Bismarck

Although the officialdom is full of intrigues, today is indeed a peaceful day. Isn't it?

Chapter 600: Open the Golden Finger

Raeder is now completely a stranger to the captain, but this is just right. He doesn't have to squeeze into the bus to report to the Admiralty every day like a poor office worker. After all, as a fleet commander, it is still embarrassing to squeeze into the bus to go to work.

Bismarck knew that even if the captain didn't say it, he was still feeling miserable.

Alas, just because of the bad relationship with his boss, he even lost his private car. What a pity! Bismarck still wanted to go for a drive occasionally.

Lütjens now felt like a free man, and like a transparent person in the Navy Headquarters. Everyone was afraid that if they greeted the famous commander of the Indian Ocean Fleet, they would be snapped by the marshal. Bismarck felt that even if he stole something openly, no one would say anything.

This time, after reporting to the Navy Ministry that he would go to the Submarine Command in Brest, France to visit Dönitz and discuss issues concerning submarine operations in the Indian Ocean, he said hello to Zeppelin who had to stay in Berlin to do some work, and then he took his Bismarck and boarded the plane transferred from the Eastern Expeditionary Fleet Air Force in a low-key manner, heading to Brest to say hello to Dönitz - of course, there were still a few people from the Navy Ministry or other services and departments who also needed to go to Brest with him.

Although it was inconvenient to have so many people follow such a thing, Bismarck knew that this was also to prevent someone from accusing his captain of defecting to the enemy and using his sitting still in the Indian Ocean as evidence.

After all, he is in a high position and is at the center of the storm. Moreover, according to the confidentiality discipline, the activities of senior military officers and confidential personnel should be supervised - so if you don't bring such a group of people with you, when the time comes, if someone turns the tables and accuses you of having an affair with Ying Chui, you won't even be able to find a witness!

But anyway, this time I went there just to visit Dönitz, there was nothing else important.

As for Bismarck, he held his head and tried hard to think about what he should do to curry favor with Dönitz.

It's been so long that I can't remember whether the idea of ​​a submarine that has been submerged for a long time was given to Dönitz. But if it really doesn't work, you can ask Dönitz to make a guided torpedo - I remember that Germany seemed to have made this thing in history!

In addition to all this, there seems to be a shock-absorbing float valve, which is an idea to reduce noise!

Even more, if you want to solve the problem of submarines having a search capability of less than ten kilometers on the water surface, you can also make a sonar towed body or something!

Cats from later times certainly know about things like towed sonar!

Although this thing is said to be usable only at low speeds, and it is troublesome to deploy and maneuver, when a submarine is normally lurking underwater, who would go full speed! Not only does it make noise and expose the position, it also wastes precious electricity!

The simplified version of the towed sonar is nothing more than towing this thing behind the ship, and then using the cable together with the tow cable to receive the signal of the base array. Finally, with a simple triangulation, the enemy ship can be located at a long distance directly under the water - the towed body and the submarine itself can form a two-point positioning!

Because the towed sonar is far away from the ship itself and has no noise interference from the ship itself, its detection range is much farther than that of the hull sonar!

Moreover, because the Treaty of Versailles has always restricted Germany's development of submarines, in order to make up for this, the Germans have put a lot of effort into hydroacoustics, so Germany's passive sonar is still relatively advanced - in fact, Bismarck himself knew that on his "cousin" Prinz Eugen, there were more than 60 hydrophones on each side of the hull of the sonar conformal array, and even a water temperature and sound velocity meter - a device that quickly reverse-calculates the real-time sound velocity of water by measuring the temperature and salinity of each layer of seawater!

You should know that the temperature and salinity of the seawater are different at each depth, and the acoustic field in the water will also be greatly affected. In addition to the distance error caused by different sound speeds, temperature and salinity stratification can even cause the reflection of water sound - whether it is forming a very narrow "tunnel area" that can detect enemy signals from a long distance in advance, there is also the most troublesome reflection of the warm layer and salt layer - either a false signal from a long distance is heard, or the enemy submarine is hiding under the reflective layer, then the sonar has a high probability of missing the target - although this depth is generally below 200-250 meters, and now only German submarines in the world have such a deep diving depth.

The complex distribution of water temperature and salt layers forms more complex sound layer reflections, which will cause the sonar measurement results to be completely inaccurate. However, if there is a water temperature and sound velocity meter, this device can directly and quickly draw battlefield acoustic hydrological maps by measuring hydrological conditions, so that the initial signal of the sonar measurement can be more accurately corrected and analyzed, thereby locating the target more accurately!

(PS: This technology was invented in 1937. Britain, the United States and Germany all have this technology. Unfortunately, this thing is not very useful when submarines attack ships, but in anti-submarine operations, this thing is no different from a magical weapon...)

In this way, because the position of enemy ships can be measured directly underwater, even in harsh naval combat environments when the use of radar and periscope for surfacing reconnaissance is limited - especially now that British and American shipborne and airborne centimeter-wave radars are about to fill the sky - the enemy's traces can be discovered in advance!

And then if we use a long-range guided torpedo to launch a strike...

2333 ~

Speaking of which, ever since he met King Kong last time and watched the exercise in which Shentong led the team to fight against Dasha, Bismarck, who was determined to improve his strength, has put a lot of thought into it!

It was at that time that the captain gave Bismarck a method to improve the accuracy of his artillery fire, referring to this technology.

By directly measuring the muzzle velocity of the artillery shells and finding a way to observe the airflow and wind speed at high altitudes, the judgment of the ballistic computer can be further corrected. After all, Lütjens was a destroyer fleet commander, so he is very clear about this kind of thing.

She was able to quickly understand that the muzzle velocity radar came from the future, and now she also had a better understanding of observing airflow.

As for long-range torpedoes…?

Although it was unknown whether Japan would sell the oxygen torpedo technology to Germany, and even if it did, it was said that the safety of this thing was not good. However, she did know that there was a remedy - changing the oxidizer of the thermal torpedo from compressed air to hydrogen peroxide would achieve performance close to that of the oxygen torpedo!

Speaking of Germany’s own V2 missile, isn’t it fueled by hydrogen peroxide and kerosene or alcohol?

If you think about it this way, it seems... probably... it should... be possible... maybe... some of it... is feasible... right?

The ball-shaped cat, with its tail tucked at its feet, curled up quietly beside its captain, silently making plans to further strengthen its combat power, racking its brains to think about how to quickly improve its and its sisters' life-saving capabilities with the existing technology.

The distance from Berlin to Brest is 1400 kilometers, but if we want to avoid the heavy fighting of Britain and the United States who may come to the European continent to plunder at any time, we have to take a long detour!

Along the way, we passed by many places that were bombed into ruins by British bombers, especially those city ruins that were burned into scorched earth by incendiary bombs by British bomber troops, which could be seen from the sky!

Looking at the ruins of the city below, knowing that the British Air Force was taking out its anger on the people because it could not defeat the German Air Force, and thinking of their own bombed home and the old housekeeper who died tragically under the bomb, both the captain and Bismarck were secretly gritting their teeth! Especially Bismarck, she was now thinking about whether to tell Zeppelin something again, so that the British and American arsonists who were showing off their power in the sky all day long could also have a taste of power!

For example... Germany is developing jet engines now, and I remember that jet engines require high-temperature materials... Hmm! I remember that the Pyrenees Mountains at the border between Spain and France seem to produce tungsten in Spain!

Moreover, if I remember correctly, Franco, the profiteer, is still buying all kinds of gold, silver, antiques and artworks in Switzerland and Germany at the inflated prices by the British and American financial tycoons...

Well, if there is one on the other side of the mountain, then I wonder if there is one in the German-occupied area in France!

If I remember correctly, there seemed to be someone who said... ?

And…it seems that tungsten can be used to make armor-piercing shells for tanks in addition to heat-resistant turbines for aircraft engines…? And if I could replace the armor-piercing shell caps of my own artillery shells with this thing…?

That feeling is really great.

His eyes narrowed, the corners of his mouth curled up, his ears bounced up, and even the cat's tail, which had been obediently tucked next to his paw, stretched out and shook gently because of his good mood.

A certain Bismarck smiled as if he had stolen a fish.

After fighting for such a long time, I have learned a lot of knowledge. Combined with my previous ideas, what I have produced will definitely be extraordinary.

Hehehehehe~

But... suddenly I thought of a big possibility.

I wonder if Redel would give it to me if such a thing really existed...!

Thinking of this, Bismarck, who was laughing foolishly before, suddenly felt very angry...

----

In a remote field factory in the Soviet Union, in the freezing cold of late winter in Siberia, in the open air factory, the workers were directed to operate the equipment that was still installed in the open air in the field to start production - in order to resume production as soon as possible, to support the officers and soldiers on the front line to fight against the German devils, and to save as much steel as possible, now everyone is wearing thick cotton clothes, gritting their teeth and assembling tanks in the cold wind! In fact, they have been working three shifts non-stop.

The T-76 tank, which was once equipped with a 34mm tank gun, was at best a head-on battle with the modified Panzer IV tank on the other side. In addition, due to the lack of communication equipment and the fact that the tank commander had to serve as a gunner, it was at a very disadvantageous position in terms of command and coordination! But now the T-34 tank has replaced the main gun with an 85mm anti-aircraft gun, plus a three-man turret that can accommodate a gunner. Even the radio stations under the Ministry of Electronics Industry seem to have provided themselves with more radio stations.

However, the middle-aged man who is now supervising the production of the tank is a bald and beardless man with a certificate that says "Chief Designer" in Russian on his chest. Looking at the tank, which was originally designed by his predecessor but improved by himself to its current state, he suddenly felt an inexplicable uneasiness in his happy heart.

Then my right eyelid twitched, and then I sneezed twice in a row!

"What's going on? Why do I feel this way...? It doesn't feel cold, and I don't have a heart disease, and I don't believe in God... But...?"

The chief designer, Morozov, suddenly felt palpitations. He frowned and thought hard for a while, but in the end he couldn't figure out why he was like this.

But in the end, the bear Bolshevik designer who explained the world from a scientific perspective inevitably had an idea that made him want to do something very much...

"…It seems that I was probably overthinking when I was worrying about whether the Germans would have a new type of tank, but…it seems like I have some inspiration…?"

Just do it! Designer Morozov casually explained to his assistants, then turned around and walked towards a tent with guards on duty and a "Design Studio" sign hanging on the door curtain.

He had to draw the design that he just had in mind on the drawing board before he forgot this inspiration!

It will be a tank with five pairs of road wheels, torsion bar suspension, weighing about 2 tons, powered by a B-34 diesel engine with planetary transmission gears, at least slightly easier to operate than the current T-34 tank. As for the main gun, he wants to use the B-100 100mm naval gun, which is commonly equipped on Soviet naval frigates and has excellent performance. In addition, this tank should also have 62.5mm/-degree inclined body armor and a cast hemispherical turret with a good bulletproof appearance!

Morozov had a hunch that even if the Germans really launched the next generation of main battle tanks, his inspiration would definitely be enough to compete with them!

The Soviet Union's system engineering is the best! Although the industrial base is not as good as that of the West, it has absolute confidence that even if it uses second-rate equipment, it can easily design a main battle tank with first-rate performance!

As the world's top tank design master, he definitely has this confidence!

ps: Chapter 600!!! Give me all your blades. I have been fully present this month. New blades will be out tomorrow!

Chapter 601: Blue Planet's Strongest Navy of the United States is about to set off

While Bismarck and Zeppelin were running around in the rear of Germany with Lütjens, the Socotra Island Garrison was not idle either...

"Target: Mogadishu Port Airport, attack!"

At dawn, following the order of Bontai, the acting commander of the Eastern Expeditionary Fleet, fighter planes took off from the flight deck of the Zeppelin aircraft carrier and rushed towards the target under the cover of the dawn!

Top had already gone forward with the Prinz Eugen to carry out some "unspeakable" mission. Next to the Zeppelin aircraft carrier, which was launching its aircraft against the wind, was the battleship Tirpitz led by Lindemann, and behind her was the battleship Bismarck, which was closely following Lindemann and was piloted by an adjutant!

Lütjens and his cat were not there, and Socotra was not safe. If we were to launch a military operation here, we could not just leave the Bismarck at home.

It would be funny if a few of them went out for a stroll and came back to find that their flagship was badly damaged.

However, there is nothing wrong with following.

Although Mogadishu is a big city, its port is not big. Moreover, in the barren Somalia, there is only an isolated small forward airport. Even if Qiberlin is not there, Bontai is not afraid of not being able to finish the job.

Anyway, Lütjens and Zeppelin had told them before they left that if there was any opportunity for battle, Bontai could make the decision on the spot.

Anyway, the battleships are their main body. If they feel something is wrong, it would be as simple as a thought for Bismarck and Zeppelin to come back.

Speaking of which, it was when Bismarck, who was eager to improve his strength, urgently returned to Berlin to protect Lily from Ceylon Island that he came up with this idea. In theory, it was even possible to let Fleet Commander Lütjens command remotely from the rear. Although Commander Lütjens actually insisted on commanding on the Bismarck battleship, and even put forward a whole set of arguments that only on the battlefield could one obtain first-hand intelligence.

Although, in reality, senior military officers are more often in need of overall coordination in the rear, but... sharing life and death with their own warship, this is actually what the captain thinks!

Anyway, when this sentence was said, no matter how tacitly Bonte, Lindemann, and Top agreed, the captain was shameless and believed it anyway...

An hour later, the Mogadishu airport was suddenly ablaze. Outside the port, several merchant ships, under the cover of two destroyers, were hastily evacuating from the port. They saw an ominous black shadow, shining on the sea and sky line in the distance, at a speed no less than that of the destroyers, heading towards them at high speed...

10 Downing Street, London -

Marshal Alan Brooke, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the British Empire, and First Sea Lord Marshal Andrew Cunningham were reporting to Churchill.

"…In the three months since we gave up the Suez Canal, after deducting the Italian blockade along the Red Sea, we have used various means to finally establish several transportation routes through the African continent. Relying on the three major ports in East Africa as the center, there are about 60 merchant ships scattered in various small ports. We use rat transportation to transport materials to the three major ports for concentration, and then transport them to the Red Sea coast."

“…Of these three routes, the safest one is the transport route from the port of Maputo, Mozambique, to the coast of the Red Sea and to the Arabian Peninsula, but this route is the longest, more than 5000 miles!…”

"…The second is the closest and largest port throughput, starting from the Kenyan port of Mombasa, via Nairobi, bypassing the Mount Kenya mountain range at an altitude of 5200 meters, and finally passing through Addis Ababa, the new capital of Abyssinia, and then to Khartoum in Sudan to reach the Red Sea. The distance of this route is also as far as 5000 kilometers. At the same time, the distance between Mombasa and Socotra Island is too close - only kilometers! Although the throughput here is the largest and the distance is the closest, the safety of this route is not guaranteed..."

"... A more compromised route is to start from Dar es Salaam, the largest port in Kenya, pass through Burundi-Uganda, bypass the majestic Mount Kilimanjaro, and then go down the White Nile River in Juba in southern Sudan to Khartoum, and finally turn to the coast of the Red Sea. The distance of this route is about 70 kilometers farther than the previous route, and the throughput of Dar es Salaam is at most only % of that of Mombasa Port... But the most critical problem is that nearly kilometers from Juba to Khartoum is along the White Nile River. The soil here is soft and the infrastructure is poor. In two months, the rainy season here will come, and then this place will be flooded into a swamp..."

"…Although the Axis naval forces in the Red Sea are seriously insufficient and have not become an obstacle to this transportation line, the long distance and harsh natural environment still pose great difficulties to our transportation line. …For example, it is now the dry season, and the water shortage along the way is very serious, which has seriously affected the daily life of the motor soldiers and engineers…However, after June, our transportation lines in East Africa will usher in the African continent's rainy season, with an average annual rainfall of more than 1000 mm, and the resulting test of mosquito and fly breeding and epidemics…"

"…So far, including the transport capacity of railways, roads and air routes, this transport line has transported 42000 soldiers and 36000 tons of supplies to the Middle East, and has also transferred about 200 aircraft. ...With the progress of our roads and the arrival of transport teams in the Abyssinia region, there will be more room for the transportation of supplies in the future. ...However, we still have to be wary of the Axis navy and air force strengthening the blockade along the Red Sea, and possible disruption of trade in the Indian Ocean - especially...If everything goes well, it is expected that from March to June, the amount of supplies shipped to the Middle East will increase to about to tons per month - but it should be noted that this is only a theoretical level. The specific transportation volume is still difficult to guarantee due to the limitations of the natural environment and the threat of the enemy..."

"No! This is not enough!!"

Listening to Alanbrook's report of difficulties and problems, Churchill, who was somewhat furious, got angry. The fat pig's trotter slapped the table, shaking the pens in the pen holder. However, the pig-headed prime minister obviously did not realize this. He still snorted, puffed up his fat cheeks, and shouted with bared teeth: "How can 50,000 tons a month be enough?! The British Empire needs to do too much in the Middle East and India. At least 200,000 tons a month is enough! A stable 200,000 tons per month! Do you understand?!"

"Two hundred thousand tons? This...?"

Alanbrook and Cunningham below could not help but look at each other.

What does 1941 tons mean? Not to mention the wartime, even in peacetime, the average military transport here is only to tons per month. And last year, in , the total transport volume of Britain in the Indian Ocean was only million tons - an average of tons per month, that's all!

Now, the Arabian Sea, which is only 2000 kilometers wide, has been blocked by the German Navy and the Japanese Navy, one in the east and one in the west!

Now the request is 200,000 tons per month, how is that possible!

Alanbrook and Cunningham both knew that unless one of the two Axis fleets in Socotra Island or Ceylon-Maldives-Diego Garcia, one in the east and one in the west, suddenly left, leaving half of the side vacant, and then Somerville could lead all his main forces to cover the large transport convoy and bypass the blockade of the other half. That would be possible!

The two looked at each other and realized that this mission was not easy to explain. But before they could say anything, there was a knock on the door. Soon, a report was placed on Churchill's desk, saying, "This morning, local time, the German fleet attacked Mogadishu Airport, losing 17 aircraft... In addition, the Prince Eugen sank two of our destroyers and a merchant ship outside the port, and looted two merchant ships..."

"Look, all of you! Lütjens has already started to act!" Churchill threw the intelligence paper in his hand onto the table. "You just said that Mombasa and Dar es Salaam are two important unloading ports! But Mogadishu Airport is the outpost to cover these two ports! - Today the Germans can bomb the airport and seize merchant ships, and they can bomb Dar es Salaam tomorrow, do you believe it?! - Don't try to fool me, I was the Minister of the Navy in the past! Without the protection of Mogadishu Airport, the Germans set off from Socotra Island to the location where they released the planes off the coast of Dar es Salaam, a total of 2400 kilometers - with the speed of these German ships and crews at least 36 knots, they can drop bombs on our heads in hours at most!!"

Seeing the furious prime minister grabbing them and cursing at them, Alanbrook and Cunningham looked at each other but kept silent. They both knew that at least on this point, Churchill was right...

There are still more than 150 merchant ships piled up in East Africa. Although they have been evacuated to small ports for unloading, the small ports in East Africa are either silted up or shallow and narrow. The only three ports that can really load and unload those large ships are Maputo, Mombasa, and Dar es Salaam. The two most critical ports are under the threat of the German fleet!

Indeed, some nights are long and dreams are many...

but……

You still have to talk...

Seeing Alanbrook looking at him, Cunningham knew that he was responsible for the business at sea and could not escape responsibility. He could only smile bitterly and apply for "tactical guidance" from Churchill who was still angry:

"Mr. Prime Minister, the Germans and Japanese have completely blocked the Arabian Sea. If we want to quickly open up the Indian Ocean route, we must get rid of at least one of these two bastards. But... you know, the Germans won't give up this place so easily. The Japanese may be able to be pulled back, but that requires the American allies to cause trouble in the Pacific..."

Before Cunningham could finish, Churchill interrupted him with a wave of his hand: "Who said that our American allies abandoned us?"

"Eh?!"

"I can tell you two that the American allies are planning some actions in the Pacific right now. Nanyun's First Air Fleet will leave the Indian Ocean in a few days. Logically speaking, if it weren't for the lack of time and the fact that the Home Fleet still had to keep an eye on the German Arctic Fleet, I would have sent Warspite to the Indian Ocean right now!"

"Eh?" Cunningham frowned when he heard that Churchill was actually plotting against his wife. This slight expression was noticed by Churchill...

But after all, he was a politician, and it was his instinct to not show his emotions. Churchill's face and eyes showed no reaction, and he said to Cunningham, "Cunningham, contact Somerville and ask him to prepare to gather more than 200,000 tons of supplies at one time. It is common sense in the navy that the more ships there are in a convoy, the more escort troops can be saved. So tell Somerville to pack as many ships as possible, the more the better, understand?"

"I understand!" Cunningham did not dare to neglect and agreed to this matter.

"Then I won't keep you here. Go get it done! Write out the battle plan and show it to me!"

"Yes!" Cunningham saluted and turned to leave.

Until Cunningham walked out of the door, Churchill just stared at Cunningham's back without saying a word, with a hint of gloom in his eyes...

At the same time, in the Hawaiian military port on the other side of the earth, six American aircraft carriers were quietly docked on the shore. They seemed to be leisurely watching the cranes and people working on them. They were gathering their strength, just waiting for the moment to be ordered to attack...

The lounge chairs on this beautiful beach under the sun are still there, but the guys who once lay on them have already boarded the boat. The messy footprints on the beach show how lively the beach party was not long ago. I wonder how many young hormones are being released. A gust of sea breeze blows, and the coconut leaves and parasols make a rustling sound.