Wilhelm? Vice Admiral Marshall was very depressed, and he was ordered to hurry to Trondheim to flank the British fleet, but he did not expect to steal chickens and rice, and the British did not see it, but Narvik was attacked, and the German navy suffered heavy losses. ⊙ Top Novel, www.

At this time, about 140 nautical miles northwest of Trondheim, Marshall was sailing westward with seven capital warships of the 1st Battle Group. After receiving the news of the attack on the port of Narvik, Vice Admiral Marshall sent a telegram to Berlin, asking him to take the initiative to intercept the path of the British fleet. Especially after learning of the report of the destruction of the destroyer fleet, the admiral was indignant and vowed to find the British fleet for revenge.

It was clear that it was the British Rapid Fleet that attacked Narvik, who currently had two Admiral-class battlecruisers, but the German Navy had always looked down on the British battle cruisers, and Marshall was confident that he could safely overwhelm the British battlecruisers with the two Mackensen-class battleships in his hands.

The Admiralty agreed to Marshall's request and ordered Vice Admiral Lukins to also lead the fleet behind his flank for reinforcements, while Vice Admiral Sumond led the 4th Battle Group to reinforce Narvik.

The endurance of the German "Mackensen" class battleships has been increased to 11,000 nautical miles after modernization, while the two "Prince" class heavy cruisers were built before the expiration of the Washington Naval Treaty, but launched after the expiration of the treaty, the standard displacement is 15,300 tons, because this is the first class designed as a maritime assault ship, and also has a range of 9,200 nautical miles. The light cruiser of the "Leipzig" class with a displacement of 8200 tons had a slightly worse endurance of 6800 nautical miles. Even though a few warships have used up a third of their fuel, it is still enough for the entire fleet to make a long-distance trip to Icelandic waters.

Marshall meant to take some transport fleets out if the British fleet could not be found.

The German 1st Combat Group searched the sea for a day and did not see any trace of British ships. Marshall decided to take the fleet to the waters around Iceland for "hunting".

Located in the waters south of Iceland and the Faroe Islands, it was one of the most important shipping routes in North America to Europe, and was one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world before the outbreak of the war, although since the outbreak of the war, the number of merchant ships traveling to and from this area has decreased significantly. And most of them are neutral merchant ships flying the flags of the United States and other countries.

The German Navy's 1st Battle Group circled between Iceland and the Faroe Islands for two days and did not meet the target they were expecting, but spotted a small British auxiliary fleet returning from Narvik, including two tankers, a supply ship and a hospital ship transporting wounded British soldiers.

Vice Admiral Marshall ordered the destruction of the radio station on the hospital ship Atlantis, allowed it to return to England, and then set out on the return journey with three "prey". Because the speed of the supply ships is much slower than that of the warships, since they were able to intercept these supply ships, it means that the British fleet has returned to base.

On 27 March, Battle Group 1 had sailed to a position of approximately 120 nautical miles north of the Shetland Islands.

At this time. There was a light rain in the sky and the sea conditions were poor.

"Full speed east! Goal, Bergen! At this time, the 1st Battle Group was within the attack range of the British bombers, and Marshall wanted to take advantage of the bad weather and the inability of the fighters to take off, and return as much as possible.

The order to return was issued from the flagship "Admiral Spey", and the three captured British supply ships, emitting black smoke, began their voyage at a maximum speed of 18 knots. The German battleships still followed unhurriedly.

At 15:40 p.m., the German fleet had sailed directly north of the Shetland Islands. Begin sailing into the Norwegian Strait. Here, the "Prince Karl", located on the right wing of the fleet, reported to the flagship with a signal light: "An unknown target was found at 62 degrees on the starboard side!" ”

Subsequently, the "Mackensen", whose radar was also being turned on, also confirmed this situation.

Three minutes later, the "Mackensen" reported again: "The other side is one big and four small, the speed is fast, it should be the British fleet!" ”

15:50. "Admiral Spee" ordered "Ready for battle!" A battle flag was also raised in the bow. Battle sirens sounded aloud on the warships, and Marshall ordered the "Admiral Spey," "Mackensen," "Prince Karl," and "Danzig," while the "Prince Friedrich" and "Stettin" were to protect the aircraft carrier and several "prey."

The four German battleships began to turn to the right, and black smoke came from the chimneys. Braving the light rain, they accelerated towards the target, and the two radars on each ship were all turned on, and the speed gradually increased to 24 knots. The mechanical ballistic computer in the artillery control radar room was humming, and it was rapidly calculating the shooting elements.

The target was the aircraft carrier USS Glorious and four escort destroyers of the British Navy, which, having completed the assault on Narvik, returned with the fast fleet. Commander John? Foreseeing that he might be subjected to a frenzied interception by the German navy, Admiral Tovey chose an odd retreat route, first leading his fleet northwest to a position about 300 nautical miles east of Jan Mayen Island before heading south again.

He did avoid the interception of the two fleets of the German fleet, but on the way back, the main engine of the "Glorious" broke down, and since it was already within the control of the British Air Force in Shetland, it felt that there would be no danger, and Admiral Tovey returned alone after leaving four destroyers to escort him.

The original plan of the "Glorious" was to return to the Faroe Islands, but because it took more than half a day to repair the main engine, the captain of the ship, Colonel Ors, ordered a change of course and chose to return home from the nearby Shetland Islands without sending planes to reconnoitre.

So, by mistake, they just hit the muzzle of the German ** ship.

Due to the unstable performance of the radar, which needed to be shut down every two hours for cooling, the radar on the "Glorious" did not turn on again after it was turned off at 12 o'clock. At 16 o'clock sharp, Colonel Ors ordered the warship to turn on the search and ranging radar.

At 16:05, the radar room, which had just been turned on, reported that four large targets were approaching them from the direction of the Shetland Islands in the southeast. The two sides were about 18 nautical miles apart, but the report from the radar room did not alarm Colonel Orth, who assumed that the warships were coming from Shetland to meet their British warships, and only ordered the destroyer "Zealous" to go and check it.

At 16:15, the destroyer "Zealous" was already able to vaguely see the figures of some warships approaching at high speed at a distance of 12,000 meters, so it sent a light identification signal to the German ** ship.

It was answered by a rumbling cannon fire.

It was only at this time that the "Glorious" realized that the situation was not good, so it sounded the battle alarm and sent a distress telegram to the country. Only then did it begin to turn and accelerate, trying to escape from the range of the German ship.

At 16:21, the "Mackensen" first began to fire at the "Glorious" at a distance of 10,08 meters, and although it was raining lightly in the sky and the sea conditions were very poor, under the guidance of the radar, the German ship's artillery fire was very accurate. The two German battleships abandoned the shelling of the rushing destroyers and began to attack the "Glorious" with all their might, which was trying to escape. (To be continued......) R527