Bismarck

The British heavy bombers don't have eyes...

"Don't worry." Seeing that Lily was about to get anxious, Bismarck said the second half of the sentence slowly. His expression seemed to make Lily's heart hang in the air.

"It was actually your father who suggested moving the institute! So moving won't be a problem at that time. Besides, they will definitely not want to abandon you. After all, there are only about ten people in the Naval Nuclear Physics Institute, and you are the only girl among those otakus."

Bismarck covered her mouth and chuckled, showing that she was in a good mood.

"What do you mean by 'one'?!" Lily curled her lips, looking unhappy.

"Well, doesn't that describe you as more adorable?" Bismarck said mischievously.

"Go away! I want to build a nuclear reactor, why do I have to be so cute!" Lily looked like I could make a good living with my skills, so why do I have to act cute for a living? And she also had a bit of a temper.

After all, she doesn't have any princess syndrome!

Bismarck was a little embarrassed - after all, women in this era were not as spoiled as those in her era. She even couldn't help but glance at the captain who was sitting there in a daze.

Speaking of which, although the captain usually has a stern face and behaves sternly, he is actually very indulgent towards himself...

This hard-mouthed but soft-hearted person...

Knowing that the conversation was about to get awkward, the Persian cat quickly changed the subject:

"Well, okay, but seriously, if you want to build a reactor, it's better to wait for Dr. Dibner and Baron Arden to make highly enriched U first..."

After all, we come from later generations. Even if we don’t understand reactors very well, we know that within the limit of volume, the higher the concentration, the greater the output power - after all, the concentration of nuclear materials in the American super aircraft carriers "back then" was already at the same level as mushroom bombs!

Even if the minimum research and development goal is a nuclear submarine, the required concentration is lower than that of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, but it won’t be too low...

(Weapon-grade U concentration is above 90%, Nimitz-class U concentration is 97.8%, Ford-class 93.2%)

"Is that so?"

When talking about technology, Lily, who was determined to live a good life with technology and would never act cute or sell her morals, her eyes lit up instantly and she asked quickly.

Although she didn't know how the dead cat knew this, it sounded reasonable.

"Yes, the concentration of a high-power reactor must be this high. If it really doesn't work, we can ask your father to go to the Navy Department to talk to him. After all, he has dealt with Rear Admiral Rhine (German Navy Science and Technology Director) before, so it should be no problem to ask him for help on this matter..."

"Eh? Isn't this a backdoor?" Lily was stunned.

"Can scientific research be done through the back door?" Bismarck snorted and glanced at the opposite side.

Lütjens, who was sitting opposite, felt overwhelmed: these two girls in front of him were actually talking about top-secret mushroom cultivation techniques in a place like the ward.

And what does it mean that he looks at me while we are chatting?

I always feel like I'm being ignored... Never mind, I'm going out to smoke! And by the way, keep an eye on the front door, to make sure no one gets the secret of mushroom cultivation out of their mouths.

Feeling depressed, Lütjens stood up, walked out of the door, leaned against it, looked up to the sky and fired a three-gun salvo (the name of a smoke signal). He was left speechless and asked the heavens, feeling despised by both his daughter and the secretary ship.

Although you can't see the sky when you look up in the corridor of the inpatient department, you can only see the ceiling at most...

----------

In the Atlantic Ocean, a battered transport fleet, with its families, was slowly sailing towards the port of Freetown on the West African continent under the destroyers' already somewhat neurotic alert.

The difficult time spent in the Atlantic Ocean was an extremely mentally depressing torture and test for everyone on the fleet!

Even though this transport convoy was heavily protected by two escort aircraft carriers and two destroyer squadrons, and even though the voyage was covered by a large number of anti-submarine patrol aircraft based at airports on the South American continent and the Ascension Island base, and even though German submarines were hastily transferred southward from the North Atlantic, resulting in a severe shortage of interception forces, and even though their convoy was the last and southernmost convoy in the entire transport plan and therefore had the lowest chance of encountering the enemy and being attacked...but even so, facing the "six-torpedo salvo double strike" that might suddenly appear at any time and anywhere - even if it was just a possibility, it was a torment and torture for everyone.

During the 25-day voyage, the fleet encountered thousands of false alarms from submarines, fear of being ambushed and unexpected at any time, hysteria of frantically turning on active sonar and dropping depth charges at the slightest sign of trouble, and heavy losses of 4 out of 32 transport ships, 7 damaged, and even three destroyers sacrificed… But even though they suffered heavy losses during the voyage, they actually only encountered four real submarine attacks, and under the hysterical hedgehog bombs flying all over the sky, they "harvested" a whale that was blown to pieces and died miserably…

Fortunately, after going through countless hardships, they finally saw the West African continent. The junction of the endless desert and the primeval forest was half desolate and heavy, and the other half was lush and green.

The arrival of this transport team meant that the landing fleet of the "Torch" plan had been fully assembled. However, during this long, transoceanic expedition, nearly 10% of the transport ships and landing ships, as well as the 7,100 officers and soldiers on these ships, 54 tanks, 73 aircraft, and 46,000 tons of various supplies, sank to the bottom of the cold Atlantic Ocean before even seeing the African continent!

Under the brutal claws of the raging German sea wolves, the people watched their fallen comrades sink into the sea with tears in their eyes, but were powerless to do anything. After landing, they gritted their teeth and threw themselves into the intensive work of recovery, training and material preparation.

At this moment, the Soviet Red Army, which had temporarily united with the "free world" of Britain and the United States but was obviously at odds with it, won a great victory in the Moscow-Volga Winter Counterattack, and then pursued the victory and repelled the German army for hundreds of kilometers in one fell swoop, killing Field Marshal von Bock, deputy commander of the Center Army Group, and capturing three German marshals Guderian, Rommel and Paulus. When the battle report was conveyed, it immediately caused an uproar among the Allied forces participating in the war.

Regardless of whether it was the competitive spirit of being a "temporary ally," or the unwillingness to accept the inherent opposition of their positions, or even the revenge mentality due to the previous heavy losses... In short, everyone was secretly vowing to seize the opportunity of these last few days to regroup, complete all preparations, and in the "Torch Operation" ten days later, fire the first shot of the free world's counterattack against the Axis Forces!

Oval Meeting Room, White House, Washington.

Ernest King, wearing a neat admiral uniform and with a strong aura, was standing straight and meticulously reporting the preparations for the "Torch" campaign to US President Roosevelt and US President's Chief of Staff Admiral William Leahy.

"...In other words, although our loss rate during the shipping process is close to 10%, because we have prepared more redundant shipping capacity in advance, the loss this time actually does not affect the normal operation of the Torch?"

Listening to King's report, Roosevelt looked calm. After all, as the President of the United States and the big boss of Wall Street, the only thing he cared about was whether the "goal" could be achieved.

As for how many people were sacrificed, it was just a statistic to him.

"Yes, Mr. President." Jin answered the President's question without any psychological burden: "Moreover, in addition to the landing operation being unaffected, our battle fleet was also not affected. If we work together with the British Royal Navy, it is enough to deal with the main fleet of the German Navy - even if they have 'evil spirits'!"

Roosevelt nodded, expressing his approval of King's work. After King finished reporting the matter, he thought about it, took out a thick memorandum from his bag, and handed it to Roosevelt and Leahy:

"There is another thing I want to report. Through the experience of organizing this shipping, I have thought of how to deal with the Germans' new deep-sea sniper submarines... According to the summarized experience, most of the time, the new German submarines are dispersed and operate alone, relying on concealment to mainly operate underwater. But after all, they cannot dive indefinitely. Although the underwater activity range is larger and the duration is longer, they still need to surface to recharge, and the charging time will be longer."

Roosevelt took the report and looked at Leahy beside him: "So what are you going to do?"

"There is actually a way to deal with these German submarines. Even if their submarines have greatly improved their underwater endurance, the only key is to control their range of activities - we must invest more troops, expand our search range and compress their range of activities! After all, submarines cannot always be active underwater now. At most, their underwater diving range is larger... So, on the one hand, we need to invest more anti-submarine aircraft, escort aircraft carriers and hunting fleets, and on the other hand, we need to find Portugal to expand the use of the Azores Airport (which the United States leased from Portugal a long time ago) - as long as we can achieve 'sea area suppression', sooner or later we will be able to force the German submarines back to their base in the Bay of Biscay and make them dare not go out!"

Jin Yi stood up straight, puffed out his chest, and said confidently.

"What if they develop some technology that allows them to continue operating underwater?" Leahy asked with a chuckle.

"That's no problem. After we expand our control range by investing manpower, we can also deploy underwater monitoring systems to block Biscay Bay and the GIUK waterway. This way, even if they develop a submarine that can continue to submerge, they won't be able to come out again!"

"Is that so? Although the required production capacity is huge, it still seems feasible..." Roosevelt and Leahy looked at each other, and a smile appeared in their eyes.

After all, as long as the German submarines can be suppressed and the entire North Atlantic waters can be suppressed, it will also be a large order for large companies - as long as it can be done, why not do it?

"Okay, I'll take the report. You can go back and prepare a more detailed analysis and budget. Then discuss it with the ministers and submit it to Congress for review if possible."

Roosevelt nodded and carefully put the report, which was likely to be related to the success or failure of the North Atlantic anti-submarine war, into his briefcase.

ps: PS: This chapter actually ends by talking about how the Americans relied on their absolute national strength to kill the German submarines, which were 30 years ahead in technological concepts.

41年5月，厘米波雷达批量装船；42年5月，搜索半径5英里的空投声纳浮标批量装机；不晚于42年4月，夜间和厘米波雷达联动的李氏探照灯批量装备大型反潜机；43年4月磁异探测器大规模装备反潜机（虽然磁异探测器的搜索宽度只有±300-500米，但是飞机速度快，潜艇在水下静音航速跑915码知道要多久么？要10分钟！）.

Because the quiet speed is three knots, 1000 yards is 0.5 nautical miles. It only takes 10 minutes for a plane to pass, and conventional submarines with limited underwater endurance cannot escape.

Chapter 833: Torch Lighting

December 31st, at dawn.

The waning moon, which symbolizes the lowest astronomical tide in January, hangs high in the sky just before dawn.

Under the morning star on the eve of dawn, off the coast of Casablanca where the north wind was blowing strongly, an incredibly large fleet was slowly unfolding in the last night before dawn - under the command of Rear Admiral Thomas Kinkaid, under the cover of seven old battleships, six escort carriers, twelve light and heavy cruisers and a full forty destroyers that had already been deployed in formation, a full 350 landing ships and transport ships carrying a 100,000 landing army and supplies for these troops to independently survive in North Africa for three months, were organizing the landing force's combat sequence and fleet formation for the last time in the final assembly area before landing, and at the same time releasing landing craft, making final preparations before the landing operation.

Just wait until dawn, when the tide will be at its highest on a neap tide day! And that is also the time to land!

These landing ships carrying the landing force of two armies and six divisions of Major General George Patton and Major General Omar Bradley, totaling 107000 people, were scattered in accordance with the combat sequence and battle formation stipulated in the combat plan, with Casablanca, the largest port in Morocco, as the center, and the largest highway hub in the north, Rabat, which is kilometers away, but the port is a little silted; kilometers south of Casablanca, which can control the coastal highway and the Safi city, which is another important highway town in the inland to block the French army from returning to the south. As long as they wait for an order, they will use their broad bows, like springboards, to face the direction of the rising dawn and blow the horn of counterattack in the name of freedom.

Although there are several fortress batteries equipped with 138mm and 192mm guns around these ports, there is also the North African detachment under the command of Vichy French Navy Vice Admiral Felix Michelier in the port of Casablanca - including a light cruiser, seven destroyers, eleven submarines, and the sister of the Free French Navy flagship Richelieu battleship participating in the war, the battleship Jean Bart, which is currently only equipped with a quadruple 380mm main turret. Although it can only serve as a floating battery in the port, its firepower is still not to be underestimated.

However, in the eyes of Major General Kinkaid, who had a strong army under his command, such strength was at best a "praying mantis standing in front of the wheel of history, only a little bit bigger."

At the moment when the dawn of freedom rose from the horizon of the North African continent, the seven old British and American battleships patrolling near the port of Casablanca, under the command of Major General Kinkaid, raised high their sturdy guns, which were already in their twilight years but still as powerful as ever, and aimed directly at the Vichy French fleet that had been surviving in the port, only to be left in a panic when the time came.

The martyr is in his old age, but his sword is still sharp and ready to fight; the old soldier is still alive, as he still has energy left to show his power!

The rumbling sound of cannons in the dawn light, accompanied by the flashing red flames from the muzzles, seemed to be welcoming the rising sun that brought light and hope, and pierced the haze that shrouded the world!

---------

The rumbling sound of artillery that welcomed the light, even though it was far away in North Africa, had already made the mustache guy sitting in the "Wolf's Lair" base camp jump three feet high off his desk.

"What?! Vichy France was attacked by the British and the Americans? One hundred thousand troops and more than three hundred transport ships? Their immobile battleship Jean Bart in Casablanca was turned into scrap metal by seven British and American battleships in just two hours? So now the French in North Africa can't stand it?... Bastards! A bunch of rubbish! "

Although they had received early warning and sent the enemy situation forecast to Vichy France a month ago, this bunch of weaklings were defeated in seconds at the beginning just like before...

With a clang, the phone in his hand was hung fiercely on the bracket by the angry little mustache.

Less than a month after losing the Battle of Moscow, the situation on the Eastern Front had just begun to stabilize when such a big incident occurred on the Western Front.

When you suppress one problem, another one pops up? !

Moreover, Hitler himself knew the French people's moral character very well. I'm afraid that their next step would be to take advantage of the speculative mentality and surrender to the enemy with the little "capital" they have...

Isn't that what the French did 40 years ago?

After they defeated France, the French set up a Vichy government; then the British bombarded the Dakar Fortress, and then Charles de Gaulle of Free France emerged...

Moreover, if I remember correctly, the Americans have been sending people to lobby Vichy France and the colonies for a while. Just over three months ago, didn't the French West African colonies, which had the battleship Richelieu and the Dakar Fortress, surrender directly to the enemy?

"These damn French guys may not have any other abilities, but they are definitely good at political speculation!"

Don't feel too bad...

After muttering a few curse words, the man with a mustache thought for a moment and then picked up the phone receiver that had just been smashed against the phone.

For such a big thing, he would definitely call Redel.

After all, it was the navy who discovered this trend a month ago. And...Raeder should have a plan...right?

-

Raeder actually had a combat plan in his hand.

After all, he is nearly 70 years old and still manages to firmly hold the position of Commander-in-Chief of the Navy. Old Lei still has some skills.

Less than an hour after receiving the call from the mustache, Kumetz in the port of Brest and Lütjens in the port of Saint-Nazaire received relevant enemy situation reports and orders to attack according to the plan from the German army's internal communication network.

Amid the shrill alarm, the warship, which had been modified beyond recognition, was suddenly in chaos.

Fortunately, since it had been determined that the Allies might attack North Africa at any time, the relevant combat readiness work of each warship - repair of hull damage and stealth transformation of superstructure - had already been completed overtime. At the same time, the warships' fuel, ammunition, spare parts, carrier-based aircraft, etc. were also ready.

In such an atmosphere of readiness for battle, after receiving the order to attack and opening the battle plan, Kumets and Lütjens quickly commanded their well-prepared fleets and slowly sailed out of their respective garrisons.

Above the fleet, the German Air Force's naval fighter units stationed in the French military port set up a special cordon to defend against the shameless island country in the north. The aviation fleets stationed in various front-line airports across the sea are so close that they may send out reconnaissance planes or even bombers...

"Kumetz notified us that we are scheduled to go out to sea at 16:19 in the afternoon, which is about the same time as our plan. According to the plan, we will meet them in the designated sea area in the middle of Biscay Bay at : in the evening, and then take the next step..."

The flagship of the Evil Fleet, the battleship Bismarck, is now integrated with the armored commander tower on the navigation bridge. Lütjens, who has just established a wartime "communication chain" with Kumets through the radio, has opened the short-range tactical radio channel to inform his three warships of the relevant situation.

"Got it, we understand."

Bontai, Lindemann and Top, who were on the other side of the microphone, had no objection to this.

After all, it was something that had been decided long ago - everyone could see that Raeder intended to support Kumets, but this battle was of great importance. After all, the combined strength of Britain and the United States far exceeded that of the German naval fleet - in fact, with such a comparison of forces, even the little mustache did not expect to win.

However, in order to stabilize Vichy France and even ensure the safety of Italy on the southern front, this battle still had to be fought.

This is politics!

Looking at the two Europa-class aircraft carriers in the Kumets fleet on the chart table, which had a maximum speed of only 25 knots, Bismarck, who always felt that this speed was as slow as a turtle on the battlefield, was worried.

Fortunately, since it has been made clear before, the issue of command of the fleet has now been resolved.

Considering the fleet's combat effectiveness and command capabilities, although he was still a little unhappy and a little scheming, the final command mode was to let Lütjens command the two fleets to "coordinate operations" - this was also the tacit understanding reached after the three admirals of the navy met before, and Kumets himself also agreed.

After all, regardless of Kumets's ability or the lack of coordination, if they really lost the battle, the consequences would be borne by the entire navy, and no one could say anything.

Anyway, the stability of unity in wartime overrides everything. Letting Lütjens command can ensure the overall situation, and since everything has been said in advance, there will be no major conflicts, or even things like the enemy being happy and the loved ones being sad. In this regard, Lütjens, Kumetz, Bismarck and other ship girls are the same. They know that it is not appropriate to rebel against each other in the face of a powerful enemy, and they have tacitly confirmed this mode.

We don't ask for tacit cooperation, but we ask for concerted efforts to overcome the difficulties together, that's all.

However, not long after setting out to sea, we received an urgent report from an air force reconnaissance aircraft...

"40th Long-Range Maritime Reconnaissance Wing No. XX reconnaissance aircraft calls the Lütjens fleet. 40th Long-Range Maritime Reconnaissance Wing No. XX reconnaissance aircraft calls the Lütjens fleet!... At 16:500 in the afternoon, an enemy fleet was discovered in the Celtic Sea, 4 kilometers west of Brest Port, heading due south, and sailing at a speed of about 5 knots! It has been confirmed that there are aircraft carriers, battleships, and... wait, there are enemy aircraft!"

Putting down the headphones in his hand and silently making the sign of the cross, Lütjens rushed to the chart table and marked the chart without time to mourn the sacrifice: "West of Brest, heading due south, the position is outside the protection range of the shore-based airport, and parallel to Kumets... Kumets cannot defeat this force, and the speed of the Europa-class is a burden... Tsk, we can only reunite first!"

When Lütjens saw a random mark on the chart, his first reaction was that this Allied fleet came specifically to intercept him.

However, if you think about it carefully, something seems a little wrong.

Kumets and himself had three aircraft carriers in total, and although the Celtic Sea was outside the cover radius of shore-based fighters, it was still within the range of shore-based bombers. At the same time, the wind direction in this area was westerly, and our aircraft carriers were in a downwind position, but there was an attack bonus - Cricket only had four aircraft carriers, and the wind direction and position were still unfavorable. How could the Allies be so qualified? How could they be sure to stop the preemptive air strike of three aircraft carriers that "could be fully supported by shore-based bombers"?

Didn't they fight here just a month ago? Another fight? You think Rodney's death wasn't tragic enough?

But if it was just surveillance, this distance was not safe either - it was too far for surveillance, but too close for safety. And if it was just surveillance, there was no need to use four aircraft carriers and five battleships.

With this amount of troops, it is definitely not enough to suppress the two fleets that have already been integrated.

Unless, the American fleet is added to the mix.

"Bismarck, tell Zeppelin that the enemy situation previously detected by the reconnaissance plane may not be complete. Ask her to go and investigate in person." Thinking of this, Lütjens immediately gave an order to his secretary cat.

However, even when he saw his secretary cat asking Zeppelin to go for additional investigation, Lütjens still felt something was wrong.

After all, even if the American fleet is included, the Bay of Biscay-Celtic Sea is still the "doorstep of the German fleet."

Even if the Allies are determined to have a decisive battle with me here, with the "bonus" of the two major DEBUFFs "fighting away from home" and "being attacked by our army first", even if the decisive battle is effective, the worst that can happen is that both sides will suffer losses - and if I turn around, I will be at home, and going back is nothing more than taking a bath and overhauling, but behind your British and American fleets is the activity area of ​​the German underwater wolf pack!