Bismarck

The things in the room belonged to the owner yesterday.

Even the water poured into the thermos in the morning is still hot.

We entered together with a smile, but left with one person missing

This,

This is the characteristic of flight accidents, sudden and tragic.

You were still here yesterday, and today you have already broken through the blue sky.

Rest in peace, hero.

Chapter 413: Retreat

The violent explosion of the bomb made the Warspite tremble all over. It just subconsciously lunged forward, covering Cunningham under its body, and then felt dizzy.

When she regained consciousness, Cunningham had emerged from beneath her, directing the damage control team to carry out repairs.

The bombs and suicide planes caused serious damage to the structure of the bridge. Even though it was one of the strongest parts of the entire battleship, and although it was not completely penetrated, only the top armor was damaged, it was in a semi-penetrated state, and the shock wave still inevitably transmitted in. Two high-yield bombs exploded in the surroundings, and the area swept was very terrifying. Some shrapnel also penetrated the glass and flew in. If Warspite had not pressed Cunningham under him, the place where he was standing would have been a huge shrapnel, and he would have been split in half.

The Warspite is an old ship from the World War I. At that time, no attention was paid to the armor on the upper part of the bridge. Since there were no shells to carry out a top-down attack on the bridge, it could not withstand the continuous attacks of two Stuka bombs.

Fortunately, the Stuka was not an armor-piercing bomb. If it had been completely penetrated, the entire bridge would have been destroyed.

But even so, the entire bridge was in a mess and the losses were heavy. Many crew members were hit by shrapnel or flying parts.

What was even more troublesome was that the fire caused by the aviation fuel leakage on the plane was spreading wildly outside. The entire bridge seemed to be in a fire curtain cave, wrapped in thick black smoke and Pengtu's flames.

Smoke poured in through the shattered windows, and there were coughs and cries of the wounded. The damage control team and the medical team rushed up and began the rescue.

War-weary was confused for a moment, then shook his head and began to inspect the situation immediately.

Very good, both bombs were aimed at the bridge. Except for the serious damage to the bridge, there was no problem with the structure of the hull, and other mechanisms were also operating normally. However, some equipment could no longer be used after being severely shaken.

"Are you OK!"

War-weary shook his head.

"Let's go out first."

As the bridge was already filled with thick smoke and they could no longer stay there, Cunningham quickly helped Warspite out and moved him to the lounge at the rear.

"The plane was not shot down." War-weary said the first thing he said when he walked into the lounge at the back.

It was so abominable that she gritted her teeth in hatred. The damn Stuka flew towards the bow of the ship in a very cunning way, and actually flew away from the bow of her ship at high speed, close to the water surface!

This angle made it almost impossible for her anti-aircraft weapons to hit her, and she was also dizzy from the explosion, so he actually escaped.

The design of British battleships at this time basically did not consider firing towards the bow. The Dreyer fire control instrument did not have the function of measuring the frontal range change rate, and the upturned bow, the support rods and the dense cables also hindered the main guns from firing forward, not to mention the anti-aircraft guns on both sides of the ship.

"Forget it, just run away." Cunningham smiled bitterly, "It's more important to put out the fire now."

"Ma'am, are you really okay?" he asked carefully.

Warspite glared at him, "If anything happens to me, you guys on the bridge won't survive alone."

"How is it, are you okay?" She then asked with a sigh of relief.

"Fortunately, we were almost killed in two battles." Cunningham felt a pang of fear when he thought of the shrapnel stuck where he was originally. If it weren't for his wife's quick reaction, he would have almost been killed.

"Thank you, ma'am, for saving me." After changing his mind, he smiled again and wanted to check where his wife was injured.

War-weary looked at him and spat at him for being so shameless.

"I told you not to call me Madam on the ship."

"Oh, I was wrong, I was wrong."

After staying in the lounge for a while, Cunningham took her to the spare command room. Judging from the appearance of the bridge, she probably wouldn't be able to stay there any longer before returning to the port.

The gunfire never stopped, and even when Warspite was hit, all the warships kept firing.

War-weary's steps suddenly stopped.

Then there was a huge explosion outside.

"What happened? Who was shot?" Cunningham was also stunned and asked.

We have walked into the inner corridor deep inside the ship. Although there is a small porthole, the thick hull blocks most of the view. We can't see what is happening outside through the porthole. We can only vaguely see that there seems to be something like a raging flame reflecting in a certain direction on the sea.

Seeing Cunningham's impatience, War-weary began to use his own perception to observe the battlefield and broadcast it live to Cunningham...

"Belle, what's going on out there?" Cunningham remembered not to say anything fancy this time.

"Damn it, it's the Glorious, the Glorious has been hit!" She screamed, "Those two German planes flew away from behind the Glorious, it's hard to hit them..."

Before he could finish the sentence.

Warspite, who had just scanned the battlefield, suddenly opened his eyes wide again! "...Wait! The Formidable! The Formidable is avoiding the torpedo! There is another torpedo on her side!!..."

“What?!” Cunningham was also shocked: “Glorious and Awesome…?”

Before he finished speaking, in War-weary's perception, a tall column of water rose from the bow of the aircraft carrier USS Formidable in the distance, and the huge body of more than 20,000 tons trembled...

"Commander, I was struck by lightning..."

While reporting, Warspite gnashed his teeth and searched for the German planes that had not yet left the battlefield to vent his anger, including the torpedo plane that had launched a torpedo attack on the Formidable. It was about to leave, but it turned into a violent explosion in front of the furious 381 main gun salvo of the Warspite!

No body left!!

However, this could not change the fact that two aircraft carriers and an anti-aircraft cruiser were severely damaged... Even War-weary himself, the fire on the bridge was still burning...

Although the losses of Zeppelin's assault fleet were equally heavy...

In the distance, the Warspite seemed to sense another fleet that was even larger than the previous two fleets combined, gathering in the sky and flying towards them...

"Commander! We spotted a larger fleet 100 miles away! Conservative estimates put it at over 150 aircraft!"

"…Report the battle situation to Freyberg, we will retreat first!" Cunningham, who received the enemy situation report provided by War-weariness, gritted his teeth and issued the order to retreat...

----

Off the coast of Chania, two huge warships were shelling the Allied positions on the shore.

Although there are ravines and gullies between the mountains south of the Chania coastal plain, and the vineyards planted by the locals on the hillsides also provide a sufficiently concealed position for the defenders. But in the face of the surveillance of the ship girl, all this has lost its meaning...

ps: I forgot to mention...the pilot of the Swordfish...Bismarck fainted on the ground crying.

Chapter 414: Both sides suffer

Lütjens also knew that there was a ship girl on Warspite, so he was prepared to lose a certain amount of aircraft when Zeppelin led the team out this time. However, when he received the loss report reported by Bismarck, he was still shocked.

"What did you say?!"

He stared at the report paper in his hand in amazement. The numbers on it made him look shocked. It was really rare to see such an expression on the face of the calm commander.

On the bridge of the Bismarck, he shouted loudly, which was rare.

"Are you sure? The Zeppelin suffered such heavy losses?!"

The results of the battle report were acceptable, but the losses were totally unacceptable to him.

"Yes! The Zeppelin just sent a report! This attack severely damaged two enemy aircraft carriers and a cruiser, and hit the Warspite with two bombs... However, only eight of the 87 fighters from the two squadrons returned, and only seven of the 2 JUCs from the three squadrons returned... The Zeppelin reported that although the enemy aircraft carriers were severely damaged, they were still able to sail, and the surface fleet still maintained its combat effectiveness..."

Faced with Lütjens's loss of composure, Bismarck gritted his teeth and continued to repeat the battle report.

In this state of war, the enemy's aircraft carrier was only hit by bombs and torpedoes. Not to mention being sunk, it did not even lose its ability to move. This level of damage can basically be repaired in a few days, and will not have much impact on its combat effectiveness.

Bismarck did not care about the loss of the heavy cruiser because it had no impact on the battle situation at all. These two aircraft carriers were the important combat power.

"Does their surface fleet still have combat effectiveness..." After looking at the nautical chart, Lütjens took a few deep breaths unwillingly and said a little tiredly.

Of course, he knew what it meant to not lose the ability to sail, and he was unwilling to pay such a high price while the British suffered little loss. Although the strength of both sides had been increasing and decreasing under the attack of the Atlantic Fleet, the foundation of the British Empire was still there, and the aid from the Americans was also increasing, but they could not get much subsidies from the rear, so the British could afford the losses, but they could not.

Lütjens couldn't imagine what would happen to the entire German Navy if any of these three battleships were lost.

This is the tragedy of one country challenging the whole of Europe.

He clenched his fists and looked out the window in the direction of Crete - just a few minutes ago, a large black fleet consisting of hundreds of planes took off from the Peloponnese Peninsula and flew over the fleet. Those planes had received orders to participate in the bombing of the British fleet.

The formation was huge, and it was very imposing when it flew over his fleet. However, Lütjens knew after a little calculation that it would take at least an hour for this fleet to engage the British fleet! Even if the British fleet stood there and did not run, this distance was almost the range limit of the airport on the Peloponnese Peninsula! Although with this force, it is certain that they can indeed cause considerable damage to the British fleet, and it is not impossible to even take away an aircraft carrier!

But...if Warspite had a ship girl...

That's hard to say.

"Ask Zeppelin how many of our planes were shot down by Warspite this time?" Lütjens asked.

Soon, Bismarck connected in his mind the Zeppelin who was collecting the remaining aircraft and returning home...

In fact, there is no need to ask. Judging from Bismarck's previous record of destroying ships, the air defense capability of a warship is amazing and cannot be matched by any other warship. But Lütjens still wanted to ask, what if the combat level of the Warspite is not strong? After all, she is a very old ship.

The war-weary old woman, he knew this title.

"At least five fighters and eight dive bombers were shot down by War-weary!" Zeppelin answered quickly. She said it with gritted teeth. The cold voice and deep hatred made Bismarck stunned, as if he had turned evil.

In this attack, Zeppelin's pride in her fleet was shattered by the fierce anti-aircraft fire. In this battle, many familiar faces she knew would never come back. Thinking of those once lively faces sleeping forever between the blue sky and the blue sea, the scenes of them fighting and training together emerged. Although she often taught them a lesson...but...

She felt very uncomfortable. It was the second time she felt heartache. The first time was the time in Flensburg.

Perhaps, it was her comrades who slowly taught her about other people's emotions.

She needs revenge.

"Also, if it weren't for that damned Warspite that disrupted our fighter vanguard and allowed the SBDs to rush over, there would be no way that the First Dive Bomber Squadron would have only one plane left now..."

A squadron only has one fighter left...

His voice began to tremble, but there was no sob, no tears.

Zeppelin had always been a strong soldier, and Bismarck had always known this.

After hearing what Zeppelin said, Lütjens and Bismarck were silent...

Almost two-thirds of the losses in this air raid were caused by War-weariness!

The Air Force did have anti-ship training, but the Fourth Air Force was mainly responsible for ground attack missions before, so the anti-ship training was completely rushed! The 10th Air Force, which had rich anti-ship experience, could only send out a small part of its troops this time. The main force also had to monitor the British squadron at the Malta base and cover the Italian transport ships!

The Fourth Air Force may look powerful, but its range is limited! It can bully other ships, but if it really encounters Warspite, it is not sure what it can do...

Lütjens frowned, and the hope he had for the Air Force gradually dissipated.

而且…看了一眼自己的旗舰…额定输出153000马力30.8节，强压通风最大输出166000马力/31.5节的理论性能，但却能跑出36节以上（至少需要25万马力）的高航速…虽然伊丽莎白女王级战列舰公开宣称的理论性能只有85000马力/24节（现代化改装后），但是谁又能保证，这个“该死的老太婆”就一定老的已经跑不动了……呢？

After all, the existence of KanColle makes the impossible possible.

At this moment, the paratrooper's liaison officer ran over and reported a piece of news that shocked Lütjens even more.

He stood at attention and saluted crisply, then said loudly: "Report! The British in Sula Bay have escaped!"

The sudden report brought Lütjens back from thinking about the opponent's strength.

"What? The British ran away?! Then who are we hitting with our artillery fire?"

He was confused by this report. The British had escaped, so who would the fire from their two battleships fall on?

"Yes! They ran away an hour ago! According to intelligence, all those on the battlefield now are Greeks!"

"Damn it! How can these British people who claim to be gentlemen be so skilled in selling out their teammates..." Lütjens slammed his fist hard on the chart table with a bang. The people around turned around and looked at their commander to see why he suddenly got so angry.

The bombardment continued, but the resistance encountered was obviously much smaller. Yes, after all, the British were gone, so how strong could the remaining Greeks be?

However, seeing the sea chart on the table, Lütjens seemed to suddenly remember something and continued to ask the airborne liaison officer: "Where are they running to, do you know?"

"It seems that they split into two groups! One group went south and headed towards the Samaria Grand Canyon! The other group retreated along the coastal highway towards Rethymnon..." The liaison officer was quite skilled in his job and reported the British army's movements without hesitation.

"Coastal road? Running along that dirt road in front of our battleship... there must be something wrong!" Lütjens thought for a moment and realized something was wrong. Lütjens raised his head and looked at the liaison officer: "Where is the Samaria Gorge? Mark it out for me!"

Soon, the location of the Samaria Gorge was marked, and an Army military map and several Air Force aerial photos were taken out by the liaison officer and placed on the chart table.

Bismarck, the captain, Hyde, and a group of people gathered around and looked at the information. After just one glance, a few words suddenly popped up in everyone's mind:

They're running! Running from the sea!

"Notify Admiral Roll immediately! Also order Bonte to send off a few more reconnaissance planes for land reconnaissance! Focus on investigating the mountain roads that run through the mountains of Crete from north to south! Be quick! Report their movements to me in real time without any error!"

Lütjens' shout echoed in the command room of the Bismarck battleship...

-------

"Huh, I finally escaped..."

The dark mass of planes overhead gradually went away, but the smoke in the sky had not yet dissipated. There were fireworks from anti-aircraft guns as well as columns of smoke from planes being hit. Of course, the sea was calm, and the waves were beating against the shore as if nothing had happened. Everything that should have sunk was embraced by its broad mind.