Iron Cross

The sky darkened completely, and in the end it was almost impossible to see anything on the sea, even within a few thousand meters. In the increasingly dense darkness, the entire German North Sea Fleet advanced southwestward at a speed of 25 knots.

Rear Admiral Eric Bay walked out of the bridge and boarded the open deck on the port side. Facing the biting cold wind, he turned up the collar of his coat to cover his ears to keep warm. Looking far into the distance, he could see the sea and sky in the distance, and only the monotonous roar of the engine could be heard in his ears. As the vanguard, he was once again ordered to lead the artillery formation to clear the way. He already knew that Fleet W was not far northeast of Iceland, and he had a vague hunch that he was likely to encounter the British tonight.

He secretly prayed in his heart that it was best not to collide with the British. If he had to meet on a narrow road, he also hoped that the time would be later. If he was entangled by the enemy tonight, he would not be able to complete the task of crossing the Iceland-Faroe Islands waterway at night. Tomorrow If discovered, the loss would be huge - everyone knows how powerful the carrier-based aircraft performed today. A warship of more than 60,000 tons was sent to the bottom of the sea by dozens of aircraft. If the fleet cannot quickly break away from the enemy's air defense circle after dawn tomorrow, the entire North Sea Fleet will face a more violent air attack than today.

However, he was different from Kumetz - the latter objected to Machar's order to conduct the crossing tonight, thinking it was too dangerous. Instead, he believed that if the tsunami operation was to be successful, it must speed up. A day has been wasted in encircling and suppressing the British cruise fleet. If another day is wasted, the enemy we will face will only become more and more numerous.

Others who hold the same attitude include Major General Hamilton, commander of E Fleet. After receiving the battle report this afternoon, he took a breath of cold air - the German aircraft carriers and carrier-based aircraft are really too powerful, so although he was ordered Move northeast and intercept the German fleet, but he hopes that the best time to meet is in the morning. He wants the carrier-based aircraft on his escort aircraft carrier to cooperate with the land-based attack aircraft to maximize the effect, so he only uses less than 13 knots advancing slowly.

This good intention was completely shattered at around 11 o'clock in the evening. Heading southeast, the light cruiser Newcastle (Southampton class) in Force W, which was ordered to intercept the German fleet, discovered three unclear radar signals.

"Is this the enemy's fleet?"

"Not necessarily, it may be the echo burrs reflected by the waves, but..." the professional petty officer reported with difficulty, "These bright spots are on the right wing (south) of the fleet's existing route extension line. If we don't check, what if it is really true?" The enemy fleet, they were let go."

The captain and the first mate exchanged glances and reported the situation to the fleet commander, Rear Admiral Lewis, for a final decision. A call back came two minutes later: "Continue to follow up and not miss anything suspicious."

As the three escort carriers were sunk on the spot, the severely damaged and paralyzed escort carriers were finally sunk by Major General Lewis because they could not be saved. Without the drag of these slow warships, and the damaged Mississippi after emergency After repairs, the speed was restored to 21 knots, so the maximum speed of the entire W fleet could reach 21 knots. Newcastle immediately speeded up with a destroyer to investigate the situation.

They were absolutely right. Those three radar signals belonged to the three battleships in the German artillery formation: Tirpitz, Admiral Scheer and Lützow. At this moment, they were heading southwest. They did not realize that the British army had discovered them. Since the aircraft carrier formation behind the artillery formation was 35 nautical miles away from the former, they did not notice the arrival of the British fleet.

After confirming the situation, the Newcastle chased all the way. By the time the radar soldiers discovered a large number of radar signals, the route extension line of the entire W fleet had unknowingly inserted into the German fleet and divided the aircraft carrier formation and the artillery formation into two parts. There were many and dense light spots in the north, and the radar signals in the south were few and farther away from Fleet W. In addition, Lewis knew that Fleet E was waiting for the Germans further ahead, so he immediately ordered the fleet to turn left 15 compass points. Prepare to seize the T-head formation.

At this moment, the German army, who had just woken up from a dream, also discovered the British fleet, and the radar soldiers reported that the distance between the leading ships of both sides was less than 18 nautical miles, and they were getting closer and closer. Machar knew that the situation was serious: feedback from the radar situation It looks like there are at least 5-6 moderately strong signals. In order to avoid directly confronting the opponent's fleet, he decisively ordered the formation to turn 15 compass points to the right.

At 12:24, a sharp explosion suddenly erupted over the Scharnhorst, which was at the forefront of the German aircraft carrier formation. The captain, Captain Hintz, looked up suddenly and saw a sudden burst of missiles in the sky a little distance away. The flares were radiant and dazzling, dyeing the dark sky purple-blue. The beautiful light curtain reflected the jumping and splashing waves on the water. When the flares slowly fell, Scharnho living in the wave valley was The shadow of the USS Ste was slender.

"Enemy ship!" the lookout petty officer on the Newcastle shouted. Although the oncoming northwest wind made observation difficult, he still seized the opportunity of the dazzling light of the flare to cut through the night and saw Scharnhor. The figure of the Sturt. A few minutes later, Colonel Hintz discovered a series of flashes in the south. The 356mm cannon on the battleship Idaho opened fire. The shells roared loudly, flew over the main mast of the Scharnhorst, and landed on the 1,000 Many meters away.

The first rangefinder of "29,000 meters" was turned on, and the sighting sergeant immediately reported the approximate data.

"Right rudder 15 degrees!" Hintz gave the steering order as expected, and then shouted, "Ready to shoot!"

A moment later, Scharnhorst immediately turned to the right, and the main and secondary guns raised their muzzles and turned to port together. The gunnery officer shouted: "Aim at the target! Aim at the target!"

A minute later, reporting that all was ready, Hinz yelled, "Fire!"

When the Scharnhorst jumped out of the wave trough on the port side, the 283mm naval gun sprayed out orange-red fireballs, and white smoke rose up on the deck, scurrying around after being blown by the northwest wind. After it fired back, another batch of shells fell more than 800 meters ahead of the ship on the port side, exploding several water columns tens of meters high.

"26,700 meters..." After the sighting sergeant read out this distance, all the staff officers felt their hearts pounding. Judging from the whistling sound of the shells and the water column caused by the impact point, this was at least the effect that could only be caused by firing from a 14-inch main gun. ——The one who opened fire was a battleship, and a battleship couldn't run that far in just one minute, so there were at least two battleships of this level on the opposite side. Radar soldiers' reports also support this view.

The 356mm caliber artillery was obviously not something Scharnhorst could withstand, not to mention there were two more enemy ships. Captain Hinz no longer tried to fight back, but instead ordered the warship to turn 15 degrees to the right again and sent a signal for help.

Machar, who was commanding from behind, had learned the whole situation and was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot. He hurriedly issued a series of orders: "The aircraft carrier formation changed its course to the north, increased its speed to 30 knots, and broke away at maximum speed; the destroyers Cover the S-boat to launch a torpedo attack on the enemy, contain the enemy, and cover the front of the Scharnhorst; notify Major General Bei of the artillery formation and ask him to return immediately for reinforcements!"

Hearing the bursts of artillery fire from behind and the telegram from the flagship, Major General Bei also knew that the situation was urgent and immediately ordered the formation to turn around and return for reinforcements. The tall Tirpitz turned 180 degrees on the spot. Turn and drive in the direction you came from.

Until this time, the Germans had not understood that the bombardment of the American battleship was guided by the radar of the Newcastle. Therefore, both the judgment of the impact point and the analysis of the enemy ship's position were faster than the Germans. The Scharnhorst could not pass. The method of returning fire and concealing its own muzzle flash could not interfere with Fleet W too much, and the closer Newcastle was ignored by Scharnhorst because it had not fired. Colonel Hintz only felt that the flashes of the enemy warships' shells were getting denser and denser, and the impact point of the shells was getting more and more accurate from his own ship. Due to being forced to slow down during the turn, the distance between the two American battleships and the Scharnhorst was now It has been shortened to less than 25,000 meters, and the nearest Newcastle is even less than 18,000 meters.

At 12:48, a batch of near-missed bombs landed near the Scharnhorst, setting off rows of white water columns. Half a minute later, a shell hit the mainmast. The top of the mast was blown away, and the steel fragments were like pieces. Raindrops fell all over the superstructure. The mainmast shook violently, as if a tall palm tree had been suddenly attacked by a typhoon, and the radar screen was all gray.

"This is not a battleship shell!" Lieutenant General Kumetz, who was sitting on the Scharnhorst, exclaimed, "otherwise it wouldn't be this powerful." This time he guessed correctly. The shell just fired was not a battleship shell. What was fired was a 152mm shell fired by the Newcastle, from a distance of only 15,000 meters.

The radar suddenly lost its function, and the Scharnhorst was blinded. The officers and soldiers on the ship were all on tenterhooks, fearing that the next salvo of enemy artillery shells would fall on the warship, but they did not dare to sneak away at all costs. Let's go - Scharnhorst is the most powerful warship in the entire aircraft carrier formation. The aircraft carrier and other light cruisers behind it are trying to turn around and retreat. Time must be bought for them. Once the British rush in, I am afraid that all the warships behind will be Hard to survive.

Therefore, although the enemy's artillery fire came one after another, the Scharnhorst could not just slip away and could only continue to deal with the British fleet.

"Kill the nearest enemy cruiser first!" Hintz was determined to ignore the battleships behind him and just vent his anger on the Newcastle, which was closest to the ship and had been firing cold guns. Two minutes later, the 283mm main gun was aimed at Newcastle fired a salvo.