In the North Sea, east of the Shetland Islands, a large fleet is rapidly heading westward under the cover of twenty or thirty Fokker Zeros and FW-190 fighters. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

2 Bismarck-class battleships, 1 Scharnhorst-class battleship, 2 Admiral-Hipper-class heavy cruisers, 6 Berlin-class light cruisers (M-class with a standard displacement of 7800 tons), 3 Vienna-class fast light cruisers (SP-class with a standard displacement of 5700 tons), 20 Type 1938B destroyers, and 8 Danzeg-class fast minelayers (displacement 5800 tons, capable of carrying 400 magnetic mines).

With 42 warships and billowing smoke almost obscuring the sky, such a spectacular scene not only thrilled sailors and young officers who were born or raised after the First World War. Admiral Lütjans could hardly contain the excitement in his heart.

These 42 combat ships are not all the strength of the surface ships of the German Navy, and the current active ships of the German Navy also include 2 aircraft carriers, 2 heavy cruisers, 5 K-class light cruisers, 1 Emden-class light cruiser, 18 destroyers, 40 mine-striking ships of about 1,000 tons, as well as a large number of torpedo boats, gunboats, minelayers, minesweepers, and so on.

After many years of hard work, the German High Seas Fleet has been completely resurrected, and its strength is even stronger than before. And now shipyards in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and even France are building all kinds of ships for the German Navy at full capacity!

If it could develop at this rate for a few more years, the German Navy would undoubtedly be able to crush the British Royal Navy in gross tonnage. But for whether the combat effectiveness of the German navy can crush the British Royal Navy, Gunther. Admiral Lütjans was not sure.

Of course, this is only a comparison between surface fleets, and does not include those "navies" that fly in the sky.

Although the total tonnage of the German Navy is rising rapidly, experienced naval officers and sailors cannot do it quickly. In this regard, the German Navy faced much more difficulties than the German Army.

Because in the era of mechanized warfare, the base of the German armored corps was engineers and skilled workers, and Germany, as the first industrialized country in Europe and the second in the world, had a very obvious talent advantage. This is also the reason why the Wehrmacht can complete the upgrade in a very short time and master the essence of mechanized warfare.

But the basis for the rapid expansion of naval personnel was the merchant seamen! And Germany lost not only its fleet after the last world war, but also the vast majority of its merchant ships. Although efforts were made to rebuild the fleet after the war, the scale was still not comparable to that before the last World War. As a result, the average quality of the officers and men of the rapidly expanding German navy was now inferior not only to England, but even to France and Italy!

However, the quality of the officers and sailors on the two Bismarck-class and two aircraft carriers, as well as on the battleship Gneisenau, was still first-class. The reason why Admiral Lütjans dared to pull the fleet out to challenge the British Royal Navy.

Yes, the bombardment of Shetland is a challenge to the naval supremacy of the British Home Fleet!

As a maritime hegemon that has dominated the seas for hundreds of years, if foreign navies are allowed to openly bombard their offshore islands and dare not respond to the war, it will not be a loss of face, but a sea hegemony.

And once the British Home Fleet was relegated to the Firth of Clyde as a fleet, the Shetland Islands would become islands. According to the plan, if the British home fleet was a turtle with a shrunken head, then Gunther. In addition to shelling the Shetland Islands, the First High Seas Fleet under the command of Lütjans would also lay a large number of mines in the waters west of Shetland Islands, blocking the shipping lanes between the Onik Islands and the Shetland Islands. Only then did the landing force be escorted, and the landing operations in Shetland began.

Although the Shetland Islands have become quite strong after more than a year of painstaking management by the British army, after becoming an isolated island, they are surrounded by German warships and planes, and it is only a matter of time before they fall.

The fall of the Shetland Islands into German hands meant that German shore-based aircraft could cover the entire sea area between Iceland and northern Sugrad. This means that the UK mainland will be completely locked down! This is tantamount to a catastrophe for an island country that relies on overseas resources and markets to survive!

So as long as the battleships of the First High Seas Fleet began shelling Shetland and laid mines west of Shetland, the British Home Fleet had to bite the bullet, even if it didn't want to fight.

"Where is Vice Admiral Haye's aircraft carrier force at the moment?" Lutejens asked, turning around. Heyer's two aircraft carriers are the key to this decisive battle!

Although in Shetland Islands it is only three or four hundred kilometers from Bergen and Stavanger, which is completely within the combat radius of the FW-190. But the role of aircraft carriers is still very huge, because aircraft carriers are swimming airfields, which can hit the enemy by surprise and can also pursue the defeated enemy fleet. Moreover, it can sail to the sea area that is long away from the main force of the First High Seas Fleet, and provide air cover to the First High Seas Fleet nearby.

"Admiral, Lieutenant Admiral Heyer's formation is about 220 nautical miles away from us and is now in the cover circle of shore-based aircraft in Bergen."

Lu Teyans breathed a sigh of relief, and just as he wanted to go to the side of the chart platform to see the specific location of the aircraft carrier force marked by the staff officer, an alarm came from the radar room.

"Admiral, the radar detected enemy aircraft, numbering about 80 units, at a distance of 50 kilometers," the radar officer reported. ”

Lütjans smiled coldly: "Well, now it's our turn to fight the English turkey!" Order the fleet to put out an anti-aircraft formation! ”

……

"Admiral, 85 planes taking off from Scarpa Bay have just attacked the main force of the German fleet."

On the battleship "Nelson", Admiral Tovey was listening to the staff officer's report on the latest battle situation while closing his eyes and recuperating.

"The Coastal Air Corps reported heavy damage to two German light cruisers, which were done with aviation torpedoes."

Admiral Tovey didn't open his eyes either, but asked lightly, "What about the losses?" ”

"Lost 11 Spitfires, 10 Hurricanes, 8 Beauforts and 6 Wellington ......"

35 aircraft in exchange for two German light cruisers heavy damage...... Even if there is no moisture in this victory, there is nothing to boast about. Because the current German Navy has long been afraid of the lack of ships and guns a few years ago, their plan has been in full swing for nearly 3 years.

Although battleships and aircraft carriers have not been massively completed, the number of light cruisers and destroyers is already large. Moreover, the Italian and French fleets also joined the camp of the German navy, and the total number of light cruisers and destroyers of the three countries was probably greater than that of the British!

"Where's the C fleet?" Admiral Tovey asked.

"About 100 nautical miles west of the Faroe Islands."

"Where's the Counterattack?"

"In the northwest sea of Scotland."

"Fleet B?"

"In the vicinity of the Ornik Islands."

Admiral Tovey's eyes suddenly opened, and his gaze swept over the faces of everyone in the "Nelson" commander tower.

"Gentlemen, the British Empire has reached its most dangerous moment, and all men must fight with all their might. The Royal Air Force and Royal Naval Aviation have made great sacrifices and sunk German aircraft carriers, and now it is our turn to fight the enemy in a decisive battle! ”

He paused slightly, and his tone had become more solemn: "The main force of the German High Seas Fleet is approaching the Shetland Islands, and it is expected that they will bombard targets on the Shetland Islands with large-caliber naval guns, and they will also lay mines west of the Shetland Islands. All this for the final capture of Shetland Islands, which would mean desperate isolation and starvation on our homeland. So as the commander of the Royal Navy's home fleet, I think we can assemble the fleet and fight the enemy! ”

The gathering of the fleet for a battle was also part of the Home Fleet battle plan, provided that it was determined that the main forces of the German High Seas Fleet had begun or were about to attack the Shetland Islands.

As Lütjans believes, the British Home Fleet would not have watched the Shetland Islands fall into German hands under any circumstances. However, Admiral Tovey will not fight uncertainly.

"Take the Faroe Islands as a meeting point!" Admiral Tovey took a breath and ordered, "Flotillas A, C, and E (referring to the Counterattack and several escort destroyers) are all headed for the Faroe Islands for regrouping......"

The decisive battle will definitely be preceded by a regrouping, and according to Admiral Tovey's plan, the four battleships/battlecruisers "Nelson", "King George V", "Counterattack", and "Ramillis" will become the core of the new A-Fleet, and the task of the new A-Fleet will be a fleet decisive battle.

And the two aircraft carriers, "Ark Royal" and "Dreadnought", will become the core of the C fleet. The mission of the C Fleet was to attack the main force of the German High Seas Fleet and the German aircraft carrier group that did not know where to hide.

The B Fleet, on the other hand, remained unchanged and was to engage the German fleet shelling Shetland Islands under cover from the night of 10 June to dawn on 11 June. Then try to lure all or part of the German fleet between the Faroe Islands and the Shetland Islands.

Eventually, Flotilla A and Flotilla B would join forces and use 6 battleships/battlecruisers against the 3 German battleships.

"Lieutenant General, telegram from the Nelson."

On the battlecruiser "Hood", Lancelot. Vice Admiral Holland took the copy of the telegram from the communications officer. This was an order from the commander of the Home Fleet -- to order the B Fleet, with the "Hood" as the flagship, to carry out a very dangerous mission to decoy the enemy.

This time, the opponents of the "Hood" and the "Prince of Wales" will be three powerful German battleships "Bismarck", "Tirpitz" and "Gneisenau"! (To be continued.) )