Leaving aside the fake Führer Li Le, who was far away in Berlin, the battle on the front line has also entered the most intense stage. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

The British fleet, in order to force back the German fleet, took the lead in attacking. The German fleet, ignoring the approaching British fleet, adopted a strategy of continuing to attack the enemy's convoy.

Lütjans let go of the plane in his hand, and the remaining forces were really incapable of confronting the British home fleet. So there's only one thing left for him to do now.

"Order, the fleet turns to the right, ninety degrees! Speed up! The speed is maintained at 23 knots! Soon, he was fully prepared and set out on an escape with his fleet.

Since he couldn't beat it, of course Lütjans didn't plan to stay where he was and be beaten, so he naturally had to run away with the fleet.

For Lütjans, this is a matter of no choice, and there is no need to think about it.

In addition, his deep tactical thinking of the German Navy also allowed him to subconsciously retain the tactical thinking of a partisan.

The surface ships of the German Navy, from the time of Count Spee, have already penetrated the idea of breaking the war at sea into the marrow.

When it can be beaten, the German fleet will run, and when it can't be beaten, of course, it will have to run. They never intended to fight the British fleet to the death, nor did they ever attempt to challenge this massive enemy.

There is only one core tactical idea of these submarine formations, and that is to run! Avoid all enemies and fight only those who can't fight back.

In the better of the year, the German navy would even intercept British merchant ships and steal their food and wine - much like the Caribbean pirates did.

They pointed their cannons at enemy transports, then boarded and robbed them with weapons, and finally sank their opponents' ships with their cannons, and then, with mocking expressions, sent a telegram to the British, asking them to rescue their unlucky people who had fallen overboard.

The battles at sea in those years even carried with knightly etiquette. Unfortunately, the etiquette has now been inherited, and the battles at sea have become more and more bloody.

Lütjans's fleet turned, without the slightest drag, and the slowest ships in this small fleet could sail more than 28 knots.

As a result, the cruiser Prinz Eugen, which was closest to the British fleet, quickly turned, followed by the battlecruiser Gneisenau.

Then the Nuremberg turned with the Zeppelin, followed by the huge Tirpitz.

The broken Scharnhorst was more agile than the Tirpitz, so by the time the Tirbitz had turned, the Scharnhorst had already completed the turn and had gone some distance.

The British Navy did not know about the turn of the German fleet, and the huge British fleet did not have carrier-based aircraft to see each other, so they could only maintain the original course.

It was seen that in the far, far sky, near the gray clouds, two German planes were moving with the British fleet, and it was obvious that the Germans were more sophisticated in their reconnaissance methods than their British counterparts.

Both in terms of flight altitude and flight speed, German aircraft had an absolute advantage, and British carrier-based aircraft did not have the ability to fly to that altitude to drive away the opponent, so they could only ignore the opponent.

But overhead followed by two enemy planes...... How is it impossible to catch up with the faster German fleet......

Then, Phillips, who realized the embarrassing situation of his fleet, suddenly thought of another possibility.

"Slow down the fleet!" After giving a strange order, he looked helplessly in the direction of the German ships, not knowing what to think in his heart.

"Sir! Why don't we continue to attack? A British naval officer asked Phillips with a blank expression.

Phillips sighed gloomily, and then explained: "The enemy's carrier-based aircraft are flying near us, and we simply cannot catch up with the faster German fleet......"

It's like two people playing hide and seek, one knows the other's movements, and he's faster, so it's impossible to catch the other anyway.

"The enemy can take advantage of the change of course and the speed of the ship to easily get rid of us...... I underestimated the role of the opposing aircraft carriers. Phillips glanced at his men and continued.

He really underestimated the role of the other party's aircraft carrier, and also underestimated the terrifying power of air supremacy in modern naval warfare.

Now the number of German aircraft carriers is not large, and it has already overwhelmed the British Navy, and if there are more aircraft carriers, the other side may have to choose and directly attack the fleet to decide the winner.

Although he did not believe that the carrier-based opportunity posed any threat to the heavily armored battleship, Phillips was still worried, fearing that his advantage would disappear completely.

Without air supremacy, his fleet is tantamount to a blind man, a lame man. Even if you have a kitchen knife in your hand, it is very difficult to find an enemy in the yard and cut it.

No matter how he turned, the German fleet would adjust in a few minutes - giving him the numerical superiority of the fleet, but not the slightest bit of power.

Since he couldn't catch up, Phillips realized that it was a dangerous thing for him to blindly chase it out.

Once his fleet was far away from the convoy he was trying to protect, what if the German fleet used its speed advantage to bypass his fleet and rush into the convoy?

If neither side could see the exact location of the other side's fleet, perhaps the Germans would not dare to rush to the convoy. But the problem now was that the Germans knew exactly where the British fleet was.

In this way, the British fleet could not stay far from the convoy of transports it was to protect. Otherwise, let the German fleet find an opportunity to rush to the vicinity of the convoy, and it will be lively.

At that time, the guns of the German battleships would not be able to slaughter the British transport ships more efficiently than the carrier-based aircraft, and in 20 minutes, they could sink about half of the ships.

Hearing Phillips' explanation, the officers around him also turned pale. They also realized the crux of the problem and realized what a huge advantage the Germans had gained with a small number of aircraft.

"When will our carrier-based planes get rid of these damn guys?" An officer grumbled as he looked at the USS Dreadnought, which was following the fleet in the distance.

Waiting for naval carrier-based aircraft? Phillips thought it was a bit naïve. All he could do now was to give the order to return his ships and prevent the German fleet from approaching the convoy.

"Begin to turn, the fleet to the left! Ninety degrees, full speed ahead! Phillips gave the order, and then shut his mouth.

He was not passively avoiding the battle, but was afraid that the fleet behind him would be shelled by German naval warships after being ravaged by enemy aircraft......

In any case, getting as many transports as possible to the British mainland was the supreme mission of the home fleet that Phillips now commanded.

"Your Excellency...... The losses that have just been counted by the transport fleet...... We sank 4 grain ships, 6 munitions ships, 9 steel and other material ships, and 3 oil tankers. "An officer came over and reported the loss of the transport fleet behind him.

Such a huge loss has already made Phillips vomit blood. Originally, he planned to drive out the German fleet after the loss of 10 transport ships to ensure the safety of this transport fleet.

It's a pity that now, not only did he not be able to drive out the enemy's fleet, but the number of losses rose to 22 ships.

Now it seems that this is far from the final number of losses, and perhaps several more times before the fleet can be attacked several more times before it comes into the range of fighters on British soil......

After the German fleet repeatedly attacked several times with carrier-based aircraft, how many transport ships would remain, Phillips himself felt uncertain.

Similarly, within the naval headquarters on the mainland, Charles also learned that his convoy had been attacked by the enemy's fleet.

"What the hell is going on? Just a few dozen planes can have such a great power? He looked at the generals around him angrily, really wondering how long he could remain in the position of commander-in-chief of the navy.

Pound, or Churchill, left him a mess, and now this mess, as if in his hands, has become a bit worse......

"The carrier-based aircraft of the Germans interfered with all our combat plans, and in the future, we will have to do too much." One of the admirals reluctantly opened his mouth and said what he thought.

There were too many things to prepare for on the naval side, with the activities of the German Navy. This includes adding self-defense weapons such as anti-aircraft guns to existing sea transport vessels, including more escort vessels, and new carrier-based aircraft......

Judging from the current situation, the navy is already anxious to deal with one thing, not to mention that these problems have appeared together.

The new transport ships must be replenished as soon as possible, otherwise the local raw material reserves will be exhausted; However, the requirements for new transport ships are still increasing, which is a headache.

Originally, these ships were required to sail as long as they could carry large quantities of supplies. Because at that time, the British fleet was still firmly in control of the sea lines of communication.

But now, the naval escort force has proposed to increase the speed of the new transport ships to about 15 knots, and after today, it is possible that anti-aircraft weapons will be added -- the construction time and cost will be much higher.

With a sigh, Charles didn't speak, he put his hands behind his back and looked in the direction of the European continent, not knowing what was going on in his mind. It's just that the sadness on his face can be seen clearly by everyone.