Johnson's strategy was not clever, he knew that the performance of the Swordfish or the Great Mackerel was far inferior to that of the Bf-219, so he did not expect to rely on performance to break through the enemy's defenses, and his targeted strategy was to disperse, using his advantage of being more numerous than the Germans, to disband the dense formation into a swarm of flying bees.

This trick hit the soft underbelly of the Shelling Fleet's escort fighters - they were almost half as numerous as the enemy, and when they caught one British plane and opened heavy fire, it meant that another torpedo plane had broken through the blockade. Johnson's target was the Tirpitts, and although the Swordfish that were attacked by the Bf-219 were wiped out within 5 minutes, and some of the Swordfish that had broken through were shot down by the anti-aircraft fire from the warship, there were still 4 planes that approached the shelling formation and dropped 4 torpedoes directly at Tilpits. Captain Top's heart rose to his throat, and he shouted again and again to direct the warship to evade, but after trying his best, he still couldn't dodge it all, and a torpedo came straight to the ship's amidships.

"Shock Prepared......" shouted Colonel Top, closing his eyes in despair

With a loud bang, the torpedo slammed into the Tirpitz and exploded, leaving everyone on board with a shock, and Captain Toph almost cried. But after a few minutes, the expression of ecstasy returned to his face - the torpedo hit the underwater anti-torpedo protrusion at the amidships, and the thick armor belt blocked the power of the aviation torpedo. I don't know if the mines in the amidships are a tradition of the Bismarck-class: the Bismarck was hit by an aviation torpedo on the starboard side, and now it is the turn of the Tirpitz to hit one on the port side, but the result is the same, only minor damage! The amount of water ingress is very small, and the speed can still be maintained at the same level

"God willing, Tirpitz is safe and sound......," Major General Bey was shocked, "otherwise he would have jumped into the sea." ”

At 10:44 a.m., the entire British formation was sunk as the last Swordfish was wiped out by the Bf-219 - the first wave of British aircraft to be wiped out today, and the German escort fighters were not lost.

Half an hour passed, an hour passed, no enemy planes appeared in the sky again, and by the time the second group of support planes arrived, the entire artillery formation had finally completely relaxed, and the relaxed atmosphere had finally reappeared in the command tower.

"Admiral Richthofen has sent a message that he will send a torpedo boat to pick up the overboard pilot back to the mothership, hoping that we can arrange it as soon as possible."

"Let's make a run for our destroyers, they are smoother and safer than torpedo boats, and it is good for the pilots to have a good rest." Major General Pei advised, "It's all up to them today, maybe there will be a tough battle in the afternoon, and the pilots must rest well." ”

At this moment, the tense atmosphere in the aircraft carrier formation also tended to ease, and at the height of the battle in the morning, all the high-ranking cadres, including Machar and Richthofen, were sweating for the shelling formation, and then they were afraid that the aircraft carrier formation would also be exposed to enemy planes, and they kept trembling and walking on thin ice.

In view of the importance of the aircraft and the loss of the morning, the senior generals unanimously decided to immediately replenish the aircraft, all the reserve aircraft on the Zeppelin have been taken out for use, and now the Europa is in full swing, the engineers have cut the steel plates in special parts of the deck, and then use a crane to lift the parts of the Bf-219 from the bottom compartment, and they will assemble it as soon as possible and hand it over to the pilots who were shot down and narrowly escaped.

At the end of the day, everyone saw clearly the value of aircraft carriers and aircraft, and even the admirals who had previously insisted on the view of "giant ships and cannons" had to admit that if there were no cover from these dozens of Bf-219s, in the face of today's overwhelming air raids by the British army, the fate of the artillery bombardment formation or the Tirpitz would certainly not be good, and perhaps the mistake of the Bismarck would be repeated. Therefore, there is no longer any objection to the arrangement of the aircraft carrier instead of the Tirpitz to become the core of the fleet, and even the status of the pseudo-aircraft carrier Europa has risen with the tide. Everyone agreed that it was necessary to seize the time to restore the strength of the air force, and that the rescue of the pilots who had returned to the water was an important link, and that the assembly of the parts of the Bf-219 was a key link.

At the same time that the German fleet was preparing for battle, a storm was brewing in the Admiralty in London.

With a bang, Churchill slammed his fist on the table, "So, in this morning's engagement, not only did you not find the enemy's aircraft carrier, but you also failed to sink the Tirpitts - that's what you're trying to say?" ”

"I was reluctant to admit it, but that's how it turned out, we only wounded him." Pound reluctantly admitted.

"Why the hell is that? Fraser told me that he had sent a total of 160 planes, and that he had taken out all of Iceland and the Faroe Islands. Churchill was a little annoyed, "The enemy has wiped out the main force of the W Fleet in just one day and one night, why are we far inferior to them?" ”

"The Germans were covered by high-performance fighters, and the pilots generally reported that this kind of aircraft was not weak in maneuverability and firepower, and the key was that the time in the air was particularly long, easily breaking through 4 hours, and it was completely able to cope with our wheel battle."

"Strong? How strong? Stronger than Spitfire? ”

"It's basically the same as the Spitfire, the low-altitude performance is slightly better, but the time in the air is more than twice that of the Spitfire......," Tovey shrugged and spread his hands, "You know, the Spitfire is notoriously short legs, and it's exactly the same as the Bf-109, and now that the Germans have changed the Bf-219 en masse, apparently they're seeing this problem as well." ”

"We have to come up with a plane to compete with it as soon as possible, how about the latest Firefly?"

"No way!" Tovey shook his head, "The range and time in the air are roughly the same, and the firepower is about the same, but the maneuverability and speed are still slightly inferior. ”

"What good planes do the Americans have?"

"The only thing they can do at the moment is the F4F, which is our European swallow, and the Bf-219 is completely at a disadvantage." "Now it's not just the escort fighters that are the problem, it's the attack planes that are inferior - the biplanes are completely obsolete," Tovey pondered. In fact, when the Germans sent warships through the Strait of Dover a year ago, the 825th Squadron of the Naval Air Force was wiped out because of the Swordfish's underground performance, and we made the decision at that time that the Swordfish would no longer be responsible for torpedo attacks, but I don't know why this is still the case today. ”

Tovey vaguely accused Fraser of blind command, but Pound was well aware that it was Churchill's decision to "send all the planes that could be sent", so he could not allow this contradiction to continue, which would not only be detrimental to the unity of the navy, but also easy to damage the relationship between the prime minister and the navy. He immediately made a round: "This time the situation is special, because Iceland and the Faroe Islands have to make this decision due to the insufficient number of aircraft, and in the future, it will be clear that the Swordfish will only assume anti-submarine functions." ”

Churchill asked, "What about the big mackerel?" I remember that this aircraft was newer. ”

"It's basically about the same, if the swordfish is 30 points, the big mackerel is about 40 points, and it still fails."

"What are you going to do now?"

"The first is to equip the Barracuda attack aircraft on a large scale - it can both torpedo and dive bombing, and it is about the same speed as the Skua and much faster than the Swordfish or the Great Mackerel; The second is to equip all American aircraft, such as the Avenger attack aircraft. Tovey has clearly put a lot of effort into the aircraft, "The Barracuda was only equipped with the Royal Navy last month, and the number and capacity are seriously insufficient; Second, we need to ask the United States for more assistance, but at present, the sea lines are facing blockade or truncation, and we are afraid of ......"

Churchill waved his hand: "The Navy prepares a list of needs, and I will communicate with President Roosevelt -- this time it has lost so many escort aircraft carriers, and urgently needs the assistance of the Americans, and as for the Barracuda, raise his production priorities -- ensuring Atlantic shipping is the top priority of all work." ”

Pound and Tovey nodded silently.

"Where will the German fleet go now? Are you ready to go on the offensive in the afternoon? ”

"At the last moment, it was discovered that it was heading northwest, and it was predicted that the enemy fleet would probably break through the Danish Strait into the Atlantic, and as for the ...... of attack," Tovey said with a wry smile, "the losses in the morning were too great and too far away for us to continue the attack unless we could get strong support—at least not to let the swordfish or the mackerel go to their deaths." ”

Churchill was silent for a long time, and according to his original idea, even if the situation was unfavorable, he would continue to attack, because if the Germans lost one plane, there would be one less, and no amount of exchange could stop his determination to continue the offensive. But he couldn't ignore the opinion of most of the top brass of the navy, if too many pilots were killed this time, the backbone of the naval aviation would be broken, and even if he won this time, he couldn't see the future, he sighed and squeezed out a sentence with difficulty: "If we really go through the Danish Channel, will we have time to stop them?" ”

"I'm afraid it's difficult, only Fleet E is available now, and Fleet E is not strong enough, so ......"

"When will the Independence and Pennsylvania arrive?"

"It will take at least 2 days for Independence, and 4 days for the latter."

Churchill pondered for a long time, and finally made up his mind: "Keep a close eye on the German fleet, continue to organize air raids in the afternoon, and if the Germans hit one plane, there will be one less, and we have a steady stream of planes to replenish, and I will draw planes from the mainland to the navy...... Let the Royal Air Force attack, even heavy bombers can be used. ”

Pound and Tovey looked at each other, unable to speak for a long time, and could only nod mechanically.

"Report, Jan Mayen Island has just been attacked by German troops...... "An astonishing news came to the command.

"Where did they go?" Everyone was taken aback. (To be continued.) )