Bismarck

This time, I really need to think carefully about it...

but……

"Marshal! Telegram from Major General Giffen! Their position has been exposed!"

Before Cunningham entered the room, a senior staff officer hurried out grabbing a telegram.

"What's going on?" Cunningham, who was about to enter the room, was stunned.

"Just now, the high-speed tanker fleet escorted by Major General Giffen was attacked by Japanese air force... Although the damage was not serious, our plan of sacrificing the tanks to save the king has been exposed!!"

The staff officer finished speaking in a hurry, but was surprised to find that Cunningham looked calm, and even touched the back of his head like Aqua and blinked...

"Marshal, you... this...?"

"What the hell, calm down, okay? Don't you think about how close they are to the Japanese airport? I feel lucky that they were discovered by the Japanese so late!"

Seeing the confused look on the staff officer's face, Cunningham, who was already annoyed enough by Aqua, couldn't help but burst out laughing, then slapped the staff officer hard.

"Young man, calm down... Giffen is fine for now, so you should help me think about how to intercept the German evil spirits..."

Seeing that the staff officer was still not getting the hang of things, Marshal Cunningham shook his head, opened the hatch with a wry smile, and walked in. He left the staff officer alone, standing on the flight deck with his face covered by the Indian Ocean breeze, and he was still in a daze.

At the same time, hundreds of miles away on the sea, Zeppelin handed a battle report to Bangtai:

"… Two JU-87s were lost in the reconnaissance this morning; two FW-190s and five JU-87s were lost in the air raid on the British transport fleet; the air battle just now involved six BF-109s, two FW-190s, and two JU-87s—including the planes lost while waiting to land in the sky; in addition, one BF-109, one FW-190, and two JU-87s were declared scrapped because they were too badly damaged after landing and were not worth repairing… The dead pilots and machine gunners, as well as the damaged planes that needed repair, have not been counted—tsk, why do I always feel that the JU-87's survivability is too weak in such a high-intensity battle…"

Looking at Zeppelin with a sour face, Bangtai was also a little depressed.

Although they repelled the British attack and shot down at least two squadrons of their attack aircraft,...

God knows whether the British still have the ability to launch a second round of attack...

Although there are still a lot of planes now - not counting those that need to be overhauled after combat, there are still 190 FW-109s that can be deployed, 87 BF-s, and even JU-s, although there are only about left, but completing the reconnaissance mission is still... well, it's still a bit of a stretch...

It has been two hours since the air raid, and in order to seize the position to intercept the British and American convoys, Commander Lütjens has already taken Bismarck and Tirpitz to intercept them.

Besides, there is a high probability that it will be an artillery and torpedo battle. After all, Zeppelin is an aircraft carrier. In this situation, we can just follow behind and use aircraft to provide cover.

Self-protection is no problem now, but...

Although the direction of their return flight could be roughly calculated, they had to land the aircraft group and could not send attack aircraft, so two hours had passed... And even now, the limited aircraft they had had to give priority to Bismarck and the others, and the flight deck was full of air superiority fighters patrolling in batches. In this case, if they wanted to put together a full deck of attack aircraft, it would take at least two hours - four hours to go back and forth, and they would have no idea where the aircraft carrier had gone.

The JU-87, which has the longest range and can carry large auxiliary fuel tanks, only has ten of them now...

Assuming that each aircraft is responsible for 18 degrees, the reconnaissance range is 400 kilometers, and the width of the 400-degree angle 18 kilometers away is a full 120 kilometers!

Bangtai and Qiberin could only smile bitterly. The scope of this investigation was too large...

The feeling of not being able to find an enemy is really exhausting...

The only good news is that the Prinz Eugen, which was rescuing the drowned pilots in the nearby sea, has finished rescuing all the people and is now coming over to regroup...

After regrouping, the Zeppelin, under the escort of Eugen, chased in the direction of Lütjens.

...............

"…What? The Japanese just discovered that they have another fleet? It is heading towards India at a speed of 16 knots?…What are their forces?…At least two escort aircraft carriers, four old battleships, and about 30 merchant ships, mainly oil tankers…?"

Seventy nautical miles away from Zeppelin and Prinz Eugen, in the command tower of the battleship Bismarck, Lütjens was holding a freshly-made, still hot, urgent intelligence, turning it over and over again, looking confused.

Next to Lütjens, a secretary ship was marking the newly discovered British high-speed transport team on the chart table - it could be seen from her impatient tail shaking left and right that the sudden appearance of such an enemy made the Persian cat feel a little irritated.

After all, if we can't stop them...will the logistics line be cut off...

And there is still oil in it...

The Middle East is rich in crude oil, but due to the suppression of the United Kingdom, there has been no refinery. Although there are a lot of crude oil refineries now, they can only barely solve the problem of vehicle fuel, and there is still no way to provide high-grade aviation gasoline - that stuff needs to be purified, cracked, and added with additives. With the social foundation of the Middle East, which has been colonized by Britain and the United States for nearly a hundred years, none of these problems are easy to solve.

Logically speaking, if the British had not captured Suez and blocked the Indian Ocean, and if Auchinleck's logistics were not in place, they might not even have built that crude oil refining facility!

But... from another perspective, doesn't it mean that as long as there is fuel and supplies, the British will definitely launch a counterattack in the Middle East? ! If the Red Sea and Egypt are blocked again...

Moreover, this was said by his own captain!

If that were to happen, would I become a stray cat?

And it's such a long way from the Indian Ocean to Europe...

If I want to lead everyone back safely... Why do I always think of what I saw before, climbing snow-capped mountains and crossing grasslands, and being chased and blocked by people, and how hard it was to think about the 25,000-mile Long March...

And if the Indian Ocean is lost, will that villain Raeder go to the little mustache to complain, or will he make things difficult for his captain in various ways?

What should I do… How should I deal with this… This is so troublesome… Is there any big guy who can help me…

Holding the pencil tightly, the Persian cat's tail wagged more and more annoyed...

Rather...

With a smack, a big hand gently patted the Persian cat's golden hair, and then rubbed its ears again and again. At the same time, the captain's calm voice came to Bismarck's ears:

"You just can't keep calm?"

Seeing that his own ship cat was a little nervous, the captain suddenly had the urge to tease his secretary cat and play a little joke.

"Eh...eh? Captain!?" The Persian cat, who was already in a bad mood, was startled.

And... the frightened ship cat suddenly remembered that this is the command tower!

Moreover, her command tower is different from other countries' small cabins. It is a relatively large command cabin! Being rubbed on the head by her own captain in public... She is very thin-skinned, okay!

He quickly pulled his head out of the captain's hand and stamped his feet in embarrassment:

"Hey, hey, hey! Captain! Everyone is watching!!"

"You're shy now, so you're not nervous anymore?"

But... Lütjens forgot one thing: this is the command tower.

Several officers nearby saw this scene, looked at each other, and at the same time, quietly placed the things on the table, tiptoed to the side and "concentrated their work".

but……

Cats are very sensitive!

Bismarck knew as soon as the tip of his ear moved slightly, even without looking back, that although these guys looked at their noses and mouths and questioned their consciences, they might be covering their mouths and laughing secretly!

Seeing his captain's evil smile, the depressed Bismarck was so angry that he turned his head away and ignored him! Out of sight, out of mind!

After being hit on the back by his own secretary ship, the captain realized that he had gone too far in his joke...

"Uh... okay, okay, no more jokes, don't be angry..."

"Humph!"

Now it was the captain's turn to sweat a drop on his head... He quickly went over and stretched out his hand, wanting to continue coaxing the cat...

but……

Knowing that everyone was secretly laughing at him, the Persian cat got even angrier. Seeing that Lütjens was about to come closer, the Persian cat swung its tail fiercely, and the angry Persian cat grabbed him back with his hand...

……After a while………

"…So, we just need to keep on heading. At the current speed, we can definitely catch their T-head!…But next, although we can use our range and speed to play with them, they have war fatigue, and after all, there are eight battleships, so we still have to be as vigilant as possible…"

"…Also, regarding their aircraft carriers, Zeppelin has just sent the results of the interrogation of the British pilots who fell into the water - they only have one aircraft carrier, the Indefatigable! And they can't send out more attack aircraft right now!!…So, we don't have to worry about their air raids. We just need to let Zeppelin send out fighters to cover our air superiority and do a good job of aerial observation and shooting..."

Lütjens stood in front of the chart table, surrounded by a circle of staff officers. The captain pointed at the chart with a pointer in his hand, while his other hand was behind his back. Under the neatly arranged uniform of the admiral, the place on his lower back where his own angry warship had twisted it into a twist was still aching. He glanced at the corner next to him, and saw the secretary ship, who was still irritated, rolling her eyes at him.

The staff officers around him all looked serious, but when Bismarck saw that they were glancing around while listening to the lecture, he felt without hesitation that this was a complete cover-up!

Continuing to glare at his captain, the angry Persian cat thought that he had been too gentle just now and should have twisted it a few more times...

Unfortunately, in this extremely tense battlefield, this is the only chance to relax.

ps: Someone has to start over again, 23333

Chapter 619: Big Ships and Big Guns

At noon on April 18, Bismarck and Tirpitz finally collided with the covering fleet of eight battleships led by Somerville in the vast ocean.

In mid-April, the high pressure over the Indian subcontinent had not yet completely dissipated. The northeast wind blowing from the Indian continent into the Arabian Sea cooled the water vapor evaporated from the tropical seas in the sky of the Indian Ocean, decorating the blue sky with large cotton candy-like clouds, which were reflected on the blue ocean.

but……

Between the clouds in the sky, there were the wings of fighter jets, which had crashed into the originally round and lovely clouds, leaving torn cracks. The flames and black smoke from the explosions had polluted the sky with ugly black spots like ink!

The fighters of the GR-186 Squadron and the fighters dispatched by the British escort aircraft carrier have been fighting each other in order to harass and weaken the two German battleships as much as possible!

Although the British escort aircraft carriers were small in tonnage and had short decks, even with catapults, they were unable to drive the large air compressors to launch heavily loaded attack aircraft due to insufficient power of the main engines. They only had the Swordfish bombers that had long been withdrawn from the front line and were only used for anti-submarine warfare - and even these Swordfish were only a few in number.

The remaining Spitfire fighters of the escort aircraft carriers, and even the Tuftedo fighters that have been relegated to the second line and used for reconnaissance, can all carry rockets and attack the superstructures of the warships!

Although it is impossible to directly sink a large warship, nor to damage its main turrets - even the secondary turrets may not be destroyed. However, blowing up the anti-aircraft guns, destroying the command instrument, setting fire to the superstructure, and even just making a few holes in the hull to cause water to enter can have a serious impact on the combat effectiveness of the warship! Even if the large warship in front of you is an evil spirit controlled by a witch in the legend, it will inevitably be affected, right?

Especially the anti-aircraft guns of German warships, most of them are open structures. Even the 105 anti-aircraft guns only have a large gun cover. Although they have a certain degree of defense, they are not immune to the muzzle blast of battleship artillery fire. Even if the personnel bunkers are right next to them, the air defense will be greatly reduced during the battleship artillery battle!

However... there are not many Spitfires left on the British escort aircraft carriers. Not only that, they have to withdraw a considerable number of them to defend against the air raid that the Zeppelin aircraft carrier may launch at any time!

And the problem isn’t just that there aren’t enough planes…

The fighter jets equipped with rockets had their air combat performance reduced by a level. Under the cover of the escort fighters sent by Zeppelin, these twos and threes of Spitfires and Fulmars had no better solution after all...

The contact on the sea surface was also taking place at a distance of thirty-seven kilometers in a strange manner...

"…HMS Warspite reports that the German fleet has completed its course measurement and is heading due east. The enemy angle (the relative angle from which the enemy observes our ship) is about 50 degrees, and the enemy angle (the relative angle from which our ship observes the enemy ship) is 85 degrees! Distance 40000 yards (37 kilometers)!!"

On Somerville's flagship, the battleship Warrior, the communications officer was reporting parameters to Admiral Somerville with a strange look on his face. What the hell, although the Warrior was the flagship and the lead ship, Somerville openly ordered before the battle that unless there were special circumstances, all fire control parameters would be based on the data reported by the Warspite... And now it seemed that the commander of his own fleet was too lazy to care about the field information and let the Warspite observe everything...

Is this really okay…?

Seeing the suspicious look of the communications officer, Somerville could only wipe his face and pretend not to see it - after all, the KanColle thing was too notorious among the British civilians and even the lower-level officers in the army. The consequences of lax confidentiality...

If they were unlucky, it would be a question whether Cunningham and Warspite would be tied to the stake and burned at the stake by the people who had become hysterical because of the Royal Navy's repeated defeats.

And why did I suddenly come up with a very strange symbol in my mind... It seems to be three Fs put together... ?

After all, there was a powerful enemy at hand. Summerville scratched his head and finally decided not to be distracted and think about those things like FFF with a pointed black cloak...

"Just now War-weary said that their enemy angle is 85 degrees, and our enemy angle is 50 degrees?"

Seeing Cunningham pretending to be stupid, the communications officer was secretly complaining. But after all, the person in front of him was his immediate superior, so he still had to report what he should report...

"Yes, sir." Although he still had to report, the communications officer's eyes were already a little unhappy.

But Summerville didn't care. He grabbed a two-color pencil and a compass and protractor, made a few strokes on the nautical chart, and then began to issue combat orders directly:

"…The enemy angle is 85 degrees, and the enemy angle is 50 degrees. The critical side angle calculated based on the ratio of the enemy and our speed is 37 degrees (SIN critical side angle = our speed/enemy speed, usually used when the enemy ship's speed is higher than ours)… They are evil spirits, and our effective range is much shorter than theirs… So, the first thing is to find a way to close the distance… If we are within the critical side angle, we can close the distance even when facing a high-speed enemy ship. This angle…"

As a veteran of many battles, Cunningham had no problem calculating these things! Immediately, Cunningham gave the communications officer a combat order: "... The battleships are ready to engage the enemy, heading northeast 040 degrees, the fleet maintains knots, Warspite continues to measure the bombardment parameters, and awaits the next order! Also order the escort team to turn due east and sail at full speed!! - Okay, repeat it again!"

"...Yes, sir. The battleship is ready to engage the enemy, heading northeast 040 degrees..." The communications officer smacked his lips and began to repeat the combat order in accordance with the verification requirements stipulated in the regulations.

Although there was always a hint of resentment in the look he gave his commander...

Under Somerville's command, the British fleet slightly changed its course, placing the intersection angle between its course and that of the German fleet at an angle that would allow it to close the distance as quickly as possible.

……Two minutes later, the commander of the battleship Bismarck……

"Captain, their course seems to have changed!"

Although still a little angry, this is a battlefield now, and the Persian cat told himself that it was time to do the real work first.

"Oh? Have they changed?" Lütjens couldn't help asking when he heard his own ship cat reporting the enemy situation.

However, the Persian cat, who was not in a good mood, still turned her head back to her captain. However, she did not stop plotting the course and speed of the enemy fleet in her hands, and she was obviously muttering a series of data in a proud manner:

"…they are led by two Queen-class ships, followed by what seems to be the Warspite; followed by three Colorado-class ships, and finally three R-class ships…The specific parameters are: the enemy angle is 50 degrees, the friend angle is 77 degrees, their critical side angle is about 37 degrees, the distance change rate is 660 meters/minute, and the current distance is 34680 meters (38000 yards)…"

Listening to the data reported by the Persian cat, the battle-hardened Lütjens' first reaction was that Somerville was going to close the distance with him to engage in an artillery battle. However, his second reaction was...

"This girl is really arrogant!"

Lütjens, who was standing behind Bismarck, chuckled and reflexively stretched out his evil black hand towards the Persian cat's head. However, the pain in his waist reminded him of the girl's reaction just now... After a half-second pause, Lütjens finally retracted his half-stretched hand.

Forget it, let's think about whether we can fire now...

Lütjens, who was disliked by his own ship cat, smiled bitterly and shook his head, then began to turn his attention back to the battlefield.

英国战列舰的381毫米主炮原本只有20度的最大仰角，厌战和勇士号改进过了主炮，可以达到30度的最大仰角——发射6CRH的MK17B穿甲弹的时候，这些火炮可以达到大约27300码（25公里）和33600码（30公里）的最大射程，而如果是强装药的话，甚至还可以达到28公里和 33公里左右的极限射程！

Although according to the intelligence obtained during the exchanges between the two navies before the war, the recoil of the artillery at a high elevation angle of 30 degrees would produce a strong impact on the keel, so the use of high-charge shooting was prohibited.

However, there are war-weary ship girls!

And now that the British are equipped with the newer CRH8 armor-piercing shells, nothing can be said for sure - even without using strong charges, with the resistance of the CRH8 armor-piercing shells, I'm afraid the British range can reach 28 kilometers and 33 kilometers!