The wind howled, the waves rushed, and the bean-sized raindrops hit the face intensively, splashing countless broken jade like a curtain of mist beads on the steel body of the battleship; From a distance, these ships seem to be shrouded in a silvery white veil. The wide Black Vulture Cross battle flags soaked up the water and hung on the stern flagpole, but the majestic bridges and palace-like guns all showed their might!

"The radar room found the American fleet in the 047 azimuth, the number is 37, and the distance is 24~28 kilometers!"

On the battleship Kaiser Wilhelm, with a full load displacement of more than 75,000 tons, a seasoned technical soldier is loudly reporting to the command tower what he has detected. On the screen in front of him, a bright white dot of light was constantly flashing as the light curtain swiveled and swept: the scale around the gúò, the direction and distance of the target were clearly displayed under this bird's-eye view. After hearing the news, the command tower under the protection of the 450 mm heavy armor was full of jubilation, and several young staff officers couldn't help but high-five each other, and the eyes of the old man in front of him were full of reverence and admiration.

"The fleet turned right 2 compass points, and the speed was increased to 30 knots." The silver-haired old man spoke lightly, and his expression was not as excited ♂ and happy as the people next to him; His piercing eyes and energetic voice all show that he still has the energy to command the enemy on the front line. Soon, Reinhardt? Scheer's order was carried out in its entirety. Although the roaring waves continued to crash into the side of the battleship, and the ship also appeared to roll and pitch significantly, it was still pushed by the surging power inside it. The speed of the ships was still at an alarming level. The waves dance. White foam. The artillery fleet with 7 high-speed battleships as the core is galloping wildly in the stormy and noisy sea, and its heyday and frenzy make everyone who advocates steel and strength enthusiastic!

Half a year earlier, shortly after the naval battle in eastern Bermuda had ended, Mr. Schell had fully surrendered command of the carrier fleet to his subordinates. In addition to the main consideration of promoting the backwards, the German Navy's extensive lineup also made it more and more difficult for Schell, who was already in his twilight years, to meet the situation: less than five months after the start of the war, the German Navy received hundreds of new ships, including four heavy aircraft carriers. Together with the Italian and Austro-Hungarian fleets, the total number of ships undoubtedly reached an extremely terrifying number. In this case, the scattering of the fleet and the distribution of the fleet to the various generals, and the implementation of organic combinations according to the situation of the battlefield, naturally became the most ideal choice for Scheer.

After a major structural adjustment, Scheer's power was greatly weakened than before. Although he retained the title of commander-in-chief of the High Seas Fleet, and any form of battle planning was to be the final arbiter, in naval warfare, much of the task of commanding the fleet was no longer left to him alone, but to the prime of life such generals as Kars, Friesland, and Siriax. According to Scher's original idea, he was going to completely retreat from the role of front-line commander. However, after serving in the navy for more than half a century, he has long been accustomed to the color of the ocean and the smell of the sea breeze, and it is really difficult to let go of it. Become an ordinary lord who retreats to the countryside and accompanies the rest of his life with peace and ease.

Eventually, Schell remained on board his flagship, the Wilhelm the Great, commanding a heavy artillery cluster of high-speed battleships built by the German Navy after the 30s. Although these battleships were previously used as bodyguards for aircraft carriers, with the large number of air defense cruisers in service, they also had the suspicion of being large and inappropriate because of their low cost performance: the tonnage of the Bismarck-class battleship was almost five times that of an 8,000-ton air defense cruiser, and the number of personnel was also three times that of the latter, and the daily consumption was far more than that of the other party. In terms of air defense, this type of battleship is not much stronger than the latter. As for the argument that a battleship with strong armor and thick armor can withstand more attacks than an air defense light cruiser, it has also proved to be meaningless in actual combat: because as long as the pilots of the opposing side are not idiots, they will definitely set fire to the aircraft carrier at the first opportunity, so how can the defensive superiority of the battleship be reflected?

As a result, these battleships were withdrawn from the carrier group shortly thereafter and were used as a separate artillery force. Of course, in order to obtain a protective umbrella from the air and not be blown up into dead fish by enemy locusts, once this force attacks the ocean, they will not leave the area too far from their own carrier fleet. For Scheer, this pure artillery force has brought him back to the feeling of serving in the era of Wilhelm the Great, and this kind of two-dimensional combat is the field in which he is extremely proficient, even surpassing the attainment of aircraft carrier combat that he has acquired in the past ten years of exploration and study. When the news of the U.S. fleet's attack came, Scheer led the artillery fleet and galloped into the ocean with many aircraft carriers. In the face of the not very optimistic attitude of his subordinates, he always believes that as long as the tactics are appropriate and the time is appropriate, then these former overlords who have taken a back seat can still have plenty of room to play.

During the day yesterday, Schell received an enemy alert from the aircraft carrier Hindenburg, which allowed him to know the location of the opponent and almost certain that his air alert would be lifted for a considerable period of time. Because the total number of aircraft carriers of these two US fleets is as high as 9, which is roughly consistent with the information on the opposing side's lineup that they have; And they are definitely putting their main energy into the confrontation with their own aircraft carrier fleet, and it is obviously not enough to carry out a perfect search in other directions. There is no real point in sending another small aircraft carrier fleet to the Americans, and it is almost impossible for the other side to have such a large number of air forces if they send another sizable force like those two fleets. After all, the US Navy did not plan many aircraft carriers until 1936, and those large ships that started construction last year obviously could not form combat effectiveness in just one year!

Knowing this, Scheer immediately launched a bold attempt. He decided to use the darkness and the ** area as a cover to move the fleet sharply towards the center of the battlefield, and if there was an opportunity, to give the American fleet a hard blow from the flank. Since the three aircraft carrier fleets of their own side were all active in the Atlantic, and one of the main forces under the command of Kars had also been in contact with the other side, he was able to intercept the telegrams sent from the Hindenburg and obtain first-hand information on the opponent's location, battle process, and losses, which undoubtedly greatly increased the success rate of his trip.

After a night of galloping, the fleet under Scheer's command advanced a full 270 nautical miles, and in the early morning sailed into a storm zone. Although the surrounding waves were surging and the rain was pouring down, the whole fleet felt a sense of reassurance. Scheer ordered the fleet to slow down to save fuel, while waiting for the reconnaissance telegram from his own aircraft carrier, after all, after a night of brewing, the opponent's real-time position must have changed drastically. When the communications department delivered the latest telegram to Scheer, Rao was already accustomed to seeing the wind and rain, and he couldn't help but feel a moment of joy: the US fleet with four large aircraft carriers was actually in a position less than 60 nautical miles away from him, and the other side also entered this stormy area in order to escape his own air attack!

In less than two hours, the radar room detected a large number of echoes in the silence, and there was no doubt that this must be the retreating US aircraft carrier fleet. According to the information described in the telegram received, the fleet consisted of only three swift Iowa-class battleships and six Baltimore-class large cruisers as the core escort, and the South Dakota-class and the more powerful Montana-class did not appear, which made Scheer a little worried in the surprise. The opponent's lineup is a full-speed fleet, and the speed is no worse than his own, and if he releases smoke to flash people quickly, it will undoubtedly be difficult for him to keep these guys in his footsteps.

However, after ten minutes of pursuit, the radar showed that the other party had only changed course, and there was only a very limited increase in speed; It is estimated that the maximum speed of the US fleet is only 22 knots, which is a huge difference compared to its own 30 knots. Through the hazy rain curtain and heavy dark clouds, Scheer could already see the faint shadows of the ships 19 km away through the binoculars. Due to the fact that there is still a gap between the accuracy of the fire control radar and the optical rangefinder, the naval guns of both sides are still in a state of readiness at the moment: if it were placed in a normal time when the wind and sun are good, even the 6-inch guns would have emitted a deafening roar.

"What's going on with the Americans, why haven't they accelerated?" Scheer put down the binoculars and said with a puzzled heart. According to the battle reports sent by their own aircraft carriers, these US aircraft carriers retreated in a very timely manner into the wind and rain area, and they were not hit by many bombs or torpedoes in total. Judging from the real-time transmission from the radar room, there is no single escape in the US fleet, which is really a bit unreasonable!

After a moment of hard thought, Scheer, who couldn't come to a conclusion, decided not to think about it anymore. As long as there are more than ten minutes to catch up with the opponent's fleet, then a qiē will be answered under the fire of his own fleet. Speaking of which, the new battleships under his command have not yet rained a single shell on the enemy fleet, and although the situation is a little strange, it is undoubtedly an excellent stage for them to display the power of their giant cannons. (To be continued......)

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