Vice Admiral James F. Somerville stood on the tall bridge of the aircraft carrier Ark Royal, looking worriedly at the clumsy and ugly biplanes on deck. Deck crews are making final preparations for the planes to take off.

The ammunition man, dressed in white overalls and orange life jackets, lay on the deck and checked the safety bolts of the torpedo pylons again, then gave a thumbs up to the bombardier in the engine room.

"We have never used aircraft carriers to attack a military port before, these planes are too slow and vulnerable to anti-aircraft fire, sir." Lieutenant Commander Scott, the captain of the aircraft carrier, stood behind Somerville and whispered.

"This is an order from the wartime cabinet and the Royal Navy must obey." Somerville tilted his head slightly, preventing his subordinates from continuing to discuss the matter, he had heard too many similar remarks along the way.

It is said that the battle, from the formation of the fleet to the formulation of the plan, took only two days from beginning to end, completely breaking the usual combat procedures of the Royal Navy, and in the eyes of some veteran admirals, it was simply a farce.

But behind this plan stood Churchill, the War Department, the entire wartime cabinet. No one, no Englishman, could have the courage to say no to these people.

When Britain got deeper and deeper into the quagmire of this war, it was time to face the catastrophe of destruction. The wisdom of British politicians seems to have been sublimated in the crisis of national annihilation, and they used their rich political experience and legal skills to quickly concentrate power in the hands of a small group of elite politicians, and this British government has gained a huge amount of power that has never been seen in British history.

With the enactment and passage of the Reich Defence Act, the Wartime Cabinet and Prime Minister gained absolute power to make demands and even decide at will the life and death of any British citizen and foreigner residing in British territory.

Because every British citizen swore allegiance to the king. The Defence Act expressly states that His Majesty's subjects shall give themselves and their services when His Majesty the King is engaged in the maintenance of public safety, the defence of the homeland, the maintenance of public order, or the effective conduct of any war in which His Majesty may be involved, or for the maintenance of supplies or servitude indispensable to public life. Their property was placed at the disposal of His Majesty the King. The King of England was given the right to expropriate any man, material, industrial and mining enterprise in the territory of England at will, to dispose of the property of every subject, and to kill and seize every Englishman. And as the King's Chief Minister and de facto leader of the country, the Prime Minister of Great Britain was given the same powers, and any order issued from Downing Street and the War Department must be carried out without compromise, no matter how absurd and unreasonable it may be, as long as he and his wartime cabinet resolution passes.

What is a dictatorship, this is called a real dictatorship. But it is so just, high-sounding, reasonable and legitimate, and the political wisdom of the British barbarians is vividly displayed at this time.

While Hitler was still fighting with his generals and chaebols, Mussolini was still pestering with a bunch of royalists and aristocrats, and Tojo was still scratching his bald head to balance the various contradictions between the young man and the senator, the army and navy, and the emperor and the chaebol, the prime minister of the British Empire, who was known as the model of democratic politics, the cornerstone of the free world, and the dignified prime minister of the British Empire, became a more worthy dictator than the above.

In its original history, Churchill was the leader of the world throughout World War II. Relying on the power seized by the wartime cabinet by relying on the National Defense Law, he could meddle in any work he deemed beneficial to the war at will, requisition land, factories and minerals at will, and mobilize funds at will. Requisitioning people, ordering factories to produce the equipment he wants, ordering the police to arrest anyone he deems dangerous, and pardoning criminals at will. The order to shoot was given at will, and no one could stop it, except for the King of England. And most often, the king also did not have the right to interfere with it.

Eventually, when the war ended and the relevant provisions of the Defence Act expired, Churchill was immediately thrown off the altar, not only from the government, but eventually from politics. Churchill angrily cursed the British as ungrateful villains, but why are the British so unkind, a drink and a peck are not predetermined, freezing three feet is not a day's cold, Churchill is not a saint, every stupid and ridiculous decision he made The British people saw in their eyes, but they didn't dare to speak.

As a real example, in World War II, the British were arrested and fined for feeding birds with slices of bread in the park, because Churchill ordered that animals could not be fed with food that could be eaten by humans, and that pets could only be fed with discarded scraps, and even the Japanese could not play so frenziedly.

When Somerville was called by Churchill to his semi-underground shelter at the corner of Downing Street, Somerville, who commanded the entire fleet with ease, was sweating nervously, although there was also a reason for the poor ventilation of the basement, but he did feel an indescribable pressure in front of Churchill.

At this time, Churchill and he had just taken over the power of prime minister, established the wartime cabinet, and looked like two people in high spirits. His skin was slightly pale due to working underground for a long time, his drinking and cigars made him look much older, the sides of his originally round and tight cheeks were already a little loose and sagging, obvious folds appeared on his neck, huge bags under his eyes, an unhealthy grayish blue between the corners of his eyes and the wings of his nose, and only the eyes under the raised eyebrows still maintained his sharp tenacity.

"Vice Admiral Somerville, you have now been appointed commander of the H Fleet, and this is your letter of appointment." Churchill did not have any courtesy, and put a document on the table directly.

Somerville was taken by surprise, which was completely out of order and contrary to the traditions of the Royal Navy, and such appointments should have been given by the Naval Command, not the Prime Minister of the Government. However, this was a time of war, and Churchill had the power to appoint, dismiss, promote, demote, and dismiss any British official at will.

"You fly to Plymouth now, where your fleet awaits you. This is a very difficult task, and Alexander has recommended you to me, hoping that you will not disappoint me and the Lord of the Admiralty. Here's the battle plan, you can take a look at it first. Churchill pushed through a folder, then set the cigar to the ashtray, opened the crystal bottle on the table, poured a glass of whiskey, and spread out his hand to Somerville.

"Ah, thank you, Prime Minister. Sorry, I don't drink alcohol at work. Somerville bowed respectfully in thanks.

"It's a critical moment, I've been working for 32 hours straight without a break, and I'm all on these things." Churchill was not polite, and took a sip of his glass.

"General Somerville, it is now a matter of life and death for Britain, and the Germans are gathering their transport ships and troops, and a landing could happen at any moment." Churchill gently lowered his glass and picked up his cigar again.

"I have received definite information that France has made a private peace with Germany. Everything we see now is a show. The French have betrayed us, they are no longer credible. My greatest fear now is that the French fleet, which is a sea force capable of turning the tide of the war, will be able to overwhelm the Royal Navy in general if the Germans get their hands on these ships, which will be a disaster for the British. ”

"But Your Excellency Prime Minister, I have seen this plan. We have never made a similar attempt, although I have commanded the fleet, but I have never been exposed to aircraft carrier tactics. In addition, aircraft carried out torpedo attacks on battleships. We've only done a few exercises and experiments, and while they look good, they've not been tested in real combat, and I'm skeptical of the effectiveness of the attacks. If the desired results are not achieved. We will face an enraged fleet with two battleships and two cruisers, with our existing ship firepower. It's hard for us to strike an additional blow at it. So, I think it's a bit risky. Summerville said hesitantly.

"This is a plan drawn up by the War Department, an order that I personally gave it, General, all you have to do now is obey the order. If you are not willing to do it, please bring it up immediately, then I can replace it with someone else. Churchill's face sank, and his eyes flashed with a dangerous chill.

"No, Your Excellency Prime Minister, I don't mean that, of course I will obey your orders, please rest assured." Somerville hurriedly nodded vigorously in affirmation.

"Well, I'm sure you can do it." Churchill put on a kind face, and he patted the table. "This plan is key to reversing the current negative situation. We have to avoid getting into the kind of situation I mentioned earlier, and we have to strike first. I also know that with our current strength, it is difficult to completely disarm the French navy, either technically or in terms of strength. So what we can do now is to weaken him as much as we can, to reduce the threat to the point where we can afford it.

You know, the Germans have concentrated their forces, they have concentrated hundreds or thousands of ships of all kinds around Calais, their navy has rushed into the North Sea, their air force is raging over England, they are bombing our cities and factories. Now, their army is about to land on our sacred island, our homes will be burned, our women and children will be slaughtered, and I will never allow that to happen.

Now, the only way to hold our last line of defence is the Royal Navy, and I am sure that the Royal Navy will not let me down, as it has done in countless crises in Britain over the centuries, and the Royal Navy will once again dominate the war.

The Germans had concentrated their naval forces and had the upper hand in local areas. Therefore, we must also concentrate all our naval forces and guard our straits.

I have decided to bring back most of the ships in the Mediterranean Fleet, where they will have nothing to do, our army and air force will have enough capacity to defend Egypt and the Suez Canal, and more colonial forces are being assembled. The Mediterranean Fleet, in addition to deterring the Italians, could only drain the forces that the British Empire needed now.

Of course, we are not giving up on the Mediterranean easily, and I will keep a small fleet there to show our presence. When the crisis in Britain is over, we will have to go back to the Mediterranean. In order to prevent the Mediterranean Fleet from being obstructed and harassed by the French fleet on its way back to the mainland, we must strike at the French warships stationed in the African colonies, if not sink them, at least injure them, at least so that they will not trouble us for a few months. We have Gibraltar in our hands, and when the threat of a German landing is resolved, we can return to the Mediterranean at any time.

By next year, we'll have four brand new aircraft carriers, two newest battleships. We will get more destroyers and transports, planes and tanks and artillery from the United States. Germany will no longer be able to threaten us, and by that time it will be our turn to counterattack. You know, during the Boer War, ......"

Somerville doesn't remember when Churchill's tirade ended, but it was followed by a bunch of reminiscences about the past and the future, and what was finally heard was almost gibberish. "It's because of the whiskey." Somerville thought as he walked out of the shelter.

"General, it's time to order the plane to take off!" Lieutenant Colonel Scott's voice brought Somerville back to reality from his memories.

Somerville looked down at his watch, nodded and replied, "Order them to take off." ”。

The prepared electric bell rang, and the flight commander on the deck looked towards the bridge, and when he saw that the take-off signal light began to flash, he hurriedly waved the command flag in his hand.

The pilot of the Swordfish torpedo plane, who had been impatient for a long time, pushed the throttle stick forward, the aircraft engine began to roar wildly, the pilot stared at the tachometer, released the brakes after reaching the take-off speed, and the huge biplane torpedo plane began to fly on the deck, and at a distance of five or six meters from the bow, the wheels left the deck, and the plane turned to the left, tilting the fuselage and began to climb slowly.

After two years of hard training, the pilots of the Navy's 818 and 806 air groups were already very familiar with the biplane they were flying, and the whole take-off process was flawless and unexpectedly smooth.

After waiting for the last Swordfish to take off and join the formation, the group began to turn, and the 48 Swordfish torpedo planes formed four neat inverted V formations and flew towards the dark African coast.

Somerville stood silently on the lookout by the bridge and looked at the distant fleet of planes, the neatly arranged red-green navigation lights flickered in the dark night sky, and after a while disappeared into the night at the edge of the sea line, he exhaled slowly, turned around and walked into the bridge. (To be continued, please search, the novel is better and updated faster!)