On the night of June 7, 1941, in the Celtic Sea south of the island of Ireland, the huge Royal Navy C fleet was sailing rapidly westward along the coastline south of the island of Ireland at a speed of nearly 25 knots. The entire fleet www.biquge.info strictly controlled the lights, and there was no light to shine through, and only through the hazy moonlight, I could vaguely see the huge hulls like mountains, one after another, breaking the waves.

In the conning tower of the flagship battleship "King George V", Vice Admiral Somerville took out a beautifully crafted pocket watch, looked at the time, and then at the thick black cloth that covered the window of the conning tower.

"It should be completely dark outside now, right?" Vice Admiral Somerville asked.

"Lieutenant General, it's completely dark." Colonel Lynch, captain of the King George V, replied.

"Did the radar and sonar make any discoveries?"

"Nothing has been found," said Colonel Lynch, "but this area is a very active area of water where German submarines and reconnaissance aircraft are active." ”

Vice Admiral Somerville nodded and ordered, "Now divide the troops!" ”

The C fleet is going to be divided! This is the commander of the British Home Fleet, John Brown. Koronin. Part of the battle plan developed by Admiral Tovey (wartime admiral with the rank of lieutenant general).

Because Admiral Tovey was well aware that the German submarines and reconnaissance planes were circling around the doorstep of the British Royal Navy, it was impossible for the B and C fleets to make a surprise without knowing it, and it was almost certain to be discovered! So Vice Admiral Tovey could only use some additional means to confuse the German Navy.

Allowing the C Fleet to venture south from the St. George Strait was part of Tovey's plan to confuse the enemy, and now the division of the C Fleet is also aimed at confusing the Germans.

According to the plan, the C Flotilla, with Somerville's flagship "King George V" and four aircraft carriers as the main force, will sail north around the island of Ireland, at least 250 nautical miles in one night. By tomorrow morning, the distance between the C fleet and the port of Brest will be more than 700 kilometers. As long as it is not discovered at night, the probability of being discovered by the enemy again during the day tomorrow is not too great. In this way, Fleet C can go to the designated sea area to ambush without knowing it.

The C Fleet will be divided into two battle cruisers, the Prestige and Counterattack, as well as the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth, two luxury cruise ships converted from troop carriers (empty) and several large oil tankers, as well as dozens of lighter ships that will form the E Fleet.

The E flotilla will be commanded by Vice Admiral Phillips and swagger at full speed in the direction of the southwest, the Azores. However, no matter how fast the E fleet is, because of the problem of the direction of sailing, it is impossible in any case to break out of the patrol circle of German planes in the port of Brest before dawn tomorrow.

Therefore, it is a high probability event that the E fleet is discovered! By then, the Germans would most likely mistake the E Fleet for the British fleet departing from St. George's Strait. And once the E fleet is discovered by the Germans, the mission is completed. According to the plan, the formation was to be immediately disbanded and scattered to reduce the damage caused by the bombing of German aircraft. And as long as the "Prestige" and "Counterattack" are not sunk, the loss of a number of medium and light ships is still acceptable for the British Royal Navy.

And after the German planes bombed the British ships that disbanded the formation, it was very likely that the top command of the German Navy would think that the British aircraft carriers would not pose a threat for the time being, so that the ambush of the C fleet would be very successful.

It has to be said that the British Royal Navy is the old maritime hegemon that has dominated the sea for hundreds of years, and I don't know how much more clever it is than the German Navy at the level of command and organization of naval campaigns. Now it was just a few admirals who had come up with a plan, and it seemed to be more level than the plan that had been carefully planned by the German naval headquarters for months.

If it were not for the revolutionary change of "controlling the sea with air" and the decisive battle of the surface fleet, the current German navy, even if it was twice as powerful as the British Royal Navy, would not have been sure to win.

But there are no "ifs" on the battlefield, and the oceans are increasingly dominated by aircraft, not only during the day, but also at night, when darkness is shrouded, and aircraft can still search the sea surface with the help of radar.

Shortly after the division of the Royal Navy's E Fleet and C Fleet, an FW-200C long-range reconnaissance aircraft that took off from Brest 2 airfield spotted the E Fleet heading southwest at full speed.

"Your Excellency, we have found the main force of the British Home Fleet heading south, near the island of Ireland, at coordinates 50.4 degrees north latitude and 9.2 degrees west longitude. Heading west-southwest. ”

In the naval headquarters in Port Kiel, Marshal Raeder, who was yawning and staying up all night, heard the news, and all the drowsiness disappeared without a trace.

"Was it discovered by a submarine or by an aircraft? Do you know how many ships there are? Raeder jumped up from the circle chair he was sitting on, and as he walked to the sea chart platform in the operations command center, he asked the staff officer who had informed him.

"It was discovered by the FW-200C, and from the radar there are at least 30 ships."

"At least 30?" Raeder knew that airborne radar was a much less reliable thing than shipborne radar, and that there were often large errors. So the number "30" just indicates that this FW-200C spotted a large number of unidentified ships.

Hans. Jeshunek and Otto. Schneywind and the two had been talking in a low voice next to the chart table for a while, and when they saw Raeder coming, Schnywind said: "Marshal, it is almost certain that it is the main force of the British home fleet, and they should go to reinforce the direction of Gibraltar." ”

Raeder nodded, as if agreeing with Schnewynder's analysis, "This fleet is going to reinforce Gibraltar, so most of the fleet going north is going to reinforce the Shetland Islands." ”

"Hans, what do you think?" Raeder then asked for Jeshunek's opinion.

"Marshal, I don't have any opinion." Jeshunek shook his head and said. His "art of command" is also simple, he does not think about such complicated things, he bombs enemy ships when he finds them, and shoots down enemy planes when he finds them, and that's it!

"Now that the enemy's fleet has been discovered," said Jeshunek, "give an order to the 2nd Air Division of the Navy in Brest and let them attack!" ”

An aviation division is the superior formation of an aviation regiment, and an aviation division usually consists of 3-5 aviation regiments, plus several independent aviation groups (usually reconnaissance aircraft groups). The 2nd Division of German Naval Aviation deployed in Brest was an aviation division with 4 regiments. It includes 2 combat aviation regiments (one each for FW-190, Fokker Zero and BF-110 night fighters, and one training group), 2 bomber aviation regiments (one from the Italian Air Force) and 4 reconnaissance aircraft groups (two each for FW-200C and HE-115).

Among them, the 3rd Bomber Aviation Regiment of the Navy and the 8th Bomber Aviation Regiment of the Italian Air Force can be used for naval attacks, and the "common" aircraft that can be used for combat under the two bomber aviation regiments are a total of 240, with JU88 and S.M.79 each accounting for half.

Hersman Jr.'s former boss, Adolf. Garand is now the colonel of this 2nd Aviation Division. The FW-200C, which spotted the Royal Navy's E fleet, belonged to the 2nd Air Division. Before Field Marshal Raeder gave the order for the 2nd Air Division to attack, Colonel Garland had already given the order to "strike at 3:30 a.m. tomorrow" - as the commander of the first-line aviation division, he certainly had such authority.

Therefore, when the order from the naval headquarters arrived, Garand had already summoned all the officers above the squadron leader (including the squadron leader) to arrange the sortie in the early morning of the next day in the combat command center of the division headquarters.

"All squadrons must be ready for the attack by 3 o'clock!" "The first plane at each airport will take off at 3:30 a.m. tomorrow, and the plane will take off at night guided by searchlights," Garland said. At 4 o'clock in the morning, all the planes participating in the first assault wave had to take off. ”

Garland took a breath, narrowed one eye, and looked at the group leader and squadron leader below him. All of them were eager to try, and two-thirds of them wore blue Max medals on their necklines!

Since from the beginning of the Polish campaign, the Luftwaffe and naval aviation had a great advantage in the exchange ratio, so the attrition of pilots was slow, there were more and more skilled and experienced veterans, and of course there were more and more ace pilots.

In contrast, because the UK has always been at a large disadvantage in terms of pilot exchange ratios, the average survival time of pilots is very short. The huge loss of personnel could only be compensated for by shortening the training time of the pilots, and the consequence of this was that the skills of the British first-line pilots were getting worse and worse, and it was becoming easier to shoot them down. The morale of the front-line pilots of the German army naturally rose higher and higher day by day.

Colonel Garland nodded in satisfaction and announced loudly: "Now I announce the composition of the first assault wave!" The 1st Squadron of the 3rd Bomber Aviation Regiment of the Hainan Airlines, the 2nd Squadron of the 8th Italian Bomber Aviation Regiment, the 1st, 2nd, 5th, and 6th Squadrons of the 4th Combat Aviation Regiment of the Hainan Airlines, the 1st Squadron of the 15th Reconnaissance Aircraft Group of the Hainan Airlines, and the 2nd Squadron of the 18th Reconnaissance Aircraft Group of the Hainan Airlines...... In total, there were 40 JU88s, 40 S.M.79s, 32 Fokker Zeros, 32 FW-190s, 9 FW-200Cs and 9 HE-115s. In addition, all JU88s were mounted with 1 1000 kg armor-piercing bomb, and the priority targets were British aircraft carriers, followed by battleships and battle cruisers! (To be continued.) )