Bismarck

Eugen's face, which was originally a mixture of daze and panic, suddenly blossomed into a smile like a flower.

The smile was accompanied by the meteor-like tracer of the Gatling gun in her hand, and the flames and sparks that suddenly broke out not far away in front of her eyes the next second. Against the backdrop of the thunder-like explosion, the smile that was originally stained by gunpowder but still lovely seemed to bloom even more lovely and pretty...

Chapter 799: Faro Waterway

As the last missile turned in the wrong direction and plunged into the sea, the dark night sky regained its tranquility, at least temporarily.

Under the night wind, the three secretary ships in front of the three Gatling machine guns put down the close-in defense guns in their hands, wiped their foreheads at the same time, looked at each other, and breathed a long sigh of relief.

The target of the missile is too small, and even for the ship girls, it is not easy to hit the missile accurately. Moreover, the Gatling gun is only operated by the few of them. If the sailors operate it, it will be no different from the general short-range small-caliber anti-aircraft guns. The effective range of the 30mm Gatling gun is only 1500 meters, and the maximum range is only 5000 meters at most. Moreover, it consumes much more ammunition than the general anti-aircraft guns! Such weapons, when used against aircraft, are not as useful as the 37 anti-aircraft guns with an effective range of meters!

But now is not the time to think about these issues.

"Future wars will be dominated by missiles... Our anti-aircraft artillery is basically useless in the face of missile penetration..."

Standing by the bridge window of the Zeppelin aircraft carrier, looking at the figures who "suddenly disappeared" on the side of the flight deck, Bangtai, who saw the saturation attack of anti-ship missiles for the first time, couldn't help but fall into a lot of thoughts.

As the captain of Germany's first aircraft carrier, Bonte had a thorough understanding of both aviation power and fleet air defense. Because of this, he had a more intuitive understanding of the potential threat and potential power of missiles.

For example, even if electronic jamming was used this time, the ship girls still had to take action to intercept those that slipped through the net. Moreover, this was just a "light missile" that needed to be dropped by an aircraft and had a limited range. If it was replaced with the heavy anti-ship missiles equipped by their own fleet with a range of 200 nautical miles and capable of independent attack, wouldn't the consequences be quite worrying?

"It seems that the development of 'anti-aircraft missiles' and 'air-to-air missiles' is inevitable, right?"

For a moment, Bangtai was lost in thought. But at this moment, the headset rang:

"Captain, I'm Zeppelin. We are returning now. Please arrange for landing... Also, please prepare a reconnaissance plane for me immediately! I think it is necessary to conduct additional reconnaissance on the current location of the British naval fleet!"

Zeppelin's call brought Bangtai back to his senses. But when he heard Zeppelin say that he would immediately prepare for additional reconnaissance, Bangtai was still a little stunned: "Zeppelin, you... can't you let others go for reconnaissance or something?"

"No, Captain. Now all the aircraft, including the reconnaissance aircraft, actually need to be inspected and repaired... However, if it were me... You know, I can guarantee that the plane I'm flying won't have an accident, but I can't guarantee other people's planes."

The female voice in the headset was still so cold and aloof. Even Bangtai could tell that the owner of the voice had a proud smile on her face. "Besides, those guys need a break, don't they?"

"Well, I'll help you prepare." Perhaps he was infected by something, but the corners of Bangtai's mouth twitched slightly: "When we land at night, tell everyone to be careful."

"Ok!"

As the words fell on the radio, even in the roaring sound of the wind and waves of the Arctic Ocean, through the deep dark night with a few snowflakes, Bangtai seemed to see the scarred war eagle returning in triumph in his eyes.

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

"...Bontay, you said that Zeppelin felt it necessary to conduct another supplementary reconnaissance of the Faroe Islands... Yes! Yes! It is indeed necessary to determine the location of the Tovey Fleet! You must also hurry up and prepare for war. Even if the Air Force said that they have bombed the airport in the Shetland Islands, they still have a large number of troops on their home island, so we still can't take it lightly! Well, Zeppelin will have to make another trip for reconnaissance... Well, that's it."

He hung up the radio receiver, rubbed his eyes, took the espresso that the secretary ship had just brewed, and drank it down to refresh himself. The secretary ship beside him leaned slightly and asked softly, "Captain, now..."

"Now, let me think about it..." He put down the coffee cup and pinched his brows as usual. His expression was neither calm nor expressionless, but rather hesitant to activate the skill "Let me think twice". He also muttered to himself, not knowing whether he was talking to his secretary cat or to himself: "Shetland Airport was bombed, but there are still a large number of airports in the UK... There are only 59 Zeppelins left in the battle, and most of them are not in good condition... Fortunately, it is Shetland Airport that was bombed, and their bombing intensity should be lower... Well, now it depends on whether the Zeppelin reconnaissance can find it."

Hearing her captain's mumbling, Bismarck also pinched her chin, concentrated her energy, and used her very sensitive radar perception: "...Yes, it is true. No second group of aircraft was found within the radar search range."

Originally Bismarck just said it casually, but who knew that Lütjens, who was thinking hard about the battle situation, was immediately nervous: "What? A second group of aircraft within the radar search range?! Where is it?!"

Looking at the captain who jumped three feet high from his chair like a spring, Bismarck felt a little amused.

After some communication...

"We are heading southwest now. We will reach the launch position 370 kilometers away from the Faroe Islands at around a.m. And according to the previous air force reconnaissance, there are only two small airports in the Faroe Islands, which are not difficult to suppress, but..."

The severity of the situation made Lütjens want to sigh.

"So, Tovey's fleet is the biggest variable now." Bismarck said silently.

"Yes, the GR-186 has suffered heavy losses. There are only out of aircraft left. And even if we don't count the air force base, Tovey alone has at least six aircraft carriers and at least aircraft. And we only have anti-ship missiles..."

"And those missiles need to be guided. Otherwise, with the scale of their six aircraft carriers, the range of the fleet will be very large... If we can't find the aircraft carriers, the missiles will be in vain." Bismarck lay on the table, his hands on his chin, looking depressed.

"The situation is serious now, but we must continue to break through! The Southern Norwegian Air Force is desperately helping us suppress the Shetland Airport and drag down the pressure of the British domestic air force - if we can't break through before they can't hold on, it will become more and more difficult in the future!" Lütjens looked serious and even pounded the table with his fist. But soon, as if he thought of something, his face suddenly changed: "Wait, if I remember correctly, the Americans still have a low-speed battle fleet in Iceland - don't look at those old ships, but if they occupy the position in advance, cooperate with the surrounding airports, and the aircraft carriers and high-speed battleships in Tovey's hands, they can completely lock the entire Faroe Waterway!"

"What should we do?!" Seeing that even the captain's face had changed, Bismarck became serious.

"No, it's okay. It's not hopeless yet. We are still far from the exit of the waterway. We still have to keep moving forward! Tell Zeppelin that our attack plan now depends entirely on the intelligence from the reconnaissance aircraft!"

"Well, okay!" Knowing the seriousness of the situation, Bismarck did not dare to be careless. He nodded in response while connecting to the public channel shared by several ship girls.

While Bismarck and Zeppelin were arranging tasks on the WIFI, a series of damaged and returning fighter planes approached the sky above the aircraft carrier.

A BF-109 fighter plane painted with a white edelweiss pattern rushed out of the landing formation of the fleet and began to "land itself" towards her flight deck.

On the flight deck, a squadron of patrol fighters had just taken off.

At the same time, on the right side of the flight deck, a reconnaissance plane that had just been connected to a trailer loaded with oil barrels was lifted onto the flight deck on the side elevator in the parking area behind the 105 anti-aircraft gun position. The ground crew hurriedly removed the manual refueling pump from the plane while doing the final inspection.

Just as several ground crews and mechanics were communicating and confirming that the aircraft was ready for takeoff, the fighter plane with the Edelweiss logo landed in a standard textbook style with the whistling of propellers, and landed steadily on the flight deck. Before Zeppelin could jump off the plane, another group of ground crews rushed over, surrounded Zeppelin's vehicle and pushed it aside. In the direction where Zeppelin had left, next to the reconnaissance plane that had been put on the runway, the ground crew squad leader was going through a brief but direct aircraft handover procedure with their wing commander.

Time counts on the battlefield. On the narrow flight deck where every inch of space must be fought for, the ground crew members who try their best to move the aircraft, maintain the deck operating efficiency, and support the deployment of carrier-based aircraft are the unsung heroes of the entire Evil Spirit Fleet!

Work hard and without complaints.

…………And on the other side of the sea…………

"General, shall we charge forward now?"

The flagship of the Home Fleet had been changed from the Duke of York to the Vanguard. The Royal Knight, with his ponytail tied sideways and a serious look, stood upright at the side of the main seat, leaning on his sword at his waist.

Tovey's handsome but somewhat gloomy face remained expressionless, he just nodded faintly.

"Yes, we will charge forward now! If that old devil Lütjens wants to break through, he will only do so now, and there are four of them, so we must concentrate all our efforts!"

"I understand - the Vanguard will serve the British Empire faithfully, Your Excellency!"

The meticulous look of the knight girl, who had trained madly on the training ground, revealed her undisguised longing and passion for the real battlefield.

Chapter 800: Lion-level appearance

The Bay of Biscay, 2,000 kilometers south of the Faroe Islands.

In the starry night sky, under the howling westerly winds of the North Atlantic, a fleet of nearly twenty ships was sailing at high speed on the surface of the Bay of Biscay, west of the French port of Brest, leaving a long wake.

In the command cabin of the flagship battleship Hindenburg, Admiral Kumetz, commander of the German Kriegsmarine's Atlantic Fleet, was sitting on the main seat, with his arms folded, legs spread, a cigarette in his mouth, staring at the nautical chart without saying a word.

After all, we are now carrying out the orders of Commander-in-Chief Raeder.

Lütjens's battle this time almost took away the entire main force of the British Home Fleet! Now the Allied forces in the Bay of Biscay are at their weakest.

According to intelligence from reconnaissance aircraft, the Allied fleet that remained on the outskirts of the Bay of Biscay and had just been keeping watch outside the combat radius of the fighter planes at Brest Airport only had two battleship-class armed tankers and three Goliath-class light aircraft carriers. For the current German Atlantic Fleet's two battleships, one battlecruiser with modified main guns, two aircraft carriers, two battlecruisers, and thirteen escorting destroyers, this was a thin-skinned and thick-stuffed live target!

Rodney and Nelson were both old, and their speed was only 23 knots. The Giant-class light carrier was a product of emergency production of civilian ship standards, and its speed was only 25 knots. Moreover, since this was the westerly belt, the position where they attacked was naturally against the wind, which was more favorable for the deployment of carrier-based aircraft.

At least when launching an air strike, the aircraft carrier on our side does not need to turn 180 degrees to launch the carrier-based aircraft...

In addition, the Marshal also helped him with scheduling and operations. The Air Force and Naval Aviation Force stationed on the French coast have prepared more than 293 bombers equipped with airborne heavy anti-ship missiles. Even his two aircraft carriers are full of airborne light anti-ship missiles - the former is called Fritz X, and the other is called HS-!

Germany had been developing this type of weapon for quite a long time, with a related research plan as early as 1938. In the Battle of Bermuda, through the research and comparison of the American "Bat" missile, and the later brainstorming of the "Scientific Research Director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society", the shapes of these two weapons were greatly modified compared to the original plan.

If the original concept was just a guided bomb with a very limited range and mainly remote control, then after improving the layout of the rocket engine and the overall design of the missile body, the two "missiles" that originally had a range of only 5-10 kilometers now have a range of more than ten to twenty kilometers - although it is shorter than the American "bat" that can glide for more than kilometers by gliding, but the high subsonic speed of these two when penetrating is much stronger than the bat!

HS293, a light anti-ship missile modified from the German 500 kg high-explosive bomb, is equipped with a rocket engine with a working time of 12 seconds. It has a total weight of 780-950 kg, a range of 5 kilometers, and a maximum flight speed of 980 kilometers per hour (0.8M). After improvements, the range has been increased to more than 190 kilometers, and the original remote control guidance has been changed to a hybrid guidance of active/passive radar and infrared, getting rid of the restrictions on flight activities due to the need for remote control of the carrier aircraft. At the same time, with a weight of less than one ton, this missile can be installed and used on light aircraft such as FW-87 and JU-.

Another heavy anti-ship guided bomb called Fritz X is also a long-term research topic of the Air Force. It was originally planned to be modified from a 1400 kg missile with a guidance kit, with a range of 11 kilometers and a maximum penetration speed of 1016 kilometers per hour (0.83 meters). Now, this missile has added a set of rocket engines to the original one. Although the weight of the bomb has increased to two tons and can only be carried by a twin-engine bomber, the range has reached kilometers!

"It's easier to cooperate with the Air Force. The British Air Force has the Brest Air Force Base to deal with it. Reconnaissance planes have been tracking the British fleet, including the destroyer search line 200 kilometers ahead of their fleet. The Air Force has 80 shore-based bombers, plus at least 40 to 50 aircraft on my two aircraft carriers, it shouldn't be a problem to deal with their three light carriers and two old tankers... Besides, although the task assigned to me by His Excellency the Marshal this time is actually just to symbolically support Lütjens. However, with such a bonus, how can I let it go? Otherwise, the Marshal would not have told me that if I had the chance, I should defeat this old, weak and disabled creature..."

When he thought that the Air Force, the sucker, would fight with all its might, he only needed to take the fleet out for a spin to complete the mission. Moreover, even if he really "rushed in rashly as before" and had a bad start, he would not have to worry about having no way to retreat at his doorstep.

Even Kumetz could see that this kind of Buddhist way of fighting was completely a matter of luck. If Lütjens had not dragged away all the main forces of the Royal Navy, he might not have encountered a second one in his lifetime!

But...so what?

If he succeeds, he will definitely achieve fame and success, and if he fails, he can escape unscathed. Kumets felt a little excited in his heart.

"It would be unjust if I could lose a battle like this. Someone, notify the Air Force and tell them that we plan to launch an airstrike at four o'clock. Ask them to dispatch aircraft according to the plan. As long as our navy and air force work in coordination, we will win this battle!"

Under Kumets' orders, facing the howling westerly wind, on the flight decks of the two aircraft carriers Europa and Bremen, the ground crew pushed one BF-109 with auxiliary fuel tanks and one FW-293 with HS-190 anti-ship missiles onto the take-off line of the flight deck one by one, following the outline of the flight deck outlined by the flashing safety lights in the dim night...

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

The Arctic Circle was covered with clouds, and the thick clouds made the already dark night even darker. And in the layers of clouds at an altitude of 6,700 meters, there was only the whistling of the wind and the flying of snowflakes, accompanying the lonely reconnaissance plane in the dark night.

"It's already half past two... The current cruising speed can only be maintained at about 400 kilometers. According to the plan, it will take at least six or seven o'clock to complete the search of such a large area... Hmm? It looks like there are British warships moving ahead?"

As a Zeppelin aircraft carrier, the lone reconnaissance aircraft's airborne radar was her own perception. On the "radar display screen" of her reconnaissance aircraft, all signals within a radius of 130 to 150 kilometers were clearly visible.

In addition, there are several radar signals that are displayed on the direction indicator through the electronic signal receiver of the reconnaissance aircraft. Although the passively received signal cannot directly measure the distance, it can at least make a rough estimate based on the received signal strength.

The BF-109 reconnaissance aircraft was converted from a two-seat trainer, and there was a radar operator in the back seat. Even if it only relied on the angle reading of the radar signal, as long as Zeppelin flew for a few more minutes, and even without changing the heading, the radar operator could directly mark the approximate position of the opponent through the change in angle and the conversion of the aircraft speed! ——Although, if Zeppelin took off personally, she alone would be enough.

In Zeppelin's perception, two destroyers were on the dark sea, 37 to kilometers ahead of him, nervously turning the radars on the top of the masts to look around. And not long after, a pair of ships appeared on both sides of the two destroyers. And judging from the distance, it seemed that the interval was about nautical miles ( kilometers).

Moreover, looking at the shape and direction of this formation...

Zeppelin, who marked the enemy situation on the drawing board with a few strokes, couldn't help but narrow his eyes instantly - a cordon formed by a two-ship formation of destroyers was right in front of his left. Moreover, the direction of this cordon was directly in front of the current direction of the sisters' formation!

But even with just this one warning line, in the eyes of the battle-hardened Edelweiss Witch, something could be reflected as being quite serious!

"According to my current position, the location of this cordon is 150 to 200 kilometers northeast of the Faroe Islands, and it is directly facing the direction of our fleet. It seems that they have been keeping track of our movements... Well, the entire formation has a total of four groups of destroyers, which is the strength of a destroyer squadron. If you calculate it this way, their main fleet must have advanced to the vicinity of the Faroe Islands! However... relying on this formation alone, we cannot determine the specific location of their fleet. Without determining the location, we cannot determine the specific situation, let alone launch anti-ship missiles... Moreover, they have another formation in Iceland. The location and configuration must be figured out together!"

Zeppelin looked at the sea chart thoughtfully and soon made up his mind.

"There seem to be patrol fighters over their air defense cordon, but it looks like there aren't too many troops on the front line. With my speed I should be able to pass the edge of their cordon. Once I pass it, I'll search carefully..."

After a brief thought, Zeppelin made a search plan. The reconnaissance plane slightly changed its course and "brushed" past the Allied destroyer's cordon.

More than 100 kilometers away on the sea, the radar of the Allied destroyer was still looking around aimlessly - for them, what they had to be alert of was the "possible large-scale air raid launched by the Edelweiss Witch." A plane flying in a straight line passing by more than 100 kilometers away, they had no greater interest except to report it to their superiors.

After all, there is a neutral country called Sweden across Northern Europe. The route from Sweden to the United States also passes through this airspace - although, as soldiers serving in the fleet, they don't know that at this time Sweden has been in contact with the United States and Finland (which has allied with Germany), and has been supplying Finland with American weapons, although they are second-rate, but in sufficient quantities, to attack the Leningrad area in the north of the Soviet Union...

(PS: According to declassified former Soviet documents, declassified American archives on the White House website, and the reports and data of the Finnish military's imported weapons over the years, it is now certain that Finland had ideas about the Leningrad region as early as the mid-30s. Even on the Finnish military map, a number of Soviet northern cities, including Leningrad, have all been given Finnish names. At the same time, as early as the mid-30s, Finland was vigorously importing American arms and training troops through Sweden. It was not until 1943 that this arms trade channel was finally interrupted under the protest of the Soviet Union after the victory in Stalingrad. Therefore, the so-called "Soviet invasion of Finland" seems very likely to be a preemptive strike by the Soviet Union. Although it cannot be ruled out that if the Soviet Union really defeated Finland, it would be so and so...)

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

It was approaching three o'clock. In the waters west of the Faroe Islands, among the battleship formation of the British Home Fleet cruising under heavy escort, the flagship Vanguard was leading the other four battleships, commanding the deployment of the entire surface formation.

"My Lord, the two-layer light ship cordon of the entire fleet has been fully deployed!"

The blond royal knight with a sword meticulously reported that the fleet had been fully deployed, and Tovey nodded at the main seat. The staff officers below did not dare to neglect and were marking the battlefield situation information on the chart table.

The destroyer squadron 200 kilometers north of the Faroe Islands was directly in front of Lütjens' possible attack direction. Behind this blockade line, there was an air defense line with heavy cruisers as the backbone, as well as a straight line formed by the battleship formation where he was and the base in the Faroe Islands. There were three lines of defense in total, which were in front of the six armored aircraft carriers of his two aircraft carrier formations! Above this formation, more than fighters from the armored aircraft carriers and the Faroe Airport were also patrolling in turns.

Behind them, six aircraft carriers were divided into two formations 50 kilometers apart, braving the strong winds from the North Atlantic Ocean in the southwest, taking off one plane after another - and, because the anti-ship missiles of the previous air strikes by the Air Force seemed to have little effect on the ship girls, this time Tovey had decided to mix the attack weapons of the carrier-based aircraft group.

In addition, as far as Tovey knew, on both sides of him, the Royal Air Force bases in Scotland and Northern Ireland, as well as the Eighth Air Force of the United States Army Air Force in Iceland on the other side, were now accumulating heavy bombers equipped with "Bat" anti-ship missiles - and providing air cover for these bombers were the fighters taking off from the Faroe Islands!

Seeing this situation, Tovey felt a little relieved.

Although Zeppelin is a notorious evil spirit, Tovey doesn't believe that the opponent can do anything under the three-sided and mixed attack of such a lineup!

but……

"who?!"

The sudden sound startled even a veteran like Tovey by his new secretary ship. The vanguard who was standing on one side suddenly drew out the knight's armor-piercing sword from his waist, turned around, and headed directly to the port side, posing an extremely nervous and alert posture. In her eyes, more than a hundred kilometers to the port side, on the reconnaissance plane that flew by at high speed, there seemed to be a person who looked like her, but was definitely not an ally.

This was her first time actually seeing an enemy ship girl!

A pair of cold eyes and a pair of eyes full of fighting desire, under the sky, between the sky and the sea, they felt each other across the distance. One was immature, the other was experienced, but they both had the same high fighting spirit.

The staff officers below looked at each other in bewilderment at the vanguard's expression of being in a state of panic. Even Tovey, who was always calm and even stern and knew all about this, could not help but hold his forehead with his hand, looking depressed.

"This girl... forget it, it's her first time on the battlefield... ah..."

At the same time, the battleship Bismarck also received an urgent message from Zeppelin...

"Captain, Zeppelin has sent us another intelligence report... Previously, a destroyer cordon was found 200 kilometers north of the Faroe Islands. Now, they have found a cruiser division, a battle fleet, and an aircraft carrier task force, west of the Faroe Islands... It has been confirmed that there are three aircraft carriers and five battleships... The aircraft carrier is heading southwest against the wind and is launching aircraft! Wait! Zeppelin said that one of the battleships seems to have a ship girl that we haven't seen before!"

"What?! A new ship girl?!" Upon hearing this information, Lütjens, who had been sitting upright, instantly stood up and slammed the table.

He couldn't help but be nervous. A new ship girl appeared in the Allied construction. This was not good news for the German Navy, whose construction had basically stagnated! Moreover, this kind of thing might happen once and for all...

"Yes, she has only found this one for now. She confirmed that it is not the Warspite, but the new British Lion-class battleship... The distance is now close to the launch range of anti-ship missiles. Captain, what should we do next?"

After hearing the information about the new ship girl, the battle-hardened Bismarck was stunned for a moment, but soon he also showed a fierce fighting spirit.

"Since the distance is almost the same, and they are also taking off planes... We are still within the air strike range of Icelandic and British heavy bombers. If they coordinate, the next wave will definitely be a large-scale air strike in turns. So..." Lütjens hesitated for less than a few seconds and decisively issued a combat order: "Bismarck, tell everyone to be on high alert! Let Bonte arrange fighter shifts to ensure air supremacy. Then we will launch a wave of anti-ship missiles to suppress the airport in the Faroe Islands according to the predetermined plan!... In addition, tell Zeppelin that I estimate that the other three British aircraft carriers will not be too far away from the battlefield - we must destroy their aircraft carriers, and let her immediately find the location of the British second aircraft carrier formation! Remember, we must fire all our missiles before their air strike group comes!"

"understand!"

"A new ship girl? No matter how serious the battle situation is, at least we need to get the captain and everyone out!"

Chapter 801: Humanity's first ship-borne anti-ship missile launch

Amid the shrill sound of the air defense alarm, the fighters on the flight deck, who were already on standby, quickly responded. The squadron that had been pushed onto the runway started its propellers and rushed out of the runway one after another. Behind them, in the standby area on the right rear side of the runway, another squadron of fighters were pushed out one by one by the ground crew, who had bloodshot eyes, smoked cigarettes, yawned, but continued to force themselves to fight.

On the bridge on the right side of the flight deck, Bangtai leaned on his pipe and looked at the flight deck where people were working hurriedly under the dim night lights. Although he had seen this scene countless times since the Battle of Newcastle more than two years ago, this time, the situation was very different.