The Celtic Sea is named after the fact that it is surrounded by land on the southeastern coast of Ireland, the southwestern coast of Wales, the Conwall Peninsula of England and the Brittany Peninsula of France, all of which were traditionally inhabited by Celts.

Located at the intersection of the English Channel route, the sea route between Britain and Ireland, the Strait of Gibraltar to Western Europe, and the North America to Western Europe route, the Celtic Sea is the key point of maritime communication in the eastern part of the North Atlantic. There are many ports along the coast.

But for centuries it was the traditional sphere of influence of the British navy, and even during the height of the German Seawolves, it was only heavily active in the Bay of Biscay between France and Spain.

But since the sun never sets, the empire declined, the brothers separated, and the invincible British Navy sank in the Mediterranean, the waters of Western Europe have become the world of the Han Royal Navy. Both Milford Naval Base and Donoch Naval Base are like golden guards, guarding Scotland and Scotland, which are members of the Grand Alliance, and firmly confined the navies of the Europa League countries to the Baltic Sea and the Norwegian Sea.

As soon as there was hope for an armistice on the Soviet-German battlefield, he could not wait to order Navy Commander Dönitz to reorganize the High Seas Fleet, and take advantage of the time when the Grand Alliance formed a joint fleet to expedition to North America, rush out of the Danish Strait, and deploy the fleet with the aircraft carrier battle formation of Graf Zeppelin as the main body near Iceland and be active in the vast waters of the North Atlantic.

Although with the Graf Zeppelin, Field Marshal Dönitz finally got rid of the embarrassing title of "submarine commander", he knew very well that the gap between the German Navy and the Han Navy was not only in the number of capital warships, but also in the German sailors who had been silent on the ocean for a long time, lacked actual combat experience, and lacked the ability to execute the tactics of the most important aircraft carrier duel in modern naval warfare.

After receiving the Führer's telegram ordering the Navy to cooperate with the U.S. fleet to launch a counterattack against the Chinese Allied fleet, Dönitz has been considering whether he can give the U.S. Atlantic Fleet the greatest support on the premise of preserving his own strength.

Fighting hard, the ten German high seas fleets may not be the opponent of the combined fleet of the Chinese alliance. To tell the truth, the current high seas fleet can't afford to lose at all, there is only one precious aircraft carrier, if it is a pair of people, let alone one for one, even if it is one for three, it can't be replaced. Not to mention other Huameng countries, how many aircraft carriers are there in the Han alone? There are eight ships in the Northern Fleet, right? The four fleets combined, I am afraid that there are nearly thirty ships. And they are all pure heavy aircraft carriers, not medium-sized aircraft carriers with a displacement of less than 40,000 tons like the Graf Zeppelin. ”

Dönitz, who had boarded a marshal-class aircraft carrier during his German and Han honeymoons, felt a little uncomfortable every time he stepped on the Graf Zeppelin. "If the marshal level is a black swan, then ours is an absolute ugly duckling. In the shipyards of Hamburg and Kiel, the Bismarck and the German-Italian Voice, which are being built intensively, although they have many improvements over the Zeppelin, can be seen by Dönitz as far from the second marshal class of the Great Han.

"Pin your hopes on the four Essex-class ships that the Americans have half sold and half sent to win over the German alliance! Hopefully, they'll be able to join the sea battle on a potentially larger scale later! ”

Dönitz straightened the buttons on the collar of the marshal's uniform, and carefully examined the other units in the uniform, and then walked out of the command room of the cruiser Admiral Hippel, the flagship of the High Seas Fleet.

Like other German soldiers, rigid and innovative, rigorous and ruthless were their hallmark traits, and Field Marshal Dönitz, hailed by the Führer as a genius of the German Navy, was no exception.

Dozens of warships of the German High Seas Fleet, centered on the aircraft carrier Zeppelin, formed a Bague-like formation and were sailing on the high seas on the western side of the island of Ireland. Two hundred nautical miles to the east are Cape Mizeng and Rowlingwater Bay, the southernmost part of the island. It is only more than 50 nautical miles from the famous island of Great Skellig.

The fleet's ultimate goal was to sail south along the Mid-Atlantic Sea and set up an ambush near the route of Allied supply ships.

Sink the supply fleet of the Chinese Union from the Azores to cooperate with the counterattack of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, and join the encirclement of the undersupplied Combined Fleet after completing the mission.

For the second half of the mission, Dönitz is not very optimistic. Guan Canghai, a famous general in a hundred battles, an immortal genius of the modern navy, would make such an obvious mistake? With the current communication capabilities of the Allies, as long as the supply fleet is attacked within a few tens of minutes, the Combined Fleet in the Sargasso Sea will definitely receive the news, and Guan Canghai will stop where and wait for the Atlantic Fleet to counterattack?

However, when attacking the Allied supply fleet, Dönitz still believed that the chances of success were very good. Even if the surface capabilities of the High Seas Fleet are limited, there are still a large number of U submarines that have rushed from the Bay of Biscay to join the fleet, isn't it? Dönitz, who single-handedly built the German Seawolf Force, still believes in their abilities.

It's a pity that the Germans' plan fulfills the old Han saying: people are not as good as heaven.

As the German High Seas Fleet moved away from the waters of the island of Ireland, an electric wave had already swept over their heads at an even faster speed. The Royal Navy's radar base station at the Monastery complex on the island of Groß Skellig detected the route of the High Seas Fleet and reported it to the Allied headquarters in A Coruña at the first time.

Although, in the radar, it is not possible to see which country this fleet belongs to, but the expedition of the joint fleet of the Chinese Alliance, such a large-scale fleet appeared in the waters of Ireland, and a fool knows that it is a friend or foe.

Admiral Xiao Guoxing, commander-in-chief of the Allied Forces in Europe, attached great importance to this piece of information, and while reminding the Azores base to enter special combat readiness, he also forwarded it to Guan Canghai, commander of the Combined Fleet on the other side of the Far Atlantic.

The Royal Air Force stationed in Europe made an even more urgent sortie, and six H/Z-43 Canglong long-range strategic bomber/reconnaissance planes took off from the airfields of Rajes and Santa Maria in the Azores, and flew all the way to search for the unknown fleet.

Guan Canghai, who had already given the order to attack Bermuda, turned his face several times uncertain after receiving the telegram forwarded by General Xiao Guoxing, and then hurriedly shouted "Old Zhong......"

"Report to the commander, the captain is not here, isn't it already ......" A communications staff officer with the rank of major ran over, with a little confusion in his eyes, "How could the commander not know the whereabouts of the captain?" ”

"Damn!" Guan Canghai's old face turned red and patted his head, "Yes, then call you!" Speed forwarded the telegram to Admiral Airy of the Red Shield Fleet. ”

"Yes! Commander. The little staff officer took the telegram, stood up and saluted, and replied loudly.

Staring at the figure of the communications staff officer turning around and running away, Commander Guan felt a cool breeze swishing out of his back, "Damn, if it weren't for Brother Airy's reminder, I would have almost capsized in the gutter...... Although this Atlantic Ocean is not a small ditch, as long as it is overturned, our old Guan Ke will be ruined for a lifetime...... Phew, phew

Phew, Nima, how can you say such a depressing word! ”

Whether it is the navy or fishermen, as long as they often live on ships, it is very taboo to mention the word "turn".

……

Commander Dönitz, who commanded the fleet at a high speed of nearly thirty knots, did not know that his whereabouts had been revealed. However, its cautious nature led it to send a forward lead formation and a number of carrier-based reconnaissance aircraft. From the day he ventured out of the Danish Strait to rebuild the High Seas Fleet, Dönitz reminded himself that "the nascent German Navy could not afford to lose, at least in the years when it was weak and still needed to develop, and the German Navy could only win, not lose." ”

The heavy cruiser, named after Admiral Hipper, the first commander of the High Seas Fleet, was named the flagship of the High Seas Fleet, and Dönitz was not lacking in this to inspire and remind himself.

"Act low-key, fight carefully." Just as a few years ago when he developed the Seawolf program for the U-submarines, Dönitz chose the right path for the German High Seas Fleet.

More than 10 hours after leaving the waters of Ireland, the FI-199 Blue Crane carrier-based reconnaissance plane dispatched by the Zeppelin finally sent back the news that 400 nautical miles southwest of the fleet had discovered another fleet with at least two aircraft carriers.

"A fleet with more than two aircraft carriers?" As soon as he heard that the joy of the Allied fleet had not yet appeared on his face, Dönitz immediately reacted, "That's not right! Didn't the intelligence say that there were only five escort warships for the Allied transport fleet? Four destroyers of the Han Kingdom and an old Turkish ship, where did these two aircraft carriers come from? ”

Without time to think about it, or curse the American cheater who provided the information, Dönitz immediately ordered the whole fleet to change course and leave the waters of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge at full speed and sail towards the island of Newfoundland.

With more than 40 carrier-based aircraft on the Zeppelin, it is certainly no problem to bully the Allied transport ships without aircraft carriers. But if the other party really has two aircraft carriers, then it is difficult to say who bullies whom!

With the current strength of the High Seas Fleet, to be a charging knight is to kill himself. If you miss a hit, the assassin route is king. Although Dönitz doesn't say as many game jargon as Majesty, the essence of running if you can't beat it is actually the same.

It's just that for a modern navy with carrier-based aircraft as the main means of attack, is it really easy to "run" within a range of only 400 nautical miles between the two sides?

Twenty minutes later, just as the entire High Seas Fleet had just finished turning and was about to flee to Newfoundland, the communicator in the command room of the Admiral Hipper heard the hurried voice of the pilot of the Blue Crane reconnaissance plane, "The Allied carrier-based planes have taken off in large numbers, and I am bitten by the enemy planes and cannot ...... Not good, locked ......"

The voice in the communicator was interrupted, and no matter how much the flagship's upper communications officer called, he could not get a response from even the noise of electricity.

"He was shot down!" The communications officer, who wore the rank of colonel, turned his head and reluctantly reported to Dönitz.

"Order the Zeppelin to fly all the fighters, intercept the enemy planes, and order all the battleships to prepare for air defense!" There was no panic on his grim face, but Dönitz's voice seemed to freeze, "We have revealed that the big plane that the radar discovered a few hours ago was not a transport plane of the Han Kingdom, but their reconnaissance-reconnaissance-aircraft. ”

The words "reconnaissance plane" were said word by word, but the cold light in the eagle's eyes was full of remorse.

Dönitz did not expect that the land-based reconnaissance plane of the Han State could actually fly to such a distance from the land to conduct reconnaissance, and he carelessly believed that it was a transport plane from England to the Azores.