"Sir, the radar detected enemy aircraft, distance 50, number 1, azimuth 83, altitude 5000. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info"

In the command tower of the battleship Massachusetts, the voice of the radar officer suddenly rang out.

"1? Can it be determined that it was an enemy aircraft? ”

Admiral Ingersoll had fine beads of sweat on his forehead when he asked, although he was the commander-in-chief of the Allied Combined Fleet, he had not really been on the battlefield in this world war, and now it was the first time he had encountered an enemy plane in this world war.

"It is certain that it is not our or the British plane." The radar officer replied.

At present, friend-or-foe identifiers have been invented, and the radar of surface ships can distinguish between their own aircraft, and the aircraft equipped with radar can also identify friend or foe at night.

In addition, a device called a radio altimeter was also invented. With this thing, the aircraft could determine the altitude in the case of night flight, which allowed the torpedo bomber to carry out a torpedo attack at night.

"It's a reconnaissance plane of the Germans." Vice Admiral Fraser of the British Royal Navy had never fought the Germans at sea, but his long experience as Third Sea Title Master gave him a good understanding of German naval tactics.

He said to Ingersoll: "General, it should be the reconnaissance type of JU288 that is coming." We are now located less than 2,000 kilometers from the German air base in Ireland and completely within the combat radius of the JU288. ”

"Will it attack?" Ingersoll asked.

"No, it won't." Lieutenant General Fraser replied, "It's polar night, visibility on the sea is not high, and remote-controlled gliding bombs cannot be used." ”

In fact, it is not that it cannot be used, but it is very difficult to use, the hit rate is not high, and it is necessary to rely on a large number of flares to confirm the target, and the aircraft that drops the flares cannot fly too high, and it is easy to be shot down by the anti-aircraft guns of surface ships.

In contrast, it would be more cost-effective to use He-115 seaplanes equipped with radar and radio altimeters to drop torpedoes - the combined European fleet now has many seaplane carriers and can release hundreds or more of them at the same time.

But this slow-moving, twin-engine seaplane could easily be a target for surface ships whose anti-aircraft firepower had been greatly enhanced, and the He-115's torpedo attack would not have much success unless the huge Allied Combined Fleet was diverted from the NR21 fleet.

However, even if the Allied Combined Fleet leaves the NR21 flotilla and relies solely on the NR21 flotilla's own escort forces (there are destroyers and escort aircraft carriers in the escort fleet, and there are also anti-aircraft guns on various transport ships), it can withstand "classic aircraft" like the He-115, although there will be losses, but it will not be too serious.

"Sir, this enemy plane has increased in altitude." At this time, the voice of the radar officer rang out again.

"It must have spotted us," said Lieutenant General Fraser, "and it should fly above 10,000 meters and then follow us for eight hours before leaving." ”

Thanks to the installation of a 24-cylinder liquid-cooled JUMO222 engine – the latest JUMO222T series on this JUMO288 with a maximum output of 2,800 hp – the latest JUMO288 not only has two killer features at high altitude and high speed, but also has a large range and stay time in the air. Among them, the specialized reconnaissance model has a large range of more than 7,500 kilometers and can also fly in the air for 18 hours continuously. Definitely a big guy who gives all opponents a headache.

As for the technology of remote-controlled gliding bombs, the latest Fritz-X-8 remote-controlled bombs can be remotely controlled from a distance of 18,000 meters (straight-line distance), completely avoiding the fire of surface anti-aircraft guns.

Moreover, the latest models of remote control devices also have a strong anti-jamming ability, which can minimize the role of British and American jamming devices -- historically, British and American jamming devices have had a limited role.

In addition, before the autumn equinox in 1942, this powerful JU288 bomber was not the only means by which the Germans controlled the Atlantic. The JU288 will often strike alongside the extended-range HE-219, while also being covered by the FW-190T taking off from an aircraft carrier.

And the He-115 torpedo bomber / reconnaissance aircraft that took off from seaplane carriers, as well as the Fokker Zero C series (low-altitude reinforced version of the Zero) and Fokker 100 that took off from aircraft carriers were also important means of attack.

And then there are submarines and a powerful surface fleet!

With the combined use of a series of attack methods, even if the navies of Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union had more battleships, especially super battleships, most of the sea power in the Atlantic was still firmly in the hands of Germany.

Only a small area of the sea near the Arctic Circle could still return to the British, American, and Soviet navies during the harsh polar night.

"But no matter how powerful ju288 is, all he can do now is reconnaissance." Lieutenant General Fraser's words were full of confidence, "Because, the long night of the Arctic Circle is our best cover!" ”

Admiral Ingersoll nodded slightly, and the staff officers of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet also repeated the diagram deduction. The Germans really couldn't defeat the powerful Allied Combined Fleet in the Ice Sea Night Battle, unless they secretly built more powerful battleships.

And will such battleships really exist?

……

"Sir, the target has been discovered, in the N06 sea area, the number is very large, and the formation of more than 30 nautical miles has been eliminated on the sea surface."

Somewhere in the North Atlantic, on the bridge of the battleship Hindenburg, the flagship of the Combined European Fleet, while sailing, Field Marshal Lütjans received a report from the JU288 that had flown over the Allied Combined Fleet and the NB288 fleet.

Lütjans glanced at the Fleet Chief of Staff William. Major General Messer, smiled and said, "It's finally here...... The battleships of the Americans, the British, and the Russians must want to fight a Jutland-style decisive battle with us at this time, right? ”

"That's for sure, who made our battleships not as many as theirs." William. Messer shrugged and smiled, "They have 6-7 battleships with 406mm caliber guns (in fact, 6, the battleship USS Washington is still in the Pacific Ocean), and we only have 2, and the absolute number of battleships is also more than theirs." ”

"But no one wants to fight with them on battleships," Ruttyans smiled, "these outdated fellows think it's 1916!" It's time for airplanes and remote-guided weapons to dominate the oceans. ”

Until the JU288, Fritz-X, HS-293 and V3 remotely controlled missiles matured, battleships were perhaps a decisive force in the Atlantic. But now, battleships with huge cannons and solid armor are really a bit outdated.

So not so long ago, the German Ministry of Defense ordered the suspension of the construction of four 70,000-ton H41-class battleships. The H39 class will be the swan song of the German super battleships!

However, the four half-built 70,000-ton battleship hulls will not be scrapped, they will be converted into aircraft carriers - a 70,000-ton giant aircraft carrier with a beveled deck, a sliding deck, and a steam catapult!

And the purpose of using the two technologies of beveled deck and steam catapult is to take off and land jet aircraft on aircraft carriers!

In June 42, the ME-109 aircraft equipped with the Junkers Jumo-004-262A jet engine successfully flew test.

Hersmann, of course, did not whimsically consider such an aircraft as the ME-262 an ideal bomber, but ordered the ME-262 to be put into production as soon as possible. But he made another difficult request: jets must be on aircraft carriers!

For a traditional aircraft carrier, this is simply a matter of human life. Jet planes need too long runways to take off and too fast to land. It is simply impossible to take off and land on an aircraft carrier.

Fortunately, Hersman himself came up with a solution, using a steam catapult and a skid deck with elevation angles to solve the take-off problem of jets, and an angled deck to solve the problem of landing planes - because the angled deck and the main deck are staggered, there will be no planes or anything in front of it. If the jet does not hook the arrestor cable when it lands on the ship, it can take off again instead of crashing into the aircraft in front of it and causing an accident.

But it is also not easy to install an aircraft carrier with a beveled deck and a high-power steam catapult (the steam catapult is available now, but it is not powerful). The existing German aircraft carriers were difficult to refit accordingly due to insufficient tonnage and power. The only way is to convert the four 70,000-ton battleships under construction into aircraft carriers. As soon as the end of 1944, Germany would have four supercarriers capable of taking off and landing jets.

However, the 70,000-ton supercarrier and jet aircraft are far away, and at present, this night battle in the ice sea still has to rely on battleships.

Therefore, after learning that the Allied Combined Fleet and the NR21 flotilla had left New York Harbor, Lütjens immediately led the main force of the European Combined Fleet anchored in Gibraltar to attack.

The capital ships of the sortie included 2 Hindenburg-class battleships, 2 Bismarck-class battleships, 2 Barbarossa-class battleships (class 0), the battleship Gneisenau, 3 Kaiser Wilhelm II-class missile cruisers, 2 Richelieu-class battleships, 4 Veneto-class battleships, 2 Lexington-class battlecruisers, 2 Zeppelin-class aircraft carriers, 3 "Blue Ribbon aircraft carriers", 4 Admiral-class heavy cruisers, 2 Foch-class heavy cruisers, and 3 Zara-class heavy cruisers, In addition, hundreds of light cruisers, destroyers, mine-laying cruisers, seaplane carriers, ammunition ships, tankers, hospital ships, and other combat ships and auxiliary ships followed.

Basically, it's also pouring out of the nest! (To be continued.) )