Iron Cross

With the help of the wind and rain in the North Atlantic, around 9:00 on February 10, the main force of the German North Sea Fleet participating in the "Strait Plan" entered the North Sea in a mighty manner. The most eye-catching ones in the entire fleet were the two "aircraft carriers" in the middle. , one of which is the Graf Zeppelin, which serves as the flagship, and the other is the Europa, but the specific inside story is only known to some senior officials and the officers and soldiers on the Europa - although the Europa looks like an aircraft carrier from the air , but he is not what he seems.

The Europa is a high-speed cruise ship built by Germany in the 1930s, with a displacement of nearly 50,000 tons. On its maiden voyage from Bremen to New York, it took only 4 days, 17 hours and 6 minutes to arrive at the Deutsche Post Terminal on the East River in New York, and thus received the symbol The highest award for fast cruises - the Blue Ribbon Award. The average cruising speed is as high as 27 knots, and the maximum speed in emergency conditions can reach 33 knots. After the war began, this giant ship interrupted its fate as a cruise ship and began to be transformed into a troop carrier. Then in 1942, a transformation plan was launched to transform it into an aircraft carrier, with plans to install a 240-meter-long aviation deck. However, due to design issues with the hull and internal compartments of the civilian ship, the transformation quickly came to a halt, because the designers discovered that this aircraft carrier, which had a higher displacement than the Zeppelin, would carry less aircraft than the latter, and the engineering cost and transformation time were completely different. The gains outweighed the losses, so the Naval Command plan was scrapped.

The transformation plan was restarted after Hoffman's crossing, but the positioning changed. The new positioning was called integrated transport ship and cover aircraft carrier, with the ability to transport a complete armored battalion, a complete armored grenadier battalion and 36 aircraft (24 complete aircraft + 12 spare parts), and at the same time, it also has a decent aviation deck, and is equipped with catapults and arresting cables. In fact, this aircraft carrier has no hangars or elevators. There are transport warehouses under the deck. All aircraft are tied to the deck. It also carries 4 Ar-272 water reconnaissance aircraft.

The special positioning and weird design make this Europa very interesting to use: Since there is no hangar, there is no aircraft elevator on the deck except for a small ammunition elevator, and all the extra places are installed with various calibers. Anti-aircraft guns; because it is a special transport ship, movable warehouse doors are set up on both sides of the ship. It can not only carry out transportation tasks step by step after docking at the port, but also set up ramps through the movable warehouse doors to allow some tanks, armored vehicles and personnel to pass through in emergency situations such as beach grabbing. Quick release; due to the laying of the aviation deck and the installation of take-off and landing facilities, combat aircraft can take off and land normally, and can completely fake the real thing during combat, either to deter the enemy, or to protect the real aircraft carrier from harm... The most interesting thing It is the performance of the transport ship when unloading: there are special marks on the deck. As long as certain steel plates with a thickness of only 5mm are cut open by gas welding, the cargo can be easily lifted out of the cabin. It is also easy to restore - re-weld. Just go back.

All in all, there is no similar ship among the three major naval powers of Britain, Japan and the United States, but it is just right for the German Navy. With the Europa, it is equivalent to having a high-speed transport ship, a super large escort aircraft carrier and a cover fleet aircraft carrier. Compared with the escort aircraft carrier, the integrated combat ship is absolutely impeccable in speed - faster than the Zeppelin. No matter how you look at it, Europa is the most suitable role to complete the tsunami plan. Some people at the top of the Navy Department joked that it was a professional warship specially tailored for the tsunami plan.

Whenever this happens, Marshal Redl will put on a serious expression and joke: "The Europa is the best warship in the German Navy and the core of our tactics. All plans are made around this ship."

According to the original timetable of the tsunami plan, the North Sea Fleet's dispatch time was the night of the 12th, but intelligence showed that the weather would improve starting on the 13th, and General Richthofen vowed to ensure that the naval aviation force was fully adapted. The aircraft carrier is completely capable of dispatching normally, so the fleet was ordered to dispatch in advance.

But there was a problem with this adjustment. By 14:00 in the afternoon, according to the planned assumption, the Tirpitz formation should have been discovered by aircraft on the Shetland Islands or the British fleet, and then the formation would take advantage of the situation to change direction and attract The British fleet headed northwest, and along the way created convenience for the North Sea Fleet to break through the blockade. But by 15:00, the Tirpitz formation was drifting alone on the sea near Norway. Not to mention aircraft or warships, not even a British armed trawler was seen all day long - an attempt to expose itself all of a sudden It was shattered.

"What should we do?" The staff looked at the commander of the formation, Lieutenant General Kumetz, expecting him to make a decision. If the situation continued like this, if the British did not discover it before dark, the formation would have passed the Bergen line. After Bergen, if you continue to go south along the Norwegian coastline, you can easily break through the North Sea and return to Wilhelmshaven. If it were normal, they would not want this kind of scene, but the problem is that now they are carrying out a major mission, and attracting the attention of the British is the key. key.

No one thinks that the British will give up the blockade of the North Sea. There are always the most cruisers, frigates and reconnaissance aircraft here to prevent the German navy from breaking into the Atlantic. This strange situation can only mean one thing - either the British People have discovered the formation without knowing it, or the British have transferred their main force to the south to monitor the main fleet.

After thinking about it, Kumets said: "If we don't encounter the British before dark, we will go to Bergen for replenishment. On the one hand, we will refuel the destroyers, and on the other hand, we will let the British know that we are here - there may be British spies there."

Everyone agreed with this proposal, and now there is no other way.

What Kumets didn't know was that the main fleet entering the North Sea had actually been discovered. A British submarine operating in the North Sea discovered the German main fleet heading north at 13:00 noon, and quickly reported the situation to the Navy Department: "We found a battleship, 2-3 heavy cruisers, 2 aircraft carriers, 2-3 light cruisers, 6-8 destroyers... The route is 340 degrees, and the speed is 18 knots."

But this intelligence, which is very consistent with the actual situation, caused great controversy after it was sent to London.

"What do you think of this intelligence?" Admiral Tovey, commander of the Home Fleet, said, "I don't worry about the number of battleships and heavy cruisers, because German battleships look very similar and are easily mistaken at a distance, and the main naval forces stationed in Germany can indeed support this scale. The ones confirmed in Norway are Tirpitz, Hipper and Lützow, and there are at least a few warships in the homeland, such as Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, Admiral Scheer, and Prinz Eugen. Light cruisers and destroyers are not the key. My doubts are about aircraft carriers - do you think the intelligence is credible?"

According to the intelligence collected by the intelligence system, Germany has only one Zeppelin aircraft carrier under construction, which was started before the war. The other aircraft carrier, Peter-Strasse, has been suspended and demolished. Although no one has news that the Zeppelin has been built and used, Tovey can accept the fact that it has been in service based on the principle of predicting the enemy's leniency, but where did the other aircraft carrier come from?

"Could it be that the submarine saw it wrong? In fact, it was just a large oil tanker. From a distance, the oil tanker and the aircraft carrier are very similar in appearance."

"The Germans do have an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean, which was transferred to them by the Italians. There are also a lot of Japanese aircraft carriers in the Mediterranean. The problem is that the warships in the Mediterranean can never reach the North Sea. Even if the Germans can pass through the Strait of Gibraltar without being noticed, they can't reach the North Sea based on the time, not to mention that they are now in the German fleet." Pound frowned and said, "I think we can put aside the focus on the aircraft carrier for now - we will soon find out how many ships there are. What I am worried about is the Germans' intentions. What do they want to do with all their main warships?"

At first, everyone thought that the Germans were going to meet the Tirpitz back home, but if the news about the aircraft carrier is true, the above judgment must be questioned - there are many airports along the coast of Norway and Denmark. If Germany wants to use aircraft to cover the retreat of the Tirpitz, it is not worth taking the risk of taking precious aircraft carriers.

Another reasonable explanation is that the German main fleet is going to enter the Atlantic to disrupt the trade. In this way, the situation will be more serious. The German fleet with aircraft carriers is completely different from the German fleet without aircraft carriers, and its destructive efficiency will be doubled.

"Where was the submarine when it discovered the main force of the German army?"

"Sea Area No. 47, about 350 nautical miles east and north of Edinburgh, is exactly the junction of the two minefields - it is estimated that the Germans have roughly explored the distribution of mines."

"It will be dark in 3 hours, and the weather will not be good tomorrow, and the aircraft will still not be able to take off." Tovey said distressedly, "Or let Fleet E go over to block it first? Letting the main force of Germany run away is not okay. The Prime Minister told us to use this opportunity to destroy the German fleet as much as possible."

"The Tirpitz has not been discovered yet. It poses a greater threat to us. Fleet E cannot move for the time being." Pound said after a moment of silence, "Let the cruiser go first Go over and have a look. Let the boys be careful and look at the radar clearly. Don't let the enemy run away. "

At 12 o'clock in the evening, when Tovey, Pound and a large group of staff were still working on the nautical chart to discuss the whereabouts of the German fleet and possible battle intentions, the phone came in. The communications staff only asked two questions and became excited: "Sir, the Tirpitz has been found."

"Where is it?"

"It suddenly entered Bergen, Norway for refueling and supplies 2 hours ago."

"Is the situation reliable?"

"Reliable, it is the intelligence sent by MI6. For this intelligence, they lost 3 intelligence officers."

But Tovey's brows did not relax after hearing this, but frowned even tighter. His intuition told him that there was a big problem with this intelligence.