The Rise of the Third Reich

"Sir, look over there. It's an Iowa-class ship."

Hearing the adjutant's voice, Admiral Halsey, who was riding on a JRM "Mars" long-range maritime transport airship, yawned, turned his tired and tanned face, and looked down. looking out over the sea.

Below is the Gulf of Panama, and the almost 24-hour flight (he flew from Niihau Island to the Gulf of Panama, but the JRM "Mars" long-range sea transport airship does not have such a long range and must refuel in San Diego midway) has finally come to an end.

It is now dusk, and in the bay under the setting sun, a fleet of more than 20 ships is lining up to enter the west entrance of the Panama Canal. The most eye-catching one is undoubtedly an "Iowa" class battleship with a standard displacement of 44,560 tons.

The huge hull is like a floating city, slowly shining in the golden sunshine, and is slowly sailing into a wide river next to Panama City.

"This is the Wisconsin," Admiral Halsey said to himself, "the most powerful battleship in the world. We have four of them now. If the Germans find out that they have all passed through the Panama Canal and entered the Caribbean, they will definitely It will be tense for a while.”

According to the plan, four "Iowa"-class battleships that participated in the Second Battle of the Hawaiian Islands and one "North Carolina"-class battleship (USS Washington) that also disembarked from the Hawaiian Islands battlefield will be in the Port of San Diego. After completing simple maintenance, it sailed into the Caribbean through the Panama Canal.

At the same time, the four Soviet-class battleships anchored in New York Harbor will also wear the Stars and Stripes and join the U.S. Navy - in the name of "Lease". In exchange, the Soviet Pacific Fleet could use U.S. bases in the Pacific and receive supplies and repairs at the same time. At least 100 U.S. submarines would fly the red flag and participate in the Soviet Red Navy's war.

In this way, 4 Soviet-class, 4 Iowa-class, and 1 North Carolina-class battleships will form the US Navy's iron fist of attack in the Atlantic Ocean!

"Admiral, will the Germans discover our Iowa class entering the Caribbean?" Halsey's adjutant seemed a little confused by the officer's words.

"Yes!" Halsey said, "They have an intelligence network along the Panama Canal, and... there must be many new German submarines in the Gulf of Panama. It's a pity that our reconnaissance planes and destroyers can't catch them!"

"The Germans' new submarine?" the adjutant asked, "is it the kind of U-shaped submarine that is said to be able to submerge underwater for a long time and make very little noise?"

"Yes." Halsey shook his head, "Another masterpiece of the Germans! If we could have such a submarine, the Pacific War would have ended long ago."

“However, our and Soviet submarines and destroyers still sank many Japanese transport ships,” the adjutant comforted Halsey. “The number of sinkings in July exceeded 300,000 tons, which was unbearable for the Japanese. "

Many of the achievements in July were contributed by the Soviets. Not only did more than 100 submarines of the Pacific Fleet join the battle, but two Kronshtadt-class battlecruisers also escaped the pursuit of the main force of the Japanese Combined Fleet. After the American Independence-class aircraft carrier and Cleveland-class cruiser merged, they formed two break-up formations and broke into the Western Pacific to kill.

Halsey didn't respond, just sighed softly.

He knows very well that no matter how many Japanese transport ships are sunk or how many oil wells in Southeast Asia are blown up, it will not mean much to the United States. Because this is just a bargaining chip on the negotiation table - the reason why the U.S. Navy and Army Air Force are still frantically attacking Japan is simply because Japan refuses to withdraw from the Hawaiian Islands and the Aleutian Islands.

While Halsey was talking to the adjutant, the giant seaplane he was riding in (with a maximum take-off weight of 74.8 tons) had already landed in the Gulf of Panama. After gliding on the water for a while, it stopped steadily on a heavily guarded water surface. Next to the aircraft terminal.

…

"Karl, what did you see?"

"Sir, we found that an 'Iowa' class ship has entered the river!"

"Let me see."

I don’t know if Admiral Halsey really has the so-called intuition of a famous general, or if a blind cat has encountered a dead mouse. Just as his plane landed in the Bay of Panama, the U-boat numbered U-2511 was wandering underwater not far from the west entrance of the Panama Canal. It also raised its periscope and looked around, and discovered that the U-boat was entering the canal. USS Wisconsin.

This "Sea Wolf" lurking under the water is the latest and most powerful Type 21 submarine of the German Navy. If it surfaces for people to watch, any naval officer who knows something about submarines will be able to tell that it is extraordinary just by its appearance.

It has an extremely compact streamlined body and is extremely slender, like a powerful ship that can split the waves. The command tower with curved lines looks very modern. The sleek and narrow submarine deck does not have the common deck guns and anti-aircraft machine guns, and it looks neat and elegant... If an expert in building or using submarines looks at it, the mere lack of deck guns and anti-aircraft machine guns will make it look like a submarine. I realized how extraordinary this beautiful submarine was.

Deck guns and anti-aircraft machine guns are not superfluous for ordinary submarines, but indispensable!

Because now, except for the Type 21 U-boat, all submarines in the world can only continue to sail dozens of nautical miles underwater at a low speed of a few knots. Therefore, when they sail on the sea, they float on the water most of the time, and only dive when entering combat or avoiding attacks. Therefore, deck guns and anti-aircraft machine guns used for self-defense when floating on the water are indispensable weapons.

However, the Type 21 U-boat does not have deck guns and anti-aircraft machine guns, which shows that it is a submarine that all submariners dream of, and can truly potentially patrol and fight underwater!

The underwater speed and range of this submarine are unprecedented. The maximum underwater speed is as high as 17.2 knots, which has exceeded the cruising speed of most ship hulls. And its large-capacity battery can ensure that it can cruise 360 ​​seas at a speed of 4 knots, or sail continuously for 10 hours at 12-14 knots.

This means that the Type 21 U-boat can patrol underwater at a high speed throughout the day and then surface to recharge at night. Therefore, deck guns and anti-aircraft machine guns have become weapons and equipment that can be cancelled.

And the attack power of this type of U-boat that can fly underwater is also quite amazing!

"It is indeed an Iowa class!" Major Albert Schnee, the captain of the U-2511 boat, put his eyes on the periscope and soon spotted the battleship "Wisconsin" entering the canal.

"It's a pity that it's too far away and our torpedoes can't hit it." First mate Carl Schellenberg said.

"This is already the fourth ship, and there is another large aircraft carrier passing through..." Major Schnee exchanged the periscope to the first mate, then took the notebook recording the situation report and started reading it. It records the discoveries of two Type 21 U-boats, U-2501 and U-2506, which were also performing patrol missions in the Gulf of Panama on August 8 and 9.

In fact, the purpose of the three Type 21 U-boats being placed in the Gulf of Panama was not to sneak attack passing American warships, but to patrol and monitor.

The importance of the Panama Canal is not only known to Americans, so one of the main tasks of the 10th Submarine Group deployed by the German Navy Submarine Command in the Pacific is to monitor the canal.

At the same time, the German intelligence agency has also deployed a cobweb-like network of agents in Panama, which can also closely monitor every large American surface ship passing through the canal.

…

August 12, 1944.

In the newly opened Joint Operations Command Center of the General Staff Headquarters in Zossen, staff officers in front of the wall are constantly marking eye-catching red and blue arrows, dots, lines and stickers of ships or aircraft of various sizes on the tactical map. No matter who sees this super-large tactical map covered with various lines and stickers at first glance, they will probably feel confused.

However, if you study it carefully, you will find that the situation of the Atlantic battlefield shown on this large tactical map is very clear and intuitive.

When a staff officer wearing a blue navy uniform pasted a sticker symbolizing the "Iowa" class battleship on the sea east of the Panama Canal on the map, the German Navy Commander-in-Chief Marshal Raeder turned his head and said to Hersmann who was present The Imperial Marshal said: "This is the fourth ship...and the four Soviet-class ships that were originally anchored in New York Harbor also disappeared last night."

"Four Soviet-class ships, four Iowa-class ships..." Hersman frowned, "The Americans seem to be preparing for a large-scale military operation!"

"It's Guyana!" Air Force Commander-in-Chief Redel said, "The Americans have wanted to attack there for a long time."

"It may also be the Azores and Cape Verde." Naval Aviation Commander Richthofen was also at the General Staff today. "If the autumnal equinox passes, Iceland and Greenland may also be targets of the Americans!"

"Marshal Imperial, should you leave the 10th, 11th and 12th Task Forces in the Atlantic Ocean?" Marshal Redel made a suggestion at this time.

"What is Marshal Lütjens's opinion?" Hersmann asked.

"He believed that because of the existence of the Panama Canal, the Americans could combine their two-ocean fleets...the two-ocean fleets actually became one fleet." Redl said, "So the battleships and aircraft carriers that entered the Caribbean were all at the same time. The fleet remaining on the coast of Chile can be concentrated on one battlefield if necessary, unless we can destroy the Panama Canal!"