Another British warship close to the area was the Navy cruiser USS Suffolk, which was also ordered to patrol the area. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

The cruiser was also speeding up at this time, hoping to be the first to find the German battleship.

In the same way, the officers and men of this cruiser did not know that in fact they were not looking for a single battleship, but the entire German naval fleet.

It was already dark, and on the bridge of the German flagship aircraft carrier Zeppelin, Hines anxiously waited for the dawn to come.

After all, he was the commander of naval aviation, and the dark night was not suitable for his carrier-based aircraft to fight. So his troops were vulnerable to the commander of a battleship, who was more suitable for naval warfare.

"I propose to let the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, with its radar, sail as the first battleship of the fleet." He suggested to the somewhat nervous Ruthyans.

The cruiser Nuremberg did not have a radar system, and he only learned about this news recently. In this dark state, the Nuremberg without radar could not serve as a warning at all, so Hines suggested replacing it.

Lütjens also realized that it was a mistake to let the smaller-tonnage cruiser Nuremberg be the vanguard.

But he also knew that in such radio silence and light control, moving the fleet was simply an impossible task.

Not to mention how to inform the two warships Nuremberg and Prinz Eugen to switch positions, that is, when the notice arrives, how to ensure the safe distance of the fleet in the process of turning around and adjusting their positions?

If this had not yet opened the waters of Norway and collided on its own, how could you explain everything to the Führer?

After coming back, he explained with a smile: We had a traffic accident last night, so we couldn't play, so we had to go back?

As the commander of this fleet, Lütjans knew that if he made such a joke, the Führer would definitely give him an unforgettable funeral......

"Now the whole fleet is moving according to plan, and if I change it rashly, it is easy to have a collision......" Lütjens said helplessly.

He looked at the deep night sky, thought about it and decided, "Keep it as it is, keep the fleet at arm's length, and make changes at dawn!" ”

In Lütjans's opinion, in this case, there is no radar on the British patrol ships, so it is really difficult to say who will find out who first.

Moreover, in such a dark environment, even if an enemy warship is spotted, it will not be able to attack immediately.

Therefore, Lütjans did not just reject Hines's proposal to replace the radar-equipped warship as the vanguard.

He had actually made a decision to keep the current route and wait until after dawn tomorrow.

If the British patrol ship discovers it tonight, let the other party follow until dawn tomorrow, and then chase the enemy ship and kill the other party with its high speed!

Having made a decision, Lütjens handed over command to Lindemann, the captain of the battleship Bismarck. In order to maintain his strength, the fleet commander returned to his cabin and went to rest.

Hines knew that he was useless now, so he had to go back to his lounge, lying on the bed to test how strong his ability to sleep was.

After tossing and turning for about an hour, he fell asleep unconsciously, and it turned out that no matter how nervous he was, as long as there was a comfortable bed, people could always fall asleep.

And the captain of the Norfolk couldn't sleep at this time...... He confirmed the location of a German battleship, and this position was not too far from the area where the Norfolk was located.

"Turn! Keep a safe distance from it! We don't have to dwell on them, we just have to keep an eye on them. The British captain clenched his fists nervously and commanded his first mate.

Then he turned his head and shouted, "Send a telegram to London!" Say that we found the battleships of the Germans! ”

The battle alarm has sounded, and in the cramped cabin of the Norfolk, the soldiers have arrived at their combat posts. Everyone was nervous, not knowing when the battle would suddenly start.

A few minutes later, on the cruiser Nuremberg, a German sailor stood at an observation post on the mast, and saw through his telescope a hazy black shadow on the sea in the distance.

He frowned, then rubbed his eyes, looked carefully in that direction again, and finally confirmed that he had seen a battleship that did not belong to the German Navy!

"Right ahead! Straight ahead! Spot enemy ships! Get ready for battle! He grabbed the phone in front of him and shouted to the other side of the bridge.

On the bridge, the captain who was watching the sea heard the news of the discovery of enemy ships in front of him, and immediately gave the order to prepare for battle: "Sound the battle alarm and pay attention to the surrounding sea!" We met with the British! ”

"Use the pointing light to signal the Bismarck in the back! Tell them that the fleet has encountered enemy ships! Finally, the German captain commanded.

On the bridge of the battleship Bismarck, Colonel Lindemann was exercising his powers of acting command. The young man of the German naval commanders soon received a message from the cruiser Nuremberg.

"Sir! Light signal from the Nuremberg...... We have encountered the enemy! Probably a cruiser! The officer who had come to deliver the news saluted, and then handed over the Morse code that had just been translated.

He pulled out his pocket watch and looked down. It's just 12 o'clock in the morning. The fleet is still in the waters of Norway, and it has already been discovered by the British, which is not good news.

Lindemann frowned and gave the order to put the battleship on second alert: "Prepare for an attack on the sea...... Send a signal to the flagship and tell them what we are talking about! ”

Because of the need to maintain radio silence, there are not many means of communication at night like this. Of course, the speed of communication could not be too fast compared to the telegraph.

On the bridge of the aircraft carrier Zeppelin, the first mate on duty also received a light signal from the battleship Bismarck.

Bismarck also uses directional light signals with a small visual range, which in the night are as weak as a star next to the sea.

He grabbed the phone in front of him, and then learned the unfortunate news that his fleet had been discovered by the enemy. It seems that it is impossible to quietly break into the Atlantic.

"Wake up the Commander...... Signal the ships behind you, get ready for battle, and watch out for possible torpedoes from the enemy! The first mate hastened to give the order to prepare for battle, and ordered to have General Lütjans awakened.

Soon, Rütjens returned to his command post, and after confirming that there was a British warship directly in front of his fleet, he looked down and thought about it.

At this time, it was discovered by British warships, and it was impossible to confirm whether the other side had discovered the Nuremberg ship or his entire fleet.

In any case, if the other side confirms the location of his fleet, then the risk of entering the Atlantic Ocean increases exponentially.

Because it was discovered too early, the British were able to calmly deploy their naval warships. According to the Führer's intelligence, the British had as many as three or four aircraft carriers that could be deployed.

His fleet was in great danger, and the British were likely to mobilize more than five battleships to cooperate with the carriers to hunt down his fleet.

Now turn around and retreat? Because he was discovered earlier, he fled back to his home port in embarrassment to hide? Lütjans himself felt that it was too child's play.

After thinking about it, all he could do was stick to the original plan and let his fleet continue along the Norwegian coastline.

Everything will have to wait until dawn to make a decision. Having made up his mind, Lütjans sent a simple order to the Nuremberg: "Keep contact with enemy ships!" Don't lose it! ”

At the same time, on the cruiser Norfolk, the captain had confirmed that the German battleship behind him was actually not very large.

"This is a German cruiser, probably only with a displacement of about 10,000 tons!" He estimated the size of the other party and muttered something like this.

He had ruled out the possibility of the battleship and sent the news back home. Judging by the size of the other party, at most it was the German cruiser Prinz Eugen.

Because of the darkness of the night, the outline of the enemy battleship was not clear, so which battleship it was, the lookout of the Norfolk could not see clearly.

In this case, the Norfolk could only maintain a distance from the latter, carefully keeping herself out of the maximum distance that the enemy could fire at night.

On the London side, Churchill had already learned of the possible dispatch of the German navy, and instructed the navy to intercept the opposing fleet as much as possible.

Dudley? Pound has now confirmed the exact location of the enemy warship that went to sea, in the sea not far from Bergen, Norway.

As for how many warships this German fleet had, and what exactly it wanted to do, he still didn't know very well.

The cruiser USS Norfolk was heading directly in front of the enemy fleet, keeping contact distance from the opposing ship that was in the vanguard.

"We don't have any good means, we can't even be sure where the other side is turning...... If this is the Prinz Eugen, it is impossible to determine whether it will go alone or if it will be followed by other ships. "An officer to Dudley? Pound gave an update.

Within the British command, the discovered enemy ship was analyzed, and most of the speculations could not determine the true size of the German fleet.

Because you can't see the opponent's warship model clearly, there is no way to judge what kind of composition the opponent is.

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