If, if Somerville still has Charles, or even John? Tovey had more detailed information, and they might have guessed that the German fleet had begun to break out of the encirclement and move north. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

If Charles had known that there was a large transport fleet behind him, he would definitely stop the pace of going south and go north to ensure the absolute safety of this important transport fleet.

But history has no ifs, and his fleet is heading south in a daze, getting farther and farther away from the goal he wants to protect.

It's really not to blame him, nor to blame Somerville or even Tovey. Because they didn't know about this transport fleet, and of course they wouldn't think about the German fleet's adventure to the north.

Remember the elusive "shadow" of German intelligence? Remember when the Führer's shadow "gave" the shipping plans of the British?

In order to make the increasingly rampant and targeted wolf pack attacks in Germany ineffective, Churchill ordered all shipping plans between Britain and the United States to be changed.

In order to change this elaborate shipping plan as soon as possible, and to prevent the German submarine forces from using accurate intelligence to accurately ambush the British transport convoy, the British shipping department did its best to redraw a set of shipping plan rules.

This matter has been mentioned before, and because of the UK's hasty launch of new plans, it has also affected the efficiency of shipping, causing frequent delays in shipping and reducing the total volume of shipping.

Although the new shipping did affect the effectiveness of German submarine raids, it also caused endless problems for the British Navy itself.

It can be said that this is a double-edged sword, which at the same time as targeting the submarines of the German Navy, also gives the British Royal Navy a great headache.

Churchill in order to make this shipping schedule more confidential, in addition to the departments necessary to carry out this plan, there was only the commander of the navy, Dudley? Pound and several high-ranking naval officers knew.

Most of the high-ranking naval officers who knew about this plan only knew a part of the plan under their jurisdiction.

Charles, who was on the battleship George V, as the commander of the home fleet, actually knew about the transport fleet, codenamed CK-1.

Unfortunately, in the timetable he knew, the CK-1 transport fleet should be almost in Ireland by now......

Yes, this CK-1 transport fleet was late, and it was a whole day late! This was a common occurrence in a state of war, but no one had yet told him this astonishing fact because he had led his home fleet out to sea to intercept the German fleet.

Dudley? Both Pound and Churchill knew that the CK-1 transport fleet was sailing near Greenland, but neither of them had the keen sense of smell of a front-line commander.

Two people who knew the exact location of this fleet believed that the German fleet was so far away from the CK-1 transport fleet that there was no need to change the course of the CK-1 transport fleet at all.

After the loss of the TC fleet, the British mainland, which lacked supplies, urgently needed the blood of the CK-1 transport fleet.

Churchill had no patience to let the CK-1 fleet hide back in Canada, and he had no reason to believe that his CK-1 transport fleet had been discovered by the Germans.

Relying on subjective speculation to cancel the trip of a transport and supply fleet is very irrational. Because of the destruction of the TC fleet, there has been no supplies arriving in the British mainland for a day.

Whether or not the German fleet could be prevented from falling out in the Atlantic, there was only one night left for the British fleet and all the British patrol ships that were looking for the German fleet.

"The fleet of the Germans has not been found yet?" Looking at the locations of the various patrol vessels marked on the map, Charles muttered to himself uneasily.

In the most dangerous patrol seas, the British already had 3 cruisers and 2 destroyers cruising. But there, not to mention the German fleet, they did not even find a single German submarine.

Although the sea conditions became worse the further north they went, the British fleet was always heading south, so the sea conditions in front of them were enough for the British fleet to take off its own patrol aircraft.

Although the Swordfish attack aircraft did not fly well, the design was also very old, and it was not at all comparable to the German aircraft.

However, the Swordfish attack aircraft has an incomparable advantage, that is, it has better take-off and landing performance than the Stuka C and FW-190T......

Can it be bad? The Swordfish has a top speed of only 220 km/h, which means it requires a lower take-off and landing speed. If the German plane had dropped to 200 kilometers per hour, it would have almost crashed!

British Swordfish attack planes have taken off hundreds of sorties and searched a large number of sea areas, but still no trace of the German fleet has been found.

There were fewer and fewer undetected locations on the map, and the German fleet was able to hide in smaller and smaller places, and the commanders of the British fleet became more and more uneasy.

"The cruiser due south, sure it didn't meet the German fleet? Search the surface of the sea carefully! If that doesn't work, speed up your search westward! Charles, who felt that he had a splitting headache, depressedly arranged for the cruisers on the periphery to continue searching.

"Is there any news for General Tovey's search fleet? They haven't made any progress either? Looking at the map, the search fleet that was almost on the verge of merging with him, Charles's eyelids began to jump.

The fleet of the Germans could not have disappeared out of thin air, if it was not in the encirclement of the British fleet, then it must be outside the encirclement!

This sentence seems to be a nonsense, but for Charles, it is not a nonsense.

The home fleet had almost followed the southward route of the German fleet to its present position, and if the German fleet was not here, it would mean that the opposite side had avoided the home fleet to the west.

Because if the German fleet had gone east, it would have crashed into a search network of reconnaissance planes, destroyers, and cruisers scattered on the British mainland, and its position would have been exposed a long time ago.

"It is possible that because the sea conditions are not good, the clouds are too low, and the German fleet is missed!" An officer opened his mouth to analyze.

"Then keep looking for me! Be sure to find the German fleet before it gets dark! Have to! Charles gave the order, and then continued to stare at the chart in front of him in silence.

The encirclement was already small, but the sky was almost completely dark. At this time, it was even more difficult for the British fleet to find the German fleet.

As long as the lights are controlled, the entire fleet is virtually invisible at night when the radar cannot catch the target.

There was even a moment when Charles felt that the Germans had calculated the time and wanted to take advantage of the darkness to escape from the British fleet in the vicinity and escape from the encirclement of the British fleet.

Because radar technology has not developed recently, radar, a new weapon, is also a new thing for the British Navy.

Only a few battleships had radars on them that could conduct night searches, and the German fleet could completely sneak out of the encirclement and rush directly to Brest.

"Cunning Germans!" Thinking of this, Charles complained depressedly, and then pressed his hand on the map.

Far away in Britain, Dudley? Pound and Churchill, who had been in command all day, were also puzzled.

Cruisers and destroyers from the mainland were filling up the sea area west of England, and the German fleet must not be in this direction.

The home fleet, which was following the route that the German fleet might choose, was about to converge with the search fleet at this time, and the German fleet was still nowhere to be seen.

Strange things were in front of everyone - how could it be possible to get out of such a net unless the German fleet was invisible?

As the minutes ticked by, I saw that it was completely dark. Charles's home fleet continued southward, narrowing the gap with the search fleet.

"Within an hour, our fleet could have an encounter with the German fleet." An admiral spoke to the people around him.

If the German fleet had gone south, his conjecture would have been accurate. Dudley who could have done it in the Navy? Pound felt that it was impossible for the other party to control the distance so appropriately.

"If the Germans break through, they will also shake off the pursuers on one side first, and try to break through and advance eastward before nightfall, which is the correct tactical arrangement......," another general expressed his doubts.

The British Navy is not without understanding people, on the contrary, there are too many tactical specialists in the British Navy. Hearing that someone raised their own questions, everyone felt that it was too much of a coincidence.

"The enemy fleet should have happened an hour ago, or between two hours, how could it be possible to wait in the middle of the encirclement and meet our two fleets at the same time?" After figuring out the crux of the matter, Churchill also realized that things were strange.

At the same moment, the captain of the battleship George V, who looked at the sky and was already completely dark, said to Charles: "The Germans can't really go west, because the west is the continental America!" ”

"It's impossible for them to go west and then south, which means that they haven't thrown off our fleet, they're just moving in parallel." At this time, Charles also realized the crux of the problem.

He turned sideways and shouted to the officer in charge of radio communications: "Send a telegram to the homeland!" Tell them that the German fleet was probably already near Greenland! ”

"Sir!" Inside the Home Command, an officer handed over a telegram from Charles: "General Charles speculates that the Germans have thrown off the Home Fleet to the west, and then returned north to the sea south of Greenland. ”

"South of Greenland?" Churchill felt that the area seemed familiar.

"......" Dudley? Pound looked up at the empty sea, which was not crowded with ships because of the distance. Because of the attention, the focus of British patrols was on the south.