Bismarck

In the background of the window light, a fat shadow put down the cigar in his mouth, pondered for a while, and slapped the table with one hand, which was considered as the final decision. On the other hand, he added viciously: "The only requirement is that you fight well for me - now we have two more ship girls and six armored mothers, so don't let the parliament and the people in the public gossip anymore!"

Opposite Churchill, Cunningham, who no longer had his usual cynical smile, also had a serious face and nodded earnestly.

"In the name of the Royal Navy, I will do my best to complete the mission!"

Chapter 795: Alexander

In late October in the Arctic Circle, the polar night has arrived, with strong winds and rough waves at sea in Norway and total darkness.

With the help of the landing signal, the last BF-109 two-seat reconnaissance plane, shakily facing the strong snow wind blowing over the Norwegian Sea, was stopped on the deck runway by the arresting cable with the landing hook. Prior to this, the intelligence detected had been sent to the flagship battleship Bismarck via radio.

In the meeting room of the battleship Bismarck, the time displayed on the wall clock, after conversion to the war zone time, was 0:00 on the morning of October 25. Under the wall clock, Admiral Lütjens and the secretary Bismarck standing beside him were watching their staff officers puffing one cigarette after another and drinking cup after cup of coffee to refresh themselves, sitting in front of the chart table with an automatic plotter, thinking hard about the dire enemy and our situation, racking their brains...

"... Now let's sort out the intelligence again... Our position is about 500 kilometers northeast of the Faroe Islands, and according to reconnaissance aircraft, the British Home Fleet is still 200 kilometers south of the Faroe Islands, and they have about two three-carrier formations and one battleship formation. In addition, there are more than a dozen air force airports and hundreds of aircraft on the islands along this line, and they can also get support from British heavy bombers... In addition, according to our secret line report in Iceland, the Americans in Iceland also have a garrison fleet including five to six old battleships, which have now gone out to sea and disappeared - the distance from here to Iceland has exceeded the 1000-kilometer reconnaissance radius of reconnaissance aircraft, and we can't determine their location for the time being..."

Bismarck was pointing at the nautical chart with a small pointer, feeling a little annoyed.

In order to blockade the German navy and cut off their connection with the French fleet, Britain and the United States really spared no expense and took great pains. Now it is becoming increasingly difficult to go out.

The width of the Iceland-Faroe Islands-Shetland Islands line is less than 800 kilometers wide. Now the Allied forces have six aircraft carriers alone, not to mention the large number of land-based aircraft on several islands, which completely blockade this place! Although their range of activities has actually been kept outside the combat radius of the Faroe Islands airport, relying on their large number of soldiers and generals, the Allied Air Force has been sending bomber groups in twos and threes, and under the cover of Mosquito night fighters, they have launched waves of air strikes on their four warships. In fact, in these air strikes, several times the British bombers dropped anti-ship missiles that had "met" in the Battle of the Bermuda Islands! Moreover, this thing either doesn't come, or it comes in large numbers!

Although in most cases, relying on the electronic jamming of grapes and a large number of heat sources + chaff jamming bombs, the most critical thing is that Bonte tried his best to mobilize the carrier-based fighters on the Zeppelin aircraft carrier, and carried out combat air patrols back and forth in the airspace 200 kilometers away, and again and again charged from the interception line formed by the escorting Mosquito fighters in front of the bombers, and tried his best to disperse the British bomber groups again and again.

As far as Bismarck knew, while Zeppelin's air force was gritting its teeth and holding on and his side was forming a formation to protect itself, the German fighters and bombers in several air bases in Bergen and Stavanger were also organizing air strike groups in full force to attack the Shetland Islands in the UK, trying to tie down the British Air Force's strength as much as possible.

But even so, the German Air Force is still having a very difficult time. There are at least six airports on the Shetland Islands, and they are very close to the British mainland - only 180 kilometers away. Compared with the Shetland base, which has an endless supply of reinforcements from the mainland, the Norwegian base can only be described as stretched to its limits...

In the face of continuous air strikes, which totaled more than 200 sorties, including Lancaster heavy bombers that could carry several anti-ship missiles at a time to launch aerial salvos, the fleet, which was being chased by the Allied air force, had to continue to retreat temporarily to the northwest, in the direction of Jan Mayen Island, which was farther away from the GIUK waterway.

What’s more important is that up until this point, the six British aircraft carriers behind the GIUK waterway had not taken any action at all!

"Damn it, with this density of firepower, I can't even get close to it..." Bismarck couldn't help but feel a little anxious, and even a little discouraged in her heart.

After four months, the Allied Forces have become so much stronger?!

Bismarck, somewhat unwillingly, secretly glanced at the silent conference room, only to find that everyone had the same expression on their faces.

However, this breakout was already determined - it was precisely because the Allied forces were getting stronger day by day that the fleet had to be concentrated to have a chance to fight the Allies, rather than being trapped in two places and being defeated one by one.

However, with such a strong blockade, what can we do to break through?

Even though he has now modified his weapons with 406mm main guns and anti-ship missiles, and Zeppelin is also equipped with kits that can convert ordinary aerial bombs into guided bombs powered by gliders and booster rockets, these do not actually have any particularly effective effect on the attack efficiency of the air base!

If an aircraft carrier with a thin skin and a lot of fillings basically relies on high speed and full-deck deployment, and relies on fleet movement and instantaneous output, then an airport with a larger area and stronger overall deployment efficiency, which is "impossible to be sunk", is the best portrayal of defending the line on the base chain and fighting to the end!

Although the airport itself cannot be moved and cannot be compared with a high-speed aircraft carrier in terms of assault distance, the more powerful space gives it a higher total dispatch rate and stronger operational efficiency, and it can also launch heavy aircraft for combat. At the same time, even if it is temporarily unable to be deployed due to an air attack, with the steel runway, engineering machinery and quick-drying cement of the airport rescue engineers, as long as the pit is filled, the quick-drying cement that can be initially solidified in just a few hours is poured, and a layer of steel runway is laid, aircraft can be launched again for combat!

If you really want to destroy an airport, you can only use up all the flying units of the other air force, or simply occupy it! There is no other way - but the problem now is that this is near the British mainland, and it is a long-term and painstakingly built maritime blockade island chain. How many airports have the British built in such a strategic fortress area?

There must be at least five or six airports in the Shetland Islands alone, right?

(PS: Kongo and Haruna jointly bombarded the Cactus Airport with 550 356HE shells, turning the entire airport into a moonscape, with almost all aircraft destroyed. However, thanks to the steel runway paved by maintenance engineers and resupply, the airport was able to regain combat effectiveness the next day. In addition, except for the oil and ammunition depots whose locations were kept secret and heavily defended, air raids on airports were basically focused on bombing aircraft shelters, not runways.)

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"Report to the commander, the air force called... It has been found that in the entire northern Scotland and the GIUK defense line, the British and American forces will definitely not be less than an air fleet... Norway's air force has only two wings. Although it bombed the Shetland airport in the air raid just now, it also suffered heavy losses. The British are repairing it and it is expected to be restored in just a few hours. In addition, the air forces in the UK and Shetland have begun to organize forces to counter-suppress our bases in Norway... Based on the current combat intensity, it is estimated that the Norwegian Air Force Southern Cluster can only guarantee support until noon on the 25th..."

(German Air Force organization: 12 squadrons, 24~36 squadrons, 72~108 wings, aviation division, aviation army, aviation fleet)

"What?! The Air Force can only hold out until noon?!"

There was a sudden exclamation in the conference room, and Bismarck turned his head and glanced at the wall clock: the 25th, one o'clock in the morning!

"This... doesn't this mean that they can only help us delay for another eleven hours?" said an officer with a worried look on his face.

"The problem is how are we going to get out in eleven hours. After the modification, except for the Zeppelin, which can still reach thirty-eight knots, the speed of these boats is only 35.6 knots. Even if we travel at full speed for eleven hours, we can probably only reach the Faroe Islands by twelve o'clock noon..." Another staff officer supported his chin with one hand, and tapped the fingers of his other hand on the table without any rhythm.

This staff officer did not say it, but what everyone knew was that even if they rushed to the Faroe Islands, 200 kilometers south of the Faroe Islands, there were still Tovey's Royal Navy Home Fleet with six ships and more than aircraft!

This is simply an iron wall...

However, just when everyone was at a loss, Lütjens, who was sitting in the main seat, raised his head from behind his crossed hands and spoke in a low voice:

"Bismarck, ask Zeppelin how many planes she has now?"

"Eh? Wait..." Bismarck was stunned, and then he immediately connected to Zeppelin, who was leading a fighter unit and fighting hard on the air defense patrol line 200 kilometers away...

"Ziberling, the captain wants to ask you, how many planes do you have now?"

The first sound that came into their conversation was the roar of machine guns.

dong dong dong-

"At most 60 planes - don't ask me, I don't have time now, they have too many planes! I won't tell you, they have another squadron of Lancasters... Tsk, what trouble."

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The mad Zeppelin on the WIFI hung up the "phone" in a rage, leaving the Bismarck in a mess in the wind and waves of the Arctic Ocean.

"It's been just over an hour, and now there are only 85 fighter planes left out of ? It seems that Zeppelin is under a lot of pressure..." After hearing the report from his own secretary ship, Lütjens looked at Bismarck with some surprise.

However, now is the time to make up our minds to fight!

After a moment of contemplation, under the gaze of everyone, Lütjens grabbed the compass and ruler, measured a few times on the map himself, then pulled out a folder from a pile of files next to him, flipped through several aerial photos, looked at them carefully, then threw the photos on the table and stood up suddenly from the main seat:

"I think we could try to raid the Faroe Islands now."

Looking at the various surprised expressions of his subordinates, including his own ship cat, in the meeting room that was completely silent after his words were spoken, Lütjens also showed a slight smile of satisfaction on his face:

"Everyone, don't forget, although the pressure is great now, but at least the air force can still hold out until noon, right? In addition to this, the 100 long-range missiles we equipped after the modification have not been used yet..."

Chapter 796: Encountering Anti-Ship Missiles

In the dark night of the Arctic Circle, the battle between humanity's new weapons and the instinctive perception of "evil spirits" continues...

"The fleet turns, forms a fan, and moves forward at full speed... By the way, when was Tovey's last discovery?"

Bismarck's commander, Lütjens, was commanding the fleet to turn around while verifying the situation on the battlefield.

"The last time the reconnaissance plane spotted Tovey was at 10 o'clock last night. It has been several hours now. At their speed, they can only fly 200 kilometers at most. Now the Zeppelin is busy with air combat and the reconnaissance plane also needs maintenance. If there is no way to reconnaissance such a distant target... Captain, are we just going to go straight over here?"

"What's the big deal? Just drive over there. It's no big deal." Lütjens looked helpless and turned to look at her. He shook his head and said, "It's actually very simple. Just look at Tovey's initial position. He was 200 kilometers behind the Faroe Islands, right?"

"Yeah?" Bismarck nodded.

"His position shows that he has chosen to stay in the second line as a reserve. So unless we get within the distance to threaten the Faroe Islands, no matter how Tovey changes his position, he will basically not cross the Faroe Islands line - this is called judgment." Lütjens smiled slightly and pointed to his head, then sneered and turned to continue looking at the chart table: "Besides, even if Tovey really rushes out early, so what? He is in an upper wind position, and the aircraft carrier has to turn around when taking off. However, if they turn around, we may be able to launch missiles one step ahead of them - don't forget, it takes them at least 20 minutes to launch a wave of planes!"

As he spoke, Lütjens, who had always been very calm, actually showed a smile that was full of fighting spirit and murderous intent:

"Although the power of a single shot is still a bit weak, our long-range anti-ship missile has a range of 200 nautical miles!" Lütjens said very proudly, and he couldn't wait to see the power of his missile!

"Wait, Captain, we only have a hundred missiles, but the battle will last so long, the airport will need maintenance, their aircraft carrier is armored, and we have to consider target identification... This won't be enough to suppress the airport and defeat Tovey at the same time, right?" Bismarck asked with a puzzled look on his face.

"Who said I want to suppress the airport and defeat Tovey 'at the same time'?" Hearing Bismarck's question, Lütjens had an angry and amused expression on his face.

"What?" The Persian cat was stunned.

"What's so difficult about this? Back in the Nile Delta, Rommel complained to me a lot, saying that after the British bombed his roads and airports, they also dropped some bombs that exploded at irregular intervals to prevent his engineers from building roads and airports. If they were detonated on the spot, the holes would be even bigger. So you can use this method, too." Lütjens leaned back in his chair, and in his smugness, he took out another cigarette from somewhere and took a deep puff. "You know, don't we have some missile warheads here, equipped with 250 kg bombs and 40 kg armor-piercing pre-explosive packs, made into high-explosive bombs? And all these missiles are controlled by you guys, and they can explode whenever you want..."

Before he could finish his words, the cigarette in his hand was gone...

"Captain, I think we should quit smoking first, and then get through this air raid..."

Before Lütjens could react from his daze, a Persian cat that had obviously turned black had already stretched out its claws, reached into his pocket, and searched out the pack of cigarettes that had been hidden well...

With a throw, the pack of cigarettes flew out of the open armored door of the bridge and drifted into the sea with the wind.

I feel like crying but I have no tears.

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In the distance of the pitch-black sky, faint lights occasionally flashed. The whistling gale in the sky 150 kilometers away was the wings and propellers fighting desperately in the shadow of the dark night. On one side was the air defense circle of carrier-based fighter jets, which relied on the advantage of the interior and the "evil spirit-level" command efficiency, gritted their teeth and shrank the defense line layer by layer, and even clung to the enemy. On the other side was the sky fortress square cluster with anti-ship missiles hanging on the belly and wings. In addition to those "infantrymen holding machine guns in the fortress", there were also Mosquito night fighters that whistled past at high speed and desperately drove away the Nazi fighter planes!

The air forces of both sides are fighting hard to gain an inch of ground around the Bat missile's maximum gliding range of just 30 kilometers.

Compared with previous battles, the sea and air battles in the new era have fewer fire nets covering the sky and more smoke clouds of decoy jammers.

And below this desperate battle on the sky battlefield, on the dark sea, four large warships were changing their courses in the waves of the Norwegian Sea.

Whether in the dimly lit command room, or in the deck gun positions and damage control team bunkers where the wind was howling and the ice and snow were raging, everyone had expressions of worry and fear on their faces, and from time to time they looked around at the dim night outside the hull.

The American MK-9 "Bat" anti-ship missile has been further developed in the hands of the Allies since the Battle of Bermuda. Although it is currently recognized by the Allies that almost all weapons, whether in terms of "hard kill" or "soft kill", are used in the hands of "ship girls with human-level intelligence", which can have higher attack efficiency than relatively simple standard weapons. However, the situation in previous naval battles has proved that even ship girls are not invincible! Even this kind of "simple and crude, only following the signal" thing, with a certain number, and mixed equipped with active-passive radar (receiving jammer signals), or infrared-guided multi-mode seekers, relying on the advantage of numbers, can also cause serious threats to ship girls!

And this kind of thing is now hanging under the belly and wings of the "Lancaster" of GIUK's entire aviation fleet!

Although Zeppelin was already fighting desperately, and the GR-186 wing had also participated in the fight against the heavy bomber cluster when it was stationed in Kiel Harbor, now even the BF-109, which originally had relatively weak firepower, was equipped with 20mm wing gun pods according to the standard of interceptors, sacrificing a certain degree of maneuverability in exchange for more powerful interception firepower against heavy bombers - also thanks to the fleet being 500 kilometers away from the nearest British airport, the escorting Allied forces only had the Mosquito fighter, which was fast, but its maneuverability and climb rate were still a bit different from the German BF-109 and FW-190. If the distance was closer and entered the combat radius of the Spitfire fighter (because it did not need to mount a gun, so the performance was not affected), even if the pilots on Zeppelin's side were all top-notch elites, they would not be able to fight an air battle with the Allies under the premise that the performance of the fighter was dragged down.

"Turn completed, heading southwest, speed 35.6..."

"Everyone, pay attention! Missile attack! Missile attack!"

Just as the fleet had just completed its turn, Zeppelin's voice sounded simultaneously on the WIFI and fleet radio's tactical communication channel!

In an instant, the three warships that formed a fan-shaped formation around the Zeppelin aircraft carrier in the middle of the sea were instantly facing a formidable enemy!

-

The sharp bow split the turbulent waves, facing the southwest wind blowing with the drifting snowflakes, blowing on the steel body. And along with the southwest wind, there were also those small black dots with gliders that could not be seen even in broad daylight, and even more invisible in the night.

However, no one, including the ship girls and even the officers and soldiers of the German fleet, dared to underestimate this small black dot!

Zeppelin was now fighting hard in the sky with her fighter wing. Apart from entrusting Bangtai to operate, she had no energy to take care of her own body. The air battle was so cruel that even the fighter planes taking off and landing were constantly "intermittently replaced". Even so, facing the enemy's continuous bomber fleets, it was still difficult to fight.

In the eyes of the three ship girls, seventy or eighty "little black dots" had been "thrown" over from far away in the air!

"Missiles, missiles detected!" Bismarck's eyes were solemn, and even her projection was in a defensive posture. Her eyes were fixed on the dim night sky outside the window, and even her voice, at this moment, was like a burst of hair:

"Fifty... Seventy... Ninety-one... At half past ten, altitude 2800, speed 480, less than 150 kilometers away! Expected to reach our fleet in seconds!"

Bismarck shouted with clenched teeth while erecting several 30mm Gatling machine guns of "unknown origin" on her hull. This was before she left the port. She asked Zeppelin to get a batch of MK-101 machine guns and matching anti-tank armor-piercing explosive bombs through Goering's channels, and then made them into Gatling rotary guns according to the "style" seen in later pictures. In addition to her, several sisters also installed several of them, and she also told everyone that these things need to be operated by themselves to deal with "anti-ship missiles."

Although this thing requires sailors to frequently reload it with shells, and in the initial test, the tracer of the revolver's ballistic trajectory was actually biased to one side, making it very difficult to use. It was not until then that she realized that this was because the revolver fired while rotating, so there would naturally be a "swinging" vector. After she deflected the barrels of these artillery pieces by a little angle, the problem was barely solved.

Now it seems... Although the effect of several dense arrays of crickets can only be said to be better than nothing, but if they are equipped with jamming bombs, at the most critical times, this kind of guard weapon that can be operated by one's own hands can indeed save lives!

Although the trajectory is still difficult to aim and control...

At this time, on the WIFI, a lazy and a vigorous voice also responded to him respectively:

"I know, I know... Tsk, I'm ready to fight!"

"Eugen received! Preparing for battle!"

"Very good! There are still 120 seconds left, and the distance is kilometers. All ships should steer, and the towed jammers should start jamming. Prepare to engage the enemy - remember to hold your position and protect the Zeppelin!"

Looking at the "missile saturation attack" getting closer and closer, Bismarck wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and gritted his teeth.

A glide-guided bomb with an eight-degree drop angle is not easy to intercept...

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Although it was not the first time to face anti-ship missiles, there were only twenty missiles in Bermuda from beginning to end, but now they are being attacked one after another by large-scale missiles from the Allies. The pressure on the battlefield is completely different!

In the eyes of the ship girls, the missiles were getting closer and closer, and they were still approaching rapidly! In fact, if it wasn't for the dark night, they had no doubt that even ordinary sailors could see the ferocious appearance of these missiles!

The first batch of seven or eight missiles flew together in the sky, whistling towards the superstructure of the Bismarck at the front of the entire formation! For a moment, Bismarck even thought it was hit by a guided artillery shell - although these "bats" were only 480 kilometers per hour, much slower than the battleship's artillery fire of 480 meters per second, but these missiles could maneuver and chase their targets, and the difficulty of dodging was far more difficult than a simple artillery fire!

Not to mention, this is just the first cluster! Behind them, in groups of three or two, there are clusters and clusters of anti-ship missiles!

"Tsk... This thing is so difficult to deal with, I'm afraid it's almost as difficult as my own guided artillery shells..." Bismarck gritted his teeth, controlling the small boat that was towed more than 500 meters behind his ship and equipped with two high-power jammers and jamming heat sources to turn on the electronic jamming, while at the same time, he threw balls of chaff and flares to his side and behind him.

Chaff bombs and flares are usually placed separately, because the former "shields" itself, while the latter "attracts" the enemy. If a flare bomb is fired in the direction of one's own location, and it attracts a missile attack in infrared seeker mode, it will undoubtedly be a show of divine operation.

Similarly, at the rear of the four warships, all of them were towing a small boat with a high-power jammer and heat flares, and its function was to tow away those "missiles". If she encountered a boat that she couldn't tow away, she would have to control the dense array on top of her bridge and gamble her life in the end...

Under the deception of towed jammers and heat source bombs, as well as the cover of chaff bombs, it is obvious that many of the seekers of the first-generation anti-ship missiles, which were simply tracking targets and had no AI or logic, were caught in this trap.

The deceived missile changed its trajectory in the sky, slightly deviating from its course angle...

However, there were too many missiles! What was even worse was that the missiles on the battlefield were distributed over a wide attack surface! And the order in which the missiles arrived at their targets was completely out of order!

You know, when the number reaches a certain level, even Brownian motion can be very threatening!

Maybe the jammers or decoys on this ship deceived the missiles on this side, but at the same time guided the missiles on the other side to a direction that was threatening to itself! And although the previously deceived missiles changed their course, this new course could threaten the safety of another sister ship...

What's even more terrible is that this kind of attack is almost completely random! Even the trajectory is a bit "Brown" because of the glider structure - even if the sisters are equipped with dense arrays, looking at such a completely disordered attack trajectory, everyone's scalp tingles! .

In other words, once the jammer is fired, the rest is up to fate...

Moreover, they also had to protect Zeppelin, who was not in his main body at the moment and therefore had almost no ability to fight back against the missiles.

You know, even the improved close-in defense gun based on the 30mm MK101 has an effective range of less than 1500 meters against missiles! In order to ensure the distance, and to tow the lifeboats with jammers, the distance between them is now about meters!

If you are not careful, some fish will slip through the net and find Zeppelin.