Although the fleet on the sea has a fixed route, flexibility is its real characteristic. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 infoConsidering the danger of being intercepted by the German fleet, the CK-1 transport fleet made an unanticipated choice to let the German fleet following it on one side.

This fleet is starting to go south! Although the speed of the voyage was not fast, the speed of their southward movement made up for the low speed of the British main fleet!

Because their southward movement was tantamount to a disguised increase in the speed of the British fleet's northward movement, which suddenly disrupted the specific plan of action of the German Navy's Tianming attack.

No one wants to be beaten passively, and the British Royal Navy has a hundred years of heritage, and naturally there are still capable people.

The seemingly inconspicuous speed of twelve knots made the German fleet, which was planning to attack at dawn, suddenly extremely embarrassing.

Lütjans was woken up by his men on duty in his lounge, and at 2:37 a.m., he arrived at the bridge command position.

"What the hell is going on?" He came to the chart table and asked Lindemann, the captain of the battleship Bismarck, who was on duty.

Lindemann frowned and opened his mouth to answer the question: "Sir, the enemy convoy suddenly turned a few minutes ago and began to move south......"

After measuring the chart with a compass, and then throwing the tools in his hand on the table, Lütjans sighed: "It seems that the enemy's fleet heading south has met." ”

At a casual guess, he already knew that the British fleet had not found the German fleet in the encirclement, and had already realized that the German fleet might have gone north.

The German naval partisan captain began to weigh in his mind whether he wanted to take the risk and continue to follow the British transport fleet.

Judging by the speed and distance, this British transport fleet was taking the German fleet south, approaching the main British fleet.

If you continue to follow the British convoy, at dawn, you will definitely have to enter the combat range of the British battleships.

If the British fleet is bitten, the inferiority of the German fleet will be brought into play, and it will not be possible to steal chickens and rice.

Although it seemed that Lütjans did not speak, his mind was now spinning rapidly.

"Do you want to use the radar right now, start a night battle, make a profit, and then quickly retreat?" Lutejens pondered in his heart.

Another option was to immediately go east with the fleet and rush to the port of Brest as fast as possible.

The second option was the safest, because he had now almost left the British fleet, and the German fleet was now very safe, even if it was purely a speed.

"Sir! Give the order to fire! Now that we've been discovered, there's no need to hide it at this time! Lindemann spoke.

Although Lütjans hoped to open fire at 10 o'clock in the morning, all signs now appeared that the British had spotted them.

In this case, the original plan of the German fleet to fire again for this dawn was not necessary.

"Order the fleet into combat mode! Sound the battle alarm! Ruetjens nodded, choosing a more compromise option.

He planned to start attacking the enemy fleet now, and then break away before dawn and begin his life as a fugitive.

Captain Lindemann heard Lütjans's order, and quickly turned around and ordered loudly: "All turrets are ready for ammunition!" Ready for battle! ”、

"Ready for battle!" The officer in charge of the artillery command repeated the order loudly, and then the battle alarm began to echo throughout the battleship.

The sailors, who were still immersed in sleep just now, lifted the quilt at once. Jumping up from their beds, they ran to their respective combat posts.

For a moment, the narrow hallway was crowded, with flashing red sirens and screeching voices overhead.

"Sound the battle alarm!" Putting down the binoculars in his hand, he saw the Morse code flashing on the Bismarck's pointing lamp, and the officer on duty of the battleship Tirpitz commanded loudly.

"Prepare for battle!" On the Gneisenau, the same order was issued a minute later, and the lifeless interior of the ship seemed to be resurrected in an instant.

At 3 o'clock on November 17, 1941, the German fleet was fully prepared for battle, and the battlecruiser Gneisenau opened fire first, opening the prelude to what is historically known as the "Battle of Sunday".

On the originally dim Atlantic sea, on the originally rough Atlantic Sea, the artillery fire of German battleships, like torches, lit up the nearby sky.

Just as the flames on the battlecruiser Gneisenau were rising, the cannons on the battleship Bismarck let out their own roars.

The outbreak of the naval battle plunged the British convoy that was heading south into chaos, and although the distance between the two sides was more than fifteen kilometers, the shells still made the British fleet in the darkness feel unprecedented pressure.

The huge explosion stirred up monstrous waves, and the fire of the explosion from which the transport ship was hit also lit up the sky of the British fleet.

Originally, it was very difficult to hit the opponent's warship in a naval battle, and it was even more difficult to accurately hit the opponent in the dark.

But the formation of the British fleet was too dense, so a round of dozens of shells fell, and there were still shells fired by German battleships, and luckily collided with the ships of the British fleet.

Like the previous TC fleet, British transports, without armor protection, could withstand the attack of the main guns of German battleships.

The British transport ship, which was blown in two by a shell, exploded and burned with fuel oil, which at once lit up the entire British transport fleet.

In the firelight, the silhouette of the British transport ship was reflected very clearly, which made the Germans aim more precisely.

As soon as the battle began, the British transport fleet was completely disorganized. Shells rained down like raindrops, and the advantages of the small caliber and fast rate of fire of the German naval guns were vividly demonstrated at this moment.

This was probably a naval battle tailored for the German Navy, and it fully played out the design concept of German warships.

The large ship and small cannon allowed the German battleship to have extremely high hitting accuracy and firing speed when dealing with scattered small targets, and could give full play to its design advantages in breaking engagement.

The main guns of the battleship Bismarck could fire a maximum rate of fire of three shells per minute in battle, while other naval battleships of the same era had a rate of fire of about two rounds.

Do not underestimate the gap in the design of this shell, which gave the Bismarck battleship an astonishing advantage in the total amount of ammunition dumped.

With this extra rate of fire, the Bismarck could attack more of the dispersed Royal Navy transport ships with greater efficiency.

This time, the British transport fleet showed its excellent level of training and the high quality of its officers and men. A few minutes after the German battleships opened heavy fire, the British ships began to disperse in a planned manner.

The purpose of getting together is to prevent the attack of the enemy's submarines, but for the enemy battleships, it is an excellent target for attack.

Dispersion can reduce the opponent's hit accuracy, allowing the battleship to hide in the night as soon as possible, reducing the efficiency of the opponent's attack.

For the British transports, simply delaying the battle until the early hours of tomorrow morning would be their victory.

Compared with the TC transport fleet that is isolated and has to face the opponent's aircraft, this time the CK-1 fleet has at least one hope.

They had cover from the night, as well as poor sea conditions, which gave them the courage to delay. On the other hand, the fact that they could not see the loss in the middle of the night was also an important reason for their confidence.

Just as the British transports began to disperse, the torpedoes fired by the German cruiser Nuremberg crashed into the chaotic British fleet.

As a battleship that came out to play soy sauce, there was no task to cover the USS Zeppelin in the night, and it became active in an instant.

The light cruiser was equipped with a full six torpedo tubes on the side of the cruiser, which was much more capable of dropping torpedoes than a U-boat.

The battleship had been moving closer to the British transport fleet, firing all the torpedoes on the side of the ship before the Germans could open fire.

The terrifying sound of the explosion sounded again, this time it was a munition ship that was hit, and the flames of the explosion were even greater, illuminating more places at once.

"Quick! Send a telegram to our fleet! The Germans are indeed near us! They are shelling us! The British officer, who was standing on the command ship of the convoy, shouted to his men in horror.

Behind him, not far from the sea, a 381 mm caliber shell fell, hitting exactly one of the fuel transport ships.

A huge explosion rose into the air, illuminating the slender body of the leading British cruiser. The firelight reflected the faces of everyone on the cruiser's bridge, and the flickering light made everyone's faces look so distorted.

Charles stood on the bridge of the battleship HMS George V, holding his hands behind his back and waiting for news from the front.

An officer stepped forward and delivered the telegram he had been waiting for: "Sir! The CK-1 transport flotilla was attacked by German warships and is currently engaged. ”

The commander of the British Home Fleet tore through the telegram and looked at the contents: "Let them delay as long as possible, we will be there before dawn!" ”

In about an hour and a half, his native fleet would arrive at the area of battle. Until then, the faster search fleet will enter the battle circle ahead of time, dragging down the German fleet.

In other words, in another hour, the British fleet would be able to catch the troublesome German navy and solve this huge problem once and for all.

"Greed...... It is your original sin. With his hands behind his back, Charles looked at the pitch-black sea and coldly commented on his opponent, Ruetyans.