Germany had almost no bomber forces capable of attacking surface ships from a distance, and 80 percent of the attacks that the air force was able to carry out against surface ships came from Stukka.

The Stuka can be used as a dive bomber, a cameo as a horizontal bomber, and even a torpedo after modification.

But this aircraft has a fatal weakness, that is, the range is relatively too short and too short. It is incapable of bombing in depth and cannot carry out long-range attack missions.

The JU-88 bomber can make up for this shortcoming to a certain extent, but due to the short period of time, the pilots of the JU-88 unit have very limited experience in sea attack.

Moreover, the JU-88 carrying the bomb actually flew not too far, and it was completely incomparable to the JU-88 reconnaissance model with an internal fuel tank.

Therefore, the JU-88 that took off from the British airfield could hardly launch an attack except for being able to follow the British fleet from a distance and report the whereabouts of this fleet.

Of course, for the German fleet, which was in a strong period, it was enough to keep scouting as long as it followed.

Lütjens led the fleet aggressively, and on 7 March, the day after the signing of the Anglo-German Armistice, it had cut into the course of the Phillips fleet.

He now has an absolute speed advantage of 5 knots, so whether it is fighting or chasing, he seems to be at ease. On the rough seas, the German fleet broke the waves, and the distance between the two fleets was gradually narrowing.

"This is not the way to go, the German planes have been following us, and no one knows when the German fleet will arrive." One of the officers grumbled irritably.

The long wait is more devastating than the actual war. I don't know when the battle will break out, which makes people more nervous.

"Continue to turn the rudder 15 degrees to the right! Adjust the course to due west! If the German fleet is in pursuit, let them chase! Phillips thought about it for a moment and decided to go ahead and change routes.

Everything that could be done by Phillips had already been done, and the only thing he could do now was to wait patiently for the moment when the German fleet would appear.

As long as his route can continue west, the closer it will be to safety. Once it reached the United States, the German interception would be self-defeating.

"Inform all air defense units to prepare for battle! I was not so worried that the German fleet would come up, but that the Germans would launch a surprise attack with warplanes. "Phillips, who had seen the German naval aviation, was most worried about the air defense of his own fleet.

The battleship Rodney itself was not a serious battleship design. In order to meet the requirements of the Treaty-class battleship, it adopted the bizarre design of having all the main guns in front of the battleship.

If, like the French battleships, the design of the twin turrets was adopted, it could still be designed to be close to a reasonable posture. The battleship Rodney had a three-turret design, so it had a more unusual appearance.

Alternative warships also have more loopholes in other secondary firepower configurations. The anti-aircraft fire of the battleship Rodney was clearly concentrated in the stern, and there were only small-caliber weapons in the bow and in the middle.

This bizarre shape gave the Rodney the reputation of being the largest shallow water gunboat, and naturally brought it the defect of serious lack of anti-aircraft firepower.

After the modification, the Rodney barely had some anti-air weapons, but the Rodney before the modification could really be regarded as a poor creature with weak anti-air.

Because of this, Phillips was very worried about the problems of his battleship at this time, and did everything in his power to avoid encountering the German fleet.

Unfortunately, unlike the German fleet, he did not have excellent carrier-based aircraft to help him provide long-range reconnaissance and early warning, nor radar to provide medium-range detection.

Adrift on the sea, the British fleet at this time was as if it were a blind man, having no idea what was happening around them.

On the contrary, Lütjans now knew all about the enemy, and even the British navy had once again changed course.

His JU-88 reconnaissance aircraft has been following Phillips all the time, providing the most direct early detection warning.

Now, the straight-line distance between the two sides has actually entered the attack range of Ruttyans. But he didn't want to force Phillips to speed up, and he wanted to close the distance between the two sides as much as possible.

Of course, the forecast given by the weather forecasting department is that there will be a precipitation in the Atlantic region in the next few days, which also worries Ruttejans.

He was afraid that the sudden heavy precipitation would affect his plane. After all, this mission still has to rely on carrier-based aircraft to carry out.

Compared to the British naval fleet, the German naval fleet has until now feared a direct confrontation face to face.

The battleships fired at each other at a distance of about 20 kilometers and attacked the opponent with artillery, and Lütjans and even the Supreme Commander of the Navy, Raeder, were very resistant.

Even now, the German Navy was unwilling to compete with the British Navy and win at the cost of losing a battleship.

Although Lütjans didn't like it in his heart, his body had accepted the pleasure of the carrier-based aircraft revolution very honestly.

The enemy that can be destroyed with carrier-based aircraft does not have to risk leaning on it and using artillery to decide the victory, which is the transformation of Lütjans and the beginning of the revolution in naval warfare.

"Now that the carrier-based aircraft are taking off and attacking, when we fly to the target area, the time spent in the air will be reduced accordingly." Hines was an expert on the subject, and spoke out about Lütjans's concerns.

"In another hour, it will be dark...... Once nightfall, it is possible for them to get rid of our tracking. Lütjans said he was also helpless.

The German fleet reacted fast enough, and after receiving the news, it took them half of the night to prepare the fleet to go to sea.

Then the fleet entered the Atlantic Ocean and began to sprint all the way to the target area. Even in this case, the day of March 7 was wasted.

If the Germans were unable to attack before the evening came, the deadliest German naval aviation would not be able to take off once it was night.

Lütjans was afraid that the British Navy, which was also experienced, would be able to get out of the entanglement and take advantage of the cover of night to retreat to the United States, which was already very close.

Once in the United States, the fleet would have escaped, where they could be resupplied and then crossed the Panama Canal to the Pacific Ocean.

Although this route was much farther than the route planned by Phillips before, the Germans could not do any interception and interference.

The fleet would easily reach Australia or Burma, both of which were now areas beyond the influence of Germany in any way.

"Anyway, let's take off a wave of planes and attack...... Before dark, I fought for two air strikes to slow down the enemy. Hines also knew that if he missed this attack, he could completely lose the opportunity to intercept this fleet.

So he dispatched his troops and let his planes go out as soon as possible. One after another, Stuka took off against the sea breeze, and the atmosphere of the entire fleet became more serious as the planes took off.

On the other side, Phillips stood worriedly on the open-air platform of the air search, looking with a telescope at the JU-88 reconnaissance plane that followed the fleet in the distance.

"They have been following us for more than three hours, and I calculated the distance from Brest to here, and their fleet is almost ready to launch the first wave of attacks." Phillips was pessimistic about his situation, because he could not escape the German navy's interception even though he was heading west at full speed.

The difference in the speed of the warships of the two sides is too obvious, if it weren't for this, the home fleet of the Royal Navy led by him would have killed the German Navy long ago.

"General, you are so pessimistic, the time you calculated, not even the time of preparation for the fleet's voyage, nor the time when we were discovered." An officer spoke up comfortingly.

In his opinion, the Germans could not have rushed to the battlefield so quickly unless they knew the routes of the British navy and the timing of the rebellion from the beginning.

As long as the British fleet was determined to take refuge in the United States, it would be impossible for the German fleet to attack the British fleet before dark.

Even at this moment, the commanders of the British Navy have a sense of pride. For Germany, despite its astonishing success in the Atlantic, rarely had a head-on confrontation with the British navy.

The heaviest losses of the British Navy were caused by the active attack on the German fleet. Therefore, most of the British naval officers and sailors did not think that the German Navy had the courage to catch up and fight with them in an honest manner.

This optimism lasted only 20 minutes before being extinguished by more German planes in the sky.

One after another, under the guidance of the JU-88 reconnaissance plane, Stuka rushed to the sky over the battlefield with unmistakable accuracy and began to launch their attacks.

The battle began, the British battleship sounded a piercing air defense siren, and on the battleship Rodney, which was at the forefront, Phillips could only watch as the aircraft carrier behind the Fearful fell into the siege of German aircraft.

"Accelerate! Start the S-Maneuver! Start the air battle and let the Barham cover the Dreadnought as much as possible! "Now that the battle has begun, all luck is gone. Phillips fluently gave the battle order, and the entire fleet suddenly accelerated.

At about 3 p.m. on 7 March, the fleet of Phillips and the fleet of Lyttjans met in the Atlantic, and a fierce battle ensued on both sides.

While the cheers of peace still echoed over Berlin, a Stuka cut through a dense web of tracer shells and aimed its nose at the huge aircraft carrier on the sea.