"Is it possible that the German fleet is to the northwest of us?"

On board the armored cruiser "Berwick", British Rear Admiral Archibald Moore held a telegram that had just been delivered by the communications corps, and looked at the open sea to the northwest, where there was nothing but gloomy clouds and rolling waves. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

In front of the "Berwick", the light cruiser "Aurora" with 12 destroyers was lined up in a long single column, which was turning to the northeast according to the original plan in order to meet the main force of the British home fleet, while behind the "Berwick", another armored cruiser "Satlage River" and the light cruisers "Argyle" and "Crossburg" were closely following.

There are two waterways in the central part of the Faroe Islands, one to the east of the East Island with Borroi Island and Karls Island on the opposite shore, and the other to the west of the East Island with Strammer Island on the opposite shore. Most of the ships of the British Home Fleet took the waterway east of the East Island, which is also known as the "Central Strait" of the Faroe Islands, and the 17 cruisers and destroyers in Moore's sight, to be exact, the 2nd Cruiser Squadron and the 11th Destroyer Fleet of the British Home Fleet, took the waterway west of the East Island. The British fleet made this deployment mainly because the chief of staff of the fleet, Charles Madden, feared that all ships would be concentrated in the Central Strait, which was less than two kilometers at its narrowest point, and that the British fleet would be in a very bad position in the event of an unforeseen situation, such as the German fleet being in a tight position at the northern end of the waterway. Therefore, Madden proposed that some of the cruisers and destroyers pass through the Faroe Islands through the waterway between the East Island and Strammer Island, which the British fleet had traveled about the same distance in the two waterways, and that the widest part of the East Island was only about ten kilometers, and that the ships assigned to it could quickly rendezvous with the main fleet after passing through the waterway.

Although the Faroe Islands have always been the territory of the Nordic countries, the British navy was very familiar with the geography and hydrology of the area, which was a major advantage for them against the German fleet here. For tactical reasons, the British 2nd Cruiser Squadron and the 11th Destroyer Squadron, having separated from the main forces of the Home Fleet, quickly increased their speed to 20 knots, so that they would pass through the Faroe Islands ahead of the main fleet. After the German planes appeared, Jackson ordered the fleet to move forward at full speed, and Betty's battle cruiser detachment stubbornly overcame the resistance caused by the wind, waves, and currents, and ran a high speed of 24 knots in the second half of the voyage, but sailed out of the waterway faster than the armored cruisers of the 2nd cruiser squadron.

According to Vice Admiral Madden's disposition, the 2nd Cruiser Squadron and the 11th Destroyer Fleet, after crossing the waterway, were to sail eastward as soon as possible in order to join the home fleet. The worst-case "special circumstances" were obviously that the British Home Fleet would be forced to engage the German fleet before it could regain its combat formation, and this fear did not materialize, but the "special circumstances" of the flagship, the Iron Duke, being damaged by German carrier-based bombers, made the British feel that the prospects were deeply bleak.

After thinking for a moment, Moore ordered the communications corps to send a light signal to the "Aurora," asking it to send reconnaissance planes to carry out aerial reconnaissance in the northwestern waters, and to dispatch four destroyers to carry out a vigilant search in that direction.

The light cruiser Aurora was the command ship of the 11th Destroyer Fleet and one of the first combat ships of the British Navy to be equipped with a mechanical catapult and a Schott-type seaplane. This important technical modification began in early October, due to the lack of materials and equipment, the British Navy only modified 1 old battleship, 1 armored cruiser, 4 light cruisers and 4 protective cruisers, and from the training situation, the single-engine, single-wing, single-seat Schott seaplane can basically meet the reconnaissance, alert, and calibration tasks, but there are also problems such as short range, no air self-defense capability, and failure to carry radio equipment, and the actual combat effectiveness is difficult to compare with the German Navy's Junkers-3C.

After receiving the signal of the "Berwick", the "Aurora" quickly ejected and took off the reconnaissance plane it was carrying, but the strong sea breeze blew the thin Schott seaplane to sway left and right, and it looked like it might lose control and crash at any time, but it stubbornly persevered, climbed up to a certain height, and then flew northwest against the resistance of the sea wind.

At this time, Rear Admiral Moore received confirmation from his communications corps that the secret telegram sent from the flagship "Iron Duke" was interpreted as this content, and there was not a single letter wrong in the transmission process.

"How could it be that we're in the northwest?" Murgu muttered to himself, "Didn't the German planes fly from the north?" ”

On the Schott-type reconnaissance plane that took off from the "Aurora," the British pilot John Jonas did not have such a tangled mind as Moore, and his greatest concern was not where the Germans were, but whether he would be able to return to the "Aurora" safely. The northern seas are already windy and rough, and bad weather is even worse. Ships can still stiffen, how fragile seaplanes are, as long as the waves are more than one meter high, they may capsize or even disintegrate when they land on the sea surface, and the current waves are at least three or four meters, and the timing of landing is almost a foregone conclusion, and it should be thankful that people can be avoided from dying.

Nervous, Jonas flew northwest with the engines at their peak power, but the speed gauge read only 45 mph, equivalent to 74 kilometers per hour. Knowing that this lightweight Schott aircraft can fly at 69 miles per hour in a windless state, it can evade the Junkers-3C with its speed when there is enough fuel.

Forty-five miles per hour is equivalent to 40 knots, which means that the speed of the Schott plane is not much faster than the speed of the destroyer's sprint, and Jonas, sitting in the open cockpit, watches the sea and calculates how to land to ensure maximum safety - the Sletara Mountains in the northern part of the East Island are a natural barrier, making the fjords in the northwest of the East Island calm, and it is obviously much safer to go there than to land in the open sea, but the biggest problem is that the Faroe Islands are neutralAccording to the terms of the Geneva Conventions, unless he was picked up by a British ship directly after landing, he would be detained by the authorities, whether in the water or ashore by the locals, until the end of the war.

Due to the headwind, the fuel on board is consumed much faster than normal, which is clearly seen by the rate at which the fuel gauge hands are lowered. Considering that the return flight would be downwind, the British pilot did not steer until he was less than two-fifths of the fuel, and according to his estimates, by the time he landed in the fjords north of the East Island, there were no more drops of petrol left in his tanks, and he could justifiably use the excuse that he had run out of fuel and was forced to land.

The plane had just turned around, and Jonas suddenly found that the needle of the compass was rotating indiscriminately, and the failure of the compass itself or the abnormal magnetic field could cause this situation. Thinking of the consequences of running out of fuel and making a forced landing on the vast sea, a chill suddenly rose behind him, and now there was no other way but to fly with the wind, so that even if it was not due south, at least there would be no fundamental deviation. The speedometer reading had risen to 76 mph, and the descent of the fuel gauge reading had slowed down considerably, which slightly soothed the British pilot's mind, but as time went on, his vision remained the same, his expression became very anxious, and his lower lip was unconsciously bitten out of his teeth......

As time went on, the fuel in the plane's fuel tanks was about to bottom out, and Jonas had a look of despair in his eyes. At this moment, he suddenly saw a pillar of smoke on the chaotic sea, and his mood suddenly jumped. The ship's trail soon appeared ahead, and after the flight altitude was reduced, he began to vaguely realize that something was not right, the British battleships had always been painted in lead gray, and the dreadnoughts and battlecruisers had tall, eye-catching triangular masts, but the ships in front of them looked lighter in tone, and the towering masts were like single columns.

Damn it...... German fleet!

When Jonas saw two large warships equipped with triple turrets on the sea, his mood finally fell to freezing point.

Where the hell is this? How could the German fleet be here?

A huge question mark appeared in the British pilot's mind, but the biggest question he now faced was where his fate would go!

The compass could not provide the answer, and the fuel gauge answered on its behalf. The Schott-type reconnaissance plane, which looked very different from the German seaplanes, quickly descended to a height lower than the ship's mast, and Jonas could see the German battleship's guns pointing at him, but he was undistracted to maneuver the plane, because the rolling waves were far more terrible than the German naval guns.

As he feared, the pontoon-type seaplane could not withstand the impact of the big waves, and the pontoon just touched the sea, and the surging waves smashed into it like an iron fist, and the plane suddenly lost its balance and plunged sideways into the sea, which suddenly stirred up a splash more than 20 meters high.

At the moment of falling into the sea, Jonas's consciousness was blurred because of the huge impact, but the strong desire to survive made him wake up immediately, at this time he had already left the open cabin, the plush leather coat was full of water, dragging him towards the depths of the sea, he hurriedly paddled with his hands and feet, and finally got rid of the pull of gravity, and returned to the sea before suffocating.

A huge German battleship was fifty or sixty meters away from the sea, the majestic hull was as steady as a rock in the waves, the four huge main turrets were arranged in groups of two on the fore and aft decks, the hull seemed to have been freshly painted, and it looked exceptionally clean and tidy, and its sides were painted in light gray background, and several places in the bow, middle and tail were painted wavy large pieces of white. During his short-term training in flight reconnaissance, Jonas was told that the speed of a ship could be judged by the waves of the ship's hull, which was also an important basis for the ship's fire control personnel to calculate the shooting parameters, and this camouflage paint was obviously misleading to the visual senses......

(End of chapter)