The German High Seas Fleet consisted of five Admiral-Hipper-class heavy cruisers, and under the command of the Battle Cruiser Scharnhorst, they formed the First Reconnaissance Fleet and sailed at the forefront of the fleet. www.biquge.info When the anti-sea radar showed that an unidentified ship was approaching rapidly, Vice Admiral Eric Bey, commander of the 1st Reconnaissance Fleet, immediately ordered the fleet to open fire.

As an excellent naval commander, Eric . Bei knew that the unknown ships that could appear near his fleet at this time must be the warships of the Ming Navy, because the warships of other countries would not appear here. It is even more impossible for civilian ships to sail on the sea in the form of a single ship, and the only possibility is the warship of the Ming Navy.

The Scharnhorst was located at the rear of the formation, so it did not open fire at first. However, relying on the five heavy cruisers that had already opened the shelling line alone was enough to solve the Ming battleship that should be a destroyer in shape. Eric. Bei is not worried that he will not win. After all, if the entire First Reconnaissance Fleet could not defeat a single Ming destroyer, then there was no need to start this war at all.

Eric. To Bey's dismay, the German Navy's adventurous plan to sail in a straight line in an attempt to reach the Americas quickly fell through. You don't have to think about it to know that the Ming army can't just send a destroyer to hang around here, they will inevitably have a powerful fleet nearby ready to intercept the German fleet.

The news of the encounter with the Ming battleship was quickly passed back to the flagship Bismarck, including the commander of the Navy, Field Marshal Raeder, the commander of the High Seas Fleet and the commander of the battleship formation, Admiral Lütjans, the chief of staff of the High Seas Fleet Fleet, Admiral Kizeritsky, and the chief of the General Staff of the Navy, Rolf. Vice Admiral Karls, as well as the commander of the aircraft carrier group, Friedrich Brown. Many of the senior German naval commanders, including Vice Admiral Bondi, sensed that the threat of Chiguoguo was approaching.

"Ladies and gentlemen." Field Marshal Raeder, the commander of the German Navy, shouted from the wide bridge of the Bismarck to the many admirals in front of him: "The last thing we want to see has happened." The warships of the Ming Navy have appeared on our way, and it is very likely that a powerful fleet is preparing to intercept us. ”

After evading the Ming air raids, the German High Seas Fleet entered into a heated debate and finally decided to use a high-speed straight line to reach the United States as soon as possible. The advantage of this approach is that it can reach the United States, which is relatively safe and protected by shore-based aviation forces, in the shortest possible time. Moreover, the warships of the High Seas Fleet have good performance, and they are basically able to maintain high-speed navigation for a long time.

However, the disadvantage is also very obvious, that is, once the Ming army conducts a long-distance pursuit and interception, then they are likely to lose most of their combat strength. And everything that was going on seemed to indicate that the German fleet had encountered the last thing they wanted, and that a Ming fleet was intercepting them. After dawn, it will inevitably be a horde of warplanes flying over their heads, and at that time the entire high seas fleet will be destroyed.

"Has it been confirmed?" Vice Admiral Kars frowned and asked, "Are you sure it's a battleship of the Ming Navy?" The main force of the interceptor fleet of the Ming Navy has been discovered? ”

"At this time, the only one who can appear here is the warship of the Ming Navy, and it is impossible for them to have only one ship here to intercept us." Raeder explained, "I think they pulled out of the queue and searched extensively, so they couldn't find any other ships for the time being. However, the other ships must be approaching at a rapid pace at this moment. Now what I want to know is, what do we do next? ”

Although Raeder was a naval commander, he was not a true front-line commander. Compared to other front-line generals, Raeder is more of a civilian logistics officer. Therefore, when carrying out operations, Raeder always handed over the command to the front-line commanders below.

"What's the weather like after dawn?" Admiral Lütjans, who was recognized as the commander of the German Navy's best ship formation and had almost completely annihilated the Ming Navy's Mediterranean Fleet reconnaissance fleet in the Mediterranean naval battle, asked with a calm face.

"The meteorological department reported that weather conditions will remain predominantly rainy for the next 12 hours." The combat staff officer hurriedly replied, "However, the meteorological department also said that there may be a possibility that it will be sunny and sunny." ”

"Sunny days aren't much better for us." Lu Teyans, who is recognized as the successor of the naval commander because of his achievements in the Mediterranean, shook his head and said loudly: "Under the condition that the Daming naval aviation force still has air superiority, good weather means that we will inevitably encounter large-scale air attacks. ”

"What's your idea?" Kars asked.

"It's already clear now." "We've found traces now, and it's impossible to have the ability and time to maneuver on a large scale," said Lutjans. The only way to succeed in achieving the stated goal of going to the United States is to gather all our forces to crush any interception fleet that appears in front of us and break out of the blockade line with a strong force. With the help of bad weather in the next ten hours, it broke away from the attack range of the Ming army and naval aviation. ”

"Not bad."

"That's right."

"That's the only way we can do it."

Lütjans's words were echoed by most of the senior generals. For the Germans at this time, this may be their only choice, and the advantages of Daming Hainan Airlines are too obvious. They were completely incapable of resisting the overwhelming influx of Ming fighters.

"Okay then." Raeder, who didn't have much experience or ability in actual combat, quickly agreed to his subordinates' requests. Determined to concentrate on defeating the interception fleet of the Ming Navy, thus taking advantage of the unfavorable weather situation to rush out of this dangerous sea.

As long as this rainy weather, which was not conducive to the operation of the fighters, could continue until tomorrow evening, the German naval fleet, which had dozens of hours to maneuver, would almost have been able to declare itself escaped. After all, by that time they were very close to the American coastline.

The German Navy's high seas fleet began to accelerate. In addition to being written by Friedrich. The aircraft carrier formation under the command of Vice Admiral Bundy was escorted by a group of destroyers and headed for the outer circle of the battlefield, and the other German warships all began to speed up and form an artillery formation, ready to force a breakthrough of the Ming army's interception.

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"Why isn't it sinking?" Eric. Vice Admiral Bei looked anxiously at the Ming warship in the distance that had been shrouded in a dense rain of bullets in the endless column of rushing water, and the entire battleship had been completely enveloped in raging flames. Whispering to himself in shock.

The Ming warship on the opposite side had been struggling to hold out for nearly twenty minutes under the siege of one battle patrol and five heavy cruisers. Hundreds of shells fell on its body and around it, including a large 380 mm armor-piercing shell fired from the Scharnhorst. But that Ming warship just didn't sink!

"Keep attacking!" Eric. Bei gritted his teeth and ordered, "Speed up, all the secondary cannons are used, you must kill him!" ”

The Yulin destroyer, which had been struggling tenaciously, could no longer support it after the German Navy battleship approached and continued its intensive attack with secondary guns. It wasn't that they didn't want to keep a distance away from the surveillance, but because the ship was damaged by being hit during the previous bombardment, which slowed down and prevented them from getting away from the Germans.

With a full load displacement of less than four thousand tons, the Yulin could not survive the siege of the German 1st reconnaissance fleet in any case. After more than twenty minutes of hard work, the lone destroyer was hit by a 380 mm armor-piercing shell fired from the Scharnhorst.

As a new fleet destroyer of the Ming Navy, the armor of the battleship has been greatly optimized, which was originally a good thing, and the Yulin was able to hold out in the rain of bullets for so long before, in addition to the captain's effective command, the biggest reason is that his armor has become stronger. And the shell, which could have penetrated the armor and flew into the sea, exploded inside the ship.

The power of a heavy shell of 380 mm caliber is extremely terrifying. The entire front half of the Yulin was almost completely blown in two. Unable to hold on any longer, the Yulin soon sank to the bottom of the ocean with hundreds of crew members. In the end, less than ten crew members were saved.

Seeing that the brave Ming warship was finally sunk, Erik. Bei quietly breathed a sigh of relief. But before he could give a new order, the radar room sent new information, and his expression instantly fell. The radar room spotted new unidentified ships in both the north and south directions of the 1st reconnaissance fleet, looming at the maximum detection range.

Eric. Bei knew that this was the Ming warship monitoring him, which meant that the last trace of illusion that he had successfully escaped before the Ming army arrived.

Two hours later, the place where the sea and the sky meet began to gradually turn white, and the dark and gloomy sea gradually began to fade the traces of night. The 58th Task Force of the Ming Army and the main formation of the German High Seas Fleet, which were approaching, finally appeared within each other's radar detection range.

On the side of the 58th Task Force of the Ming Navy are eight new provincial capital-class battleships, eight heavy cruisers with four light cruisers and dozens of destroyers as escorts. On the Germans' side, there were ten battleships, two more in number, but four of the ten battleships were old super-dreadnoughts that had been modernized and converted, and there was also a pseudo-battleship Scharnhorst.

The German convoy consisted of nine heavy cruisers, five of which were of the Admiral Hipper class with good combat effectiveness, but the other four were also old warships, and their combat effectiveness was not as good as that of the Daming heavy cruisers, which were also old warships. The Germans also had eleven light cruisers and more than forty Z-type destroyers. The strength between the two sides is about the same. (To be continued.) )