The Rise of the Third Reich

On the night of May 2, the Irish Sea.

The flagship of the British Home Fleet, the battleship Queen Elizabeth.

The ship, with a standard displacement of 32,468 tons, sailed at a speed of 18 knots in the sea full of moonlight and stars, but no light was visible.

In the bridge, Admiral John Kolonin Tovey stood by with his arms folded, watching the staff discussing calculations on the chart, his eyebrows furrowed more and more.

Since receiving the order to leave the Firth of Clyde this afternoon, the discussion and deduction on the chart in the bridge have never stopped. And the result of each deduction is almost the same, that is, the Home Fleet will win a great victory in the naval battle tomorrow morning!

It should be a great victory!

Because this time the Royal Navy has an absolute advantage in terms of manpower. According to the reconnaissance of submarines and seaplanes, before dark today, the main force of the European Combined Fleet is not within 400 nautical miles around the island of Ireland. This means that even if the battleships of the European Combined Fleet can maintain a speed of 30 knots, they will not be able to reach the coast of Ireland within 13 hours. Moreover, the battleships of the European Combined Fleet could not maintain a speed of 30 knots all the time. It was already the limit to maintain 25 knots for more than ten hours.

Therefore, the British Home Fleet would arrive several or more hours earlier than the main force of the European Combined Fleet.

If the German fleet that broke through the English Channel this afternoon arrived at Cork Bay without joining the European Combined Fleet, the 7 battleships of the Home Fleet would be able to engage in a decisive battle with the 3-4 German battlecruisers.

"It's impossible to lose. Seven battleships can sink four battlecruisers with their eyes closed. Besides, the German P-class battlecruisers only have main guns. How can such firepower hurt our battleships?"

"But what about those damn wire-controlled glide bombs? Maybe there will be a lot of ***108S carrying such bombs to attack us."

"That won't work. Our battleships and cruisers are equipped with 5.25-inch anti-aircraft guns, which will blow those planes to pieces. And the expected battle site is only a few dozen nautical miles away from Wales, and there will be many Spitfires to cover us."

"Maybe the German fleet will not appear at all, and there will only be thousands of planes waiting for us there."

"With Spitfires and Mustangs covering us, we will be able to defeat the Germans."

"We ... The loss will not be too great. Moreover, battleships are not needed to lay mines. If the German fleet does not appear, destroyers and minelayers can complete the minelaying, and the main battleships can retreat along the coastline of Wales... But the minelaying task must be completed, otherwise the German army will soon occupy the entire island of Ireland. By then, we will lose the war! "

"Yes, we must stop the Germans from transporting a large number of troops to Ireland... At least, we cannot let them easily transport troops there. In this way, the army can destroy the tens of thousands of Germans who landed in Ireland!"

The staff soon made it clear that the Home Fleet must be dispatched and more German troops must be prevented from landing on the island of Ireland... At least they must delay their landing time. We cannot let tens of thousands of Germans land at one time, and we cannot let them stockpile heavy equipment in Brest land on the island. Otherwise, even if the British Army has three heads and six arms, it will not be able to beat the Germans, and once Germany takes over the island of Ireland.

Then for the British Empire, it is the end of the world!

When Admiral Tovey thought of the end of the empire, a beautiful house and a beautiful and peaceful farm suddenly appeared in his mind. That was his manor in Canada. His wife, grandson, granddaughter and daughter-in-law had all taken the Queen Mary cruise ship to Canada and should have moved into their new home now. If the mainland fell and he could escape by chance, then Canada would be the place where he would spend his old age...

Just when he was thinking that he might spend his old age in Canada, hurried footsteps came from behind.

"Report, we received a telegram from the Coast Air Force. The German landing fleet is passing near the Cornwall Peninsula. The destination is likely to be Cockle Bay."

This news suddenly made the air in the bridge hot. Admiral Tovey hurried to the nautical chart and asked, "Where is the specific location?"

"Here, it was detected by airborne radar."

The staff pointed to the Silli Islands near the Cornwall Peninsula: "It is 150 nautical miles away from us... In the past few hours, they have obviously increased their speed, and it is very likely that they have abandoned the slow transport ship. At the current speed, they may encounter us in 3 and a half hours."

"3 and a half hours!"

This battle schedule, let alone the staff around him, even the experienced Admiral Tovey was a little stunned.

It's not even midnight yet. Three and a half hours later, it will be 3 a.m., and it's still dark!

"The Germans are going to fight us at night?" Admiral Tovey found it incredible. No matter how you calculate it, their troops are more than the enemy's, and according to intelligence, Germany's radar technology is still a little worse than Britain's. So why did the commander of the German Navy choose to fight at night when he had such a good air advantage?

This thing looks like a trap no matter how you look at it!

"Great!" Admiral Tovey gritted his teeth. Even if it's a trap, he has to get in!

He said: "Now regroup the heavy cruiser Essect, the light cruiser Birmingham, the light cruiser Moon Lady, the mine-laying cruiser HMS Adventure, the mine-laying cruiser Abdir, the mine-laying cruiser HMS Latona, the mine-laying cruiser HMS Man The mine-laying cruiser USS Islander, the mine-laying cruiser USS Welsh, and the 5th Destroyer Squadron formed the B fleet and immediately headed to Cork Bay to mine..."

The British Royal Navy now has five mine-laying cruisers. Among them, the mine-laying cruiser HMS Adventure is an old ship built in the 1920s. It can carry 280 mines, but its speed is relatively slow, with the fastest speed being only 28 knots. The other four Abdils are all new ships, with a speed of up to 35-36 knots and can carry 150 mines. The five minelayers carried a total of 880 mines, which was enough to block Cork Bay for a period of time.

…

On the guided missile cruiser Friedrich I, Admiral Karls was also standing next to the chart table.

"Where is the British Home Fleet?"

"It has entered the St. George Strait and will encounter us in two hours at most."

Night reconnaissance aircraft equipped with radar are not a patent of the United Kingdom. Germany also has many aircraft equipped with FuG200 series search radars, which can closely monitor the St. George Strait and Kettle Sea at night.

"Sir, 15 minutes ago, the reconnaissance plane also discovered that the British Home Fleet had conducted a division of troops."

At this time, the latest news came.

"Split the troops?"

"A group of ships is quickly heading to Cork Bay." The fleet's information officer replied.

"They are going to Cork Bay to lay mines." Chief of Staff Colonel Wagner immediately thought of the British fleet's intention to divide its forces.

"Looks like we'll have to be busy clearing mines tomorrow!"

When General Kars said this, a cold light suddenly flashed in his eyes: "But tonight we must let the British taste the power of the V3 wireless remote control missile! Accelerate, 28 knots! Be sure to engage in battle before 2 o'clock, and withdraw from the battle before dawn!"

…

The night was as thick as ink, and the sea was pitch black. Even within a thousand meters, it was almost impossible to see what was on the sea, unless Japanese cat-eye warriors came to Europe. However, things that cannot be seen clearly by the human eye can be easily detected by radar. For example, a large fleet on the sea cannot hide from the Fw-200C hovering in the sky. This kind of aircraft with not superior performance has now become a very practical reconnaissance/patrol aircraft in the Luftwaffe and naval aviation establishment because of its long range and considerable load capacity.

Under normal circumstances, the Fw-200C operates alone, and there are no fighter jets to escort them. However, tonight was a special situation. 9 Fw-200C formed a rare reconnaissance aircraft formation, following the main force of the British Home Fleet heading south. There are several flares hung in the internal bomb bay of each Fw-200C, which can "expose" the British fleet on the sea below at any time.

Lieutenant Manfred Murray is leading a squadron of 16 aircraft tonight, responsible for covering 9 Fw-200Cs. Four He-219 night combat aircraft with extremely outstanding night combat capabilities are now hovering over three Fw-200C detachments (each detachment consists of three Fw-200Cs) in a Z-shaped formation, repeatedly scanning the surroundings with airborne radar. Searching for possible British night-fighting aircraft!

Because everyone knows that British ships are equipped with very advanced air and sea search radars. It was impossible to go undetected with as many as 25 German planes circling overhead. Being discovered means that there will be British night combat aircraft to drive away the Fw-200C. At this time, it will be the turn of Lieutenant Murray's He-219 to show off its skills.

"Lieutenant, the radar has detected a target! At 8 o'clock, above us, there may be a few Mosquitoes!"

The voice of the wingman commander, Sergeant Miller, came from Lieutenant Manfred Murray's earpiece.

"We arrived just in time. The second team went out to let these mosquitoes know how powerful we are."

Four He-219s roared like several mosquito planes hovering from high altitude and pounced on them. In the blink of an eye, there was a flash of fire in the dark night. There are a total of 32 20mm or 30mm cannons on the four He-219 aircraft, and their firepower far exceeds that of the Mosquito. A Mosquito plane that couldn't dodge was turned into a ball of fire on the spot, spinning and falling from the sky into the sea. Less than a minute later, another burst of fire flashed across the sky, and then another burning plane fell from the sky!

The night battle that took place in the Celtic Sea in the early morning of May 3 began with He-219 and Mosquito aircraft.