More than 260 kilometers from the sea of the British fleet, an air battle also came to an end.

Due to the rapid position shift carried out by Scheer immediately after the first wave of attacks, the already slow British fleet had to spend more time searching for the target; When the first wave of German attack aircraft had already dealt a devastating blow to the main force of the British fleet, the British fleet finally discovered the location of the German fleet. Eager to fight for shame, the high-spirited British pilots flew their planes at full speed towards the German fleet, but they soon found themselves as vulnerable as dragonflies in a storm.

When they were still more than 20 kilometers away from the target, a large number of German fighters roared down from the clouds in the sky and launched a thunderous attack on the British group. Not only did they have a high superiority, but they were also far more numerous than the fighters escorted by the British fleet. More than 30 self-contained sea hurricanes could not intercept all these hunters, and in the blink of an eye, nearly two squadrons of German fighters roared into the group of Swordfish torpedo bombers in the rear. The German pilots were pleasantly surprised to find that the speed of these biplane torpedo planes was surprisingly slow, only a third of their own; Their self-defense firepower is limited to 3 small-caliber machine guns with a limited firing range, making them almost unable to pose any threat to themselves. This kind of enemy is simply your best weapon for farming!

Under the fierce interception of German fighters, the attacking British aircraft group became moths to the fire; They crashed into a barrage of steel barrage of machine guns and heavy machine guns, and were shattered in the aluminium flying. In just a dozen minutes, 32 of the 46 Swordfish that came on were shot down. And the remaining torpedo machines no longer have the courage to continue deeper. After hastily dropping torpedoes at the German destroyers, which were on the task of perimeter air defense, they fled at full speed to the rear. German destroyers with a light evasion. The path of these underwater demomen was simply avoided, and after the fuel ran out, the torpedoes slowly sank into the sea.

"Our war with Britain is over." After learning the news that the British fleet had fled and been defeated, Scheer said with a sigh of anger in his heart. According to reports from the first wave of attack planes, the British fleet was devastated: 15 ships, including 4 aircraft carriers and 5 battleships, were sunk, and 2 battleships were heavily damaged. Although there may be some discrepancies between the pilot's report and the actual battle situation, this does not affect the overall situation: by the time he sends a second wave of attack over the British fleet, all the dust will settle. After all, after the loss of the aircraft carrier. The opposing side's battleships and cruisers can only fall prey to the unilateral slaughter of their own air forces, and perhaps the third round of attacks will not be needed, and the elite main forces of the British Navy will all be buried in this sea area!

"Order, let the flagships of each detachment count the remaining fuel of each subordinate ship, and report to the flagship within half an hour." Amid the cheers in the command tower, Scheer spoke lightly. Compared with the irrepressible excitement and excitement of his subordinates, the old-faced Scheer looked unusually calm: as a sunset in the west, this victory was the best ending before he left the navy for which he had dedicated more than half a century. The only thing he regretted was that the original purpose of the sortie, to intercept the American fleet, had not been achieved. However, in the event of the loss of the main forces of the British Navy. The Americans should also give in to themselves, right?

Under the command of Scher, the German fleet, which had been relieved of the crisis, slowed down. The third wave of attacks also began to roar into the air from the decks of each aircraft carrier, rumbling towards the sea area where the target was located. While Scheer was confident enough about the effectiveness of the first two rounds of attacks, no commander would dislike too much of his record in the credit book; After sending the main force of the British fleet to the bottom of the sea, he should also sink more cruisers and destroyers of the other side, so as to weaken the British power to the greatest extent and clear the way for Germany to fight for interests at the negotiating table in the future. The loss of a single British warship now meant that Germany was one step closer to the pinnacle of absolute dominance in Europe, and as long as the British fleet ceased to exist, it would lose its imperial halo and quickly regain its international status commensurate with its own size and economic power.

Dozens of minutes later, the German air defense cruiser, which was in charge of perimeter vigilance, detected a large number of light spots flashing in the upper right of the radar: after contacting the air team, it was determined that it was the first wave of attack aircraft on the return of their own victorious aircraft. Shortly after, a war eagle sprayed with the Iron Cross logo appeared in the view of the sailors. Compared to the peak lineup at the time of the sortie, they also suffered a certain number of attrition after the desperate battle with the British fleet, with 24 fighters and 17 attack aircraft shot down in the battle, and more than a dozen aircraft returning wounded. Guided by the radio and light signals on the carrier, the fighters began to lower their altitude in preparation for landing, and when a bullet-riddled Ju-87 was hooked by a barrage cable and stopped firmly on the deck of the carrier, the ground crew and anti-aircraft gunners next to them erupted into cheers.

On the air defense cruiser Königsberg, the young radar soldier Bonn breathed a sigh of relief, got up and pushed open the door of the radar room. As far as the eye can see, the fighters of his own fleet are landing one after another on the tall and slender aircraft carriers like tired birds returning to the forest, and the occasional unlucky bastard who fails to hook the blocking cable can quickly climb up from the oblique rear of the aircraft carrier and fly up, and then land again. Seeing this, a sense of pride and joy arose in his heart, and only the German High Seas Fleet, which had grown from the bottom of Europe to the top of the world in forty years, could have so many dazzling and trend-setting innovations!

"Evan, it's time for you to be on duty." Hearing the familiar footsteps in his ears, Bonn, who was looking at the situation of the fleet in the rear, said without looking back. The emaciated sailor who walked up the gangway glanced at his colleague and turned and walked into the dark radar room: in order to avoid the interference of outside light, the radar room was dark and gloomy even during the day, which was undoubtedly one of the most unpopular duty spots on the entire battleship. Bonn, who had had had enough of staying in the dark, enjoyed the warm sunshine of the Atlantic Ocean and watched with great interest the landing of fighter planes on his aircraft carriers; However, only a moment later, the thunderous roar of the thin sailor Evan suddenly came from the radar room in the rear: "Damn Bonn, come and see what I found!" There are a lot of radar echoes in the 296 direction, and it is unlikely that any aircraft will appear 160 kilometers to the northwest! ”

In less than two minutes, the report was urgently delivered to Scheer aboard the Kaiser Wilhelm. Suddenly startled, Scheer quickly made contact with the radar crew on his ship, and within a few minutes received a similar report. There are between 150 and 180 aircraft, and they are approaching at a speed of about 130 knots. Thinking of the rapid attack of the British fleet and the American fleet that had never appeared, Scheer's pupils couldn't help but shrink instantly: the two fleets must have been in contact before, and they were ready to use the tactic of attacking separately after discovering their own fleet. However, unlike the pre-arranged script, the British main fleet had already collapsed under the preemptive strike of the German carrier-based aviation, and the ideal strategy in the original plan had evolved into an awkward refueling tactic, and did not combine all its forces into a single fist.

However, Scheer did not have half the joy of discovering the traces of the Americans, and his whole face was full of solemnity. Under normal circumstances, this wave of air raids by the Americans could almost be said to be an itch in the shoe, which has 10 main aircraft carriers: by the time the enemy planes flew over their own side, they would have already ejected a group of fighters equivalent to the number of all their planes, and they would fiercely intercept them while occupying a high altitude. Now, however, the vast majority of the forces on their own carriers were sent to bomb the British fleet, and the number of fighters available in the hangar was scarcer than ever; In addition, the aircraft group returning from the first wave of attacks is engaged in an intense landing operation, which undoubtedly increases the danger of our aircraft carriers when they are attacked.

"Order the air teams to immediately prepare the remaining fighters for attack; Successful landings immediately drain all remaining fuel, and must not be allowed to become oil drums that spread flames after being attacked! Scheer ordered categorically. Looking at the staff officer who ran out of the navigation room quickly, Scheer couldn't help but clench his fists slightly, the current balance of fortune was on the side of the Americans, and he could only count on the air defense of the fleet and the defense capabilities of the battleship itself to survive this sudden attack.

With the order of Scheer, the air teams began to raise their last fighters to the deck. Due to the different forces deployed by each ship to carry out reconnaissance, attack, and support the air umbrella of the fleet, there were only 32 fighters available on only four aircraft carriers at this time. The angled deck and oversized main flight deck of the German aircraft carriers played a crucial role in this strain: the returning aircraft continued to land methodically from the angled decks and were pushed to the rear and center to fold up, while the newly prepared fighters slid and jumped off from the front main deck of the carrier, constantly strengthening the fleet's air umbrella. At the same time, the images of take-off and landing of fighters were realized on these large aircraft carriers, which in turn provided the German fleet with a key force that could influence the outcome of the battle in an unfavorable situation. (To be continued......)

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