The night was deep, the sky was like ink, the thick and heavy black clouds obscured the stars and the moon, and soon it began to rain in a continuous autumn. However, in Wilhelmshaven, the combat readiness of the German naval officers and men did not stop in the slightest. Technical non-commissioned officers and engineers carefully inspect each warship to ensure that every piece of equipment is in good standby condition. Hundreds of ground crews are braving the rain to resupply warships; Under the bright light of the street lamps, their tired faces and mud-stained clothes condensed into a awe-inspiring picture.

Fang Yan stood on the pier with an umbrella and looked at the majestic and majestic ship in front of him with an excited expression: after four months of intense training, the battleship Bismarck finally returned from the Baltic Sea and came to the core of Wilhelmshaven of the German Navy. Although it was dark at this time, and it was impossible to distinguish her specific posture, even if it was just a black shadow outline, it made Fang Yan's blood surge and pride. At both ends of the thick and majestic bridge are the majestic three triple 450mm main gun turrets; And with her center, even if the three British battle cruisers appear together, her unparalleled giant cannon cluster can make the long-cherished enemy have no return!

"It's really a fascinating battleship. Beautiful, elegant, shocking, powerful, I really want to marry her as my wife. "Herman standing beside Fang Yan? Lieutenant General Bo Mei spoke softly, his voice full of softness and intoxication. For any old man who came from the era of the High Seas Fleet with huge cannons, this is currently the largest and strongest battleship in the world, and it is the most precious treasure in their hearts. At this moment, Bo Mei just saw her outline, and an unshakable belief in victory had already emerged in his heart!

Hearing Bo Mei's words, Fang Yan, who was originally excited, couldn't help but feel a little weird. His brows twitched slightly, and he said quietly: "General, this time we are only temporarily using the Bismarck, which has better communication capabilities, as the flagship. After the Elbe exercises, we will still move to the aircraft carrier. Other than that. The personnel of this battleship has not yet been fully run-in, which may affect her performance in actual combat. If it weren't for the fact that the situation really needed it, I think we should use her with caution, and it would be better not to let her go out of the cover of the carrier-based aircraft of the aircraft carrier and go to the depths of the Atlantic Ocean to carry out a solo operation. ”

Bo Mei glanced at his chief of staff, as if he was quite dissatisfied with the way the aviation faction disturbed his feelings, and he did not say anything more, but went straight to the side escalator where the battleship had been placed on the dock. A few minutes later, a compact deck space appeared in front of Bomay's eyes. In addition to the stacked upper bridge and the mountain-like triple guns, the deck was densely packed with twin 128-mm high-level dual-purpose guns, quadruple 40-mm long-barreled anti-aircraft guns, and single-mounted 20mm anti-aircraft guns. A detachment of sailors with rifles on their shoulders happened to be patrolling here, and they immediately gave a respectful military salute to the commander of the fleet in front of them.

"Jonas. You go and count the replenishment of the ships in the fleet, and report to me in the navigation room in an hour. Bo Mei said lightly, and it seemed normal to assign the corresponding task to Fang Yan, who followed him to the ship. However, Fang Yan, who has worked with the former for more than four years, is like a mirror to his boss's plan: he must take the opportunity to inspect the whole ship and experience the amazing style of the world's first ship. Fang Yan secretly rolled his eyes in his heart, but he calmly accepted Bo Mei's assignment, after all, the things he gave him were also the basic information that he had to master.

Lights flicker, telecommunications spread. Fang Yan, who is in a new environment, is still efficient enough on the front; In a short time, he had already drawn up a complete and intuitive table based on the relevant reports sent back by the ships. It was the same situation as Fang Yan expected. The ships were replenished before Schwinnigg announced the battle order to the public. At present, their oil depots are almost full, and all that remains is ammunition and daily supplies. Fang Yan, who had reached this conclusion, breathed a sigh of relief, and at the same time felt irrepressible joy in his heart. With the exploitation of Libyan oil fields, the German Navy no longer has to worry about the need for fuel in the event of a large-scale sea trip!

While counting the supply situation of each ship, Fang Yan was concerned about the aircraft carrier. It also sent a special telegram to inquire about the carrier-based aircraft of the five aircraft carriers. Among them, two large aircraft carriers, Zeppelin and Richthofen, were loaded with 48 fighters and 72 torpedo bombers, respectively; The three small aircraft carriers of Hipper, Blucher and Seydlitz carried 24 fighters and 36 torpedo bombers respectively. This time, the elite of the German navy apparently poured out of the nest in order to bring the British back to the negotiating table with a wave of cruises.

Towards 10 o'clock in the evening, the ground staff who had worked the dock finally called it a day. Perhaps it was Bomay's deliberate arrangement, Fang Yan and Colonel Lindemann, the captain of the Bismarck, were on duty in the navigation room that night. And through coffee, duties, and corresponding exchanges, both sides have a preliminary friendship and trust with each other. At the age of 45, Lindemann's talent was unquestionable to command the Bismarck, a jewel and pride of the German Navy. And Fang Yan also relied on his solid professional skills and shining insight into the current naval battle, so that the big-eared man in front of him awe-inspiring put away any contempt for Fang Yan because of his age.

In the early hours of the morning, the silent harbor was suddenly broken by the sudden sound of the internal combustion engine, but there was nothing unusual in Fang Yan's expressions; They knew that this was the beginning of the voyage of the submarine moored in the harbor. Since the surface speed of submarines was much lower than that of warships, they went to sea almost two days earlier than surface warships. Under the cover of darkness, no one seemed to know what ferocious evil the German Navy had unleashed that night; But Fang Yan understood that a large wave of vicious wolves that were killing the British shipping line were already on the way to hunt at this time.

In this plane, although the German Navy focused on the operation of aviation and surface ships, Dönitz's submarine force was still in a cold situation; However, Fang Yan helped the Wolf King build an underwater force that was better than history through the improvement of the production process.

Through the use of the hull segmented manufacturing, the final assembly of the assembly line-like production method, as well as the use of a large number of standardized module technology, the surface displacement of 750 tons of Type VII submarine successfully reduced the cost by 3%, and its average price per ton is even cheaper than the cheapest aircraft carrier hull. Today, Dönitz has 60 of these standard submarines, more than twice as many troops as ever in the Atlantic. Although Dönitz can only guarantee that there are less than 15 submarines in the Atlantic Ocean at any time due to the fact that submarines travel to and from the war zone and daily maintenance shifts, this number is enough for him to implement the wolf pack tactics that he has been planning for many years!

The early morning sun illuminates the ship buildings in Wilhelmshaven, and the hustle and bustle of the naval base once again descends on the naval base. Dozens of submarines in the berths have indeed disappeared, and several camouflaged supply ships loaded with fuel and food and fresh water have also ceased to exist. Since he had no illusions about the outbreak of war this time, Fang Yan stayed on the Bismarck, constantly receiving the latest news about the weather in the North Sea, quietly waiting for the time to go to sea.

On the morning of August 21, the replenishment of the fleet was completed. Fang Yan's Bismarck's draft has increased to 10.8 meters, and the ship's full load displacement of 53,400 tons at this time is far from being matched by any capital ship in the world today. Eight large heavy oil boilers began to catch fire, and a sharp whistle sounded in the harbor. At this time, there was no grand ceremony, no crowd of farewells, only a fiery red battle flag hunting in the wind, showing the arrogance and firm determination of the 21,000 officers and men of the fleet!

"There is a heavy fog in the Jutland Sea, and the visibility is less than five thousand meters, so the fleet is ordered to leave the port immediately!" At about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, Bo Mei, who received the latest weather report, immediately made a decision and chose to start the action in advance. This did not come as a surprise to him, as the North Sea was already known for its foggy navy, with a visual distance of less than 6,000 kilometers for 300 days a year. In fact, this was another advantage for the German fleet to quickly break through into the Norwegian Sea; Sailing in dense fog obviously greatly increases the probability that the fleet will not be detected.

With the triple command of the Bismarck's signal lights, communication flags, and radios, all warships belonging to the ocean-going fleet immediately went into action. One by one, the anchor chains were wrenched out of the water, and the ships immediately left their berths in an orderly manner and slowly accelerated towards the outside of the military port. The 239-meter-long Bismarck, despite its unprecedented size, does not look clumsy at all; Between the reversal of the turbine, she quickly broke away from the confines of the berth and stepped proudly into the vast deep blue. Fang Yan in the navigation room turned his head to look at the port land that was gradually moving away, and his thoughts surged, and he suddenly realized the unique feeling when his bald head left the mainland.

Soon after leaving the continental shelf, the fog on the surface of the sea really became thicker. In order to ensure that all warships could still be commanded by the radio silence, the German fleet formed a huddle formation in close proximity and began to gallop north at a high speed of 28 knots. The radars of the ships on the periphery are fully turned on to detect possible unknown ships in the vicinity. Under Fang Yan's advance layout, the performance of the German Navy's naval radar at this time has been significantly improved compared with the same period in history: not only the detection range reaches 25km, but its accuracy can also judge whether the target is a large ship or a small ship. Although it is still a little difficult to use it for naval gun fire control, at the moment, they are already an important trump card in Fang Yan's hands. (To be continued.) )