In the early morning of 31 May, in the waters north of Texel Island, three aircraft carriers flying the US-British battle flags -- the USS Yorktown, the USS Fearful, and the USS Princeton -- slowly sailed eastward in a zigzag formation, and their flight decks were lined up with carrier-based planes ready to fly, and under the belly of the fighters hung auxiliary fuel tanks to increase the range, the bombers were mounted with round aerial bombs or cigar-shaped aerial torpedoes, and the pilots were all on standby in the engine room, and most of the aircrew had already withdrawn from the flight deck. Only a few signalmen were silently waiting for instructions. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

The flagship of this aircraft carrier group is the USS Yorktown, which has been fighting on the front line since the first day of the Battle of the Azores, during which it has experienced many enemy air raids, repeatedly dodging deadly attacks from enemy torpedoes and heavy armor-piercing bombs.

In the bridge verandah of this American aircraft carrier, Admiral Claude Bullock looks into the distance from a straight stand. In the line of sight, there is only the boundless sea, the combat ships sailing on the sea, and a few carrier-based planes on the periphery, and the atmosphere seems quiet and peaceful, but on the island of Texel dozens of nautical miles away, the US and British troops are fighting to the death with the incoming Allied aircraft group_The Allied fleet air force and the naval and air force aviation units stationed in the Azores have launched intensive air strikes on the US and British troops occupying Texel Island for the third day in a row, and the US-British coalition forces are still trying their best to resist two days ago, but with the loss of land-based combat aircraft, Now only limited resistance can be relied on by air defense forces.

When the first rays of the morning sun hit the sea, Brock turned in place, facing east, closing his eyes and enjoying the wonders of the morning sun. After a few moments, his adjutant hurried over: "Sir, I received the F signal!" ”

Brock opened his eyes, looked up at his watch, and then gave the order to attack.

Half a minute later, a coloured flag with a specific meaning was hung on the signal line of the Yorktown. The flight decks of the three aircraft carriers were filled with the pleasant roar of the engines, and the fleet adjusted its course, allowing the carrier-based aircraft to take off smoothly in a headwind situation.

When their own carrier-based aircraft group was dispatched, the capital ship group of the United States and Britain was also on its way to the battlefield, and this was their first initiative since May 24. On that terrible afternoon, the U.S. and British fleets, which intended to have a knightly duel with the Allied fleet, were attacked by enemy air raids one after another, and three battleships, including the flagship "South Carolina," were damaged, and the "Alabama" withdrew from the battle due to serious injuries, weakening the strength of the U.S. and British fleets, and at the same time giving Standley a new understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of naval and air warfare. In the case of fruitless pursuit of the enemy fleet, he first took the main fleet to hide in the rain area, and then deliberately concealed his whereabouts, patiently waiting for the opportunity to defeat the enemy. Although on 27 May, the British battleship "Warrior" was attacked by German submarines and lost its combat effectiveness, after joining up with reinforcements from the United States, the strength of the American and British fleets increased instead of decreasing, especially the arrival of two North Carolina-class battleships greatly increased the confidence of the American and British officers.

According to Shandley's plan, the aircraft group of its own aircraft carriers will follow the enemy aircraft group attacking Texel Island to find the Allied aircraft carrier group, and then attack it, even if these aircraft carriers cannot be sunk, it can greatly restrain their movements, thus creating conditions for a "fair showdown" between the main fleets of the United States and Britain. In order to block the retreat of the main fleet of the Central Powers, Standley organized four Lexington-class battlecruisers, two Admiral-class battlecruisers, and two North Carolina-class battleships into a rapid mobile force, allowing them to carry out a large-scale detour, and personally led a group of three South Dakota-class, four Britannia-class, and four Colorado-class main battleships as the core to attack the enemy head-on. If these two fleets succeeded in outflanking the Allied fleet, the United States and Britain would have a huge advantage of 25 to 10 in the naval battle - after receiving two Bavarian-class reinforcements, the Allied fleet led by Admiral Beinke still had only 7 battleships and 3 battlecruisers, and the other 6 battleships and 5 battlecruisers that were supposed to join the naval battle were either pinned down in the offensive operations against the British mainland or were lost in vain due to the unfavorable operational deployment in the early stage. The delay in the construction of the Germania-class superbattleships also had a significant impact on the German Navy's readiness, which, together with the wait-and-see stance of Austria-Hungary and Italy, made it even more difficult for the German Navy than it was in August 1914.

The only good news for Admiral Beinke was the arrival of two Confederate-class aircraft carriers with the first regiment of ships transporting Marine forces, plus two aircraft carriers of the Atlantic Fleet, the Allies had seven aircraft carriers in the waters of the Azores, and the number of land-based combat aircraft was replenished by the arrival of reinforcements, which meant that the Allied forces would continue to maintain air superiority in the Azores.

When the ship's radar detected the enemy's attack, Admiral Beinke and his staff officers did not see through the enemy's combat intentions, and they organized air defense in an orderly manner, and more than 50 carrier-based fighters and two squadrons of air force fighters took off from São Miguel Island in time to meet the attack. Five cruisers and 17 destroyers closely protected their aircraft carrier squadron maneuvering in the sea east of São Miguel Island, while the main fleet was on standby in concealment about 50 nautical miles south of São Miguel Island.

Large-scale air battles in which the two sides invested more than 200 warplanes have already occurred many times in the Azores, and the pilots who survived the baptism of the battlefield have lost their earlier youthfulness and restraint, and have become mature and sophisticated, and have even become "professional killers" who kill people without blinking, and their respective tactical routines are much more flexible than in the early stage. The Allied fighters not only carried out a simple frontal defense, their safari squadrons flexibly attacked behind the battle line, and shot down many enemy bombers waiting for the opportunity to drop bombs, while the American and British aircraft groups still seized a few opportunities in the chaotic battle, successfully damaged the German "Zeppelin" and the Irishman "Queen Charlotte", and also sank the German cruiser "Wiesbaden" by mistake, and controlled their own battle loss ratio at about 30%, which was much less than the air combat losses of nearly half at the beginning of the Azores campaign.

At about 10:40 a.m., a German reconnaissance plane spotted the incoming main American and British fleet north of the island of San Miguel. Dragged down by the Colorado-class battleships, the U.S. and British fleets could barely reach a speed of 20 knots, while the Allied fleet, which lined up the auxiliary ships, could run 25 knots.

From 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., for eight hours, Allied fighters bombed the main fleet of the United States and Britain in turn, and such a battle was easily reminiscent of the torture of cavalry by artillery, but the naval and air battle that took place near São Miguel Island did not present a one-sided situation, and the 17 capital ships of the US and British navies and the 65 light ships accompanying them set up a well-layered air defense formation to stubbornly resist the attack of enemy fighters. In eight hours, the Allies flew more than 1,500 sorties, dropping 270 aerial torpedoes and more than 900 aerial bombs, and the US-British coalition also dispatched more than 700 sorties, consuming 122 torpedoes and nearly 400 aerial bombs The Allies withdrew from the battle due to serious injuries, and only one heavy cruiser and one destroyer of the Allied fleet were sunk, but the serious damage to the two aircraft carriers "Wiecchersbach" and "Alfonso XIII" significantly weakened the combat effectiveness of the fleet aviation.

At dusk, the main fleet of the Central Powers, which was covering the retreat of the aircraft carrier formation, saw the masts of the battleships on the skyline in the distance, which was the first time that the capital ships of the two sides had seen each other since the outbreak of the war. Although the two sides were still a full 25 kilometers apart, the 16-inch guns of the American and British warships could not wait to provoke each other. Compared with the steel collision that occurred in the waters of Jutland 19 years ago, the tonnage of the capital ships of both sides has almost doubled, and the power of artillery has also been greatly improved.

Although the enemy fleet had reduced the number of capital ships available for battle from 17 to 13, and his own 10 capital ships were largely intact, Beinke did not lead the fleet to meet it with the slightest moment, and handed over the fate of the Battle of the Azores and the war to a fleet artillery battle that could last tens of minutes, and he commanded the fleet to sail towards the island of São Miguel, where there were pre-laid mine arrays and equipment.13 If the U.S. and British fleets were following the 5-inch fortress guns, the Allied forces could attack the enemy in a night battle by combining land and sea.

Seeing that the Allied fleet not only did not respond to the battle, but calmly and orderly withdrew to the nearby island of San Miguel, the American and British fleets neither pursued them exhaustively, nor did they retreat in the face of difficulties. At this time, the line of sight on the sea gradually dimmed, and although land-based and carrier-based aircraft could take off and land, the difficulty of attacking the sea greatly increased, and the US and British fleets adjusted their formations at sea.

At 8:30 p.m., U.S. and British warships began to launch ultra-long-range artillery bombardments on the island of San Miguel -- the 16-inch naval guns of the South Carolina-class and Britannia-class guns of the United States both had a range of more than 35 kilometers, while the mines laid by the Allied forces were distributed within a radius of no more than 20 kilometers around San Miguel.

The radar equipment of the US and British warships is still limited to low-precision sea and air early warning, and the accuracy of ultra-long-distance shelling at night is naturally unsatisfactory, and Stendley and his generals are very clear about this, so the artillery bombardment of San Miguel Island is better than physical damage, and the US and British fleet, which has 83 16-inch naval guns, only fired more than 200 16-inch high-explosive shells, and only half of the shells that fell on the island were not more than half. The fire on São Miguel remained unextinguished throughout the night, as if it were an erupting volcanic island.

At dawn on 1 June, as soon as the sky was bright, German warplanes on São Miguel Island were like a flock of sparrowhawks that had been taken out of their nests, and launched a fierce attack on the American and British ships on the sea. Immediately afterwards, Allied carrier-based aircraft flying from the south also joined in the bombing. By the time the sun rose, the main fleet of the United States and Britain had already lost two cruisers and one destroyer, and the flagship "South Dakota" had been hit by three aerial bombs one after another.

The U.S. and British fleets were not intimidated by the adversary's furious blows, and shortly after the enemy's air raids ended, the fighters taking off from Texel Island and the U.S. and British aircraft carriers arrived in the waters off São Miguel Island, and the fighters and bombers immediately launched an attack on the German aviation facilities on São Miguel Island, and directed their own fleet to launch a large-scale artillery bombardment of the German troops and fortifications on the island.

Seeing that his own troops on São Miguel Island were about to suffer great losses, Admiral Beinke waved his command, and ten main warships of the Allied fleet and more than 40 light ships appeared impressively in the sea south of São Miguel Island, five German-class battleships and two Bavaria-class battleships lined up in an oblique column at an interval of 400 meters, and 40 16-inch and 16-inch guns were pointed at the US and British fleets 26,000 kilometers away. Three Mackensen-class battlecruisers and two light and heavy cruisers, armed with 15-inch guns, formed separate combat detachments and bypassed the west of São Miguel Island and waited for an opportunity to attack the rear of the American and British fleets.

At 7:42 a.m., the flagship "Deutschland" took the lead in sounding the battle horn, and the remaining four German-class and two Bavarian-class ships opened fire one after another at the US and British fleets in the distance, and the coastal defense fortress group located in the east of the island of San Miguel also lost no time in joining the battle. Except for the battleship "South Dakota," which was still under fire, the remaining 12 capital ships of the US and British fleets turned their guns one after another, pouring out angry artillery fire on the Allied fleet, which had been unable to catch up with them for a long time and was now voluntarily sent to the door.

Since the outbreak of the war on May 18, the two warring sides have fought more than 40 naval battles in the past half a month, most of which are firefights between small detachments or even individual ships. In less than three minutes, each fleet fired dozens of tons of shells at each other, powerful enough to flatten a medium-sized seaside town, but amazingly, the shells did not damage a single ship or directly injure a single crew, they only caused countless waves, and it seemed that they were only warming up the boiling sea.

(End of chapter)