The sky dimmed, and the distant horizon quickly became blurred, and the bow of the 48,000-ton Hood stirred up waves that swept over the two former main turrets. More than 40 British ships around follow like wings, splitting silver-white waterfalls on the sea surface, looking down from the air, like a blade and a long sword splitting waves and speeding forward, the momentum is vast, and it looks extremely spectacular and dazzling.

Cole clenched his fists excitedly, still a little hard to believe what his voyage had just passed. For the past two hours, the British fleet had been closing in on the enemy, but the German planes had not patronized their own skies at all, as if their aircraft carriers had been enveloped by strong winds and waves. But Cole knew that this time Lady Luck did not favor him. According to the report from the Cape Horn weather station, the Danish Strait was only slightly misty this afternoon, and although visibility was somewhat lacking, it was definitely not to the point where planes were grounded!

"The landing conditions for aircraft carriers, carrier-based aircraft and seaplanes are completely different." Looking at the delighted faces of his subordinates, Tovey smiled and explained, "Since the seaplane can float on the sea, it is just a matter of casually plunging down next to the mothership and waiting for it to be recovered by the crane. But the recovery conditions of carrier-based aircraft are much harsher. They had to land on the deck of an aircraft carrier with a limited area, and the heavier the aircraft, the more difficult and laborious it was to land. Once the vision deteriorates, the pilot will panic because the fuel is running out, and it is extremely easy to cause disaster. ”

"According to the Royal Navy's past experience with carrier-based aircraft, all planes should have landed one hour before it was completely dark. Considering that our planes were still light Swordfish and gladiators, there was no reason for the Germans' metal monoplanes to stay in the air longer. ”

Tovey's tone was calm, and a glimmer of memories of past glory flashed in his eyes. He paused for a moment and said with a determined expression: "Therefore, the German plane will definitely return ahead of schedule." As long as the intelligence of our troops' dispatch is not leaked, it is impossible for the Germans to deliberately pay attention to the area where we are located at such a point in time. ”

Cole nodded excitedly, full of endless respect for the commander in front of him. With such a sparse hand in hand, Tovey created and seized the perfect opportunity to turn the game around, even if Nelson was reborn, and he would have done nothing more than that. Seeing that Tovey seemed to be in a good mood, Cole took the opportunity to raise the last doubt in his heart: "General, according to the information we have, the main battleships of the Germans are equipped with radar, and they can still effectively detect the surrounding area at night. If they choose to retreat at high speed after discovering our army, how can our army counter? Almost all of their surface ships can drive at speeds of more than 30 knots. ”

Tovey's face was a little serious, and he said slowly: "The Germans turned to evacuation and it was impossible to stop it. But it always takes some time for them to detect the presence of our warship group and turn to evacuate when they react. And the goal of our army is not to completely annihilate the enemy, but only to concentrate fire on the aircraft carriers of the Germans! Although night artillery is more difficult, the target also lacks the ability to withstand large-caliber shells, and the enemy will not be able to escape with just a few hits. ”

Cole was still worried in his heart, but when he saw that the staff officers around him were eager to try, he closed his mouth with a solemn expression.

Cole does not know much about the use of aircraft carriers, but in the field of gunnery, he has worked from loader to battle cruiser captain, but he is not weaker than anyone in the Royal Navy. It is extremely difficult to measure both distance and angle in artillery battles at night, not to mention the need to observe the landing point of the shells and correct the firing parameters, and the overall hit rate is not guaranteed at all. Even if the accompanying warship turns on its searchlight, the work efficiency of the command instrument is far from being comparable with that of daytime, and the final firing parameters given will inevitably deviate, and the slightest error in the firing parameters will lead to the shells landing in the opposite direction.

In addition, Cole also faced an embarrassing element, that is, although the Hood under his command was outwardly known as the first British warship, its internal fire control equipment was outdated. Due to the late completion time, the Hood has never received the opportunity to be refurbished on a large scale, and the rangefinders, fire consoles and other equipment carried on the warship are still products of the 20s, and their accuracy and degree of automation are not as good as those of the latter, especially when the light is poor. For tonight's battle, the 8 381mm guns that this giant ship is proud of have lost a big step in terms of hit rate.

Seeing the face of his subordinate who couldn't hide his emotions, Tovey admonished with some displeasure: "Don't think too much. Any worries will affect our decision, and we should fight with our military instincts! Plus, tonight wasn't as difficult as you might think. You ignore that we have a reinforcement force that is enough to deliver a fatal blow to the target on the way of the Germans' escape. ”

As night fell, the British fleet, after more than three hours of galloping, finally reached the waters west of Iceland at the exit of the Danish Channel. There are few stars in the sky, and a light moon looms in the clouds, and visibility is extremely limited. The lights flickered on the Hood, and the command fleet began to change formation, and in the sound of machinery humming, the four heavy cruisers searched for the dark depths as if the stars were scattered, like fingers spreading.

Tovey sat on the bridge of the navigation ship and waited for news from the communication room. For today's operation, his heavy cruisers were equipped with sea-detection radars, and whenever the German fleet appeared at the end of the strait, it would inevitably be detected. The waves crashed and danced, and the horizontal swaying of the warship tormented the hearts of the British like a pendulum. After about an hour and a half, the silence around him was suddenly interrupted by the screeching of electric bells, and Tovey jumped up like a spring, took a deep breath, and strode over to the telephone, which was only for the fleet commander.

"Reported, an encrypted message has been detected from a west-southwest direction at a distance of approximately 11 km." In the Bismarck's radar room, an adjutant pushed the door in and reported the news to Kars. The burly commander nodded, and his gruesome face was a little depressed in the dim light, and then turned fierce and hideous.

Twenty minutes earlier, Bismarck's radar had spotted the target 18 kilometers away, and Lindemann had preliminarily determined that it was a British cruiser patrolling the Danish Strait. In order not to surprise the snake and expose the information that his own fleet had already been dispatched, Kars decided to fight with his opponent and go to the side. However, to his surprise, the other party quickly turned to follow him. In order not to alert the merchant prey in the North Atlantic, Kars has endured it, only hoping that the other party will drive to his side by coincidence. But now, the other party has used an encrypted telegram to directly destroy Kars's hope for the best outcome.

"This was supposed to be a heavy cruiser for the British. Ordinary light patrols do not have such expensive equipment as radar, not to mention that the target is still very timely and can detect us at a long distance. Lindemann judged.

Kars snorted coldly: "I admire the courage of this British captain, but he must pay for it. Did he really think that he could be so unscrupulous at night that he would be alone near a well-lined fleet? Now that we've been discovered, we have nothing to hide. The two ships Z16 and Z17 were ordered to turn on the searchlights to the target direction after 2 minutes. The battlefleet is ready to fire, and this time it is just the right time to test the results of the night combat training of the gunners! ”

As soon as this order was given, the corresponding officers and men of the Bismarck immediately entered the first level of combat readiness in the alarm, and the three main turrets rotated in a low voice, preliminarily pointing to the predetermined direction according to the radar parameters. Inside the turret, super-heavy high-explosive shells are pushed into the deep chamber by the bomb loser, followed by up to 310 kilograms of fired gunpowder. The machinery retreated, the bolts locked, and the 140-ton Krupp cannon was slightly raised, driven by the hydraulic system, and pointed into the dark night sky in the distance.

After a short time, the pitch-black sea surface was suddenly pierced by several brilliant golden rays, and the two German super destroyers turned on their searchlights, and the light was instantly transmitted to ten kilometers away. A slender gray shadow was faintly outlined, and the German officers and soldiers, who had been prepared for a long time, immediately threw themselves into the rangefinder and used the fire console to calculate the target and their own movement data. Due to the lack of light, the image is blurry and distorted, and many readings and setting values need to be manually processed, Otto, the gun commander, carefully observed all the operations of his subordinates, stared at the scope and said loudly: "The rangefinder corrects the left 40 minutes, the distance correction is +700, and the 500 pitch echelon fire!" ”

"Boom!" An earth-shattering roar resounded like divine thunder. A group of more than 100 meters long burst out of front of Bismarck's A main turret, instantly illuminating the surrounding thousands of meters of night sky. Less than ten seconds later, the other two main guns in the turret also opened fire, and from the towering central fire control room, it looked like a cloud was rushing and a volcano was erupting.

The magnificent muzzle fire of the German battleship had not completely dissipated, and huge pillars had risen in the distant sea. Otto looked intently and saw that the target was covering the small half of the corner of the third water column, which meant that his azimuth correction had paid off, and the next step was to further confirm the distance. As three more shells whistled out, this data quickly became clear: thanks to the astonishing size of the water column provoked by the 450-mm shells, the German sailors could clearly distinguish whether a near or far shot was falling about 10 kilometers away, even in poor light!

"The second round of the main gun fired a half-salvo, the azimuth 37 was 20 to the right, and the elevation angle was 6 degrees 45!" Otto shouted orders into the microphone, and his voice was full of confidence in the commander's shooting parameters. After three rounds of echelon shots, he has basically locked on his opponent, and the next step is to really deal damage. Although the target is now turning to escape, the own destroyer has already firmly stuck to it with a searchlight; Otto is confident enough to cripple his target before it slips away!