Transmigrated as the Crown Prince

During World War II, the Japanese Navy built the Shinano, the largest "super aircraft carrier" in the world at the time. It is indeed a "super", with a full load displacement of 71,890 tons (standard displacement of 62,000 tons). This record was not broken until the USS Forrestal aircraft carrier was put into service ten years later.

At that time, the Japanese Navy was preparing to build a so-called "unsinkable" giant ship. In World War II, the aircraft carrier was attacked by dive bombers to attack the deck and finally exploded internally, or torpedoes were used to attack its position below the waterline. In response to these characteristics, the Japanese Navy installed a 75-100 mm fully armored flight deck for this aircraft carrier.

The entire aircraft carrier runway is covered with heavily armored decks, but they felt it was not safe enough. Just below the armored deck, a 200mm reinforced concrete composite board was installed again, which is enough to withstand a direct hit from a 1,000-pound (5KG) bomb. Armor plates were also installed at the waterline to protect against torpedo attacks.

As a result, the destroyer formation that escorted it during sea trials in 1944 included the famous Catastrophe "Yukikaze" destroyer. Not long after it went to sea, the Shinano was ambushed by a US submarine and became a pitiful short-lived ghost. , buried in the sea.

Compared with the exaggerated flight deck thickness of the Shinano, when the aircraft carrier was born, its flight decks were all wooden. There was no armor laid under the wooden deck, only structural steel.

Because wooden decks have many advantages (weight loss, low cost, non-slip, moisture-proof, thermal insulation, easy maintenance), this arrangement continued until the late 1930s.

But at the same time, wooden decks also have the disadvantage of insufficient protection.

In order to make up for this shortcoming, when the British built (1936) the new "Glorious" class aircraft carrier, they adopted a new closed hangar design and upgraded the flight deck to a steel deck with 76 mm armor protection. Its design concept was to operate in the North Atlantic waters with high sea conditions and the Mediterranean waters surrounded by land. The need for seaworthiness and protection was given top priority, and the world's first fully armored aircraft carrier was born.

The armored flight deck provides the "Glorious" class aircraft carrier with strong survivability, but it also sacrifices the number of carrier-based aircraft. Compared with the previous "Ark Royal" aircraft carrier with a wooden flight deck and double-layer hangar design (ship The "Glorious" class aircraft carrier has only a single-story hangar and only 36 carrier-based aircraft, which is far lower than the nearly 100 carrier-based aircraft of other naval powers in the same period.

On the other hand, the American Essex-class fleet aircraft carrier only laid a thinner 38 mm thick armor deck (with a wooden deck on top), and strengthened the thickness of the hangar horizontal armor to 76 mm to make it horizontal. The protective performance has been greatly enhanced; the number of carrier-based aircraft has reached nearly a hundred, completely crushing the Shinano aircraft carrier (the basic structure of the Shinano is the "Yamato" class battleship, without an optimized layout, and has a huge displacement of more than 60,000 tons. The designed aircraft carriers are only 20 Gale Battles and 27 Meteor Explosions, for a total of 47 aircraft).

In the later stages of the war, the "Essex" class aircraft carrier withstood multiple attacks from Japanese torpedoes, bombs and "Kamikaze" suicide aircraft. Many aircraft carriers of the same class were damaged, but none of them were sunk by the Japanese. Among them, the "Franklin" was the most severely damaged ship. During the air raid on the island country's homeland (the "Franklin" had been attacked several times during previous combat operations in the Mariana Islands, the Philippines and other places), it encountered Japanese forces. Fighter planes attacked, and the first bomb penetrated the middle and forward flight deck, and then exploded in the hangar, destroying the forward elevator platform and killing almost everyone near the hangar. Only two people survived. The second bomb penetrated the middle and rear flight deck and exploded in the hangar, blowing over the lifting platform at the stern of the ship. The Franklin's communication system was almost completely interrupted. Fires broke out on the starboard forward and aft decks. Soon after, they began to ignite anti-aircraft guns and aircraft ammunition, causing multiple explosions within the next five hours. In the end, he survived with the full rescue efforts of multiple friendly ships, successfully withdrew from the battlefield, and returned to China for repairs under his own power.

The protection capabilities of the German "Essex" class aircraft carrier are naturally not much worse. Although the bomb penetrated the 38 mm thick armored deck and the 76 mm thick hangar armor, it smashed into the hangar and exploded. Fortunately, all the fighter jets and attack aircraft in the hangar were already airborne. The explosion of the bomb did not cause any chain damage. The damage control team on the aircraft carrier extinguished the hangar without much effort. The fire inside.

At this time, the U.S. military aircraft fleet was at the end of its strength. In order to break through the dense anti-aircraft firepower of the German fleet, they lost nearly one-third of their fighters, and the other third were intercepted by German A-1 attack aircraft, and they were unable to protect themselves; and those The fleet of aircraft that finally broke into the center of the fleet also encountered more intense anti-aircraft fire. Many US military aircraft were either blown up in the air or fell into the sea dragging long plumes of smoke.

But the remaining fighter planes still braved German artillery fire and dived to drop bombs and torpedoes.

At this time, the German fighter jets that rushed back finally entered the battlefield and killed these U.S. fighter jets in one breath.

At this time, the German fleet was in disarray.

Among the two aircraft carriers as the main force of the fleet, in addition to the bomb that hit the hangar, the first one also hit the flight deck. It's just that this was a small bomb that couldn't even penetrate the 38 mm thick armor. It exploded on the deck, leaving a big hole. As a result, the two bombs blasted two craters, one large and one small, on the straight deck. Fortunately, the angled deck was not damaged and the fighter planes could still land.

The second aircraft carrier was hit by two torpedoes on its side. The torpedo explosion tore two large holes in the underwater armor of the aircraft carrier's side. Sea water poured into the aircraft carrier's hull crazily, flooding multiple watertight compartments. Although the Essex-class aircraft carrier has many watertight compartments, it cannot withstand the influx of so much seawater, and the hull tilts slightly. In desperation, the captain can only order the watertight compartment on the other side to be filled with water to maintain the balance of the hull. .

Fortunately, the two aircraft carriers are not in danger of sinking and should be able to return to the nearest Adak Island port safely.

The remaining battleships suffered heavy losses. Two cruisers, three frigates, and five destroyers were sunk. The rest were also damaged, and there were countless casualties.

"These damn bastards!" Colonel Bergmann's face turned black to the extreme. Although the results they achieved were glorious enough, from the outbreak of the war to the present, the Imperial Navy's aircraft carriers had never suffered such huge losses.