The wind was howling, the waves were rolling, and the dark and heavy clouds and mist were slowly drifting from the eastern sky, and the sun was darkened, enveloping the entire sky and sea in a gray haze.

"Damn the North Atlantic, the wind and waves are getting stronger." In the navigation room of the battleship Wilhelm the Great, Scheer looked at the gradually restless ocean and cursed in a low voice. Compared to the volatile weather in the North Sea, the North Atlantic is no different; In addition to the most common wind and waves, there were dense fogs, torrential rains, and even hail, which could render the German Navy's sharpest aviation sword ineffective. However, during the twenty years of naval holidays, Scheer had visited the sea countless times and had already learned its habits; The immediate task now is to get the fleet out of this storm zone, so that the carrier-based aircraft on the aircraft carrier have room to give full play to their might.

"Your Excellency Marshal, why are we heading to the northwest?" After hearing the order to turn around, Rear Admiral Lütjans, who was the chief of staff of the fleet, could not hold back the doubts in his heart and asked, "Now that the storm zone is approaching us from a position south-east, the ideal course for avoidance should be the deep ocean in the southwest; What's more, the British sea shipping lines have also been transferred to this area by them, and the merchant ships that used to be on the northern route have become extinct. If we turn to the northwest, won't we miss our goal? ”

Sher sighed slightly and said, "Gunther, when will you become a real fleet commander?" The core mission of our attack on the ocean is not to disrupt Britain's sea lines of communication, but to take the opportunity to lure their fleet out. And then give a decisive blow in a battle. If not. We won't have all the front-line ships dispatched this time. It only takes a few formations with one or two aircraft carriers as the core to disperse the attack, and the effectiveness is far superior to that of the current high seas fleet, which is fully concentrated in one place. ”

"The British won't let us hunt in the Atlantic. Yesterday morning's battle had fully demonstrated the long-range destruction of merchant ships by the air forces; Unless they are willing to surrender within three months due to mass famine and depletion of raw materials, they will surely send a fleet to stop this act of ours. In this case, the search for the location of the British fleet and its annihilation naturally became the sole mission of the current high seas fleet. Looking at the suddenly realized Lütjans, Scheer continued to speak in a flat tone, "The British fleet is stationed in the northwest of Scotland. It will undoubtedly be easier to find them when we move north; This maneuver also shortened the distance between us and Iceland's home port, giving us more room to return in battle. Once the ship is damaged, it will be easier to return to the Trafford Wick base. ”

In the raging waves, the huge German fleet began to turn slowly, the signal flags of the battleships flipped over, and the wake stirred up by the stern of the ships interacted with each other. For the officers and men of the High Seas Fleet, who have been trained for a long time, even the tactical maneuvers of such large groups are equally orderly and unhurried. After a short time, the German fleet left their hunting area. Sail slowly towards the north-western ocean, where the British fleet is more likely to be spotted.

What Scheer was a little surprised was that the current wave-swept area on the sea was unusually wide; Although the fleet escaped the storm zone just now during the three-hour voyage. But the surging waves have not abated in the slightest. Seeing that it was already quite difficult for fighters to take off and land on aircraft carriers, Scheer had to order the fleet's air umbrella and long-range reconnaissance Hawkeye to be put away, and surface ships should take on the reconnaissance task instead. In the last battle, this kind of reconnaissance of the avant-garde fleet proved to be an effective deployment of forces, not to mention the fact that the current fleet has as many as 22 heavy cruisers, which is enough to carry out continuous and sustained monitoring of multiple sea areas.

"Finally it's our turn." Hearing the flagship flag of the signal corps, Colonel Landsdorf, commander of the 5th cruiser detachment, said with emotion. As the core weapon of the German Navy in peacetime to demonstrate its overseas strength, protect colonial interests and ocean trade, the 10,000-ton heavy patrol under his command has become the most embarrassing chicken rib in the entire fleet when the Navy has entered the aviation age. In the traditional decisive battle of the fleet, they have no capital to show their faces because of their weak guns and light armor; In the field of air defense and escort, heavy cruisers with 203-mm guns as the main weapon were not as powerful as air defense cruisers with 128-mm high-level guns inserted throughout their bodies. And its original avant-garde reconnaissance mission was gradually replaced by the growing naval aviation. However, in the North Atlantic, where bad weather is predominant, they are still able to exert their residual heat in avant-garde reconnaissance missions.

In a way, these German heavy cruisers, which sailed at speeds of more than 32 knots, were small battlecruisers; In addition to the capital ships, the strongest artillery combat strength must be led by them. Compared with their predecessors, these current heavy cruisers also have a great advantage, that is, the sea search radar equipped on their bridges. Whether it's fog or night, this new electronic device can detect surface ships up to 25 kilometers away; Although the size and navigation of the target itself are still difficult to determine, and there is a certain deviation between its measured distance and the actual distance, this is already an artifact for reconnaissance and early warning!

On Scher's orders, Landsdorf sailed north with his own detachment of cruisers. In addition to the four Frankfurt-class heavy cruisers under his command, eight destroyers of another detachment also accompanied him. Although the reconnaissance range of a single cruiser is larger, it is difficult to deal with Yuga in the event of an emergency; A detachment has more options for attacking or evacuating, and at the same time, it also eliminates the possibility of relying on visual sight to detect targets due to damage to the radar of a single warship. The radar at the top of the bridge rotates slowly, sending electromagnetic waves into the surrounding sea and sky that cannot be perceived by the human eye. Soon, only their detachment remained in the entire sea.

The clouds are like fire, and the sunset is full of sky. The azure waters are soaked in the glow of the setting sun, rippling a brilliant sparkling light. On the towering mast, the German lookouts were intoxicated by the magnificent sight before them, and their eyes could not help but be a little slackened when they looked around; However, in the enclosed and dark radar room, the technical soldiers always keep their eyes on the circular fluorescent screen in front of them, ready to respond to the appearance of other targets. After a short while, a point of light suddenly appeared in the upper right corner of the radar screen; The young technical sergeant immediately fine-tuned the machinery to determine if it was an anomalous echo caused by the waves. However, after a while, the light spots that appeared on the edge of the radar screen suddenly increased by two, and they were flashing again and again as the light curtain swept by!

"37 azimuth found targets, number 3, 24,000 meters away!" The technical sergeant did not hesitate any longer, immediately took off the headset on his head, grabbed the microphone next to him and said loudly. Hearing this report, Landsdorf on the bridge could not help but be surprised: at present, all his surface ships are in a large fleet, and it is almost impossible for his own ships to appear in the direction and distance shown by the radar. And the probability of targeting the British convoy is extremely low: such a route at a northern latitude is almost indistinguishable from a self-imposed net today when the own fleet has already been dispatched. If nothing else, the targets that I found after cruising for half a day are most likely the enemy fleet that has come to fight a decisive battle with you!

Soon, the number of light spots in this wave surged to as many as thirty or forty, like a bright spot, densely occupying the upper right corner of the entire radar. Landsdorf could already conclude that this must be a fleet. Although he was a little frightened by the enemy lineup he was about to face, he still ordered the fleet to speed in the direction of approaching the target; In any case, the person who is on a reconnaissance mission must determine the specific lineup of the other party!

The wind was howling, the waves were splashing, and 12 warships with black vulture flags fluttering in the hunt were speeding forward at speeds of more than 26 knots. From the main mast came the exclamations of the lookouts, who were already looking into the distance. A forest of masts and chimneys rises in the distance, faintly revealing the colors of the British Navy's iconic Victorian livery; However, due to the distance, it is impossible to judge the specific level of the opposing ship by imaging the size of those matchboxes or pea grains in the guò rangefinder.

"The fleet accelerates to 32 knots, and at the same time immediately sends a report to the Wilhelm the Great to inform them of the situation here!" Landsdorf shouted. He had already decided to risk rushing to a distance of 13,000 meters to get a glimpse of what was going on, and while the radio was still intact, he had to send the information back to the flagship first. The communications chief of the radio room immediately flew his fingers and sent information such as his own position and enemy lineup as quickly as possible.

With the opening of the steam valve, the boiler, which had already been fully stocked, began to suddenly exert force on the turbine, and the output of the German heavy patrol increased sharply, and the speed of the ship soon climbed to the highest point it could reach. The British fleet in the distance also spotted this group of uninvited guests, and a large number of black holes and holes of guns were aimed at the shadow of the comer; Between the orange-red brilliant light, the roar that resounded through the sky echoed far away between the sky and the sea. Landsdorf, who was in the command tower, looked up and saw a black spot like a rain of arrows falling sharply from the sky towards him, he clenched his teeth, and there was still no flinch in his expression!

"Boom!" Thunder roared angrily, water waves rushed into the sky, and six towering giant pillars rose in the sea less than 100 meters away from the starboard side of the Frankfurt, and the sound was shocking. Looking at the six surging waves that also swept out not far from the "Dresden" in the rear, Lansdorf, who was secretly shocked by the opponent's gunnery, shouted again: "The fleet turns right at a compass point, and in five minutes it resumes course; At the same time, it was reported to the Wilhelm the Great, and the two battle cruisers of the Prestige and the Tiger had appeared in the British fleet! (To be continued......)

PS: Thank you for the tips of the book friend Rabbit and Radish, Lost Stone, zhouyu1976, and Yuan yh1234567~~