Since the "walrus" can fly over the enemy's fleet, there is no reason to doubt the "swordfish", "skuas" and "large mackerel", which are no less powerful. Therefore, under the protection of the two teams of "pipe nose weeds," three combat planes named after various strange animals completed their assembly over the British fleet, and then pounced on the sea to the southeast in two waves that were not too far apart.

The carrier-based aircraft group carried out the attack rain or shine, and this spectacular scene made the veterans full of pride. Although the start was not smooth, the battle situation seemed to be showing in a good direction, even though the German battleships had strong air defense capabilities, these British officers thought to themselves, this time it will be impossible to escape! Recalling the naval and air battle in the waters northwest of Scotland a year ago, hundreds of bombers could not sink even a single German warship, and the British officers and men were all disappointed in the performance of the air force. On the surface, the bombing accuracy of the British aviation units involved in the war was so low that all the British people were ashamed, but when they reviewed it after the battle, the British senior commanders realized that they had made a very important mistake, that is, the 6-base bombers, especially the heavy bombers, were not suitable to deal with the high-moving fleet at all! On the contrary, those naval aircraft that do not have an advantage in range and bomb load can pose a greater threat to enemy ships with effective tactics! This theory was soon brought to life in the Battle of Taranto, in which the British navy crushed the Italian navy's wilderness in the Mediterranean

Of course, Taranto's victory was largely due to the suddenness of the air raids and the negligence of the Italians, and this time the situation was different, the Germans could rely on shipborne radars to give early warning, and at the same time their ships were able to evade it on the sea. Because of this, Tovey and his "senior staff committee" put forward a not too high requirement for the carrier-based aircraft force sent this time: to delay the retreat of the German fleet until the main battleships of the British fleet caught up!

The group of attack aircraft finally disappeared from sight and stood in the spacious upper command room of the "Queen Elizabeth". Watching the view on the sea gradually become clearer, the fleet commander John. Lieutenant General Tovey still frowned, and the endless rain** seemed to cast a thin veil over the sea, making it impossible to see what the end of the sea was like: optimistic, pessimistic, or both.

"It can be imagined. If the German Navy loses two Scharnhorst-class battleships, their surface fleet will not be able to threaten our sea routes until the Bismarck is out of trouble and the Tirpitz is completed and commissioned! As soon as we only had to face the threat of German submarines, we could break the naval blockade of the Germans with a tight maritime escort system! ”

Joe. General Parkin's words are not only optimistic, but also analytically well-founded, and in the last war, a tight escort system has proven to be an effective way to deal with unrestricted submarine warfare. Although submarine technology has made some progress over the past 20 years, the technological development of naval anti-submarine and aviation anti-submarine technology is more than enough to offset the slight advantage achieved by the former. On the other hand, the sinking of the sister ship Scharnhorst was bound to deal a heavy blow to the German Navy and indeed to the confidence of Germany as a whole in the war. From the perspective of the overall situation of the war, the significance of the annihilation of the "Scharnhorst" and "Gneisenau" is extremely important.

One would have thought that Tovey would remain silent because of his personality. Until the last moment he would not praise the triumphant, but he spoke, but what he said gave a different feeling:

"For several months, the German sea yoke had suffocated us, so both the peace and wartime cabinets and the admirals were now desperate to turn the tide with this important victory!"

"We need a win so badly!" Tovey's last sentence was noticeably heavier.

Joe. General Parkin replied without hesitation: "Of course, we need this victory." Far more than the Germans! ”

At this time, the senior officers standing around all agreed with their heads.

"If Lord Nelson had lost the Battle of Trafalgar, the history of England and Europe would have been rewritten. At that moment, he was the only one who could stop Napoleon's march into England, and now. We must stop the Germans from dominating Europe with the same determination! ”

For British naval officers and enlisted men. Almost every little story about Nelson is familiar, but few people get bored by it. On the contrary, this magical name always boosts the morale of officers and soldiers. Trafalgar...... Trafalgar ...... "Tovey whispered the geographical term. He suddenly raised his head and looked at the generals beside him, "The Germans are also very familiar with the story of Trafalgar!" ”

This question seemed to have nothing to do with the previous conversation, and the generals, who were full of pride and longing, were stunned for a moment, and they suddenly did not know how to answer this seemingly simple question, perhaps, the question itself had no answer.

Tovey shook his head, and walked out of the command room under the strange eyes of the generals—not to the cabin, but to the open bridge. The floor looked slippery after days of rain, but Tovey walked over and turned to look at the sea in front of him.

After a while, the admirals felt unable to decipher the strange behavior of the fleet commander, and did not bother to pay any attention to him, and they gathered together to discuss the next move, which was what they were good at and were keen on.

About thirty minutes later, the appearance of a plane made the entire fleet nervous, but it soon became a "revenge" fighter with a radio that appeared to be malfunctioning, making it impossible for the aircraft carrier to make contact with the pilots above. After a while, guided by light signals, it landed smoothly on its own mothership "Glorious". What people received from the nervous pilot was not a report of a malfunction of the radio communicator, but a shocking piece of news: the pilot had appeared on the surface of the sea about 160 nautical miles southeast of the fleet a large aircraft carrier painted with the Iron Cross logo. Zeppelin!

In fact, the surprise did not stop there, and from the mouth of the nervous and tired pilot, their previous experience was full of drama and adventure: if he had not been attacked by two German Messerschmitt fighters first, he would not have appeared on the German aircraft carrier on the surface of the sea while the plane was in haste to dodge, but the bullets of the German fighters also damaged his announcer, and the news was delayed for nearly forty minutes before it was transmitted back to the fleet!

People were curious to inspect the "Pipe Nose Weed" fighter and found more than 20 bullet holes in its fuselage, but fortunately none of them hit the cockpit or fuel tank. In connection with the fact that this carrier-based fighter, which is inferior to the BF-109T of the Germans in both absolute degree and maneuverability, it is even more fortunate to be able to escape in a situation where one enemy is two.

The news brought by the lucky pilots was not so lucky, and by the time the fleet commander and his staff team on the "Queen Elizabeth" got the news, the group that had gone to attack the two German battleships had already left the fleet for half an hour, and as long as there were no mistakes in the course, they should be able to see the two German battleships in a few minutes! Tovey's staff officer calculated the direction reported by the pilot, and everyone was shocked at the first time: the German aircraft carrier was 40 nautical miles northwest of the sister ship Scharnhorst, which meant that the German carrier-based aircraft could go to support in a very short time!

The second time they got the news, the staff officers unanimously calculated their own fleet and "Graf. The various situations encountered by the "Zeppelin" carrier-based aircraft group -- because of the uncertainty of the specific number of carrier-based aircraft and the tactics adopted by the German heavy aircraft carriers, the three situations of equal numbers of enemy and enemy, strength and weakness of the enemy, and strength of the enemy and weakness were all taken into account, and it was soon proposed to send additional carrier-based fighters to reinforce them.

This time, before the senior staff officers reached a relatively unanimous opinion through discussion, Tovey immediately instructed the adjutant: "Inform the aircraft carriers that the second group of sortie aircraft will change their targets and concentrate on attacking the new German aircraft carriers!" ”

The words are sonorous and unquestionable. Although this order does not mention the first group of attack aircraft to attack in advance, the meaning is quite obvious: attack as planned!

Instead of turning around and running away in front of enemy ships or even being chased and beaten by the opposing fighters, it is better to bravely attack forward. Although the rear is safe, retreating will be a serious blow to confidence; Although the future is full of unknowns, courage and determination may bring unexpected surprises.

Soon, the fleet began to receive radio communications from the fighters in front, and the rapid sound confirmed their encounter with the enemy aircraft!

"I can't see how many enemy planes there are, I think there are 15 to 20! Fighter squadrons take cover, and bombers continue to look for targets! ”

The pilot of the lead plane escorting the fighter appeared to be trying to control the situation. "Rush up and don't let them get close to our bombers!" The voice seemed very bold.

Then, the radio signals came and went, sometimes the pilots of the long planes saw the reports of the stitches, sometimes they were noisy, irregular noises, and finally ...... The pilot's plane was hit, "the plane lost control, I was going to parachute, command was handed over to Captain Tom......"

The officers standing around the radio communicator, some sighed, some prayed, some hurriedly recorded and prepared to report up, but on the whole, everything was in order, which was diametrically opposed to the fierce air battle that exploded over the sea at this time. There, the 12 "Pipenose Weeds" were quite struggling to face the Mercedes-Schmidt BF-109T, which outnumbered them, and a team of "Skuas" bravely rushed up to support them, trying to buy time for the "Swordfish" and "Big Mackerel" to continue to search for and attack the two "big fish" on the surface of the sea.