In the early morning, the mist covered the sea, and the quiet world suddenly heard the low roar of mechanical operation, and then the sound of the sea slapping against the hull of the ship, the sound from far and near, only to see a battleship with a lead-gray background and white patches passing through the fog, its hull was extremely slender, and the speed was quite fast, and the sharp bow of the ship split the rising waves, making it roll over the white foam and swing into the distance......

From dusk to late at night, the "Brave" engaged the enemy several times, and the scars on the hull of the ship did not speak of the cruelty of the battle. Although www.biquge.info was in a non-combat state at this time, all the artillery positions were manned, and the young faces were tired, and the vigilant eyes revealed the fighting spirit. The instinct of the seafarers told them that they were getting farther and farther away from the shores of the British mainland. Where the battleship is heading and where it is going, they are at a loss and in a state of apprehension......

Click-click-click...... Hard-soled leather shoes stomped on the oak deck with the sound of sonorous footsteps, and Colonel Louis Mountbatten, who came into a royal family, wore a slightly stained white military uniform and patrolled the battleship accompanied by two lieutenants.

"Sir!"

"Sir!"

Seeing the captain coming, the sailors saluted.

Mountbatten frequently returned the military salute and constantly nodded to these young men who were sticking to their positions.

Walking to a 105mm secondary gun with a broken shield, Mountbatten stopped. He was very impressed by the commander of this gun, not only because this naval non-commissioned officer had pure blonde hair and a sunny face, but also because he was very good at leading troops in training and commanding guns. In almost every exercise, his artillery crew was the fastest to react, and the accuracy of live fire was impeccable. Mountbatten recommended him to the Navy's gunnery school in the hope that he would grow into a good shooting commander, but the outbreak of war interrupted this plan.

Instead of seeing a familiar face, instead catching a glimpse of the bloodstains on the deck, Mountbatten frowned and asked one of the gunners, "What about your Sergeant Jefferson?" ”

The gunner replied with a gloomy expression: "The sergeant was wounded in the lungs by shrapnel in last night's battle, and then he was sent for treatment, it is not clear what the current situation is." ”

At this time, the officer behind Mountbatten chimed in: "The name of this Jefferson sergeant is not on the list of the dead. ”

Mountbatten didn't say anything to him, but reached out and stroked the hideous crack in the gun shield, all the protection of this single-mounted secondary gun is this 80 mm thick, concave cross-section gun shield, which provides far less protection for the operator than the main turret and bridge command room, but in the battle of artillery fire, in the face of a powerful enemy, the gunners fought bravely, without fear, and the fearless spirit was vividly reflected in them!

Fearless, is the British Navy history used the most times of the name of a word, from the sail age of the three-masted battleship, the steam age of ironclad ships to the epoch-making full-armed heavy artillery giants, it appears again and again in the British Navy's ship roster, again and again in the newspapers, again and again by people mentioned, revered, for no other reason, fearlessness is a symbol of the British naval spirit, is the British Empire's domination of the ocean for more than 200 years of power source, it contains the confidence to defeat the opponent, the determination to overcome difficulties, The domineering spirit of conquering everything is also the hope of the British Navy to get out of the trough.

After a moment of silence, Mountbatten continued towards the stern of the ship. Yesterday's two battles were the most intense, one was a single-handedly confrontation with two German light cruisers at close range, and the other was a counterattack blow to get rid of the entanglement of German destroyers and braving the guns of German heavy cruisers; compared to the remarkable results of heavy damage to two German light cruisers and one destroyer, the damage of the "Brave" was already relatively lucky--at least its power and weapon systems were in good condition as a whole, its ammunition reserves were still about forty percent, and its medical supplies were still sufficient, so it should be able to cope with one or two more battles of moderate intensity. Or a longer sea voyage.

After a full round of tours, he finally went to the infirmary and the officers' canteen, which was temporarily used for the recuperation of wounded soldiers, to visit the crew members who had been wounded in battle. As is customary, the burial of the dead at sea will take place at a later date, and Mountbatten returned to his cabin and slept for two hours with his eyes closed.

When Mountbatten came to the bridge again, the acting officer reported to him: "We have crossed the A coordinate point and are on plan to turn 30 degrees east-north. ”

"That was planned hours ago." Mountbatten muttered, but he didn't seem to have any intention of changing the plan, the German Navy would not give up easily in order to catch this big fish that slipped through the net, and now he was more worried about the political level - the "Brave" attacked the German ore ship in Norwegian territorial waters, and the Germans would seize the incident to make a big fuss, and this cross-border adventure would cause a catastrophe, and maybe even ruin his military career.

The officer on duty knew the captain's temper and allowed him to mumble to himself. Mountbatten stared at the chart in front of him for a moment, then turned to the communications officer, "Is our radio equipment fixed?" ”

The communications officer looked embarrassed: "I'm sorry, sir, it is likely that the damage caused a short circuit, which caused the core components of the radio station to be burned out, and I am afraid that it will not be repaired before arriving in Hong Kong." The backup radio worked, but for reasons you know, it couldn't overcome the radio interference of the Germans, so we never got in touch with the command. ”

Instead of reproaching him, Mountbatten sighed helplessly: "This is the worst news since last night." ”

This was not entirely accurate, as the radar of the "Brave" detected enemy aircraft shortly after dawn. The fear was that the mist would suddenly dissipate, in which case enemy planes would dive down from the sky and attack the battleship with bombs and torpedoes, and even more terrifyingly, they would summon more bombers.

Fortunately, it was not until the enemy planes flew away that the fog at sea gradually dissipated as the temperature rose. The sea shimmered in the sunlight, and at this time the "Brave" had sailed into the Norwegian Sea, more than 400 kilometers from the British coastline, and nearly 300 kilometers away from the position where it had last engaged the enemy ships the night before.

After turning at the first coordinate point, the "Brave" began to sail towards the distant and cold Barents Sea, and in the absence of a new enemy, Mountbatten ordered a moderate cruising speed with more economical fuel consumption, at which it would take about two days and two nights to reach the edge of the Barents Sea, and more than 500 kilometers to Murmansk.

After thrilling battles at sea and finally slipping out from under the noses of powerful enemies, the long and boring voyage became less disgusting. The route taken by the Brave is roughly parallel to the Norwegian coastline. The high-quality iron ore mined in northern Sweden is transported by rail to the port of Narvik in northern Norway, from where it is loaded and shipped out of the ship and sailed in the opposite direction to the North Sea from the Valiant, which means that it can easily catch its defenseless prey if it changes its course at any time and sails east for three or four hours.

Of course, Mountbatten would never reveal his position at this time for a few ore ships, he was still troubled by the inability to get in touch with his superiors, but fortunately, the situation took a turn for the better, when the "Brave" sailed to the sea west of the Norwegian port of Tromsø, the German radio interference finally lost its effect, and Mountbatten immediately ordered the communications officer to report the position of the ship and his own intentions to the North Sea Fleet Command and the Naval Staff. The latter sent a telegram back and forth 40 minutes later: It was agreed that your ship would secretly go to the port of Murmansk for repair and replenishment, and that the cabinet would consult with Soviet Russia through diplomatic channels on relevant matters.

Receiving this telegram, Colonel Mountbatten finally breathed a sigh of relief. Now, if he were to force his way through the Luftwaffe blockade and return to the British mainland, the road ahead would be extremely dangerous, but the journey to Murmansk in the north was very different. In recent years, Britain has provided a lot of technical and equipment support to Soviet Russia, and the expansion and repair of Murmansk has been assisted by the British Navy; as long as the Russians are willing, the "Brave" can be properly repaired there, and in the future, using Russian ports as secret supply points to attack the ore ships on the Norwegian route can take advantage of Soviet Russia's open neutrality, covert inclination toward the United States and Britain's stance, and the Germans' unwillingness to expand the battle line. In this regard, the Germans had taught the former world a lesson 19 years earlier, when the commander of the Mediterranean detachment of the German Navy, Wilhelm Zuchon, led the battle cruiser "von der Tann" and the light cruiser "Breslau" into the Dardanelles Strait, tying the Ottoman Turkey to the chariot of the Central Powers at the cost of just two warships, and the war suddenly spread to the Near and Middle East, and the Balkan countries were also involved in the war, and the sea lines of communication to Russia through the Black Sea were closed, and Russia's imports and exports were reduced by 95% respectively and 98%, which led to the rapid collapse of its economy. Now, Mountbatten's Valiant has every chance to leverage it, even if it can't repeat that miracle.

In order to prevent radio communications from revealing the ship's position and movements, Mountbatten's "Brave" began to practice radio silence after receiving a call back from the Navy Staff. In the following two days, the British Naval Staff and the Admiralty sent several secret telegrams, which were nothing more than informing Mountbatten that the negotiations with the Soviet and Russian governments were going well, and that the Russians were willing to accept the "Brave", which had been heroically wounded in battle, to secretly go to Murmansk, and that all the expenses related to it would be borne by the British government.

On July 21, 1933, the Brave sailed to the Barents Sea, where it joined up with the Russian ships that had come to join the ship and sailed along the Russian coastline to Murmansk. On the same day, American and British troops successfully captured the island of Corvo in the northern part of the Azores, providing a springboard for an attack on the island of Flores. The island was the largest and last stronghold of the Allied forces in the northern Azores, and the Count of Tirpitz-class battlecruiser "Prince Heinrich", which had been damaged in the naval battle, was still undergoing repairs in the dockyard of St. Cruz, but due to the lack of materials and accessories, and the blockade by the American and British navies, the repair of this German battleship was not very optimistic, and once the coastal defense fortress on the island fell, the Germans had only two ways to go: either let the "Prince Heinrich" sail with injuries and try to withdraw to the European continent, or tragically sink itself, so as not to fall into the hands of the enemy.

(End of chapter)