The wake is surging, the water is flying, and on the deep blue sea, a large number of warships flying the black vulture cross flag split the waves and sail rapidly. ≤ viewed from the air, those heavy aircraft carriers with a total length of more than 270 meters and a flight deck width of nearly 40 meters are like floating islands in the sea. And the beveled deck, which protrudes to the left front at a 7-degree angle, gives people an unreal sense of passing through the future: if it were not for the single-engine propeller fighters tethered on its deck, and the small-caliber anti-aircraft guns densely located on both sides of the flight deck, which revealed its era, this scene would be the same as an aircraft carrier 30 years later!

As the core backbone of the German Navy in the post-treaty era, the 35,000-ton Hindenburg-class heavy aircraft carrier combines the latest technology developed by Germany during the 20-year holiday period with all the experience accumulated in the field of aviation applications. The 180,000 horsepower, assisted by the fluid drag reduction of the bulbous nose bow and the delicate tail plate, pushed the top speed of this class of battleships to an astonishing distance: according to the sea trials of the ships of the same class that have been commissioned, it still has a high speed of more than 33 knots at a full load displacement of 46,000 tons, and if it is overloaded to 200,000 horsepower, it can reach a full load speed of as much as 34 knots. For aircraft carriers, speed is not as meaningful as battleships: in addition to providing sufficient deck wind for carrier-based aircraft to lift into the air and effectively reducing their glide distance, high speed also makes aircraft carriers more effective in evading attacks, and still has enough power to evacuate the scene or continue the fight after damage.

And in the crucial field of attack and defense, this type of aircraft carrier also comprehensively surpassed all opponents of the same period. The huge double-storey hangar with a total area of more than 7,000 square meters brought 120 terror carriers. That's a third more than the 91 of the American Essex class. The 125 mm armored flight deck is an even better opponent for the naked running of the bombardment hangar. And even in the total thickness of the deck. The Hindenburg class also far outperformed the opponent's 114 mm with strong protection of 230 mm, and there was almost no case of the core compartment being stabbed by an armor-piercing bomb. After all, the German aircraft carrier has a huge displacement advantage of nearly 8,000 tons, which is enough to make it very perfect in every aspect.

It is for this reason that when Admiral Kars was ordered to lead an air fleet with seven Hindenburg-class aircraft carriers as the core to attack the ocean, his heart was filled with a sense of eagerness to try, and he was completely unafraid of the American fleet, which might be overwhelming. With these aircraft carriers with excellent performance, he is already sure enough to deliver a thunderous blow to the opponent. Seeing fighter jets flying into the blue sky one after another from the wide deck, Kars's heart was full of anticipation: the naval battle half a year ago. It was all because the Americans ran fast that they did not end up in the same fate as the British fleet, and if he could effectively find the enemy in the early stage and launch a preemptive fierce strike, then the glorious Marshal's Scepter would no longer be an untouchable illusion for him!

However, Kars's path to achieving this dream is not destined to be easy. When the first batch of fighters to take off returned to the aircraft carrier, there was still no movement from the radio room of the Hindenburg, in which they were flying. Kars did not show any anxiety about this situation, but waited behind the scope like a seasoned hunter, quietly waiting for the other party to appear in front of his shotgun.

Three days ago, the U-558 submarine on a cruise off the east coast of the United States detected a group of suspected targets of the American fleet with radar: they were not only advancing on a zigzag anti-submarine course, but also reaching a speed of 15 knots. And according to the intelligence transmitted by spies lurking in the United States earlier. It also shows that the U.S. fleet will launch a major operation in the near future; In contrast, the German high command was confident that the American fleet had entered the Atlantic. The main forces of the German Navy, which were preparing for the attack at the San Juan base, immediately attacked. a large-scale search for the enemy was launched together with the ships of the satellite states; Now, in addition to the fleet commanded by Admiral Karls, there are two other battle groups in the Atlantic, and the Allied fleet has a staggering 20 carriers. In addition to the confusion caused by the excessive number of aircraft carriers in the same sea area, another reason for the division of forces among the Allied fleets was to increase the reconnaissance range, and the North Atlantic Ocean was so vast that it was not enough to rely on a single fleet for reconnaissance.

In order to lure the American fleet into revealing itself in the vast ocean, the German Navy also deliberately leaked some of the intelligence of several transport fleets that had recently departed, in order to drag them out of the fog of the battlefield and under the control of its own reconnaissance. Faced with these evil sources of transporting large quantities of war supplies to the Americas, the Americans had no choice but to sink and annihilate them. If the U.S. fleet does appear in the Atlantic, then it will be a complete conspiracy for them: either give up and go home as a turtle dead house, or wait for an opportunity to attack these delicious cakes that must be defended by soldiers nearby. And for the American fleet, which has already been dispatched, it is obviously unacceptable to turn back directly without taking any action, and they will definitely show the blade of battle!

In the early morning of 6 May, after more than two days of searching, the German pilots finally sent back an exciting telegram to Kars, saying that an enemy carrier-based aircraft had encountered him by chance, which meant that the enemy aircraft carrier must be within a radius of several hundred kilometers. Kars then ordered the fleet to turn around and sent a large number of carrier-based aircraft to the area of the incident to conduct a comprehensive search. For more than two hours, reports of air battles continued to come from the radio room, and Kars, while sending more fighters to support, resolutely gave the order to prepare the first wave of attack aircraft. Near noon, the German pilots discovered an anomaly in the sea below after breaking through the air barrier, and with the beeping sound of the transmitter, the aircraft carrier located more than 300 kilometers away instantly received this precious wireless telegraphy.

"The Americans actually came with only 5 aircraft carriers?" Seeing the white telegraph page in his hand, Karls said in disbelief. There are only two possibilities for such a situation: one is that the pilot has made a wrong judgment for various reasons, and the other is that the other side has adopted a strategy of dividing the troops as if it were himself, and the specific intention is probably only clear to the Americans themselves. After a moment of silence, Kars made the final decision, no matter what the real situation is, it is always impossible to go wrong with a wave of fire reconnaissance by himself! With the screeching sound of the engines, all 350 fighters that had been reconditioned were lifted into the air in less than half an hour; This average rate of taking off an aircraft in just over 30 seconds is a testament to the German Navy's years of hard work in the field of aviation and the solid foundation it already has!

"Inform the other two fleets of our situation here, and let them take the next step at their own time." When he saw two U.S. fighter planes appear in the sky not far away, Kars, who realized that his position had also been exposed, immediately ordered the communications department. Since the fleets had maintained strict radio silence at the time of departure, and were cruising with no regularity in course or speed for the sake of seeking the enemy, he now knew only the general position of the other two friendly armies, and it was difficult to accurately control the distance. This is also the price that has to be paid when fighting against enemy forces in unknown directions in the vast North Atlantic. However, Kars had a trump card in his hand that could save for his lack of strength in a considerable way, and that was the fleet of up to 12 anti-aircraft cruisers.

Four years ago, with the end of the Washington Naval Treaty, the great powers who had recovered from the naval holiday also began the process of building cruisers: after all, in the previous 20 years, heavy cruisers were the second largest naval weapons after battleships, and the Baltimore-class built by the United States had a tendency to be war-patrolled due to the stimulation of German heavy cruisers. However, the development of cruisers in the German Navy embarked on a seemingly self-defeating path, pushing a ship with a displacement of less than 40% of its American counterparts and a main gun caliber only equivalent to that of a destroyer on the slipway. Facts have proved that Qingying's decision is extremely wise. Compared with the large-caliber guns with slow rotation and slow rate of fire, the twin-mounted 128-mm main gun has several times the speed and rate of fire of the former, and its anti-aircraft efficiency has a crushing advantage over the bulky large-caliber naval guns.

Although the rate of fire of the 128-mm gun is not as good as that of air defense, and its greatest significance is still limited to dispersing enemy aircraft at a distance of 10 kilometers, the engineers of the Royal Wilhelm Institute began to study the proximity fuse shells that would rejuvenate this artillery in the field of short-range air defense at the request of Qingying as early as before the treaty was abolished. As a result of the early establishment of research directions and the backing of large amounts of money, proximity fuse shells (VT shells) made using the Doppler effect were matured and entered the battlefield in the 30s, just like the V-missiles and Tiger tanks. In February 1938, the new 128-mm anti-aircraft artillery shells began to be fully installed on German naval vessels, and since there was no longer a need to artificially set the explosion time of the shells, its anti-aircraft efficiency was a revolutionary leap of four times compared with the previous one. Combined with up to 20 128mm guns on an air defense cruiser, this will undoubtedly create an unprecedented storm of steel in front of the incoming aircraft group. (To be continued.)

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