"Sir, our current position is in the southwest corner of Area 27-90, and the observed exchange of fire is about 20 kilometers northeast of us, and we have not yet received a radio signal from our ships, and according to the patrol deployment of the submarine detachment, it is likely that our submarines are active in this area. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ”

"Okay, got it!"

In the bridge of the battle ship of the German Navy's super battle cruiser "Count Tirpitz", General Wilhelm August von Oldenburg from the German royal family listened to the report of the staff officer and stared at the sea outside the explosion-proof observation window with a grim expression. The darkness flickered with a strange flame of light, accompanied by a thunderous roar, giving people the first impression that there were two fleets in a fierce exchange of fire, but the German-Irish fleet rushing to the Azores was still thousands of miles away, and the surface ships that stayed at the bases also received the combat order to stand by in the afternoon, at this time there should be no surface ships of the German Navy in this area far from the island of Texel, if it was indeed an engagement, one of the sides could only be German submarines.

How much damage can one or two submarines do to the mighty American and British fleets? William August didn't expect much from this, but the opportune attack of his own submarines gave him a godsend - in a night battle with a very poor line of sight, spotting the enemy's ships in advance meant taking the initiative in the ensuing confrontation, and if he could firmly grasp this initiative, he could win a great victory that would make him famous.

However, the US and British navies have sent their elite to invade the Azores, and there are more than 20 main battleships and battle cruisers alone. Feared by this unpredictable risk, Wilhelm August, who was known for his courage and determination in the German Navy, also hesitated.

At this time, Rear Admiral Rolf Lars, chief of staff of the fleet, said: "If one or two destroyers are dispatched to carry out combat reconnaissance, I am afraid it will be difficult to find out the enemy's situation in a short time, and in the event of trouble, the losses will be relatively large, so it is better to send a Heinkel reconnaissance plane over." Judging from our experience in training and exercises, reconnaissance planes flying at low altitudes at night are not easy to shoot down, and pilots can use flares to effectively reconnoiter the enemy's situation. Of course, due to the terrible conditions at night, it is likely that we will not be able to recover the reconnaissance aircraft that were dispatched. ”

Lars was just talking about William August's heart, and the fleet commander frowned and thought for a while, and then said in a low tone: "To be safe, a Heinkel reconnaissance plane will be ejected from the 'Count Tirpitz' and the 'Prince Heinrich', and inform the pilots that this trip may not be able to return smoothly, and let them do the camera." What do you think? ”

Lars raised his head and said, "As a member of the Imperial German Navy, we must have the spirit of sacrifice for victory, and each and every one of us should do the same. ”

Since the mid-to-late 20 s, radar detection technology has quietly emerged, and many people of insight have noticed this kind of technical equipment with unlimited potential; Germany, Ireland, the United States, and Britain have successively applied radar equipment to ships in service, but these equipment, which are still in the initial stage, still have many deficiencies in terms of effective detection range, accuracy, reliability, and so on, and light ships and carrier-based aircraft are still the first choice for the fleet to carry out reconnaissance and vigilance. In the last war, the German Navy was the biggest beneficiary of surface ships equipped with aircraft for reconnaissance and calibration, so they spared no effort to carry forward this fine tradition after the war, and surface ships above the light cruiser were designed with hangars and seaplane catapults, and their water reconnaissance aircraft technology has always been at the world's leading level. The Count Tirpitz battlecruiser carries the Henkel-28 in a small, rugged, fast, long-range way, and is the best "eye of the fleet" of the moment.

On conventional combat missions, each Count Tirpitz battlecruiser could carry up to four Heinkel-28s, with eight reconnaissance pilots and two reserve pilots, and it was not difficult to select enthusiastic volunteers from among them. A few minutes later, two single-engine, single-wing, two-seater Heinkel-28s catapulted off from the Count of Tirpitz and Prince Heinrich, respectively, slowly climbing and then turning to the northeast.

Just as William August intuitively judged, the American and British ships in front were only in confusion due to the attack of German submarines, the alert escort force was held back by the anti-submarine mission, and the officers and men of the ships were mostly focused on the surrounding seas, which was a great opportunity to launch a surprise attack on them, but the problem was precisely as the German fleet commander feared, the opponent was much stronger than his fleet -- there were two British Sovereign-class battleships and two American South Dakota-class battleships, as well as three heavy cruisers, Three light cruisers and twenty-two destroyers, if these roles can be balanced, then the remaining thirty or so amphibious landing ships will become very tasty trophies, otherwise they will become trophies of the enemy commander.

During the attack on the German submarine U-1498, the Sovereign-class battleship "Revenge" received two heavy blows, but it did not become the most tragic character of the night. In fact, this standard displacement of 35,000 tons of big guy has a strong protective ability, up to 15 inches thick carburized steel armor will cover the front and rear ammunition depots, boiler rooms, engine room areas, lightning protection compartments using a multi-layer sandwich structure, and between the double hull arranged criss-cross watertight compartments, but also has a displacement capacity of 2,000 tons per hour, when built by the British boasted of "unsinkable warship". Despite tonnage limitations, the Sovereign class was inferior in absolute defense value to the late-built Britannia class and the US Navy's South Dakota and North Carolina classes, but its design was still a classic of the era.

The G-1498 submarine-launched torpedo of the G-6C type was 533 mm caliber, and the warhead was loaded with a 300-kilogram nitric acid compound, which was powerful enough to fatally wound any battleship of the dreadnought era, and the starboard bow and starboard side of the "Revenge" were each hit, and the explosion that resounded across the sea showed the amazing power of the German-made torpedo, but after the violent explosion, the "Revenge" still maintained a normal navigation state, there was no open fire on the ship, and the towering mast did not have a significant tilt, Aside from the two wounds left on the side of the ship, it seemed indifferent to the attack......

On the open-air observation platform on the bridge of the "Revenge", the captain of the ship, Colonel Luke Thorpe, stared at the sea with an iron face, and his own destroyer was following the clues left by the enemy submarine to launch a retaliatory attack, but even if the German submarine was sunk on the bottom of the sea, it was not enough to calm the anger in Captain Thorpe's heart, nor could it compensate for the damage suffered by the "Revenge".

An officer came out of the battle bridge and hurried to the colonel's side: "Sir, Captain Wooton of the damage management team reports that the seven mine-protected compartments 2-4, 2-5, 2-6 and 2-20, 2-21, 2-22, and 2-23 on the starboard side have been confirmed to be damaged, and 16 of the adjacent watertight compartments have leaks, and it is estimated that 1,000 tons of seawater enter the watertight compartment through the breach every hour, and as long as the damage does not worsen, the drainage system can cope with the current situation, and taking into account the pressure of the watertight compartment support wall, It is recommended that our ship reduce its speed to less than 5 knots, and it is expected that the initial emergency repair will take 4 hours. ”

Colonel Thorpe said angrily: "So it seems that we will have to break away from the formation and carry out emergency repairs in this dangerous sea area alone, if we are lucky, we can drive back to the port directly, and if we are unlucky, we can only run aground nearby?" ”

His staff officer bowed his head and affirmed with silence.

"Our luck is terrible!" Colonel Thorpe muttered, "Major Blackett's vigilance team had spotted the German submarine in the nearby sea and attacked, and they thought they had sunk the German submarine, but it turned out that they didn't have it at all!" What can we say? Accuse them of dereliction of duty, dereliction of duty, irresponsible behavior? Damn it, if only they had been more serious and kept attacking until it was confirmed that the German submarine had been sunk! ”

"Maybe it's not the same submarine." The staff officer cautiously retorted.

"How likely do you think this is?" Colonel Thorpe asked rhetorically.

And his staff officer again chose silence.

Colonel Thorpe didn't vent this ignorant karmic fire on his subordinates, he sighed: "Go ahead! Go and ask Drinkwald to reduce the speed to 4 knots, and then send a signal to General Hendry: This ship is injured and needs to sail at a low speed for emergency repairs, please assign three destroyers to escort our ship, and the rest of the ships can go to their destination as planned. ”

The staff officer was relieved to leave the open-air bridge observation deck, where there were two anti-aircraft officers on duty in addition to Thorpe.

One of the air defense officers suddenly alerted his companion and said, "Hey, did you hear the plane?" ”

Another officer hesitated for a moment: "Well, it's the sound of an airplane, and it seems to be flying very low." Will it be our carrier-based aircraft? ”

"I'm not sure." The air defense officer turned his head and glanced at the depressed Colonel Thorpe, hesitated for a moment, walked over and saluted: "Sir, there is a plane moving nearby, can you send a telegram to the flagship to confirm whether we will send carrier-based aircraft to carry out reconnaissance missions?" ”

"Why did our reconnaissance planes come here to reconnoitre?" Colonel Thorpe's rhetorical question immediately left the other party speechless, but he himself was not sure about it. After thinking for a while, he walked to the microphone and lifted the lid on the barrel: "Bridge, I'm Colonel Thorpe, let the signal corps use the signal light to send an inquiry signal into the air, inform the name of the ship, ask the identity of the other party, and if there is no answer, issue a warning." ”

The voice on the other side of the microphone replied respectfully, "Yes, Colonel Thorpe." ”

In just a few moments, the order was transmitted to the signal corpsman, who had just used the signal light to send a communication signal to the detachment's flagship, and then turned the signal light towards the night sky and sent out the specified content in the imperial communication code -- the time it took for the short content to be only a dozen seconds, but there was no signal feedback in the night sky except for the roar of near and far.

(End of chapter)