Sandwiched between Greenland and Iceland, the Danish Strait is only about 180 nautical miles at its narrowest point

In the northwestern direction of Greenland, there are large icebergs and countless small mountains of ice floes floating on the sea.

Close to the Icelandic side, the British occupation followed the deployment of vast minefields along the coast.

Ice floes and minefields take up almost half of the width of the strait, making the otherwise modest strait even more congested.

As the sky grew darker and darker, Lütjans issued an order to the whole fleet to prepare for battle, and at the same time ordered all ships to be as careful as possible to avoid colliding with ice floes and mines.

The sky is getting darker and the vision is getting worse.

The battle between the Lützov and the Admiral Schell in pursuit of the British cruisers was also becoming more and more difficult.

The two armored ships fired three salvos each, and then abandoned this waste of shells.

You can't see each other, you can only judge the distance by the fire control radar, and the hull is still in the firing conditions of a violent sine wave movement, if you want to hit two erratic heavy cruisers, the probability is comparable to buying a lottery to win the jackpot.

The two heavy cruisers, the Suffolk and the Norfolk, did not fire a single shot, but only used the night to play hide and seek with the enemy on the opposite side, and sent each other's every move to the headquarters by the way.

The night at the high latitudes came unusually late, but it was coming.

At about two o'clock in the morning, the sun finally completely set the sea level, and the night obscured the sky and the vast sea.

Chen Dao hurried back from the communication room and handed the telegram in his hand to Lu Teyans.

"The Scharnhorst and the Gneisenau are on their way to the predetermined sea, and it will take at least eight hours to arrive, and everything else is ready."

"At least eight hours? Why Does It Take So Long? It is likely that they will not be able to meet today's decisive battle and can only be used as reinforcements. Ruttejens looked at the telegram in his hand with a calm face.

The engine room of the Scharnhorst malfunctioned, resulting in a sharp reduction in speed.

Although the fault has been eliminated, it has been delayed for a full four hours.

"In the last three months, they can be said to have been fighting continuously, and the maintenance has not been able to keep up, and it is reasonable for the ships to break down, and we cannot blame them." Chen Dao said.

"They couldn't get there in time. We'll use them as surprise soldiers, and maybe they'll work better, but we'll be under more pressure. Ruetjance squinted, not knowing what he was thinking.

"You are the commander of the fleet. Everything is at your command, as long as you can lead the fleet to victory. It's just that I'm not worried about the fact that the Shane twin ships won't be able to arrive, I'm worried about the weather. Chen Dao looked at the dark night and said.

"Why the weather?" Lu Teyans asked puzzled.

Chen Dao pointed to the rough sea outside and said, "This kind of weather, and this kind of sea conditions. As the commander of naval aviation, I am saddened that the planes on the Zeppelin could not take off, and in this decisive battle, the naval aviation became a spectator. ”

Lütjans smiled for a rare time.

"The outcome of the battlefield is still decided by the big ships and huge guns, at least this decisive battle."

To the southeast of the German High Seas Fleet, about a hundred nautical miles, the Home Fleet of the British Royal Navy is rapidly approaching the southern entrance to the Danish Channel.

In the war room of the battleship Nelson. Sir Somerville and his staff gathered around the charts.

A staff officer of a major marked the speed and course of the German High Seas Fleet on a chart with a compass and a ruler, and then marked the speed and bearing of his own fleet.

After some calculations, the staff officer said: "The interception course is about 290 degrees, and in three hours at most, we will encounter the enemy." ”

Somerville silently counted the time, and then said: "Three hours later it should be 5:15, the sky is not bright enough, the view is not good enough, the Germans are likely to use the cover of the sky to flee the battlefield and recalculate the course and speed." Push back the encounter time by an hour. ”

The navigating officer wielded the compass and ruler and worked quickly on the chart, quickly changing the meeting point of the two routes on the chart.

"The heading is 275 degrees, the speed is 26 knots." said the staff officer.

Somerville glanced at the chart. Said lightly: "Order the fleet to turn." ”

Somerville pressed his hands on the table, controlled his body to offset the shift in the center of gravity caused by the Nelson's turn, and asked, "Where are the Prestige and the Hood?" ”

"The radar room reports that they have caught the Prestige and the Hood on the radar, and they will be able to join our fleet in a maximum of an hour."

Somerville subconsciously touched his heart.

That's great. These two battlecruisers, although not as protective as the George V-class battleships, carried fourteen fifteen-inch guns.

To deal with the battleships Bismarck and Tirpitz, the fifteen-inch cannon was certainly more advantageous than the fourteen-inch naval gun on the George V-class battleship.

Somerville silently calculated the ratio of forces between the two sides.

If the message from the heavy cruisers Norfolk and Suffolk is accurate, the Royal Navy has a numerical advantage in cruisers and destroyers.

The sixteen-inch, fifteen-inch, and fourteen-inch naval guns on the Nelson, the Prince of Wales, the Prestige, and the Hood were combined, making a total of thirty-three.

The combination of two battleships of the opposing side and fifteen-inch and eleven-inch naval guns on two armored ships made a total of twenty-eight guns.

The Royal Navy had an absolute superiority in firepower.

In this battle, it is necessary to kill at least half of the warships of the Germans, and then chase the other half.

If he wins this battle, he will become the second Nelson of the British Empire and will leave a glorious page in the history of the British Empire and even the world.

Somerville was infinitely obsessed with the glorious scene of his triumphant victory, and the communication room mercilessly threw a bad news on his head, pulling him back from heaven to earth in an instant.

"Report, a telegram was sent from the USS Suffolk, and the German High Seas Fleet disappeared from the radar and its whereabouts are unknown."

They lost their target? It turned out to be at such a decisive moment!

Somerville was furious and said in a deep voice: "If they want to do whatever it takes, they must find the German High Seas Fleet again, immediately, immediately." ”

The Suffolk and Norfolk also knew that they had made a big mistake, and after receiving Somerville's instructions, they immediately divided their troops and frantically searched in the direction of the disappearance of the German High Seas Fleet.

If the German High Seas Fleet failed to intercept and allow them to enter the Atlantic to join the Italian Navy, it would be fatal to the British sea lines.

If the German High Seas Fleet could not be found, they would also be subject to a harsh trial by a military tribunal.

Hard work pays off. Under strong psychological pressure, the search for the Norfolk and the Suffolk finally came to fruition.

The communications rooms of the two warships managed to intercept a constant radio wave in the southwest, in the direction in which the German High Seas Fleet had disappeared.

Two heavy cruisers turned their bows. Cheers leaped in the direction of the radio signal, and about ten minutes later, a cheer was heard from the radar room.

Joy quickly radioed aboard the Nelson, and Somerville's furrowed brow dissipated once more.

No sooner had the battlecruisers Prestige and Hood joined the queue than the whereabouts of the German High Seas Fleet were found. He was one of the lucky ones to be favored by God.

His eyes fell on the end of the telegram, and a smile appeared on Somerville's lips.

What could be the reason why the German High Seas Fleet slowed down and traveled at a speed of only about eighteen knots?

Could it be that which ship broke down and slowed down the fleet?

Somerville thought about it, and only this reason could explain it.

In any case, it was a good thing for the Germans to slow down, and without speed, Somerville glanced at the slightly brighter sky.

It was going to dawn soon, there was no speed, no night to cover. See where the Germans are running?

Adjutant Captain Thatch brought Somerville a steaming cup of coffee, to his customary taste, without sugar.

With a sip of hot bitter coffee, Somerville felt his spirits lifted.

Somerville issued a new order to change course and speed, and the fleet immediately changed direction to ensure that it would encounter the German High Seas Fleet when the sky was completely bright.

The light outside the bridge was brighter, and Somerville soon noticed that the waves were much smaller and the battleship Nelson was less turbulent.

"The weather is no longer so bad, ask the aircraft carrier Dreadnought, can you send a reconnaissance plane to take off?" Somerville said.

Rear of the fleet. The USS Dreadnought soon sent a call back, and the weather was bad and the plane could not take off.

"It's a pity, if only there was the help of aviation. It would be easier to exterminate the Germans. Captain Thatch said.

"There's no pity, our aircraft carriers won't work, and the Germans' aircraft carriers will also be scrapped because of the weather, and we're leveling it out. Even if there are aircraft carriers, it doesn't make much sense, and the victory or defeat of the naval battle will still be decided by the big ships and huge guns. Somerville said.

The radar room sent the report just right. Ship signals were spotted about twenty nautical miles to the northwest.

Under the guidance of radar waves, the ships of the home fleet were like a pack of hungry wolves, spitting black smoke into the sky and rushing westward.

On the Prinz Eugen, the sound of the sirens almost pierced a person's eardrum.

Chen Dao and Lu Teyans stood solemnly on the bridge, looking forward to the port side of the ship.

Through radar, they learned the location of the British home fleet almost simultaneously.

"The Z17 and Z18 have escorted the Zeppelin out of the fleet, so we can fight the British without being distracted by protecting it." Lütjans said.

Chen Daomo nodded silently, and then said: "The British will appear soon, raise the flag." ”

Lütjans was stunned for a moment, and then gave the order with a smile in his eyes.

Five or six minutes later, a black flag was raised on the main masts of all the ships of the German High Seas Fleet

In the center of the black flag is a chilling skull with exposed fangs, and underneath the skull is a pair of crossed swords.

Chen Dao stared at the pirate flag fluttering in the wind on the mast, and said with satisfaction: "This is the flag of the ancestors of the British, and this flag will witness the fall of an old empire and the rise of a new empire at the same time. ”

As soon as Chen Dao's voice fell, the phone suddenly rang.

Colonel Brinkmann, the captain of the Prinz Eugen, picked up the phone.

"I'm the bridge."

He listened and repeated: "Black smoke was found on the port side, about fifteen nautical miles away. ”

Ten minutes later, a group of ship shadows appeared on the endless line dividing the sea and sky.

Putting down the binoculars, Lütjans shouted loudly: "Course 220 degrees, seize the T-shaped position, target, Hood, fire." ”

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1/2 (To be continued.) )