June 9, 1941. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 infoThe seas west of Norway, south of Iceland, and northeast of Scotland are known as Norway have become key battlefields that will determine the fate of the British Empire.

By the dawn of June 9, the main forces of the German High Seas Fleet and the British Home Fleet had already gathered in this small sea. On the German side, there were 2 aircraft carriers, 3 battleships, and 4 heavy cruisers with considerable combat effectiveness, as well as a number of light cruisers and destroyers.

On the British side, four powerful fleet carriers, one battlecruiser (HMS Hood), four battleships (Nelson, HMS George V, HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Ramillis) and five treaty heavy cruisers and a number of light cruisers and destroyers had already been put into operation, while the battlecruiser Counter-Attack, which had survived in the southwest of Ireland, sailed to the Norwegian Sea under the protection of three destroyers to join Fleet A.

And the Americans, who had not yet officially entered the war, also deployed a detachment of ships including 1 battleship and 1 aircraft carrier in Iceland, near the Norwegian Sea. At the behest of the British, the American fleet had now left Reykjavik, Iceland, and entered the Danish Strait between Iceland and Greenland, acting as the eyes and ears of the British Royal Navy.

At the same time, the Americans sent a large number of fighters and reconnaissance aircraft to "fly freely" south and east of Iceland. Always ready to stop the German planes they found on behalf of the British.

In addition, the neutral US imperialists did Britain another great favor. They allowed the British Sea Spitfire carrier-based fighters to land in Iceland for refueling after completing their escort missions before flying back to their mothership. In this way, the shortcomings of the insufficient range of the "Sea Spitfire" can be partially overcome, allowing this carrier-based aircraft to escort SBD carrier-based dive bombers and TBD carrier-based torpedo bombers to fly farther.

And in addition to Iceland, the British-controlled Faroe Islands can also be used as a refueling station for the "Sea Spitfire" to increase the actual combat radius of the "Sea Fire". However, the "Sea Spitfire" on the four aircraft carriers of the British C Fleet still cannot reach the German aircraft carrier formation, so they can only let the P-51 and P-40 taken off from the Faroe Islands to take off to the target sea area to take cover.

James. Vice Admiral Somerville stood on a platform outside the bridge of the USS Ark Royal, looking at a U.S. Navy PBY Katrina seaplane near the Ark Royal, which skimmed low altitude. With some emotion, he said to Colonel Scott beside him: "If only these Americans could really fight side by side with us." ”

"General, they will soon be fighting with us." Colonel Scott's voice was hoarse, and he hadn't closed his eyes for more than 24 hours. He paused and said, "General, it's already dawn, and the air raid operation can start now!" ”

Now there are few old birds in the aviation of the British Royal Navy that can only take off from aircraft carriers at night. Therefore, it was impossible to play the night air raid, so I had to release the plane after dawn.

Somerville looked down at the neatly arranged SBD dive bombers on the flight deck. Deck crews are making final preparations for the planes to take off.

The ammunitionmen, dressed in white overalls and orange life jackets, checked the safety bolts of the 1,000-pound bomb pylons one last time, then gave a thumbs-up to the bombardiers inside the engine room.

"Just received a message that 45 minutes ago a Coast Air Crew Short 'Sunderland' seaplane lost contact, so we can now only roughly determine the location of the German fleet." That's when Colonel Scott whispered to Somerville.

The Schott "Sunderland" seaplane disappeared while tailgating the German fleet, and was mostly killed by the Fokker Zero on the German aircraft carrier. Taking into account the location of the plane and the time of its loss, the Germans' plane should have taken off from the aircraft carrier when it was rather dark.

"It's only been 45 minutes, the Germans can't get far, our planes can find them." Somerville mentally calculated, and then said, "Order the plane to take off!" Then send a telegram to the Coastal Air Force and ask them to send shore-based aircraft on the Faroe Islands to attack as soon as possible. ”

The aircraft carrier had already begun to sail at full speed against the wind, and now that Somerville gave an order, the prepared electric bell immediately sounded on the deck, and the flight commander saw that the take-off signal light began to flash, and hurriedly waved the command flag in his hand.

The pilot of the SBD Dreadnought, who had been waiting impatiently, pushed the throttle stick forward, and the aircraft engine began to run wildly, and soon the propeller reached the take-off speed, and a huge SBD Dreadnought began to gallop on the deck, and a few meters from the bow, the wheels suddenly left the deck, and the plane jumped up.

As the first SBD Dreadnought took to the skies, four British aircraft carriers began to continuously release carrier-based aircraft. The take-off went unexpectedly smoothly without incident. All 90 carrier-based aircraft (51 SBDs, 39 TBDs) that made up the first assault wave rose into the air safely, formed several inverted V formations, and flew eastward.

"May God bless them!" Somerville silently prayed in his heart, and then watched his plane disappear into the vast blue sky, then slowly exhaled, turned around and just walked into the bridge, a staff officer with surprise on his face shouted at him: "Vice Admiral, an American seaplane has discovered the fleet of the Germans!" ”

"Great!" Somerville couldn't help but clap his hands, "Send the coordinates to the first assault wave immediately!" ”

……

"We are a U.S. Navy aircraft, this is the high seas, we are exercising the right of freedom of navigation in accordance with international law, please do not obstruct it!"

Little Hersman's headphones sounded English with an American accent. He is now flying a Fokker Zero followed by a U.S. Navy PBY Catalina seaplane. The American seaplane was so close to Hersman Jr.'s plane that Hesman Jr. would love to shoot it down, just as he had done with a British Schott "Sunderland" seaplane 1 hour earlier.

But this is an American plane that can't be beaten! Before the fleet approached Iceland, all the pilots, including Hersman Jr., were given orders not to fire at the American planes first...... Even if they had seriously interfered with the combat operations of the German fleet!

Just below 10 kilometers from Little Hersmann, the aircraft carriers "Seydlitz" and "Seckert" of the German Navy are rapidly heading northeast under the protection of 2 heavy cruisers, 4 light cruisers and 12 destroyers.

According to the original plan, the German aircraft carrier group was supposed to send carrier-based aircraft to bomb the British fleet (Bflotilla) 200 nautical miles away one hour before. But just before the carrier-based aircraft took off, the radar of the "Seydlitz" spotted a British seaplane.

Helmut. Heyer immediately realized that the fleet's whereabouts had been revealed! British aircraft on the Faroe Islands, as well as carrier-based aircraft on British aircraft carriers that may exist, will certainly launch an air strike after dawn.

Hence Helmut. Heyer immediately gave up the air attack, turned the ship's bow and fled eastward. It was also ordered to replace all the Fokker 99s on the deck of the aircraft carrier with the Fokker Zero, so that carrier-based fighters could be released immediately if necessary.

But what he didn't expect was that before the British air raid group arrived, an American seaplane swaggered over and declared that it wanted "freedom of navigation."

"Lieutenant General, knock it down!" The captain of the Seydlitz, Colonel Hinze, walked up to Vice Admiral Heyer and suggested, "Otherwise the British will easily find us." ”

Helmut. Heyer shook his head slightly, he had the authority to order the fighter to fire, but he didn't want to do that.

"This American plane must have sent our coordinates to the British a long time ago!" Helmut. Haye sneered and said, "The British planes will soon fly over and send them to death, we have to shoot them all down!" ”

He looked at his watch again and said, "The planes from the Faroe Islands will arrive in about an hour and a half, and we will release all the carrier-based fighters in 45 minutes." ”

……

With a muffled "bang", another AR-196 seaplane was ejected into the sky, and then flapped its wings and flew westward, the last seaplane released by the battleship "Bismarck".

Gunther. Lütjans retracted his gaze, looked at Colonel Lindemann beside him and said, "We will avoid the aircraft patrol circles of the Kaitland and Faroe Islands and continue to sail north......"

As soon as his words fell, the communications staff officer of the fleet shouted loudly: "Sir, I received a telegram from the aircraft carrier formation, they were discovered by British seaplanes, and now there is an American seaplane trailing. The aircraft carrier formation is now heading northeast at full speed...... It is expected to engage the enemy aircraft group in 1 hour and a half! ”

"Discovered?" Gunther. Lu Teyans was stunned, "How can there be American seaplanes?" What do Americans want to do? ”

"Admiral, are we going north?" Colonel Lindemann asked, somewhat uncertain.

Gunther. Lütjens thought for a moment and said, "Of course we can't go north any further, we have to stay in the protective circle of the Bergen shore-based aircraft...... Let's go west, in the direction of Shetland Islands! ”

"To Shetland Islands?" Lindemann was taken aback, "Admiral, are we going to deliberately expose the target?" ”

"Yes!" Gunther. "We can't afford to let the aircraft carrier withstand all the enemy aircraft...... They are outside the combat radius of the FW-190, so we should expose them and attract a part of the enemy aircraft. The British shore-based Wellington bombers and Beaufort torpedo bombers were of little use, and with the FW-190 cover of Bergen and Stavanger, we would not have suffered heavy losses. ”

At this time, the communications staff of the fleet made a suggestion, "Admiral, if we want to be exposed, we can make the radio send a large number of radio signals." ”

Lu Teyansi nodded: "Okay, that's it!" (To be continued.) )