The fleet sailed in the northern part of the Norwegian Sea, where the gray sea was full of huge waves, and the howling north wind carried goose feathers and heavy snow over the entire sea. A strong cold air from the Arctic Ocean caused a sudden change in the wind and clouds, snowflakes flew in the sky, and the visibility on the entire sea surface was only a few hundred meters.

Such a bad sea condition did not have a great impact on a heavy battleship like the "Admiral Speer", except that the entire battleship was wrapped in a thick layer of snow on the outside, and all the guns were frozen outside, except that the whole warship swayed a little more, and the ride was relatively smooth.

The most pitiful of them are the destroyers with a tonnage of only more than 3,000 tons, in addition to having to fight tenaciously against the wind and waves, because they are often shrouded by overwhelming waves, the entire warship has a thick layer of ice on the outside, which looks more like a relief floating on the sea.

Fortunately, the German battleships were equipped with heating and air-conditioning systems, and the temperature of the crew's cabins could be kept above 15 degrees, and the cabins and ordinary cabins on the upper deck bridge could also be maintained above -8 degrees, so as not to freeze the crew. In such harsh conditions, duty on deck has become the most difficult and risky job, in addition to the cold, the crew needs to pay more attention to the ice under their feet, and if you are not careful, you may slip into the sea.

In such harsh sea conditions, trying to find someone who has fallen into the water is tantamount to looking for a needle in a haystack.

"Guangxi" sailed in the middle of the fleet, and the situation of this aircraft carrier, which had a full load displacement of about 34,000 tons, was not as smooth as that of the "Admiral Speer". Due to the crosswind, the semi-open hangar had already formed a thick layer of ice, and the wind and snow had been pouring into the hangar. The entire deck of the aircraft was covered in snow and ice. The 16 fighters tethered to the deck had all formed ice lumps and were piling up on the aft deck.

The warship was jolting through the waves, but fortunately, the rough waves could not be poured into the hangar due to the closure of the front of the hangar. The pilots have nothing to do, but the crew on duty still sticks to their posts and fights against the wind and waves.

Visibility on the sea is poor. Even during the day, it is only possible to rely on the lights to communicate with the warships in front and behind and left and right every 5 minutes. to determine the other person's location.

"Good, turn left 65!" On the bridge of the aircraft carrier, Captain Chen Changtai was giving the order to turn.

Sa Shijun, who was standing beside him, couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, this order actually meant that the entire fleet began to turn south. It's finally time to get out of this damn sea area.

After leaving Norway, the fleet sailed west for three days, and Admiral Lukins chose to cross the remote Danish Strait and then enter the North Atlantic. There are very few ships on this route, which reduces the chance of being spotted. Since leaving Norway, the fleet has not encountered good weather, from light snow to moderate snow to blizzard, and has not seen any other ships, not even fishing boats, except for its own fleet.

Daylight is very short in the Arctic. Soon, the entire fleet was again lost in the boundless darkness.

The wind and snow and the darkness of the night provided the best cover. In such weather. The British were unable to send planes on patrol, and even some light ships simply entered the harbor to take shelter from the snow. Their cordon from Iceland to Shetland was a false one, and the entire fleet took advantage of the weather to cross the Danish Channel overnight without hindrance.

After a night of sailing, the German fleet, with more than twenty ships, had sailed into the waters of the North Atlantic. The atmosphere had calmed down a lot, although there was still light snow in the sky from time to time. But the cold wave from the polar regions has subsided by half.

Sa Shijun has been in his cabin since dark. Anyway, their own aircraft carriers can't fight, and even if there is an accident, they can only be resisted by other warships. At about nine o'clock in the morning, after the sky was already dark, the figure of the commander of the Chinese fleet appeared on the bridge of the aircraft carrier. The temperature on the sea has risen to about minus 7 degrees, and although they are still wearing thick winter clothes, the personnel on duty inside the bridge no longer need to wear gloves.

The entire warship is "clanging", the officers are using iron pickaxes, hammers, ice shovels and even wind picks to remove the accumulated ice and snow on the surface of the warship, and the anti-aircraft artillery on the entire warship has formed icicles of various shapes, especially the foredeck, which is piled up into a Xiaoice mountain.

The snowstorm for more than a day has caused a lot of damage to the ship's equipment, especially the radar and radio antennas, and the officers and men on the ship are also working hard to organize emergency repairs.

"It's finally warmer, and we need to get the warship back to combat capability as soon as possible. Look at those battleships, they have all turned into icebergs! Fleet Chief of Staff Zhang Tianxun said.

"It shouldn't be difficult, just smash the muzzle cap open, the turret seat will always be moving, and it won't freeze." Sa Shijun said, "I remember that when I was on the Heilongjiang River, the entire warship was frozen in the river. ”

"But those anti-aircraft guns have become popsicles."

"Okay, let them deal with it quickly. What to do with these aircraft? Sa Shijun frowned, the Chinese Navy has never had experience in fighting in extremely cold regions.

"These guys should be put in the hangar and dissolved." "The aviation department is working on solutions. ”

The crew had been busy all day, and by the end of the evening, the flight deck had been completely cleared, and a new batch of fighters had been replaced from the hangar on the deck, and it was finally seven or eighty percent of its combat capability. As the temperature gradually warms up, so does the weather.

In the war room under the bridge of the flagship "Admiral Hipper", Gunther? Admiral Lukins sat at the chart table, watching the nautical staff officers mark one intelligence after another on the map and analyze the whole situation. The Admiralty gave him an operational order to attack that ship-nation convoy and to attract as many reinforcements as possible from the main forces of the British fleet. In fact, he was playing the role of a decoy.

"We need to pick a location that can't be too far from the UK, not too close. If they were too far away, the British would not have been able to make a move, and if they were too close to the British coast, they would easily have fled back, and they would have been supported by land-based aircraft. Admiral Lukins said to the nautical staff officer who was marking the route of the "Admiral Hippel."

"The maximum combat radius of shore-based aircraft is about 350 nautical miles, and the combat radius of aircraft carriers is about this far, and those long-range horizontal bombers are not a great threat to warships in transit. Sir! The nautical staff officer said.

"I think 1,000 nautical miles is just right, and if the warship is at full strength, it will take two days, so it will leave us a day and a half to attack." The captain, Colonel Lindeman, said, "I don't think the British will come out any further." Sir! ”

"Well, 1,000 nautical miles......" Lukins gestured with his outstretched right hand on the chart table, "Well, we're aiming here." ”

At this time, the sea conditions outside are still not very good, the sky is thick with clouds, and the weather is gloomy.

While they were talking about their destination, the communications officer sent a telegram, which the chief of staff took and looked at and said: "Sir, it is from Berlin that two British reconnaissance planes have appeared in succession over the Grimstadt fjord and the port of Bergen. Since the weather has improved locally, I'm afraid the British have already noticed that we have left there. ”

"Well, what should come will always come, and it's better for them to discover us." Admiral Lukins said, "Now expand the search area of the fleet so that the British can find us more easily." (To be continued) R580