"Sir, the plan for the air strike on the US military base in Bermuda has been drawn up. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info"

On the island of the USS Zeppelin, Rear Admiral Hersman Jr., Aviation Staff of Task Force 21, handed over the air attack plan that had just been prepared to Rear Admiral Christiansen, Chief of Staff of the Fleet.

Rear Admiral Christiansen was a torpedo boat commander, and although he himself had a certificate as a carrier aircraft pilot and served as a captain of an escort aircraft carrier, he was not proficient in air stations. And the young Hersmann Jr. was recognized as an expert in aircraft carrier air warfare, and was naturally entrusted with the important task by Rear Admiral Christiansen.

"Oh, you propose to concentrate on aircraft carriers?" Rear Admiral Christiansen took the plan and read it carefully, "Isn't it good that the Japanese used aircraft carriers in a scattered manner during the Battle of Midway?" ”

Although the European Community now has more aircraft carriers, it has little experience in using aircraft carrier formations in air warfare. Therefore, tracking the situation of the US-Japanese aircraft carrier battle in the Pacific Ocean has become the main way for the German Navy to understand the tactics of air warfare. Otherwise, Hersman Jr. would not have become a recognized expert in aircraft carrier air combat.

"Sir, in terms of the effect of air strikes, a large group of concentrated aircraft will definitely outweigh a small group of aircraft that arrive on the battlefield in turn." "According to intelligence, the U.S. military has deployed only 200 planes in Bermuda, including up to 100 fighters, and if we can concentrate five aircraft carriers, we can dispatch up to 180 fighter-bombers at a time, which is enough to suppress enemy fighters," Hersman Jr. said. ”

According to the "Atlantic Storm" plan developed by the Atlantic Front and the European Community Joint Fleet Command, the 20th and 21st Task Fleets leaving the port of Brest will join the 401st and 402nd Carrier Groups, as well as the 491st and 492nd Submariner Hunting Groups (both of which have been operating in the North Atlantic) and 16 Type 21 U-boats from the 1st Submarine Group, whose home port is also in the Azores, near the Azores, and then regroup.

Among them, the 401st and 402nd Carrier Groups will join Task Force 20, and 80 carrier-based aircraft on two Kesselring-class light aircraft carriers will provide air cover for Task Force 20.

The 491st and 492nd Submarine Hunting Groups, and the 1st Submarine Group will all join Task Force 21. However, these two submarine hunting groups and one submarine group will not form a large formation with the other ship groups of Task Force 21, but will set up a search screen for the main force of Task Force 21.

Incidentally, the submarine hunting group under the European Combined Fleet has extremely strong reconnaissance capabilities, and the Rhine-class escort aircraft carrier (C) as the core is generally equipped with 16 Fokker Zero D fighter-bombers and 9 Fokker 100C reconnaissance bombers.

The 491st and 492nd Brigades are strengthened submarine hunting groups, in addition to having 1 C ship and 6 Type 1936D destroyers, there is also a D ship - a standard displacement of 12,000 tons of seaplane carriers, which can carry 5 large Bv138 seaplanes.

As for the main force of the 21st Task Force, there are four aircraft carrier groups, namely the 221st Aircraft Carrier Group with the "Zeppelin" aircraft carrier as the core, the 222nd Aircraft Carrier Group with the "Prussia" aircraft carrier as the core, the 223rd Aircraft Carrier Group with the "Bohemia" aircraft carrier as the core, and the 224th Aircraft Carrier Group with two "Seedlitz" class aircraft carriers -- unlike the US Navy's aircraft carrier group, which only has one type of ship, the aircraft carrier group of the European Community Combined Fleet, The main combat groups, such as the battleship group and the missile ship group, are all mixed with various ships.

In the case of an aircraft carrier group, for example, an aircraft carrier group usually includes 1-3 aircraft carriers, 1-2 cruisers (usually air defense cruisers), 6-10 destroyers, and supply ships. Such a mixed group can not only be incorporated into the task force, but also have the ability to fight independently, and is very flexible.

"But aircraft carriers that are concentrated in action are also very easy for the enemy to detect and strike." Rear Admiral Christian frowned, he really had little experience in aircraft carrier air warfare, and now he was really incapable of serving as the chief of staff of a task force with aircraft carriers as the main force.

"Sir, I think it's highly probable that we will be spotted and attacked by the Americans first," said Hersman Jr. with a shrug, "There are American B-29 reconnaissance models in the Atlantic, and intelligence says that there are such planes in Bermuda." In addition, the Americans have deployed long-range reconnaissance planes modified from B-17 and B-24 on Bermuda, and it is estimated that many submarines will operate in the Atlantic waters east of Bermuda. It is unlikely that we will approach quietly, after all, neither our Fokker 636 nor Fw190T have much range. ”

The ultra-long-range reconnaissance aircraft converted from the B-29 is codenamed F-13A in the US military, and the range of this aircraft is greater than that of the bombing B-29, with a maximum reconnaissance radius of nearly 3,500 kilometers, which can cover from Bermuda all the way to the Azores!

The reconnaissance planes converted from the B-17 and B-24 also have a great range and can search more than 1,000 kilometers of sea at a distance of more than 1,000 kilometers from Bermuda. This distance has already exceeded the combat radius of the Fokker 636 and Fw190T, and unlike the Japanese Navy's excessively long-range combat aircraft, German naval aviation pays more attention to the performance of carrier-based aircraft in combat than to range.

This was due to the fact that German naval aviation was practically not an annex of the Navy, but a branch of the Air Force. Therefore, they focus on the safety of carrier-based aircraft pilots rather than the safety of carrier-based aircraft. And the "large group tactic" that Hersman Jr. is now proposing is actually from the perspective of pilot safety.

In Hesman Jr.'s view, three large armored aircraft carriers are not so easy to sink, and if 70-80 Fokker 636s can be put into use as direct cover aircraft, the US military will not be able to replace 150 SBDs and TBFs with one "Zeppelin". And such an exchange is not cost-effective for the German naval aviation - for the European Community, aircraft carriers are not treasures that cannot be lost, and the number of "Zeppelin" classes may not be enough, but the mass-produced bargain "Kesselring" class is enough! The 15,000-ton ship, the flight deck is still wood, and the power is MAN diesel engine (the output of diesel engines is much larger than that of steam turbines), with a maximum power of 66,000 tons and a speed of only 26 knots. Such a ship is not as much as it wants to build for the European Community, which concentrates the shipbuilding capacity of Germany, Britain, France, Belgium, Denmark, Russia and other countries (before World War II, the leader of the world's shipbuilding industry was Britain, and the marine diesel engine has always been the domain of the German MAN company, the Swiss Sulzer company and the Danish B&W company), and can also use the Dutch and Swedish shipyards.

He said: "In the Battle of Midway, the scattered aircraft carriers and small aircraft groups of the Japanese army attacked them, although they were conducive to the preservation of the aircraft carriers, but they put the carrier-based aircraft pilots in extreme danger. As far as I know, the pilots of the 'Meteor' carrier-based torpedo bombers that took off from the three aircraft carriers Daiho, Akagi, and Kaga to participate in the air raids lost almost 90 percent. Such a rate of losses is unbearable for our German naval aviation! ”

Hersman Jr.'s last words were actually spoken on behalf of several aircraft carrier flight captains.

These flight captains are not obedient people, especially the flight captain of the flagship "Zeppelin" Heinz. Colonel Barr was also the flight commander of the 2nd Fleet. According to the relevant regulations of the German Navy and German naval aviation, the commander-in-chief of the fleet flight has the right to refuse to carry out the air raid mission ordered by the fleet commander on the grounds that it is "too risky" or "impossible to perform"!

Rear Admiral Christian thought for a moment, and finally signed the plan drawn up by Hersmann Jr., one in duplicate, one for the approval of Vice Admiral Bey, the commander of the fleet, and the other for Heinz. Colonel Barr.

Only when both of them agreed was the plan for an air strike on Bermuda approved.

……

Caribbean, USS Essex.

Ali. Commodore Burke glanced at the flagship flag flying from the top of the island, which had been raised an hour earlier when he and Vice Admiral Mitchell had boarded the Essex with the full command team of Task Force 30.

This means that the Essex-class aircraft carriers will play a vital role in this naval battle that is related to the future and fate of the United States of America!

Although, in theory, the battleship was the key to the defense of the Caribbean. However, the role of aircraft carriers in the Atlantic operation cannot be ignored, and for the United States today, battleships are actually defensive weapons -- they are better off staying in the Caribbean and not going anywhere.

The aircraft carrier is a weapon that can be used for attack, and it is difficult to win a war by defense alone, and it is very necessary for the United States to counterattack.

Is it really advantageous to launch a counterattack just in the Atlantic?

In this regard, Arlie. Brigadier General Burke's opinion is not the same as that of the big man above.

In his opinion, it was quite right to attack Chile in the Pacific. Because the Southeast Pacific Ocean is so far away from Europe, it is the home of the US Pacific Fleet! Even if the Germans had traveled thousands of miles to send aircraft carriers to the Southeast Pacific, how long would they stay in the Southeast Pacific?

As long as the Pacific Fleet consumes them, Chile will not be able to take them sooner or later!

If Chile is taken, Argentina will be bombed all day long. Isn't it a matter of time before a revolution or a coup d'état blows up?

With a belly full of suspicion, Ali. Burke went up to the command center on the second floor of the island, when the fleet's communications staff handed him a telegram he had just received: "Chief of Staff, order from the command of the 3rd Fleet, to bring us closer in the direction of Bermuda. ”