What the hell is a private enterprise?

Chapter 266 Impact, Takeoff and Escape?
saved!
On the bridges of the two Iowa-class destroyers, upon hearing the voices of the Tomcat squadron, almost everyone burst into tears.

What are two battleships compared to an aircraft carrier?
The battle situation, which was just on the verge of collapse, was immediately reversed the moment the plane appeared!

The good news reached the crew members as quickly as possible, and everyone's morale began to soar, seeing the two battleships in the smoke as prey.

They immediately began to fire back more vigorously, and at this time, under the cover of the Bismarck, the Scharnhorst was less than three kilometers away from the Iowa.

Before anyone could speak, Tang Wen had already prepared for the missiles to be on their way, and the Bismarck and Scharnhorst began launching seaplanes at maximum speed.

In addition to the four aircraft launched in the first round, another aircraft would emerge from the smoke of the two warships every 15 seconds thereafter, immediately turning after takeoff and fearlessly climbing toward the Tomcat squadron.

However, at this moment, the 147th Squadron was not as relaxed as they had imagined.

Although the two plumes of smoke on the sea surface could be penetrated by radar, they kept flickering and their positions fluctuated within a certain range, making it impossible to lock onto them stably.

Although the conditions for launch are still met, another problem is that laser guidance is no longer available.

The idea that smog can prevent laser guidance is no joke; that cloud of smoke directly eliminates the possibility of laser guidance.

While high-power laser guidance might work on ships, airborne laser equipment is simply ineffective.

As a result, the hit rate of guided bombs may not be the expected 95% or higher, but will be reduced by at least half.

"Calling the USS New Jersey, can you destroy this damn smoke generator? It's interfering with our guidance."

Dalton's face immediately fell. In fact, the initial 127mm secondary guns and harpoons were aimed at the upper decks of the Second Fleet's warships, and theoretically should have been able to destroy the external smoke generators, but the opposite was true.

Upon receiving a negative response, the 147th Squadron, which was about to miss its attack window, scrambled two aircraft carrying GBU-16s to prepare for the first round of probing.

After the first two guided bombs were dropped, the radar alerted that several targets were rapidly approaching at low altitude.

Is it... a seaplane?
Five, six, seven... twelve, no, two more, fourteen!
The first four Ar 196s that took off had already reached an altitude of nearly 2,000 meters, reaching the same altitude as the 147th Squadron which was descending, and came straight at them.

But to the F-14, this was tantamount to suicide.

The Ar 196 had a maximum speed of only 310 kilometers per hour and was a bulky seaplane. Its armament consisted of two 7.9 mm machine guns and a 20 mm cannon, making it no different from a flying coffin in the face of the F-14.

这一次出动的8架F14都是满挂载出击，除了4枚制导炸弹，还带了2枚AIM-7“麻雀”和2枚AIM-9“响尾蛇”。

The former is semi-active radar guidance, and the latter is infrared guidance.

The two F-14s were assigned targets, each locking onto two seaplanes, with each seaplane being equipped with only one AIM-9 Sidewinder missile, and the four missiles were launched.

As expected, the four Ar 196s in the first wave of attacks were destroyed before they could even maneuver, trailing black smoke as they crashed into the sea.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, eight guided bombs were launched in sequence, four each for the Tirpitz and Scharnhorst.

"Hey Jimmy, why didn't you release the bomb?"

"I can't! Battleship No. 2 is too close to Iowa!"

The second battleship was a synonym for the assigned ship, namely the Scharnhorst.

Within those two minutes, the Scharnhorst rushed to within 1 kilometer of the Iowa.

The latter finally understood that the warship's reduced firing frequency was to better conceal itself from carrying out a ramming attack!

At such close range, even without using radar, you can still achieve a decent hit rate.

The Scharnhorst cleverly approached the Iowa from its starboard side, and although not at the closest possible distance, it successfully prevented the Iowa from turning to evade it.

With its right rudder malfunctioning, the USS Iowa could only go straight or turn right, neither of which could avoid a collision.

Furthermore, the USS Iowa was used as a shield, and the USS New Jersey had to face the risk of accidentally hitting the USS Iowa if it wanted to attack, and could only watch helplessly as this happened.

Dalton frantically shouted on the radio, urging the F-14s to fire their guided bombs, but the other side was unwilling to take the risk of a friendly fire.

A distance of 1 kilometer is too close for a bomb that lacks laser guidance; the radar is very likely to make a mistake in locking onto it.

Furthermore, Squadron 147 also encountered trouble.

When the first four Ar 196s were shot down, the radar detected four new low-altitude targets.

In the blink of an eye, two more appeared.

In just a few minutes, the Second Fleet managed to launch 28 seaplanes, and they were still taking off!

It was like magic! They couldn't fathom how so many seaplanes could be hidden in such a limited space!

The Phalanx CIWS entered attack range and shot down three aircraft, but after firing at high speed, it ran out of ammunition and could do nothing more.

From the propeller failure to the sinking of Gresenau, to the arrival of F14 squadron, and then being overtaken by Scharnhorst, the Iowa's mood has been a rollercoaster ride, and now it is busy trying to evade Scharnhorst's final blow.

Left with no other option, the Iowa had to turn hard to starboard to evade, and its three intact main shafts were used to turn at full power.

However, this gave the Scharnhorst an excellent attack window. The captain had already prepared a salvo of AP armor-piercing shells, which he fired when the guns reached their maximum depression angle.

On the way to launch the attack, turret No. 2 was also hit and destroyed by a shell, leaving only turret No. 1 intact. Although the three 283mm armor-piercing shells were weak, at almost point-blank range, all three hit the Iowa and penetrated its armor, damaging important steam pipes. The leaked high-pressure steam instantly cut off communication with the personnel in the surrounding compartments.

The remaining shells also damaged the waterline, causing the starboard side to crack and take on water.

The Iowa's speed decreased rapidly, and it faced an extremely serious risk of boiler explosion.

But at the last moment, the Iowa, fighting desperately, performed a miracle, managing to turn around when the Scharnhorst was within 500 meters, with the two warships crossing at an obtuse angle, bow to bow.

In the final 500 meters, Tang Wen, who was fully engaged in the battle, appeared on the bridge of the Scharnhorst and turned off the high-speed smoke generator. Even if he lost 25% of his speed, it would be enough for the remaining 25 seconds.

The smoke suddenly disappeared, and the Scharnhorst emerged like a demon from the thick fog.

She was already badly damaged, having withstood 48 missiles launched by the USS New Jersey and USS Iowa, and taken a lot of 406mm armor-piercing rounds. At this point, her health was only a pitiful 7000.

The ship's original red, black, and white paint scheme was no longer visible; it was riddled with fire damage and shell holes. The No. 2 turret had three noticeably bent gun barrels, the bridge mast was tilted, and the exposed secondary guns on both sides were all reduced to scrap metal.

At least five large, glaring holes were visible on the bow of her ship!
The main guns were no longer of any use at this distance. The Iowa was shocked by the fact that the Scharnhorst was in far worse shape than it had imagined, and was surprised that it was still fighting.

Twenty seconds, fifteen seconds... Bomm!

Tang Wen turned around and saw that the Bismarck, which was blocking the New Jersey, was hit by a guided bomb.

This GBU-16 missile entered through the smokestack, and its armor-piercing warhead exploded only after reaching inside the ship's cabin, causing massive damage with just one missile.

【-twenty four】

Our ship is on fire.

[Propulsion system malfunction, speed reduced to 22 knots]

Fearing that the Bismarck might be unharmed, all eight GBU-16 missiles locked onto it.

The second, third, and fourth shots all missed, but the fifth shot hit the stern.

【-twenty four】

Our ship is taking on water; speed has dropped to 15 knots.

By this time, the Bismarck's speed had noticeably decreased, and even with the cover of smoke, it was no longer able to maneuver to evade the enemy.

The sixth missile broke through the mast, the seventh hit the stern, and the eighth hit the midships.

[Turret No. 3 malfunction]

[Turret #3 has been destroyed!]

[Our ship is on fire *2]

[11040/69200]

[Ding ding ding ding, damage control equipment used (exhausted), flooding and fire suppression stopped, propulsion system repaired]

[Repair team exhausted, unavailable]

The first round of attacks ended not because the 147th Squadron was good, but because they missed the attack window and were in even more trouble.

To this day, the Scharnhorst and Bismarck are still launching seaplanes.

There are 50 Ar 196s in the sky right now!

50!
There were originally 60 aircraft, but so many were shot down like turkeys!

They showed no fear, charging straight at the GBU and F14 and opening fire wildly; the two sides would collide in less than a minute.

At first, the F-14 pilots were feeling triumphant after shooting down four planes in a row, but then things started to get increasingly uneasy.

They have now dispersed in all directions, hovering and searching for an attack window, with the slow-moving Ar196 still close behind.

In the final five seconds before the collision between the USS Iowa and the USS Scharnhorst, when the two ships could almost clearly see each other's faces, the USS Scharnhorst launched its last seaplane!
The command of the USS Iowa was somewhat breached. They strongly suspected that the command of the USS Scharnhorst had been transferred there, and that almost all of the dozen or so aircraft could have been taken away!

So, you ran away even though you were prepared to die together?
A group of commanders who were not afraid of death could no longer hold back and started cursing on the radio, but they were immediately stopped by the oncoming impact.

The collision between the 3.7-ton, 36-knot Scharnhorst and the 5.7-ton, 20-knot Iowa was nothing short of a collision between Mars and Earth.

The hard bow was crushed like paper by the immense force that broke everything, and the two battleships were as if they were forcibly kneaded together until they were stopped by the hard turret structure.

In an unprecedented collision in naval history, even the sturdy keel and densely packed sealed compartments could not withstand the inertia brought to a stop. Even the half-meter-thick armor belt bent and deformed, and even broke through the supporting structure.

The collision of the two behemoths was second only to a secondary explosion, and even the USS New Jersey, which was busy adding insult to injury, couldn't help but take a look.

The bow sections of the Iowa and Scharnhorst had been completely compressed and disappeared, tightly wedged together, and after they came to a stop, a large amount of seawater rushed in, dragging the two warships into a deadly vortex.

(End of this chapter)