I Became a Captain of the British Empire

first encounter

Ever since I heard the explosion, I had been looking at Rinaun. Judging from the torpedo trails in the distance, it seemed that an enemy submarine had fired a shot, but fortunately no more water columns were visible. Rinaun was approaching this way with a tilted hull. The searchlights on the bridge continued to flash.

“Correspondent! Interpret!”

“yep! A light signal from Renown! Squadron flagship, relocated to Repulse!”

Flagship? So, is Rinaun no longer able to carry out the operation?

It was definitely not normal.

Judging by the slow approach of the hull, which tilted insecurely, it seems that the machine room has been damaged. As a battlecruiser whose life is speed, it is a fatal blow. The battle would be impossible like that.

“Has the flagship contacted you?”

“doesn’t exist.”

It seems that this is the only place I was hit by a submarine.

Sweeping my chest in relief, I corrected my hair. But the anxiety still lingered.

“Keep an eye out for more periscopes, and send a signal to Tiger. This ship has been handed over command.”

“yes!”

The signal went up, and the searchlights flashed. Watching the busily moving sailors, he swallowed a sigh. Now, it is I who is responsible for their lives.

Rather, it may be fortunate. ‘Cause I’m in command Now I can move them according to my plan.

I walked out to the watchtower on the side and saluted Ri-a-woon passing by the port side. It seemed that Talbert could be seen vaguely among the sailors standing on the lookout deck and saluting. He looked up and clenched his fists.

I save this unit.

“Squadron, change course to 090. Track the enemy aircraft carrier.”

“yes? However, the flagship ordered the main unit to return… .”

“Where is the flagship of the squadron, commander?”

The officer, who took a deep breath and blinked for a moment, answered.

“… This is the ship I saw.”

“good. communications officer. Raise the signal.”

“yes!”

Mistakes like this are not tolerated. As long as I am in charge of the unit, I have no intention of being taken lightly.

First, we checked the destroyers escorting the area. One destroyer squadron was all in charge of escorting because they rushed forward, but there were still nine ships. Two of them turned to escort Rinaun, and one was happily beating the enemy submarine.

A plume of water from an extended depth charge rose up, but it seems that the floating object has not been confirmed. Anyway, while he holds the submarine, we have to leave this area quickly.

“Tell the destroyers. Deploy a circular formation, and make sure not to evade until instructed by this ship. The distance is maintained at 1.5 km.”

“yep.”

“Captain? What do you mean?”

While the communication officer went to upload the notes, the operation officer blinked as if surprised and approached.

“Forbidding evasive maneuvers? Then how do you avoid air raids?”

“It is not avoiding. It’s defeating it.”

An air raid never ends with one shot. If the opponent is a skilled aircraft carrier operator, they will surely be preparing for the second and third air strikes. To keep the main unit from being attacked like this, we need to drive him out. It is only natural that an air raid would strike at least once along the way.

“If a torpedo is flying, you can see it then and avoid it. Do you think I’m not even that good?”

“Oh, no, that’s not it, but… . The distance between the traps is too close though.”

“You don’t trust our captains’ shipbuilding skills so much. Don’t worry.”

When I said that, the officer looked at me with his mouth wide open and a face that was lost for words.

How could such a reckless commander exist? But you’ll find out. The fact that concentration is better than dispersion.

“Do you have any more questions?”

“… doesn’t exist.”

“Then return to your seat, Major.”

He waved his hand and said. His complexion was dark, but there was no time to convince him.

It only shows direct results.

After how much time had passed, the long-awaited alarm sounded as black dots began to appear on the horizon.

“Watch starboard! Defense 050! Distance 20,000! An unidentified aircraft is constantly approaching this ship!”

Did you finally come? Little by little, countless planes revealed their outlines like pebbles scattered in the sky. Looking closely through the binoculars, the double leaves shimmered in the sunlight.

“Squadron, prepare for anti-air combat!”

Loud sirens awoke the ship. The gunners moved into their positions and anti-aircraft guns and machine guns were ready to fire.

“The gunnery field! Can you shoot?”

“Currently counting!”

“When can I start shooting?”

“You can shoot from a distance of 10,000!”

“good.”

It’s definitely a better condition than before. The number of enemies has increased, but our preparations are full. Estimated number of units about 30 units. But the wind is getting stronger. You won’t be able to attack for long.

“How long will it take for the right flag to come?”

“At the same speed as before, it will probably take eight or ten minutes.”

It was the chief’s reply.

Anyway, there is a lot of time. Even carrying a heavy torpedo on a slow biplane, there’s no way it’ll come out fast. At 150 km/h, it is slower than the North Korean An-2 and Andulgi. Slower than the guy who tried to intercept with rifle fire in the military…

I thought that Yongke was also going to attack.

I thought about getting some tea to ease the tension of the soldiers, but unfortunately the atmosphere around them was distorted by tension.

Apart from the air raid, it seems that the impact of the submarine was great.

“Tell them to look closely to see if there are any submarines around. I don’t want to get hurt twice.”

As soon as I gave the order, a report came in from the destroyer as if I had been waiting.

Fortunately, the periscope is invisible.

Of course, I can’t be sure because it’s cruising so fast. The sonar is unusable and the periscope is all I can see. We just have to hope that the submarine couldn’t keep up with our speed.

“Medium engine speed, fleet speed of 20 knots.”

“Institution medium speed!”

I hear reports from Jeonseong-gwan, but I can’t hear any voices from behind.

“Correspondent?”

“Ah, yep! Fleet speed 20 knots! Raise the signal!”

The telecommunications officer, who had regained consciousness, responded with a shrug of his shoulders as if surprised.

look at this guy The captain is talking while sitting aboard.

“Calm down, so-called. Now you’re in charge of the flagship’s communications.”

“sorry!”

The red-faced communications officer hurriedly saluted and ran to the signal deck.

Anyway, it wouldn’t be good if it continued like that.

I looked at her with worried eyes, but it wasn’t that I didn’t understand.

It wasn’t even a ship to take on the flagship mission in the first place. I have to act normally. But in the future, you’ll have to be careful. There is no time to be careless anymore.

boom- boom-

As I was looking at the mast with the beacon on the observation deck, I heard the sound of anti-aircraft guns. On the deck, the 4-inch guns were constantly blowing fire.

“starboard! The danmaku is thin! Reload quickly!”

That’s a line I’ve heard a lot. No, it must be because of the mood. In any case, the barrage was denser than I thought, perhaps thanks to the lucky hit during the first air raid. Looking through my binoculars, I could see the startled squadron dispersing to and fro.

“good! You’re doing great!”

As I clenched my fists in both hands and shouted, the atmosphere of the watching sailors also rose.

I see some guys swinging their fists in the same way, and some of them shout abusive words. The navigator shouted not to be rash, but it wasn’t that bad.

I mean, everyone is fighting.

“Red flag, disperse!”

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Perhaps because of the unexpectedly high hit rate, the fearless approaching guys split left and right. However, some of them approached as they were, raising their altitude.

Is it a dive bomber?

“Captain, the enemy aircraft… .”

“Leave the bombers. Avoid with my consolation. Focus on the torpedo bombers in the gunnery field.”

He immediately responded to the gunnery commander’s voice. It was a matter of course, nothing to judge.

“Yes, I understand!”

Ignoring the towering bombers, the anti-aircraft fire pursued only the torpedo bomber squadrons moving in two directions all the way.

It’s hard to stop bombers anyway. Not only is the altitude high, but the descent speed is also not easy. Besides, aircraft bombs cannot penetrate the thick deck of a battleship. At best, it does some damage to external structures. I’d rather dodge the torpedoes than take a few hits.

While the torpedo bombers formed an encirclement little by little, anti-aircraft gun bullets continued to pursue their targets. In the midst of artillery fire, the squadron that had been hit by fire fled, waving its aircraft, and soon one torpedo bomber crashed into the sea with flying debris. Cheers were heard everywhere.

“bandit! Falling in flames! No, it’s a shoot down!”

“good! Looking good!”

He shook his fist and shouted among the exclaiming sailors. It wasn’t bad to be among the sailors like this, rather than giving orders from the bridge.

It seems that the morale of the children is also going up. Of course, the chief’s expression is unusual.

After all, that’s exactly what I did in the military. The role of taking care of the children under the FM platoon leader and raising the mood. The difference is that now I control everything.

“Gentlemen! Give those damned flies a taste of the fire of the British Empire!”

An angry voice was heard and gunfire reverberated incessantly.

And that wasn’t all. The two destroyers camped on the left fired two more anti-aircraft guns, and in an instant, four batteries formed a barrage.

The shots are terribly few, but they aren’t very fast anyway. At least this one can’t form a single battery.

“Red plane going down in flames! oh! Another shot down!”

Like moths leaping into a candlelight, the torpedo bombers that covered the sky lowered their noses one by one and crashed into the sea. Seeing their allies fall, the surviving squadron dispersed as much as possible, aiming to disperse the fire network.

however,

Do-do-do-do-do-

The roar of cannon fire vibrated across the deck. When the distance was reduced to 1000 m, the cannon on the deck fired fire. The tracer beams that covered the sky made a beehive of slow-approaching biplanes one after another. Small and medium caliber anti-aircraft firearms formed a barrage, and there were even sailors firing machine guns or rifles. All available firearms were a threat to them.

However, if you come this close, you can’t help but be mindful of the lightning strike. You can see a destroyer that is slowly going ahead or behind the main ship. Is it time to dismantle the formation?

“Correspondent! Each trap action freedom!”

“Each trap action freedom! Raise the signal!”

The correspondent reported as if he had been waiting. It seems like you just accidentally came to your senses. Soon after, the destroyers sailing close to each other, as if they had seen the signal, evaded each other and fired their cannons. The barrage is disorganized, but the enemy squadron is also struggling to change its trajectory. Meanwhile, the aircraft caught in the crossfire fell while burning.

Why don’t you run away? As long as he was fully prepared, he couldn’t break through the fire with such a slow aircraft. No matter how many they are, they are just slow targets if the dispersion and pincer attack are not working properly.

Even so, the torpedo bombers approached, risking fire like moths jumping into candle flames.

The bomber unit didn’t produce any results, and there would be no reason to come now…

I don’t know. Maybe the stupid squadron commander is risking damage and pushing his men to limb.

When I thought about that, I started to get angry for some reason.

At the same time, Lieutenant Colonel Morius, who was in charge of the squadron leader of the torpedo bomber squadron, would have been angry if he had heard that. With no radio and anti-aircraft fire making it difficult to transmit signals, there was almost no way to retreat the formations that had already been ordered to attack. They only hoped that the squadron members themselves would escape the anti-aircraft fire. However, not a single member of his squadron, who had a lot of fighting spirit, thought of escaping the enemy.

They were brave, but the cost was devastating.

“Lieutenant Colonel! Ally… !”

Watching vividly the squadron’s last mate torn apart by a barrage of cannon fire from a destroyer, Lieutenant Robert said in a half-crying voice: Out of a total of four torpedo bomber formations, they were the only aircraft that survived.

The lieutenant colonel turned the control stick, trying to avert his eyes from his surroundings. A huge explosion occurred in front, less than 20 meters away. Fragments of 4-inch shells cut through the air, leaving ugly holes between the wings.

“Damn it!”

A great shock shook the aircraft, but he had no complaints. Others were doomed to be torn apart by cannon fire or drowned in the sea when shrapnel shattered their engines.

It was an unreasonable rush from the start, thought Lieutenant Colonel Morius. He had a bad feeling when four destroyers surrounded the battlecruisers. To hit starboard, you have to brave anti-aircraft fire from close-by destroyers, and passing over them gleefully firing anti-aircraft guns is like asking them to kill me.

Eventually you will have to turn around and infiltrate the destroyer’s bow or stern, but in that case you will expose the side and take time to maneuver. Either way, the damage is cumulative.

Unfortunately, the flight commander didn’t make the right decision, and the only countermeasure they could take was to find a place where the barrage was thin. Of course, nothing was going to go well.

“The bucket is a horn… I didn’t trust the 4th company guys!”

Among the remaining friendly planes, the lieutenant colonel murmured as he watched the squadron turning toward the bow to avoid anti-aircraft fire in the distance. In charge of the pincer attack, they were tasked with torpedoing from the port side, but they were too slow.

By the time we get into position, the attacking party on the starboard side will be half-naked, crippled by anti-aircraft fire. The lieutenant colonel did not wish for such an ending at all. Therefore, the stroller was raised to the maximum possible speed and the aircraft’s altitude was lowered.

The T4M torpedo bomber, which lowered the altitude to 50 m, passed between the anti-aircraft fire while sprinting at 150 km/h. Of course, the speed was like that of a slug, and in reality, many aircraft turned into fireballs and crashed.

But he was lucky. The anti-aircraft fire, which had been spewing fire, stopped moving for an instant. The lieutenant colonel soon understood the reason.

“It’s a bomber!”

Raising his head, what he saw was a bomb squadron flying at high altitude. The dive bomber, which rose like an angel, lowered gracefully like an acrobatic troupe near Repulse and fell at terrifying speed. Literally free fall. A belated barrage of cannons blocked their way, but it only missed terribly.

In the air, only 300 meters from the surface, the squadron revealed its back. Shortly thereafter, Repulse’s ship was engulfed in spray.

“Have you done it?”

Clenching his fists, the lieutenant colonel involuntarily opened his mouth.Make sure to read from noble mtl dot com

Please, I hope you get some teeth in that damn belly!

However, contrary to expectations, Repulse was advancing confidently behind the subsided spray.

“sh*t!”

Cursing the useless expectations, Lieutenant Colonel Morius turned around to avoid the returning barrage. Of course, even if I hadn’t said that, the result would have been the same.

It was impossible to penetrate the thick deck armor of a battleship with a 500-pound bomb from the beginning. In fact, one 500-pound bomb hit Repulse’s mid-deck, but the fuze misfired and only destroyed one ship. In the end, the bombs did nothing other than block the anti-aircraft gun’s view with a water column.

“Withdraw! Throw torpedoes and withdraw!”

With tears in his eyes, the lieutenant colonel shouted to the back seat.

“But aim!”

“I do not need! Throw!”

An angry anti-aircraft battery was still firing at me as I flew over the sea with its muzzle down. There was no time to aim the torpedoes. The torpedo bomber, which dropped its torpedo as if it had been thrown away, turned around and escaped the anti-aircraft fire.

It was the same with other gases. There were even rare torpedoes that coordinated and went like a staggered attack, but most of them just missed terribly.

There was not a single hit recorded by the torpedo squad that day.

By the time the red sunset sinks under the clouds.

Standing on the open-air bridge, Flyer Commander Marshall watched the Lexington Air Corps trudging back. They were wounded returnees with bullet marks and smoke visible everywhere.

The damage to the air group was greater than expected.

Aircraft damage: 8 non-returns, 7 large waves, 6 damaged. Of these, only three units can be put into battle immediately after repair. In one battle, 18 aircraft were lost.

But the squadron remained. No, that was enough. It lost less than a quarter of the 90 or so planes it mounted. However, the commander of the squadron, Colonel Ellen Logan, was not willing to show his fighting spirit.

“I… Admiral. It will gradually get dark.”

“I know, Colonel. It would be impossible to sortie like this.”

The admiral said with a light smile as if to reassure him. The two looked at the sky on the horizon. The sunset was already setting.

Night flying is a very risky gamble. And, nights in the North Sea will be very cold.

“The damage to the squadron is rather large. I am worried that morale will drop.”

The colonel, who said with a bitter face, stared at the torpedo bomber in dismay. The aircraft, which failed to control the speed, was rammed into the anti-collision net.

“I’ll be fine with the top. Don’t worry and take good care of your subordinates.”

Although the admiral said so, he himself could not erase the shadow from his face.

Composition was the problem rather than the number of damages. Most of the aircraft lost were torpedo bombers, which were originally the main force to strike enemy battleships in fleet battles, and now more than half have been lost.

Any more damage than this was unacceptable to the headquarters. Commodore Marshall recalled the commander of the Atlantic Fleet, who would be furious. But even he dug a hole through which to escape.

“Anyway, this is a great criminal record. Didn’t they unilaterally harass the battlecruisers?

The colonel showed a bitter smile at the admiral who shrugged as if joking.

It’s a story that the pilots will be offended to hear, but the admiral was satisfied with the fact that there was no damage to the aircraft carrier, which is the main body. This alone proves the advantage of over-the-horizon attacks.

The order to strike the battlecruiser squadron from the beginning was unreasonable. The admiral thought that if a rebuke came, the admiral would use it as a shield.

“shear! Return to the original!”

Glancing at the sun sinking on the horizon, the admiral ordered that. The graceful hull turned its bow to the west.