It was completely dark, and at last it was almost impossible to see anything on the surface of the sea, even if it was several kilometers away. In the darkening night, the entire German North Sea Fleet advanced in a southwesterly direction at a speed of 25 knots.

Rear Admiral Eric Bey stepped out of the bridge and onto the open deck on the port side. In the face of the bitter cold wind, he turned up the collar of his coat to cover his ears to keep warm, and under the distant gaze, the sea and sky in the distance were chaotic, and only the monotonous roar of the engine could be heard in his ears. As the vanguard, he was again ordered to lead the artillery formation to open the way. He already knew that the W fleet was not far northeast of Iceland, and he had a vague premonition that he might encounter the British tonight.

He secretly prayed in his heart that it was best not to collide with the British, and if he had to meet on a narrow road, he also hoped that the time would be a little later, and once he was entangled by the enemy tonight, he would not be able to complete the task of crossing the Iceland-Faroe Islands waterway at night, and tomorrow if it was discovered, the losses would be very large - everyone knows how fierce the carrier-based aircraft are today, and the warship of more than 60,000 tons was sent to the bottom of the sea by dozens of planes. If the fleet does not quickly break away from the enemy's air defense circle after dawn tomorrow, the entire North Sea Fleet will face an even more fierce air attack than today.

However, unlike Kumetz, who objected to Mashal's order to cross tonight as too dangerous, he believed that if Operation Tsunami was to succeed, it would have to be quickened, and that a day had been wasted in encircling the British cruisers, and that if another day was wasted, his side would only face more and more enemies.

Rear Admiral Hamilton, commander of the E fleet, gasped after receiving the report of the battle this afternoon—the German aircraft carriers and carrier-based aircraft were really a little undecent, so although he was ordered to move northeast and intercept the German fleet, he hoped that the meeting time would be best in the morning, and he wanted the carrier-based aircraft on his escort aircraft to cooperate with the land-based attack aircraft to maximize the effect, so he only used less than 13 knots to move slowly.

This good wish was completely shattered by 11 o'clock in the evening. Heading all the way to the southeast, the Newcastle (Southampton-class) light cruiser in the W Fleet of the German fleet was ordered to intercept three indistinct radar signatures.

"Is this the enemy's fleet?"

"Not necessarily, it could also be the echo burrs reflected by the waves, but ......," the professional non-commissioned officer reported with difficulty, "these bright spots are on the right flank (south side) of the fleet's existing course extension, and if we don't look at them, they will be let go if it is really an enemy fleet." ”

The captain and the first mate exchanged glances, reported the situation to the fleet commander, Rear Admiral Lewis, for decision, and called back two minutes later: "Continue to track, do not let go of all suspicious places." ”

Because the three escort aircraft carriers were sunk on the spot, and the escort aircraft carriers that were heavily damaged and paralyzed were finally sunk by Rear Admiral Lewis because they could not be saved, without the drag of these slow warships, and the damaged Mississippi was repaired urgently, and the speed was restored to 21 knots, so the maximum speed of the entire W fleet could reach 21 knots, and the Newcastle immediately sped up with a destroyer to investigate the situation.

They were not mistaken, the three radar signals belonged to the three capital ships of the German fleet's artillery formation: the Tirpitz, the Admiral Schell and the Lützov. At this moment, they were heading southwest, not realizing that the British warships had discovered them, and because the aircraft carrier group behind the shelling formation was 35 nautical miles away from the former, they did not detect the arrival of the British fleet.

After confirming the situation, the Newcastle chased all the way, and when the radar crew found a large number of radar signals, the route extension of the entire W fleet had unknowingly inserted into the German fleet and divided the aircraft carrier formation and the shelling formation into two sections, because the light points in the north were many and dense, and the radar signals in the south were few and farther away from the W fleet, plus Lewis knew that there was still his own E fleet waiting for the Germans in front of him, so he immediately ordered the fleet to turn 15 compass points to the left, preparing to seize the T-head formation.

At this moment, the Germans also spotted the British fleet, and the radar crew reported that the distance between the two pilot ships was less than 18 nautical miles, and it was getting closer, and Machar knew that the situation was serious: from the radar feedback, there were at least 5-6 signals of medium intensity. In order to avoid a direct hedge with the opposing fleet, he decisively ordered the formation to turn 15 compass points to the right.

At 12:24, the German aircraft carrier formation rushed to the front of the Scharnhorst suddenly issued a sharp explosion, the captain of the ship, Colonel Hintz, suddenly raised his head, only to see a flare suddenly burst out of the sky a little far away, brilliant, dazzling, dyed the dark sky into purple blue, the beautiful light curtain against the water surface jumping and splashing waves, when the flare slowly fell, the shadow of the Scharnhorst inhabiting in the valley of the waves stretched slender.

"Enemy ships!" The lookout officer aboard the Newcastle shouted loudly, and although the north-westerly wind made it difficult to observe, he seized the opportunity of the dazzling light of the flare to cut through the night for a moment, and saw the Scharnhorst. A few minutes later, Colonel Hintz noticed a series of flashes to the south, and the 356mm guns on the battleship Idaho opened fire, and the shells flew over the main mast of the Scharnhorst, landing more than 1,000 meters away.

The first rangefinder of the "29,000 meters" was turned on and worked, and the non-commissioned officer immediately reported the approximate data.

"Right rudder 15 degrees!" Hintz gave the rudder order, and then shouted, "Prepare to shoot!" ”

A moment later, the Scharnhorst immediately turned to the right flank, while the main and auxiliary guns raised their muzzles and turned to the port side, and the gunners shouted: "Aim at the target!" Aim for the target! ”

A minute later, reporting that everything was ready, Hintz shouted, "Fire!" ”

When the Scharnhorst leapt from the valley on the port side, the 283mm guns spewed out orange fireballs, and white gunpowder smoke rose from the deck, which was blown by the northwest wind and then scurried in all directions. After the ship returned fire, another batch of shells fell more than 800 meters on the port side in front of the ship, blowing up several water columns several tens of meters high.

After the "26,700 meters ......" observation non-commissioned officer read this distance, all the staff officers felt their hearts tremble, judging from the whistling sound of the shells and the column of water stirred up by the landing point, this is at least the effect of 14-inch main gun fire - it was a battleship that fired the gun, and the battleship could not go so far in just one minute, so there were at least two battleships of this class on the opposite side. This view is also supported by the report of the radar soldiers.

The 356mm caliber guns were obviously not something that the Scharnhorst could withstand, not to mention that the enemy still had 2 ships, and Captain Hintz no longer tried to return fire, but again ordered the warship to turn 15 degrees to the right and sent a signal for help.

Machar, who was in command in the rear, had learned the whole situation, and was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot, and hurriedly issued a series of orders: "The course of the aircraft carrier formation turns to the north, the speed is increased to 30 knots, and the maximum speed is disengaged; The destroyer covered the S-boat to launch a torpedo attack on the enemy, pinned down the enemy, and covered the bow of the Scharnhorst; Inform Major General Bei of the shelling formation and ask him to return to the aid immediately! ”

Hearing the sound of artillery from behind, coupled with the telegram from the flagship, Major General Bei also knew that the situation was urgent, and immediately ordered the formation to turn around and return to reinforcements, and the tall Tirpitz made a 180-degree turn in place and headed in the direction from which it came.

Up to this point, the Germans had not yet understood that the shelling of the American battleships was guided by the radar of the USS Newcastle, so both the judgment of the landing point and the analysis of the position of the enemy ships were faster than the Germans, and the Scharnhorst could not interfere much with the W fleet by concealing its own gun flare by not firing back, while the Newcastle, which was closer, was ignored by the Scharnhorst because it had not fired. Colonel Hintz only felt that the shells of the enemy warships were flashing more and more densely, and the position of the shells from the ship was becoming more and more accurate, and because they were forced to slow down when turning, the distance between the two American battleships and the Scharnhorst had now been reduced to less than 25,000 meters, and the nearest Newcastle was not even 18,000 meters.

At 12:48 p.m., a group of near-misses landed around the Scharnhorst, setting off rows of white and swaying water columns, and half a minute later, a shell hit the mainmast, the top of the mast was blown off, and steel fragments rained down on the superstructure. The mainmast shook violently, like a tall palm tree suddenly hit by a typhoon, and the radar screen was gray.

"This is not a battleship shell!" Vice Admiral Kumetz, who was stationed aboard the Scharnhorst, exclaimed, "Otherwise it wouldn't be this power." This time he guessed correctly, the shell just now was not fired by the battleship, but a 152mm shell fired by the Newcastle, just 15,000 meters away.

The radar suddenly lost its effect, the Scharnhorst became blind, and the officers and men of the whole ship were all afraid, for fear that the next salvo of enemy shells would fall on the warship, but they did not dare to slip away desperately - the Scharnhorst was the most powerful warship in the entire aircraft carrier formation, and the aircraft carriers and other light cruisers behind were trying to turn around and retreat, and they had to buy time, once the British rushed in, they were afraid that the warships behind would not survive.

Therefore, although the enemy's artillery fire came round by round, the Scharnhorst could not just slip away, and could only continue to deal with the British fleet.

"Kill the nearest enemy cruiser first!" Hintz was determined to ignore the battleship behind him, and just vented his anger on the Newcastle, which was closest to the ship and had been firing cold guns, and two minutes later, the 283mm guns fired a salvo at the Newcastle. (To be continued.) )