Major General Kavis hastily raised his binoculars to follow the circling bombers in the sky, but they had already vanished into the mist like agile seagulls.

With a bad feeling, Major General Kavis ordered, "Pay attention to the bombers in the sky, and shoot them down with machine guns!"

"Yes, General!"

The staff officer responded and relayed the order, though still puzzled in their heart.

Reconnaissance planes are used to find the enemy fleet's position. Once the enemy fleet is found, reconnaissance planes become useless. Is it wise to divert attention to deal with those reconnaissance planes at this moment?

"Boom!" A loud explosion.

Major General Kavis noticed a plume of water rising from a cruiser on the flank, and in the next second, the ship lost balance and started to circle on the spot, then helplessly fell behind.

"General," the staff officer reported, "it's the Stettin, it's been hit by a torpedo!"

"Torpedo?" Major General Kavis raised his binoculars and looked at the distant French fleet, "The enemy is at least 3 kilometers away from us, how can they fire torpedoes at this distance?"

Most torpedoes at this time had a range of less than 2 kilometers, and even those with a 3-kilometer range seldom hit targets at this distance.

(Note: At this time, most torpedoes had a speed of less than 40 knots, not fast enough to avoid forming a wake on the surface, allowing ships time to evade.)

But soon, the response from the communications officer confirmed the matter.

"General," the communications officer reported, "the Stettin reports that the torpedo was fired from an enemy ship. The Stettin took emergency evasive maneuvers, but the enemy torpedo changed direction at the last moment and hit the hull."

"What?" Major General Kavis's face changed dramatically, "The torpedo changed direction?"

The staff officer analyzed, "General, this might be a coincidence, the waves altered the torpedo's direction and it just happened to hit the Stettin."

Major General Kavis nodded slightly, this was the only explanation.

Otherwise, could it be a wire-guided torpedo?

If it were, that would be terrifying!

But soon, another destroyer was hit by a torpedo.

More bizarrely, the report from the destroyer was exactly the same as the Stettin: "Two torpedoes attacked simultaneously, we evaded one, but the other changed direction and hit the hull."

Major General Kavis's face turned ashen.

If it was just one ship, it could be considered a coincidence, but if two ships were in this situation, and one was a G101-class destroyer with a top speed of 33.5 knots.

(The image above is a German G101-class destroyer)

This class of destroyer has a speed almost equal to that of the torpedo, and yet it couldn't evade the torpedo's attack?

No, this is no coincidence.

This very likely is Shire's invention, a wire-guided torpedo that can change direction timely to track enemy warships!

It was then that Major General Kavis understood why the French fleet dared to face the German fleet of three battlecruisers with just cruisers and destroyers.

The ones who should be retreating aren't them, it's us!

However, what shocked Major General Kavis even more was what happened next.

Two bombers circled with their backs to the sun, descending in altitude to draw a near-perfect arc as they angled into the left flank of the "Saintly Fy" from the rear.

Major General Kavis raised his binoculars to look, stunned on the spot for a long moment without reacting.

Underneath the bellies of those bombers hung torpedoes!

Indeed torpedoes, he was not mistaken!

"Order the 'Saintly Fy' to take emergency evasive maneuvers!" Major General Kavis nearly shouted the command.

But it was all too late.

The two bombers descended to about 20 meters in low altitude, continuously approaching the "Saintly Fy."

The "Saintly Fy" seemed to sense the danger and changed course.

But the bombers dropped their torpedoes when they were about a kilometer away, then quickly ascended, their bellies almost scraping the battlecruiser's mast. Major General Kavis even saw the flag on the mast get whipped in the opposite direction by the wind from the planes.

Afterward, Major General Kavis immediately focused on the sea, where two distinct white water trails swiftly approached the "Saintly Fy," like two sharks charging at their prey.

"Torpedoes!" The sailors finally discovered the danger and exclaimed, "God, did I see that right? They actually used airplanes to drop torpedoes?"

The "Saintly Fy" made an emergency turn to starboard, with quick-reacting sailors even shooting at the torpedoes with rifles.

But the time left to react was too short, and a minute later, there was a deafening "boom boom," as the "Saintly Fy" was crippled amidst two columns of water.

Soon, the ship began to heel over, eventually capsizing.

The sailors didn't even have time to lower the lifeboats and jumped into the water amid shouts and calls for help, trying to escape.

The sailors on other warships were stunned by this scene, finally realizing a harsh reality: the enemy could use airplanes to sink their battleships while their own battleships didn't even have decent anti-aircraft weapons.

"General!" The staff officer looked at Major General Kavis, eyes filled with fear.

Major General Kavis understood what this meant, they should retreat now, or the entire fleet would be annihilated.

Major General Kavis did not speak. He looked at the sky expressionlessly, then walked to another spot to observe for a while, saying in a deep voice, "They have 4 bombers left. I noticed that each bomber can only carry one torpedo."

That means the French only have 4 torpedoes left, so we still have a chance to win.

But the staff officer reminded, "General, this might just be one of their flying squadrons."

By implication, another flying squadron might be on the way or out of sight of the warships.

Major General Kavis gritted his teeth, "Order all units to pay attention and evade the torpedoes dropped by the enemy bombers!"

"Yes, General," the staff officer reluctantly conveyed Major General Kavis's order.

Major General Kavis knew the danger. He knew they should retreat now.

The reason he ordered the fight to continue was that he considered another question:

If French bombers could carry torpedoes to attack warships, does it mean that the British "Caproni" bombers could as well?

Additionally, what about those torpedoes with a range of 3 kilometers that can change direction; does the Royal Navy have them as well?

If the answer is yes, then where can the German High Seas Fleet escape to?

Stay in port and rot forever?

No, absolutely not!

I'd rather die in battle here than rot in port until the last moment!

Just then, two more bombers descended to low altitude, this time, their target was clearly the "Luzov."

"Hard to port!" Major General Kavis ordered.

But the planes were too fast, dropping two torpedoes in quick succession, another two terrifying water trails approaching the "Luzov" with accurate anticipation...