Bismarck

Although, for some reason, a certain blond Persian cat always felt that the way his captain looked at him seemed to be looking at him like something that sounded like a "oily cat cake"...

"Oil + cat = oily cat cake... huh? With this association, it seems that even I am worried about oil..."

Bismarck smiled self-deprecatingly, but immediately lowered his ears and sighed softly.

In Bismarck's eyes, his captain now wanted to turn himself into an abacus, calculating fuel bit by bit - looking at the report and the chart every day, counting the mileage and fuel consumption bit by bit, his eyes were red every day, and he could even talk in his sleep when he took a nap, all for the word "fuel"! If this is not the Second Pacific Fleet of the Tsarist Russia during the Russo-Japanese War (the main force of the Tsarist Russia's Baltic Fleet), it is exactly the reincarnation of Rozhdestvensky (the commander of the Tsarist Russian Fleet who was overwhelmed by the difficulty of solving the fuel problem during the expedition during the Russo-Japanese War)!

“I’m really worried… ah…”

Really, every time I see a captain like this, I feel so sad, Bismarck thought.

As the days passed, the fleet went deeper and deeper into the South Indian Ocean, and there was no threat of air raids for the time being. However, the latitude was getting higher and higher, and the temperature was getting colder and colder...

The most violent and turbulent ocean current in the southern hemisphere ocean, and also the strongest ocean current in the world - the westerly circulation at 40 degrees south latitude, is full of nature's malice, and is grinning - or even laughing wildly, "welcoming" the arrival of Lütjens' fleet.

May is winter in the southern hemisphere. The westerly circulation in the southern hemisphere is affected by the Antarctic continent's glaciers, and there is almost no continent to block the latitude of the entire earth. Under the inertia of the earth's rotation, the freezing cold westerly circulation surrounding the entire latitude is three times stronger than the warm current in the North Atlantic, which is also a westerly belt, in terms of wind and waves, as well as the freezing cold.

Iron-gray clouds covered the sky, and the chill wind pierced through the bones. Nature roared, rolling up huge waves that were four or five meters or even seven or eight meters high, hitting the few boats on the sea, which were insignificant in the face of the might of nature, one after another, and made the boats creak! The broken spray from the waves was also carried by the howling sea breeze, and then blew on the hull, bridge, mast, and even cables of the warship layer by layer in this gusty weather - every time it blew, a layer of ice flowers that seemed to be covered with salt formed on the warship.

Merchant ships of tens of thousands of tons and warships of tens of thousands of tons are nothing more than toys drifting with the current in the face of the power of nature.

In such severe weather, almost everyone on the four German warships and two merchant ships - from the fleet commander Lütjens to the sailors who tied themselves to the railings of their duty positions with safety belts and trembled with fear on duty - vomited dizzy and shivered with cold.

The fuel consumption and speed of the four warships also dropped significantly under the fierce wind and waves! The power output that could run at 16 knots under normal circumstances has now been reduced to only about 11 knots! Not only has the speed been greatly affected, but the fuel consumption has also increased compared to before!

In the face of this snowstorm-filled westerly circulation, the four warships Bismarck, Tirpitz, Zeppelin, and Prinz Eugen, along with two transport ships, struggled to survive in the roaring westerly belt...

Chapter 659: A Flash of Inspiration

"Combat Log of the German Kriegsmarine Eastern Expeditionary Fleet"

1942年5月19日 西风5-6级，海况五级，阴有小到中雨。

When the sun rises and sets...When the moon rises and sets...

The fleet was sailing at a speed of 12 knots. The navigation plan was to sail from XX south latitude and XX east longitude to XX south latitude and XX east longitude. Everything was normal along the way. Only one enemy maritime patrol plane was detected at XX hours and XX minutes, which was shot down by Zeppelin...

The wind and waves were slightly smaller than the previous few days, but the sea conditions were still bad...No major incidents occurred today, but a total of 1130 tons of fuel were consumed today, and at the same time, 64 air patrols consumed about 50 tons of gasoline...

The fleet's remaining ship fuel, including backup fuel, is only enough for seven days... If we can't get fuel within the next week, our fleet will be completely... in dire straits.

………………

"This won't work... ah..."

Putting away the pen and closing the fleet's navigation and combat log on the table, Lütjens, with bloodshot eyes, let out a very tired sigh and leaned back on the chair - in less than half a minute, a soft snoring sound came from the chair.

Bismarck, who saw this scene, also sighed softly.

The captain had not had a good rest in the past few days, and his hair had turned a little gray due to worry. So now, the captain, who was overworked and overwhelmed, breathed a sigh of relief and fell asleep directly in the chair...

Come to think of it, although the problem has not been solved yet, it’s time for him to take a break.

Bismarck tiptoed out, took out a blanket and intended to cover the captain with it.

but……

Just as Bismarck walked over gently with a blanket, he saw the captain, who was sleeping in the chair, jumping up from the chair while shouting "Oil! Oil!" or something like that!

Seeing this scene, Bismarck quickly dropped the blanket in his hand and rushed forward to support the captain to prevent him from falling.

In his nightmare, Lütjens seemed to have run out of ammunition and food. He had woken up at this moment. However, as soon as he woke up, he was muttered by his Persian cat:

"Captain, it's time for you to take a break."

"Okay, stop trying to persuade me. How can I sleep if the fuel problem is not solved..." Lütjens tightened his clothes and said with a wry smile.

"In this case, you should take a rest first. After all, there is always a way out! Besides, if you rest well, your brain will work faster and you might think of something..." Bismarck advised his captain to take a rest and not to worry too much about the fuel problem, and simply dragged the captain towards the captain's room.

But on the other side, she secretly glanced behind her - the three warships, Tirpitz, Zeppelin, and Prinz Eugen, were following closely behind her, silently passing through the sea.

In her heart, she was as worried as her own captain. After all, there were people who needed protection right behind her...

But now, there is really nothing I can do...

The British have issued an order to clear the fields and fortify their walls. Although the Indian Ocean requires at least 500,000 tons of merchant shipping capacity every month, the British who have just received a large amount of supplies can afford it. Although the British mainland also needs the resources of the Middle East and India, they can hide the merchant ships in safe ports, and then "avoid risks" based on the reconnaissance and calculation of their own positions, and finally transport the hidden supply ships to the Middle East bit by bit using the method of moving houses by rats. Although returning from the Middle East is relatively troublesome because it is on the way, Bismarck himself knows the so-called trouble, which is to wait in the port for one or two more days, and then go out to sea after he has gone far away...

To sum it up in one sentence: as long as the transport ships hide in the port, we can't do anything to them!

unless……

"Hey... Captain, don't think about it, just have a good rest. If we can't get fuel outside, we'll just go to their port to rob..." Looking at the captain who was dragged by him to sit on the bed, with panda eyes but still frowning and no sleepiness, Bismarck had to persuade Lütjens to have a good rest.

but……

The speaker may not mean anything, but the listener may take it seriously. Hearing the unconscious words of his secretary, Lütjens's originally dim and turbid eyes suddenly lit up like a light bulb...

"Robber their port? That seems interesting. Let me think about it... Hey, hey, hey? Bismarck, what are you doing!"

"Captain! It's time to go to sleep! Even if you need to think about it, you need to get enough rest... We still have enough fuel for seven days, don't worry."

Hearing that his captain wanted to "think about it again", Bismarck ignored the captain's protest, rolled up his sleeves with a serious face, and forced his captain into the bed.

(After all, it’s 15 horsepower…)

Seeing his arms unable to twist his thighs, and his thighs unable to twist the propeller shaft, the captain, who was forced into the bed, looked hopeless and wanted to try his last struggle: "Hey, Bismarck, at least you have to wait for me to think about which port is easier to rob."

"Sleep well! Don't think too much!"

Seeing that the captain was still not obedient even though he was already in bed, Bismarck, with her hands on her waist, snorted fiercely, flicked her tail, walked to the door, turned off the light and walked out. Before turning off the light, she even turned around and made a face at her captain.

As the door was closed by the Persian cat, Lütjens, lying in bed, looked dazed. But when he came to his senses, he thought about the war again...

"Attack the port... But where should we attack? We don't have any intelligence right now, so it's a bit difficult..."

But after all, I was too tired, and the idea only went around in my mind for a little while before my consciousness became fuzzy. In less than half a minute, a slight snoring sound came from the room...

---

"Brothers! Surround this guy and beat him up!"

"Fight! Beat to death!"

boom! boom!

On the sea surface of the Cape of Good Hope Channel, three escort destroyers flying the Union Jack were forming a circle, taking turns dropping depth charges towards the possible hiding places of German submarines in the circle, strictly following the anti-submarine tactical regulations and adopting a one-attack-two-positioning mode.

Whether it was the water rings from the hedgehog bomb or the water columns from the traditional depth charge "gasoline barrels", they were all accompanied by the rumbling sounds and clanging sounds of active sonar echoes, echoing one after another on the sea surface and underwater, shaking the German submarine that was hiding in a mess two hundred meters under the water.

The so-called sea wolf is only for transport ships. After they gather into a group and give full play to the collective cooperation, the German submarines can be regarded as the wolf pack on the seabed. But now this guy who is alone and surrounded and beaten by the Allied frigates, not only can't see the so-called wolf nature, but can even be called a water rat hiding from place to place and in danger...

Another round of depth charges exploded near the submarine, and the violent noise and strong vibration shook the crew of the 1100-ton IXC-class submarine to the ground. Before Captain Erich Hilsenitz could get up from the periscope in a panic, the chief engineer who stumbled in from the hatch shouted:

"Captain! The leakage from the damaged pipes can no longer be controlled! And it's about to flood the battery room!"

"What?! Oh no!" Heisenitz was shocked when he heard the news!

The submarine battery compartment is located under the hull, so it is a relatively easy place for water to accumulate. However, what will happen if the two electrodes of the battery come into contact with salty and conductive seawater, which will release toxic chlorine gas when the battery is ionized? As a submarine captain, the first thought that came to Heisenitz's mind was: I can't stay underwater anymore!

Time is life, there is no time to think too much. Heisenitz quickly pulled out the pistol on his waist that he would never have the chance to use under normal circumstances, and shouted loudly: "The confidential personnel will immediately destroy the confidential radio and code book! All boats will accelerate to full speed and surface urgently! In addition, open the light weapons warehouse to distribute weapons, and everyone will prepare for the surface artillery battle - brothers, even if you die, you must take someone with you! For Germany!"

"understand!"

With the echoes of the crew members fighting desperately despite being at a disadvantage, the propeller of the U-108 submarine began to turn violently, the elevator also reached the maximum elevation angle, and the ballast tank drain port also gushed out bursts of water, occasionally mixed with compressed air bubbles that escaped the net - reserve power or reserve compressed air pressure, now that the submarine can no longer maintain its dive, it is no longer important, because there is not much reserve buoyancy to allow this already scarred German submarine to continue hiding underwater...

Until now, there are only four torpedo tubes at the bow and two at the stern, and the one on the front deck has only 180 rounds of ammunition, and there is not even a shield. It is all thanks to the 105mm SKC32 submarine gun manually operated by the sailors, and the twin 37mm hand-pulled machine guns and twin 20mm machine guns behind the command platform shell, that can bring a little warmth to the hearts of the sailors in this cold Atlantic Ocean...

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

PS: Cape of Good Hope Fortress, the headquarters of the South Atlantic Garrison of the British Empire. Garrison Commander: Admiral Algernon Willis (1789-1976, served as the South Atlantic Commander from 1941 to 1942), a practical general of the Royal Navy, a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) (the second highest level of the medal, with the right to call oneself a knight or a knight), and was awarded the title of Admiral of the Navy in 1949.

ps: How to return to Germany, this is a very difficult problem...so the update encountered problems

Chapter 660: When Happiness Knocks on the Door

A few hours ago...

Behind the fleet that was braving the winds and waves all year round, a faint fish belly white hung on the eastern horizon. The hardworking sailors had already climbed out of bed at the sound of the duty bell, and had changed shifts in an orderly manner with their comrades who had worked the night shift for four hours in the second half of the night, and started their own morning shift.

On the flight deck of the Zeppelin aircraft carrier, a BF-109 fighter jet with a fuel tank and painted in a camouflage color of light gray, blue and white, and dark blue, with a white edelweiss on the side of the fuselage, was parked quietly at the front of more than a dozen aircraft waiting to take off on the flight deck runway. The open cockpit cover and the meticulously maintained aircraft had already made all the preparations for takeoff, just like a loyal warhorse, waiting for its owner to drive it into the blue sky at any time.

As the door of the pilot standby room at the bottom of the bridge was opened, a dozen people wearing black flight jackets, wearing flight helmets, holding aviation map bags and drawing boards, walked out in twos and threes. And the heroic figure who came out from behind the crowd of people in black flight jackets was a person dressed in white...

When the ground crew saw the people coming, they all stood beside the plane and excitedly saluted and greeted them:

"Hey? Instructor Qi is here!"

"Hello, instructor!"

"Good morning, instructor. Are you going to conduct reconnaissance in person again this morning?"

"I'm going to investigate - come to think of it, everyone has worked hard." Seeing his subordinates greet him, even a cold and arrogant Zeppelin smiled and saluted the ground crew. Then he stepped on the pedal, jumped into the cockpit of his car in a swift and elegant manner, and started the engine of his car in a few seconds.

At this time, Zeppelin looked back and saw that the pilots of the other planes behind him had already entered the cockpit, closed the cockpit covers one by one, and started the engines. When the ground crew left the field, they also pulled away the wheel chocks in front of the aircraft wheels...

It has become a routine for the GR-186 wing for Zeppelin to personally lead the team to go out for reconnaissance every morning. After all, in war, the timing of intelligence acquisition and the operational efficiency of information processing can almost directly determine the initiative on the battlefield.

Knowing this, GR-186 was ready to dispatch reconnaissance aircraft before dawn every day in order to obtain the situation in the sea area as soon as possible. Moreover, the fighter squadron on the flight deck behind the reconnaissance aircraft, which was responsible for the fleet's air defense patrol, and the emergency strike squadron in the standby area on one side, which had everything ready except the bombs without fuses, were all meticulously prepared and ready to deal with emergencies at any time.

The leader of this fleet is naturally none other than the Zeppelin.

Since the Edelweiss is an early warning command fighter, it is natural that her reconnaissance range is the largest after taking off. Moreover, with her reconnaissance range of more than 150 kilometers in the sky, even if she dispatches reconnaissance aircraft and air defense patrol fighters before dawn to save time, she can rely on her own reconnaissance range to directly see the situation within 150 kilometers around the fleet, without having to occupy the deck operation efficiency cycle and the number of aircraft after dawn, just to send additional reconnaissance aircraft to investigate whether there are any fish that have slipped through the net near the fleet...

At 4 a.m. on May 19, the fleet had already advanced to the vicinity of Cape Town and the Cape of Good Hope. The Cape of Good Hope Fortress, as the headquarters of the British South Atlantic Garrison and the airport and base of Cape Town, the largest city in South Africa, was obviously the focus of reconnaissance that Zeppelin was personally responsible for. Even if he ran into patrol planes sent by the British to search for him during the reconnaissance, he could just eliminate them directly.

However, the enemy reconnaissance plane that first appeared in Zeppelin's field of vision this time had somewhat strange activities.

Just at the edge of Zeppelin's detection range - one hundred and fifty kilometers away from her, a large aircraft was flying in circles around a certain sea area, and not far from this aircraft, three small boats were gathering together and heading towards the location of the maritime patrol aircraft.

After a while, the destroyer escort had arrived nearby. The anti-submarine aircraft, which had obviously used up its depth charges, continued to circle twice. It was unknown what operation it used to indicate the target location to the destroyer escort. After that, it returned to the direction of Cape Town. The three destroyers escorted them and quickly dispersed, surrounded the area where the large anti-submarine aircraft was located, and began to operate their sonar and depth charges in turn...

"Hmm? What is that? A large plane? And three... small warships? Are these the anti-submarine patrol aircraft and escort destroyers mentioned in the information?"

Without a doubt, based on Zeppelin's combat experience and the information he received from the briefings on the mainland, this must be the legendary anti-submarine aircraft. And the three small boats that rushed over were the legendary escort destroyers that were extremely cheap to manufacture but could cause headaches for German submarines in the Atlantic.

If they were circling like this, there must be a German submarine in the middle of the circle!

"Tsk... this is too outrageous."

Seeing her own submarine about to be cornered by the Allied air-sea integrated anti-submarine warfare right under her nose, Zeppelin felt unhappy. However, as the consciousness projection of the Zeppelin aircraft carrier, she did have a privilege to call for the carrier-based aircraft on her flight deck to attack at any time and anywhere - although, when launching aircraft from an aircraft carrier, it was necessary to break away from the formation and speed up, and breaking away from the formation and speeding up first required notifying Commander Lütjens and her sisters...

"Bismarck, what's going on?"

During the brutal war, Lütjens, who had formed the habit of sleeping late and getting up early, was awakened by his secretary cat after sleeping for more than four hours. He sat up halfway on the bed with a calm face. Seeing his secretary cat's face was a little ugly, Lütjens knew that something must have happened. If it was nothing, his secretary cat might even be eager to let him sleep a little longer.

"Captain, Zeppelin said that more than 200 kilometers northwest of us, there are three escort destroyers besieging our submarine. She requested to release the emergency bomber squadron to rescue our submarine."

"Save it, why not?" Lütjens nodded. But soon, he stopped Bismarck who was about to go out to convey orders and direct the ship's maneuvers: "Wait! If it's 200 kilometers... you go and order the entire fleet to turn north! Also call Bonte, Lindemann and Top, let's speed up together and go to the submarine!"

"Let's go together...?!" Bismarck was a little confused when he heard the order from his captain.

"That's right! Also, have Zeppelin notify the reconnaissance plane to look carefully for any of their escort destroyers nearby - and don't sink all three of them, they must have fuel!"

Lütjens, who was half sitting on the bed, nodded, and his originally calm face now had a hint of banditry.

Finally someone came to deliver supplies, how could I miss this opportunity!

…………An hour later, the sun lazily climbed out of the horizon…………

More than ten fighter jets suddenly appeared and dropped bombs one after another around the three panicked escort destroyers. The U-108, which had been prepared to fight to the death, was suddenly confused.

"This...what's going on? Could it be that the Biscayne Bay Air Force is coming to rescue us...wait! This should be the South Atlantic Ocean...but, this..."

No matter it was Captain Heisenitz or the submarine soldiers who were wearing helmets and ready to fight to the death, at this moment they all turned into stupid geese, stretching their heads and looking up at the sky in confusion.

Happiness comes so suddenly that it even catches people off guard!

Other people's happiness comes knocking on your door, but your own happiness comes banging on your door!

For a moment, Heisenitz thought that this was not the Cape of Good Hope waterway far away from the European continent, but that some great being had moved his submarine into the German Air Force's activity radius in the Bay of Biscay as a joke.

Although it was said that General Dönitz and Marshal Goering had a quarrel over the ownership of the 40th Reconnaissance Aircraft Wing a while ago, the Air Force still tried their best to report intelligence to themselves and their comrades. Heisenitz didn't want to pay attention to the high-level right and wrong that no one could tell, but he was indeed in a complicated mood now.

He stared at the planes overhead that dropped bombs and crippled the enemy ships, then circled back and used their machine guns to fiercely shoot at the already crooked escort destroyers. Some of them even waved their wings with the Iron Cross emblem on them at him, as if they were playing a good-natured joke on him.

If these planes were not painted in blue, gray and dark blue that I had never seen before, instead of the traditional German Air Force colors of gray-black upper body and white belly that I often saw in Biscay Bay, I would really be a little stunned!

He pinched his thigh, and it hurt! It seemed that this was not an illusion, nor a dream! Although it was still unclear what the operation was, Heisenitz could at least confirm one thing: this time, he had indeed survived!

Moreover, now Heisenitz finally figured out what this sudden happiness was...

Although I don’t know why, maybe it’s because of the wrong business direction, or maybe it’s some other “rumor”, but although few people mention it, the War Navy does have a surface fleet at this time, and it is possible that it is operating nearby...