In order to cover their whereabouts, the Allied aircraft carrier squadron continued to maintain radio silence even when it was engaged in battle, so that hundreds of kilometers away, the Allied support fleet with the "Hesse" as the flagship could not be the first to learn of the good news that its carrier-based aircraft had severely damaged the US and British aircraft carriers. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 After two waves of enemy air raids, most of the members of this fleet were damaged, especially the German heavy cruiser "Admiral Schell" was the most seriously injured.

No matter how fast a warship at sea is, it cannot be faster than an airplane in the sky. It didn't take long for the Allied fleet's ship-based radars to detect a third wave of enemy aircraft coming from the northwest, seemingly smaller than the first two, but the exact number would have to wait until they got closer.

Before the enemy planes approached, the commander of the "Hesse" moved from the closed battle bridge to the observation platform outside the bridge, breathing in the fresh air of the sea surface while discussing the next battle strategy. Colonel Kemp, the special liaison officer of the Irish Navy, said in a tone of inquiry: "Your Majesty, do you need to send fighter planes to the 'Longford'?" ”

Xia Shu thought for a moment: "If nothing else, the enemy only sent a small number of fighters to escort this wave of air raids, and our sending fighters into battle can not only weaken the opponent, but also affect the enemy's next wave of arrangement." Well, send a telegram to the 'Longford', order them to police all the remaining fighters, and tell the pilots that if they cannot intercept the enemy planes before they attack, they should go into battle after the enemy planes have finished bombing. ”

After Colonel Kemp gave the order, the captain of the "Hesse" Messer pouted and said, "Your Majesty thinks the enemy will have the next wave of air raids?" According to the normal time calculation, our air force should have already flown over the enemy's aircraft carrier, and the enemy has launched two waves of air attacks against us one after another, plus this wave, more than 100 warplanes have been dispatched one after another. ”

Natsuki replied to him in a philosophical tone: "Anything can happen on the battlefield, and we should prepare for the worst." ”

Colonel Messer was about to say something, when a communications officer hurriedly arrived to report that radio communications had been intercepted from his carrier-based aircraft. It can be inferred from the contents of the communication that our own air force has launched an attack on the enemy's aircraft carrier formation, and has so far achieved the good results of sinking at least two ships and seriously damaging two.

The officers present were overjoyed, and Messel waved his fists in relief.

The communications officer took the opportunity to ask Natsuki for instructions: "Your Majesty, do you need to inform the entire fleet of this battle report?" ”

Natsuki replied without hesitation: "First, this battle report is based on the pilot's report, and the accuracy needs to be considered; Second, at the moment that the war is urgent, all officers and soldiers need to go all out, and although the announcement of victory at this time can boost morale, it will inevitably be distracting, so I think it is not too late to announce it later. ”

Although Messel was happy, he did not get carried away, he immediately nodded in agreement, and then analyzed: "Presumably, the pilots of this wave of enemy planes do not know that their aircraft carrier formation has been heavily damaged, and they will attack according to the original plan. If I were the commander of their carrier formation, I would have them turn around halfway through and search for and attack enemy carriers, rather than let them attack in vain a reinforcement fleet of limited value and the convoy of transports it covers. So, our opponent should be a person who doesn't know how to be flexible? ”

"Claude Bullock? How much do you know about him? Natsuki asked casually.

Messel was a little embarrassed, he shrugged his shoulders: "I had a relationship three years ago, and after a brief chat, I thought it was a very casual person, gentle, elegant, and erudite, and he didn't look like an old-fashioned old man." ”

The senior commanders of the U.S. and British fleets can basically be divided into three categories here in Natsuki, the first category is that Natsuki was very familiar with before the war, such as the "warist" Harrison Standley of the U.S. Navy, the "cannon admiral" of the British Royal Navy, Ernley Chatfield, and the "fierce but not fierce" Dudley Pound, they are already active in the U.S. and British military circles, and they are in important positions, Natsuki has both contacts and concerns with them, exaggerated to say, their personality characteristics, way of thinking, Personal preferences and even some bad tastes are under control, and Natsuki doesn't dare to say that he is sure of their battlefield decisions, but he can basically guess the right direction.

The second category is the famous figures in history, such as the hot-tempered Ernest King, the "national hero" Nimitz, the hapless Kimmel and the "Bull" Halsey, the "madman" Smith, the "monster" Turner, etc., whose development trajectory is either like the original historical version, or has some deviations, but overall, their abilities and performances are roughly equivalent to the historical description, and in this era, they mostly play a relatively minor role.

The third category, such as Admiral Claude Bullock, the commander of the US-British aircraft carrier group, with whom Natsuki has never befriended or even met, knows little about their historical warplanes, and his knowledge of them mainly comes from the information collected by the intelligence services - the ****** in the mid-19th century forced millions of Irish people to flee their homes, so that the Irish diaspora spread all over the world, Ireland used this unique resource to develop a vast and unique intelligence network, Thousands of professional spies and hundreds of thousands of non-professional eyes and ears spy in peacetime, gather intelligence in the fields of science and technology, business, and other fields, and follow the organization's arrangements in wartime. Before re-exiting the mountain, Natsuki spent several weeks studying the relevant information, and based on this, carefully formulated the battle strategy for this first battle.

If it weren't for the radar that detected the original beyond the normal visual range, Natsuki and his fleet would not have known that the danger was approaching at this time. With early warning, proximity fuses, and effective air defense formations, the Allied support fleet was able to survive the first two waves of attacks by the US and British carrier-based aircraft groups. According to the statistics of each ship, more than half of the ammunition consumption of antiaircraft guns has been consumed, and half of the damage to the ship's hull has reduced its conductive power, and the casualties of officers and men have reached 1,000. A bomb, a torpedo, or a misjudgment, a casual oversight, can have catastrophic consequences.

Seeing that Natsuki didn't speak, Messer speculated on the topic just now: "Assuming that the command of the enemy's aircraft carrier formation is still in the hands of Bullock, and Bullock is not a reckless and dull commander, the biggest possibility for him to launch the third wave of air attacks is that he has retained enough counterattack forces, so there is no need to transfer back to the halfway fleet." ”

Natsuki quickly asked, "But in that case, how can our plane quickly achieve remarkable results?" ”

This can stop Messer, and this is where the difference between a good commander and a genius commander is reflected.

From the point of view of initiative, tactical tactics can be divided into two types: one is to move in response to the enemy and make corresponding arrangements according to the enemy's movements, and the other is to move ahead of the enemy and use one's own movements to induce the enemy to follow up. Natsuki used the "Frederick-Caesar" group and the support fleet as bait to lure the enemy into the latter tactical strategy. Of course, the enemy is not a tamed ox that can easily be led by the nose, and there are plenty of opportunities for them to get out of their predicament or even get out of the way before the dust settles on this battle. At the beginning of the exchange of fire with the advance fleet of the United States and Britain, Natsuki was worried that the opponent would not see a bad opportunity and took the initiative to retreat, but the enemy chose to confront it head-on; After the start of the air raid by the US and British carrier-based aircraft, the support fleet calmly responded and moved forward firmly, but the enemy commander did not notice anything unusual from it; Even now, after the first wave of fierce attacks by Allied carrier-based air groups, the American and British fleets still have a chance to preserve their strength, but they are still attacking targets that lack real value.

A sneer appeared at the corner of Natsuki's mouth.

Claude Bullock, after all, you are a military expert in the theoretical field, the leader of the analysis of war cases and tactics is the way, the struggle for power and profit is not soft, but the battle is without aura, and the ability to command aircraft carrier operations is far inferior to those juniors who are really proficient in this way, otherwise how can it be my turn to save the Azorean war?

The dramatic scene that Messel had secretly hoped for did not materialize, and hordes of American and British warplanes came into view, and then launched a fierce air attack on the Allied support fleet that had turned eastward. Of the 55 fighters in this wave, there were very few fighters, and because the seven IR-29Ts that took off from the Irish auxiliary carrier "Longford" failed to arrive before the enemy aircraft attacked, the support fleet under Natsuki's command had to face an attack of unprecedented intensity. Although the "lame" "Admiral Schell" was only attacked by a small group of torpedo planes, the large battleship, which was slow and difficult to turn, was too easy to target. Taking advantage of the fact that the battleship had not completely disintegrated, the captain decisively issued an order to abandon the ship, and forty percent of the officers and men survived.

As the most striking target from a bird's-eye view, the "Hesse" naturally became the target of another siege by enemy aircraft, and this time its good luck was almost exhausted, with 4 heavy armor-piercing shells and 7 light bombs not only blowing it up beyond recognition, but also causing considerable damage to the power and communication systems, in the words of Colonel Merser, "we will not survive the fourth wave of air raids." ”

Fortunately, the Allied officers and men who survived the third wave of air raids through bloody battles did not have to face the next wave of air raids, and after a long time, the Allied aircraft carrier formation, which had disappeared for a long time, finally sent a battle report: 226 fighters were sent to attack the enemy fleet and destroy 80% of the combat strength of the American and British aircraft carrier formations, and victory in this battle was in sight!

(End of chapter)