Munitions Empire

If dive bombing a destroyer or cruiser during World War II, the hit rate was actually not as high as one might imagine.

Aircraft attacking ships in the WWII era was not an easy task, facing the dense anti-aircraft fire on the warships, it was generally difficult for aircraft to obtain a very good attack window.

The anti-aircraft guns on warships were not meant to shoot down aircraft but to force them to attack from less than ideal distances or angles, creating opportunities for the warships to evade torpedoes or bombs.

But without such dense and continuous anti-aircraft firepower, warships stood little chance against aircraft.

As long as there was an angle not covered by the barrage, aircraft could use it to make a close approach, creating damage and consequently causing the warship to lose more anti-aircraft gun positions, trapping the warship in a vicious cycle.

Additionally, in the WWII era, whether it was a battleship or cruisers and destroyers, they all had fairly high speeds.

Upon encountering enemy aircraft, they would quickly perform S-maneuvers to dodge potential torpedoes and bombs.

These warships' speeds were at least 25 knots and some even reached a high speed of up to 35 knots—hitting a warship moving in such a frantic manner actually required a lot of experience and luck.
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Unfortunately, the Shireck fleet in front of them didn't have the conditions to resist: they had no dedicated anti-air weapons; not to mention an anti-air barrage, they didn't even have anti-aircraft guns.

Besides, the general cruising speed of these warships, after conversion, was only in the teens, relying on such "damaged speed" to dodge bomb attacks was downright delusional.

The first aerial bomb pierced the surface of the sea and then exploded, raising a huge splash. The column of water shot up even higher than the Stuka dive bomber that had just pulled up.

The destructive power of a 500-kilogram aerial bomb was quite astonishing; even if it didn't hit the warship directly, it still caused the entire ship to sway.

The soldiers on the deck of Shireck were scared pale, grasping whatever was within reach to prevent being thrown into the sea.

Some of the unlucky ones even dropped their rifles in order to stay upright, having never seen such a tall column of water in their lifetimes!

Before the splashes had a chance to fall, another new aerial bomb plunged down, directly smashing the thin deck of the warship.

Although the horizontal armor of these warships was a few tens of millimeters thick to make them a bit sturdier, to say this armor was of much use was a joke.

Their design was primarily to withstand naval guns with calibers ranging from dozens of millimeters to about a hundred millimeters at long distances.

But what pierced through this layer of armor was a 500-kilogram aerial bomb! Its speed and weight were something that the thin layer of armor could not withstand.

The bomb instantly pierced through the deck, shattered the wood planking, and smashed the steel plates, leaving twisted edges around the breach.

Then it continued downward, smashing through the second layer of the deck, followed by the third layer... and finally, it came to a halt near the bottom of the ship, in the engine room by the continuously rotating propeller shaft.

The delay fuse finally stopped turning, detonating the charge within the aerial bomb, and in an instant, the expanding flames ravaged through the compartments, bulging out all nearby partitions in an instant.

The incredibly sturdy driveshaft broke in the explosion, flames engulfed the engine room, instantly killing all inside at their posts.

Fragments sharper than flying swords sliced through everything in their path, puncturing steel walls, personnel, and equipment, as well as the ammunition stored in the armory.

The propellant charges of the shells were ignited by these scorching fragments, and they exploded in turn. The sympathetic detonation of the ammunition was tens to hundreds of times more powerful than the aerial bomb, and the even more unrestrained shockwaves spread through the entire warship in an instant.

Because of the internal explosion, the hull of the warship swelled in an instant, with the aft deck even being lifted high by the blast.

The bridge of Shireck's warship collapsed due to the blast, and the whole structure disintegrated during the explosion.

It broke in half almost instantly with the influx of seawater, with half the soldiers on the deck killed by the blast and falling onto it, and the other half, before they could get up, realized the ship beneath their feet was tilting rapidly.

In about a minute, the warship had completely lost its ability to move amidst billowing smoke.

Its stern had already sunk below the sea level, while its bow stubbornly floated above the water. However, due to the drag of its heavy body, the remaining section of the bow began to lift, revealing the red-painted underside.

"..." Staring wide-eyed at the warship sunk not far away, Shireck's commander could hardly believe his eyes.

If it were a proper naval battle, the warship that just sank could have held out for much longer, right? But now, two planes had dived down, and in just tens of seconds, they'd sunk it!

"Damn it…" The Gobur Kingdom's Navy Commander-in-Chief was also scared by the scene in front of him; he had never seen such naval warfare.

Even the most intensely brutal sea battles of the past wouldn't see such a scene: the recent explosion and the previous water columns were like a nightmare for a veteran like him.

The Gobur Kingdom's Navy Commander-in-Chief had never fought such a battle; he had no experience in anti-air defense. He didn't know how to deal with threats from the air, so he couldn't issue any combat orders.

Standardized S-type anti-air maneuvers and standard anti-aircraft formations hadn't become widespread. So when the Gobur Kingdom's Navy Commander-in-Chief wanted to do something, he found he couldn't do anything.

Another Stuka Dive Bomber swooped down from the sky, diving toward the deck of an outer fleet warship. After several attempts, Great Tang's pilots had also found some patterns.

Targets in the core area of the fleet would receive covering fire from the warships on both sides. Although this cover was almost ineffective, it still caused some trouble, increasing the risk of attack.

Therefore, attacking warships on the outer edge of the fleet was relatively easier and more cost-effective. Clearly, these warships could only rely on their own firepower for anti-air defense.

Like peeling an onion, attacking the warships on the outermost layer had a high chance of success, and it could weaken the fleet's defenses.

"Boom!" Due to a lack of experience, the bomb dropped by the dive-bombing Stuka Dive Bomber missed the target. Honestly, hitting a moving target was still difficult.

But more planes began to dive, with the pilots in the shaking cockpits trying to align their sights as closely as possible to the warships sailing below.

Occasionally, a bullet would fly head-on, but it couldn't cause any damage. At the lowest point near the warship, the pilots pressed the bomb release button, continuing to drop bombs near these warships.

Some bombs fell into the water, causing columns of water. Others hit the warships directly, replicating the previous explosions.

For these technologically unadvanced warships, the power of a 500-kilogram aerial bomb was terrifying.

Basically, as long as there was a direct hit, whether the bomb struck the ammunition depot or the boiler area, it would cause catastrophic damage.

Great Tang Group had never sold advanced warships, especially battleships with innovative armor designs. Shireck was completely groping in the dark when it came to warship design, following a hapless, surface-gloss approach.

This crude imitation and replication, supported by the power systems and artillery sold by the Tang Group, was barely usable. But it was revealed to be sorely lacking at the critical moment.

Inexperienced armor design, unscientific compartment designs, sacrificing critical area armor for speed, and an even non-existent firefighting and emergency repair system...

All of these made today's unusual naval battle gruesome. Tang Army's planes dived one after another to drop bombs, keeping a wide distance between them to avoid interference.

And on the sea surface, Shireck's ambush fleet was left with nothing but despair. In the blink of an eye, three of their warships had been sunk, and they only had 45 warships in total.

"Should we let the fleet scatter?" Shireck's commander was seriously contemplating a breakup, everyone for themselves.

"If we scatter, without mutual cover, won't we die even faster?" The Gobur Kingdom's Navy Commander-in-Chief glanced at him and dismissed the suggestion.

Then, the Gobur officer proposed his own idea, "We only have one choice now, surrender! Raise the white flag and pray they treat prisoners of war with courtesy."

"Impossible! Absolutely not!" Shireck's commander glared at the Gobur Kingdom's Navy Commander-in-Chief with anger in his tone, "We must never surrender! Even if these warships sink, we can't hand them over to the enemy!"

A warship, no matter how inferior, is still a warship! Handing these warships over to the Great Tang Kingdom would increase the kingdom's naval fleet strength even more.

Therefore, for Shireck's commander, the complete annihilation of the warships here was more acceptable than surrendering.

"Then our only choice is to accelerate away from here." The Gobur Kingdom's Navy Commander-in-Chief knew the other party would never agree, so he could only smile bitterly and speak up.

He had no choice but to follow Shireck's commands; his country was already shackled to Shireck's chariot, his family, his everything no longer belonged to him, "Keep holding on, let's see whether we all die first or their planes run out of ammunition."