London, 23 April. ±，

A motorcycle roared through the streets, squeaked and braked in a nice flick, and stopped in front of the Admiralty office building.

The telegram in the hands of the riders was quickly sent to the commander of the British Home Fleet, Admiral Forbes.

Sir Pound, First Sea Lord of the Admiralty, followed him into the war room, and the two walked to the chart on the west wall of his office.

Admiral Forbes pointed to the charts with a pencil and said: "The telegram is from the port of Gdynia, where the four capital ships of the German High Seas Fleet have all left. ”

Sir Pound continued: "I have here a telegram from MI6 that their spy service in Sweden has discovered that the German fleet has sailed through the Malmö Sea and has entered the Kattegat Strait. In addition to the ships that had already passed through the strait yesterday, the main forces of the German High Seas Fleet had already made all sorties, trying to break through our blockade and enter the Atlantic. ”

Admiral Forbes's clear face was full of worry, and yesterday morning, the armored ships Lützov and Admiral Schell, as well as the heavy cruisers Admiral Hipper and Blucher, of the German High Seas Fleet, had entered the Kattegat Strait, and their exact whereabouts were unknown.

Today, four more capital ships of the German Navy entered the Kattegat Strait, and it was clear that the German Navy wanted to carry out an unprecedented major operation to side the Italian Navy, which was fighting in the North Atlantic.

Admiral Forbes shared his worries with Sir Pound, who was equally worried.

"The main force of our home fleet has been attracted away by the Italian fleet, and with our current strength, I am afraid it will be difficult to blockade them, do you have any suggestions?"

"We now only have three capital ships, the USS Dreadnought, the battleship Nelson and the battleship HMS Prince of Wales, at our disposal. The Prince of Wales was completed at the end of last month. The commissioning and training have not yet been completed. Combat effectiveness is limited.

Moreover, there were at least four possible routes for the Germans, Pentland Bay, Fair Island, the east or west side of the Faroe Islands, and a detour north of Iceland through the Danish Channel into the Atlantic. ”

Admiral Forbes marked points on the chart with a pencil, pointing out to Sir Pound the possible routes of the German navy.

"I know it's impossible to blockade them with the forces we have, and we have to deal with them according to our predetermined plan. But in any case, you have to find them first. There are warships, submarines and reconnaissance planes capable of sorties, and at all costs, they must be found. Sir Pound's tone was unmistakable.

Admiral Forbes has no objections.

The news of the main attack of the German High Seas Fleet was quickly delivered to 10 Downing Street, and it was Sir Pound himself.

"It was an operation that was as important as the Battle of Jutland in the summer of 1916. Tell Admiral Forbes that I firmly believe that with the strength of the Royal Navy and his art of command, the German High Seas Fleet can be inflicted on and even annihilated, and I await you to send me the good news of victory. Churchill said.

Churchill's attention put Britain's war machine running at full capacity.

First, the heavy cruisers Norfolk and Suffolk were added to the Danish Strait, followed by three light cruisers, the Arisius, Birmingham and Manchester, to patrol the waters between the Faroe Islands and Iceland.

The Royal Navy was on the verge of a formidable enemy. Chen Dao and Lu Teyans ended a short but leisurely journey.

At dawn on April 24, after a two-day voyage. The fleet under the command of Chen Dao and Lütjans quietly sailed into the heavily guarded Colesfjord.

The Coles Fjord, located south of the Norwegian port of Bergen, was filled with dense fog at this time, providing the best shelter for the arrival of the four warships.

On the shores around the fjord, the Luftwaffe deployed three battalions of anti-aircraft guns, with a total of thirty-six 88-mm anti-aircraft guns, seventy-two Bofors 40-mm anti-aircraft guns, and seventy-two Gatling 20-mm anti-aircraft guns.

The anti-aircraft gunners stared at the sky with fierce eyes, and any enemy aircraft that tried to break into the skies over the fjord would be torn to shreds by them without mercy.

During the day, radio waves intertwined and shuttled through the atmosphere, and three telegrams were successively sent to Chen Dao and Lu Teyansi by the communications corps.

The first telegram came from the port of Bergen, not far to the north, and the detachment had been replenished twice and was ready to attack;

The second telegram came from the naval command, the Italian fleet and the Shane ships were constantly harassing the main force of the British Royal Navy in the North Atlantic, and departing part of their forces to intercept the opposing transport ships, and the main force of the other side could not return for the time being, and the number of capital ships of the British Royal Navy's home fleet did not change significantly.

The third telegram was the most critical, there would still be foggy weather for the next two days, which could cover the operations of the High Seas Fleet.

"Tell the crew to rest for a while, and we'll move after dark." Lütjans said.

"Is there any news from General Dönitz?" Chen Dao asked.

Rütjans was about to speak, when a shrill siren suddenly sounded from outside the bridge.

The dense fog was followed by the sound of dense anti-aircraft artillery fire, and the two of them raised their eyes, and through the dense fog, they could vaguely see the fire shining on the shore.

"In this kind of weather, will the British reconnaissance planes also come out to reconnoitre?" Chen Dao looked up into the air and pricked up his ears at the same time.

Sure enough, there was a faint roar of aircraft engines outside, but there was no trace of the plane, and the dense fog and dark clouds were too eye-catching.

Five or six minutes later, calm returned to the fjord, and Chen Dao soon learned that a British reconnaissance plane that had rushed into the fog had been shot down and crashed on the hillside on the eastern side of the fjord.

Rutteyans still had a thoughtful look on his face.

"It seems that the British already knew about our existence, otherwise that reconnaissance plane would not have risked its life to fly here."

Lütjans's guess was very accurate, and Admiral Forbes soon received a reconnaissance report in the British Admiralty building.

"This is a reconnaissance report from the K176 reconnaissance plane, and four warships of the German Navy were found in the Körsfjord, south of Bergen, one of which was an aircraft carrier. That should be what we're looking for. "A captain's staff officer handed the telegram to Admiral Forbes.

"Order K176 to continue the investigation. It's best to take pictures back. Admiral Forbes said.

"We have lost contact with K176. The information just now was the last message he sent back. The captain replied.

Admiral Forbes silently glanced up at the night outside the window, and then said: "After dawn, immediately send additional reconnaissance planes to patrol the west coast of Bergen Harbor, and the scope of reconnaissance is as large as possible." ”

At 8:50 p.m. that night, Chen Dao and Lu Teyansi woke up from a nap in their respective cabins and rushed to the bridge one after another.

The horn on the Prinz Eugen immediately made an announcement to the entire crew to take their seats. The ship immediately pulled anchor and set sail.

The sleeping and napping crew jumped out of their beds and rushed to their respective posts, and the various departments of the entire warship were running in an orderly manner like a machine.

Beams of passphrases and semaphore lights flew around the deck.

The thick anchor chains retracted into the hull one by one, dragging the wet iron anchors out of the water.

The propeller spun rapidly, stirring the water, propelling the massive hull to move slowly, following the Bismarck into the fog.

As they sailed north out of Colesfjord and off the coast of Bergen Harbour, a group of huge shadows joined the fleet and continued north around the Prinz Eugen.

A night voyage is not unimpeded. From time to time, the escorting destroyers spotted suspected submarine targets around the fleet and launched attacks.

The sound of depth charges rang off intermittently throughout the night. It didn't stop until dawn.

In the early morning of 25 April, a British reconnaissance plane rushed out of the tumbling dark clouds and pounced on the fleet, following the German High Seas Fleet in the face of extremely poor visibility.

The antiaircraft gunners of the High Seas Fleet did not let go of this "good intention" that automatically acted as a target plane, and the raindrops of shells flew into the sky, and a large area of gray gunpowder smoke appeared in the white mist, encircling the reconnaissance plane.

The 20-millimeter anti-aircraft shells dragged the electric light to the enemy plane little by little, and soon had a series of close contacts with the reconnaissance plane, so that the "good Samaritan" threw himself into the arms of the sea.

When Admiral Forbes received the report that the reconnaissance plane had exchanged his life for his life and sent the reconnaissance plane to fly over the former battlefield again, all he saw was endless dark clouds and dense fog, as well as the vast sea, and the main force of the German High Seas Fleet had long since disappeared.

Although losing the target, Admiral Forbes did not lose heart.

In Scapa Bay, the home fleet quickly attacked.

Sir Somerville as commander, HMS Nelson as flagship, HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Dreadnought, sailed westward under the escort of four cruisers and seven destroyers.

On the bridge of the Nelson, Sir Somerville's mind raced to sketch out the charts of the vicinity.

According to Admiral Forbes's speculation, the German High Seas Fleet sailed north along the west coast of Norway, most likely in an attempt to detour north of Iceland and enter the Atlantic Ocean through the Danish Strait.

His current mission was to lead his troops directly into Iceland and the southern seas, waiting for an opportunity to intercept the German High Seas Fleet.

Now that the German fleet is out, don't think about going back, the time has come to avenge the Mediterranean Fleet and the H Fleet.

Somerville swooped down on the Danish Channel with great ambition, but the German High Seas Fleet ran into minor trouble.

After a day's sailing, in the early hours of 26 April, the German High Seas Fleet crossed the Arctic Circle and turned west to the north coast of Iceland.

At this time, black clouds seem to be pressing on the sea at zero distance, and the storm carries raindrops and snowflakes from the sky to the sea.

Sleet crackled against the glass of the bridge of the Prinz Eugen, and the 212-metre-long hull jolted and undulated in the grey sea, splitting waves and bypassing dangerous ice floes.

As far as the eye can see, visibility at this time is only more than one nautical mile at most, and definitely no more than two nautical miles.

In the bridge, Chen Dao and Colonel Brinkmann, the captain of the Prinz Eugen, formed a circle, and his body followed the sine wave movement of the ship while studying the enemy situation with a cigar in his mouth.

"The radar shows that there is a British ** ship about sixteen nautical miles to the west of us, and there is another one at a position of eighteen nautical miles, which must be a British patrol ship." Colonel Brinkman guessed.

"They're definitely not capital ships, can you find a way to take them out?" Chen Dao asked.

"Visibility is too poor for blind fire from fire control radars alone, and I have sent the Lützov and Admiral Scheer to hunt them down, but there is little hope." Lütjans said.

In the western waters of the German High Seas Fleet, the British Royal Navy heavy cruisers Suffolk and Norfolk patrol side by side.

This is already the northern entrance to the Danish Strait in the northwest of Iceland.

To the west of the strait are rolling icebergs, and to the east are vast fog.

On the bridge of the Norfolk, the lookouts sat at their posts, staring at the fog to the east.

A report came from the radar room that a fleet was approaching from the east, and the captain immediately ordered all lookouts to concentrate on observing the east.

The turbulent waves hit the bridge glass from time to time, blocking the sight of the lookouts, but they could not extinguish the ** in the hearts of the lookouts.

The captain had already explained that the main forces of the German High Seas Fleet had made a collective sortie this time, and two of the battleships were armed with powerful fifteen-inch naval guns, which could hit them at a distance of fifteen nautical miles.

With the body of more than 10,000 tons of the Norfolk, after two or three shots, he could take the entire crew to the arms of the Sea Emperor Poseidon.

What's more, now that the radar room has discovered the traces of the other party, the ship and the lives of the nearly 700 people on board are all in the hands of these lookouts.

The lookouts soon received orders from the captain that two enemy ships were approaching quickly, and that they should brace themselves to find each other.

The captain commanded the ship to navigate the dense fog and ice floes, doing everything possible to avoid encounters with each other.

Visibility is so low that both sides can detect each other's presence with the help of radar, but they can't see each other.

In hide-and-seek, time flies by hour by hour.

As the sun sets, the western sea is covered with a layer of sunset afterglow, but the dense fog of the eastern sea turns to mist.

To the northeast, at the junction of sea and sky, two vague black dots quickly approached the Norfolk.

"Two enemy ships were spotted on the port side with a course of 220 degrees, about ten nautical miles away."

A frightened voice shouted, and all lookouts quickly looked to the port side.

"Release the smoke, fill the rudder on the right, turn around and retreat." The captain quickly gave the order.

With a beautiful turn, the Norfolk headed south of the Danish Channel, leaving only a cloud of smoke and a row of white columns of water.

Moments later, the Suffolk also spotted the German ** ship.

The radio waves then flew away from the Suffolk and into the British Admiralty building, as well as into the communications room of the Prinz Eugen.

After receiving the report, a small cheer rang out in the British Admiralty building.

On board the Prinz Eugen, there was a solemn atmosphere. Although they couldn't decipher the other party's code, thinking on their heels, Chen Dao and Lütjans also knew that the other party was reporting the location of the German High Seas Fleet.

"Sure enough, as we did in our wargames, the battle would take place as we crossed the Danish Channel, and the time would be about "

"The British certainly don't want to go to war with us in the night, and neither do we. I judge that the battle will start tomorrow morning, and we still have one night to deploy. Ruetjens said.

"I will immediately send a report to the country, so that they can cooperate and fight a decisive battle in the predetermined sea area tomorrow." Chen Dao said. (To be continued......)