Further north of Germany's northern coastline lies the not so vast Baltic Sea. From here, www.biquge.info enters the Atlantic Ocean, passing through the Danish Strait, a narrow strip of land that is very easily blocked.

Germany had already occupied half of Poland, connected the Danzig Corridor, and managed to control almost the entire southern tip of the Baltic Sea.

At the same time, the Third Reich, which occupied Denmark, also controlled the strategic routes of the Baltic Sea to and from the Atlantic, and was able to easily transport the navy to the Netherlands and other Low Countries.

However, due to historical reasons, Germany's more advanced shipyards are still concentrated in the Baltic Sea, such as the huge Kiel military port.

It was in the Baltic Sea that Germany amassed its own fleet of size, which alarmed even the British.

The fleet included the aircraft carriers Zeppelin, the battleships Bismarck and Tirpitz, the battlecruiser Gneisenau, which had just been repaired, and the cruiser Prinz Eugen.

With such a powerful fleet, the home fleet of the British Navy felt unprecedented pressure. The German navy cautiously trained cruising in the Baltic Seas, and had no intention of challenging the British fleet for the time being.

Today, the weather is still bright, the German Navy is full of escort destroyers, and the Zeppelin aircraft carrier is undergoing a new round of carrier-based aircraft landing experiments.

What is different is that this time it was not the carrier-based fighter ME-109T, which was selected early on, but the new carrier-based FW-190T fighter that landed on the Zeppelin aircraft carrier!

Compared to the ME-109T, which is light but does not have good take-off and landing performance, the new Fokker naval fighter FW-190T has many of the iconic designs of the era's top carrier-based fighters.

Air-cooled engines are included, including more suitable landing gear. This FW-190T fighter is probably the most powerful carrier-based fighter of this era.

The FW-600T, which has a maximum speed of 190 kilometers per hour, is faster than the Japanese Zero and has more ferocious firepower, and this aircraft has almost no drawbacks other than the problem of slightly short legs.

Compared to the ME-109T fighters already in service, the FW-190T fighter has a slightly increased range - so the shortcomings of the FW-190T are not a problem at all for the German Navy.

"This time, I heard that the new fighter is a little more practical than the original?" On the deck of the USS Zeppelin, Commander Ruetjens asked Hines beside him with a smile.

When Hines said this, a smile was evident on his face: "Yes, the replacement sent by the Führer is much easier to maneuver than the ME-109T fighter." ”

As a commander of carrier-based aircraft, Hines was also a skilled aircraft pilot. He had just personally test-piloted the FW-190T fighter two days ago, and the landing performance was indeed much better than the previous ME-109T.

Because the first batch of valuable carrier-based aircraft pilots under his command were all trained with ME-109T fighters, it took a lot of effort to change to fly FW-190T fighters.

Yesterday, these pilots had just completed their landing on land, but each of them had completed all of the 10 landing drills at one time, and no one had any problems.

It's normal to think about it - the ME-109T fighter jet has landed on the deck of an aircraft carrier with a not very easy to handle fighter, and the more easily navigable FW-190T has landed on land, and there is no reason to fail, right?

Although the performance of the two types of aircraft is not exactly the same, the pilots who change to flight training are all carefully selected flight veterans in the Air Force, and their speed is naturally much faster.

Today was the first test landing of these pilots on an aircraft carrier, and the entire fleet was in good spirits.

Listening to Lütjans's question, Hines professionally explained the difference between the two aircraft: "The FW-190T fighter has a wider landing gear, and it is more stable when landing at sea. ”

At the time of this, the first FW-190T was already on the commanding orders and rushed to the deck of the USS Zeppelin.

Compared to the ME-109T fighter, the new FW-190T fighter weighs a little more. However, this problem does not affect the number of carrier-based aircraft carried by the Zeppelin aircraft carrier.

Because what restricts the carrying capacity of the Zeppelin aircraft carrier is the hangar and deck area, not the load limit of the aircraft carrier.

Now Germany has more advanced naval fighters than all British aircraft, and the combat capability of the aircraft carrier fleet is one level higher than that of British aircraft carriers.

The FW-190T fighter that landed on the experiment rushed to the deck of the aircraft carrier, slowed down on it, and soon hung the tail hook on the blocking cable on the deck of the aircraft carrier.

Because of the huge pulling force of the blocking cable, the FW-190T fighter stopped on the deck in an instant. The plane's engine stopped turning, and the pilot lifted his hatch from the inside.

"How?" The ground crew on the deck of the aircraft carrier gathered around and asked the pilot who jumped off the plane.

"It's so smooth, it's much easier to land than the ME-109T fighter, which has to be handled carefully." The pilot replied with a smile and threw the fur hat in his hand to the apprentice.

Not only the Air Force, but also the Navy has established a formal apprenticeship training system, and each pilot has two apprentices to learn flying skills.

That's why there are so many people on board the Zeppelin aircraft carrier - the aircraft carrier has a crew of 2,000 people, including more than 200 pilots and prospective pilots.

The ground crew began to push the stopped plane to the other side of the aircraft carrier's deck, as soon a second fighter descended from the sky and landed on the deck.

The planes landed one after another, and the ground crew was busy diligently. There are more and more planes on deck, and the hangar is already full of new planes.

After such a replacement, the USS Zeppelin carrier-based fighters, from the ME-109T, were all replaced by FW-190T fighters.

"It's great that if this fighter had been replaced earlier, our previous training would not have been so hard." Hines said with some emotion.

Previously, they used the more difficult to fly ME-109T fighter jets, so the training progress has been slow. It was not easy for everyone to master the basic take-off and landing operations of aircraft carriers, but the formation of fighter planes was far away.

Now, with the replacement of the FW-190T fighters, which are more suitable for take-off and landing on aircraft carriers, it seems that in a few days they will be able to form real combat effectiveness.

Although the new aircraft have been replaced, these pilots have not been trained in vain in their ability to navigate on the surface of the sea using radios and equipment in their hands, and their ability to find their own fleet on the sea.

"Prepare the pilot's attention, take over the aircraft, and conduct take-off and landing adaptation training once! The timer begins! "On the deck of the aircraft carrier, Hines's voice came over the radio.

The second team of pilots, who were reserve pilots, heard the call, rushed out of their standby cabins, and ran towards their planes.

According to the order, they had to take the plane from the pilots who had just landed and conduct a new round of take-off and landing experiments.

Shouldering the heavy responsibility of training naval pilots, the USS Zeppelin aircraft carrier was taking off and landing at all times - the light weight and relatively low speed of aircraft in this era made it easier to train pilots.

At this time, the German Navy also received more fuel than in history, which made them more confident and bold to train their troops and train their pilots.

On the bridge, the worried look on his face was not as optimistic as Hines, he looked at the FW-190T in front of him, which was taking off one after another, and said: "The Supreme Command has issued an order for the naval fleet to stand by and be ready to go to sea to fight at any time. ”

"Isn't that a good thing? We've been training for so long, it's time for us to go to war. "Hines is much more optimistic than Ruetjens.

From here, it can be seen that there is a clear difference in the attitude of the German Navy and the Luftwaffe towards their enemies.

The German navy considered its enemies to be powerful, and could only avoid but could not surpass the kind of brutal power; The Luftwaffe, on the other hand, did not have this idea, preferring to challenge the enemy, believing that they were not inferior to their opponents.

Lütjans looked at Hines and was very worried about the future of the navy: "The enemy has five times the strength of our troops, and I really don't know how to win." ”

"The Führer gave us the task of annihilating the enemy's fleet?" Hines was a little puzzled when he heard Lütjans's words, and asked.

Hearing the question, Lütjens shook his head and denied: "No, on the contrary, the Führer asked us to avoid the encirclement of the enemy's fleet and focus on sinking the enemy's transport ships. ”

However, he was still worried when he said this: "However, with such a large fleet going out, it is impossible for the British not to be on guard, and the situation of encirclement on all sides will inevitably occur, and I have no confidence to break out of such an encirclement with the fleet." ”

Raeder's worries were also shared by Lütjans, who really did not dare to command all the belongings of the German Navy to wander around the Atlantic, which was already similar to the back garden of the British.

However, he also knew that the Führer's constant strengthening of the navy was not for catching fish in the Baltic Sea fishponds. When the time comes, this fleet will be sent out to carry out missions that match its price!

This is the case with soldiers, who are meant to carry out tasks for the country when needed. Even if you go to the impossible task, you must not turn back!

"Since it's not a decisive battle with the enemy fleet, I think at least we shouldn't be so pessimistic." Looking at Lu Teyans, who was still full of worry, Hines opened his mouth to comfort: "At least our carrier-based aircraft is quite good. ”

"I hope you can surprise me, because I can't think of any other chance of victory." Lütjans smiled bitterly, patted Hines on the shoulder, and spoke.