Starting with the smashing of Dunkirk

Chapter 136 Squeezing Bone and Marrow, Making the Most of It

After dropping all the bombs, the airship unit returned safely, and the entire army was greatly encouraged.

此次空袭，总计干掉了敌人11艘军舰3座装甲炮塔4个防空炮连阵地。而凯塞林累计只损失了3艘飞艇、被击伤2艘。

At a cost of approximately 3 million marks per airship, this is roughly equivalent to the cost of one large destroyer, or two 800-ton large torpedo boats, or half a regular light cruiser.

The cost of 15 airships is equivalent to that of one capital dreadnought (roughly equivalent to a "King-class" battleship, while a "Barria-class" would cost the equivalent of 20 airships).

By this calculation, Kesselring had made a huge profit. Moreover, airships required far fewer personnel, meaning that even if they were shot down, far fewer people would die. A destroyer has at least 100 crew members, while an airship only has a dozen or so.

More importantly, Kesselring also cleverly figured out the effective altitude limits of various enemy anti-aircraft firepower:

Against existing models of the Lusa anti-aircraft guns, 2800 meters is absolutely safe. Against Lusa fighter jets, 2400 meters is absolutely safe.

With this data, he might be able to take advantage of the enemy's need to perfect their air defenses and further expand their gains.

This matter will not end until the enemy is truly forced to run for their lives, and all ships, even those docked in port, dare not turn off their engines and keep the boilers burning 24 hours a day, or until the enemy develops new anti-aircraft weapons.

……

Kesselring's bombing campaign was a great success.

When he returned to base, Field Marshal Rupprecht and Admiral Spee were eagerly awaiting news of him.

According to the pre-war plan, if the bombing went smoothly, Admiral Spee would send a fleet to Odessa to carry out mine-clearing operations, followed by subsequent missions to seize sea control and land.

However, the overachievement of the bombing mission changed the situation somewhat and slightly delayed the navy's deployment. Everyone was wondering if it was possible to make full use of the remaining energy of the aerial attacks and achieve a better start.

Kesselring took off at 3 a.m., began dropping bombs at around 5 a.m., returned at 7 a.m., and arrived back at the Sulina airship base at around 9 a.m. The entire flight, including bombing, lasted 6 hours.

When Duke Rupprecht and General Spee heard his report on the victory, they were overjoyed.

"I never imagined that bombing a warship that was docked and hadn't had time to start up would have such a strong surprise attack effect. Unfortunately, this kind of surprise attack can only happen once. The enemy's Black Sea Fleet had never encountered such an attack before and did not realize how important it was to keep the boilers burning while the warship was in port."

If only their boilers had been kept lit when they were in port to maintain pressure, we wouldn't have been able to steal so much from them. But we can only take advantage of them once; they'll learn their lesson quickly, which is a pity.

Admiral Spee, who was knowledgeable about the navy, immediately made this remark.

Duke Rupprecht, who knew nothing about the navy, asked Lelouch, who was standing nearby, "What do you think?"

Lelouch carefully assessed the situation: "In any form of attack, the first attack is always the most unexpected and yields the greatest benefit."

But now that Lieutenant Colonel Kesselring has figured out the weaknesses in the enemy's air defense layout, knows the altitude limits of their various anti-aircraft weapons, and has even figured out the tactic of bombing ground-based anti-aircraft artillery positions first, I think there's still potential for further exploration of this bombing strategy.

The longer this drags on, the more sophisticated the enemy's countermeasures will become. If we still hope to make our mark with our airships, we must use them continuously these next few days, giving the enemy no time to catch their breath and devise a countermeasure.

However, we must also be prepared that once the enemy has devised a countermeasure and inflicted significant losses on the airships, we should immediately cease our operations and cut our losses. The key is to accurately calculate the marginal benefits.

Duke Rupprecht pondered for a moment, then turned to Admiral Spee: "I think he makes sense, Admiral Spee. How about the navy postpones its operation for another two days?"
"Anyway, a little surprise won't make a difference. As long as the fleet doesn't attack, the enemy won't figure out our purpose. They'll just think we suddenly came up with a new tactic using airships to gain an advantage through precision bombing."

Admiral Spee had to admit that the arrangement made sense, so he nodded: "Okay, then I'll have the fleet postpone the operation depending on the situation, but as soon as the bombing effect of the airships decreases, I'll launch an attack immediately."

Furthermore, now that the coastal defense fortress of Odessa Port has been destroyed, I can at least send armored cruisers with 'bottom trawling minesweeping chains' to conduct nighttime minesweeping operations in the Dniester estuary.

Anyway, these mines are all moored mines, so they can't be seen anyway. If a minesweeper is really unlucky and hits one at night, it will hit one during the day as well.

I can have minesweepers go deep into the minefield to trawle in the middle of the night, and then send destroyers to visually search for mines that have drifted ashore after their anchor chains have been cut, and detonate them one by one with 88mm rapid-fire guns. Then the main fleet can move out.

Other army and air force officers agreed with General Spee's approach and thought it made sense.

Lieutenant Colonel Kesselring then suddenly suggested, "In that case, our airship force can work harder and increase the frequency of sorties. Why not fly another sortie in the afternoon and try to drop bombs again at 4 p.m., and then return and moor before dark at around 6 p.m.?"

This way, two bombing runs can be conducted a day, one at dawn and one in the afternoon. This gives the enemy less time to devise a countermeasure.

"Daytime bombing? Won't that increase the danger?" Lelouch was immediately shocked; he hadn't expected Kesselin to be so bold.

Previously, they would take off at night, arrive over the target at dawn, and then drop bombs, maximizing the enemy's surprise. Lelouch was used to this method of operation.

But Kesselring said matter-of-factly, “In the past, they would only come once every few months. The enemy couldn’t keep up with the attacks all the time, so they became complacent. Now the enemy probably wouldn’t dare to leave their warships in port without heating up their boilers. Whether they fly over at dawn or in the afternoon, what difference does it make? We might as well shorten the cycle and increase the frequency. We can bomb as many times as we can, and save the navy a few days of time.”

Lelouch thought for a moment, then his mind cleared instantly, and he quickly turned to helping Catherine persuade the other high-ranking officials:
"I think it's feasible! The enemy must have developed a habit of thinking this way too. Maybe if we launch a surprise attack this afternoon, we can achieve the same effect!"

If the cloud cover is good, we can approach from high altitude, hide behind the clouds, and fly towards the port. The enemy's lookouts still won't spot us long before we arrive!

Military strategy emphasizes the principle of feigning weakness to appear strong, and vice versa. If this has always been the case, then suddenly doing the opposite might have unexpected and surprising effects.

Upon hearing this, the two generals couldn't help but have a thought pop into their heads:
This kid is a fucking genius!

"Okay, let's do it this way! Let's blast it again this afternoon, but what should we blast?"

……

After some deliberation, Kesselring decided to continue bombing other ports in the afternoon to see if there were any ships to attack. Tomorrow, they would bomb the remaining fixed targets in the eastern Black Sea, mainly the coastal fortifications of the ports.

Because coastal defense fortresses are fixed targets and cannot be moved, they can be left for later.

Of Kesselring’s 30 airships, 3 were shot down or destroyed in the early morning air raid, 2 were damaged and could no longer carry out missions, and another one was found to be malfunctioning during temporary maintenance. So he took the remaining 24 airships that were still operational, loaded them with bombs, and set off again.

At 4 p.m. on the 28th, 12 airships arrived at the port of Nikolayev, while another 12 airships flew to the port of Sevastopol, with the Sevastopol team led by Kesselin himself.

The port of Nikolayev is less than 100 kilometers from Odessa. The events that occurred in Odessa that morning had already put the shipyards, port, and fleet on high alert. Adding to this, there were few low-level clouds that afternoon, insufficient to conceal the approaching airship formation from high altitude. The airships were spotted by lookouts when they were 20 kilometers from the port, giving the port a full 15 minutes to prepare.

Because the ship's boilers had all been preheated, when the airship was spotted, all the ships gradually headed out of the harbor, leaving almost no fixed targets to shoot at.

Finally, they only managed to catch the third "Maria-class" dreadnought, "Alexander III," which was still under construction at the Nikolayev shipyard. More than half of the 2000-kilogram heavy bombs were dropped on this fixed target, causing the ship to sink in the harbor.

However, this was not very significant; it merely added a military achievement. Historically, due to the lack of a propulsion system, the ship was not completed until 1917, after the Tsar was overthrown by the bourgeoisie. By then, the ship had already withdrawn from the World War.

But in any case, sinking a ship with a completed hull can earn a lot of military merit, and those who participate in the battle can accumulate a lot of combat experience and also get promoted.

Aside from this fixed target, the rest of the airship squadron's bombs only wiped out four anti-aircraft gun batteries near the port of Nikolayev, destroyed most of the 16 anti-aircraft guns, and caused casualties among the artillerymen who scattered and fled.

In addition, several immobile ships under repair in the shipyard, including the old pre-dreadnought Potemkin-class HMS Three Apostles and a very old protected cruiser HMS Parada, were also completely destroyed.

The 12 airships dropped all their bombs, destroying three fixed targets under maintenance. One of their own was shot down by the anti-aircraft guns of the Lusa Fleet, and another was severely damaged. They eventually made an emergency landing at sea on their return journey.

After this battle, the Demacian airship force had to update its assessment of the enemy's combat capabilities. It turned out that the Lussa's ship-mounted 76mm anti-aircraft guns had a higher maximum elevation and firing height than land-based anti-aircraft guns of the same caliber, and some of their new warships had just been converted to use these 76mm anti-aircraft guns.

After returning to port, another vessel suffered excessive mechanical damage and is no longer able to perform missions in the near future, requiring maintenance. Another vessel experienced mechanical failure and will need to be repaired for several days.

……

The other group of 12 airships heading to Sevastopol for bombing was led by Kesselring himself.

Sevastopol is further from the front lines, and can only be reached by crossing the sea.

Kesselring was only spotted when he got within 40 kilometers of the port of Sevastopol. At that time, the cloud cover was also low, making it difficult to conceal his presence from a great distance.

However, Kesselring soon discovered that the Lusa Navy on the Sevastopol side was significantly less vigilant.

They still hadn't learned their lesson from the devastating news of Odessa being bombed early that morning, and most of the warships in the port still hadn't turned on their boilers in advance.

It's possible that the Lusa people's command system was too slow to react and their messages were too slow to be transmitted, or it's simply because this place is far from the front lines and has never been attacked since the start of the war, so they have become complacent.

Since the enemy was still so careless, Kesselring didn't hold back and rushed towards the fleet at the berth.

Even if it takes half an hour from when he is spotted by the enemy to when he arrives overhead, that half hour is still not enough time for them to heat up the boilers and start the warship.

Ultimately, another Bogatri-class protected cruiser and three destroyers (one Novik-class and one Unreason-class) were destroyed, blown in two and sunk.

These are all minor goals. More importantly, Sevastopol, as the core home port of the Black Sea Fleet, also houses two new and advanced dreadnoughts!

Unfortunately, the anti-aircraft guns on the warship were firing at full speed at the air, forcing Kesselring to climb to an altitude of over 3500 meters to drop the bombs. In the end, none of the remaining 2000 kilograms of bombs hit the target directly.

只有1枚500公斤航弹、2枚50公斤航弹命中了“玛利亚皇后号”。还有6枚50公斤炸弹命中了“叶卡捷琳娜大帝号”。

A 500-kilogram bomb would obviously not be lethal to a dreadnought; it could only penetrate its armor and destroy some compartments.

The Queen Maria was hit directly amidships by a 500-kilogram aerial bomb, which destroyed the No. 2 funnel and the pitch and swivel mechanism of the No. 2 main gun turret.

The Catherine the Great was not hit by heavy bombs, but lost some external equipment in the superstructure, including the radio communication antenna on the secondary bridge, the fire control rangefinder on the aft bridge, and the lifeboat crane, all of which were destroyed.

Kesselring was very unwilling. The next morning, he gathered all 17 still-operational airships and returned to Sevastopol.

But this time, the Lusa Navy finally learned its lesson. All the ships had left port and dared not stay at home anymore. They were all patrolling and sailing outside, not giving them any chance.

Kesselring's final bombing raid only destroyed the coastal defense batteries and anti-aircraft gun positions in the port of Sevastopol. The remaining bombs were used to destroy some port facilities, warehouses, and merchant ships.

This was also Kesselring's last effective bombing. The continuous bombardment over two days had already made the Lusa people experienced in being bombed.

累计数日轰炸的战果总数，一共击伤露沙黑海舰队无畏舰1艘、造成另1艘轻微伤，炸毁前无畏舰2艘、装甲巡洋舰1艘、防护巡洋舰2艘、布雷巡洋舰2艘、驱逐舰9艘。

黑海舰队剩余总兵力为：无畏舰2艘（玛丽亚皇后号、叶卡捷琳娜大帝号）、前无畏舰2艘（圣叶夫斯塔菲号、波将金号）、装甲巡洋舰1艘（卡古尔号）、防护巡洋舰3艘、驱逐舰14艘。

After being bombed repeatedly, the Lusa people frantically modified their aircraft and the gun mounts of their 76mm anti-aircraft guns, trying to acquire more aggressive anti-aircraft weapons. It is believed that they will soon make a breakthrough.

Theoretically, the maximum firing altitude of the 76mm gun is more than 3000 meters. However, the previous gun mount elevation angle was not high enough, only about 60 degrees. If a method could be found to make the gun at 70 or even 80 degrees, it would be possible to fire at 4000 meters.

That would require the airship to climb even higher. Even if it could still safely drop bombs, the hit rate would be reduced by more than half again, and the hit rate against moving targets would be almost completely reduced to zero.

Considering that anti-aircraft gun positions were vulnerable to being bombed by airships, the Lusa people even resorted to the expedient measure of temporarily moving anti-aircraft guns with their shields and limiting mechanisms removed onto trucks, making it easier to fire while on the move.

As for how to solve the problems of recoil and stability, and whether firing more shots would damage the truck or cause it to overturn, those issues were no longer a concern.

Moreover, this topic is not only for the Lusa people to study.

While Kesselring was wreaking havoc in several ports in the eastern Black Sea, the airship forces on the western front, including those in Calais, Dover, and several other naval ports on the eastern coast of Britannia, as well as other supporting forces, were also making the most of their airships in recent days, trying to squeeze out one last profit before they were contained.

-

PS: Another 12,000 words today. Although the main character doesn't appear much, there's nothing I can do about it; the main character can't manage everything.

The air raid preparations before amphibious operations should be written about. The end of the airship era should also be mentioned.

Tomorrow we'll be able to bring back the amphibious warfare protagonist to command personally. Thank you all for your patience.

(End of this chapter)