of North Africa and Persia."

    "Haha, a year has passed in the blink of an eye. By the way, I also heard that Commander Bing has submitted a report to the Commander-in-Chief and the President to stop the construction of the six Liaoning-class aircraft carriers approved after the war. Is this the case?  ?¡±

    "It does happen, but it's not about stopping production, it's about upgrading. Japan only has four aircraft carriers left, and two Eagles can be delivered after the new year. The rest will have to wait until at least the end of next year. This still doesn't cut off the waterway.  We are not bombing the schedule. As for our progress, the battleship Shandong can be delivered early next month, and the last two Liaoning-class ships in the first batch can be delivered before the New Year. There will also be the battleship Shanxi in March next year, and the second batch of Liaoning-class ships.  The first four ships will be built next year, plus three batches of sixteen escort aircraft carriers. By the end of next year, there will be at least twenty-five aircraft carriers and twelve battleships, which is already somewhat beyond demand. Therefore, Commander Bing and others believe that once the bombing begins,  The ones behind the Japanese NavyIt is difficult to build an aircraft carrier, and the war with Japan is likely to end in 1942, so the last two ships of the second batch and the six ships of the third batch are obviously not used.  At the beginning of last month, Meteor, Airbus and Northern Raytheon have all come up with bidding plans for our naval jets, but they unanimously said that the existing Liaoning class must be equipped with catapults and undergo major modifications, otherwise it will be difficult to ensure combat takeoff and landing.  .  Therefore, after studying it, Commander Bing and Commander Chen decided to take advantage of the current sufficient military budget to change the last two ships of the second batch into a new amphibious assault ship, and cancel the third batch and replace it with three super-large aircraft carriers to avoid war.  Later budget cuts delayed getting the jet on board.  "

    "Amphibious assault ship? Super large aircraft carrier?" Deng Haoqian's eyes lit up.  There is no doubt that aircraft carriers have become the core of the navy. As the most staunch aviation fan, Zhu Binhou certainly hopes that the aircraft carriers will be upgraded and use the most cutting-edge jet aircraft.  But the matter was still confidential, and he only knew a rough idea.

    When the two were discussing the future war situation and naval development, the staff officer shouted: "Commander, the departure signal has come."

    At eight o'clock in the evening, the Chinese and British combined fleet turned to the southwest, with the four aircraft carriers facing the wind at full speed.  Ten minutes later, the first attack wave of 16 Lightning fighters, 26 Osprey torpedo bombers, 20 Yasha dive bombers, 12 Swordfish torpedo planes and 4 Fulmar pilot illuminators left the deck.

    At 8:30, the second wave of 10 Swordfish, 12 Lightning, 18 Yasha, and 30 Osprey attacked.

    At nine o'clock sharp, the third wave of 4 Fulmars, 12 Yashas, ??and 18 Ospreys rushed into the night sky.

    After the third wave of aircraft fleet left, Zhu Binhou immediately ordered the preparation of the optical landing assist system, open the fire hydrant, clear all items on the aircraft carrier deck, and prepare for a difficult night landing¡ª¡ª

    At this time, Taranto was still immersed in the weekend vacation.

    But the strict light control made the romantic Taranto residents resentful. They preferred to stroll on the beach and hang out in bars and night markets.  Instead of hiding at home in the dark.  But war is never something ordinary people can control. Even if they are reluctant, they can only count the neatly docked ships in the harbor over and over again until sleepiness overtakes them.

    The commander of Taranto Base, Lieutenant General Riccardi, is like a miser, habitually inspecting his territory before going to sleep.  The Port of Taranto is located in the southwest of the Salentina Peninsula, deep in the northern cantilever of the Bay of Taranto.  The inner harbor is composed of two inner lakes in the shape of a horizontal figure of eight. The small island at the entrance perfectly shields the harbor. Only the two narrow waterways on the left and right are navigable.  High-quality updates are in a unique environment that is easy to defend and difficult to attack. It was once the pride of the Italian Navy.  But with the rapid rise of aircraft.  This gives the navy the means to climb over obstacles from the sky and strike inland.  Representative of this was the Chinese navy's air raids on Sasebo and Naha ports at the end of August.

    However, Lieutenant General Riccardi believed that only a madman would let a plane come to his Taranto.  Because there are more than 90 balloons suspended in mid-air, 21 air defense positions on the coastline and in the city, a total of 300 anti-aircraft guns, and ten large listening devices.  Telephones are connected to all positions, and lightning protection nets are even deployed underwater. It is no exaggeration to describe it as impregnable.  So he was very dismissive of Roma's concerns and thought of putting Taranto together with Sasebo, the Oriental dwarf.  It was an insult to him¡­.

    Of course, Lieutenant General Riccardi is not completely worried, at least he doesn¡¯t have a plane now.  The stubborn G?ring strongly denied the Zeppelin aircraft carrier plan and cursed Raeder as a waste of taxpayers' money.  Had Hakan and others not participated in the construction of the Chinese Navy.  And if there is sufficient research on the aircraft carriers of China, the United States and Japan, perhaps the Zeppelin Project will die.  Even so, the German Navy does not have its own aircraft so far, and its carrier-based aircraft are all modified from the Air Force's BF109 and JU87.  But compared to Mussonelli.  G?ring was not the most stubborn. The former simply did not even look at the aircraft carrier plan, and even believed that the Italian Navy did not need aircraft.  Because Italy is an unsinkable aircraft carrier, all it takes to fight a war is the coordination of sea and air.

    The problem is that the Air Force directly refused to accept the deployment of the Navy!  And until now, they are still unable to determine Cunningham's location or whether the Chinese fleet has entered the Mediterranean.  There are no planes and no reconnaissance force of his own, so Riccardi can only play the game of "counting warships".

    The deepest Piers 1 and 2 are occupied by four battleships: Veneto, Littorio, Cavour and Caesar.  Outside are the heavy cruisers Zara, Fiume, Borgano and Griach, as well as the light cruiser Creoni, the light cruiser Barbiano and the destroyers.  There is also a submarine dock on the small island at the entrance of the waterway a total of twenty-three surface warships, twelve submarines, four military auxiliary ships and two large oil tankers, all separated by mine protection nets.  closely together.

    Because of the announcement of the curfew, most of the sailors, except for those on air defense duty, had no choice but to give up their weekend vacations and hide in the cabins to sleep.At 8:30, the piercing air defense siren sounded, and Riccardi quickly ran back to his headquarters: "Who ordered the blast?"

    "General, listening station No. 4 reported that propeller noise was heard!" The officer in charge of air defense command immediately pointed out the location of listening station No. 4.  Italy also has no radar, so listening for aircraft noise is the only early warning method at night.  Riccardi's expression changed. Could it be that the enemy really came for a sneak attack?  So immediately order all lights to be turned off!  In an instant, the entire Taranto was plunged into darkness, residents hurried into air raid shelters, sailors rushed to their fighting positions, and ships in the harbor raised their anchor chains in preparation for evacuation.  A string of tracer shells were also fired from the anti-aircraft position on the east side of the harbor. Tracer lines spread across the sky, making the air solidify.  But the alarm was quickly lifted, and it was later discovered that the noise was caused by an Air Force liaison plane arriving from Sicily.

    "These damn bastards, they should have told me the flight plan first!" Riccardi pounded the table angrily.  Amidst the curses, Taranto slowly returned to silence.  But before everyone could fall asleep, at ten o'clock in the evening, the phone rang and woke up Riccardi again.  "It's Listening Station No. 6." The officer swiped his finger to the listening station located northwest of the harbor, facing the inland.

    Northwest?  After what happened just now, Riccardi hesitated.  The enemy should come from the sea to the south.  Why is it inland?  "General, do you want to sound the alarm?" the officer urged.

    ¡°Sound the siren.¡± After Riccardi hesitated for three minutes, the piercing air defense siren came.  It was this hesitation that delayed Taranto's anti-aircraft fire.  When the anti-aircraft artillery soldier got up from the bed again and used a crowbar to break open the tightly sealed ammunition box, the first attack wave had already reached the sky above Taranto.  "Major, can you really tell the Veneto-class battleships apart?" They were led by Major Tan Zhen, who was famous for his low-altitude sneak attacks on Ahvaz.  Seeing the moonlight reflected on the sea, he immediately asked the British commander Williamson who was sitting in the back seat of the dive bomber.

    "Of course, I remember every part of it. Even at night." Flying over all the way, the two of them had already chatted very well: "ButTan, your mission is to divert the anti-aircraft artillery." According to the plan  , dive and fighter planes would not attack the harbor because anti-aircraft balloons were very dangerous to dive planes.

    "Of course, I know." Tan Zhen agreed, but his eyes still kept glancing towards the harbor.

    "Two British Yann carrier-based fighter jets first dropped illumination bombs at high altitude. The dazzling light not only illuminated the harbor as if it was daytime, but also attracted Italian artillery fire.  See the attack signal.  Because they had to form a formation with the Swordfish torpedo planes, the Ospreys, who had to doze slowly, suddenly looked like a pack of wolves seeing their prey. They quickly shook off the Swordfish and accelerated towards the dock.

    "Major. They violated the regulations! The speed was too fast!" Williamson complained repeatedly when he saw this.  In his opinion, the swordfish who is familiar with the terrain should be allowed to take the first shot.  But he also had to admit that these Chinese counterparts flew extremely perfectly.  It can actually operate a torpedo machine carrying 1,100 kilograms of torpedoes.  Dancing among the steel cables of the balloon, rushing through the dense lines of fire intertwined with tracer bullets, like an elf.

    The wonderful and spectacular feeling of war has not lasted long.  Williamson, who was in the back seat, danced excitedly: "It's hit! We've hit it!" Looking at his fingers, the first battleship hit was suddenly stopped in the middle. It was hailed as the best in Europe.  Heavy cruiser Zara.

    For this mission, all Yuqi-Jige torpedoes have been replaced with magnetic fuzes, which can avoid the burlap mine protection net.  The torpedo dropped at a height of twenty meters brought up a rolling white wave and hit accurately between the No. 1 and No. 2 turrets of the heavy cruiser Zara.  170 kilograms of Octokin explosives can't even stop a battleship, let alone a treaty heavy cruiser.  In the tall and terrifying water column, the 11,500-ton ship body shook violently, the glass of the portholes burst, internal wires burst into flames, and the sailors fell and staggered.

    Before the Zara could figure out the damage, two more torpedoes rushed towards her.

    The six light and heavy cruisers that were closely arranged became live targets for torpedoes. The water column in the berth soared into the sky and flames were everywhere.  "I saw it, it was Veneto." When a torpedo hit the battleship Cavour, Williamson saw the Veneto and Lee hiding in the shadows, feared by Cunningham, weighing anchor.  Battleship Torrio.  "Major, are you wearing your seat belt?"

    "What did you say?" Williamson was directing the Swordfish behind to attack two Veneto-class battleships and could not hear the words clearly.  Tan Zhen had a wicked smile on his face, looked at the two balloons floating in the wind, and pushed the operating lever forward: "I hope you have fastened your seat belt!"

    The War Eagle, flying level, suddenly turned and dived. Amidst the roar of the exploding engine, the unprepared Williamson crashed into the console in front of him.  "Asshole! You bastard God! Are you crazy? Be careful!" The sharply increasing pressure pressed Williamson into the seat, unable to move, and he could only curse Tan Zhen,  But before he could finish his scolding, he saw two huge air defense balloons greeting him.Face to face.

    "Hurry up!" Tan Zhen shouted loudly and pulled the trigger. Two 12.7mm machine guns used a string of tracer incendiary bombs to ignite the hydrogen-filled balloon.  Before the fireball could expand, the Yasha dive bomber he piloted swung sharply and quickly passed through the two flames.  The distance was so close that Williamson could even touch the flames, and he was so frightened that he clung to the fixed handrails on both sides.

    After passing through the fireball, the graceful and huge figure of the Veneto was immediately put into the bullseye of the reflex sight.  "Boom!" A 500-kilogram armor-piercing bomb was dropped from a height of 300 meters. The bomb penetrated the four decks from the left side of the bridge and exploded in the electromechanical compartment!  The explosion engulfed the entire bridge, black and red air waves rose into the sky, flames rolled back and forth, and countless Italian sailors screamed and jumped into the sea to escape.  This scene made Williamson forget about his unhappiness and shouted excitedly: "Great job, Tan, so beautiful!"

    Tan Zhen¡¯s bomb pointed out the direction for the Swordfish behind, and the 12 Swordfish immediately fired all torpedoes at the two Veneto-class battleships.  Amidst the shrill sirens, the two Veneto-class battleships listed as the top targets were besieged by torpedo planes. High water columns and dull and heart-rending explosions shook the entire harbor!

    Veneto, Littorio, Cavour and Caesar, Zara, Fiume, Borgano, Gliacci, Creoni, Barbia  The No. 1the main force of the Italian navy lined up neatly became a target. The well-trained Chinese and British pilots could easily drop mines within 500 yards without any hindrance. The hit rate was so high that even they themselves  Everyone was stunned!

    After the tall and frightening water columns rose one after another and sprinkled down one after another, the warships tilted one after another. The fires ignited inside roared out from the open hatches, and the fire and smoke shot straight into the sky!

    Although all 21 Italian anti-aircraft artillery positions opened fire, the soldiers who had not been trained in night fighting could not even capture the target. As for the searchlights, they were killed early by Yasha dive bombers.  What made Riccardi even more angry was that after the first wave of enemy planes left, the anti-aircraft guns were still firing aimlessly towards the south, as if to see off the victorious enemies.

    After finally waiting for the officer to stabilize the frightened soldiers and stop shooting, the second wave of attack aircraft came out of the darkness in the northeast.

    "Oh, God!"

    Hundreds of anti-aircraft guns firing at full speed sprayed shells into the sky at a rate of thousands of rounds per minute. The dense trajectories and tracers formed an unimaginable maroon "skynet".  In this "Skynet" where it is almost impossible to survive, war eagles are like phoenixes rising from the fire, spreading their wings lightly to launch continuous attacks on the military port.

    When in the third wave of attack aircraft, an Osprey pilot who really couldn't find the target aimed his torpedo at an oil tanker at the dock that was loaded with 400,000 gallons of gasoline and was preparing to go to Libya tomorrow morning, it was completely announced that Taranto was doomed.  .

    Thunder!  flame!  Water column!  The rolling mushroom clouds reached a height of thousands of meters, and then connected into larger sheet-shaped black and red clouds, covering the sky and the sun.  Falling sparks dance across the city, becoming more and more prosperous in the strong wind.  The leaked gasoline burned on the sea. The warships that were so majestic a few hours ago were now like rag dolls in the sea of ??fire, exploding, flooding, tilting, capsized, and sinking

    The apocalyptic scene left everyone in Taranto stunned.  As far as the eye could see, there were soaring flames and deafening explosions everywhere, and the whole city turned into a hornet's nest that was punctured and in chaos.

    In just one and a half hours, the main force of the Italian Navy, consisting of four battleships, four heavy cruisers, and two light cruisers, ceased to exist.

    Tonight, Taranto is bathed in a sea of ??fire!

    Tomorrow, the whole Apennines will cry!.

    (To be continued)
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