At noon on May 21, 1933 GMT, a huge fleet of more than 200 ships was sailing eastward in a certain area in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Pen ~ fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info muffled the roar of the engine to cover the sound of the wind and waves, the churning splash of water confused the rippling sea, since human civilization entered the industrial age, there has never been such a powerful fleet, the steel used in the construction of these warships alone has reached a million tons, in order to operate normally, nearly 100,000 well-trained naval officers and sailors are required to abide by their posts!

There are battleships, aircraft carriers, cruisers, destroyers, supply ships, hospital ships, and many transport ships that are difficult to clearly classify. The mighty and majestic main warships are grouped in the front, the aircraft carriers with unique postures are in the middle column, all kinds of auxiliary ships are concentrated in the rear, cruisers and destroyers are scattered everywhere, and outpost reconnaissance, perimeter vigilance, and close escort are all available......

The flagship of this fleet of unprecedented size was a giant warship with a majestic hull and a majestic bridge, with a brightly colored Star-Spangled flag flying high on its mainmast and a four-star admiral's flag flying below it -- no need to sign it, but a discerning person would know that William Harrison Standley, the current commander of the U.S. Navy fleet, was in charge of the whole situation.

In the gigantic battleship's elegantly decorated senior officers' boardroom, the gray-haired Stendley sat upright, and the battleship's nameplate, "South Dakota," hung on the bulkhead behind him. Born in the mid-20s, at the height of the shipbuilding race, the four South Dakota-class were the world's largest and most powerful battleships when they were put into service, and many of the records they held were not broken until three years later when the Britannia-class and German-class were completed in succession.

"Intelligence from the enemy camp shows that the German top brass has not yet realized that we are about to launch a surprise attack on the Azores. In fact, with the Germans' usual way of thinking, they could not have expected us to dare to cross a distance of 3,000 kilometers and attack a well-defended island without the support of an army and army aviation. Indeed, it is a very, very risky move, and sometimes I feel like I am dreaming, and something seems illusory, unreal, but after a moment of false sleep, I will tell myself very soberly: yes, you have embarked on a great journey, and seemingly impossible miracles will be written in your hands and your companions. ”

The 61-year-old Shandley spoke in a slow tone full of pride, and the officers present all held their heads high and straightened their chests. It is indeed the honor of a soldier to be able to participate in such an epic expedition, and if you can sing a song of triumph, the honor will become a lifelong pride, otherwise, it may become a lingering nightmare in this life.

Expressing some emotion, the admiral quickly got to the point: "Gentlemen, I have good news and bad news here. First of all, the bad news, after the joint German and Irish forces in the Cohen Peninsula in North Wales, the British army successively invested five main army corps, a large number of chariots and train guns to launch a counterattack, fighting hard for two nights, and was once only a few steps away from victory, but under the enemy's ferocious sea and air strikes, the British counterattack suffered heavy setbacks, huge casualties, and serious losses of aircraft and chariots. ”

With that, Standley's eyes were lowered, as if he was mourning the dead British soldiers. After a moment, his eyes returned to their original steadiness and firmness, and he glanced at everyone: "Next, let's talk about the good news, from the analysis of the intelligence department, the Germans did not expect that we would attack the Azores in the form of a lightning attack, although they continue to strengthen the defense of the Azores, including the deployment of additional aircraft and combat troops, but the scale of the increase is limited, which means that this operation is still under our control." ”

Among the generals present were heavyweights such as Battlefleet Commander Admiral Harry Owen Yanel, Carrier Fleet Commander Admiral Claude Bullock, Cruiser Fleet Commander Vice Admiral Thomas Hart, and Destroyer Fleet Vice Admiral Harold Stark. For the upcoming battle, these veteran officers, although fearless, are not full of confidence. During the Azores crisis in 1926, the Germans had not yet fully gained a foothold, and the main fleets of the United States and Britain were still running into a wall. Now that the Germans had been operating in the Azores for many years, they had built several major islands into huge naval fortresses, and the German Atlantic Fleet and Air Corps, which had been stationed there for a long time, were to forcibly take them by way of long-distance raids, which was a dangerous move from any point of view.

Stemley is aware of the fears, and he and his partners have been preparing for more than six years as the key initiators of this bold plan. Although he had never been to the Azores, he knew every island, every headland, every beach there inside out. Over the past few years, through tireless efforts and even sacrifices, US and British spy personnel have obtained a large amount of military intelligence on the German army in the Azores, which has provided an extremely valuable basis for the US and British naval top brass to formulate detailed combat plans.

In addition to this, the new capital ships, which have been in service since the late 20s, have greatly increased the ability of the US and British navies to attack fortified positions. The U.S. Navy's South Dakota and Colorado classes, Britain's Great Britain and Admiral's classes are armed with 50 times the diameter of 16-inch guns, and the U.S. North Carolina-class battlecruisers and Lexington-class battlecruisers are equipped with powerful 18-inch guns, which are equipped with armor-piercing shells designed to deal with concrete fortifications, which are enough to take out those seemingly impregnable coastal defense fortresses.

In order to confuse the enemy, Standley did not hesitate to leave two newly commissioned North Carolina-class battleships and two Lexington-class battlecruisers, considered the symbol of the U.S. Navy, in Boston. Even so, the strength and momentum of this expeditionary fleet were enough to greatly encourage the officers and men of the US Navy who embarked on the long journey -- four South Dakota-class ships with a standard displacement of 40,000 tons and 12 16-inch guns, four Colorado-class ships with a standard displacement of 36,000 tons and eight 16-inch guns, two Pennsylvania-class ships with a standard displacement of 32,000 tons and 12 14-inch guns, four super battlecruisers of the Lexington class, two 20,000-ton Independence-class, Two 30,000-ton Yorktown-class aircraft carriers...... The best of the U.S. Navy is here.

At this time, the main fleet of the United States was accompanied by the main fleet of the British Commonwealth departing from Canada, including two 45,000-ton Britannia-class battleships, three 44,000-ton Admiral-class battlecruisers, two 35,000-ton Sovereign-class battleships, three 29,000-ton Queen Elizabeth-class battleships, and four 30,000-ton Tejli-class aircraft carriers. According to the agreement reached at the top level of the United States and Britain, the British fleet will be subordinate to the command of the US fleet command in the combat operation of the attack on the Azores, that is, the "South Dakota" will be the unique flagship of this combined fleet.

In order to capture an archipelago consisting of nine islands, with a total area of more than 2,000 square kilometers and heavily defended by enemy forces, it is clear that warships and aircraft carriers alone will not be enough. To this end, the US-British coalition has prepared four marine divisions and two marine brigades, with 100,000 well-trained marines. Compared with the German Marine Divisions, the US and British Marine Corps are superior in terms of the quality of their soldiers, the level of equipment, and the standards of training, but the former has withstood the severe tests of war and has long been well-known, while the latter, although it has a long history and has left "bad deeds" in various parts of the world, has not yet performed in a real way after conforming to the trend and transforming into a strategic branch of the armed forces, and has received much less attention and popularity.

After a pause, Stendley continued: "Since there has been no substantial change in the German defense, my opinion is to directly adopt the No. 1 plan, first of all, to carry out long-range air strikes with carrier-based aircraft, to take the enemy by surprise, to destroy their airfields as much as possible, and to destroy the combat aircraft there. If the first two rounds of bombardment are satisfactory, the third and fourth rounds of air strikes will be continued, and if the results are not good, night shelling will need to be used as a necessary supplement. Not counting the aircraft carriers, we have twenty-four capital ships, the enemy has only seven, the German fleet is very unlikely to attack during the day, it is very likely to come out at night to try their luck, or to sneak away at night when the situation is not good, what we really need to deal with are the enemy's torpedo boats and submarines. Before we completely control the air and the sea, we may lose half of our carrier-based aircraft and two or three cruisers, so we are mentally prepared to lose one or two capital ships. ”

Given a sign that he could speak, Admiral Bullock, commander of the aircraft carrier fleet, said: "My personal biggest concern is that the enemy may have spare airfields and concealed hangars that we do not know, and if the German fighter jets deployed in the Azores are not 500 but 600 or 800, we may not be able to complete the set task." Aircraft loaded on cargo ships can only be put into service when they arrive at the port for assembly, and even if there are enough pilots, these reserves are just a bunch of numbers until they land and take control of an airfield. ”

"Your fears are not unfounded." "If there is a situation where we are unable to fully control the air, our Marines will have to force their way onto the beach at any time when they may be attacked by enemy aircraft, and the casualties may be much higher than we anticipated, but we will have no choice but to sacrifice some of our men in exchange for this vital victory." Gentlemen, time is precious, and when the battle begins, we will either be able to gain a foothold in four days, or we will face a situation of being attacked from the ground up. If we don't win, we are likely to lose the war, and the fate of not only Britain but also the United States will be changed. ”

(End of chapter)