Bismarck

Seeing the shells coming straight at him, War-weary's pupils suddenly shrank. - Because of anger, and also to attack Bismarck more accurately, and the Bismarck's main guns had only fired a symbolic round of shelling in the previous two hours, plus he always felt that there were two American battleships in front of him, so War-weary subconsciously gave up evasion and sailed in a straight line, but - Bismarck was now firing at full force.

The inertia of a battleship sailing in a straight line is very large. Warspite secretly said "bad luck" in his heart and started to steer the ship with all his strength - but as soon as he had this thought, the rudder of the battleship Warspite made a creaking sound.

War-weariness is an old problem that has been left over since the Battle of Jutland. The steering gear is stuck...

Even though he was tired of war, his face showed a rare look of panic at this juncture.

"It's bad, we can't avoid the bombardment... Damage control team! Prepare to repair immediately..." Before the words fell, the water column that covered the Warspite was trapped in the middle. There were even two violent explosions at the bow and stern of the Warspite. The one that hit the stern just hit the steering gear at the stern of the Warspite.

Flagship killer.

War-weary's legs went limp and she fell down. But a pair of big hands reached out and held her up. Confused, War-weary looked up and saw that it was her own admiral, Cunningham, who had failed in his cultivation and turned to magic.

"Don't panic. At least now we can still sail with only the rudder broken. Air support should be here soon. Report the coordinates to the Americans immediately and ask them to fire in a staggered manner to drive the Bismarck away."

Seeing his usually carefree admiral so calm in the face of danger, a ripple appeared in War-weary's eyes...

"War-weary, are you still running?"

Seeing that Warspite was crippled, Bismarck was even more aggressive. Under the control of Lütjens's personal secretary, he fired round after round of artillery fire at Warspite, who had lost its maneuverability. The dispersion of the warship's artillery fire was not large to begin with, so as long as he did not evade and found the actual dispersion range, he would not be able to escape the coverage of the artillery fire.

Bismarck is a ship girl after all, and she had undergone special training in long-range artillery warfare under the guidance of Lütjens before - now, isn't this unavoidable war-weariness the best target?

In just a few minutes, the Warspite was hit repeatedly by the precise bombardment. The superstructure, which originally looked stable and heavy, was now reduced to ruins and blazing with flames. The hull was riddled with holes and tilted, like a trembling old lady who could fall to the ground at any time...

Even though Warspite transmitted the bombardment coordinates of the Bismarck to the two American battleships, it took several minutes for the Americans to adjust the bombardment parameters. In these few short minutes, the Warspite was hit five or six times in succession by Bismarck's 380mm main guns.

She was covered in wounds. In addition to the steering gear being stuck and then destroyed by a shell, the two remaining main turrets were no longer usable. A large hole was also opened near the chimney by an armor-piercing shell, which blew up a group of boilers. As a result, the speed dropped sharply to only ten knots, and she could no longer maintain formation with the two American battleships. The signal clock that transmitted the shelling parameters to the American battleships was also completely broken along with the rear mast.

Even the radio room was engulfed in flames by the explosion of a shell that hit the side of the bridge. Even the command tower was blasted open by the explosion of this shell. The flying shrapnel and the raging fire swept across the entire command room, directly turning the entire command post into a hornet's nest with a blazing fire and a river of blood.

At the critical moment, a respectable lady pushed Cunningham down without thinking, and then rushed forward herself. - Warspite used his own projection as a living shield to block a piece of shrapnel flying towards Cunningham.

But… although Cunningham escaped unharmed, the command tower and the bridge had been basically wiped out. Even the observation signal could no longer be sent to the two American battleships.

Although the American battleships, which lacked long-range artillery parameters, had fire control radars, even without considering the interference of electronic jammers, the conservatively designed fire control system alone could not guarantee the hit rate on the Bismarck.

However, War-weary's own injuries had almost put her in a desperate situation.

"Cunningham... today we..." Looking at the command tower that was already ablaze with flames, billowing smoke, and numerous casualties, War-weary, covered in blood, collapsed weakly in Cunningham's arms, her dim eyes seemed to be raised with all her strength, looking at her husband. She opened her mouth a little excitedly, but she didn't know what she wanted to say...

Yan Zhan never thought that he would end up trapped in a place far away from home.

She remembered what the intelligence chief had told her, that the ending would be to build a museum. That ending had once made her very satisfied, except now.

It was very laggy. She looked at her commander who was disrespectful to her elders with a confused look on her face. Even at this moment, he could still smile... and lower his head? He gave her a fierce kiss on her lips which were still bloodshot...

"You...this..." After being forcefully kissed, War-weary's mind completely short-circuited, and she was completely dazed by the kiss from her own man.

His whole body stiffened, but quickly relaxed.

"I am the First Sea Lord of the Royal Navy, and you are the flagship of the Royal Navy. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to report to God together with you in such a tragic naval battle? Hahahaha."

Gently stroking War-weary's cheek, Cunningham smiled carefreely. Then he directly gave her a princess hug and gently lifted her up from the ground.

"That's good. I don't have to worry about these things from now on." He smiled and thought of his old partner Somerville. He wondered what he was thinking before he died.

"That's true." Even though his whole body was in pain, War-weary relaxed for a rare moment, and didn't seem to care about the overwhelming artillery shells.

After picking up War-weary, Cunningham walked directly to the main seat in the command tower.

With such a flagship and such a wife, they still have to show their love before they die. Anyway... it seems that there is no one on the command platform.

Looking at Cunningham's smiling face and his fearless attitude towards death, the weak and war-weary girl's beautiful eyelashes trembled, and she gently leaned her head on Cunningham's shoulder and slowly closed her eyes.

In the next second, a round of shells whistled across a distance of thirty kilometers and hit the bow waterline of the battleship Warspite again, causing a violent explosion of fire. Then, suddenly, the hail of bullets turned into complete silence, with only the occasional shelling sounds from the two American battleships ahead.

However, compared with the Bismarck's evasive ability and speed, the American battleship's bombardment was almost hopeless and seemed more like a farewell to the Bismarck battleship as it was turning to evacuate.

"This...they actually...retreat...?"

Cunningham, who was sitting on the main seat, and HMS Warspite, the British Empire's Royal Navy's chief battleship in Cunningham's arms, looked at each other in bewilderment on the battlefield that suddenly turned from a tragic battle to a silent one. Suddenly, they felt that this scene of surviving a disaster was a bit of an inexplicable absurd comedy...

"What's going on?" Yan Zhan's beautiful eyes blinked again and again in confusion. Although she could probably guess the reason why Bismarck retreated, she still couldn't believe that such a good thing as surviving a disaster could happen so bizarrely.

"I guess they really have run out of shells... Come to think of it, the Tirpitz hasn't shown up yet, maybe it has run out of shells...?" Looking at the person in his arms, Cunningham shook his head, and his confused expression gradually turned into a wry smile.

The so-called trick of fate is so mysterious - you can neither guess the beginning nor the ending...

There was a ping-pong sound outside - it was the damage control team. They had just opened a passage in and out of the fire scene in the messy bridge, braving the explosions, flames, and flying shrapnel.

The damage control team rushed into the command tower with fire axes and fire hoses, and the first thing they saw was this couple sitting in the main seat of the tower, hugging each other like a princess, showing their affection, as if they had not yet recovered from the separation of life and death.

The raging fire illuminated the command tower red. The dusty damage control team, with fire axes in their hands, looked at the First Sea Lord and the Royal Navy's wife ship in the command tower in confusion. This scene was just like the legendary FFF regiment, watching and preparing to burn those affectionate couples, which was ridiculous.

“…You…you all get out. …All of you get out…”

War-weary was thin-skinned, and she shook her hands and shouted at the sailors who looked like they were watching a good show. She even ignored her serious injuries - she even began to look a little transparent, and wanted to jump up and put on the posture of a secretary ship, and drive all the embarrassing guys out. However, she was seriously injured and weak, and now she had no strength to climb out of Cunningham's arms... But Cunningham, an old sailor who was disrespectful to his elders, stood up in front of the crowd with War-weary, then made way for her and gently put her in the seat where he had been sitting before.

"What's the situation now?" Cunningham, whose face was thicker than that of the main armor of the war-weary, asked calmly. The surrounding damage control team looked at each other in bewilderment, and they all felt a sense of MMP in their hearts:

We were desperately trying to rescue people, put out the fire and plug the leak, but you were actually able to do this in the command tower that was about to be turned into an oven by the fire?

However, before this awkward conversation could continue, there was a shout outside, and a sailor, also covered in dust and wearing the uniform of a signalman, stumbled in and said, "Your Excellency Marshal, the convoy has had an accident..."

"What?" Cunningham, who had been pretending to be calm, and War-weary, who was already wishing he could find a hole to crawl into, became anxious at the same time when they heard the signal light sailor's shout.

"Yes... yes, Your Excellency Marshal... the American fleet just forwarded a light signal. The Japanese are coming from the south of the convoy... the three R-class battleships and three destroyers that were guarding the convoy were severely damaged by the torpedo attack by four Japanese heavy cruisers and about a team of destroyers at night. The battleship Ramirez was hit by two torpedoes and the damage was out of control. The battleships Monarch and Vengeance were also seriously injured. Two other destroyers sank on the spot... the Japanese heavy cruisers are now shelling the transport convoy. Rear Admiral Lee asked the Washington to tell us that he had rushed over with his three battleships to reinforce..."

After listening to the signalman's report, Cunningham and Yanzhan looked at each other, both of them had a look of MMP on their gloomy faces:

The fight to the death turned out to be a trick to lure the tiger away from the mountain. What's even more hateful is that the Japanese torpedo warfare is so strong that three old battleships can't suppress four heavy cruisers and six destroyers?

It's strange that they can suppress it. The range of the Long Lance torpedo is longer than the range of the R-class battleship's main guns...

Cunningham thought for a while with a gloomy face, and then ordered: "The Germans should have run out of ammunition... Let our three heavy cruisers go over to help. In addition, North Carolina comes over to drag Warspite, and Washington is on alert..."

As Cunningham spoke, on the sea surface that had regained its calm, the edge of the dark sky in the east, in the direction of the morning star, seemed to have shown a hint of dawn, which symbolized the approach of dawn...

Chapter 637: Tactics and Strategy

The dawn light appeared in the east, sending away the last bomber in the sky...

Bismarck's sudden withdrawal after beating up Warspite was just in time. As soon as she retreated, the bombers that rushed from the Indian subcontinent to reinforce the escort convoy rushed over like locusts. However, at this time, the main force fighting against the British escort fleet had been replaced by the Japanese army, so most of the bombers went directly to the Japanese fleet under the guidance of the surface fleet. Fortunately, Jisaburo Ozawa still had two light aircraft carriers, and the distance from the British airport to the battlefield had exceeded the Spitfire's maximum combat radius. In addition to being able to withstand beatings, the handsome fighters could not beat the Zero fighter in air combat. In addition, Ozawa made a prompt decision to send out more than 40 Zero fighters from the two light carriers, and finally managed to resist the anxious British bombers.

Although, the loss was not small - at least the sinking of the Shoho aircraft carrier was also a big loss for Japan, which had limited strength, weak industry, and lack of successors...

As for the Persian cat and Prince Eugen who had already slipped away, they successfully joined Zeppelin and Grape. As for the British bombers that followed in pursuit under the guidance of the war-weary and unwilling navigation, without the cover of the flamethrowers, they did not have enough power to break through the dense and fierce anti-aircraft fire network of the four evil spirit warships under the cover of more than 20 fighters...

Even without mentioning the pursuit and interception by more than 105 fighters, the rod-shaped fragmentation shells of the mm anti-aircraft guns alone can cause terrible damage to those large multi-engine aircraft. The splashing damage is like a machete, hitting those large aircraft that have a solid structure and the explosion of ordinary machine guns can only open a hole in the skin, but are huge and clumsy, with a larger surface area to be attacked, and there are not many of them, which is really not easy to hit...

There are also a bunch of 37mm and 50mm anti-aircraft guns at medium and close ranges. Under the command of the firing director, they are ready to lay out a dense fire net at any time, waiting for the frightened birds under the flying fragments of the 105 anti-aircraft guns, as well as the fish that escaped the net...

Looking at the plane flying away crookedly and awkwardly with thick smoke trailing behind it under the rising morning glow, Bismarck suddenly felt that she could finally relax again. However, at the same time as she was relaxed, she also felt waves of fatigue.

After all, she had been fighting for so long, even if she was not human, she would still feel tired. But now that the battle was over, she also needed to relax and take a rest.

After a while, she found a good place to rest. She huddled herself behind the captain's seat, in a corner next to the fire control director.

This was the seat that both she and Tizi usually sat in. Then she found a comfortable position for her upper body and leaned against the solid armored wall of her main tower.

Hmm... It feels pretty good. But even though this is my body, it still feels a little cold and hard leaning against the armored bulkhead.

Do you want to follow your sister's example and bring two cushions?

Bismarck, with pointed ears, pursed his lips and thought, hmm... If I'm so lazy, in public, the captain will probably be unhappy. Besides, if I'm like this, then I'm afraid that I'll be less virtuous than Reimu and more majestic than Remi in front of that lazy girl.

Yeah, sure.

She quickly shook her head and decided to forget it...

But at this moment, his captain, who had also shed his serious aura and looked a little relaxed, also came over - although Lütjens' eyes were still full of worry about the fact that the convoy had not been successfully intercepted. But... Top had reported before that one of their convoys had begun to disband, and although they were short of ammunition, if the Japanese fleet came to cooperate, they should be able to cause some damage, right?

So, before calculating the final results, you can take a break - for example, play with cats...

"Captain, eh?" Bismarck raised his head and wanted to say hello to his captain. But before he could finish his words, a big hand was placed on his head...

At the same time, there was also a faint praise: "You fought well this time."

“Eh?…Hehe…Hehehe…”

The Persian cat felt flattered instantly when praised by its captain.

Over the years, my captain is no longer as arrogant as he was in the past due to the strict military regulations of the Navy Department. However, he is a naval admiral with strict discipline and great prestige, and his requirements for himself and his subordinates are also very strict. I don't know if this is the first time that he has praised me for doing a good job, but... Thinking about it carefully, it seems that in the past few years that I have been with the captain, I have never seen the captain praise anyone in person?

Could it be that... I accidentally took away the captain's virginity...

Bismarck was thinking dirty thoughts in his heart, and his face was getting redder and redder.

Seeing his own ship cat grinning like a fool, Lütjens pinched her ear with both anger and amusement: "What are you thinking about? You're grinning like a silly girl."

The Persian cat, who was in a daze, was suddenly interrupted by the feeling of his ears being pinched, and his brain short-circuited for a moment, and he hasn't come to his senses yet.

"Are you daydreaming again?" The captain grabbed a head of soft cat hair and rubbed it hard. Seeing the Persian cat finally coming back to its senses and hurriedly fixing its hair with a frightened face, Lütjens smiled faintly on his usually stern face: "Come to think of it, when you fought War-weariness the last time, how did you think of that way of fighting?"

After much haste, he managed to straighten his hair, and a few strands of hair were still sticking out. Bismarck, whose hair was messed up, rolled his eyes at his captain in displeasure. Less than two or three seconds after rolling his eyes, he began to pout and take the initiative to talk to him:

"…Nothing much, it's just…I saw that the Warspite ignored evasion and went in a straight line, so I subconsciously fired at her with all my strength…well, that's about it…It's a pity that I didn't sink the old witch…"

"Not bad. You are experienced in many battles and know how to seize any opportunity." Lütjens smiled and nodded in praise of his own ship cat's flash of inspiration.

The hand reached out again.

There was no other way. On the sea, in front of so many people, he could only pat her on the head and kill her. Besides, Lütjens couldn't think of any other loving gestures. After all, he was a real soldier.

Then, the entire German naval fleet on the sea, whether it was a queen pilot who was reporting the air battle situation to Bonte, or Eugen who was accompanying Top on the bridge, who was supposedly searching the sea but was actually thinking about basking in the sun together, or a little hamster who knew that he was always causing trouble and was now pretending to be obedient and cute to Lindemann, whose head was wrapped with gauze and cross bandages, or even the sailors on their bodies, and even the real ship cat Oscar who was catching mice in a corner, all seemed to be suddenly startled by a cat cry like a ship cat with its fur exploded:

"Captain... stop messing with my hair!"

She didn't know why Lütjens was so obsessed with her hair! Girls who love beauty are very unhappy when their hair is messy!

---

The darkness of the early morning of April 20th could not stop the enthusiasm of the British in the Indian port of Goa to welcome the "Support" convoy.

At the dock of Goa Harbor, Admiral Auchinleck, the Governor of the Middle East-India Joint Theater of the British Empire, and Admiral Arthur Tedder, the Air Force Commander of the Middle East-India Theater, were waiting at the dock early, looking eagerly at the dark shadows coming from afar on the horizon - the one that held the hopes of the entire Middle East-India Theater, and even the hopes of the entire British Empire. After going through untold hardships and almost breaking through the bloodshed, the "Support" escort fleet finally broke through the numerous interceptions.

Under the guidance of the pilot boat and the escort of the destroyers, the high-speed escort team finally reached India with 17 transport ships, one after another, entering the river mouth of Goa Port. These transport ships were loaded with 80,000 tons of precious high-grade aviation gasoline, as well as other weapons, ammunition, spare parts, industrial machine tools and equipment, etc. In fact, in addition to these 17 high-speed escort ships, the remaining ships that were left behind, scattered, and scarred on the sea surface off the coast of India, whether they were warships or merchant ships, were also moving their staggering steps, tenaciously, little by little, crawling towards India...

Although the long-range bombers launched from the Maldives and Ceylon did not give up bombing the isolated ships at sea all day, the British side also sent out long-range fighters, using their powerful firepower and ultra-long range to disperse the fragile and vulnerable Japanese bombers, directly covering the transport fleet slowly sailing towards the Indian mainland. Moreover, in addition to the air force's full coverage of the scattered merchant ships, the British Navy on the coast of India has also sent out its few destroyers, frigates, minesweepers, and even torpedo boats to respond.

After all, German submarines were also coming here, and those slow merchant ships and wounded warships that were lagging behind were also live targets that were unable to fight back when they encountered submarines. The British Empire was now at a critical moment of gritting its teeth and trying to hold on to the end. At this time, even if they could save one more sampan from the sea, it would be great.

Besides merchant ships, there are also battleships with many wounds drifting on the sea. Just look at the British and American Allied fleet, led by the Royal Navy flagship HMS Warspite, which was hit by nearly 20 bullets and dragged into the harbor by the American battleships, and you will know how hard it was to win this victory.

On the shore, from Admiral Auchinleck and Admiral Tedder to ordinary British civilians, looking at the scarred warships, they couldn't help but throw the flowers in their hands, paying the highest respect to those heroes who survived a hundred battles...

…………Two days later…………

The German fleet, which had just returned to the Socotra Garrison, had to face the bombing and aerial minelaying of the garrison first. Before entering the port, they had to start minesweeping and repair work. At this moment, a smug voice suddenly came from the ship's radio, which reminded people of a braised pork head...

"…This Indian Ocean escort operation, Operation 'Support', was a complete success. Together with our American allies, we delivered nearly 200,000 tons of supplies loaded on 37 merchant ships to the Middle East theater. …Although we paid a heavy price, three battleships, five escort aircraft carriers, one anti-aircraft cruiser, and 13 destroyers, along with 29 merchant ships, were heroically sunk, and Admiral Somerville, the commander of the Indian Ocean Fleet, and 11,000 sailors and merchant sailors died on the battlefield…But their blood will never be shed in vain. Our losses are definitely not in vain…The supplies we transported to the Indian subcontinent will bring hope of freedom to our country like a torch in the darkest moment before dawn…When the dawn of hope falls from the sky, may our British Empire be united until the glory of victory is achieved…God bless Great Britain. Long live the British Empire…"

This... Churchill actually took the initiative to disclose the losses and the arrival of supplies? Shouldn't this be kept secret?

Bismarck was very confused and was about to ask the captain why Churchill said this. But when she turned around, she found that her captain's face had turned gloomy. It seemed that a thunderstorm with lightning and thunder might break out at any time - and it was the level of a 17-level typhoon.

This aura of an impending storm even frightened a certain blond cat who had been following Lütjens and had seen many storms, and was so frightened that he dared not speak. Not to mention the other people in the bridge...

For a moment, in the bridge command room, apart from the smug voice of a certain pig-headed prime minister speaking fluently on the radio, no one dared to breathe. They were all trembling as they looked at Lütjens, who was standing there with a gloomy face, almost staring at the large Indian Ocean chart hanging on the wall...

It was not until Churchill's voice on the radio had faded for a long time that Lütjens finally relaxed his expression and turned around. Although his expression relaxed a little, the anger and gloom in his eyes made everyone feel even more frightened and their hair stood on end. Even Bismarck, who was usually heartless, was trembling with fear...

She had never seen the captain praise her a few days ago, but she had never seen the captain so cold, almost at absolute zero.

Over there, the captain finally called out, "Bismarck!"

A low roar, although the voice was not loud, but the majesty and aura even made Bismarck feel a little scared.

"Ah... here!" Bismarck hurriedly stood in front of Lütjens, saluted with a standard naval etiquette, and then stood aside tremblingly, obediently picked up the pen and notebook, waiting to record the orders of his captain...

"Send Bonte, Lindemann, Topp, and Zeppelin over for an emergency meeting right now—I want them all here within a quarter of an hour—call them over right now."

Lütjens shouted in a low voice with gritted teeth, and the veins in his clenched fists were bulging and creaking.

"Yes!" Bismarck, with cold sweat all over his back, did not dare to delay and ran out quickly to deliver the order.

Wow, what is going on?

Seeing his secretary cat running away in fear, Lütjens took a deep breath and tried his best to suppress his emotions - although he knew in his heart that everyone had done their best in the battle... However, Churchill's speech this time undoubtedly expressed one meaning very clearly: he had failed in this interception operation...

As a general with rich combat experience, Lütjens knew clearly that Churchill dared to make these things public. In addition to boosting the morale of the British and American allied forces, there was probably also a factor of exerting pressure on the German strategy.

The liberation of the Indian Ocean theater had a very significant impact on the entire situation: the German army was caught in the Soviet-German War, and it was completely out of reach of the Indian Ocean and even the Suez Canal. Now that they had received a large number of reinforcements, the British would not take advantage of the Axis's lack of manpower to first counterattack North Africa to retake the Suez Canal, then force themselves away, then directly open up the Mediterranean, and finally attack Germany from Italy and France... That would be a hell of a thing.