Bismarck

----Less than an hour later----

A meeting is currently underway in the conference room of the Socotra Island Garrison.

Lütjens, Bismarck, Bonte, Lindemann, Top, Zeppelin, the four of them and the two ship girls sat together around a large table.

Eugen was not seen because she was not very interested in such a meeting. Instead, she had tied an apron on and went to the kitchen of her ship. She said that although the food here was simple, she still wanted to try her best to make something delicious for Top, and of course, for her sisters, especially Bismarck.

Anyway, Top went to the meeting, so there was no need for both the captain and the ship girl to go.

Top, who came to the meeting alone, glanced at Lindemann with some annoyance, and suddenly felt that he was a little unbalanced! Speaking of which, Eugen has been following Tirpitz for a while, and it is likely that she has been led astray by your ship girl, Lindemann!

Lindemann, who was also alone, could only touch his nose innocently when being watched.

What about Tirpitz…?

Well... we all know. This little thing slacked off without noticing. Anyway, it didn't matter whether she was there or not. Apart from lying on the table like a big mascot, she couldn't offer any opinions or suggestions. So she just let Lindemann and her sister tell her. Lütjens said it didn't matter.

Over there, Bonte, whose seniority is second only to Lütjens among the captains, and who serves as the acting commander every time he goes out, has already started reporting on his work.

"…The situation in the garrison has been good recently. The only problem is that due to the British attack planes, torpedo boats, and mines, the Italian logistics team can only deliver a limited amount of supplies each time. However, this problem can be solved by saving resources as much as possible, so it is not too serious for the time being…"

"…The British on the other side are very cunning. They hide their transport ships in the port under the cover of the airport and unload the cargo on the spot. …Because the surface fleet is easy to be discovered, we now mainly rely on submarines to lurk in, and attack when there is an opportunity, and lay mines when there is no opportunity. So far, according to the information we have, mines have sunk three of their merchant ships and a destroyer, and submarines have also sunk four of their merchant ships..."

"…According to your instructions before you returned to Berlin, in order to cover the submarine operations, our large ships also organized several operations, mainly to attack their front-line airports…During the ten or twenty days since you returned to Berlin, we carried out two attacks, bombing the Mogadishu Airport and several island airports closest to us in the Seychelles. …By the way, Top also rescued two large merchant ships outside the port of Mogadishu, an oil tanker and a cargo ship, both of which were 15,000 tons and all made in the United States. They were called Liberty Ships and were even equipped with anti-aircraft gun platforms! Now if we want to fight in the ocean, we have a supply ship - and it was given to us for free by the wealthy British and American bosses!"

The last sentence of Bangtai's report caused laughter in the conference room.

Although the quality of the freewheel is not very good, it is better than having nothing to use.

We don’t have guns or cannons, so the enemy will make them for us. The German pirates are well aware of this.

After laughing enough, Lütjens also spoke:

"It looks like we fought well! But this is just the beginning! It's far from over. Before I came back this time, the Führer and Raeder summoned me and told me a good news - the Japanese defeated the American fleet at Wake Island a few days ago. Do you know about this?"

"I know, what's the matter?" Bontai, Lindeman and Top were all puzzled.

"Because they have won such a victory in the Pacific, according to the Japanese estimates, the United States can only deploy three aircraft carriers in the Pacific in the next three months. So the Japanese plan to transfer the four large aircraft carriers here to the Pacific, capture a few more key islands as much as possible, and then concentrate their superior forces to fight a decisive battle with the Americans!"

Seeing his subordinates who were puzzled by the news, Lütjens immediately revealed the information behind the news. When the news came out, everyone in the conference room was stunned except for Lütjens and Bismarck who had known the news for a long time.

"Isn't this a bit too wishful thinking?" Top was the first to say what he thought... Although the Japanese always like to do this kind of thing, but this...

"The search area for the island airport is so large, and the Americans just suffered a defeat... Will they come out?" This time it was Bangtai's question. After two years of commanding an aircraft carrier, Bangtai is now an absolute aircraft carrier combat expert - not to mention that in order to better understand air power, he even took time out to learn how to fly a plane from Zeppelin! Although the result of such training is just "knowing how to fly"...

"And if they leave, how do we deal with the blockade in the Indian Ocean?" Lindeman, who is usually heartless, frowned after hearing the news.

Are the Japanese planning to abandon them? They are just throwing the entire Indian Ocean to them, leaving them to fight on their own.

You have made a good calculation.

"Our shore-based aviation force only has the BF110, which has a range shorter than the patrol range of British, American and Japanese reconnaissance aircraft. If the Japanese do not have some troops left behind, I will not be able to blockade the Indian Ocean with just one aircraft carrier!" This time it was Zeppelin, but she soon thought of a question:...Speaking of which, Commander, can I ask how many troops the Japanese have left behind?

"Let me look through... Well, Japan will probably leave behind two light aircraft carriers and a team of heavy cruisers." Since everyone in the meeting room was from the same group, Bismarck checked the records and gave an answer.

But... a squadron of heavy cruisers...

It seems that Japan's heavy cruisers usually come in teams of two?!

That's really too little! (╯‵□′)╯︵┴─┴

and……

"A team of heavy cruisers...we don't know what models they are yet..." Well, even Lütjens is shaking his head and sighing now.

But if I tell my commander this...

After all, the birth of heavy cruisers came from the Washington Naval Treaty, and the people here are all navy, so they naturally know that Japanese cruisers are also divided into many types. The so-called "first team" of heavy cruisers did not say what type it was!

If it was Kaohsiung, it would be fine... If it was an aviation cruiser like the Tone class, or those "(violation) treaty-class heavy cruisers" equipped with ten 203 main guns and powerful firepower, it would be fine - but those cruisers have always been used as the main force second only to battleships in the Japanese Navy! Even many fleet flagships stationed abroad are only at the level of this type of heavy cruiser!

And if the regular heavy cruisers don't come, what might come is an old-fashioned heavy cruiser with only six 203mm guns, whose tonnage and performance are even worse than many light cruisers: Furutaka class or Aoba class...

For a moment, everyone in the conference room had the urge to smash the table...

------Meanwhile, in London, England----------

In the office at 10 Downing Street, Churchill, with a cigar in his mouth, was looking at the report in his hand with great joy.

That is a report submitted by MI6 on the reorganization of the code-breaking agency!

Ever since the top secret was destroyed by Goering and the German army integrated various cipher departments, the British have to start from scratch with all their hard-earned achievements in cryptography and computers!

But after two years of hard work, we can finally see some results! Although the rebuilt "Super Secret" can no longer be restored to the original level of being able to decipher German codes infinitely, it can decipher the Japanese diplomatic codes - although, it seems that the Japanese diplomatic purple code is just a modified version of Enigma, right?

"...You are worthy of being the most outstanding director in the history of MI6. William has done a great job! It's a pity...the Germans have reorganized the entire cryptography industry now. It is impossible to decipher it wirelessly like deciphering Enigma..."

After thinking about the reorganization of the cipher agency, Churchill shook his head and smiled bitterly: "...Forget it. The reason why the Germans were able to decipher Enigma before was that they had problems with the cipher work and mathematical algorithm principles. This kind of thing is rare. Now that we can get the intelligence on the German-Japanese negotiations, it is not bad. Hmm... It seems that there is an attachment. Let me see if there is anything valuable attached."

Turning over the last page of the report in the memorandum, Churchill saw the attachments at the back - all of which were recently deciphered and had a strong timeliness. The first one was the deciphered code of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs...

"Japan plans to transfer most of its main fleet in the Indian Ocean, including four heavy aircraft carriers, back to the Pacific Ocean, leaving only two Shoho light aircraft carriers and a heavy cruiser squadron - expected to be organized into the 3rd Air Fleet and the 6th Cruiser Squadron... and then strive to strengthen cooperation with Lütjens' fleet as much as possible, relying on the help of the Germans to intercept the British convoy?..."

Seeing this, Churchill's smile became even brighter, and an immature idea suddenly came to his mind:

"…Auchinleck's India and the Middle East have been blocked by Germany and Japan, and resources have always been insufficient. Even if hundreds of thousands of new soldiers are recruited, it is only enough to maintain the status quo… But if the main fleet of Japan wants to withdraw from the Indian Ocean, it seems that the escort operations here will have some effect. Come here! Invite Marshal Cunningham to me immediately, I have something important to discuss with him!!"

Seeing that Japan was about to run out of troops in the Indian Ocean, Churchill's fat face, which was as thick as the armored steel of a battleship, began to smile with the intention of causing trouble...

Chapter 609: Seeking an Opportunity for a Decisive Battle

"Mr. Prime Minister, you are kidding me! You are kidding me about the safety of the Indian Ocean Fleet's eleven battleships, six escort aircraft carriers, and dozens of transport ships!!"

Cunningham, who had a good temper, actually cursed in front of Churchill after hearing Churchill's imagination!

Churchill's face was now darker than the bottom of a pot. But Cunningham didn't care whether you were the prime minister or not, or whether your face had turned from a European to an African. As a professional soldier, he was still pointing directly at the chart and continued to give his reasons:

"…You see, this is the Indian Ocean route. We are sailing from Seychelles to India, a distance of 3600 kilometers - at least 3200 kilometers of which are beyond the control of our air base! This distance, with the average speed of 2100 knots provided by the Americans, it would take a week to travel in a straight line! Not to mention, at this speed, we can't even shake off the German submarines! Not to mention more than knots, and even if it crosses the Arabian Sea, the German ships only need to travel kilometers..."

Not to mention the two directly reflected his anger at the moment.

"…Our old battleships and escort carriers could never outrun the Germans, especially the Americans. Although the range of their 14-inch main guns has been improved and has reached a maximum range of more than 35000 yards, but…" Cunningham smiled bitterly and shook his head: "The effective range of Warspite and the German ship is about this far. The maximum range of our 381 and the American 406 can be farther, but it is impossible for them to have an effective range of 35000 yards... and there are seven American battleships in the Indian Ocean Fleet. If we suffer too much loss at our hands, there will be problems in diplomacy..."

"… Let's talk about our aircraft carriers. Although our six escort carriers also have 120 aircraft, the dispatch rate of escort carriers is simply incomparable to that of regular aircraft carriers. Even if we want to resist the attack of ordinary large aircraft carriers, it is very difficult, not to mention Zeppelin, who has a ship girl and is an air combat expert. So far, she has shot down 186 of our aircraft. Her GR-36 carrier-based aircraft wing has 109 BF-48s and 190 FW-84s, a total of 190 fighters! And those FW-s can be equipped with bombs or even torpedoes at any time and used as bombers..."

"…So, our fleet is weaker than the Germans to begin with, and if we want to protect the merchant fleet now, we will be hindered by the escort fleet! And once the war starts, we won't even have the choice to evacuate…If you really want to give this order, even if the Japanese don't attack, and even if Somerville fights to the end, you still need to be prepared for heavy losses of transport ships and fleets—half of the supplies may be lost, and if the fleet is unlucky, the loss will be even greater!…"

"Lose half? Then lose half!"

Cunningham wanted to continue speaking, but was interrupted by a shout from the furious Churchill.

"Cunningham, you are the First Sea Lord! Think about it carefully. What did the French do in the Glorious June 1st naval battle 150 years ago? ... In the Glorious June 1st naval battle, the French were able to protect the transport ships from reaching the mainland unscathed at the cost of sacrificing the entire Atlantic Fleet! Now it's your turn! ..."

He was stunned. He never knew the Prime Minister could be so generous and just mentioned the loss of half so casually.

How much transportation volume would that be if it were half of that!

"…I will consult with President Roosevelt about the participation of American warships in the war. You don't have to worry about it! And I can tell you that the United States also wants to open up the Indian Ocean as soon as possible so that they can provide military assistance to the Chinese government, support China's war against Japan, and let the Chinese army hold back the main force of the Japanese army!"

"… Arrange patrols for the six escort aircraft carriers, and use the battleships as the defense pillars. The thirty or forty cruisers and destroyers outside will defend with all their strength, and cover the sixty or seventy merchant ships that are heading forward with all their strength! With this anti-aircraft firepower plus our planes, no matter how powerful the Zeppelin is, it is impossible to consume too many! - As for the Japanese? The main force of the Japanese will be withdrawn soon. Now there are only two light aircraft carriers, and their port Trincomalee is still within the combat radius of our airport - if we are lucky, we can launch a preemptive raid and even catch them off guard!"

"…And what about us? Even if we suffer certain losses, even if the loss rate of 50 merchant ships is 70%, there are still tons of cargo! Even if % of the ships are lost, Auchinleck can use the remaining tens of thousands of tons of supplies to start his operation! Especially those high-grade aviation gasoline, as long as we have this, we can support the activities of the Middle East Theater Air Force! At that time, we can let our air force in the Middle East carry out large-scale operations, and in turn cut off the logistics line of the Germans - Cunningham, you also know how bad the Italian escort team in the Red Sea is! When the Middle East Theater Air Force is revived and Lütjens's logistics line is cut off, then by then, won't the German problem in the Indian Ocean be naturally solved?!"

For Cunningham, what mattered to him was the outcome of a battle, but for Churchill, he only needed some of the key supplies to reach where they were needed.

Even if it’s a pile, we have to pile it out!

"…So what you want now is to come up with a plan as soon as possible - whether it is a decisive battle or collective transportation... Now it is March 10th, I will give you one month to write a battle plan, and at the same time give you permission to mobilize any Royal Navy warship except the Atlantic Escort Fleet, and give you another ten days to run the transportation - but I have only one request, that is, before the end of April, you must either drive Lütjens out of the Indian Ocean or transport the supplies to India! If you really can't do it, you can show me some of the spirit of the glorious June 1st naval battle of the French! Do you understand!!"

"This……"

Cunningham was confused by the Prime Minister's tantrum...

----------

"…This is outrageous! How could he do this!?"

In Cunningham's office, Secretary Bailey was upset and felt indignant for her supervisor.

"…What a glorious June 1918st naval battle! They were just going to die! The Warriors and R-class, even if the three Colorado sisters were added together, could not possibly beat Bismarck and the others! Not to mention the two Tennessees and two Pennsylvanias—I saw a few of them in Scapa Flow in 21000. During target practice, our 370-yard dispersion was only 510 to 18000 yards, while their 600-yard dispersion was 800 to 1400 yards away, and one of them had an error of yards. And as Somerville said, they are still at this level of artillery! With this level of ability, I could kill four of them with one ship without any damage even if I sailed at knots! Not to mention that little bitch Bismarck… Bah!"

The more War-weary talked, the angrier she got. But Cunningham didn't seem to hear his wife's anger and resentment, as if he was absorbed in his thoughts. Not long after, War-weary, who was complaining, noticed Cunningham's unusual concentration, so she immediately stopped complaining and sat down beside him.

Good wives know not to act arrogantly in front of their men, especially when their men are serious. Cunningham, who was concentrating on thinking about the battle situation, had completely lost his frivolous cynicism and completely transformed into a bloody warrior who had fought against the wind and waves. Now Cunningham, in addition to being a warrior, was also the First Sea Lord of the British Empire and a Fleet Marshal!

Thinking back to the past, I was deceived by his pretending to be profound!

War-weary couldn't help but feel a slight itching in his heart, but he was more proud of his own admiral.

After a long while, Cunningham finally stopped thinking about life. He stood up suddenly and looked at the secretary sitting next to him:

"I have an idea. Didn't the Prime Minister say that we could consider a decisive battle? Let's have a decisive battle with them!"

"What can you do? Move me over there and use my fire control device to direct the other ships' artillery fire?"

After all, War-weary and Cunningham have been married for decades, and they are in tune with each other. Seeing this old man, it is likely that he wants to go to the war... But War-weary has a clear understanding in his heart - the 300-year tradition of the British Empire Royal Navy is to fight the enemy and then wear down the opponent!

Anyway, Kumetz's Arctic Fleet is now crippled. The Scharnhorst died heroically, and the Gneisenau, Hindenburg, Ludendorff, and even the two Europa-class aircraft carriers were seriously injured and are now undergoing temporary repairs in Norway - and this level of damage cannot be effectively repaired in Norway. Mechanical equipment needs to be repaired, armor plates need to be replaced, and weapons also need to be equipped with spare parts... Repairing warships is a big subject, and it is definitely not enough to just fix the hull leak!

Only a ship like me can slowly repair itself... Speaking of which, if it travels a distance of 10,000 nautical miles, from Scapa Flow in the mainland to the Indian Ocean, ordinary warships must first be maintained when they arrive at the destination before they can be considered combat-ready, right? -- Didn't the Rozhdestvensky Fleet of the Tsarist Russian Navy in the Battle of Tsushima well illustrate the state of "examination far and wide, only to seek defeat"?

but…

"I can't bear to let you go alone." Cunningham smiled and shook his head: "The Prime Minister wants to do something big, so why not take the two American battleships from Iceland with him!"

Seeing Cunningham regain his cynicism, War-weary also smiled, and his smile was a little cunning:

"Speaking of which, it's a full 10,000 nautical miles from Scapa Flow to Seychelles. After traveling continuously, we have to go into battle immediately after no more than a week of maintenance. For an engine room with so many years of experience, it's really a bit stressful. Besides, what if I suddenly want to pinch you~?"

Seeing his wife, with a dangerous smile, gently raising her hand and making a gesture as if she was about to twist something, and a look that said, "If you don't stick your ears out, I'll make you look bad," Cunningham's face suddenly drooped...

That evening, at 10 Downing Street, Churchill was reading the preliminary battle plan submitted by Cunningham. He agreed on the spot to mobilize the War-weary Army and would also ask the Americans to transfer North Carolina and Washington to the Middle East. However, he found out unexpectedly that Admiral Cunningham, who was standing in front of him, seemed to have one ear that was a little bigger?

2333...

ps: According to the literature, the American artillery was far behind the British, with a gap of ten years. As for the reliability of 356...ah.

Chapter 610: Cunningham, the Henpecked One

A month passed quickly...

The Soviet-German battlefield and the Chinese battlefield in the Far East seem to have entered a period of relaxation, and everything is still the same...

The Japanese army in the Pacific battlefield took advantage of the insufficient strength of the US army and concentrated the unprecedented force of six aircraft carriers to cover the main force of the Second Division and an engineering battalion, a total of more than 17,000 officers and soldiers. They had occupied Guadalcanal Island and began to build an airport project on the island.

The anti-submarine war in the Atlantic Ocean continued to be a life-and-death struggle. As the Allies strengthened the North Atlantic escort, Dönitz's submarines had to spread to the Caribbean Sea, the South Atlantic and even more remote routes. However, Dönitz was not worried about this. After all, when Lütjens visited last month to discuss the use of submarines in the Indian Ocean, he discussed some tactical issues on the one hand, and on the other hand, he learned a lot from Lütjens and his secretary ship.

For example...

The submarine captains under his command often use code transmitters as QQ chat rooms, which is not conducive to confidentiality - although... what is a QQ chat room (a black question mark on his face); for example, it is mentioned that a towed sonar can be dragged behind the submarine and equipped with a self-guided torpedo to greatly improve the underwater detection capability and covert attack capability; for example, it mentions mechanical torpedo fire control automatic computers and the like; there are also major moving parts on the submarine - such as the main engine, water pumps and the like; springs and rubber pads are used to make shock-absorbing float valves to reduce noise and reduce the probability of detection, and even a large bypass piston can be installed on the torpedo tube, and compressed air is used to push the piston to squeeze out the seawater in the launch tube, It can completely solve the problem of bubbles exposing the position when launching torpedoes; and add some sundry launchers and sound bombs on the pressure hull to "play dead" to avoid anti-submarine detection; there are also suggestions to use a low-resistance shape on the submarine that can take into account both surface and underwater navigation to deal with the increasingly tight British and American naval encirclement and suppression... But the most important thing is that the Stirling engine submarine that they are investing in research and development, but cannot solve the two major technical bottlenecks of oxygen storage and combustion pipeline gas pressure, was "changed" by the secretary ship's words: "If the engine cannot be solved, then use the space to install a few more sets of batteries, and then equip a large generator for charging." It was found that the problem was completely solved in an instant...

Moreover, many of these things are mature technologies that can be made with existing German technology, or are currently being developed and the development progress is going smoothly.

"Oh, I remember when we were doing exercises together, she asked me to strengthen the anti-submarine measures against the enemy's multi-service joint forces. She really has a good vision... So she is worthy of being called a ship girl, with such a great vision... Fortunately, I listened to her advice, strengthened the training and improved the tactics, otherwise the boys' loss rate would not be as good as it is now..."

Looking at the thick book on "Type 21 Submarine Design Plan (Final Draft)" in his hand, Dönitz flipped through it again, signed his name readily, and then stamped it with the official seal.

"They are all mature technologies... It seems that this revolutionary submarine will be able to start serving in March or May next year at the latest! By that time, even if the Allied anti-submarine forces are expected to be much stronger than they are now, they will not easily lose control of the North Atlantic!" Dönitz, who was originally still happy about the revolutionary performance of the Type 21 submarine, thought of some questions that Lütjens told him: "But... Lütjens said that day that our submarines are still based on surface tactics, but if this type of submarine is to focus on underwater activities, the supporting tactics will have to be redeveloped..."

"Speaking of which, Lutjens is indeed capable, but it's a pity that he and the Marshal are no longer on the same page... Never mind, we should quickly come up with a rough outline of the planned tactics while we still have time. The Empire does not have time to carry out the transformation step by step now - it is better for people to wait for equipment than for equipment to wait for people!"

As his thoughts developed and his mind focused, Sea Wolf King fell into deep thought about the performance parameters and the tactical use of the new submarine...

……At the same time, the Allied base in Madagascar……

"Cunningham, just for this 'support operation', you, the First Sea Lord, actually came here in person? And you even showed off your affection with your wife in front of me. Do you think you have to do this?"

Somerville was bewildered, looking at the old man and the old woman showing affection in front of him, and was a little dumbfounded.

This plan was really incredible, but what was even more incredible was that Cunningham not only sent his beloved wife over, but also came here himself...

Although he was harsh in his words, Somerville knew in his heart that Cunningham, as the First Sea Lord, personally took his wife to the battle because this "Operation Support" was not easy at all! Churchill would rather have a fleet decisive battle, sacrifice 70%, and would rather do the glorious June 1st naval battle of the French, even if it meant losing the entire fleet to ensure that the transport team reached the target... Such harsh words were said, how could the mission be easy...

Not to mention, the opponent is the Lutjans fleet, whose mobility is far superior to theirs...

"This mission is so complicated, how can I not come? The Prime Minister said that a 70% loss is allowed, but if the loss is really heavy, who knows if those politicians will change their minds! I can't use you as a scapegoat!"

"So you just came over here and took over command?"

"Yes, otherwise I would not feel comfortable letting my wife stay with a master of dirty jokes like you. My Bailey is such a lady, don't let her be led astray by a guy with dirty thoughts like you!"

"screw you!!"

After some joking...