Dönitz's forward carrier fleet originally consisted of 3 battleships Tirpitz, 3 battleships Bismarck, and 3 heavy cruisers "Prince Eugen", consisting of 12 battleships, 2 Midway carriers, 3 escort carriers, 20 cruisers, 20 destroyers, and 3 oil tankers.

However, in order to fight this naval battle in the Mediterranean, Chen Yanlong could allow Rommel's and Guderian's troops to reach North Africa and the Middle East smoothly; So he dispatched three more Midway aircraft carriers, 200 submarines and 220 surface ships, 500 new carrier-based aircraft, F-8 fighters, and 300 shore-based aircraft, including Do 217 and He 177 bombers, which belonged to the German shore-based aviation units after Chen Yanlong's reorganization.

Shore-based aviation, according to the interpretation on the later network, refers to naval aviation based on land and water airfields. The aircraft (airplanes, seaplanes, and helicopters) of shore-based aviation are based at land airfields (or coastal water airfields), and in countries with aircraft carriers, they are generally mainly equipped with large aircraft with long ranges and long stay in the air for reconnaissance, patrol, and antisubmarine operations. And the naval aviation of countries that do not have aircraft carriers is mainly equipped with shore-based aircraft. These aircraft are similar to the equipment of the Air Force, but with the necessary modifications for activities at sea.

During World War II, the British, German and American shore-based aviation bombers were:

1. Lancaster, England 5.5 ton Grand Slam

2. German Dornier 217 Fritz-X

3. German Dornier 217 (F200) Hs293

4. The German F200 carries conventional bombs

5. Halifax, England carries conventional bombs

6. The American B24 Liberator carries conventional bombs

7. British Sunderland boats carry ordinary bombs

8. German Dornier 217 carries ordinary bombs

9. German Ju87 carries bombs

10. German Dornier carries torpedoes

11. Halifax, England carries rockets

12. Confederate heavy bombers (B24, Sunderland, Halifax) carry depth charges

The Dornier Do 217 was a twin-engine heavy bomber used by Germany in World War II, carrying more bombs than the earlier Ju 88 or the He 111, and the Do 217 was even faster than the Ju 88 bomber in maximum level flight.

Dornier is one of Germany's oldest and most prestigious aircraft manufacturers. The Dornier family's aircraft manufacturing business originated during the First World War, and in the course of its development, it created a number of world firsts, produced tens of thousands of aircraft, including about 1,000 seaplanes, and once promoted and led the development of the European aircraft industry.

The Dornier family founded a company in 1910 to develop airplanes, and in 1922 developed and produced the world's first seaplane, the Do-AL, which was widely used in commercial and military applications in many countries.

Moreover, the prototype of the Seastar aircraft designed by the company in 1985 was developed in 1991 and obtained airworthiness certificates in Europe and the United States, which was the world's first and only all-composite amphibious aircraft that obtained airworthiness certificates at that time.

In its 100-year history, the Dornier family has created several firsts:

— D1 - The first all-metal aircraft

— Do-X - The first large transoceanic airliner

— Do-31 – The first short take-off and landing jet transport aircraft

- Starfish – The first fully composite amphibious aircraft to receive an airworthiness certificate

Of course, the advanced sea-winged amphibious aircraft like Starfish can only sigh at the sky for Chen Yanlong now, and there is no way to redeem them through a smartphone.

The He-177 series heavy bomber is the long-range bomber of the Luftwaffe, this type is the only heavy bomber mass-produced by Nazi Germany during World War II, He-177A-1 is the first official production model, commissioned in March 1942, from that year to June 1943, a total of 130 were produced, all produced by the Aradu company. The crew of this type is 5 people, and the engine is still two coupled Daimler Benz DB606, with a maximum power of 2,700 horsepower.

But what Chen Yanlong is now exchanging for, and asking Speer to produce, is not the early He-177A-1, whose engines were nicknamed the Luftwaffe's "lighters" or "burning coffins" by German aircrews.

Rather, it was the He-177A-5 series, which was the last production model of the German He-177 family, and it was also the best and most produced in quantity.

This type of aircraft was originally to be developed and produced in 1944 by the Heinkel company and the Aradu company, and the improvements of this aircraft compared with the He-177A-3 and other earlier series were: the Fowler ailerons along the weapon hardpoints on the inside of the wing were removed, and the normal ailerons were adopted; The engine is replaced with two new DB610A/B, with a maximum power of 2950 horsepower; The maximum fuel load increased to 12,500 liters (5,610 liters, 7,610 liters, and 9,610 liters respectively for short-, medium, and long-range operations); The wing structure was strengthened; Shortened landing gear brackets, etc.

Moreover, each development of the He-177A-5 can carry 48 70 kg bombs, or 10 500 kg bombs, or 6 1000 kg bombs, or 2 2500 kg bombs. If no bombs are hung, three Hs293 or Hs294 anti-ship missiles or FX 1400 gliding guided bombs can be hung, one under each wing and one on the belly; Alternatively, two 1500 kg LT50 torpedoes can be hung, which greatly enhances combat flexibility.

Originally, Chen Yanlong wanted to exchange for more advanced bombers to equip the German shore-based aviation forces, but because the navy had a total of 410,000 troops, and 150,000 were SS troops.

As for the Air Force, the number of people he has now is full, including only 1.7 million recruits who have been desperately recruited in the past six months, and it has also been organized into six air forces, the Territorial Defense Force and the Airborne Forces.

When he thought that his navy and air force were so small, Chen Yanlong was very envious and jealous of the wealthy US military; Because he has seen that the air force of the United States during World War II is divided into army aviation USAAF and naval aviation USNAF, these two independent aviation forces lost a total of 27,000 aircraft in the Pacific theater, according to the statistics of the U.S. military itself, 8,700 are combat losses, more than 18,000 are non-combat losses, and more than 6 percent of the combat losses are caused by Japanese anti-aircraft firepower.

No matter how these planes were damaged in battle, in short, people have such a large number of planes to consume!

That's why Chen Yanlong is envious! To this end, he is also trying to find ways to continue to strengthen Germany's navy and air force, at least to make Germany the world's second most powerful sea power, as it did during World War I, and to build a world-class aircraft carrier fleet.

When Chen Yanlong will have so many surface ships, submarine forces, and Midway aircraft carriers; and the new carrier-based F-8 fighter jet, which merged with shore-based aircraft behind Dönitz's forward fleet; Dönitz immediately divided the fleet into seven combat groups and prepared for a fierce naval battle against Tunisia and Algiers.