Rat-a-tat-tat!
A carrier-based BF-109 fighter was firing on an Island Nation Navy Fubuki-class destroyer. Aircraft machine-gun bullets raked across the destroyer's anti-aircraft positions, throwing up showers of sparks.
"Ah!" Screams rang out without end as Island Nation sailors were struck one after another.
Four Dive Bombers seized the opportunity to attack the aircraft carrier. They plunged from high altitude and, at only five hundred meters above the sea, dropped heavy armor-piercing aerial bombs.
Although the Shirakumo destroyer was fast and promptly attempted to evade, one of the four five-hundred-kilogram Aerial Bombs still scored a hit.
Driven by acceleration, the heavy Aerial Bomb had gained tremendous kinetic energy and easily smashed through Shirakumo's deck. The bomb exploded inside the warship, and the violent blast tore the destroyer's hull apart.
Seawater surged madly into the hull, and before long, the destroyer sank beneath the waves.
After Shirakumo was sunk, the German carrier-based aircraft group began attacking the warships farther inside. The Tama Light Cruiser suffered grievous damage under the Encirclement Offensive of four German Navy Dive Bombers and four Torpedo Bombers. Two heavy armor-piercing aerial bombs nearly stripped the 5,100-ton Light Cruiser of its combat capability. Then, a 533mm Heavy Torpedo struck its midship waterline, delivering the fatal blow.
As the Tama Light Cruiser lay on the sea like a dead fish, struggling bitterly, German Navy carrier-based aircraft had already begun attacking the other warships.
"Baka! Open anti-aircraft fire! The Germans are about to attack us!" Colonel Sentaro Omori, captain of the Ise Battleship, roared.
The escorting warships on the outer perimeter were being sunk by the German Navy one after another. This undoubtedly placed immense pressure on the core Ise Battleship. Although Ise's ten twin-mounted 25mm Anti-aircraft Guns and large numbers of anti-aircraft machine guns were firing, and the anti-aircraft batteries