In the early morning, about 600 kilometers west-east of São Miguel Island, a medium-sized American and British fleet braved the dripping rain to occupy the original position. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoIn a group of slender, sleek warships, two sleek non-combat ships stand out, with tall brackets on their decks that are connected to nearby ships by a group of pipelines.

"As long as there is enough fuel, the ocean is a battlefield without borders." With this sentence, Ernest King finally persuaded the senior generals of the US-British Joint Operations Committee to hand over the command of this combat operation to himself, a commander who had never commanded a fleet in actual combat.

The U.S. and British reinforcement fleet led by Ernest King sailed from the Chesapeake Bay to this point, during which it experienced the shelling of Flores, San Miguel and Santa Maria Islands, with a total range of nearly 5,500 kilometers, or about 3,000 nautical miles, and fuel consumption increased by 60% compared with the full cruise in order to maintain high speeds.

The active destroyers of the US Navy are roughly divided into the 10s and 20s, the former has a displacement of 1000-1400 tons, a cruising range of between 2600 nautical miles and 3500 nautical miles, and has a strong torpedo attack capability, while the latter has a displacement of more than 1500 tons and a cruising range of 4000 nautical miles to 5000 nautical miles, which strengthens air defense and anti-submarine capabilities, and conforms to the multi-purpose development trend of destroyers.

The destroyers of the British Navy in technology to the 1914-1916 war as the dividing line, the destroyers before the war are mostly responsible for the vigilance and cruising mission, the endurance is often more than 3000 nautical miles, the performance is more balanced, the destroyers after the war due to the drastic changes in the strategic situation and operational thinking began to go sideways, at the expense of endurance and seaworthiness, greatly improved the surface artillery combat and lightning strike capabilities, the powerful 127 mm naval guns and 610 mm torpedoes became the standard configuration of multi-class British destroyers in this period.

In view of the relatively short range of the destroyers, in the waters northwest of the Azores, all the destroyers of the Golden Fleet received a replenishment of fuel at sea, and now the destroyers with a shorter endurance are once again running out of fuel, and most of the light cruisers' fuel is also close to the warning point, considering the needs of follow-up operations, it is necessary for heavy cruisers and even the battle cruiser "Anson" to replenish fuel - the fleet is fighting for long distances, sufficient fuel is indispensable, ammunition, fresh water, and food are also indispensable, It's just that the U.S. and British troops on the Azores front line have fallen into the predicament of insufficient supply, and it is not easy to free up 10,000 tons of fuel, and the rest of the items cannot provide guarantees, and the gold fleet is now fighting against the water, and if it is defeated in the next combat operations, not only this fleet, but all the American and British troops stationed in the Azores will be pushed to a desperate situation from which they will never recover!

As the planner and commander of this combat operation, the 55-year-old Kim is of course aware of the heavy burden on his shoulders; from the moment the fleet sailed away from the assembly area, he has been silent, sleeping no more than three hours a day, and in his spare time, he either stays in the combat command room to repeatedly calculate data, or hides in his cabin to constantly consult intelligence materials, and he asks his adjutant to collect a stack of telegrams about the enemy's movements so that he can read them at any time. Although the reputation of the U.S. Navy is not very good, and his emotions are very depressed under the pressure, King was uncharacteristically during the voyage, and he did not criticize any of the officers around him.

During the replenishment at sea, fighter jets taking off from two American and British aircraft carriers continued to be on alert in the surrounding waters, a position far beyond the detection range of land-based radars on the islands of San Miguel and Santa Maria, and unless an Allied warship carrying ship-based radar approached, they should be relatively safe here. According to King's plan, the fleet would go deep into the eastern Atlantic after completing its replenishment, launch attacks in unexpected positions for the enemy, first weaken the Allied escort forces with aircraft carrier groups, and then break down their defenses with the high-speed impact of the two main warships, and sink as many transport ships as possible that were full of troops and supplies.

"General, half an hour ago I received a coded telegram from the enemy's acting flagship 'Hanover', asking the two detachments to work together to cover the return of the convoy from Flores Island to São Miguel. Judging by the results of radio direction finding, the 'Hanover' is still in the waters northwest of the island of Texel. ”

In the operational command room of the flagship "Yorktown", a staff officer wearing a US military uniform reported to King the newly deciphered enemy code, and the so-called "he" in his words referred to the commander of the enemy fleet, the "Hohenzollern genius" of the world.

"In the past 12 hours, we have intercepted five telegrams from it and successfully deciphered four of them. ”

The junior staff officer thought that the other party was praising the effectiveness of the communications and intelligence department, and hurriedly responded: "Yes, General, our telegraph operators and technicians have done their best and have not dared to relax for a moment, just to make more contributions to this battle. ”

"But don't you think there's something wrong?" Kim asked rhetorically.

"Strange?" The staff officer did not know why, but at that moment, the two deputy commanders of the reinforcement fleet, British Rear Admiral James Somerville and Colonel Richard Johnson of the United States Navy, walked into the bridge from the outside observation deck, and the staff officer immediately reported to them the latest intercepted enemy code.

"I seem to have heard General Jin say something strange just now?" The sharp-eared Somerville asked.

Although he had rarely intersected with the British Rear Admiral in front of him in the past, and the two had only worked together for more than half a month since the specific affairs of this combat operation were arranged, King still greatly praised Somerville's professional quality in the field of radio.

"Judging from the past combat experience, our opponent has very good patience and is good at using radio silence to conceal his whereabouts, and now it is obvious that it is deliberately making us think that his main fleet is still in place, such a strategy is too lame." Kim spoke out about his doubts.

"It's a possibility." "Another possibility is that he has made some kind of judgment about our spate of attacks, so we need to continuously adjust our deployment to deal with the attacks we may take later," Somerville speculated. ”

"Cope?" Kim shook his head, "I think this word overestimates ourselves and underestimates that once-in-a-century military genius." As things stand, we have to prepare for the worst. ”

Seeing Jin's serious face, Somerville, who was 4 years younger than him, couldn't help frowning: "You mean that he has completely seen through our plan?" ”

"Is this possible?" Colonel Jossen next to him looked incredulous. For him, the battle plan designed by Kim is a bold, complex and surprising work that contradicts many conventional combat theories, and it takes a lot of effort for ordinary people to understand the route when they look at the plan, how can it be so easily recognized?

"Is it possible that there is a man who has never lost a naval battle he commanded, from Jutland to the Azores?" Kim's rhetorical question left Colonel Jossen speechless.

After thinking for a moment, Somerville spoke with difficulty: "Do you want to cancel our battle plan?" ”

Faced with this question, Kim hesitated, and his eyes cast out of the porthole, where the refueled ships were like energetic cavalrymen, polishing their swords and waiting for the order to attack. If they cancel the plan, will they have another chance to win?

Somerville saw King's hesitation and melancholy, and he thought for a moment, "Take a step back, even if they see through our plan, won't we still have the Cunningham fleet to plan our actions?" ”

Kim nodded thoughtfully. The reinforcement fleet under his command was the main force of the operation, with the main fleet stationed in the Azores providing cover and the task force led by British Rear Admiral and destroyer expert Andrew Cunningham playing the role of surprise soldier - acting as a fire brigade if necessary.

According to the established plan, King's reinforcement fleet entered the Azores battlefield and waited for an opportunity to attack the main islands occupied by the Allied forces, while the Cunningham fleet, consisting of 4 light and heavy cruisers, 14 destroyers, and 3 supply ships, quietly sailed from the northern waters of the Azores to the predetermined seas. King hoped that the whereabouts of the Cunningham fleet would not be discovered, so he arranged a sufficiently secret route for it, but the German submarine carrying out the blockade mission in the North Atlantic waters accidentally discovered this fleet, and the code used by the wartime team of the German submarine department was second-level encryption, although the code decipherment team led by Somerville intercepted the telegram of the enemy submarine informing the location of the Cunningham fleet, but failed to decipher it, if King relied too much on the role of the Cunningham fleet, Then this casual detail buys a huge hidden danger for their follow-up.

After 11 hours of waiting, King's reinforcement fleet was finally able to restart, and their next destination coordinates were located in the middle of the Bay of Biscay and the Azores, that is, the American and British fleets would go deep into the eastern Atlantic Ocean to launch a frontal attack on the Allied convoys, the biggest advantage of this was that it could launch an attack at a time and area that was difficult for the enemy to predict, and the disadvantage was that once the operation was unfavorable, It was difficult for the damaged ships to retreat in their entirety, so even when the American and British navies had completely gained the upper hand in the Azores, they had not taken such a risky attack before.

Kim never received any information about the Cunningham fleet on the way to the intended area of operation, and this is not a bad thing - no news means that no major changes have occurred, and the next key is to see if the Allied fleet with a strong escort force is on the scene as King expected.

(End of chapter)