The sun is shining, the sea breeze is gentle, such a day...... It is very beneficial for carrier-based aircraft and high-speed torpedo boats!

Natsuki thought in his heart that if the British fleet that appeared in the northeast, that is, the right rear of his own fleet, was indeed coming towards the support fleet, they might have picked an inopportune time. www.biquge.info Of course, the initiative in this naval confrontation was in the hands of the German fleet, and it was up to the British Navy to choose the date according to its own wishes.

At this moment, the sound of cannons suddenly came from the sea on the starboard side of the fleet, and the officers came to the right side of the bridge. There was no sign of enemy ships on the sea, and it was a large torpedo boat of the 1906 class that was on alert, and the column of water stirred up by the shells appeared on the sea far from starboard, and it seemed that the submarine periscope had been found.

As soon as the submarine retracted its periscope, surface shelling was largely ineffective. I saw that this large torpedo boat was sailing towards the shelling waters, and at the same time using light signals to contact nearby ships. After a while, three large torpedo boats gathered in that water, turned in circles to search for traces of enemy submarines, and then dropped a number of anti-submarine bombs. It is worth mentioning that as a professional modern ship engineer, Natsuki knows far more about the principles of sonar than tank fighting vehicles, and with his contributions, the Friedrich shipyard developed a primary model of active sonar, which is stronger than the passive hydrophone and has a certain direction finding and positioning function, which is three years earlier than the invention of active sonar by Canadian physicists -- in wartime, three years of technological leadership may have an incalculable impact on the development of the war situation.

The anti-submarine warfare of the German escort ships continued for a while, and nothing appeared on the surface of the sea except for the foam and silt from the anti-submarine bombs, which meant that the British submarine shrewdly evaded the attack, and the radio department of the "King" reported that they had detected a radio signal in close proximity just before their large torpedo boats discovered the target, and that the signal was not encrypted, and after interpretation, it contained a report on the composition and movements of the German fleet.

That is, the British fleet commander at this time had an up-to-date picture of the state of the German fleet. Natsuki was neither surprised nor disappointed by this, because it was impossible for them to hide the whereabouts and strength of the fleet all the time, not to mention the fact that the German navy's stated intention was to prevent Britain from sending combat troops to France, so it was inevitable to move towards the English Channel and strive to break through the British maritime defenses. Moreover, the "King" had detected enemy communications on several occasions before this, and the British Navy had clearly been inspired by the adversary's actions - submarines could not easily approach a heavily guarded fleet, but could detect the movements of such a fleet from a greater distance.

After a moment's consideration, the commander of the fleet, Reinhardt-Scheer, commanded in a loud voice: "Order...... The 1st Battleship Squadron, the 4th Reconnaissance Squadron, and the 1st and 3rd Lightning Strike Groups...... The whole turned to the 16 compass points and moved closer to the auxiliary fleet. Send a message to Michelson and get him ready to fight with all his might. ”

The intent of these directives was very obvious - to concentrate first on the British Rapid Fleet in the northeast.

"Wait!" Natsuki motioned to Lieutenant Commander von Lefetsoff, who was about to deliver the order, to wait, and then said to Scheer: "If we turn around, the British battlefleet may go south at full speed and intercept General Hipper's reconnaissance fleet. ”

"What's so scary about that?" Scheer was puzzled. Even taking into account the damage to the Moltke, Hipper's fleet was several knots faster than the British battleship group, and even if it was not capable of the enemy, it was able to use its speed advantage to avoid the British main fleet.

Natsuki explained: "First, fighting in the waters close to the British mainland, we have to take into account the huge number of torpedo boats of the British Navy, and their high-speed torpedo boats can forcibly double the combat radius without considering the fuel for returning home, so that it is entirely possible for our reconnaissance fleet to be entangled in the enemy's torpedo boats, and the situation is not good for four battlecruisers against the enemy's five battleships." Second, if our battlefleet turns around and joins up with auxiliary ships, the enemy's fast fleet is likely to abandon the attack and continue to wait for the right moment. After dark, the effectiveness of our aerial reconnaissance decreases sharply, and it will be difficult to detect the enemy's movements and respond in advance. ”

Scheer thought about it and felt that what Natsuki said was reasonable, there should be British submarines in the nearby sea that were spying on the German fleet's every move, and British reconnaissance planes could also appear at any time. As soon as the changes in the German fleet became known, the enemy commander would certainly adjust his combat tactics accordingly.

"So let's move on?" Scheer asked Natsuki rhetorically.

At this time, Natsuki had already thought of a countermeasure: "Maintain an advancing posture, reduce the distance between the battlefleet and auxiliary ships, closely monitor the rapid fleet of the British Navy, and order the Hipper reconnaissance fleet to return to defense at full speed." ”

Scheer then turned his gaze to von Trota, but the Colonel's train of thought could not keep up with Natsuki's speed, and it was inconvenient to speak outright, so he had to look at Scheer speciously.

"That's it!"

Scheer made a decisive decision, and he instructed von Lefetsov: "The previous order is cancelled and replaced: the speed of the 1st Battleship Squadron, the 4th Reconnaissance Squadron, and the 1st and 3rd Thunderstrike Groups will be adjusted to 12 knots; Michelson's auxiliary fleet accelerated to 15 knots while preparing for battle; The reconnaissance fleet headed north at full speed to meet us as soon as possible. ”

After the order was issued, the ships of the various detachments and the lightning strike group began to slow down. Although they were far fewer than the German fleet that had previously attacked Jutland, it was still a technically difficult task to keep them in their navigation, maneuvering, and operational integrity. Since the pace of adjusting the speed is not safe and consistent, it will take some time for the ships to reposition themselves after the adjustment, and it will take even longer to perform a large action such as a full U-turn.

About twenty minutes later, the planes that had gone to the Thames estuary to carry out reconnaissance returned to the fleet position, and it brought new information about the movements of the British fleet: five British battleships were leading dozens of destroyers and torpedo boats to the east, and the British capital ship that had been "sunk" had finally run aground near the coast of Great Wakeling.

Counting the time difference in the return of the planes, the main British fleet had already left the waters of the Thames estuary, and if the German fleet did not adjust its navigation status, the two sides would be within range of each other in about an hour. At that time, as soon as the fast fleet of the British Navy swooped down from behind, the German fleet would be in a situation where the enemy was on the back, and the situation was even worse than that of the German Army and the Franco-Russian armies.

Then, the "Bismarck" also sent the latest report, and the enemy's fast fleet was indeed strategically keeping a distance between the two sides, instead of taking advantage of the speed advantage to rush straight up. After careful identification, the pilots of the reconnaissance planes determined that the fast fleet consisted of three battle cruisers, two armored cruisers, five light cruisers, and twenty-two destroyers.

Only a few minutes later, the "Bismarck" again sent a report that another reconnaissance plane had spotted a capital battleship and four destroyers in the rear waters of the British fast fleet, which was sailing at a speed of about 20 knots, and the distance between the two sides was constantly shortening due to the slowing down of the fast fleet in front.

For the commanders and staff of the German fleet on the King, the situation on the battlefield was becoming clearer, and the tactics of the adversary were not what they had expected.

Even Natsuki had to admit that the British had made a good move this time, and if it hadn't been discovered early by their own reconnaissance planes, the German fleet would probably have suffered a big loss.

Half an hour later, the German main fleet and the auxiliary support fleet were close to each other, and according to the reports of the pilots of the reconnaissance planes, the British fast fleet was still 30 nautical miles away from the "Bismarck," and the outposts of the British battlefleet were only 20 nautical miles away from the "King."

At this moment, the outposts of the German main fleet had seen the plumes of smoke produced by the ships sailing in the western sea.

With sunset still more than 3 hours to go, the German fleet sounded the battle alarm.

Due to the fact that the "Queen Augusta", which was built earlier, was docked for repairs due to a leakage of the hull, only five high-speed torpedo boat carriers followed the main fleet this time, namely "Victoria-Louise", "Herta", "Freya", "Vinata" and "Hansa", all of which were converted from old protective cruisers and carried 12 high-speed torpedo boats each. Under the command of Commodore Michelson, they were scattered around the aircraft carrier "Bismarck" and guarded the core ships of the auxiliary fleet like a moon -- although they were equipped with very few naval guns, the short-range combat effectiveness of the high-speed torpedo boats was not comparable to that of carrier-based aircraft, and in some cases even more powerful than the four armored cruisers escorting the ship.

Attack planes carrying ultralight aviation torpedoes were taking off one by one from the flight deck of the "Bismarck," and on the five torpedo boat carriers, the officers and men were already gearing up, and all the high-speed torpedo boats had been refueled and loaded with torpedoes, and now they were just waiting for the commander's order.

The long-awaited signal flag finally appeared on the signal wire of "Bismarck". "Heavy warship sortie", "target northeast direction", the command is very simple, but the task is not easy. The five torpedo boat carriers quickly slowed down, and the crews skillfully operated the cranes to lift the "Thunder" torpedo boats, which had the strongest attack power, to the surface of the sea. The first group of 24 "Thunder" ships was planned to be divided into two groups according to the predetermined formation, and the first group of 12 ships was quickly assembled and headed northeast at a cruising speed of 30 knots, with a Junkers 3-C water reconnaissance aircraft piloting them in the air. The second team was also assembled quickly, but due to the unexpected failure of one of the "Thunder" carried by the "Hertha", only 11 ships actually completed the formation, and they galloped away following the figure left behind by their companions.

(End of chapter)