"Did you kill those German cousins?"

On December 1, at the British Embassy in Norway, when questioned by British naval intelligence, Captain Blake's first words were to ask about the fate of the German fleet.

After asking this, he immediately realized that his question was purely superfluous, and he really killed the German fleet, how could the intelligence department of the navy still chase after him and ask for details.

Captain Black was a thirty-five-year-old sailor, and even a veteran of the First World War. His ship, a 5,000-ton freighter, was carrying a large amount of canned and frozen meat purchased from the United States when it was captured by the German raiding fleet in the Atlantic Ocean on November 3.

Captain Blake, who had experienced the threat of German submarines to British shipping during World War I, was a man with a keen sense of both political and commercial smell. When Britain declared war on Germany, he immediately realized that the shipping industry of the British Empire would be threatened by German submarines, and that the country would soon face a shortage of food.

At that time, his ship was still in the United States, and after learning from the radio that Britain and Germany declared war, Captain Black, who smelled the business opportunity, immediately rushed to buy a large number of American canned food, milk powder, frozen meat and other foodstuffs, loaded the cargo ship and shipped it back to Britain, ready to take advantage of the time of the war to make a fortune.

Unfortunately, however, his cargo ship was captured by the German Strike Fleet in the Atlantic, and the Jeanne, who accompanied him for nearly a decade, suffered an entire fleet over the next few days. The inhumane "onlookers" and "wheeled women" of the eleven warships. ”

The reason why he suffered such a tragic fate was precisely because the supplies on his ship were basically food that could be used immediately. For this "supply ship" sent to the door, the Germans, in order to fully enjoy the cargo on his ship, generously let his ship live at sea for a few more days.

As an assault fleet, speed and maneuverability are extremely important when fighting guerrilla warfare at sea. But the German fleet, which had been fighting at sea guerrilla for nearly a month, did not seem to understand this at the time. They took the cargo ship Jenny, which had a maximum speed of only sixteen knots, and forced him to follow the fleet. As long as the sea conditions allow, there will always be several warships docked and speedboats on board. Squeeze supplies from his cargo ship.

Captain Black's Jenny. He was "watched" by the main battleships of the German attack fleet, the "Shane", and also "comforted" the "flat-topped ships" Zeppelin and Seydlitz, and the other seven auxiliary warships that followed the fleet also shared the American canned food and American beef on his ship.

Also because of the long period of following the activities of the German fleet. The captain of the Jeanne was able to temporarily sail his ship alongside the German fleet. Instead of being "confined" in the "cabin" of a German warship like other captured captains, they were ignorant of the shape outside. Able to observe the German fleet's tactics up close, he was subjected to intense interrogation by British naval intelligence after his release.

According to Captain Black. These German "pirates" were very arrogant when they fought in the Atlantic. They had long periods of time keeping several warships in the fleet at sea before sending transport speedboats to carry supplies from the Anne. In addition, each warship was equipped with rope shooting javelins and cranes for lifting supplies at sea.

During the war, it was very dangerous and crazy for warships, especially the Grand Fleet, to be so arrogant in the sea full of enemy submarines for a long time to replenish their supplies in the absence of destroyer anti-submarine weapons, but the Germans did just that.

Not only the captain of the Jeanne, but almost all of the other British freighters destroyed by the raiding fleet had similar encounters, but the journey was different depending on the cargo they were carrying. Every captured British freighter was sacked by the German sailors on board, and its galleys, cargo holds, and fuel depots were all obligatory, and emptying the galleys of each captured warship to stock food and draining their oil depots to replenish themselves was a "compulsory course" for German warships on the task of breaking diplomatic relations.

Although Germany had already placed a number of merchant ships flying the flag of "neutral countries" in the Atlantic, it was used to replenish the fleet at sea. But after all, this is a fleet, not one or two warships. For the sake of secrecy, the scale of the supply ship cannot be very large, usually only one or two can be sent at a time, otherwise it is very easy to expose the identity of a large scale. But for a fleet, one or two supply ships are clearly not enough. Therefore, it is extremely important to snatch fuel and supplies from captured merchant ships during wartime. And for the crew members of the fleet, being able to "rob" on a captured enemy merchant ship is also a way to maintain the morale of the sailors.

This was the case with the hapless Jenny, who was carrying all the supplies that the German fleet could use directly. So instead of simply sinking it, the German assault fleet spent three days sweeping away the cargo it was carrying, and before finally sinking it, draining its stockpile of fuel.

The fate of the "Annie" can be described as being "killed by a woman first and then killed" by "German pirates".

In World War II, the navy fought without supplies, and the battleship was about 60 days at most, the aircraft carrier would be shorter, and the ordinary light cruiser was between 40 and 50 days. Since the beginning of the war, German warships have been engaged in guerrilla operations at sea for nearly two months, and without the support of supply ships, the "self-sustaining power" of their ships would have been exhausted.

The Royal Navy's intelligence officers carefully asked the captain of the Jeanne for many things, and another important purpose was to gather more intelligence information to deduce the exact number and size of the "Cow" ships hidden by Germany in the Atlantic. (Dairy RU cow refers to supply ship, which is the common term for supply ship within the German Navy during World War II). To maintain eleven warships at sea at the same time for such a long time, the scale of German supply ships must not be small.

"November 10 should be the day the Germans meet their supply ships."

Captain Black told the British naval intelligence officers about their own inferences.

"Why?"

"I asked the captain of the ship who was later locked up with us, and no ship was captured in those days. But on that day, the warship holding us stopped, and for a considerable time, during which time I heard the sound of a clang, which I knew was the sound of a sea supply ship firing a liaison javelin and smashing it on the deck. ”

In order to maintain secrecy, the captured crew members were rushed under deck to be seized during the replenishment at sea by the German Navy. However, as a veteran sailor who has been on the ship for decades, he can still judge the situation outside the warship with some clues and experience.

Captain Black, who was a "man of heart", reported to the intelligence officers of the British Navy the timing of the replenishment of the pocket battleship "Deutschland", in which he was located. and details that he deliberately noticed during his captivity.

Similar inquiries. It was also carried out on the crew of other transport ships that were put back. The information gathered from the captured crew members was quickly radioed back to the British headquarters, where it was analysed and processed by the relevant intelligence officers.

When asked about the captains, the naval intelligence officers painted a "portrait of the character" of Commander Raeder, the commander of the German fleet: this is a crazy commander. I love early insurance. Loves to gamble. Otherwise, it would not be possible to explain that he had ventured to stop the entire fleet at sea for the sake of supplies, just to carry supplies from a merchant ship - except that God seemed to have been on his side for the past two months, and he had frantically anchored the fleet for long periods of time several times. There happened to be no British submarines in the vicinity.

Through the information provided by Captain Blake, the British Navy checked the search files, so as to determine a list of suspected ships, and during the period when he suspected that the Germans were receiving supplies, they found out all the "neutral ships" that were recorded in that area, and then investigated them one by one, which was also conducive to the future removal of these "German dairy cattle under the flag of neutral countries" at sea.

In order to annihilate this arrogant group of "German pirates" in Germany, now the whole of Britain was mobilized. By November, Poland had surrendered, the Western Front was mired in a "sit-down war" that was constantly refuted by the media, and in the Atlantic, Germany's surface and underwater assault fleets were disturbing the shipping industry of the British Empire. The British government, which is under great pressure, needs a game to "comfort" the people. It's December, it's Christmas soon, and if the UK's poor shipping safety is not solved in time, the entire UK will have a "can't live" Christmas.

In order for the Reich to have a peaceful Christmas, Vice Admiral Phillips, who was appointed to command the Ocean Fleet, was determined to do his best to capture this "homecoming" German pirate at any cost.

On November 30, the weather in the Norwegian Sea in the North Atlantic did improve. Although the sky was still gray and the clouds were extremely thick, the stormy conditions that had been going on for days had temporarily disappeared.

As the gas repair improved, British airfields on small islands in the Norwegian Sea began to launch large-scale sorties of modified Wellington bombers and Hurricane fighters with auxiliary fuel tanks to launch a large-scale dragnet search in the Norwegian Sea. And the maritime search fleet has also sent its own carrier-based aircraft to search for the enemy.

At one o'clock in the afternoon of 30 November, a Wellington bomber and reconnaissance plane, which had taken off from a land-based airfield on a small island in the Norwegian Sea, spotted the traces of the German attack fleet. However, after discovering the German fleet, the plane was sunk by the carrier-based aircraft that had taken up the aircraft on the fleet shortly after sending back the telegram, and it was unable to continue to monitor the movements of the German ships.

At this time, the location of the German fleet was about 800 kilometers northwest of the Norwegian city of Christian, at a latitude about the 65th parallel, and about 250 kilometers from the position of the Royal Navy's high-speed fleet.

It's a very northerly location. It is important to know that the first Oslo in Norway is located on the line of latitude, but only south of the 60th parallel. At such high latitudes, the sun will set at sea level at around 5 o'clock on November 30, and due to the harsh weather and thick clouds, it will actually get dark earlier on the sea.

The carrier-based aircraft on the aircraft carrier Ark Royal are naval fighters of the Hurricane fighter, but the attack aircraft against the ship is an extremely backward two-wing Swordfish attack aircraft. At a distance of two hundred and fifty kilometers, it is exactly at the edge of the swordfish's attack radius limit. Although this distance was within the attack radius of the Hurricane fighters, the captain of the Ark Royal did not want to waste the only fifteen Hurricane fighters in his hands hanging small bombs to attack a fleet at this time.

The Swordfish attack aircraft has long been an aircraft that is behind the times, and the aviation of the Royal Navy during World War II was in the "low status" of the British Empire at that time, and was in the embarrassing position of "father does not kiss, mother does not love", and suffered from the double eyes of the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy, the Air Force thought that he belonged to the Navy, and the Navy thought that he belonged to the Air Force, "heretical", and the result was that both sides did not match.

All that naval aviation can use are planes that the Air Force does not want. The USS Ark Royal can carry 16 Sea Hurricane fighters, which is completely dependent on the captain's "begging grandpa to tell grandma", and the old aircraft carriers in the fleet, the Brave, and the Glory, are still equipped with outdated biplanes. As for upgrading the torpedo machine and developing a new type of torpedo machine, it is even more of a matter that cannot be thought of. (Note: Historically, the British used the swordfish torpedo machine until after 1941, and it was not until after the United States entered the war that they received American assistance before they replaced the new aircraft), before the war between Britain and Germany in 1939, where could the financially strapped Royal Air Force and Navy spend money to develop aircraft specifically for naval aviation.

The most important feature of the confrontation at sea is that the warships of both sides are in a state of high-speed operation. Since the time of discovery of the German fleet was already in the afternoon, and the North Atlantic Ocean was getting darker in December, and the direction of the German fleet could not be determined, there was no guarantee that the torpedo planes would be able to find the enemy engines within the extreme attack radius. The captain of the Ark Royal, after speaking with Commander-in-Chief Phillips, finally abandoned the first dispatch and adopted a conservative approach.

After receiving information from land-based aircraft, several Hurricane fighters took off in the direction they had reported after the aircraft carrier Ark Royal, which was pursuing the German fleet's most protruding carrier, to search for it. Due to the loss of contact with the reconnaissance planes on the front line, a total of four Hurricane fighters took off from the aircraft carrier Ark Royal and other ships, and together with the four water reconnaissance planes carried on board the cruiser, they conducted a fan-shaped search to the north at an angle that could not be reached.

Ask for a thumbs up on Monday, don't be stingy. Spend two more cents to support this book (to be continued......

PS: Now I'm in the field, it's very backward here, it's very inconvenient to surf the Internet, I can only update, I can't communicate and reply to readers, I have to wait until the sixth year of junior high school to reply if you have questions.