Bismarck

"Okay, don't be too happy too soon. The British garrison fleet may not come out."

Touching the ear of his secretary ship, Lütjens mercilessly discouraged her enthusiasm: "If Cunningham really wanted to fight us, he would not have escaped our reconnaissance range at noon. And without Cunningham's cooperation, the garrison fleet alone would be a waste - the British are not so blind to this, so we just need to be prepared for the worst."

"Hey--"

Bismarck, whose excitement was directly dampened by his own captain, snorted and turned away. Lütjens glanced at his own ship cat's tantrum, but didn't say anything else.

Moreover, deep down in his heart, he was even more nervous as he secretly guessed what his old rival was thinking.

"It's fine to tease this girl, but this kind of fight..."

Don’t think that playing with cats is relaxing, but it’s just playing with cats. To put it bluntly, it’s just to adjust your mood when you are unhappy.

However, the pressure of war is clearly in front of us!

Even if you have a general grasp of the development of the war situation, the final victory or defeat of the war still depends on tactical operations! And an old fox like Cunningham obviously won't just stand there and let himself be beaten, he must have his own countermeasures!

After all, the so-called mobile warfare, to put it bluntly, is just racking your brains and trying hard to predict!

As for if he wanted to attack, the Allies could also predict his actions - as long as he still wanted to attack Gibraltar, the waters of Cape St. Vincent, two hundred nautical miles west of the Gibraltar fortress, was a must-pass place!

Although he knew that Cunningham would most likely turn the boat around and attack him together with the fortress, the old man was on the outside, while he was in the inside where he had to attack and was in a dilemma.

Compared to me, who had to launch an attack in the waters near Cape St. Vincent, he had much more options in terms of time and location! So he was more confident of taking the initiative!

Moreover, on the other hand, in terms of intelligence and perception of battlefield situation - this is a concept "heard" by a certain Chinese tabby cat from the future - he is also relatively disadvantaged!

Although they were equipped with high-speed reconnaissance aircraft modified from BF-109G12 trainer aircraft, with a reconnaissance radius of 1000 kilometers, there was only one squadron of twelve reconnaissance aircraft, and sending six reconnaissance aircraft to reconnaissance a -degree fan each time was already the operational limit. Moreover, these aircraft were propeller-powered after all, not jets with unparalleled speed but even more terrible fuel consumption - in other words, these reconnaissance aircraft could be intercepted or even shot down by the opposing fighters!

In addition, these reconnaissance aircraft need more than eight hours of maintenance after a four or five-hour long-distance flight. In addition, one sortie has a four or five-hour reconnaissance cycle. Even if these reconnaissance aircraft are divided into two groups and take turns to take off for reconnaissance, there will be at least an eight-hour "window" - for an aircraft carrier formation with a speed of 30 knots, an eight-hour full-speed assault is a distance of 240 nautical miles/450 kilometers! Adding the range of carrier-based aircraft or the range of anti-ship missiles, the threat range of the assault within eight hours exceeds 800 kilometers!

Not to mention, there are British long-range reconnaissance planes watching them from the Gibraltar Fortress and the garrison fleet!

The range of his reconnaissance aircraft was only 1,000 kilometers, and during his reconnaissance window, the enemy's threat range exceeded 800 kilometers! At the same time, the enemy's reconnaissance aircraft was also monitoring him. Even with Zeppelin, he couldn't guarantee that he would be safe!

I am fighting alone, and the opponent is attacking me from both sides. If I am not careful, I am afraid that the British will counterattack and suffer heavy losses! !

As the last main fleet of the German Navy and with no reinforcements left, I have to double-check and be cautious!

Although they were not without advantages: jet fighters, anti-aircraft missiles, anti-ship missiles, guided bombs, etc., made the German fleet under their command more powerful in attack and defense than the British. But even so, it could not be said that relying solely on theoretical attack and defense power, they could withstand the attack from both sides of the enemy fleets!

"Intelligence says that the British have also popularized anti-ship missiles, and there are even reports that their warships have begun to equip Phalanx and guided anti-aircraft rockets... Although we are one step ahead in the technology of jet fighters and anti-aircraft missiles, there are still many limitations. If we really talk about offensive power, even if we can severely damage their fleet with a wave of attacks now, as long as any two of their forces attack together, we will be stretched to the limit..."

"Even if the main forces of the British and American Mediterranean Air Forces are being held back by Kettering in Italy, it will take several rounds of attacks to suppress the Gibraltar Fortress. At the same time, the terrain in the Gibraltar area is mountainous, and the shielding effect of the mountains will limit the firepower of the warships without the guidance of the ship girls; although the missiles carried by the girls can attack, there are still Cunninghams on the outside, and now we are also within the reconnaissance range of the Gibraltar Fortress reconnaissance aircraft. The danger of being attacked from both sides must be prevented!"

After all, no matter how much you despise the enemy strategically and how well you know what they are going to do, in the end, it is the actual tactical operations that have the final say!

Not to mention the real condition for victory. He had to defeat Cunningham and the Gibraltar Fortress in order to force the Portuguese to honestly reject the British and American requests to use the Azores Airport and continue to be a neutral country that does not interfere with the world.

Even if there is no example like Midway Island mentioned by our own ship cat, fighting a war is never easy!

Lütjens, who was thinking about the battle situation, had a drop of sweat on his forehead. In the last twilight of the setting sun, the golden knight, the admiral of the navy, who was becoming more and more solemn, could not help but mutter to himself nervously:

"I have laid out my cards. Now it is your turn. Cunningham, how will you respond..."

This is not a lack of confidence, but a necessity for a general who can take charge of things on his own and faces a matter of life and death.

…………Also with a serious look in his eyes was Cunningham, who was heading southwest along the North African coast…………

"What's going on over there now, wife?"

"Nothing. The reconnaissance plane said that Lütjens hasn't passed Lisbon yet. It's estimated that it will take four o'clock at the earliest to pass Cape St. Vincent (the southwestern corner of the Iberian Peninsula). So Lord Mountbatten's fleet is still near the fortress..." War-weary looked at the vanguard standing next to him and rolled his eyes at someone cheeky. "Don't talk about your wife all the time. There's no wife for you here!"

"Okay, I got it." Cunningham laughed, turned around and continued to gesture on the nautical chart table.

Rolling her eyes at her old man, War-weary grumbled helplessly. Knowing that the First Sea Lord was now Alexander, she didn't say much, but just walked silently to the chart table and helped him with his advice.

"We left Gibraltar at ten in the morning. Now it's nine o'clock in the evening. We are currently between Saffi and Essaouira (on the coast of North Africa), six hundred kilometers away from the Gibraltar Fortress... Lütjens's speed is about the same as ours, and he is about five hundred nautical miles away from us. But he is less than two hundred nautical miles away from the Gibraltar Fortress. If he attacks Gibraltar, our position will be a little far away... But if we pull back rashly, our position will be exposed..." The red and blue pencils in his hand were moving on the map. He pointed at Cape St. Vincent, about 1200 nautical miles west of Gibraltar, in the southwest corner of the Iberian Peninsula, and drew a straight line from Lisbon to Las Palmas-Gran Canarias ( kilometers southwest of Gibraltar). After estimating the possibility of Lütjens taking a shortcut to pursue him, Cunningham leaned on the table, supporting his chin with one hand, and his expression was obviously a little hesitant: "Warspite, Vanguard, tell me, given Lütjens's position, will he take a shortcut to pursue us, or will he attack Gibraltar first?"

"This..." Hearing the question from their admiral, the two ship girls beside him looked at the nautical chart, then looked at each other, and they both found some of the same confusion.

After all, the current situation on the battlefield can be said to be somewhat delicate.

"Lütjens has two aircraft carriers, four ships, jet fighters and anti-aircraft missiles... Although they are still far away from us, the artillery of the Gibraltar Fortress has not been fully repaired yet. In addition, the Germans always come up with something new. If they really attack Gibraltar, even if Mountbatten can hold out for a while, I'm afraid he won't be able to hold out forever..."

"But, My Load (First Sea Lord), Senior War-weary, in terms of time difference, if we want to form a pincer attack with Gibraltar, we cannot be more than 600 kilometers away from Cape St. Vincent. And if we want to attack, we must go north against the wind. But if Bismarck and his men go south at full speed, they may be able to preemptively launch a wave of anti-ship missiles and suppress us in return, right?"

"...Indeed, although the distance of 500 nautical miles is very safe, it is completely impossible to coordinate with the Gibraltar Fortress. It is really not a good idea to defeat them one by one..." Cunningham nodded solemnly. The psychological pressure was no less than that of his old opponent 900 kilometers to the north.

"It's impossible to ignore Gibraltar. No matter its strategic position or its impact on the mainland, we can't just abandon Mountbatten. So Lütjens is really cunning. He knows that we can't ignore Gibraltar..." War-weary spat, gritting his teeth about this matter: "Speaking of which, even if we know that he has to pass through Cape St. Vincent to attack Gibraltar, he still has to find a way for us to form a joint attack posture with the Mediterranean Fleet stationed in Gibraltar."

"But as for the Mediterranean Fleet, the old battleships can only travel at a speed of over 20 knots, and the four Giant-class light aircraft carriers can only travel at a speed of knots and have very weak defense. The four light cruisers and destroyers over there do not have enough anti-ship missiles, and may not be able to break through the firepower network of the anti-aircraft missiles of the German ships..." The Vanguard said as he turned his head to look at the battleship Warspite and his own body, and the newly equipped sets of radar-guided mm close-in defense guns and "KanColle guided" anti-aircraft rocket launchers, and couldn't help but sighed a little depressed.

"If we are too close, we will be attacked. If we are too far, we can defeat them one by one. But Lütjens will definitely predict our actions, so there is no better way now. We can only compete with them in prediction..."

Seeing the vanguard's eyes sweeping out of the porthole, Cunningham, who knew that there was a dense array of guns there, guessed what the girl was thinking on the spot. But even so, even as the First Sea Lord, there was no safe way to deal with the powerful attack power of the Lütjens fleet...

"Honestly, if they really strike first, I'm not sure I can hold on..."

Although they had obtained intelligence from the United States that German ships and crews used rotary cannons to intercept missiles after the Battle of Biscay Bay, and combined with the "radar-guided anti-aircraft gun" technology obtained by the Royal Navy from the Netherlands, they had developed a self-defense system that used six-barrel 20mm "Vulcan" Gatling machine guns to intercept anti-ship missiles. In addition, after learning that Germany was equipped with anti-aircraft missiles, they and their predecessors, who were tired of war, asked Lord Cunningham to get a batch of anti-aircraft rockets based on the principle of guided artillery shells and "followed the method" to develop their own anti-aircraft missiles - but these guided anti-aircraft rockets could only be equipped and controlled by themselves and their predecessors, and the range was only ten kilometers, so they could only be considered defensive weapons in a strict sense. Although the Gatling machine gun had radar guidance and could be widely equipped, the signal and size of the German anti-ship missiles were very small, and the interception efficiency could only be said to be better than nothing.

In this situation, everyone is very clear about one thing: they must not be defeated one by one by Lütjens!

But, as the saying goes, knowing is not the same as doing...

The vanguard looked depressed, while Cunningham smiled bitterly. His mad, war-weary and unwilling eyes gradually revealed a bit of ferocity: "How about... we order the destroyers and light cruisers of the Mediterranean Fleet to attack first and fight with them in a consumption war?"

"No, no, no! That's courting death!" Cunningham shook his hands desperately and rejected the idea on the spot.

Are you kidding? In addition to anti-ship missiles and anti-aircraft missiles, the Germans also have more than a hundred jets on their two aircraft carriers!

Even if the Germans have used up all of their ship-borne heavy missiles, a high-speed assault by jet fighters alone would still be a deadly threat!

The speed of TA-183 Calamity Crow reaches kilometers per hour, it is unstoppable! !

Even if the Mediterranean Fleet stationed in the Gibraltar Fortress can "block" some of the threats of anti-ship missiles by relying on the mountains on both sides of the strait, and even consume the anti-ship and anti-aircraft missiles carried by the most threatening German ships, the Germans still have two aircraft carriers, and the threat of the jet fighters on them is no less than that of anti-ship missiles!

Whether it is the three jet fighters "Seahawk", "Meteor" and "Vampire" that the UK is currently conducting top-secret test flights, or the XP-80 that the US is also secretly experimenting with, the speed they flew during the test was only about kilometers - and it is unclear when they will be able to be put into mass production. Even with the most optimistic estimates, we will have to wait until the middle of next year to test the equipment!

"But...if we don't consume some of their anti-ship missiles and anti-aircraft missiles first, the current situation cannot be changed."

War-weary was somewhat unwilling and gritted his teeth.

"Lütjens is a smart man and will definitely avoid it first. Besides, if the destroyers and cruisers attack alone, what if he uses jet-launched air-to-ship missiles?" Cunningham thought for a moment and shook his head to refuse.

War-weary seemed to want to say something, but her eyes suddenly changed as she sensed something: "Northwest direction, German reconnaissance plane!"

Hearing Warspite's sudden warning, Cunningham and the vanguard were stunned: "What? Reconnaissance plane? Have we been discovered?"

In particular, the vanguard, who also had the ability to perceive, immediately extended his perception and carefully detected the direction of the reconnaissance plane for a while: "Sir, Senior War-weary, we should have been discovered. They seem to be sending a telegram now... Should we order the fighters to take off and shoot it down?"

"Let's just let him be discovered. It will put Lütjens in a dilemma. It's better for him not to dock at either end." Cunningham twisted his chin and thought for a while, then shook his head. "The German reconnaissance plane has a range of 1,000 kilometers. I'm afraid they will come to confirm it again later. We will keep our course and continue to move forward. Let's shorten the distance between us to 1,000 kilometers first."

Chapter 874

"Report! Reconnaissance aircraft No. 850 discovered the main British fleet in the waters north of Essaouira (a city in Northwest Africa)! The detailed coordinates are ****, about kilometers away from our fleet, and they are sailing towards Las Palmas-Canary Islands at a speed of knots!"

"What? Great! We finally found Cunningham! Bismarck, tell Zeppelin to keep the reconnaissance plane on the lookout!"

"Wait, Captain, the waters near Essaouira are at the limit of the reconnaissance aircraft's range. I guess we can't continue tracking..."

"Is that so? That's fine. But... remember we contacted Dönitz once before we set out to sea and asked him to deploy a group of submarines there for an ambush. Send him a telegram to ask if the submarines have been deployed."

"Hey, Captain, we've already asked in advance~" The Persian cat, who had already done things in advance, was a little proud, and stuck out his tongue and made a face: "He said that the submarines of the Central Atlantic Submarine Fleet that can still fight have all come here, lurking along the line from Madeira Islands to Las Palmas-Canary Islands. However...Dönitz also said that Britain and the United States have anti-submarine airports on the northwest African continent, plus there are not many submarines active in this area, and the British are a battle fleet, and there are at least two ship girls, so he said that at most they can barely detect the activities of the British fleet, but the efficiency of interception is estimated to be not too high..."

"...Forget it. I know he has difficulties too. After all, it was you who gave them the 'lesson' during the anti-submarine exercise." Scratching his head in frustration, Lütjens, with a drooping face, tilted his head and spread his hands: "At least they are watching over there, which can at least play a role in forecasting - but..." Thinking of something else, Lütjens suddenly changed the subject: "North Africa is the key point for their military transportation after all. Although intelligence shows that there are not many fighter jets, there are many anti-submarine aircraft. In addition to the British ship girls, if they really want to hide, I'm afraid we can't count on them too much..."

"So... we still have to rely on prediction?" The Persian cat blinked, indicating that his little head was relatively simple and he couldn't think of crazy predictions.

I gave the lazy Persian cat a cold and helpless look. It was just a prediction, was it that complicated?

"It's not that exaggerated, you're just lazy...", Lütjens' eyes were half disgusted and half doting.

Besides, even if the prediction is complicated, even if this wave of reconnaissance planes can only be recovered at 3:00 a.m., and the next wave can only be sent out at 3:00 a.m., there is still a distance of 850 kilometers between the two sides. As long as we control our position, we will not be ambushed by Cunningham.

This guy just knows how to act coquettishly and cutely all day long. He is over 50 years old and almost an old man, but he is still thinking hard.

But I can't help it... Wait! That's not right! I have always been strict with my subordinates, when did it become like this?

A cat lover named Lu was suddenly stunned and realized that his moral integrity had been lost without him knowing when because of petting the cat.

Besides... I really don't know when I lost all my moral integrity.

I looked up at the time: August 29, 1943, 9:20 in the evening.

"Bismarck, we need to move our position one hundred kilometers further north. Also, tell Zeppelin to pay attention to their reconnaissance planes... Also, the next wave of reconnaissance planes should be sent out at three o'clock, right? Then we will first send two to search Gibraltar. If there is no problem, we will take care of Gibraltar first!"

Lütjens calmed down, thought about it, and gave the order.

…………The other side of the sea…………

"Their reconnaissance plane has spotted us. What should we do now?"

"How far are we from the predicted battle area of ​​Cape St. Vincent now? Three hundred nautical miles, wife (bang!)"

"Not yet, but it's probably around midnight - and, if it's a serious occasion, please be serious!"

"It hurts! QAQ... Please give me some face, the vanguard is watching..."

"... Um, Commander, Senior War-weary, please continue, I didn't see anything (covering my face, wanting to cry but unable to: Why are you dragging me into this...)"

"I won't even give you the money! We are still on the battlefield! He is just thinking about sex all day long, not the heart at all! Qianwei, ignore him, let's draw the battle prediction map ourselves!"

“Hey, hey, hey, don’t draw a sea chart for me without permission! I haven’t even mentioned the prediction yet…”

"Tsk, you asked me if we are 300 nautical miles away from the predicted sea area. Isn't the next step to maintain a safe distance and wait for an opportunity to overtake?"

"What you said makes sense, but I am the fleet commander, old... Secretary."

"Humph, you still think you're the fleet commander? We thought some old bastard was here to get horny in public!" Yan Zhan grabbed someone's ear and scolded him with a look of annoyance, "No more horny things. Do your job well during working hours!"

"Okay, okay, don't twist it, it hurts..."

Seeing this funny couple having another outburst, the command staff including the vanguard stood up quietly one after another and sneaked out through the gate.

There is no other reason, it's just that we can still see this kind of dog food scenes on warships every day, which is really heartbreaking.

As a soldier, he was loyal and parted with his wife, but now American soldiers came to Britain in large numbers, and each of them had a certificate of foreign legal rights - or in other words, a hat wholesale license...

Even the vanguard, as a "heroic spirit", had been teased by the Americans. How could ordinary British officers and soldiers look at the Yangji people?

Can you say that you pray to God for help in fear every night before going to bed, and the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning is to check your hair and look in the mirror?

...After some review...

"Okay, that's exactly what we'll do. Come on, pass the order. The fleet will turn due west and keep a distance from the predicted combat area. We will first move to a place closer to the outside to ensure that we can attack Lütjens from both sides..."

Cunningham, whose left ear was noticeably larger, pretended to be majestic and issued combat orders to the avant-garde secretary who looked helpless.

"Sail west? Is it necessary?" The vanguard tilted his head and thought for a while, expressing some doubts: "Commander, we are now 300 nautical miles away from the designated sea area. If we move westward, will the distance be further away?"

"That's what I'm saying now, Stupid Vanguard. First of all, this is a feint or a long-range diversion. Besides..." Cunningham smiled slyly, grabbed a ruler and pencil, and scribbled a few strokes on the chart table: "Have you ever thought about the performance of current reconnaissance aircraft?"

"What the hell?" War-weary and Vanguard pricked up their ears when they heard this.

"According to some intelligence reports - whether from us or Gibraltar, if I remember correctly, their reconnaissance planes come to conduct reconnaissance every seven or eight hours on average, right? And they only have one plane for each reconnaissance."

"Yeah...you mean, the Germans may not have brought enough reconnaissance planes?" When Yan Zhan heard the words of her old man, she, who had rich practical experience, instantly thought of something.

"Bingo~!" Cunningham snapped his fingers. "You guys should remember the tactical operation of the reconnaissance aircraft, right?"

"Remember, reconnaissance aircraft operate in units of reconnaissance sectors, and they have to ensure that the reconnaissance sector can be covered in one round trip - the radar search radius of a light reconnaissance aircraft is about 50 kilometers, and the width of the sector at the end of the round-trip reconnaissance radius is about 200 kilometers - this is also the distance between their two aircraft within a 1000-kilometer reconnaissance radius!" As his mind was opened, the avant-garde who had been obsessed with training for a long time came back to his senses in an instant.

"To ensure seamless reconnaissance, the two aircraft must be spaced at an angle of about fifteen degrees! Moreover, at a distance of five hundred to six hundred kilometers, the width in between must be at least one hundred kilometers - if we fly sideways, this width will be enough for us to 'drill' through!"

"Smart." Cunningham smiled and nodded, with an admiring look in his calm expression. "They are located to our north, so we are sailing west to 'intersect' their detection line. Even if we just rely on probability, we have a 50% chance of evading their detection, not to mention your two perception abilities. It shouldn't be too stressful to 'change formation' more than a hundred kilometers in advance, right?"

"Yeah! I see! This way we might be able to miss his reconnaissance fan and then surprise him!"

The Vanguard, which has always been frustrated by the range of aircraft carriers and missiles since its completion and commissioning, suddenly became excited and ready to fight.

It's a battleship after all! Even if the cannons can't be used, it's still the same to use missiles to fight the enemy!

"But do you think the Germans will deploy submarines here in advance?" He was war-weary or experienced, so he asked more cautiously, "It's night now, and our ability to sense submarines is not unlimited, right?"

"Indeed, we have to consider Lütjens' reconnaissance planes and Dönitz's deep-sea snipers at night, but... you and I, along with the vanguard, can at least guarantee a minimum search area for submarines, right?"

"As for the reconnaissance planes... We were only discovered at nine o'clock, and we are still within the maximum range of their reconnaissance planes - that is, the distance between Lütjens and us is about 800 kilometers." Cunningham smiled confidently, and glanced at his old woman with a little pride: "Besides, have you forgotten? Their reconnaissance cycle is at least eight hours apart!"

I just don’t know if Lütjens will move north... Cunningham is a little unsure, but there is nothing he can do.

In this complex mentality of being anxious yet expecting a miracle, the British Empire had to waste another few hours.

In the second half of the night, the waning moon hung high in the sky. The Allied fleets were arranged in two wheel-shaped formations, one in the south and one in the north, with the Warspite in the south and the Vanguard in the north.

One of them led two aircraft carriers and eight destroyers, personally leading the way to guard against submarines; the other led the remaining light carrier, three battleships, two missile-upgraded heavy cruisers, as well as four cruisers and sixteen destroyers, and formed a mighty flank in front of his own Lord Secretary of the Admiralty, ready to launch a missile attack at any time.