Kuznetsov's statement, of course, was not exactly bragging in front of the leader, and the Red Army's Black Sea Fleet still had strong strength at this time. In the heyday of the pre-war period, the fleet organization mainly consisted of 1 battleship, 7 cruisers, 3 destroyers, 13 destroyers, and nearly 300 other frigates, gunboats, minesweepers, torpedo boats, and submarines. After nearly a year and a half of fighting, especially after the defeat in the battle for Crimea and the loss of Sevastopol, the Black Sea Fleet was greatly weakened, but until November 1942 it still had a considerable strength of 1 battleship, 4 cruisers, 1 destroyer, 7 destroyers, and nearly 100 other auxiliary ships.

The battleship was the Paris Commune (Gangut-class battleship, an old dreadnought of the 1911s, inferior to Strasbourg, but stronger than the Oceans and Condorcet). The cruiser includes three classes, one is the Maxim-Gorky-class cruiser, Molotov (entered service in June 1941, with a standard displacement of 8,200 tons, and the main gun is three triple 180mm/57 times caliber guns); the second is 1 Kirov-class cruiser, Voroshilov (entered service in June 1940, with a standard displacement of 7,800 tons, and the main gun is the same as Molotov); the third is 2 Svetlana-class cruisers, the Red Caucasus and the Red Crimean (an old ship in the 1920s, with a standard displacement of 7,600 tons and four single-mounted 180mm caliber guns as the main gun), and the Red Ukraine of the same class has been sunk; Destroyer 1 serial Ninggrad-class Kharkov (entered service in August 1938, standard displacement 2000 tons. The main guns are 5 single-mounted 130mm caliber guns), and the Moskva of the same class has been sunk.

Although these capital ships were not as strong as the German fleet, which had just arrived in the Black Sea, they took into account the numerous supporting ships and newer cruisers. Vice Admiral Oktya Borsky, commander of the Black Sea Fleet of the Red Navy, considered himself not without the strength of a battle, standing in the command tower of the flagship Paris Commune and looking into the distance, he secretly clenched his fists: Come on, fascists. Due to the loss of Crimea and Sevastopol, the fleet could only support a few ports in the Caucasus, and morale was relatively low, and the current battle on the Eastern Front was focused on the battle of Uranus on the southern flank. Even Comrade Stalin, who was most fond of the cannons of huge ships, had no time to take care of the affairs of the fleet. Any relevant supplies, supplies, and air cover had been transferred to several army groups on the southern flank, and the Black River Fleet had received very limited attention. This is why, when he received a telegram from Moscow, he firmly replied that he could fight. He set a more realistic goal for the fleet: he hoped to sink a number of opposing ships in a head-on confrontation and then retreat, as long as this would greatly boost morale.

Gangfeng Hunting. The weather in November was cold enough even in the Black Sea, and Crank, who led the fleet to complete the replenishment, stood on the foredeck of the flagship Dunkirk and tried to look out over the surrounding waters, except for the warships he brought with him (a total of 19 warships, 2 of which were supply ships. The main ones that can fight are 17 ships. Among them, 1 battle cruiser, 2 old battleships, 4 heavy cruisers, 2 light cruisers, and 8 destroyers), the Romanians also sent the only 4 destroyers in relatively good condition to join the column, and together with 8 German destroyers, they could be organized into 2 destroyers.

The Romanians were undoubtedly the most jubilant at the arrival of the German navy, although the war against the Soviet Union had been a great deal. But the Red Navy fleet in the Black Sea was always strong, even as Germany sent all kinds of light ships and submarines over the Danube to participate in the war. The Romanian navy was still at a disadvantage, and Marshal Antonescu was overjoyed to hear that the Führer had sent a support fleet to the battle.

"Raising the flag......" Major General Cranke gave the order.

The war against the Soviet Union was about to start, of course, he could not fly the flag of Greece, a "neutral country", let alone raise the flag of the German Navy, because the signboard of Greece would still be used in the future, and he also had a Greek official document on him, which stated that he would lease the fleet to Romania for three months -- after the victory, the Führer still expected to take back the capital ships, and how to both strike at the Russians and prevaricate the Turks at that time became the key. The Romanians did not gain nothing, in addition to hoping that the German fleet could help eliminate the main force of the Red Navy and the Black Sea Fleet and consolidate Romania's maritime superiority, Hoffmann also promised to give them 2 ships, the first choice was the two old ships of the Ocean and Condorsay. Although both ships have a history of 30 years, they are still at the level of 20,000 tons, and Romania originally only had a few destroyers and gunboats, but if there were these two warships, the total tonnage of the navy would be doubled at once, and it would also make the naval commander, whose highest military rank is marshal, more worthy of the name, and satisfy their vanity. As for the age of the warship, it depends on who it is compared with, don't the Russians also use the old battleship of the Paris Commune? Didn't the Turks still treat the Goeben as a treasure? The thought that in the future the Romanian Navy will be the boss of the Black Sea domain makes the hearts of all Romanians burn. In order to obtain this preferential condition, Romania promised to be responsible for the full supply of the fleet and send destroyers to cooperate in the operation, and sent an additional 500,000 tons of crude oil.

Just as the combined German-Romanian fleet was advancing deep into the Black Sea, the naval aviation led by Richthofen was also prepared accordingly.

"Report to the chief, fleet aviation is ready, request to take off ......"

"Very well, the Navy command has sent a Black Sea task force to fight, are you already familiar with our ships? Don't make a mistake then, they're all French, remember, the Romanian flag is flying today. ”

The pilots all laughed unseriously, as did the trio of Japanese advisers.

"This is the first actual combat of my naval aviation, and I hope you will win the battle." Richthofen waved his hand, "According to Operational Order No. 1, prepare to go." ”

With the waving of the red flag of the conning tower, the reconnaissance plane took the lead.

When the war entered 1942, the reconnaissance planes carried by the fleet were still equipped with Ar196 water reconnaissance planes five years ago, and the speed of this reconnaissance aircraft was only 310 km/h, and the range was only 1,100 km. Richthofen finally gave up the use of these water reconnaissance after comprehensive consideration, and finally used a Ju-87 with no bombs to carry out the reconnaissance duty. This is also the reason why the Navy is so enthusiastic about the Bf-119, which has a range of 1,600 kilometers -- even if it cannot be turned into a carrier-based fighter, it must be transformed into a two-seat reconnaissance aircraft.

Okunomiya couldn't help laughing, and said seriously: "Sir, let's go back and let us send the drawings of the Zero type water reconnaissance or the second type of ship reconnaissance, it's a bit of a waste to use a dive bomber as a reconnaissance aircraft." ”

"I thought about it, I will use the two-seater version of the Bf-119, and if I hang an auxiliary fuel tank for him, even the Mediterranean Sea can go sideways." Richthofen said solemnly, "The Atlantic Ocean is windy and rough, and it is more troublesome to recover it with a reconnaissance plane." ”

In fact, with the big bathtub of the Black Sea, it is completely possible to skip reconnaissance and release the planes directly, because as long as the Red Army fleet dares to come out, the overall concealment will not be possible at all, and you can see it by searching for a few planes on the way. However, from the point of view of the standardization of aircraft carrier operations, the first priority is to release the reconnaissance planes first, especially the lessons about the reconnaissance planes in the Battle of Midway are even more profound, so that Richthofen does not dare to be careless at all.

As a result, the Battle of the Black Sea, which did not exist in history, had a different meaning from the beginning: for the Red Navy, it was a key battle to boost morale and strike at the enemy; For the German army, it was a key battle to train the team and master aircraft carrier operations.

Four "reconnaissance" planes took off in a row, and each of them searched according to a 15-degree fan, and measured by the standard of the Ju-87's maximum speed of 410 km / h, one hour was enough to sweep the relevant sea area.

All the pilots are nervously waiting for the news, more nervous than them is the supporting ground crew, they will wait for the steel plate to simulate the scene of lifting the aircraft, integrated loading, although the previous exercise all passed smoothly, but after all, there is still a gap between the exercise and the actual combat, everyone is completely bottomless. The results of the reconnaissance are of great significance for what kind of ammunition the attack aircraft carries: if the Red Navy fleet leaves the port, then bring more torpedoes; If the enemy does not leave the port, then carry bombs to attack Russian ports in the Caucasus.

After the reconnaissance planes took off, six Me-155s simulating fleet cover-up aircraft began to take to the air -- although the base was equipped with an anti-aircraft radar, and the simulated base of the aircraft carrier deck made of steel plates was not at all afraid of bombing, Richthofen still operated according to the standard specifications.

After 47 minutes, after a long wait, the first reconnaissance plane finally sent a telegram:

"It is reported that the main forces of the Black Sea Fleet of the Red Army have sailed out of the port, counting 1 large ship, 4 medium ships, and nearly 20 small ships, with a course of 260 degrees and a speed of about 17 knots......"

After checking the coordinates and directions, Richthofen was overjoyed: "Okay, the Red Army has come to meet it, the distance between the two sides is currently 370 kilometers, all of them have it, according to the No. 2 instruction, set off ......"

Except for the 8 Ju-87s carrying bombs, the rest of the aircraft ground crews hung up aviation torpedoes on them, and they would line up over the deck and pounce on the opponents, while the Bf-109Ts, who were responsible for the heavy cover, set off last, and these sad short-legged planes fought in this bathtub in the Black Sea and even hung an auxiliary fuel tank.

Watching Richthofen issue orders one by one, Jizaburo Ozawa couldn't help it: "This ...... Sir, this is the job of an aviation commander, not yours, I mean...... You are playing the role of the commander of the aircraft carrier formation, and you should command the operation in the command tower, and the aviation commander will give you advice on how to fight. (To be continued.) )