Chapter 277 Thunder Strike
Landing ships, frigates and even destroyers were sunk one after another.
The commander was stunned when he saw this scene.
Where did the Argentines get the anti-ship missiles?
The commander was cold all over, because he knew that with the current losses, his military career was completely over, and he would even be sent to a military court.
After World War II, the British Royal Army never had such a large-scale military operation again, nor had such a large loss.
Before, the destroyer "Sheffield" was hit and sank a few days later, which was already a huge loss.
As a result, the current losses far exceeded the sinking of the destroyer "Sheffield".
The artillery of the giant ship continued to vent its anger, wanting to destroy the opponent and tear it into countless pieces.
And the warships began to send ships to rescue those soldiers.
Now the losses can no longer be counted, and the first priority now is rescue to reduce the casualties of soldiers.
At this time, the ready air force took off one plane after another and flew towards the British fleet.
The British aircraft carrier fleet was captured by radar at the first time, and planes took off immediately.
One Argentine plane after another was hit and turned into a fireball.
But a Super Etendard attack aircraft had already launched two Eagle Strike-1 anti-ship missiles.
"Missiles! Missiles! Incoming missiles! Defense"
The intercom connected to the bridge observation post suddenly rang with a hoarse and terrified roar.
Then on the radar screen of the State-class missile destroyer, two shining dots were crashing into the State-class missile destroyer at an incredible speed.
"Interference, release interference!"
The commander roared madly.
Then, the electronic jammer reached maximum power.
At the same time, the foil jammers on both sides of the deck flew out with a "bang bang", exploding tens of thousands of high-temperature foil strips around the warship, just like blooming extremely gorgeous fireworks, decorating the "Zhou County" class missile destroyer more beautiful than ever, but it also became its most beautiful moment in this world.
Because the active radar seeker of the "Eagle Strike-1" anti-ship missile has long locked the British missile destroyer with a displacement of 6,200 tons. The unique anti-interference circuit makes the entire missile like a dead soldier who will not give up until the goal is achieved. As long as the target is identified, it will definitely move forward bravely.
"Boom"
The terrifying explosion sounded almost at the same time, and the entire "Zhou County" class missile destroyer was like a flat boat in the wind, shaking violently. I don't know how many soldiers did not stand firmly and fell on their buttocks.
The explosion resounded through the sky like a landslide, and the huge energy even lifted the entire "Zhou County" class missile destroyer off the sea surface, and the strong shock wave shook the nearby seawater away.
Both ‘Eagle Strike-1’ anti-ship missiles hit the ‘County’ class missile destroyer, and two terrifying holes appeared hideous, and seawater continued to pour in.
Everyone knew that this ‘County’ class missile destroyer would not be spared and would inevitably sink.
“No!” Wood, commander of the task force, saw this scene and showed a look of pain.
The ‘County’ class destroyer is a large missile destroyer of the British Navy. The first ship was built in 1966, launched in 1967, and entered service in 1970. It has a staff of 438 people, a length of 158.7 meters, a beam of 16.5 meters, a full load displacement of 6,200 tons, a cruising range of 3,041 nautical miles, and a speed of 30 knots. In those days, each ship cost 13.8 to 16.8 million pounds. According to the current situation, the cost of one ship must exceed 20 million pounds. In addition to various weapons and equipment, the value has reached at least 150 million pounds.
The County-class destroyer was mainly designed to take on the main air defense escort mission in the British aircraft carrier formation. The Soviet Tu-95 bomber carrying missiles posed a great threat to the British naval formation, and the County-class destroyer came into being.
Its birth was also hailed as a landmark destroyer of the British Royal Navy. It was the first missile destroyer of the Royal Navy, the first destroyer with regional defense capabilities, and the first destroyer equipped with large helicopters in the Royal Navy.
But now, this County-class destroyer was sunk by the Argentine Air Force.
This loss is much greater than the previous sinking of the Sheffield destroyer.
The Sheffield destroyer belongs to the 42-type Sheffield-class destroyer, with a total length of 125 meters, a width of 61 meters, a standard displacement of 3,500 tons, a full load displacement of 4,100 tons, a speed of 30 knots, a cruising range of 4,500 nautical miles, and a total ship staff of 312 people.
While Wood was in the pain of the sinking of the "County" class missile destroyer, another Type 42 "Sheffield" class destroyer was sunk.
Only two destroyers were sunk, and the loss was probably more than $400 million!
Wood's eyes were burning with anger, and those Argentine Air Force fighters in the sky were sentenced to death by him.
He issued a death order to wipe out all these Argentine Air Force fighters.
This loss made Wood heartbroken.
One hundred kilometers away, a "Super Etendard" fighter was flying almost close to the sea level.
This "Super Etendard" fighter was driven by pilot Armando Mayora, who had previously driven this "Super Etendard" to sink the British Royal Navy's "Sheffield" destroyer.
This time, he accepted the mission again and drove this "Super Etendard" to perform the mission, and this time his target was the British Royal Navy's aircraft carrier - the "Invincible" aircraft carrier.
In this Falklands War, the British Royal Navy sent a total of two aircraft carriers, namely the "Hermes" aircraft carrier and the "Invincible" aircraft carrier.
The "Hermes" aircraft carrier is the first aircraft carrier designed and built according to aircraft carrier standards in the world aircraft carrier construction competition, and is also known as the world's first modern aircraft carrier. The "Hermes" aircraft carrier was commissioned in 1923, and it has been more than half a century since then.
Although this "Hermes" aircraft carrier is not the one built in 1923, it is also an old ship in World War II.
Armando Mayora's target is not the "Hermes" aircraft carrier, but the "Invincible" aircraft carrier!
The Invincible aircraft carrier is the first ship of the Invincible-class aircraft carrier of the British Royal Navy. It is a light aircraft carrier equipped with short-range/vertical take-off and landing carrier-based aircraft. It was built at the Vickers Shipyard on July 20, 1973, launched on May 30, 1977, and officially commissioned on July 11, 1980. The cost was as high as 185 million pounds.
The Invincible aircraft carrier is 209.1 meters long, 36 meters wide, 8 meters deep, 192.6 meters long at the waterline, 27.5 meters wide at the waterline, with a standard displacement of 16,000 tons and a full load displacement of 20,600 tons. The flight deck is 167.8 meters long and 13.5 meters wide. The cruising speed is 18 knots, the maximum speed is 30 knots, the endurance is 7,000 nautical miles, the crew is 685 people, the aviation personnel are 366 people, and the Royal Marines are 800 people!
Armando Mayora's eyes flashed with a cold light and determination. In order to successfully complete this mission, he flew close to the sea level to avoid the radar search of the British Royal Navy. He even made a circle and flew an extra 100 nautical miles.
Even if he succeeded, the remaining fuel of the plane might not be enough to fly back to the airport.
He was ready to sacrifice, just to give the British a blow, let them know that Argentina cannot be humiliated and the Pampas Eagle cannot be bullied!
In this war, Argentina's army and navy performed very poorly, only the air force performed well, but the air force also suffered heavy losses.
This time, almost all of them came out!