Zeiss, a time-honored brand in the European optical industry, had developed many excellent products. After the Anglo-German peace, it received many British orders. The British fleet shelling Rangoon, Burma, basically used Zeiss optical observation lenses. In the optical observation lenses, the J-9 fighters flying low towards the British fleet all carried a thick object underneath.

Ordinary people probably couldn't distinguish the difference between a big bomb and a torpedo, but the British fleet observers judged it was a torpedo just by seeing the shape of this thing more than 10,000 meters away in the optical observer. In addition to the high level of British observers, the standard of Zeiss optical equipment was also very important.

The perimeter of the three King George V-class battleships was a protection group composed of destroyers, all installed with US fire control systems. Originally, Roosevelt intended to use this equipment to rip off Britain severely, for example, exchanging 50 destroyers for some British bases in key locations.

But after the Anglo-German peace, Britain and Germany conducted a lot of military cooperation, and the United States did not highlight its irreplaceability at this stage. This most advanced radar fire control system had to be sold to Britain through normal trade.

These fire control radars aimed at the Chinese fighters within 30 seconds, but the Chinese fighters were flying at an altitude of 40 meters above the sea surface. The artillery above 100mm controlled by the fire control radar could not lower the shooting angle to such a low level, and the range of the heavy machine guns controlled by the fire control system was only 3 kilometers. They couldn't reach the Chinese fighters at all.

"Are the Chinese madmen really crazy!" An air defense weapon operation officer on a British destroyer cursed. The British Air Force knew very well how dangerous low-altitude flight close to the sea surface was. With a slight deviation, the plane would crash directly into the sea surface.

Water looked soft, but hitting the sea surface at a speed of more than 200 kilometers per hour was no different from hitting concrete; the plane would be destroyed immediately. Under the huge impact, the pilot would faint at best or suffer ruptured internal organs at worst, basically without considering being rescued. This was something only the most fanatical madmen would do, which fit the Chinese madmen very well.

The British Navy's view of the Chinese Air Force was undoubtedly prejudice. There was no lack of passionate people among Chinese pilots, but their own lives could still keep everyone calm. The pilots launching the attack now concentrated on controlling the altitude and speed of the plane relying on instruments. The altimeter radar provided the altitude from the sea surface, and the surface search radar provided the distance to the enemy ship. The J-9 fighter was a two-seat fighter, and these complex and precise tasks were shared by two pilots.

At a distance of 5 kilometers from the British fleet, the operator in the back seat counted down, "3, 2, 1! Fire!" His finger also pressed the launch button.

The air-launched torpedo weighing nearly 1 ton, firmly fixed on the buckle under the plane, was released under the control of the fly-by-wire system. The J-9 fighter suddenly became lighter, and the pilot immediately pulled the plane to the upper left while turning the plane's power to the maximum. The fighter flew straight into the sky with uneven acceleration, making a 180-degree turn with a smooth aerial somersault trajectory.

If the British fleet air defense system fired fully into the air at this time, it was possible to find a firing angle. But they had no chance because the torpedo rushed towards the British warship with a very obvious wake. The radio communication system inside the fleet immediately became lively. "This is Ship 019. A torpedo entered the water from the 209-degree direction of my ship, angle of incidence 15 degrees. My ship is evading."

"This is Ship 019. Two more torpedoes entered the water from the 215-degree direction of my ship, angle of incidence 15 degrees..."

With the transmission of various data, computers on various large British ships began to calculate frantically, and the fleet began to mobilize the positions of all warships based on the calculation results. In the 21st century where He Rui lived, these were all done by computers. In this era, although technology had not reached the level of the 21st century, the basic methods of coping were already very mature.

The captain of the outermost destroyer was confident about avoiding the torpedoes, but beyond his expectations, those torpedoes actually adjusted their direction automatically during the voyage. The long wakes showed arcs, and the tips of the arcs rushed straight towards the destroyer.

The destroyer captain was stunned. He loudly ordered the helmsman to adjust direction. All personnel in the bridge stood where they were, holding tightly to things around them that could help stabilize their bodies. The high-maneuver operation of the ship made it difficult to stand.

For a moment, many British naval personnel thought they could probably avoid the torpedoes, but with a huge vibration, the captain and the personnel in the bridge were shaken directly to the ground. The captain's head collided with the hard table. Before his consciousness disappeared, the captain shouted in his heart, "Damn Jerries!" Then he passed out.

After the Anglo-German peace, in order to strengthen military mutual trust between the two sides, Britain and Germany exchanged equipment. Britain then learned that Germany had produced a torpedo that tracked noise sources, which could hit enemy warships very effectively in naval battles. The automatic tracking mode of Chinese torpedoes obviously adopted the same idea as German torpedoes.

The British destroyer captain's view was correct, but China developed this torpedo guidance system independently and did not introduce technology from Germany. China's torpedo guidance system used technologies such as logic circuits, laser gyroscopes, wireless control explosion, and timed explosion.

The outermost British warships were sunk in a very short time, and a huge gap immediately appeared in their fleet air defense system. Follow-up torpedo attack aircraft swarmed in through this gap, and torpedoes were shot from this gap towards the battleships located in the center of the fleet as if they cost no money.

Battleship helmsmen were naval officers of extremely high levels. Facing traditional torpedo attacks, battleships might even pass through the gaps between three parallel-fired torpedoes. But facing 10 torpedoes fired from multiple angles, this was no longer a situation that human power could cope with.

The first victim was the battleship *Anson*. It tried to use the extreme speed of 34 knots to get rid of the torpedoes, but the huge noise made by the propellers became the target of the torpedoes. The Chinese torpedo using a solid fuel rocket engine slammed into the rear of the battleship *Anson* at a speed of 42 knots, and the speed of the *Anson* slowed down immediately.

After the *Anson* began to list, the middle of the battleship *Howe* was hit successively by three torpedoes coming from the side front. Hundreds of kilograms of RDX high explosives exploded inside the ship, causing the ammunition depot of the *Howe* to detonate sympathetically. A column of fire thousands of meters high broke through the deck and rushed straight into the sky. The huge battleship broke into two sections from the middle. Although the battleship *Howe* was hit later, it sank earlier than the battleship *Anson*.

At this time, 8 of the 12 British destroyers on the periphery had been sunk. The former fleet air defense system completely disintegrated. Chinese J-9 fighters had begun attacking from both front and rear directions. More than a dozen white wakes appeared on the sea surface, centered on the battleship *Duke of York*, forming the shape of a chrysanthemum.

Hearing the news that there were torpedoes all around, front, back, left, and right, the British Fleet Commander stood up with a pale face, adjusted his military cap, and said to a group of equally pale naval officers around him in a calm voice full of emotion, "Gentlemen, long live the British Empire!"

The surrounding officers were stunned. Some officers just reacted, and before they had time to echo the Commander's words, the *Duke of York* vibrated violently. The underwater part of this huge 36,000-ton warship was blown open with more than a dozen large holes. The British naval officers and soldiers located on the lower levels of the warship were swept away by the surging seawater before they could even scream. Those wide-open mouths were immediately filled with seawater, blocking their screams in their throats.

The British Navy on the middle and lower levels ran desperately to the upper levels, but the seawater poured in too fast. Their speed running up was far slower than the speed of the warship sinking. Moreover, too many people ran up along the internal stairs. Under the fear of survival, the sailors pushed and shoved, immediately blocking the narrow passages. Within 3 minutes, tens of thousands of tons of seawater poured into the warship. Within 10 minutes, the *Duke of York* sank into the sea with thousands of British sailors and the fleet command.

Three minutes later than the *Duke of York*, the battleship *Anson* also sank into the sea with its stern down and bow raised high.

At this time, only 4 British destroyers remained on the sea surface. After losing the air defense protection of surface ships, the remaining British Air Force fled desperately and were immediately shot down by the overwhelming quantity and quality of the Chinese Air Force.

When the British destroyer captains thought they were finished, they received a radio message from the Chinese Air Force on the international public channel: "Your main force has been annihilated. Continuing to fight is meaningless. Since our army has no ships here, we cannot rescue the British naval officers and soldiers who fell into the water. Out of humanitarianism, our army demands your ship surrender to rescue the people in the water as soon as possible."

The faces of the British destroyer captains all turned white. As the glorious British Navy, they were unwilling to surrender, but they were also unwilling to die in vain. A few minutes later, a British destroyer captain replied, "The glorious tradition of the British Navy does not allow us to surrender."

The other party replied immediately, "You can choose humanitarian action. After the rescue, our army will detain the British warships. But personnel participating in humanitarian rescue will not be considered prisoners of war. We will transfer you to the front line and hand you over to your country as soon as possible. Please rest assured, we respect soldiers who fight bravely, so our army will provide proof including photos to the British side to ensure that the actions of the officers and soldiers participating in humanitarian actions on your ship will not be misunderstood as surrender."

The British destroyer captains all knew that they were now fish on the chopping board. The reason for refusing to surrender was naturally the so-called military honor, but more because there was no way out to surrender now. When the Chinese army gave them enough of a way out and promised to release them immediately, the British destroyer captains were also unwilling to die in vain with the officers and soldiers of the whole ship.

Within the 20-minute thinking time stipulated by the Chinese Air Force, the destroyer captains all decided to "participate in humanitarian rescue operations." During the rescue operations, the British captains all sent telegrams reporting the current situation to the Command of the British Forces in India. The Chinese Air Force also reported the battle situation to the superiors.

The British side was shocked. They didn't expect that the fleet air defense system, which performed extremely well during domestic tests, would be so vulnerable after losing air cover.

The members of the Central Military Commission breathed a sigh of relief. In China's exercises, the Air Force showed an overwhelming advantage over the Navy. But the Chinese Navy had always been weak, and there were always people worried that an old naval power like Britain could do what the Chinese Navy could not. Judging from the results of this battle, the British Navy was not only no stronger than the Chinese Air Force but even performed worse.

The voice of the battleship faction in the Navy was originally very small. It was only after China built more than a dozen battleships that the voice of the battleship faction became a bit louder. This was entirely because battleship captains did not want to be in the position of auxiliary ships from the beginning. This campaign proved the weakness of standalone battleships facing the Air Force. Battleship captains either kept silent or considered whether they could transfer to become aircraft carrier captains now.

The Air Force was in high spirits, but received a notification from He Rui: "The J-9 is a very good advanced trainer aircraft and can serve as very effective low-speed, low-intensity equipment for the Air Force. But the future sky will still be dominated by jet fighters."

If it weren't for this naval battle, the Air Force would definitely suspect that someone had said something bad in front of He Rui. But only the victor can be generous. With this great victory as a foundation, He Rui's words could be accepted relatively easily. To date, the J-9 had performed well in air combat and bombing. This time, the J-9 showed strong combat capabilities in torpedo attacks again. It was indeed a pity that such a fighter with full combat capabilities was not the hegemon of the future sky. Although there were still many problems with jet fighters now, and it would take some time to produce satisfactory models, with He Rui's instructions, the Air Force was full of confidence in future jet fighters.

Those senior Air Force generals with a more global view heard the words He Rui didn't say explicitly from his words: the Chinese Air Force should no longer invest funds in the continued development of propeller aircraft.

When a weapon achieves unprecedented success, everyone naturally develops path dependence. Especially those who did not have decision-making power before would use such a victory to fight for decision-making power. These comrades might not act out of malice, and their reasons seemed reasonable: "As long as we do this and that, the J-9 fighter and its follow-up models can do this and that."

From the perspective of development, this statement was undoubtedly marking time. So He Rui couldn't say it explicitly. For high-level generals, it was enough to know this kind of thing; saying it out loud would only hurt unity.

On November 1, the British Pacific Fleet received an order: only the *Prince of Wales* would remain among the 6 battleships in the fleet, and the remaining 5 would go to Mumbai to join the Indian Ocean Fleet. The naval forces in the Singapore theater were adjusted, with the battleship *Prince of Wales* and the battlecruiser *Repulse* as core ships, mainly consisting of cruisers installed with fleet air defense systems, to build a more complete air defense system.

But the Commander of the Singapore Theater soon discovered that all he could do was to let the 5 precious battleships leave Singapore as soon as possible. In the last two days, the main attacking force of the Chinese army changed from the Air Force to the Army. Under air cover, the Chinese Army that seized Kuantan Port suddenly divided its forces into two routes, one lunging straight at Kuala Lumpur, and the other continuing south, heading straight for Singapore.

The Commonwealth troops responsible for blocking on the road collapsed at the first touch. All distress telegrams emphasized that under the leadership of tank units, the Chinese army's offensive was fierce, and the defenders could not resist at all.

Lieutenant General Arthur Percival, Commander of the Singapore Theater, had participated in the Western European campaign and seen the fierce offensive of German armored forces with his own eyes. The main force of the Singapore Theater was the British Army and the ANZAC Corps, both defending in the Singapore Fortress. Those used to block the Chinese army were basically local native soldiers. They were not equipped with tanks at all, not even heavy artillery. It was impossible to stop the Chinese armored forces.

Looking at the two red arrows representing the Chinese army on the map, Lieutenant General Arthur Percival fell into deep depression. The British forces in Singapore and Malaya were not weak. With the British army's current understanding of war, this army would definitely have achieved very good results if placed in the period of the Western European campaign. But the performance of the Chinese army, like the German army in the Western European campaign, exceeded the imagination of the British army again.

If he hadn't witnessed the thousand-plane air battle, Lieutenant General Arthur Percival could not have imagined that comprehensive advantages on the ground and at sea could be achieved relying solely on the Air Force. Sitting in his chair, Lieutenant General Arthur Percival suddenly had the thought that he was really old.