Bismarck

In the sky, the fierce air battle has already begun.

"This is Rudolf. The first echelon has engaged the enemy... We shot down three Spitfires, and we lost one and seriously damaged another... Damn, there are too many of them... No! They didn't even let go of our damaged planes... Heinrich!"

"No! Damn it! I'm going to tell Heinrich (dudududu) what the hell! There are four Spitfires behind me... Damn it!!"

"There are four behind you, but there are six behind me... Where are the instructors? (Dudududu) Oh my, what a fierce shooting skill... It doesn't matter if I die, it's just a pity... If I die, I won't be able to continue teasing the instructors and then be teased and disciplined by the instructors..."

"... Buckhorn, I heard everything! I wanted to help you, but you can handle the other eight on your own!"

“Eh hey hey?! Stop it… Instructor, I was wrong… Is it okay for me to be wrong…”

"You're such a jerk! You deserve it! Buckhorn! Turn right now! There are two Spitfires coming up behind you!"

"Okay... But Marseille! Even if you save me, I will continue to say (dudududu) with my hoarse throat. Damn it! Where is this another fight?"

"Buckhorn!" Zeppelin's cold tone was obviously a little angry: "Shut your mouth and concentrate! Seize the height! Reinforce your comrades... If you keep talking, you will be shot down and you will have to swim back by yourself."

"Ah?! Don't..."

Buckhorn looked bitter after being scolded by Zeppelin.

However, despite his cynical tone, his hands were not slow at all.

The FW-190 did a textbook barrel roll under his control, and a Spitfire that couldn't stop was thrown in front of the FW-190's gun muzzle. In the next second, it was instantly killed by the dense barrage of four 20mm aircraft cannons.

However, the banter between the friends will not stop...

"You deserve it! Come to think of it, I really don't know if idiocy is contagious." Marseille glanced at Buckhorn indifferently, then glanced around himself.

He used the joystick in his hand to make his vehicle climb slightly, then reversed on the vertical plane, and after a smooth upward integrated maneuver like flowing water (commonly known as high YO-YO), a British European F4F Wildcat fighter that happened to turn around was hit by a 20mm shell and the cockpit was directly blew up by Marseille's most skilled high-angle attack due to his precise shooting skills.

However, Marseille was not complacent at all: after the attack, he habitually looked back and found that his wingman had disappeared without a trace! Moreover, most of the planes around him were enemy planes! There were even two Spitfires biting him!

The performance of the Spitfire fighter was a perfect match for his BF-109, and its maneuverability was even slightly better! Being caught by two enemies with similar performance, and in such an overwhelming melee, even though Marseille was now a super ace who had shot down more than planes, it was still very troublesome...

"Ta-ta-ta-ta!"

After two flashes of blue tracers, two Spitfire fighters crashed one after another in an instant!

“…Grislavsky and Graf? Thanks!” Marseille smiled and began to search for any lone enemy planes being chased.

On the sea surface dozens of kilometers away, a sparse wheel-shaped formation consisting of several faint white lines could be seen in the distance. It had begun to turn, and according to the orthodox fleet air defense standards, it pointed its bow towards the British aircraft group that was still approaching in the sky...

"Everyone, cooperate! There are only 22 planes left! They are only 30 kilometers away from our fleet! Everyone, cooperate! Stay close to each other! We will attack their bombers together later! Don't let them fly in in a complete formation!"

Zeppelin's originally cold, but now clearly anxious voices could be heard ringing over the radio of the German fighter.

"Yes!"

Following Zeppelin's order, all the pilots, some focused, some murderous, some cynical, some gritting their teeth, responded one after another and began to form groups of three or two.

Summoning up the remaining courage, he pulled the joystick in his hand, drove his mount, and continued to rush towards the enemy who still had an absolute advantage - whether he was determined to do so or to bite the bullet...

--

Three thousand kilometers away, in the Navy Ministry in Berlin, Raeder was holding a telegram that had just been delivered to him, and the sender's name was Gunther Lütjens. His hands were shaking with anger...

"Lütjens was ambushed by a British aircraft carrier... at least 140?! Asking me for tactical guidance?! Damn it! If... if something goes wrong, I will be the one to take the blame!!"

Raeder knew very well that if the Lütjens really sank in battle, given his dark history with Lütjens, it would be natural for anyone to suspect him - the Fuehrer would definitely investigate! Everyone knew that he and Lütjens were not on good terms, so wouldn't the Fuehrer, the Gestapo, and the military court be suspicious? !

I arranged the supply myself, and I sent the supply plan to Lütjens myself—even though he didn't call back! So if they investigate, they will definitely suspect me.

And the most important thing is... I'm really not betraying him this time. I still want to keep him to withstand the United States' aircraft carriers and battleships that are like dumplings dropping from the sky!

But...what about those who have ideas about the control of the navy and the position of the admiral? What will they say? They won't listen to my explanation.

Redl's hands were shaking more and more violently - he wanted to tear up the telegram in his hand, but he couldn't! Moreover, he had to prepare the original texts of all his correspondence with Lütjens, as well as some other materials, to prove that he was indeed innocent!

So, now we only have...

"Come with me to the confidential room to send a telegram to contact Dönitz and Kumetz! Tell them that Lütjens was ambushed by a British aircraft carrier south of the Azores. Ask them to find a way to respond immediately - ask Dönitz to dispatch submarines to search for the British and American main fleets. As for Kumetz... ask him if he has passed the GIUK line of defense and entered the North Atlantic convoy activity area! If he has, immediately capture the British and American convoys and beat them hard! We must beat them until the British and American combined fleet returns to reinforce!"

Redel, who was nearly 70 years old, opened the door with sweat on his forehead, then pulled the secretary in the secretarial office outside the door together, and hurriedly ran towards the confidential room with big strides and anxiety...

God is my witness, I am really wronged this time!

Chapter 689: Facing the Air Raid

On the bridge of the Duke of York, the third ship of the King George V class, the Admiralty's chief gunnery instructor, who was specially dispatched by Marshal Cunningham to direct the bombardment of the evil spirit warship, Ms. Belle Dura Despicio, who holds the rank of naval colonel, was standing with Admiral John Tovey, the commander of the British and American combined fleet, looking anxiously at the air battle situation on the chart board...

The British fighters were divided into two groups. Four squadrons of 48 fighters were in front of the entire group to take on the air superiority, and three squadrons of 36 fighters directly escorted the bombers, plus the 56 bombers being escorted, forming a large-scale group of 140 aircraft.

However, just as these British planes were flying over in a mighty and powerful manner, they were intercepted by German fighter planes, which consisted of only 33 fighter planes.

Although the Edelweiss Witch's GR-186 Squadron was at an absolute disadvantage in terms of manpower, it was an ace flying team with a total combat record of more than 3000 aircraft. In the rigorous training and continuous battles of the Zeppelin, most of the members had a combat record of more than five aircraft. With the fighting will to protect the Zeppelin aircraft carrier, they rushed directly towards the British army!

At a distance of 190 to 190 kilometers from the German fleet, the British fleet was almost killed by a group of FW-s relying on their extremely high dive speed! The four squadrons of fighters responsible for air supremacy simply could not intercept the shrike birds that dived at a speed of like a god of death! If it were not for the absolute advantage of to in the number of British fighters, and knowing that Zeppelin was powerful, they had made special preparations - in addition to the air superiority fleet of the four squadrons leading the way, the escort fleet of the bombers alone had fighters from three squadrons! It was with such a dense human wave tactic that they barely dragged down the savage speed of the FW- that was diving!

Moreover, this is only the first wave of planes!

The British fighters had just pulled their hands away to entangle the FW-190s, but were immediately taken advantage of by a second group of 109 aircraft, which was said to be led by the Edelweiss Witch herself and had extremely high tactical coordination. Although the British air control group still had more than fighters and had begun to seize altitude, they were held back at high altitude by the Zeppelin's BF-s, whose high-altitude performance was no less than theirs...

Although they were at an absolute disadvantage in terms of manpower, under Zeppelin's command, the German fighters relied on the BF-109's climbing performance to seize air superiority and always ensured that one team of fighters could stand at the highest point on the battlefield and reinforce other British fighters in need at any time. Without the ability to ensure high-altitude advantage, even the Spitfire could not stop the FW-190 fighter's high-speed dive attack, which was almost one of the strongest in World War II!

Although the British fighters, who had an absolute advantage in numbers, quickly rushed forward after they came to their senses, and in just five or six minutes, they relied on their numbers to shoot down one-third of the German fighters. However, under Zeppelin's command, although they were suppressed by the absolute advantage in numbers and were already at a disadvantage, the German fighters, which had gradually closed the distance, flew up and down, relying on almost perfect mutual coordination, while firmly withstanding the siege of the absolute advantage in numbers of Allied fighters, they also entangled the bombers arranged in dense formations.

You know, these are not heavy bombers with sturdy fuselages and invincible self-defense firepower, but just some carrier-based SBDs, TBDs, and British-made Barracuda bombers. Although these aircraft can be considered relatively sturdy, it is obvious that no matter how sturdy the carrier-based aircraft is, it cannot be compared with the heavy bombers...

Not to mention, among this group of planes, there are quite a few who have superb marksmanship, quick reactions, strange tactics, and impeccable mutual cover. Moreover, almost all of them are ruthless killers, which are extremely troublesome!

Although they didn't understand the specific operations of air combat, but listening to the chaotic voices on the radio, War-weary and Tovena seemed to see through the map board, as if they could still see the tension and intensity of the air battle ahead...

In just five minutes, the distance between the fleet and the German evil fleet had increased from 50 to 60 kilometers to just over 20 kilometers, and the number of German aircraft had been reduced to 11. However, even with such an advantage, they still lost 10 fighters and 6 bombers.

"Zeppelin... is really a tough opponent..." Yan Zhan said in a gloomy voice.

Even so, they have prepared so much.

Compared to Bismarck and others, Zeppelin is actually more terrifying.

"Yeah..." Tovey nodded silently, sharing the same feeling. But soon, as if he suddenly thought of something, Tovey smiled and said, "But we still have more than 120 planes, which is enough to bomb them. Besides, we don't just have planes."

"Yeah, it's all thanks to our 'little friends' this time." Hearing Tovey's words, War-weary also smiled: "If MI6 hadn't figured out that they would probably be south of the Azores, and if our submarine cordon hadn't discovered them, and if the submarines hadn't used directional antennas that could defend against electronic reconnaissance to inform the Gibraltar Fortress, and finally let the Gibraltar Fortress pass the news back to the Admiralty, we really wouldn't have been able to find their exact location and stage such an ambush."

"Well, now the fleet is only fifteen kilometers away from them, and they have begun to disperse into the attack route, preparing to encircle the German ships and crews on three sides... Oh? I don't know when the German ships and crews took off another twelve planes? And it seems that Zeppelin and her remnants have entangled the bomber group on the right wing (relatively farthest from Lütjens)?

"…But apart from the twelve that just took off, they only have eighteen combat-ready planes left. We still have one hundred and twenty… In this case, we should be safe, right?"

While watching the staff officers nervously marking the tactical situation on the map board, and listening to the reports from his subordinates on the radio, Tovey was constantly estimating the tactical situation in his mind, while at the same time seeking the opinion of War-weary.

After all, the combat effectiveness of a ship girl cannot be evaluated by ordinary battleships, and Warspite is a ship girl, so her opinion is quite authoritative.

Although when asking questions, Tovey always clenched his fists tightly in an unnatural way - I don't know if it was because he was unsure about the combat effectiveness of the German fleet, or because he thought of a beautiful figure in blue clothes, well-educated and polite, who would often gently make him a cup of warm black tea...

"It's hard to say... maybe it really depends on the submarine..." War-weary thought about it and shook his head.

Although it seems that the Germans are running out of fuel and should have sent out all their last planes. But... which of the German ships on the opposite side is a fuel-saving lamp? !

Four ship girls, and four ship girls with glorious military exploits, especially four ship girls who achieved such glorious military exploits by stepping on the countless corpses and sunken ships of the British Royal Navy. The deterrent pressure is really too strong!

Not to mention Prince Eugen, she had just seen Tirpitz's nose, whose sense of smell was sharper than anyone else's, and Zeppelin was also an expert in air combat - as Cunningham's secretary ship, War-weary remembered that William Wyatt, the always-smiling MI6 officer, once said that if it weren't for the identity of the ship girl who made it impossible to poach her, Goering would definitely not care about the position of German Air Force Fighter Director and the rank of Air Force General, and would invite Zeppelin to the German Air Force headquarters!

As for the Bismarck that seemed to have an unsinkable BUFF, and the owner of this damn German Persian cat, Admiral Gunther Lütjens, who almost single-handedly crippled the entire Royal Navy...

Even her secretary ship/good sister, Hood, sank in the icy North Atlantic while chasing after the Persian cat...

When they thought of this, both Tovey and War-weary couldn't help but become a little angry:

"Plane, intensify the attack! Submarines, mobilize in droves! We must kill these German crew members and avenge Hood!"

The angry voices of a man and a woman were transmitted to every corner of the battlefield through the electromagnetic waves of the radio station...

(Somerville, Willis, Gibraltar Fortress Commander Riddle and others: Σ(Д) Wait! Why is it only Hood?! What about us...?!)

-

"…Six torpedo planes on the starboard side, 3,500 meters away…Σ(Д)! Attention! Enemy planes! Enemy planes are rushing down from above!"

"Full speed thirty-six knots, full right rudder... continue to release smoke! Anti-aircraft guns intercept and fire!"

This is already the third echelon of the British carrier-based aircraft group's attack...

In the bridge of the Zeppelin aircraft carrier, Bonte, sweating profusely, was standing at the helm, desperately turning the steering wheel in his hand. As the steering wheel turned rapidly, the Zeppelin aircraft carrier, which was wrapped in billowing white smoke under the action of the smoke generator at the bow, tilted the hull by nearly 20 degrees under the centrifugal force of the 36-knot high speed, and circled in the dark blue Atlantic Ocean, leaving a white trail that was vaguely obscured by the white smoke - although these smoke clouds can only effectively interfere with torpedo planes, and may not be able to hide from dive bombers in the high altitude, but at least they can cause them maximum trouble...

The increased rudder resistance when the aircraft carrier made a sharp turn caused the Zeppelin to slow down from 36 knots to 33 knots! However, under the influence of the smoke, the British pilots did not notice the evil spirits they hated so much, and the speed seemed to be a little slower than before...

Three SBD dive bombers formed a triangle formation, roaring with unstoppable fury and dropping heavy bombs hung under their bellies towards the turning Zeppelin. However, the smoke screen interfered with their judgment, and the three fierce bombs created three tall water columns on the sea surface that enveloped the turning Zeppelin in the middle, and also poured water all over her head and face!

Such a fierce attack, but unfortunately none of them hit the target!

Although the shock wave of the close-range explosion inevitably caused some leakage in the hull of Zeppelin, this level of leakage was only a minor scratch for a huge aircraft carrier.

However, even if he avoided this wave of dive bombers, he still remembered that there was a group of torpedo planes in the direction of the bow that he had just turned to the left!

It's just that the smoke on the sea is too thick now...

I don't have the ability of a ship girl to see the torpedo planes that are almost within reach through such thick smoke... But even so, as the captain of the Zeppelin aircraft carrier and her partner for many years, I must protect her body when the Zeppelin goes into battle!

Looking at the smoke-covered sky, fighter planes were chasing and fighting one after another - Bangtai knew that among those planes, one was the aircraft carrier Zeppelin under her command! Now she was commanding the remaining fighter planes of the GR-186 Wing in the sky, tightly biting the enemy aircraft group that was outflanking from her left side. The other team of fighter planes had returned to land less than two hours ago before she met up with the supply ship. Now, only the last twelve planes that had just been filled with fuel were sent out. They were also intercepting and harassing the enemy planes attacking head-on in the gaps between the anti-aircraft guns of Bismarck and Tirpitz...

The enemy aircraft carrier is in front of me on the right, so the enemy's main attack axis is also on this side. But relatively speaking, the enemy planes on the left are more dangerous! Because the attack time of the flanking aircraft group is later than the enemy aircraft group attacking from the front. However, the aircraft carrier that I am driving cannot be directly controlled by the ship girl, so I can't avoid the two-stage combo of the flanking aircraft group!

However, if Zeppelin and his fighter jets have disrupted the offensive formation of the encircling aircraft group, then as long as he avoids a wave of enemy aircraft head-on, Bangtai is still somewhat confident in his driving skills that he has trained for many years.

After all, he is an experienced driver who has been trained in the destroyer fleet for many years...

Moreover, it was difficult for the enemy to see him clearly under the cover of smoke. Although he could not see the enemy clearly, he still had the vision of others besides Zeppelin to rely on:

In front of the Zeppelin aircraft carrier, the battleships Bismarck and Tirpitz, which were also using smoke cans to drag out billowing smoke, formed two intersecting fire points in front of them, trying their best to disperse the enemy aircraft flying from the right. And closely following the Zeppelin two thousand meters away was the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, which was fully firing and dedicated to protecting the Zeppelin!

However, even so, the British escort fighters were determined, especially the F4F Wildcats equipped with six machine guns, which had amazing firepower density and continuity, and were relatively more solid in structure. They used their machine guns to suppress the anti-aircraft fire. At this moment, including the Zeppelin aircraft carrier under their feet, except for the armored 50mm machine guns on the other three ships, there were only 37mm continuous anti-aircraft guns protected by shields and 105 anti-aircraft guns that had gun shields but the shell loaders still needed to transport ammunition manually. At this moment, there were already casualties on the Zeppelin aircraft carrier under their feet...

And these soldiers who died or were wounded in battle were all his own soldiers!

However... the enemy will not give any chance or mercy! The torpedo plane should have dropped the torpedo by now, there is no time to feel anything!

Holding the steering wheel in one hand and the radio headset in the other, Bangtai shouted hoarsely into the microphone on the headset amid the noisy battlefield filled with explosions: "Top! Where is the gap in their lightning strike?!"

"(Da da da da...) Their torpedo plane is two kilometers to your left, and it seems to be preparing to drop torpedoes... (Boom! Boom!) We are still shooting at them (Boom boom boom... Boom boom boom...)... Hmm? Eugen shot down a torpedo plane! They have a gap! Eugen said you should be able to avoid it if you turn to 090... Yes! Right now, this is the current heading! The gap of their torpedo plane is here! Eugen said it should be possible... (Boom!)"

Top's hoarse voice came out of the headset, mixed in with the noisy battlefield noise! ​​And Top was also under great pressure! Eugen only observed Zeppelin's situation for a while, and he was hit hard!

"Top! How are you guys?!"

As the deputy commander of the fleet, Bangtai heard a bang in the headset before Top finished speaking and asked on the spot.

"Ahem, it's okay... It's just a water-floating bomb. Fortunately it's not a torpedo, otherwise my Eugen wouldn't be able to afford it..." Top laughed on the other end of the phone, saying, "Don't worry, I'm fine. I can still fight on." He was like an old general on the stage, covered with flags...

"Captain! We've seen their torpedoes! They've passed by both sides of us!"

The sailor's report temporarily reassured Bonte. He waved his hand to let the sailor retreat, and then looked behind him. Now he saw the Eugen on his right, which was behind a cloud of white smoke and emitting billowing black smoke, and the Bismarck and Tirpitz on the other side, which were also facing the enemy's attack axis and emitting thick smoke and blazing fire. Bonte opened his mouth and wanted to say something, but he couldn't say it for some reason...

"Everyone, pay attention! I'm Lütjens! They only have two waves of attacks now... The bows of the ships are facing the enemy, turn together! Pay attention to evasion and cover the Zeppelin... I know it's difficult for everyone, but we have persisted until now! Including the GR-186, we have shot down and damaged of their planes... This wave of air raids is almost over! Persevere to the end! Persevere and you will win!"

The voice of Commander Lütjens came from the radio, and the few remaining German fighter planes in the sky, under the command of Zeppelin, seized the only tiny gap of time between the two waves of air strikes and began to move closer again with difficulty under the siege of British Spitfire fighter planes.

Bangtai shook his head, turned the steering wheel, and faced the direction of the enemy's attack axis head-on...

The safety of the Zeppelin aircraft carrier now depends only on you as the captain!

Chapter 690: Heavy damage to Zeppelin

Although they had avoided several waves of attacks, the sailors operating the anti-aircraft guns on the deck suffered heavy casualties under the suppression of the enemy's fighter planes, and the firepower of the anti-aircraft guns was also greatly affected.

Frequently, waves of enemy fighter planes would come back and forth, making countless dents on the deck and bridge with clanging sounds. Even with simple protection, the sailors still couldn't resist the fear in their hearts.

Once the firepower from this type of aircraft hits the human body, it will cause terrible injuries. Even if it is not a direct hit, even if it is a ricochet, it is still very dangerous.

In addition, the speed gradually decreased during the continuous maneuvers back and forth, the hull began to tilt due to the ingress of water, and the stability of the hull changed with the ingress of water and the tilt... In short, the closer it got to the end, the more intense the pressure of the air raid became!

Especially since there was a large group of approaching enemy bombers to deal with...

The air battle in the sky was still a tough one, with fighter planes from both sides fighting from 3,000 meters to 8,000 meters, and then from 8,000 meters to the height close to the sea level. Whether it was for their own instructors or their own aircraft carriers - perhaps neither of them would be delayed.

The remaining German fighter planes still gritted their teeth and held on in the face of the absolutely superior enemy forces, while the British aircraft fleet relied on their numerical advantage to do what was right.

They were so blood-thirsty that they only had the target in their eyes. Apart from the target, they no longer cared about themselves.

Even forbidden moves like the Great German Cross were already the last resort for those war eagles that had run out of ammunition or were injured. They began to appear one after another in this chaotic sky...

But even so, under the siege of the absolutely superior British fighter planes, one German fighter plane after another fell into the North Atlantic in the brutal air battle, and the entire defense circle was shrinking...

While the fighter planes of both sides were fighting desperately in the sky, the main force of the British bomber team - a total of 32 bombers, divided into two waves, one in front and one behind, attacked from the left and right sides, as well as overhead, towards the sea. Although they were surrounded by the cat and mouse sisters and Prince Eugen, their height made their turning ability relatively clumsy. In addition, the ship girl was still commanding the battle in the sky, and had no way to take into account the main body of the Zeppelin aircraft carrier, which attacked from three sides.