Bismarck

You can't catch up with it, and you can't track it.

However, it was useless to scold him. Major General Wilcox could only use the dumbest method, which was to gather all the ships together. Four destroyers were lined up in front of the right side of the Prinz Eugen, and the cruiser Portland was on the left to provide cover from the side. In addition, Wilcox also specifically stipulated that without the flagship's order, all ships were not allowed to change positions easily. And when the flagship did not provide a target, all ships were not allowed to easily fire at suspicious targets.

The battleships North Carolina and Washington, which were surrounded in the middle, had their radars scanning everywhere non-stop - in this pitch-dark night, only the radars on these two battleships with a detection range of 25 kilometers could provide the fleet with a slight sense of security.

Logically speaking, Wilcox had no other choice, because only by relying on such a stupid method could he ensure that the enemy would not be thrown into chaos by the sneak attack of that damn German heavy cruiser in the dark.

A fleet, especially one with unknown enemy situation and limited search capability, is very easy to fall into chaos under the surprise attack of an unknown enemy, even if the enemy may not be strong. And if a fleet falls into chaos, the consequences are extremely terrible. You know, in the chaos, it is impossible to judge the enemy and ourselves, that is to say, all ships are hysterical and blind. In this case, even a battleship, under this kind of blindness and hysteria, can't exert much stronger combat effectiveness and survivability than a destroyer. Maybe it will crash into a ball during the forced avoidance. If it crashes at this high speed, it will be suicide.

Not to mention, this news has been spread among the British allies in a miraculous way. Even Admiral Tovey, commander of the British Home Fleet, told him that the German heavy cruiser might be possessed by an evil spirit and was not a soft persimmon at all.

Legends of evil spirits... The daytime firefight and the unreasonable combat power of the Prinz Eugen had already made Wilcox believe it a little...

The sailors below were already trembling with fear...

The darkness on all sides made people feel nervous, depressed, and even fearful. The roar of machinery, the whistling wind, the slapping of huge waves on the hull, and the thumping of the heartbeats that everyone could hear, like the cowhide drum in their chests that was tense and taut, were being beaten desperately by depression and fear. Whether it was the radar soldiers, the lookouts, or even Major General Wilcox, everyone opened their eyes wide and stared at any phantom in the darkness that might be an enemy with fearful eyes - no matter if they really saw any clues or it was an illusion caused by the fatigue of their eyes and nerves due to tension.

Well, it's useless. Physical observation is useless in this darkness. Only machines are of some use.

"Where are those damn Germans? Where are they? Don't rush out from that damn place..."

---------

Wilcox didn't know that the search he had run at full power on the North Carolina and Washington radars was directly prompting Eugen, who was passively receiving radar signals and had turned on the direction-finding and radio positioning modes, with his location coordinates.

"Top Top, you are right. The British have really left."

The girl, who was pulling Top's sleeve and with twin ponytails hanging on his arm, was jumping happily as she reported to her captain.

Eugen especially likes to repeat Top's name twice to show his excitement. At first, Top was not used to it because the reports on the battleship were always very neat and clear. But after a long time, Top got used to it and even thought his secretary was very cute.

"Hehe, of course. If they don't leave, I'll use your spiked shells to lure them into a fight."

Top has become extremely shameless now. In any case, when he was in the Arctic Fleet before, the hug from the military court had already made all the single guys on the ship want to roast him with torches.

Although they were still on the battlefield, it was already completely dark. It was the perfect time to do bad things. In addition, there was a blackout, so the bridge was completely dark. No one noticed him pinching Eugen's nose, and the atmosphere in the bridge was very happy.

As expected, the British, fearing accidental injuries and unable to catch up with them, finally chose to withdraw.

Then, the chance of breaking through is already halfway to success.

Now all we need to know is who else among the Americans has radar.

Without letting go of Eugen, who was still protesting against him by holding his shoulders and pulling his braids, Topper looked directly at the mark on the chart table: "Eugen, can you detect the American radar signal?"

Eugen thought that she should not tie her hair into two ponytails in the future, otherwise Top would always come and pull her, which was not good.

"…Uh…As for the Americans, their radar signal is always on. The two ships are close together, they should be their battleships…about -145 degrees to our left rear, kilometers away."

"Hehehehe." Looking at the protest of his own ship girl, someone gave a shameless smile on his face.

Toph still loosened Eugen's braid, but stretched out his hands and held Eugen's shoulders, staring into Eugen's big eyes.

What is this for?

Eugen was a little shy and wanted to lower his head.

But Top didn't let her lower her head, but moved closer. He continued to look at Eugen with a smile, confidence in his eyes, and said word by word:

"Eugen, we can start to break out now. As long as we break out, we will be completely free!"

Eugen felt a little feverish as he was being stared at. He nodded obediently and said "hmm" weakly.

"That's good. Eugen, are there any changes in the headings and speeds indicated by the British and American radar signals?"

"Hmm...nothing has changed. The Americans are still heading our way. The British are retreating to the southeast, but it seems like they are sending a telegram to someone..."

"Send a telegram? Forget it, never mind! Eugen, keep an eye on the position of their radar, we will start to break out now. We will turn right rudder and slow down to 30 knots, but maintain boiler pressure. We will follow the British and break out!"

"Ok!"

Eugen nodded, and then the Prince Eugen gradually changed course and quickly disappeared into the darkness.

--

At the same time, in the command post of the battleship Washington, Wilcox was looking at the sea chart, racking his brains to determine the direction of the Prinz Eugen's breakout...

“分界线距离冰岛是一百英里（161公里）…我们现在距离冰岛是56英里（90公里）…而我们的雷达，对巡洋舰的极限探测距离大概是27500码（25公里）…而根据英国人的通报，最后发现他们的位置是在我们右前方三十度，大概27到28英里……”

Under the dim yellow explosion-proof lights in the chart room, Major General Wilcox was personally holding a slide rule, compass and protractor, calculating and discussing with a group of staff officers, sweating profusely.

Moreover, the calculation results seem to be more "likely"...

Under the dim lights, the discussion continues...

"...their speed is 37.5 knots, while our battleships are 28 knots, so the maximum angle of contact is about degrees. Considering our search distance and artillery range...that is to say, although our speed is nearly knots slower than theirs, our straight-line distance to Iceland is closer, so it is unlikely that they will break away from Iceland, right?"

"But... the British here haven't gone far yet. Even if the Germans want to fish in troubled waters, they still have to consider the British radar and firepower. So, what if they really leave from that side?"

"The problem is not just this. You know, we have been running radars. I heard from the British that they now have radio positioning and direction finding technology, and the distance they can passively receive our signals is farther than our own detection range... No matter which way we go, they might be able to know it, and then turn around and go around the other way?"

The staff officers below were in a state of confusion and could not agree on a single opinion.

However, it seems that gradually, there is a growing trend of people advocating a separate search.

"I think we should divide our forces. The radars of the two battleships can cover a width of 100 kilometers. We can run more and patrol more to cover the remaining distance, which is basically enough..."

"If we divide our forces... we don't have enough auxiliary ships now, only four destroyers and one heavy cruiser... The gunfire of their ship is too fierce, and it poses a great threat to the destroyers and Portland. And now they have at least six torpedoes, enough for a fan-shaped torpedo attack... If they rely on a high-speed surprise attack with torpedoes, can our light ships defeat them?"

"It should be possible... Didn't the British say so? Although that heavy cruiser is very powerful against cruisers and destroyers, it can't even defeat a battlecruiser like Renown. Our battleships have much stronger defenses than Renown, so we should be able to give it a try."

"But what if they use high-explosive shells to bombard our unarmored areas, causing flooding and fire? This German cruiser has a very high rate of fire and high accuracy..."

"Then let's equip each battleship with two destroyers. If that doesn't work, we can use the battleships to attract firepower, and the destroyers can go up and attack with torpedoes..."

"Is this okay..."

"I think we can give it a try." This was Wilcox's voice. As Rear Admiral Wilcox, the fleet commander, spoke, the staff instantly fell silent, waiting for orders and instructions without saying a word.

Wilcox, who was listening to the discussion of the staff, finally made up his mind to fight after some discussion and began to divide his troops to search.

"It's very risky to split our forces, but this is a soldier's duty. We don't need any excuses. Besides, even if we split our forces, there is still a battleship on each side to support them. It won't be that easy for them to do anything to us!"

"Pass on my order. The North Carolina will take two destroyers to patrol Iceland, from the Icelandic coastline to Area 3. I will personally lead the Washington, Portland and the remaining two destroyers to patrol the sea area from Area 3 to the defense zone boundary. The weather is bad now, so we will use the dead reckoning method in the ocean current to determine our position. Even if we can't catch the Germans, we must try our best to catch them. Hold on until tomorrow when the weather improves, and then we can call in planes for bombing - do you understand?"

Seeing Major General Wilcox in the middle issuing the combat order, the staff officers below shouted in unison: "Yes, sir."

In the night, the American fleet quickly split into two groups according to Wilcox's orders and headed for their respective cruising areas.

-------

However, Eugen, who was more than 40 kilometers away, quickly located all of this clearly using the radio signal receiving antenna on her body.

"Top Top, the Americans seem to have split up their search! Their two radar signals are split into east and west directions."

"Searching separately?" Top was startled, and rushed to the chart table to look at Eugen's markings. In addition to the American radar signal that was just marked as being separated, the traces of several large British warships that were evacuating more than 30 kilometers ahead of him, at the edge of Eugen's sensing range, were also carefully marked on the chart by Eugen. Even in the southeast direction, far ahead of him, it seemed that Eugen had marked the direction of a radio signal.

"This is a radio station that we just received. It seems to be the British flagship. Although judging from the signal strength, the distance should be 120 kilometers away, but they should be able to send reinforcements, right?"

Seeing Top staring at that position, Eugen hurriedly introduced the enemy information.

However, Top was not confused for long. He quickly turned his head from looking at the sea chart and looked in the direction of Eugen:

"Eugen, prepare to attack."

"Yeah, okay. But... Top, where do we break out from?"

Eugen tilted his head and looked at him.

"From where? Break out from the direction of the American battleship closest to us." Top chuckled, but seeing that Eugen was a little confused, he continued to explain to her: "This is the dividing line between Britain and the United States, and we can roughly guess their military strength and position. On the contrary, they did not rush to chase us, which shows that there is obviously a problem with their coordination on both sides. So if the situation is unclear, they will not easily cross the border, but we still have a loophole to exploit. But if it is Iceland, it seems that there is only one radar signal, but who knows if they have any reinforcements behind Iceland? It is a taboo if the enemy situation is unclear."

"Besides, they're all Americans over there, and it's easier to coordinate among ourselves than with the British. What if the Americans are so stubborn that they divide the patrol area into a defense zone and sink all unauthorized intruders? It would be even more difficult to break out."

"So, get the torpedoes ready. We're going to launch a forced assault later. Their forces are scattered, so it won't be easy to stop us."

Listening to Top's explanation, Eugen began to understand a little. Looking at Top who was looking at him with a smile, Eugen playfully stuck out his tongue and saluted playfully: "I understand, then - I'll go get ready."

"Go ahead. When the assault comes, it will all depend on your performance."

"Leave it to me."

Chapter 536: Fierce Battle (Update 1)

"Report! Radar soldiers have detected a weak echo signal from an unidentified warship to our west. It seems to be heading towards us at high speed!"

In the bridge of Renown, the commander of the British squadron received a report on the "enemy situation" from the radar soldiers. Not long after, the two cruisers, Norfolk and Southampton, following behind him, also used light signals to inform him of the intelligence that the radar had discovered an unknown target.

The atmosphere suddenly became tense. Could it be other German warships? That shouldn't be the case. They had not received any intelligence about other German warships.

The British radar was better than the American radar. In addition to a shorter wavelength and higher resolution, the effective detection distance was also slightly longer. So soon, more detailed detection intelligence was transmitted: "... Judging from the echo waveform and signal strength, there are probably two small ships, with a speed of 28 knots, heading due east... Wait, there seems to be one or two large ships behind them."

"The Germans only have one heavy cruiser, so this should be the Americans - come to think of it, it will take us half an hour to withdraw across the defense zone boundary." The British commander thought about it in the nautical chart and said helplessly: "Send a telegram to the Americans and inform them that we are 30,000 yards ahead of them to avoid accidental injuries..." Being accidentally injured by friendly forces is not a fun thing, especially since the two Americans have battleships.

"Also, report the situation to Admiral Tovey..."

"Yes!"

Watching his men leave after receiving orders, the British commander also had a headache.

Now that Britain and the United States have just announced their alliance, they have encountered such a thing. Not to mention, according to Commander Tovey and observations on the battlefield, this German heavy cruiser that can run at 37 knots and has extremely accurate firepower is most likely another "battleship witch" coming out to harm the free world.

And we have to avoid any super-friendly contact with Americans as much as possible, such as "friendly shooting"...

What worries the British commander the most is that if that is really the legendary "ship man"... it is very likely that even with the radar on his side, he cannot see as far as the other party.

After all, Commander Tovey himself said after the Battle of Bear Island that the observation range of the German ship was definitely farther than the radar of the Renown. No matter what the situation, a one-way transparent battlefield is always the most troublesome. Otherwise, it would be impossible for a single ship to defeat two British cruisers and rescue Shane from the muzzle of the Renown, which Commander Tovey himself was in charge of.

"Oh... my head is so heavy..."

The British commander covered his forehead in pain...

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Thirty-seven kilometers away, in the bridge command post of the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, the traces of the British and American fleets were being clearly marked on the chart table by little Eugen. She could undoubtedly see much farther than the Americans and the British, just like the destroyers in World of Warships, she could see the other side, while the other side could only open their eyes and see nothing.

Top, who was standing nearby and looking at the sea chart, was so depressed that he wanted to curse.

"The commander of the American fleet is really a tough guy..."

Although the American fleet on the chart was divided into two, the distance between them was only 60 kilometers. Although the British fleet was retreating, it was less than 40 kilometers away. Now it seemed that the distance between the British fleet and the American fleet was not too far. With the performance of British radar, it should be able to get in touch with the American fleet. In fact, under Eugen's pen, who was marking on the chart, the course of the British fleet even deviated a little to the left...

Top had full confidence in Eugen's observation ability. If the British fleet in the picture deflected, it must be that the real British fleet began to turn.

Sure enough, after marking the changed course of the British fleet, Eugen looked up and looked at Top: "Top, Top, the British and the American team opposite us seem to have sent two telegrams back and forth just now. I wonder if they have made contact..."

"Ah, yes, it looks like they have made contact." Top nodded.

Although he had to keep smiling in front of Eugen, otherwise it would make her one-sided, Top's brows were also a little twisted. The American fleet on the opposite side was scattered, but the distance of the scattered fleet was not far, and it was also in contact with the British. Moreover, even if it was a scattered American fleet, based on the fleet size detected by Eugen, there were two destroyers, a heavy cruiser and a battleship. Although his side had advantages in speed and detection distance, it could not withstand the fierce firepower and high defense of the American battleships on the opposite side...

Moreover, the distance between him and the American fleet was still more than 20 kilometers, which meant that even if he was nearly 10 knots faster than the American battleships, it would take at least an hour to catch up with them. It would take at least two hours to shake off their battleships. And that didn't include their destroyers, nor the British who might come to outflank them, not to mention that the wind and waves were decreasing now, and if he was lucky, Iceland could send long-range patrol aircraft.

The detection range of a long-range patrol aircraft can reach 700 nautical miles. Even an aircraft carrier's detection range is 200 to 300 nautical miles. If you can't escape far enough in the night, you will be caught up and overwhelmed by British and American aircraft carriers sooner or later.

However, the American fleet commander is so cautious that he can't get around it...

But - Top is not the kind of person who is too clever and ends up being outsmarted by his own cleverness.

Can't get around it?

At worst, I won’t go around in circles.

"Eugen!"

"Eh? Here!"

Hearing Top suddenly calling him, Eugen was stunned for a moment, but he reacted quickly.

Moreover, looking at Top, who was beginning to show a fierce look in front of him, after more than a year of getting along with him, Eugen could probably guess what his captain was going to do...

Is this a one-and-done gamble?

"Top Top, are we preparing for an assault?" Eugen was not afraid at all, but rather a little excited.

"Huh? You figured it out." Looking at little Eugen who had guessed his thoughts, Top was slightly surprised, but soon turned his face into a cynical expression: "Yes, we are going to attack. Now they only have four ships. This is our best chance."

"We will rush directly towards the American fleet and wait for their reaction, then see which direction they turn. Don't stop firing jammers, aim at their battleships to suppress their radars, and then use your guided torpedoes to kill them - speaking of which, those forces that can be mobilized have already been mobilized, and the rest depends on this! Eugen, are you ready?" Top confirmed.

"We're ready! Top, we're just waiting for your command!"

After several battles, Eugen was not too nervous. She was a little excited, holding her fists and looking at Top expectantly, waiting for Top to give her combat orders. Top suddenly felt sorry for her, because there would be a fierce battle, with two battleships on the opposite side...

What a lovely girl! If she weren’t on a battleship and there wasn’t a war now, she would probably still be in school.

Suppress the thoughts in your mind.

"Eugen, don't be afraid of the pain." Top said with a smile.