At this time, the German navy was cheering, and many naval officers were even so excited that they shed tears...... The German Navy has not won a single victory for a long time, and if nothing else, Hitler lost confidence in the Navy and ordered warships to be dismantled and built into tanks, which plunged the Navy into a bleak and its morale fell to the bottom.

Unexpectedly, he can now regain his strength in the Mediterranean with the help of French warships...... Although it was not a naval battle but a victory for the warships over the enemy's air force, the officers and men of the navy knew that it was not easier than defeating the enemy fleet in a naval battle, so the victory drove the German navy into complete madness, cheering, jumping, and throwing their naval caps into the sky.

"Thank you, Lieutenant!" Raeder held Qin Chuan's hand tightly: "I can't imagine what kind of crisis we would face without your reminders and suggestions." Please accept my apologies...... I used to doubt you before, and now I realize how stupid I am. ”

Then Raeder said to Colonel Slein, "Colonel, if I can, I hope to transfer the lieutenant to the ...... of the Navy."

"Sorry Marshal!" Colonel Slein refused without thinking about it: "I don't think General Rommel will agree!" ”

Raeder couldn't help but nod and said, "I think too, a talent like a lieutenant, Rommel would be a fool if he would agree!" ”

"Marshal!" At this time, a staff officer reported: "I have received information from the air force that the British fleet has been found in the Tunis Strait!" ”

Raeder took the telegram and looked at it, then smiled: "It seems that the British are planning to wipe us out completely!" ”

Qin Chuan knew what Raeder meant, and the British fleet should be united with the air sneak attack just now when it appeared in the Tunis Strait...... Obviously, Montgomery intended to use his air force to inflict heavy damage on the German fleet and then pursue it, and to capture the German fleet so that it could not effectively block the Tunis Strait.

But now, Montgomery is clearly going to be disappointed.

"Turn!" Raeder confidently ordered: "Full speed to the Tunis Strait!" ”

At this time, Raeder should also have self-confidence, because the damage to the German fleet in the first battle just now can be said to be minimal...... The British Air Force focused on three battleships, but the Richelieu battleship caught fire only after two planes were shot down on the foredeck, and the fire was quickly extinguished.

The battleship "Strasbourg" was hit by two bombs...... This was due to the fact that the Second Fleet had only one battleship, the "Richelieu," so it was inevitable that providing air defense for the two battleships of the First Fleet would take care of one at the expense of the other, and the anti-aircraft firepower of the "Richelieu" battleships was not as strong as that of the "Dunkirk" and "Strasbourg" battleships.

This allowed several British bombers to take advantage of the loophole and hit the "Strasbourg".

HOWEVER, ONE OF THESE TWO BOMBS HIT THE FRONT OF THE TURRET OF THE "STRASBOURG", ......AND ALTHOUGH THE BATTLESHIP "STRASBOURG" WAS SAID TO BE THE SECOND SHIP OF THE "DUNCILKE" CLASS BATTLESHIP, ITS PROTECTION WAS MORE THAN THAT OF THE "DUNKIRK", AND THE ARMOR THICKNESS ON THE FRONT OF THE TURRET OF THE "STRASBOURG" REACHED 360 MM, COMPARED WITH THE 330 MM THICKNESS OF THE ARMOR ON THE FRONT OF THE TURRET OF THE "STROSBOURG".

So the bomb only blew a dent in the turret and didn't cause much damage.

ANOTHER BOMB HIT THE MAIN DECK AND BLEW A LARGE HOLE IN THE 125MM ARMOR AND CAUSED A FIRE...... Fortunately, there was a crew cabin for the officers and sailors below, and the loss was that this part of the crew had nowhere to sleep.

The commander-in-chief of the British fleet was Vice Admiral Tovey, who had commanded the British Navy in sinking the famous German battleship Bismarck a few months earlier.

Vice Admiral Tovey divided the fleet into three parts:

Fleet A consisted of 5 light cruisers, 10 destroyers and 8 minesweepers.

The task of this fleet is to walk in front of the fleet and be responsible for mine clearance...... The fleet was equipped with cruisers and destroyers because of the fear that the minesweepers would be attacked by the enemy's naval or air forces.

It is worth mentioning that these 8 minesweepers are equipped with a new type of minesweeper for the British army: floating minesweeper cables.

This was specifically designed to deal with magnetic mines invented by the Germans...... In the early stage of World War II, Germany creatively invented a magnetic mine, which would sense the magnetic field of the warship and detonate, which once caused heavy losses to the British Navy.

It was not until the German mine-laying planes mistakenly threw two magnetic mines into a shoal not far from the coast that the British obtained these two mines, discovered the secrets and developed the corresponding minesweepers in a targeted manner.

Fleet B consisted of two battleships and 10 destroyers.

This fleet was clearly the main force of the British army, and their task was to quickly pass through the Tunis Channel and launch an attack on the German fleet together with the A fleet after the sea area had been cleared by the A fleet in front.

The C fleet is the aircraft carrier fleet, which consists of 1 aircraft carrier, 1 battleship, and 8 destroyers.

Its task is to serve as a reserve and cover the fleet.

It is called a reserve because the carrier-based aircraft on its aircraft carriers can cooperate with the A and B fleets, and even the battleships and destroyers of the C fleet can be put into battle if necessary.

It is said that it is a covering fleet because this time Vice Admiral Tovey was worried that his back route, the Tunis Channel, would be cut off by the Germans...... If this fear came true, then the entire British Mediterranean fleet would be blocked west of the Tunis Channel and unable to return, and the result would be either sink itself or surrender, or one day run out of ammunition and food.

Vice Admiral Tovey, of course, would not let this happen, so his order to all fleets was to return to us as soon as they found that the situation was unfavorable to them.

Will the situation be unfavorable to the British army?

If it were before today, Vice Admiral Tovey believed that not, the British Mediterranean Fleet had always been the most powerful in the Mediterranean, as previous naval battles with France and Italy had proven...... The Italian navy was even beaten to the ground, which was one of the reasons why the British navy and air force were able to occupy the small island of Malta and threaten the German and Italian transport supply lines.

But now......

Lieutenant General Tovey had to put a big question mark in his mind.

The reason for this is the information that has just been sent from the Air Force...... More than 100 warplanes attacked the German fleet, but they were defeated.

And it is well known that air defense is the weakest link of French warships, what allowed the Germans to make up for this shortcoming?

Vice Admiral Tovey hoped that the Germans would weaken the ground and sea firepower of French warships in order to strengthen air defenses.