Bismarck

The sea here is only so wide. If we want to break out, we must first create gaps in their battle line - either "pile up" them together, or disperse them so far that they cannot take care of each other.

If advancing westwards into the Denmark Strait is the first step, then the second step... depends on where the British aircraft carrier is!

Chapter 809: Aircraft Carrier Battle

The two reconnaissance planes launched before five o'clock, based on the coordinates that Zeppelin had previously explored, confirmed the opponent's movements again in just one hour.

Crucial battlefield intelligence was quickly transmitted to the German fleet's C4ISR center via radio codes, and then the staff led by Secretary Bismarck marked the symbols of the enemy fleet one by one on the chart table.

"Just as I expected, they still have two aircraft carrier formations at sea, and now both are operating at the exit of the Faroe Channel..." Looking at the reconnaissance positions of reconnaissance aircraft marked on the nautical chart, Lütjens, who continued to burn his brain cells there, murmured.

It is now half past six in the morning, and there are still two hours until dawn.

Because the Torshavn and Ward airports in the Faroe Islands were attacked by missiles, and because the Icelandic airport was in the southwest of the capital Reykjavik, and the Shetland airport was too far away, a 300-kilometer-wide "gap" appeared on the sea surface east of Iceland in the entire Faroe Waterway. What filled the gap now was the two fleets "with large warships and a speed of 30 knots" that the radar reconnaissance aircraft had just discovered, 100 kilometers behind the Allied battle fleet and about 250 to 300 kilometers away from their own fleet. Lütjens had already determined the movement of the Torvey fleet before, and was able to determine that this old rival was only 100 kilometers away from him. He could determine without thinking that this must be an Allied aircraft carrier.

The enemy had four or five aircraft carriers, while Zeppelin had only six BF-109s and twelve FW-190s fully loaded with ammunition and fuel—and the FW-109s had not yet been equipped with HS-293 anti-ship missiles. In addition, they had to consider interception arrangements in case the Allies launched a large-scale air strike after daybreak.

After all, even without considering the damage, it takes more than two hours for a plane to go out and back. And the plane that returns cannot be fully refueled in less than an hour, not to mention that it takes time to pull the refueled plane onto the runway.

This was not like the battle in Bermuda, where they were fighting right at the doorstep of an aircraft carrier - even so, on that occasion, each batch of planes, which was less than a squadron, took more than forty minutes to get off again.

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"The British carried out an air strike at 4 o'clock and recovered their planes at 5:30. If they are to go out again later, they must be refueling and reloading now... Shoot! Now that it is still dark and there are snowy clouds, it is a good time to fish in troubled waters - the first to strike will be the strongest, and the last to strike will suffer!"

A big hand slammed down on the table, and soon a group of black iron eagles appeared. After six BF-109s climbed up to clear the way, the FW-293 fighter jets carrying twelve HS-190 anti-ship missiles took off from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier. After seeing the sudden take-off group on the radar screen, the British cruiser that was still monitoring nearby was so scared that it turned on the radio to sound the alarm and call for patrolling fighters to intercept urgently.

Then the radio operator was shocked to find that all the channels on the radio were filled with recordings of cute fairy tales.

And on the battleship Tirpitz, in an inconspicuous corner, a cute pink-haired mouse wearing a hamster cloak slightly opened her eyes, which were usually filled with laziness and indolence.

However, although she was lazy every day, she had a clear idea: the Allied fleet was operating here, and there were CAP fighters overhead. If the Allied fleet found that Zeppelin's planes were taking off and used their height advantage to launch a surprise attack, even if Zeppelin was full of aces, one was taking off and climbing, while the other was accumulating strength for a long time - under the absolute height and energy gap, even with Zeppelin's ability, it would be a tough fight!

However, with the climbing rate of the BF-109T carrier-based aircraft equivalent to that of the BF-109G2 land-based fighter, as long as it could drag on for five or six minutes and climb to an altitude of six thousand meters, the Zeppelin would no longer be afraid of surprise attacks by the Allied combat air patrol aircraft!

"Although it's probably useless. I can interfere with the radio and radar, but I can't interfere with the perception of the British fleet's ship, nor can I prevent them from making any other reactions... Forget it, if I can delay it for one minute, then it's one minute..."

The little hamster pursed his lips and thought for a while, then closed his eyes and continued to take a nap leaning on the back of his captain.

Lindeman felt something furry and cute nudging him from behind, and glanced at the indicator light on the dashboard in front of him that the jammer was working at full power, and the corners of his mouth curled up slightly. Without saying a word, he leaned back.

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At 6:40 in the morning, after less than two hours of silence, the warhawks of both sides once again fought each other in the sky. As expected, after entering the aircraft carrier era, the two sides competed to see whose pilot was more powerful. Compared with the main guns that were used to meet the enemy head-on, now they couldn't even see the enemy's face, and everything was fought beyond visual range.

To be fair, Tovey and the British fleet were not unprepared for the German army's possible desperate gamble.

For the bombers, they had just recovered a large number of aircraft and were now making intensive preparations for the air strike after daybreak. The aircraft carrier had a full hangar filled with carrier-based aircraft that were being refueled and loaded with ammunition. It was really a case of having a thin skin and a lot of stuffing.

If this were to be bombed, even if it was an armored aircraft carrier, the consequences would be disastrous.

Especially since the War-weary side had just warned the Vanguard that the German air-to-ship missiles were incredibly powerful - even the battleship Rodney was destroyed in one shot. How could Tovey and the Vanguard not be worried when the truth was unknown?

Even though the vanguard cruisers were suppressed by electronic jamming, Tovey's team, which was located behind the horizon 130 kilometers away and had no interference with its radar and a ship girl in charge, sent an air raid alert to the aircraft carrier fleet in time.

After receiving the alarm, the two aircraft carrier battle groups, which were very close to each other, immediately turned southwest in unison, took advantage of the headwind and used the catapults on the bow to launch fighter jets, while dispatching two squadrons that were already patrolling in the sky to take over.

Especially the Vanguard, her position and course were right across the path of the German aircraft group!

However, if the time of giving the order to intercept was one step slower than Zeppelin's climb, then it would really be one step slower!

Although the vanguard ordered the fighters patrolling overhead to attack as soon as they saw more than a dozen planes rising in the direction of Zeppelin, at this moment, the Edelweiss Witch Zeppelin, which had already climbed to 7,000 meters and was protected by thick clouds in the sky, how could it be afraid of the Spitfires of the two squadrons of Cricket?

You know, she went into battle with an electronic jammer!

Now was the darkest night before dawn, and as the weather worsened, dark clouds covered the entire sea area. Apart from the radar in the "small" detection cone in front of the radar, the British aircraft group could not see anything even if they wanted to intercept - if it weren't for the need to cover the missile carriers below, she alone would be able to defeat these blind people!

Not to mention, after several years of actual combat experience and crazy training, Zeppelin's art of air combat command has long been perfect! Moreover, the entire carrier-based aircraft squadron was trained by her, and she knows the command and coordination of these subordinates 100%!

The fledgling avant-garde lost the initiative against the wily Zeppelin, and the result was one wrong move and the whole game was ruined!

"Stop them, stop them!"

"Don't let them get close to the aircraft carrier again!"

"Damn it, they flew over... Where are the backup aircraft? Why haven't the backups arrived yet?"

"We're on our way... Wait, what's their altitude? Please answer, please answer!!"

"They are below and to your left, they have all flown past! - Hurry up and chase them!!"

Looking at the chaotic sky, the avant-garde words spoken with gritted teeth revealed a feeling of helplessness.

It was no wonder that the British army was in such a mess. Although it was already dawn, it was pitch dark at night when the weather was bad. Finding the enemy in such an environment was a huge challenge for even the most powerful ace.

However, compared to the Allied forces, the German pilots on the opposite side were blessed by "evil spirits"!

What's more, the leader, the Edelweiss Witch named Zeppelin, doesn't even belong to the category of human beings!

After all, the level of airborne radar at that time had a maximum search range of only seven or eight kilometers, and the actual effective search distance was about five kilometers, and it could only cover a not very large fan-shaped angle in front of it. It was basically blind to enemy aircraft to the left, right, and up and down - if it weren't for the vanguard behind the German aircraft group who could rely on their own perception to guide them, the British pilots would probably not be able to catch anything!

Not to mention, although they have also received training, the vanguards who came from the training ground are no match for Zeppelin in air command skills!

Although the five BF-109 fighters equipped with radars under Zeppelin's command were few in number, the Allies deployed three batches of fifty or sixty fighters under Zeppelin's tactical guidance. But if it weren't for the vanguard's guidance, the British pilots really wouldn't have been able to catch a glimpse of them!

However, even if Vanguard could see the relative positions of the fighters of both sides and find ways to pass the command orders to the British fighters, her skills in passing the command orders and the delay time were quite immature compared to Zeppelin, who was born in an aircraft carrier and had experienced many battles!

You know, the biggest feature of air power is high attack and high speed, low blood and low defense!

The speed of the aircraft was more than 100 meters per second. If the interception error was only three seconds, the two sides would most likely miss the effective range. But the problem was that the vanguard, who was not familiar with air combat, was always a step slower than Zeppelin in terms of anticipation of air combat, reaction to situations, and even the "delay" in issuing orders.

Moreover, the other side was too brutal! Even to the extent that any pilot they caught was an ace!

Not to mention, if other fighters were equipped with anti-ship missiles and night combat radars, then Zeppelin's own fighters were equipped with electronic jamming pods that the British hated but could only use their eyes to see through...

Under the powerful electronic jamming, the cover of the dark night and the fleeting speed, the blind Allied fighter planes were like headless flies, panicking and even unable to protect themselves. Even the tail radar antenna installed on the tail of the aircraft could not bring the pilots any sense of security in this pitch-black night.

“…Damn it…No! I can’t let the aircraft carrier be lost in my hands!…Fighters, keep attacking!!”

The anxious vanguard did not want to mess up his first air battle. Although he knew he was defeated, he still tried his best to command and guide dozens of Spitfires in the sky to continue organizing the attack.

However, the command capability of early warning and command fighter jets is not something that the Vanguard, who currently only has experience in the training ground, can handle.

The Eagle Wall defense line formed by dozens of Allied fighters in the sky seemed fierce, but in the hands of the blind and chaotic pilots, there was no interception efficiency at all! Even though the anxious vanguard desperately dispatched the fleet under his commander, it was still torn open by the six Cricket fighters led by Zeppelin! Even if the vanguard wanted to kill the thieves, the gap in ability and experience was still obvious.

Seeing that his secretary ship had tried its best but the art of air combat command still could not compare with that of a professional aircraft carrier, Tovey, holding his forehead, opened his mouth but could not say anything.

Although Tovey could see that he, the new secretary ship, had actually done his best - and if someone else was in command, they wouldn't be much better than the vanguard.

Tovey, who knew how difficult the aircraft carrier under Lütjens was, was very clear that no one in the entire Royal Navy could take advantage of the "Edelweiss Witch" in a one-on-one or even two-on-one situation, regardless of the quality of the pilots or the art of command!

The four aircraft carriers on our side at the exit of the Faroe Channel are probably in real danger this time!

An air force with high attack and low defense is bombing an aircraft carrier that is strong in attack but weak in defense and full of planes. It would be fine if it fails to hit the target, but what if...

As Tovey had expected, under the cover of this "pitch-dark, like a gang fight in a darkened bar" air battle, twelve FW-293 fighters equipped with HS-190 anti-ship missiles, guided by an edelweiss in the sky, had passed through the hole torn in the Allied eagle wall and took advantage of the opportunity to enter the inner circle of the British combat air patrol.

The aircraft carrier, which was trying to get away from the headwind, was located 200 kilometers behind the Vanguard. The German fighter planes had entered the "inner circle", which meant that they had left the Vanguard's radar (surface) (air) search (sensing) (awareness) radius!

And if three batches of fifty or sixty aircraft cannot stop "just a small-scale formation", then the destroyers that are responsible for the inner escort mission around the four aircraft carriers in the two aircraft carrier formations will be even less able to protect the aircraft carriers!

Seeing the German aircraft group break through the interception, Tovey and Vanguard looked at each other, and they both felt a pang in their hearts: the aircraft carrier is going to be destroyed!

The anti-ship missile itself is a weapon capable of striking beyond the defense zone, not to mention that the missile attack is guided by a Zeppelin!

The vanguard was so anxious that he was about to explode, and Tovey was even more anxious than the vanguard - but this had no effect on Mao Yue!

First, there are no ship girls, second, there are no close-in defense guns, and third, the missile attack is guided by Zeppelin himself. Four aircraft carriers with their bellies filled with planes, fuel and ammunition are completely useless! Even with armored defense, even a 76mm thick armor plate cannot defend against the HS800 anti-ship missile with a total weight of 500kg and a warhead of 293kg!

In the middle of the "halo" of the tracer bullets that the British sailors were fumbling around in vain, a ball of fire shot up into the sky in an instant! In the panicked eyes of the surrounding destroyers, the four aircraft carriers burning like torches directly illuminated the entire night sky! Even Tovey and Vanguard, who were 200 kilometers away, could vaguely see the reflection of the clouds on the sea and sky in the distance illuminated by the fire!

Soon, the battle report that the four aircraft carriers were destroyed and were being rescued was sent to Tovey via the radio.

Looking at the battle report in his hand, Tovey was so angry that he was shaking all over. But even though he was so angry that his chest was stuffy and his heart was twitching, and he had to drink nitroglycerin under the service of the vanguard, he could not do anything to the Edelweiss Witch.

After all, the dark night has always been a paradise for all kinds of monsters and demons in European legends.

"Commander, if this continues, I'm afraid we'll be doomed... What should we do?"

Looking at Tovey who had just caught his breath, the vanguard hesitated for a while, and finally asked for instructions for the next step of the battle.

"Hoo...Hoo...Hoo...!" Tovey, who was rubbing his chest with a nitroglycerin tablet in his mouth, panted for a long time. His face, which had been a little ferocious due to the suffocation, finally relaxed. However, it can be seen that Tovey's eyes still showed some unwillingness:

"I'm fine, Vanguard, but the Germans should have sent out all their best fighters... If the Air Force launches an air strike according to the combat plan after dawn, they won't be able to send out many fighters. If that's the case, we should still have a chance - Vanguard, if you don't count the four battleships, how many knots can you run by yourself?"

Listening to his commander's mumbling "battle situation assessment", the vanguard, who was also unwilling to accept the fact that he had returned empty-handed for his first battle, could clearly hear that the Marshal was still unwilling to give up - he was even a little crazy.

but……

"If it's just me... I can probably reach 26-27 knots, right?" Although he also felt guilty and eager to turn the tables, after a brief calculation of his own situation, the vanguard still answered a little depressed: "But... my speed is not faster than theirs, and there is nothing I can do if I can't catch up with the German fleet... Eh? Commander, what are you doing?"

The Vanguard didn't say anything like "I can't beat the four sailors on the opposite ship with one ship", but with this speed difference, Tovey, who might have been planning to take another gamble, suddenly became calm and at peace.

"Forget it, let's continue on our way. The American fleet still has some chance of intercepting them, so we can't give up... Besides, according to our contract operation agreement with the Air Force, we can only rely on us to guide the bombers for daytime air strikes... We can't retreat now! No matter what, we can't let the Air Force and our allies make a wasted trip!"

Looking at his face full of heartache and a somewhat dejected look, he even collapsed in his seat, but he still gritted his teeth and ordered the fleet to continue moving forward, just to guide the air force's air strike, and then tried to cooperate with the US fleet that was intercepting head-on. With the mentality of having to fight one last time, Tovey insisted on being dedicated to his duty (die), not doing his duty (not admitting) and losing. For some reason, Tovey suddenly felt a little uncomfortable in the vanguard's heart.

"Actual combat is really cruel. I am still too immature... If it weren't for my incompetence, the fleet wouldn't have suffered so much, and the commander wouldn't be so upset... No, I have to find Senior War-weary later and conduct more brutal training..."

Looking at Tovey's resolute expression, the vanguard who was blaming herself for not being able to stop the air raid didn't know what her mentality was. The self-blame and guilt in her heart seemed to be quietly taking root in the direction of fighting again and again, fulfilling her duties, persisting to the end and never giving up.

Perhaps this is the unique stubbornness that belongs to John Bull?

I had thought that we would have to perform some super brain-burning maneuvers similar to the one Mao used in the Four Crossings of the Chishui River, but I didn't expect that the game would go so smoothly. Especially when the high-attack air force was dealing with the low-defense interception, and the night battle plus electronic jamming suppressed the British search, the aircraft carrier, which was full of planes and fuel and ammunition, was attacked and gave a Midway-level sympathetic explosion damage judgment... But looking at the desperate counterattack of Yamaguchi Tamon in Midway, the soul-destroying Nanyun Chuichi, and the desperate Yamamoto who wanted to make a comeback - especially the plan to use the Yamato with a speed of only 27 knots to chase the American aircraft carrier with a speed of 2333 knots, you can probably imagine what Tovey and Vanguard are feeling now... )

Chapter 810: Faro Waterway

At half past ten in the Faroe Islands, there was a cloud height of 1,300 meters, heavy snow, and sea state four.

Above the blue-black sea, there are layers of lead-gray low clouds. White snowflakes are floating between the sky and the earth, like dancing elves between heaven and earth.

Above the heads of these elf-like snowflakes that were flying freely between heaven and earth, in the lead-gray clouds, there was an edelweiss, spreading its iron wings, sweeping up the long wind, tearing through the clouds, and soaring proudly in the wind and clouds like an eagle soaring into the sky. The originally cold voice, at this moment, was accompanied by a wild laugh that could be called arrogant. It led its fighters, who came and went in groups, were rampant and reckless, and galloped freely in this layer upon layer of clouds with dark curtains, snow winds, and ghostly pupils.

Anyway, the Allied aircraft carriers were destroyed before. This area of ​​the sea is nearly 109 kilometers away from the home islands and 190 kilometers away from the Icelandic airport. The Allied single-engine fighters are simply out of reach. The Mosquito, which has high speed but cannot be compared with single-engine fighters in terms of maneuverability, will be dealt with by the BF-190 led by Zeppelin. As long as these "mosquitoes" are driven away from the front of the FW- interceptor group, with the relatively anxious maneuverability of the Mosquitoes and the equally fast dive of the FW-s on the opposite side, the performance of these heavy fighters in this air battle will definitely not be much better!

As for those heavy bombers?

Not to mention that we are in danger of losing ourselves, just the thick clouds alone pose the greatest threat to the infrared seeker, which can’t see a single thing!

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The Allied large-scale air retaliation was actually a fact known to everyone from the beginning.

At seven o'clock, the fleet she led returned to land after attacking the aircraft carrier, and now it is ten o'clock and attacking again. In the short time of two and a half hours in between, in order to deal with the "large-scale air raid that will come sooner or later", Zeppelin met with several sisters, the captain and the commander, and quickly came up with a new tactic:

Wild Boar Squadron, charge on board!

Although, Zeppelin would never admit that the previous idea of ​​this brain hole was from the one who taught her how to fly a plane, but she had never touched the joystick at all, and she claimed to be very smart all day long, but in fact it was the conclusion of the dead cat with an invincible imagination!

Things like "The current air combat mode is fighters suppressing interceptors, interceptors suppressing bombers, and bombers suppressing fighters", "Since you are going to intercept, let the sturdy and powerful 190s concentrate on attacking the bombers, and then you can take fighters to cover the interceptors", and "In the future, we may have to find more and more ways to deal with heavy bombers", and "In fact, we have considered these things a long time ago. After all, you can see that they drive heavy bombers around the city all day long to kill and burn people. They must be psychologically unbalanced, so we want..."... a lot of random stuff.

But...this idea, actually I always feel like I have thought of the same thing before?

As a super ace, Zeppelin quickly realized that the feasibility of these ideas is actually not low at all.

Although the heavy bomber "fortress group" in groups has strong defense, a single aircraft will definitely not end well if it wants to challenge the hundreds of machine guns in the entire formation. However... the self-defense machine guns on the bombers are not so easy to operate!

After all, airplanes are flying in the sky, with all kinds of air flow vibrations and control errors, and are limited by the operation method of the machine gun turret and the field of vision. The accuracy of the bomber's self-defense machine gun shooting and aiming is actually far inferior to that of a fighter jet that is installed on the front of the nose and can basically hit whatever it points to!

The only thing the Allied bombers relied on was the firepower density of each Lancaster bomber!

The aircraft carrier was bombed, and the Allies now have no way to send fighter jets to seize air supremacy. So, let’s give it a try, cluster against cluster!

Under the cover of BF-109 fighters commanded by Zeppelin himself, the FW-190 Shrike fighters, relying on their powerful firepower and solid defense, formed a goose-shaped battle formation in the sky, like black-armored knights holding their lances high hundreds of years ago, facing the Allied heavy bombers flying over the northwestern waters of Iceland with anti-ship missiles under the cover of Mosquito fighters.

Even when faced with groups of heavy bomber phalanxes gathered in front of them like a hive of hornets, these black knights in the sky still fought back tit-for-tat, without any retreat, and launched a head-on charge with the momentum of either you die or I die!

Then the entire attack surface of the FW-190 fighter was like a giant black sword sweeping across, with the sound of whistling wind and a barrage of bullets flying side by side and comparable to a rainstorm, and it slashed straight into the group of Allied bombers that had huddled up like a hedgehog.

The effect that follows is like a hot knife cutting butter, unstoppable and extremely vicious!

Amid the dense gunfire that sounded like hundreds of firecrackers going off at once, in just seven or eight seconds, the black blades pierced through the chaotic Allied bomber group! Behind the thousands of German fighter planes that flew away in a cloud of dust were seven heavy bombers that were trailing billowing smoke, with their skin and flesh torn apart, and the bomber group that was once in chaos.

The German fighter planes that penetrated the Allied bombers flew away without stopping - their target was another group of Allied bombers following closely behind the Lancaster team!

The wailing sounds from the radio, coupled with the rolling and falling black smoke, made the Allied Mosquito fighters that were tightly entangled by the BF-109s look at each other in confusion, but they were helpless.

"Base, base, the 357th Heavy Bomber Wing and the th Heavy Combat Squadron have been intercepted, requesting urgent tactical guidance!"

"Keep attacking! The Americans on the other side have already pushed forward. You are already late. Hurry up!"

“…Damn it, who said that the Edelweiss Witch has no combat power, so it’s okay without fighter escort!?”

"It's just that the Navy guys are cheating us! Didn't you hear that the Edelweiss Witch launched a counterattack before dawn? Two of their four aircraft carriers have been destroyed, and the other two are also badly damaged... How could they have no combat effectiveness?"