Bismarck

As the saying goes, if something is out of the ordinary it means the monster is trying to cause trouble!

Lütjens frowned, feeling that things were not that simple:

"Those old devils can't be really crazy. If we deploy like this, unless..." After careful calculation, thinking about the enemy's military strength, strategic situation, and even the weather and geographical location of the combat sea area... Lütjens suddenly had a bold idea: "Wait! If I remember correctly, the wind direction after Cape Feistra in this season is from north to south, and our position is upwind, and the upwind position is not conducive to air warfare - that is to say..."

As soon as he realized this, Lütjens's expression changed immediately.

"Bismarck, send a telegram to the headquarters immediately to ask. What is the bottom line of the losses that our German Navy surface fleet can bear in this operation? Should we complete the mission at all costs, or should we allow the operation to be terminated depending on the situation?"

"Eh?! What...are you asking?" Looking at the stern-faced captain, Bismarck, who was a little confused, looked bewildered.

"I suspect they are setting a trap for us this time, hoping to capture our entire German fleet in one fell swoop! So we must ask this question clearly. I don't want to lead you all into an ambush!"

He grabbed the pipe and took a deep puff of the smoke. While expressing his judgment, he took off his hat and wiped his forehead. Although it was winter in the North Atlantic, a layer of cold sweat appeared on Lütjens' forehead.

After all, if this speculation is true, then the trouble we will face this time will be unimaginably great...

Chapter 834: Three Fleet Girls Set Out

"...Just now, the enemy reconnaissance plane piloted by Zeppelin turned around and returned, Commander."

Night fell over the land, and the sea breeze swept the thin clouds. On the battleship Vanguard, the flagship of the Royal Navy's Home Fleet, the Royal Knight Vanguard, with a meticulous look and posture, stood beside Tovey holding a memorandum folder and reporting the battle situation.

It was 109: in the evening, and the sun had been setting for more than an hour. However, just before the sun set, the BF- piloted by "Edelweiss Witch" Zeppelin, one of the great enemies of the entire Royal Navy, took advantage of the sunset and sneaked over uninvited, just like last time, and began to circle around the fleet in the name of reconnaissance.

Thanks to the fact that new aircraft had begun to appear in batches during this operation - the Sea Spitfire XIV equipped with a 2200 horsepower "Griffin" engine, and two heavy carrier-based fighters equipped with a 2000 horsepower R-2800 air-cooled engine supported by the American cousin across the ocean: the Grumman "Steel Plant" F6F Hellcat fighter, and the Chancewater F4U Corsair fighter! Relying on abundant power, these powerful new fighters rushed forward, and actually caused considerable trouble for Zeppelin - compared to the interception efficiency of dozens of aircraft in the past that could be "played" into a sieve by her, the performance of these powerful new fighters in their first appearance almost blinded everyone's eyes!

But, in the end, I still couldn't keep her...

As the vanguard spoke, he couldn't help but glance at the direction where Zeppelin's reconnaissance plane was evacuating with some regret.

Tovey, on the other hand, remained calm about this.

The cutting-edge aircraft is already capable of fighting against the "evil spirits", which is undoubtedly a good start! Not to mention, the cutting-edge aircraft in his hands are more than just these three fighters!

In addition to the sturdy and strong Fairey "Barracuda" torpedo planes and American Grumman TBF torpedo planes that have been equipped in large quantities, would you like to know about the Blackburn "Torch" fighter-bomber that has recently joined the Royal Navy's shipboard service. It has a maximum speed of 560KM/H and a cruising speed of 840KM/H when carrying 450KG torpedoes/anti-ship missiles. It is equipped with four Hispano machine guns and can engage in air combat by dropping torpedoes and bombs?

Not to mention, Zeppelin is, to put it bluntly, just an aircraft carrier girl - and although the Royal Navy on the Allied side now has only two battleship girls, Warspite and Vanguard, there are three aircraft carrier girls in the neighboring United States Navy that is participating in the war this time!

The performance of the aircraft has a generational advantage, and the aircraft carrier is three against one. How can I lose this battle? Urgent, waiting online!

With such a powerful trump card, Tovey is so confident and willful with a calm face.

Isn't it just Zeppelin's Edelweiss that escaped? When the final battle comes, her real body will have the guts to escape as well?

"It's fine if they left. After all, they are the 'Evil Spirit' with a kill rate of over 400. It's already very satisfying to be able to defeat them like this... By the way, where are Lütjens and Kumets now? Any news from the Air Force?"

"There are new developments, Commander. ... According to the reconnaissance report just received from the Royal Air Force Cornwall Base, Lütjens and Kumetz, who departed from Saint-Nazaire and Brest respectively, have already met in the sea 130 kilometers south of Brest Port and 200 kilometers west of Saint-Nazaire. Now they are sailing westward at full speed - that is, heading towards us." The vanguard said as he flipped out a telegram from the folder and handed it over with both hands: "Their assembly area is located directly south of Brest Port, and a large area of ​​the surrounding sea is within the coverage of the German shore-based aviation. At the same time, the Germans have three aircraft carriers... Although the Royal Air Force has also replaced its equipment with new fighters, the effect is very limited. They sent several batches of bombers to bomb Kumetz at the beginning, but failed. They only shot down two destroyers..."

"Oh, the air force's attack failed."

Tovey's expression did not change as he listened to the report from the vanguard secretary - after all, there was the protection of the Brest base, and this important location was also guarded by one of the strongest units in the German Air Force, the 2nd Fighter Wing named after "Red Baron Richthofen", and the two Europa-class aircraft carriers in Kumets' hands were not just for show.

It is not so easy to attack the enemy's main fleet covered by aircraft carriers right under the nose of a fortress-level base!

Even though the Allied Air Force and Naval Aviation are now equipped with new fighter jets, these new fighter jets are only newly equipped due to production restrictions and are far from being able to fight the enemy as a whole.

On the contrary, another piece of news concerned him more...

Tovey picked up a pen and marked on the chart table. His face looked a little unhappy. "Vanguard, you just said that the Air Force report said that after they met in that sea area, they are now two people together, heading west towards us? This is trouble..."

The vanguard was a little embarrassed: "It's like this, Commander... Is there any problem?"

"We are less than 500 kilometers away from them, and they are at a disadvantage (in air warfare). It would be dangerous if we really launched an air attack and anti-ship missiles at them. But..." Tovey smiled bitterly, "But to deal with this, we can only let the US fleet lurking in the south go north to reinforce us in advance. But in that case, our encirclement and annihilation plan would be completely exposed... Lütjens, this old ghost, is really not a pushover!"

"Then... Commander, what should we do now?" After hearing Tovey's words, the vanguard was at a loss for a moment.

"Although we can hold back Lütjens and Kumetz here and ensure the torch landing, we are not sure we can destroy those 'evil spirits' if we fight a decisive battle with the German Navy here... So, the fleet will turn around and retreat westward at full speed to delay their time and increase their distance from France as much as possible. Even if there is a German submarine activity area to our west, we can only do this for now."

"We are now 0 kilometers away from them. Even if the ships under Lütjens have a speed of knots, it will take them at least until midnight to catch up with us. Besides, the speed of Kumets' two aircraft carriers is only knots, and it is impossible for them to bring our aircraft carriers into the attack range. Even if Lütjens really wants to use one aircraft carrier to chase our ten armored and light aircraft carriers, it will take until a.m. tomorrow at the earliest to bring our aircraft carriers into the range of anti-ship missiles - and we will also run the risk of being disconnected from Kumets and being attacked from three sides by us, the Cornwall Airport in the mainland, and the US fleet coming north to reinforce! But..." Tovey carefully marked the nautical chart, frowned and thought for a while, then turned around and ordered, "This matter involves the coordination of the entire combat goal. Our fleet alone can no longer decide the next step. It involves joint operations with the Royal Air Force and the US Fleet. We also have to consider whether to take this opportunity to annihilate the main force of the German Navy... Vanguard, you should contact the headquarters about this matter, tell Cunningham our situation and opinions, and ask him what he thinks."

"Okay, OK!" Qianwei nodded and started communicating on WIFI using the password agreed upon between her and Yanzhan.

And all the main forces of the Royal Navy's Home Fleet, which were divided into three or four formations on the sea - four Vengeance-class/Dreadnought-class armored aircraft carriers, two aircraft carrier task forces composed of six Independence-class light aircraft carriers that came from the United States for "support" and had a speed of 32 knots and 33 aircraft to cooperate with the operations of the aircraft carrier fleet, a battleship fleet composed of five cutting-edge battleships and the Warspite, and a cruiser fleet that served as an early warning and outer air defense circle for the entire formation seventy kilometers in front of the aircraft carrier fleet - turned their bows in unison, from a cruising speed of 25 knots to the south, to a full speed of 30 to 32 knots, and began to turn towards the deep Atlantic Ocean due west.

Although the main body of the battleship HMS Warspite was in the fleet, the ship girl of Warspite was in the Admiralty Building in London at this time, accompanying Cunningham and King who were in charge of the overall situation in the Admiralty Headquarters Building, serving as a special communication channel. Although, for Warspite, returning to her main body to participate in the war was basically a matter of changing her mind.

On the last day of 1942, in the North Atlantic, the main naval forces of both sides were destined to usher in the next year in a state of busy warfare.

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

After the movements of Lütjens' fleet were sent back to the Admiralty building in London by the vanguard through the War-weary channel, Cunningham and King, who were in charge of commanding the Allied naval activities in the Atlantic, could not help but gasp.

Although the position of the main fleet of the US Navy is not far away, nor is it close, it is actually in the sea near Lisbon - no more, no less, just outside the 1000-kilometer effective reconnaissance radius of the German reconnaissance aircraft group stationed in France. Moreover, at this distance, if the US aircraft carrier really goes north with all its strength, at a speed of knots, it can reach Cape Festra near La Coruña around a.m., and bring the "evil spirit fleet" into the -kilometer effective combat radius of US carrier-based fighters. At the same time, the second half of the night of the waning moon happens to be the time when the moonlight appears. Moreover, since the fleet is heading north against the headwind of the cold current of the Iberian Peninsula, it can also gain the advantage of aviation priority.

The position of the Tovey fleet has always been outside the coverage of the fighters at the Brest base, and the Germans only have three aircraft carriers in total, not to mention that although the two aircraft carriers of Kumets are powerful, their speed cannot catch up with Tovey. In this way, the entire German Navy and the Air Force stationed in France have only one Zeppelin that can chase the Home Fleet - the current Home Fleet has ten aircraft carriers and light carriers!

Even if the Germans still had a hundred missiles, the range of the missiles was shorter than that of the fighter jets.

but……

Although it seems that the safety of the North African landing is temporarily guaranteed, as the saying goes, if you don't kill the snake, there will be endless troubles. This time, the Royal Navy and the US Navy have deployed all their accumulated resources, but the Pacific is still dragging on, and the US Navy cannot stay in the North Atlantic forever. Once the US fleet retreats, the Royal Navy alone will not be able to suppress the two fleets of Lütjens and Kumetz.

Not to mention, according to insider intelligence, the relationship between Lütjens and Raeder's party seems to have improved.

(In fact, there is no need to look at the insider intelligence. Just seeing that Kumets and Lütjens are now fighting side by side is enough to explain the problem.)

"It seems that the key to this battle is to 'attack the reinforcements', and we have to fight a war of annihilation... Old Jin, what do you think?" Cunningham raised his head from the nautical chart table and glanced at Jin beside him.

After all, the U.S. Navy and himself are only allies. Although they are a joint command, Kim is the one who has the final say when it comes to the command of the U.S. Navy.

"Fight! As long as we can kill either of them, we can rest assured in the entire Atlantic Ocean!"

Admiral Jin gnashed his teeth and slapped the chart table without hesitation, saying it in a decisive tone. Even the special chart ruler on the chart table that marked the distance and had a calculation function jumped three centimeters from the table under the shock of his fierce slap.

The telegram from the London Admiralty ticked to the receiver of the American fleet lurking two hundred kilometers west of Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. Not long after, the three formations of the U.S. Navy and the Free French Navy, which had been lurking quietly under the cover of night, appeared: a high-speed cruiser squadron commanded by Rear Admiral William Halsey Jr., led by two cutting-edge high-speed battleships, the Iowa and New Jersey, with a designed speed of 35.6 knots and an actual speed of knots; a battleship formation commanded by Rear Admiral Raymond Spruance, with three South Dakota-class battleships and the French Navy Richelieu battleship as the backbone strike force; and an aircraft carrier task force composed of all five U.S. Navy aircraft carriers - and all three aircraft carrier girls - under the direct command of Lieutenant General Frank Fletcher Jr., the front-line commander of the U.S. Navy fleet operation. At the command of the engine room soldier "Forward five, over", they turned their steel bodies and began to accelerate towards the direction of Biscay Bay not far to the north, towards the battlefield.

Above the bridge of the huge naval fleet was the Iberian cold current that blew in under the cover of night. Even though the fleet had implemented a blackout and there was no moonlight in the first half of the night of the waning moon, there was still a faint mist under the dim starry sky that clung to the cold windows of the warships and condensed into water vapor and thin frost. Now that the war is approaching, watching the fleet rushing towards the battlefield in the darkness, whether it is Vice Admiral Fletcher, who is cautious by nature but kind and optimistic, and is still telling jokes to his nervous entourage, or Rear Admiral Spruance, who is serious and silent, or Rear Admiral Halsey, who is gritting his teeth and praying to God while muttering and cursing to the "evil fleet" he has never met, or even the carrier-based singer Intel Price, who is so strong in fighting spirit that she can stand alone, or Sarah, who is one of the pioneers of American aircraft carrier operations and is determined to avenge her sister, or Gufulin, who is a rookie with her sweetheart and hopes to get off to a good start with a hearty turkey hunt..., everyone before the battle has their own thoughts.

After all, the enemy in this battle is indeed a real test that the US Navy has faced since it entered the war!

At this time, in the northeast of Biscay Bay, Lütjens was in the command room of his flagship with his hands on his hips. Although his face was as expressionless as usual, there was a flash of anxiety in his eyes.

The coffee that had been brewed on the table was untouched, but the full ash in the ashtray on the other side betrayed his mood. At this moment, he was anxiously waiting for a reply to some message - but the other party had not replied yet, not even a reply.

"Bismarck, we sent a message requesting combat guidance several hours ago, but headquarters still hasn't responded?"

Finally, Lütjens couldn't help but ask.

"Not yet... But Captain, if we continue to head west at full speed and really lure the American aircraft carrier out, but Kumets's speed is too slow, and if he can't hold on, it will be difficult for us to go back even if we want to, right?"

The Persian cat, who was sitting in front of the chart table with a pouty mouth and a red and blue pencil in his hand, propped his elbows on the table and scratched his scalp with his paws. Even his tail was swinging back and forth because he was a little bored. "Zeppelin just said that Tovey has at least ten aircraft carriers and light carriers! Not to mention that the performance of their new aircraft is quite powerful. Even the Spitfire has crushed our aircraft... Well, Captain, if the mustache and Raeder still force us to "reinforce French North Africa", what should we do?"

"I can't help it. This is an order. As a soldier, I can only obey orders. If they don't give orders, we can only wait..."

Lütjens sighed helplessly.

Looking at Tovey's and his own positions marked on the chart, as well as the waters near the Iberian Peninsula in the southwest - that seemingly unmarked position on the chart, but obviously there is some turbulent undercurrent waiting for it!

There are only three aircraft carriers on our side, while Tovey alone has four aircraft carriers and six light carriers, not to mention the Americans. However, the telegrams sent to the headquarters for the enemy situation report and the request to re-determine the battle objectives have not been responded to yet. In addition, the speed of the two Europas on Kumets' side is only 25 knots, and the Hindenburg is just over 30 knots - the speed of the Grudge and the Dreadnought is 31 knots, and the speed of the American aircraft carriers is 32 knots! With Kumets' speed, if he really encounters the enemy's main force, it will be a luxury to escape!

Now he actually has no choice. The so-called entire fleet is heading westward at full speed to "pursue" Tovey, hoping to lure out enemy reinforcements - at least now the combat area is still at his doorstep. If he really has to retreat, it will at least be relatively safe, right?

Chapter 835: Little Mustache is not going well

The time in Berlin is a full hour ahead of that in the Bay of Biscay.

The phone call between Raeder and Hitler lasted for a full hour.

"...Raeder, we can't ignore the French colonies in North Africa! If they succeed in landing there, the next to collapse will be the Italian army in North Africa, and then they will push up to the Italian peninsula, and finally push down from the Alps like an avalanche! Do you understand!... In addition, if that really happens, how many resources and troops will we have to invest to deal with it? You are a marshal after all, can't you do the math in your mind first?!"

The mustache man's voice, filled with a bad temper, came all the way from the Wolf's Lair headquarters in East Prussia into the microphone in Redl's hand along the special confidential telephone line, and aroused a feeling of spitting in Redl's ears.

Redel looked up at the sky with his old face, seeming to be unable to cry.

Originally, I was just asking for combat guidance, but now it has become the head of state venting his complaints...

Speaking of which, it seems that Lütjens only judged that the British and American fleets might be lying in ambush along the coast of Portugal, waiting to attack him and Kumets - although he fully agreed with this point, he couldn't say this to the little mustache!

Enduring the chatter that seemed to come through the phone, Raeder found an opportunity to ask, "Then... Führer, what about Lütjens? He reported that Britain and the United States are likely to send out their main fleets to set up an ambush circle, intending to wipe out our entire navy..."

"Lütjens? Doesn't he have four ship girls? What is he afraid of? Besides, he himself said that he wanted to lure the British and American fleets to expose themselves. Why are you shouting for retreat when they haven't come out yet? If you want to retreat, you have to wait until they show their heads!"

He moved the noisy microphone a little further away from his ear, with a look of dissatisfaction on his face.

What does "There are four ship girls, so what am I afraid of...wait until they show up" mean?

If they all come out, I'm afraid we will be surrounded!

Even if there are four ship girls, they can't be so reckless!

Not to mention that Germany now has invested most of its resources on the Eastern Front, manufacturing countless tanks to fight Russia. Even its current navy is losing one destroyer after another - just in the past two or three hours, an air raid at the Cornwall Air Force Base in the UK sank two destroyers!

Two destroyers! ! (Sound of shock)

Germany is a continental country, and now it has a powerful enemy, the Soviet Union, to deal with. The resources at the disposal of the navy are extremely limited. Even including those sunk in battles since the war, the total number of destroyers is less than 40.

The only destroyers in the Bay of Biscay are the eight ships in Kumets' squadron!

But in a round of air strikes in the afternoon, two destroyers were lost.

One can imagine how distressed Redel was.

Even after Kumets took the initiative to lower himself and establish a good relationship with Lütjens, and obtained a series of jamming technologies and "signal reduction ideas" developed by the ship girls, he had already hurriedly installed chimney heat shields and water mist wind cannons on all his warships, and also equipped them with towed jammers. However, air raids are difficult to defend after all...

Although, in fact, Kumets reported to him that the two destroyers, in order to protect the more valuable battleships and aircraft carriers, took the initiative to ask all other ships to turn off their jammers and turn on the water mist cannons (to cool down and block infrared signals), but he turned off the water mist directly, and then turned the jammer power to the maximum, and then threw all the infrared decoy bombs out at once...

In less than five minutes, hundreds of missiles swarmed in and turned the two heroic destroyers into slag!

When he thought of this, Raeder, whose family was so small that he couldn't even afford the loss of a destroyer, felt his heart bleeding!

The weak navy should just keep its fleet in existence, and rely on the combined deterrence of the Evil Spirit Fleet and Kumets to "deter" the Allies' attempt to blockade the Bay of Biscay, ensure the safe entry and exit of Dönitz's submarine brigade, and finally use submarines as the main weapon to threaten North Atlantic shipping to delay the time difference promised by the mustache leader to "defeat the Soviet Union before the middle of 43 and then return to the Western Front to invest in the navy"... Isn't that good?

Insisting on engaging in a decisive battle with the enemy's main fleet which has an absolute advantage...what's the difference between this and committing suicide?

Forget it, I've been humiliated many times in front of the head of state. For the navy, I'll just risk my reputation!

Gritting his teeth and steeling his heart, while waiting for the roar on the other side of the microphone to finally stop and take a breath, Redel still proposed an arrangement that at least sounded reasonable and should actually be reasonable:

"Führer, then, what do you think of this arrangement? First, let Lütjens and Kumetz continue to move forward, and at the same time send a group of long-range reconnaissance aircraft and submarines to search the sea area... If they don't have a reinforcement fleet, then continue to advance to the Casablanca waters; if there is a large number of reinforcement fleets, then let them withdraw to France - as for whether there is a chance to destroy a group of their battleships or something, considering the efficiency of battlefield command, it depends on Lütjens' specific performance. What do you think of this?"

Although there were V1 anti-ship missiles, Raeder, who had received the GIUK naval battle report, did not actually have much hope for the attack power of the V1 anti-ship missiles.

However, if there is a chance to destroy a few of their ships, even if we lose, we will still be able to give an explanation to the head of state.

"Okay, that's it!" The mustache man thought for a moment and replied impatiently: "...I'm waiting for the Russian counterattack in Kharkov, and I don't have time to deal with such trivial matters! Go tell Lütjens that he has four ship girls in his hands after all, don't be so cowardly!"

With a click, Hitler hung up the phone, leaving Reder alone by the phone, feeling both amused and helpless.

"Hitler seems to be getting more and more irritable recently. He shouldn't be like this even if he lost Moscow... Never mind, as long as we can retreat before they surround us. Anyway, Lütjens is the commander on the front line. How to pull the fleet back for me... Let him decide."

Although I have gotten used to the darkness in my heart, I still have a vague feeling of wanting to pass on the blame. However, the navy is now facing internal and external troubles, and I can no longer care about passing on the blame.

At least in the next few years, the situation will only become more and more difficult, and it will not work without a capable general under your command.

Is not it?

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

"Captain, headquarters has sent a reply."

A ship cat wagged its tail gently and slid to Lütjens' side with a telegram in its mouth, lightly walking.

"After waiting for so long, a telegram finally came. What did the headquarters say?"

"Well, Raeder said that he agrees with our views, but the Führer wants us to keep moving forward... If we want to retreat, we must first 'lure out their ambush fleet'..." The Persian cat smacked his lips, feeling that there was something wrong with this order: "Hey, Captain, I always feel that something is wrong... Raeder wouldn't be so shameless, would he? He just reconciled with us and then stabbed us in the back?"

"Well... that shouldn't be the case, right? After all, Kumetz and the entire German Navy's main fleet are basically all here. If something really happens, Raeder will cry to death." Lütjens thought about it and finally shook his head.

After all, although Raeder was harsh, tyrannical and hypocritical, he probably would not send the main naval fleet away like that.

In other words, this time the Führer was probably just being stubborn and putting himself on the spot... Come to think of it, after the defeat of "Future", it seems that many people did scold the Führer for being self-willed, stubborn, and refusing to adapt.

Lütjens looked at the Persian cat beside him with some surprise - she said this to him after that day.

Bismarck beside him also looked up. The two people, who were in sync with each other, understood each other's meaning through each other's eyes almost at the same time.

"Captain, is it Moustache?"

"Yes." Lütjens nodded affirmatively, then shook his head with mixed feelings: "Forget it, let's not talk too much about it. At least they didn't go too far and didn't say anything final. Look, doesn't the telegram also say that we are allowed to withdraw if we find British and American reinforcement fleets and the battle situation endangers the safety of the fleet?"

"Tsk, it's so easy to say, how can we retreat so easily!" Bismarck turned his head away in annoyance, his mouth drooping: "This is the westerly belt, retreating means sailing with the wind, and planes cannot take off when there is a tailwind. Now we are already 300 kilometers away from Brest Airport, and air supremacy is not guaranteed..."

"Let's go with Kumets' speed. They are eleven knots slower than us, so I asked them to go southwest first. By the way, how far are they from us now?"