The Soviet Union had three access routes to the Atlantic Ocean in the European part: the Black Sea through the Mediterranean, the Baltic Sea through the North Sea, and the Northern Route to the Atlantic Ocean via the Barents Sea and the Norwegian Sea. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 infoNow that the war broke out, and the first two passages to the Atlantic Ocean had been completely cut off by Germany, the importance of the northern route was immediately apparent, and it was necessary to ensure the smooth flow of this maritime lifeline.

The Soviet top brass was even more worried -- according to the current development of US-Japan relations, a war between Japan and the United States could hardly be avoided, and the Pacific shipping routes in the Far East would also be in danger of being interrupted. If that happens, the only way for the Soviet Union to get foreign aid is the northern route!

If the powerful German fleet composed of "Bismarck" and "Tirpitz" had been staying near the Norwegian Sea, and a large section of the route of more than 2,000 kilometers would have been threatened by the German giant ships - the British and American aid ships would have escorted them, and it would have been difficult to break through the blockade of these two battleships plus the "Prince Eugen", and it would have been a devastating outcome if they collided.

There was no choice, and all efforts had to be made to destroy the German battleship fleet, even at a great price! - Probably Churchill and the British would be happy to see this.

In the tall armored command tower of the "Soviet Union", the commander of the fleet, Admiral Kuznetsov, was looking at the sea ahead.

"Comrade Commander, the weather forecast has come out." Speaking was the Chief of Staff of the Northern Fleet, Rear Admiral Arseny Grigorievich Golovko. The chubby rear admiral had just received the forecast from the Fleet's Meteorological Chief, who had synthesized various data: "The Barents Sea will be foggy today and tomorrow, with visibility of up to 10 nautical miles, and the fog off the coast of Murmansk may be thicker." ”

"I'm not worried about the fog, I don't know what the sea conditions are, and I can't tell when there will be big waves this season."

Kuznetsov understood what the biggest threat he would face - with radar as an eye, even in dense fog he could fight an artillery battle with the Germans, but if the sea conditions were bad, his aircraft carrier would become an ornament, and the northern seas in the summer were really difficult to predict.

The crews knew they might face two of Germany's most powerful battleships, but only the captains and members of the fleet command knew what the two German battleships had done in the previous month. There is no need for the people below to know that "Bismarck" and "Tirpitz" have already killed two British heavy warships, they just need to know that the battleship they are piloting is the best in the world!

Except for those destroyers, the warships in the fleet are all new ships that have only been completed in the past two years, but this does not mean that the officers and soldiers who operate them are also novices - the backbone forces are all drawn from the major fleets, and after more than a year of rigorous training, the whole fleet can be said to be well-trained, and the technical and tactical level of each post can be completely compared with the British Royal Navy.

The pride of the British Royal Navy was already lying at the bottom of the sea, and Kuznetsov felt that his responsibility was even greater: if there was a contest of blood and fire between the big ships and the great guns, the quality and judgment of the commander could influence the development of the war.

The cost of the construction of this battleship at the foot and the "Red Ukraine" on the left flank accounted for more than 12 percent of the gross national product of the entire Soviet Union. According to the deputy commander-in-chief and the conclusions reached during several exercises: the battleship must cede the position of the ruler of the sea to the aircraft carrier, but the aircraft carrier without the protection of the battleship is vulnerable (by the technical standards of the 40s), as evidenced by the sinking of the British aircraft carrier "Glorious" by two battle cruisers of the "Scharnhorst" class in the North Sea last year.

The commander of the formation with the battleship pressure will have the confidence to give full play to the role of all the flags in his hand, and this operation is just the best time for Kuznetsov to prove to the world the combat effectiveness of the Red Navy and his own - a battle that can only be won and cannot be lost, and neither he nor the Red Navy can afford defeat.

Comrade Admiral had already taken into account all possible scenarios and waited for the encounter with the German fleet.

"Let the Russia and the Kirov each send three reconnaissance planes, and I want a report on the situation at a range of 150 nautical miles ahead."

The aviation staff immediately contacted the rear formation, and the aircraft carrier was immediately busy, and three torpedo planes, which were used as reconnaissance planes, were brought onto the flight deck. The pilots kept their composure in their excitement - for the first time since the Soviets had aircraft carriers and carrier-based aviation, they had received formal orders for combat sorties, albeit only patrols.

In order to make the aircraft carrier combat effective, the Red Navy Aviation has paid too much for several years, and the pilots have perfected this completely new topic for the Soviets little by little with their blood and lives. Now 90 percent of the air crews on the two aircraft carriers were assembled at the beginning of the construction of the aircraft carriers, and they have paid a lot in the past few years, and many pilots have not taken care of their own personal problems for the Red Navy to have their own carrier-based aviation, and the older young people have grabbed a lot of them.

However, there were many difficulties, and the comrades on the aircraft carrier insisted on building themselves into a force that could be pulled and fought at critical moments, and it took a few years to do what others took almost 20 years to complete.

"The fleet sailed against the wind, allowing the aircraft carrier formation to accelerate to 24 knots, and returning to a speed of 16 knots after releasing the reconnaissance aircraft."

At the same time as the order of the fleet commander was given, the staff officers on the side had already begun to transmit the order and make calculations on the map: so that the aircraft carrier formation would be closer to the battleship formation after releasing the aircraft.

In the entire fleet, only aircraft carriers and battleships had sea-to-sea and anti-air radars, but they could not be turned on 24 hours a day, so the fleet adopted a rotation system - it had already entered the Barents Sea, and it was necessary to warn German submarines of any situation that appeared on the screen.

It takes enough courage to attack a submarine escorted by a large number of destroyers, and sometimes it is even "stupid", but there are too many U-boat captains like that, and the Red Navy has to guard against it: not only radars and lookout posts are always on alert, but the Northern Fleet has already sent 8 new "Stalin" submarines in the early stage to clear and monitor obstacles on the fleet's route (this submarine can be said to be "a ship that can dive underwater and release torpedoes", and most of the time it is in a state of surface patrol, Therefore, surface formations equipped with radars are generally not torpedoed by submarines in good sea conditions, because the radar "sees" farther. Submarines also encounter each other unexpectedly while patrolling, and it is not surprising that artillery battles and underwater hide-and-seek break out. ）。

One after another, the orders of the fleet commander came from the armored control tower of the "Soviet Union", and this will be in the huge hull of the "Soviet Union", and more than 2,100 crew members are working at their respective posts, everything is in order.

There was a hint of nervousness in the excitement of the fighters, because what could break out was a battle of iron and blood, and no one here had seen what the battle between battleships and battleships was all about: it had been training for more than a year, but training and combat were completely different things.

This is a strong and powerful battleship, surrounded by cold heavy steel, the soldiers of the Red Navy are still full of confidence - they are convinced that they are the best battleships in the world, and the fascist battleships are definitely not their opponents!

The operation of a giant ship requires the coordination of all departments, and there is only a limit to the role that a single person can play in it, but there is no room for mistakes on the part of anyone – it's like a sophisticated machine.

In the area of anti-aircraft guns around the bridge, there are 16 twin 100-mm high-level guns distributed densely, and on the upper deck there are 10 46-К quadruple 37-mm guns with stabilizers and 32 single-barreled 23-mm guns.

More than 20 single-barreled 23mm guns were also installed on the front and rear decks of the "Soviet" class, but now those gun emplacements are empty - if the anti-aircraft gunner in the middle is responsible for the 100-mm anti-aircraft gun, there is the protection of the turret armor, and the small-caliber anti-aircraft gunner can quickly enter the cabin, but the additional positions are not - now the main thing is to monitor the sea situation, once the target is found to be the main gun fire, the powerful muzzle storm of the main gun will sweep away all the living things outside the cabin!

Last year, during the first salvo training of the whole ship, a seaplane carried by the "Soviet Union" deliberately did not put it into the hangar, and although it was of a test nature, the results still made the comrades feel a little heartache: the entire plane was blown apart, and the position was still in a relatively safe position on the rear deck!

The "Soviet" three-gun turret is equipped with nine МК-1 guns (here МК is not the meaning of the Western-used Mark, but the abbreviation of Морскаиа Корабелнаиа (for naval ships). The power of the salvo of 50 times the caliber 406 mm naval guns is far from being comparable to that of the Gangut-class battleships, both for the opponent and for themselves - when all the main guns are concentrated on one side of the salvo, the huge hull with a full load displacement of more than 65,000 tons will be moved horizontally by a strong recoil force.

The Northern Fleet was on standby, and 250 nautical miles away, a German fleet was heading south-southeast at 16 knots through Cape Wald, Norway. Condors in the sky escort the pride of the Third Reich Navy, and long-range patrol aircraft search the southwestern waters of the Barents Sea.

At the same time, Soviet planes on the Kra Peninsula were doing the same thing as the Germans: soon the two forces would meet head-on! (To be continued.) )