The Irish Sea, which is bounded between the island of Ireland and the British Isles, is connected to the Atlantic Ocean by the North Channel in the north and St. George's Channel in the south. Pen ~ Fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info 100,000 square kilometres of the Irish Sea has two larger islands, Anglesey is close to Wales, and the Isle of Man is isolated in the north-central part of the country. In order to firmly control the Irish Sea and then attack Britain across this sea, the Isle of Man, which is more than 30 kilometers off the coast of Scotland and 60 kilometers from the coast of Ireland, is undoubtedly an important strategic step. Not only does it have a special geographical location, but it is also an independent autonomous region, with only the British being in charge of defence and foreign affairs, and other matters such as the election of the president, government and parliament are all carried out independently by the Isle of Man; It has its own flag, anthem and coat of arms, uses its own currency, and taxes are much lower than those of the United Kingdom; It covers an area of nearly 600 square kilometres, with a population of only about 50,000 in the early 30s, and most of its inhabitants belong to the Manx, who descend from the same ancestors as the Scots and Irish, the Celts.

On the day Germany declared war on Britain, more than 100 ships of the German Task Force 7 set off from Dundalk, Callingford, and Glenor in eastern Ireland early in the morning and sailed to the Isle of Man. Just after 8 o'clock, more than 2,000 German paratroopers and hundreds of Irish Royal Guard soldiers in German uniforms descended from the sky to launch a large-scale airborne operation on the Isle of Man. Somewhat unexpectedly, the British troops on the island failed to organize an effective defense, and just half an hour after the battle began, the German airborne troops had occupied the airfield near Douglas, the capital of the Isle of Man, and the Ju-26 light transport planes and He-28 medium transport planes that had taken off from Ireland ventured through the air battlefield full of stray bullets and artillery fire, and forced their landings one after another, sending reinforcements and ammunition to the airborne troops, while on the beach of Porte Arryn in the west of the island and Porte Mariehamn in the south. The German landing operation was also well underway, and the first wave of elite marines had arrived at the beachhead, and with the strong support of the fleet's artillery fire, they were advancing in the face of a hail of bullets......

The fierce fighting on the Isle of Man attracted the keen attention of both sides of the command and those in the know-how, and the confrontation south of the Strait of St George was less remarkable. At 8:40 a.m., the unlucky Irish destroyer "Waterford" finally solved the mechanical problem and was able to return to normal speed, but at this time the British fleet was only six nautical miles away from it and another Irish destroyer, the "Cork", which was converted to a little more than 10,000 meters, and was already completely within the effective attack range of the two British light cruisers. It was not the Irish aircraft group hovering in the air that prevented the British from attacking at this moment, but the delicate diplomatic situation between Britain and Ireland - Ireland allowed the Luftwaffe to attack Britain with the help of their military installations, and a large number of Irish soldiers entered the battle, but Ireland had not yet declared war, it was still a neutral country de jure and Britain had not yet officially declared war on any country, including Germany. However, the declaration of war was only a matter of formality, and a battle would have ensued between the two fleets as soon as the order to open fire was given by any commander of either side of the British and Irish sides, or even if the combatants had gone off fire due to excessive tension.

Knowing that the officers and men of the "Waterford" had repaired those fatal mechanical failures, Major Derenan, the man who was in a hurry to leave but could not find the "car keys", clenched his fists vigorously, vented his depression with a low roar like a lion, and then gave two orders in succession: told "Waterford" to follow the ship and sail west at full speed; Report to the command that the "Watford" had been freed from bad luck and that the formation was sailing at full speed towards Port Cork.

Perhaps in the eyes of the British, the two Irish destroyers ran like timid rabbits, which gave them a certain psychological satisfaction, but it was not enough. The six British warships followed the westward like a pack of hungry gray wolves. The Lin Xian-class light cruisers had a top speed of 33 knots, and the short chase would not be pulled down too much by the Irish destroyers, and the four British destroyers who were stared at by the Irish for most of the night had a first-class sprint ability, but they did not have the order to fire, all they could do was to stare at the two rabbits and not be able to move.

After almost a quarter of an hour, the shorter-range IR-29 covered some of the "Swordfish" and "Osprey" began to return, the IR-30 and the remaining land-based bombers were still hovering over the two fleets, and the British fighters were designed to stay in the air for a longer time, so until the arrival of the third batch of Irish fighters, the British fleet temporarily occupied a numerical advantage.

A few minutes after 9 o'clock, the lookout on the mast of the destroyer "Cork" suddenly shouted: "Battle flag!" The British warship has raised the battle flag! ”

There was silence on the bridge until Major Drenand's roar rang out: "All turn right 1 compass point!" ”

By the time the two Irish destroyers began to turn one after the other, a rumbling "thunder" sounded in the rear. Only then did the officers suddenly realize: maneuvering in advance is an effective way to evade enemy artillery fire!

The screeching of the shells then filled my ears, and looking at the rising waves, an officer exclaimed urgently: "Britain has declared war, it must be so!" Fight back! We fire back! ”

As if he had just held his breath, Major Drenan's face turned red, his eyes widened with anger, and he ordered with all his might: "Raise the battle flag and meet the battle!" ”

The sailors in charge of the signal flag hurriedly tied the battle flag. Does the operation not comply with standard procedures? Who cares about this at this time!

Immediately following the two light cruisers, four British destroyers joined in the firing, and the banging of guns was non-stop. Although there was no clear order from their superiors, the "Cork" and "Watford" returned fire under the command of Major Dreynan, and the 5-inch guns pointed at the stern began to roar rhythmically, and their range barely reached that of the leading British battleship, but the long-range shelling hit rate was pitifully low, and the exchange of fire between the two sides was more like roaring and fist demonstration.

The battle on the sea is loud and rainy, and the battle in the sky, once it begins, is accompanied by visible losses and casualties. The blue-gray or silver-gray painted biplane fighters are like colorful butterflies dancing among the flowers, tossing up and down, you chase after me, making the viewers confused. The IR-29 "Griffon", the IR-30 "Royal Griffon", the SS-18 "Long Glove", and the SS-37 "Gladiator" have long been known as rivals from the design stage, and have been regarded as imaginary enemies by their opponents countless times in training exercises, and now they finally have the opportunity to compete on the battlefield. In their cockpits, the young men with strong blood were like tigers descending from the mountain, some of them were familiar with what they had learned on a daily basis, and some of them were completely undisciplined in their chaos. Strings of bullets with tracer bullets are like lost meteors in the rising sky, or disappear into the endless sky, or disappear in the body of enemy fighters; One by one, the eagles with folded wings fell helplessly; Umbrella flowers bloom with the last hope of life......

The bloody battle scene did not make Major Drenan get carried away, he calmly examined the battlefield, this place is still more than thirty nautical miles away from Cork Harbor, another Irish alert fleet led by the light cruiser "Osen" should be not far away, if it can successfully rendezvous with it, it can make a beautiful counterattack with the cooperation of the air force, and retreat can enter the protection of Cork Fortress under the cover of friendly ships. With this assumption in mind, he completely ignored the pilots who had parachuted to escape, and carefully directed the two destroyers to evacuate in the direction of Cork Harbor while maneuvering to avoid enemy fire.

At 9:16 a.m., the "Cork" received a first-class secret telegram directly from the Joint Staff of the three services: The British Government had declared war on Germany and Ireland at 9 a.m., and Ireland and Britain were in a state of hostility from immediate onwards.

Immediately afterwards, the Alert Fleet Command deployed in Waterford Harbour issued a directive approving the withdrawal of the "Cork" and "Watford" to Cork Harbour and informing them that the alert fleet headed by the light cruiser "Osen" was cruising 20 nautical miles southeast of Cork Harbour.

According to the communication frequency given by the command, the "Cork" quickly made contact with the light cruiser "Osen", and the two alert fleets came into each other's field of vision at about 9:40 a.m., and the British fleet, which was closely behind the Irish destroyer formation, also discovered a new enemy situation soon after. Because the British fighters failed to defeat the opponent and seize air supremacy on the battlefield, the sea area was close to the Irish coast, the enemy's air force reinforcement was significantly faster than the British Air Force, the British fleet was already in a disadvantageous position, and the fierce fighting on the Isle of Man also forced the British Air Force to turn its combat focus to the Irish Sea, so the British fleet turned around at about 9:50 a.m. and calmly broke away from the combat contact. If nothing else, official British sources would portray the battle as a heroic pursuit, and that it was the British fleet that beat the Irish fleet to the brim.

The "Cork" and "Watford" sailed into Cork Harbour without any danger, and the latter immediately docked for emergency maintenance. In fact, not only Irish ships, but also German, British, and even American high-speed ships are prone to power failures, which may not be trivial in normal times, and may cause irreparable losses in wartime. The officers and men of the Irish Navy knew very well that if the British government had declared war half an hour earlier, the two Agni-class destroyers would probably have become the first major ships to be lost by the Irish Navy in this war.

The detailed report of the battle was transmitted back to Limerick, and the senior generals analyzed the gains and losses in a rigorous manner, realizing that the Irish Navy's battlefield command system was not as flexible and efficient as they had imagined, and that there were still shortcomings of rigidity in some key areas, but fortunately, the war had only just begun, and they had time to remedy it before they suffered more damage.

The thrilling journey of the "Cork" and the "Watford" was not expected by Natsuki, who was personally the supreme commander of the Irish army as the king, and this exacerbated his sense of crisis, not only because it was a war in which he could not predict the course and outcome, but also because of the nature of the role - the military power of Ireland was the result of his hard work and hard work with all the Irish people, and it was their common family foundation, which if it was lost, it might take more than ten years or even longer to re-accumulate. Rather than regretting it afterwards, it is better to prepare well in advance and make the right decisions during the event, but how easy is it to do this?

(End of chapter)