In the drizzling rain, the British crew watched the last "big mackerel" take off. Some people waved their hats in the rain, but many more just watched silently, and the short farewell contained mixed emotions.

When people retracted their gaze, they noticed that the flight decks of the three aircraft carriers in the fleet had become empty. The 36 carrier-based crews formed a new attack group, and with the first wave of 33 carrier-based aircraft, 69 combat aircraft of various types had already left the fleet to attack the German fleet, plus the fighter squadrons that carried out patrol and alert missions over the fleet, and only one-third of the total number of aircraft remained in the hangars of the three aircraft carriers.

The continuous rain continued to wash the spacious flight deck of the aircraft carrier, and with the efforts of the crew, it was not long before several planes were raised from the hangar to the deck by elevator, and after about a quarter of an hour, several fighters in charge of vigilance and patrol landed, and the busy and orderly scene made people feel more steady.

The distance to the nearest French coast is far greater than the combat radius of the BF-109 and Stuka J-87, the main forces of German 6-base combat aircraft, while the German fleet currently has only one aircraft carrier among the ships operating in the Atlantic. In this case, the British really did not have to worry too much about enemy air raids on their fleet. In their opinion, the greatest threat still came from beneath the surface, and for this reason, the fleet was equipped with a full 27 destroyers, about one-third of the total number of destroyers in the entire British home fleet at that time, and most of them were the elite of British light ships at present!

The British seem to have learned the hard lesson of the Battle of the Celtic Sea this time, and therefore did not disperse their forces again. The destroyers of the whole four squadrons set up a tight escort formation around the four battleships and three aircraft carriers: the three destroyers of the class and the J class were the first, followed by the four battleships lined up in a column - "George V", "Queen Elizabeth", "Malaya" and "Prince of Wales", and 10 destroyers guarded the positions on their sides that were vulnerable to attack. Less than two nautical miles from the last battleship, the Prince of Wales, were three aircraft carriers in a "pin" formation, the "Fury," the "Glorious," and the "Victory," with two squadrons of Ground and Tribal destroyers deployed around them in a ring of defense, and four Class and H-class destroyers behind the entire fleet.

In addition, this large fleet included 4 heavy cruisers and 3 light cruisers, whose main task was to provide cover for the firepower of the core ships, especially anti-aircraft fire. Thereinto. The Dorset-class heavy cruiser "Norfolk", which had excellent performance, was deployed in the front of the entire fleet, and the "Dorsetshire" and "Exeter" guarded the two wings of the aircraft carrier formation on the left and right, and the Kent-class heavy cruiser "Kent", which had improved its defense and air defense capabilities through modernization before the war. As for the three modified air defense cruisers, they were all attached to the aircraft carrier formation.

In this way, the escort force of the entire fleet generally presents the characteristics of the new and the old, and the two wings are strong, and the intention of such a configuration is (.2.) Very obvious. Whether it was a German submarine or a bomber, it could be dealt with calmly. But as time went on, not a single German plane or submarine appeared around the fleet, and the calm of the place surprised and uneasy every Englishman compared to the fierce fighting more than a hundred nautical miles away.

As the first group of carrier-based planes returned home and came into people's field of vision, this kind of surprise and uneasiness finally became a reality -- only a dozen of the 33 carrier-based planes that had left the ground in a neat formation were able to return home, and the motive of one of them was even emitting gray smoke outward. The aircraft carrier crew quickly cleared out the deck. Sending the down-and-out fighters back to their motherships, some pilots look terrified, others very depressed. There were also several aircraft pilots who could not get out of the cabin on their own. The ambulance crew quickly carried the wounded away on stretchers, all of which made people unable to extricate themselves from the confusion caused by the brutal battle.

However, only a moment later, a surprising news quickly spread on the aircraft carrier "Fury": the bomber crew threw ** hit the German battleship "Gneisenau", and the large battleship, which had already been damaged, is now not in ruins!

At this time, on the "Queen Elizabeth", the solemn atmosphere was also swept away, and the officers looked worried. The two senior staff officers repeatedly asked the communications officer to confirm the news with the pilots of the Fury, and they were relieved to learn that at least four pilots had witnessed the ** hit the German ship "Gneisenau" and exploded violently.

One of them walked up to Tovey, "Oh, Honorable Commander, the situation is very favorable to us, we should continue to send carrier-based aircraft to attack the German fleet, this time the bombing is heavy." I think it should be kept on the Gneisenau! ”

Faced with a veteran general who is richer in age and qualifications than himself. Tovey wouldn't put on such a repulsive show. The good news just now did ease my mood a bit. He chucked slightly. "The fleet aviation really lived up to expectations. Their spirit of sacrifice is worthy of admiration. Trap the German fleet in this sea. It also grasped a soft underbelly of the Germans! They want to maintain the initiative on the ground at sea. Hitler needed a fleet from elsewhere. The German fleet now had only four capital ships. Lose one. There will be a big loss of combat effectiveness. With Germany's current shipbuilding capacity. The degree of replenishment is far from keeping up with the needs of the situation! ”

The old man was excited when he saw it. "That's right. Your Excellency, Honorable Commander! We must not miss this opportunity. Be sure to sink Gneisenau! Sink that damn Nazi battleship! ”

Obvious. The British Navy was not just concerned about the sinking of the Prestige and Nelson and the tragedy of the QB-32 fleet. The loss of reputation and confidence is greater than the mere fighting strength. has already risen to the point where enemies see each other and are very red-eyed.

Tovey did not respond to him directly. Instead, he asked lightly: "What is the biggest feature of the German battleship?" ”

The old man hesitated. "Precision-engineered and solidly defended!"

Tovey **** head. With a gloomy face, he said, "We can't guarantee that one or two more waves of attacks will be able to completely solve it." What's more, we have to deal with the Scharnhorst and the German aircraft carrier on the ground! On the one hand, we sank Gneisenau. On the other hand, German carrier-based aircraft blew up and sank our ground warship. The result is something that no one wants to see! ”

Hearing this, the old man also calmed down, and he thought for a moment, "I hope our second group of attack planes can find the Zeppelin and sink it smoothly!" ”

A wry smile squeezed out of Tovey's mouth, the rigor of the Germans is world-renowned, and it is not easy to get the word "smooth" from them.

Just as the officers were estimating that the second group of carrier-based aircraft had almost arrived at the position of the German aircraft carriers, the fleet received a report from the pilot carrier-based aircraft, which was normally to be kept silent after take-off in order to ensure the suddenness of the attack. The pilot will not report the battle situation to the mothership until the current target is attacked, but the current situation is different.

"There are two warships on the sea, and they are preliminarily judged to be Germany's Deutschland-class pocket battleships! Their anti-aircraft guns fired, we must climb up! Are we going to look for and attack German aircraft carriers as originally planned, or are we going to attack them? There were no other ships around, only these two German battleships, repeating, there were only these two German battleships in the observation range! ”

There was some interference in the radio signal, but after repeating it twice, the communications officers could at least make sure that nothing was missing, and then they immediately reported the situation to the commander of the aircraft carrier formation command ship "Glory" and the fleet flagship "Queen Elizabeth".

There was nothing wrong with the report itself, but it amplified the already somewhat entangled sentiments of the fleet's top officers. The senior staff officers, led by Jugens, were indignantly accusing the intelligence services of making a very fatal mistake in the movement of the German fleet: these people had invested huge manpower and material resources for a long time, but they were played by the Germans, and their intelligence even misled the command of the home fleet that was difficult to ignore. First the Scharnhorst, then the Zeppelin, and now suddenly a pair of pocket battleships, all the German ships that weren't supposed to be here in the early intelligence were like wings. As this continued, people began to worry that the Bismarck, the most powerful force of the German Navy, would also appear in this sea area, and the results of reconnaissance by the intelligence services from many sides and angles determined that the heavy battleship had been trapped in the Normandy dock at Saint-Nazaire.

At the same time, a more pragmatic group of senior officers was engaged in heated discussions about the true intentions of the Germans. Normally, admirals would concentrate their forces and use them together, and they would make a fist with their fingers, but now the Germans, far from doing so, seem to be trying to spread their forces as much as possible, and considering that the limited carrier-based aircraft of the British fleet were already quite difficult to deal with two targets, it was obviously not a good idea to continue to divide the forces. Theoretically speaking, the combat effectiveness of the British George V-class is comparable to that of the German Bismarck-class, and it is not a problem to deal with the Scharnhorst class, and the "Queen Elizabeth" and the "Malaya" are more than enough to deal with two pocket battleships, but those German ships are all fast guys. Unless they lose their sailing due to combat damage and other malfunctions, these British capital ships will not be able to catch up at all!

After ordering the second group of carrier-based aircraft units to still search for the attack on the German aircraft carrier as originally planned, Tovey walked to the side alone, looking at the windy and windy sea, he couldn't help but ask in his mind: "What is he thinking?" What exactly is his goal? ”