Empire Conquest

Chapter 465 - 461: Quit While You’re Ahead

Actually, that afternoon, Bai Zhizhan still had a chance to launch an attack.

After retrieving all the ship-borne aircraft, the "Peijing" could use its full deck to launch an attack, deploying about 40 aircraft, before 4 p.m., to bomb the two "Reputation" class battlecruisers of the Bulan Fleet. The Plane Group could have returned to the fleet before dark.

However, after much deliberation, Bai Zhizhan gave up on this opportunity.

According to the battle report submitted by the Special Mixed Fleet, there were concerns about submarine attacks.

Although there was enough reason to believe that the submarine spotted by the "Lu" class Destroyer was not actually a submarine and could be a wrong judgment due to the heavy storm, possibly mistaking the spray from a sperm whale for a periscope, it was true that enemy submarines were present in the Southwest Fan Flame Ocean, and the Special Mixed Fleet truly lacked adequate anti-submarine capabilities, leaving them vulnerable to submarine attacks.

Another issue was an accident that occurred during the retrieval of the ship-borne aircraft.

A "Xiaotian" Fighter, piloted by an injured aviator, bounced off the flight deck due to landing too fast, failed to catch the arrestor cable, and because the forward barricade was not securely fastened, it crashed through and destroyed several Fighters parked ahead.

Similar accidents were not uncommon in the past.

Let alone during battle, even in regular training, it was common for ship-borne aircraft to crash into barricades when they failed to catch the arrestor cables.

Usually, it would only mean wasting a bit of time.

This accident had incapacitated the flight deck of the "Peijing" for nearly two hours, and resulted in several "Xiaotian" Fighters having to land on the "Longjiang" instead.

Because the "Longjiang" had its hangar partitioned in the middle, the Fighters that landed at the rear could not be moved to the front, hence they could not take off.

Apart from this, the officers and soldiers on the "Peijing" were also exhausted.

If an attack were to be launched in the afternoon, the aviation maintenance crew had to continue their strenuous efforts, which could lead to even more severe mistakes.

Nevertheless, what truly made Bai Zhizhan decide to give up was his reluctance to risk the pilots’ lives.

In the morning battle, 86 aviators had either died or gone missing, and even before retreating, there was only just enough time to deploy the Seaplanes once in an emergency.

Although six Seaplanes had made every effort, they were ultimately only able to rescue about twenty aviators.

More correctly, they were the aircraft crew.

If another attack were to be launched in the afternoon, since the fleet had to return to port, it would be impossible to arrange for Seaplanes to rescue fallen pilots.

Having already destroyed three enemy carriers, was it necessary to risk it for two battlecruisers?

Speaking of which, more than twenty years ago, Bai Zhizhan had previously encountered those two battlecruisers on the battlefield.

At least for Bai Zhizhan, the two "Reputation" class held no allure. Even if he never encountered an opportunity to sink these two battlecruisers again, there would be no regret, as in the Fan Flame Ocean, these two outdated warships held little value.

Even if they posed some threat, leaving behind two Fast Battleships would be sufficient.

Do not forget, "North River" and "Nanjiang" had already entered the Fan Flame Ocean, near Lion Spring City, ready to penetrate deeper into the ocean at any time.

Strategically, as the Empire’s Navy took over Lion Spring City, they indeed needed to retain a few Main Battle Ships to maintain a Fleet presence in the Fan Flame Ocean.

Regardless, that afternoon, or more precisely, nearing evening, the Special Mixed Fleet broke off contact with the Newland Fleet and Bulan Fleet.

Before entering radio silence, Bai Zhizhan sent out a final telegram, claiming to have sunk three Fleet carriers during the naval battle.

However, the actual battle results were not so exaggerated and were far from it.

The "Fenjin" indeed took a hit, and was struck by four 500 kg Air bombs, but this Carrier successfully avoided all torpedoes. Precisely speaking, it was hit by only one torpedo, which failed to explode due to a faulty fuse after striking the "Fenjin."

The key was that the crew of the "Fenjin" had created a miracle.

After extinguishing the fire in eight hours, the Newland Fleet’s crew also repaired a generator, enabling two water pumps to start working again in time.

Subsequently, they managed to block several leak points on the ship’s body.

By the third day, the "Fenjin" had even regained partial power!

It must be said that mainly because the ammunition depot did not detonate and there was no fuel leakage, no secondary damage occurred during the repair process.

According to post-war statistics, of all the battleships with a displacement of over 10,000 tons that sank during the war, 80% were related to secondary damage, either directly or indirectly.

Large battleships that were directly sunk were very few.

Eventually, this carrier returned to the New City Shipyard in late February.

In the battle, the only one actually sunk by bombing was the "Terrifying".

Strictly speaking, the "Terrifying" was actually sunk by its own doing when the mixed gas of leaked aviation gasoline, unable to disperse due to the fully enclosed hangar, was ignited by a spark unnoticed by the damage control team.

According to the Royal Navy’s battle report, the "Terrifying" sank around 3 p.m. that day.

Because it happened on the same day and was directly related to the bombing, this victory was ultimately credited to the 11th Special Mixed Fleet.

Of course, the first honors go to Bai Zhizhan.

The "Radiant" was severely damaged but did not immediately sink.

After being badly damaged, this carrier lost all power, but it did not seem about to sink.

Subsequently, power was supplied by other battleships, and several water pumps were started.

Because the boiler compartment was completely flooded, the "Radiant" was towed by an accompanying heavy cruiser that afternoon, heading for Cape Town.

However, two days later, on the night of the 30th, a massive explosion occurred aboard the "Radiant," and it sank within a few minutes.

Because the event was so sudden, the Royal Navy could not figure out how the "Radiant" had sunk.

At the time, the Royal Navy even thought it was a stealth submarine attack.

Decades later, an exploration team found the wreckage of the "Radiant" and finally confirmed that the carrier had been sunk by a bomb.

Indeed, it was a 500-kilogram air bomb dropped by the "Vermilion Bird" from the 11th Special Mixed Fleet.

The explosion occurred in Boiler Room No. 2 of the "Radiant," which had already been flooded.

The bomb penetrated the boiler room but did not explode immediately. Because the boiler room was flooded, it remained undiscovered by the crew of the "Radiant." As a result, during the voyage, external factors such as vibrations caused by sailing triggered the detonator, leading to an explosion.

The dense seawater transmitted the explosion shockwave to the ship’s structure almost without attenuation.

Most fatally, the explosion occurred inside the carrier.

As a result, the "Radiant" was directly blown in two.

Including the Captain, more than 1,000 Royal Navy crew members had no chance to even pray before sinking to the bottom of the ocean with the "Radiant."

At the time, the Bulan Royal Navy did not even know how many crew members had perished with the "Radiant"!

The Empire Navy only found out months later that the "Radiant" had sunk, and because the cause was unclear, they did not credit this victory to the 11th Special Mixed Fleet.