In the early morning of December 12, Marshal Lütjans, who would not die in a catastrophe and would have a future blessing, found himself eating the most expensive bait in history. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 info A patrol detachment deployed in the Danish Strait spotted a huge Confederate fleet!

"Your Excellency, we may be able to intercept the waters off the Faroe Islands...... In a straight line, it's almost 600 nautical miles. ”

The chief of staff of the fleet, Vice Admiral Messer, came up with a plan for interception at the first time. Because the Allied fleet had a large number of slow ships that could only sail up to 10 or 11 knots, and the warships of the combined European fleet were fast and could easily run 20-25 knots. So as long as you don't take the Z-shaped anti-submarine route, you can be in place in 30 hours at most.

"No, it's not safe." Field Marshal Lütjans immediately rejected Messer's suggestion, "Since the enemy has paid such a great price, it is impossible not to be prepared for anything else...... The submarine bases of the British are in the north of Scotland and the Faroe Islands, and there must be dozens or hundreds of submarines waiting for us halfway through the road. ”

His conjecture was correct, and Ingersoll did arrange a follow-up move, not only dispatching all the submarines that could be dispatched, but also sending destroyers and torpedo boats stationed in the Faroe Islands and Scapa Bay (the British did not have mine-striking ships) to prepare for a surprise attack on the capital ships of the European Combined Fleet under the cover of polar night and snowy weather.

"Then let the Lightning Strike team be dispatched," said Lieutenant General Messer, after a moment's thought, "so that at least some results can be achieved with the T-93 torpedoes." ”

"Yes, but ...... What will the weather be like in the Norwegian Sea for the next 60 hours? Marshal Lütjans asked, "It won't snow all the time, will it?" ”

"No," said Lieutenant General Messer, "the rain and snow this time is due to the cold air from the north moving south, and the rain and snow will stop as soon as the temperature drops low enough in the Norwegian Sea." The weather forecast says that the rain and snow will continue for 24-36 hours. ”

"That means it is impossible to launch an air attack today," said Marshal Lütjans, "but there will be opportunities tomorrow and the day after tomorrow." ”

"Air strikes?" Lieutenant General Messer asked, "Send JU288 and DO217 from Bergen?" ”

"And our air fleet!" Field Marshal Lütjans paused and said, "Admiral Haye has five to 10 hours, and if he is lucky, he will be able to launch several air raids." ”

Although it is the polar night of the Arctic, Iceland and northern Scotland are not in the Arctic Circle (even most of the Arctic Circle has short daylight days), so in December, Iceland has less than 4 hours of daylight per day, and northern Scotland has 5 hours of daylight. So the polar night period of the aircraft carrier in the North Atlantic is not completely useless, if it is a good day, it can be used for 4-5 hours a day. Therefore, Marshal Lütjens this time took Helmut with him. Admiral Heyer's air fleet went north together.

……

At noon on December 12, in the dim light and a snowstorm, the flag of the commander of the Allied Atlantic Combined Fleet was raised on the battleship New York. Admiral Ingersoll has now finally gotten rid of the "chairman of the Soviet Union" and is back to becoming the sole supreme commander of the fleet.

But he also knew that after losing two South Dakota-class battleships and a 1 million-ton transport, his term as commander was coming to an end.

Standing in the tall bridge of the New York, looking at the back of the Soviet-class battleships that were gradually moving away, Admiral Ingersoll sighed softly and said to British Vice Admiral Fraser beside him: "Now we are left...... The next 2 and a half days will be tough! ”

"Admiral, the next difficult time is not two and a half days, but five hours." Fraser said, "The latest weather forecast, the wind and snow will continue until tomorrow night. From the 14th, the weather will be clear. ”

Weather forecasting is also combat effectiveness, and the current Britain is still stronger than Germany in this regard. After all, the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic have been the backyard of the British Empire for the past two or three hundred years, and the British Royal Navy has far outdone the German Navy in its climate research on the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic.

So the weather forecast that Fraser got now was far more accurate than that that of Marshal Lütjans.

"So we're going to get an airstrike between the Faroe Islands and the north of Scotland?"

"I think so." "Since the snow and wind can last for 24 hours, we can let the troop convoy go ahead so they can get to Scapa Bay before daylight arrives on the 14th," Fraser said. At least...... We can get 108,000 U.S. troops to arrive safe and sound. ”

The lives of 108,000 American GIs were too precious, so the best and fastest ships were used to transport them, three 80,000-ton luxury cruise ships could run more than 30 knots, and the rest of the troop carriers (mostly passenger ships) also had a speed of about 25 knots.

They could have entered Scarpa Bay first, but the freewheels carrying oil and weapons could only move slowly at 10 knots. You won't be able to reach the safety of Scapa Bay before daylight on the 14th.

"More than a hundred ships won't all be sunk," Ingersoll sneered, "I think there will always be some ships that will arrive safely...... And we in the United States have a lot of ships that can withstand huge losses! So we will not give up on supporting Britain no matter what. ”

American tyrants are awesome, it is said that there are so many ships that they are not afraid of fighting!

……

In the early morning of the 14th, calm finally returned to the North Atlantic, which had been roaring in the wind and snow for several days. On a dark sea, the aircraft carrier "Count Zeppelin", the flagship of the air fleet under the European Combined Fleet, was slowly sailing under the escort of 2 light cruisers and 6 destroyers.

The location of the "Zeppelin" is less than 200 nautical miles from the island of Ireland and 250 nautical miles, or about 460 kilometers, from the Faroe Islands-Orkney Islands (Scapa Bay) route - just from the current location of the aircraft carrier Zeppelin, you can see how difficult it is for the British mainland, which is the backyard of the British Isles!

"Commander, HE219 from the island of Ireland has arrived," said the chief of staff of the air fleet, from the submarine forces of Weiner. Colonel Hartman put down the phone and said to Admiral Heyer, who was in the command center on the second floor of the bridge, "There are 16 HE219s here. ”

These HE219s are long-range night combat models, and the aircraft are equipped with radars, which, if combined with surface ships with anti-aircraft search radars, can easily hit British reconnaissance aircraft trying to get close to German aircraft carriers.

"Okay," Admiral Haye looked up at the starry sky (it was early morning, but it was still night), "it was a sunny day...... How many hours until dawn? ”

"Around 10:30 a.m., there are still 3 hours to go." Hartmann replied, "If the reconnaissance aircraft can detect the enemy's convoy in time, the carrier-based aircraft can be released in 2 hours." ”

Heyer's fleet now has five aircraft carriers: the Zeppelin, Strasser (Zeppelin-class), Europa, Bremen and Alsace. The Zeppelin and Strasser are large fleet carriers that can carry 92 aircraft in the North Atlantic – an increase in the number of aircraft carried by the FW-190T, Fokker Zero D and Fokker 100 with foldable wings, while the number of carrier-based aircraft on the Europa, Bremen and Alsace has increased to 66 because of the new models.

The five aircraft carriers now carry a total of 382 aircraft, including 34 in reserve and 348 in general use. The 348 commonly used aircraft are divided into 29 squadrons, 10 squadrons equipped with Fokker Zero D carrier-based fighters, 7 squadrons equipped with FW-190T carrier-based fighter-bombers, and 11 squadrons equipped with Fokker 100 carrier-based bombers.

This kind of carrier-based aircraft grouping method of low-altitude zero + medium- and high-altitude combat bomber + fast dive bomber will not work in the Pacific Ocean. Because the positioning of the FW-190T is somewhat peculiar, it is a carrier-based + medium-altitude + combat-bombardment multi-purpose aircraft, but the main focus is still medium and high altitude rather than medium and low altitude, which other carrier-based fighters are good at.

But for the European Combined Fleet in the Atlantic, the FW-190T is an indispensable fighter, because its main task is not to attack ships and direct cover air superiority, but to escort the ju288 with a large range. It does not need to defeat the opponent's carrier-based fighters at medium and low altitudes, as long as it can defeat them at an altitude of 10,000 meters and clear the offensive interference for the JU288.

Therefore, now the main attack mode of the carrier-based aircraft forces of the European Combined Fleet is a joint attack of carrier-based + shore-based, and not by carrier-based aircraft alone.

So Helmut . Whether Haye's air fleet can release carrier-based aircraft in time depends on when the 1st Division of the German Naval Aviation, based in Bergen, can send JU288 long-range bombers -- because the JU288 has an extremely long time in the air, it is generally the JU288 that takes off first and arrives near the enemy ship formation, and under normal circumstances, the FW-190T will take off when the JU288 arrives.

"Commander, a telegram from Bergen Command," the communications officer aboard the Zeppelin reported to Admiral Heyer at 8:35 a.m. on the 14th, "the reconnaissance aircraft has detected a formation of enemy ships in the F3 sea zone, 170 nautical miles from the Onik Islands. ”

"When does JU288 take off?" Heyer asked.

"It is taking off, the formation can be completed in 30 minutes, and it can reach the sky above the target formation at about 10:30." The communications officer replied, "The fleet will consist of 60 JU288s, 48 P.108s and 36 HE219s. (To be continued.) )