After an incredibly tumultuous night, the English Channel welcomed the new day's light in an unusual silence. If it were a rainy and overcast day, the British might have found some comfort, but the sky was adorned with only a few decorative clouds.
Residents of the coastal city of Swanage in southern England woke up early to discover seven enormous "grey whales" lying near the coastline. Despite the sea breeze blowing, the Union Jack naval flags on their masts stubbornly fluttered. These ships, some old and some new, were mostly intact in their superstructures, but their hulls were mostly tilted, some even incomplete. White dinghies shuttled back and forth between these stranded warships and the shore, evacuating the wounded sailors from the night's battle.
Local British civilians arrived upon hearing the news, volunteering to help transport the wounded sailors. A contingent from Swanage also arrived, and although they were dressed in army uniforms, the naval commanders did not refuse their offer to join the fight, given the shortage of personnel aboard the ships.
These poignant scenes did not delay the imminent final battle. Shortly after dawn, the detested drone of aircraft came once again from the south.
On the open bridge of the "Queen Elizabeth," General Dart solemnly adjusted his military cap. After issuing the firing orders, he turned and walked into the heavily armored command room. In that stifling compartment, perhaps he could find a last semblance of security.
On the bridge, the gunnery officer bellowed with unusual indignation, "All gun positions, target due east, range twenty-eight thousand yards, fire! Fire at will!"
"Fire at will," also meant "hopelessness."
Heavy shells whistled through the air, but even if ten more "Queen Elizabeth" class battleships were present, they could not sink the Isle of Wight to the bottom of the sea, let alone stop the Germans from crossing the Channel.
The intense clashes between the Imperial Air Force had already silently decided the course of the war.
A squadron of "Spitfires" bravely appeared in the skies over the southern coastline, attempting to intercept the swarming German bomber formations. However, the outnumbering BF-109s effortlessly pinned them down - in terms of absolute range, the "Spitfire" was no inferior to the Messerschmitt fighter, but now German fighters could land on the Isle of Wight while British pilots could only return to airfields in northern England. With both factors considered, the engagements swiftly began and ended, with the German pilots laughing last.
67 Ju-87s and 32 Ar-95s, this scale of bomber formation was not as large as the previous day, but the British warships, now immobilized, were like trapped beasts in a cage. With only their remaining fangs, the victory was just a matter of time.
Standing at the port window, General Dart watched the German torpedo bombers approach low over the sea with an expressionless face. For a few seconds, he even watched them with a kind of appreciation. Despite suffering mine hits and torpedoes, the exposed gun positions on the side of the "Queen Elizabeth" suffered heavy losses, and beside the surviving high-caliber guns and machine guns, sailors were still frantically loading ammunition. But their numbers didn't even meet training standards, and their slow firing rate and sparse gunfire couldn't stop the Ar95 torpedo bombers, almost as old as the "Queen Elizabeth," from approaching. Watching the white wakes swiftly approaching the sea surface, all Dart could do was close his eyes in agony.
A boom, two booms. The sunken warship still violently shook in the massive explosions, objects on the table continued to fall to the floor, and the officers no longer bothered to pick them up.
After half a day and a night of fierce fighting, there were few shells left in the main and auxiliary ammunition depots on the ship. Even if the German torpedoes happened to hit the breach in the ammunition depot, it would not cause a full ship explosion. However, considering the need for high-speed movement, this fleet flagship had been refueled before departure. After the previous consumption, there were still up to 2,400 tons of heavy oil in the various fuel tanks. After this round of attacks by the Germans, new breaches appeared in the ship's hull, and officers reported in panic: a large amount of fuel was leaking out!
Dart opened his eyes and could now see the black spreading on the sea surface from his position. Perhaps he should have considered this earlier. Before running aground, the excess fuel should have been exhausted. However, the damage control department had not given up its efforts to repair the warship until now. Perhaps, just perhaps, there was still a chance for the Queen?
Amidst the piercing scream, the hovering Stukas launched another attack. They descended almost vertically, like freefalling, displaying acrobatic movements rarely seen outside of Olympic diving. Against a stranded warship, the 1000-kilogram armor-piercing bombs were finally put to use. When an unfortunate Grim Reaper dropped its bombs into the water before it could release them, the explosion of water surged into the sky, its radius far exceeding that of ordinary shells!
Dart took a cold breath, feeling a slight relief, but then thought to himself with self-deprecation: Can one escape for long?
The massive "Reprisal" and "Queen Elizabeth" were the focus of the German bomber pilots' attacks. In less than a quarter of an hour, there were huge explosions coming from the sea in the distance, one after another, as if a super heavy artillery was firing continuously.
Approaching the command room, Deputy Captain Ladlow, his face grim, said, "Sir, it seems the 'Reprisal' is in serious trouble!"
Dart glanced at his old colleague and merely nodded lightly.
Since yesterday's encounter with the thunderstorm, hadn't the British homeland fleet been doomed?
Dart no longer had the heart to curse the cunning Germans. The true battlefield was indifferent to intrigue and deception. To win the victory, had the British Empire not resorted to some inexplicable means?
Boom! The warship suddenly trembled, and outside the port window, there was a glaring orange fire, chunks of shrapnel clattered against the outer armor of the command tower.
Ladlow looked out and sighed, "It's just a small bomb!"
A 50-kilogram high-explosive bomb. Each Stuka could carry two extra under its wings, which were merely a scratch on the battleship's thick armor but extremely deadly to the officers and sailors manning the anti-aircraft guns.
Listening carefully, the ship's anti-aircraft firepower indeed weakened slightly.
Boom! Boom!
This time, the violent tremor came from the forward 15-inch main gun. Whether the shells could fly over the 25-kilometer distance and hit the Isle of Wight, the gunners could no longer know. The bridge gunnery officer couldn't provide any feedback to them, but their resounding roar represented the British fighting spirit, the spirit of the Royal Navy that was not yet extinguished, and it gave the officers who were already feeling dead inside a final consolation.
But it was only a slight consolation.
The last batch of Stukas swooped down, finally dropping two heavy aerial armor-piercing bombs on the Queen's head. One exploded in the upper armor of the number three gun turret, causing a blast in the ammunition passage. The other landed directly on the stern, smashing through the restaurant and conference room and landing directly on the upper part of the engine room. The clever delayed fuses did not fail as some British had prayed, and amidst the colossal explosion that pierced the sky, flames surged from the Queen's rear, lifting the entire turret and gun barrel of a 15-inch gun directly onto the lower deck. Then, a second explosion almost severed the ship's tail from the position of the number three gun turret. Including the aft boiler room and the entire propulsion system, no one could escape!
After such heavy damage, the two main gun turrets at the bow of the warship still stubbornly fired, and on the distant shore, witnessing this scene, people wept bitterly.
With the German aircraft leaving triumphantly, the blazing "Reprisal" was now unrecognizable, and another beached light cruiser had been completely destroyed. Seeing that the "Queen Elizabeth" had completely lost power, Dart finally gritted his teeth and ordered the remaining crew to evacuate. The last to be evacuated were still the gunners in the forward gun turrets - they had even fired the last shell!
From the battleship to the small boat. Dart stood silently, feeling dead inside. The slight hum came again, and just as people feared that the exposed boats would be ruthlessly strafed by the enemy, they discovered it was just a white German reconnaissance plane. More precisely, it was a spotter plane equipped with radio equipment.
Different from the sharp whistling sound when the Stukas dived, the subsequent buzzing sounded more like long-range artillery fire from heavy warships, but no ships appeared in sight.
At a distance of 25 kilometers, this was the German coastal artillery counterattack!
In the past, Dart had never regarded the German army's artillery as a threat, despite intelligence showing that Krupp was secretly manufacturing ultra-long-range railway guns. However, during the last war, the astounding range of the Paris Gun did not help the Germans win the victory, did it?
Now, the situation had changed, and so had his mindset. Dart silently stared at the still massive but no longer majestic Queen. She was so serene, reminiscent of an elderly person in their twilight years. This picturesque coastline, as the final resting place, was surely better than the German warships sinking themselves in Scapa Flow!
Thinking of Scapa Flow, it was as if he saw the scene of the British homeland fleet escorting the German High Seas Fleet home in 1919. At that time, every British sailor's face was filled with the joy of victory, while every German looked despondent and lost. Time changes everything, who could have expected the Royal Navy to end up like this?
Two shells fired from the direction of the Isle of Wight fell, one after the other. They didn't directly hit the Queen, but the water column they raised was taller and thicker than the ship's bridge. Suddenly, Dart seemed to see the Queen trembling slightly, and her era ended like this...