When the "Maritime Twins" from the Russian Northern Fleet appeared near the Irish offshore drilling platform, it was drizzling in Limerick, the capital of Ireland. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 Info received an urgent report from the Navy Staff, and Natsuki sat down on the rattan chair next to the floor-to-ceiling window with a teacup in his hand, looking at the rain outside the window while thinking about what had happened in the old time and space. To say that it is brave and ruthless, Russia, which is known as a "fighting nation", is definitely a strange existence, almost every country bordering it has suffered their losses, and although the land of the United States is separated from them by a Bering Strait, it is undoubtedly the most entangled with it. Thinking about this, and thinking back about the "bad" contact that happened in the North Sea, it takes it for granted.

The Russians are not easy to provoke, but they can't admit it in front of them, otherwise they will be treated as soft persimmons, and they will pinch it when they are in a good mood, and they will pinch it if they are in a bad mood. After a cup of tea, the Prime Minister, the Foreign Secretary, the Minister of the Navy, and the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy arrived. Natsuki did not consult them, but assigned them directly: the Prime Minister, as Ireland's representative on the Allied Council, informed the Allied countries as soon as possible and solicited their solidarity, especially Germany, the Foreign Secretary quickly summoned the Soviet and Russian ambassadors to convey the diplomatic warning of the Kingdom of Ireland, the Admiralty Minister coordinated the German Navy to send reinforcements through the emergency line of the German-Irish military alliance, and the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy was responsible for dispatching his own ships and aircraft to the area where the incident occurred.

After the arrangement was made, except for the commander-in-chief of the navy, Admiral Sean Purcell, and his adjutant, the rest of the people went about their work.

"My opinion is to immediately send bomber formations from the Belfast base and the Llandudno base in northern Wales, half carrying training bombs and half live ammunition, and after flying to the destination, first dive at a low altitude, and if the Russian fleet still stubbornly does not withdraw, then use training bombs to warn them." Natsuki Road.

General Purcell quickly replied: "My thoughts coincide with that of Your Majesty, and the fastest and most efficient way is to send bombers, the 5th Wing in Belfast with a squadron of IK-60Ds carrying Angel II bombs, and a squadron of Ju-31s with torpedoes; The 9th Wing at Llandudno Base dispatched one squadron of Ju-28s and one squadron of Ju-30s, carrying ordinary aerial bombs. Considering the relatively short range of the Ju-30s, it was possible to allow them to carry only two training bombs per aircraft with additional refueling. ”

"Since we are on the same page, let's immediately convey the instructions to these two bases! After all, it takes a little time to prepare. Natsuki said. Although the constitution of the Kingdom of Ireland gave him the power to directly mobilize any army, and he himself had sufficient experience and ability to command a military operation, he never gave orders to the troops beyond the generals, which was both a kind of trust and a kind of respect, knowing that this was no longer the era of Caesar or Napoleon, the army ran like a factory, everyone should abide by their position, and the result of overstepping the command was often counterproductive.

Purcell turned his face sideways and gave his adjutant an affirmative expression: "Execute!" ”

The unassuming but capable adjutant quickly left the room and went to give orders.

Picking up the teacup for the second time since coming in, Purcell took a sip of the still warm tea, and said slowly: "At present, the 7th Patrol Fleet is stationed in Tórshafen, with the light cruiser 'Gower-Mona' and two destroyers, four minesweepers, and two submarines, which are the ships that can reach the warning area of the drilling platform the fastest, but even if they go at full speed, it will take six or seven hours to get there, and the Russian fleet may have disappeared by then." ”

Natsuki understood what General Purcell meant, and he did not hesitate to express his attitude: "Transferring 'Gole-Mona' and two destroyers to go, even if the Russians run away, it should be regarded as an emergency training." By the same token, ships stationed at the bases in Kirluth and Cork also took part in the operation. ”

Percell thought for a moment: "It is said that the 'St. Patrick' is currently our most powerful and deterrent ship in the waters of our homeland, but now there is only a week before St. Patrick's Day, and if there is a breakdown or other accidents on the way, it may not be in time for the commissioning ceremony." ”

Natsuki immediately replied, "It's okay, the ceremony can be postponed, but such an opportunity is rare." We must make our firm stand to Russia, as well as to our allies and our own military and civilians - the Kingdom of Ireland is not a gentle shepherd! ”

Percell nodded solemnly: "Okay, Your Majesty, as you wish, this will be an unprecedented and significant joint operation of the sea and air, I cannot accurately estimate the cost of the entire operation at this time, nor can I predict how much trouble the personnel of the Quartermaster Department and even the Parliamentary Quartermaster Committee will have afterwards, but I am confident that this operation will definitely achieve the purpose you envisioned." ”

Natsuki put away his usual calmness, and said with a slightly grim expression, "I hope so." ”

About forty minutes later, the order for action reached the aircraft carrier "St. Patrick" anchored at the Naval Base in Kierruth, Ireland. This brand-new aircraft carrier belongs to the brand new Winner class - it is the second generation of standard aircraft carriers personally designed by His Majesty Joachim, the "double crown", which was finalized in the autumn of 1934, and the construction of two ships began in that year, six ships were started in 1935 and 1936, and six more were planned to be built in 1937. After 25 months of construction, the lead ship "Winner" was put on sea trials in October 1936 and officially joined the German Navy's operational sequence in December.

In the design process of this type of aircraft carrier, Xia Shu drew on the successful experience of the American Essex-class aircraft carrier in history, first of all, the high degree of standardization of steel and steel plates, shipboard equipment, machinery and weapons, so as to ensure the timeliness and quality of assembly line operations, and secondly, it found a balance suitable for modern naval warfare between the main performance of speed, protection, and aircraft capacity, and it can easily be competent for both large fleet operations and small team tasks.

Although the admirals and technical experts of the Western Allies spoke highly of the Winners, given that the war was far away from Europe and the Atlantic, the willingness of countries to order new ships was generally not high, and the German Navy had taken over nine of the 14 Winner-class ships that had already started, while Ireland ordered one ship a year, and the other two ships were ordered by the Japanese Navy at a high price.

The second Winner-class aircraft carrier, built in 1934, was the St. Patrick, built by the local shipyard in Limerick at a pace similar to that of the Winner in the German port of Kiel. On a normal schedule, the 30,350-ton aircraft carrier was ready for service in early 1937, but the Irish hierarchy was in no hurry to unveil the new aircraft carrier to the world, so they extended its sea trials and training, and set its official commissioning date for St. Patrick's Day on March 17 – a fitting name.

As early as early February, the Irish Navy's newly formed 24th Carrier Air Wing boarded the "St. Patrick". Of course, more than a month of training and running-in is far from enough to build an elite combat team, but considering that all carrier-based aircraft pilots have at least repeatedly practiced taking off and landing on the training aircraft carrier "Angus," which has inferior hardware facilities, and nearly half of the pilots have actual combat experience, the "St. Patrick," which has completed equipment debugging, should be able to exert six or seven percent of its combat effectiveness at present.

On the other hand, from the beginning of 1936, all the aircraft carriers of the Irish Navy, except for the aging aircraft carrier training ship "Angus", were secretly leased to the Americans, and three of the five heavy cruisers, nine of the 12 light cruisers, and 21 of the 39 submarines were also fighting in the Pacific Ocean under the Stars and Stripes, and only three old dreadnoughts/battlecruisers and a few medium and light ships were used to defend Irish territorial waters. The reason why the ruler of Ireland has nothing to fear is that his hardcore ally, Germany, has absolute sea supremacy in European waters, two Germania-class ships with top combat power are stationed in Tórshavn in the Faroe Islands in turn, and at least two of the six Zeppelin modifications are ready to fight at the Belmalit naval base in northern Ireland at any time, which alone is enough to deter the Soviet and Russian navies, not to mention a large number of light ships and land-based aviation units.

Hoisting supplies, refueling, and urgently recalling officers and men on leave, it was not until nightfall that the "St. Patrick" barely completed its preparations for the voyage. During this period, the Irish Navy sent 107 bomber sorties from Belfast in northeastern Ireland and Llandudno in northern Wales to conduct a strong onlooker against the Russian fleet in the northern part of the North Sea. Since the first wave of bombers arrived at the offshore rig area, the two Russian warships had already made concessions in a non-armed confrontation with the Irish battleships Belfast and Stokes, and they did not get the opportunity to "intimidate" the Russian ships with training shells, but tracked and monitored the Russian ships as far as the fuel permitted.

Later that day, the German Navy transferred the "Germania" from Tórshafen, in the Faroe Islands in the north, wearing the halo of "the world's first battleship," and learned that the Russian ship had left the sea area where the incident occurred and sailed for the Baltic Sea. The Brandenburg-class battlecruisers, which were seen as an improved version of Mackensen, found the Russian fleet late that night preparing to enter the Baltic Sea through the Skagerrak Strait. These two German battleships are both "Mr. Mighty" with a standard displacement of more than 42,000 tons and 9 52 times diameter 406 mm main guns.

(End of chapter)