The wind is howling, the waves are roaring, and somewhere in the vast North Atlantic, a large fleet is slowly sailing. Pale black soot poured out of the towering chimneys, staining the white clouds in the sky with a thick gray edge. From a bird's eye view, there are a total of 6 majestic and majestic giant ships lined up in a neat column; Dozens of light ships around the surrounding escort were all fluttering wide black vulture battle flags.

"General, news has just been sent from the Fair Island base that the current members of the French cabinet have resigned en masse, and the Amsterdam peace talks have been interrupted. His Excellency Tirpitz wants us to be on high alert and ready to engage the enemy fleet at any time. Middle-aged Raeder, who had been promoted to lieutenant colonel, strode into the navigation room, handed the telegraph pages in his hand to Hipper, and said.

Hippert looked at the words in his hand, and his gray-blue eyes couldn't help but show a little solemnity.

Half a year ago, the High Seas Fleet and the Royal Navy engaged in a chaotic and fierce confrontation in the waters of Ireland. Although the German fleet broke the backbone of the British Grand Fleet with a torpedo night, his reconnaissance fleet suffered a great loss under Jellico's maneuvering: two battle cruisers, the Lützov and the Blucher, were sunk, and more than 2,500 officers and men were killed and captured. And the British fast fleet walked around the battlefield in style, and did not receive any damage except for the sinking of a few destroyers! With the gradual formation of combat effectiveness of the Tiger battle cruise, the strength of the British and German fast fleets has become greatly close under this decline; And the construction of the Queen Elizabeth-class battleship that the other side started in 1911 is approaching, which also makes Hipper feel the pressure. According to the analysis of the Crown Prince, who is well versed in shipbuilding, it is very likely that this class of British battleships will have a much higher speed than its previous peers. It is not ruled out that it will act with the Rapid Patrol!

Under the concern of this hidden worry. The burden on Hipper's shoulders suddenly became heavy. After all, Britain's shipbuilding industry is much stronger than Germany's. Concentrating on building a ship in 3 years is just a matter of waiting; Due to the lack of intelligence, the number of new battleships in service was not known to the German Navy. Although his own shipyard also concentrated manpower and material resources to rush to work, and delivered two unprecedentedly powerful King-class battleships to the Navy at the beginning of this year, Hipper's heart still has no bottom in his heart. After all, the current German navy is no longer barefoot and not afraid to wear shoes as before, and they who have taken the world's first throne from the British and begun to officially use the sea, need to protect this hard-won right.

After a moment of silence, Hipper ordered the fleet to increase the frequency of seaplane attendance to the highest level, maintaining constant surveillance of the surrounding seas. As for course and speed. No changes were made. The reason for not making adjustments at sea was purely for the purpose of saving fuel: due to the inherent disadvantage of the geographical position, the German convoy departing from the United States had to be escorted by the High Seas Fleet almost all the way to avoid a halfway interception by the British fleet; The theoretical range alone is more than 4,000 nautical miles, and fuel consumption will be further exacerbated in case of bad weather along the way. Therefore, every time the German navy, including the reconnaissance fleet, made a sortie, it had to carry fuel to the maximum permissible load, but also had to bring a coal carrier for the middle way. Whenever they saw the low freeboard of their own warships, the hearts of the German sailors were no longer as proud of their performance as before, but were filled with bitter hatred for the designers: however, due to special national conditions and strategic limitations. German sailors would have to wait at least a few years for a leisurely and steady voyage.

The machinery hummed, and the waves crashed. Hipper, who had arranged a qiē, regained his previous leisure; He slowly stepped out of the bridge and began to meditate on the breezy deck about his next steps. If the crown prince's speculation comes true, then the opponent's fast fleet lineup will most likely be not inferior to his own, and may even have an advantage in some way: in addition to the two Kings equipped with 8 380 mm guns, there is only one De Fringer equipped with 8 350 mm guns left in the current reconnaissance fleet. The 305mm guns of the Cedritz were sharp two years ago, but in the era of super-dreadnoughts, they have undoubtedly been reduced to second-rate. The 283 mm guns of the Von der Tann and the Valfoss were even more blunt, and even Hipper himself had little confidence in dealing with the British cutting-edge ships. In the British fast fleet, except for one Australia, which was a slag first-generation battle cruiser, the rest of the ships were all new goods equipped with large thick pipes; If the other side improves the previous clumsy shells in the past half a year, it will undoubtedly be a severe test for their own ships!

The clouds open and the fog disperses, and the sun rises in the sky. With the shrill hum of the engine, a seaplane that had returned from reconnaissance crashed down on the rippling blue sea, and the seaplane carrier USS Americana, which was converted from a cruise ship, began to lean forward and use a crane to recover it. Judging from the calm bridge of the King, there should be nothing unusual to be found. After a while, there was a faint sound in the air like a fly, and Hippel looked up to see that another small black dot was flying towards him from the southwestern sea. As he got closer, Hipper's pupils suddenly contracted: he was shocked to find that the plane was painted under the wings of a circular logo, and this symbol belonged to the British Royal Air Force!

"It's ...... Seaplanes for the British? Looking at the two giant pontoons that were completely different from his own plane's shape, and the same hanging from below, Hipper couldn't help but rub his eyes and said in disbelief. In the previous battles, the German fleet had obtained reconnaissance information by water planes, so as to occupy an almost unbreakable lead in the battle game; However, now, the opponent's plane flew above his head first. This not only means that the British have completely learned this advanced experience of their own, but also indicates that there must be other ships in the sea not far from them, and they are clearing the fog of the battlefield and examining themselves!

"Quick, let the American Eagle immediately release the plane to track this enemy plane, we must find out where the British are!" Hipper's mind flashed with inspiration, and he rushed to the bridge at full speed, shouting directly at the signal men on duty on the mast. The opponent's plane came from afar, and the remaining fuel would inevitably not be able to compare with its own newly taken off plane; As long as you can bite it, you will definitely be able to find out the source of the release of this water detective.

Perhaps it was a lack of experience with this new mode of warfare, or a desire to conduct a deeper reconnaissance to determine the lineup of the German fleet; The British reconnaissance plane did not leave in a hurry, but began to circle back and forth over the German fleet. At the same time, the crew of the American Falcon, who received the order, quickly moved into action; As soon as the pilots and signalmen climbed into the cabin, they used the boom to launch the entire aircraft into the sea. Thanks to Hipper's previous order to increase attendance, the plane was already on standby with full fuel at this moment; After a while, it broke through the waves and staggered into the air with the roar of the gasoline engine. The signal soldier in the back row clutched a pistol, which was the only offensive weapon of the unarmed aircraft against its enemy counterparts.

The motor roars, the waves splash, and an airplane, also marked with the symbol of a ring, is stirring up two long rows of wakes on the sea; After a short time, the nose of the plane gradually rose up, and then the entire plane broke out of the water and broke through the air. Seeing this scene, the British sailors on the surrounding battleships all showed a long-lost sense of joy.

"General, the effectiveness of this kind of gadget for reconnaissance is really superior. With the auxiliary fuel tank attached, it can even detect the sea area 200 nautical miles away, which is a distance that we could not imagine with traditional warships in the past! In the navigation room of one of the most sturdy and heavy warships, a young officer put down the telescope in his hand and said to the middle-aged rear admiral next to him with joy, "I even have a hunch that this little guy will be used on a large scale in future naval battles, and its role will eventually overshadow the capital ships that can only fight within visual range, and become the most decisive source of strength in naval battles." ”

The angular Thomas glanced at the man named Andrew? Cunningham's captain glanced at it, and his heart was not in the slightest. The "Queen Elizabeth" he is currently sitting on is the current premier pole soldier of the entire Royal Navy; That kind of wood-skinned scum barbarian can get some cheap in reconnaissance, and compared with battleships, it is the difference between flies and ligres. Just as he was about to open his mouth to warn this young man with a big brain, an adjutant suddenly pushed the door open from outside the navigation room and said loudly: "Report, the main force of the German reconnaissance fleet has been found 70 nautical miles north-northeast, with a total of 6 capital ships and nearly 30 escort ships; Two of the capital ships have a new appearance, and they are most likely the latest German King-class battleships! ”

As soon as these words came out, everyone in the navigation room was terrified; Thomas snatched the telegram from the adjutant's hand, and in an instant he caught a few short lines of report. The British pilots observed very carefully, and the triangular mast, the freeboard raised amidships, and the new turrets with large inclinations showed that the ships they had found did not belong to any of the previous German fleets. Considering that Germany had not planned a battle cruiser since 1911, Thomas was shocked: it seemed that the Germans had followed the same path as himself, that is, to build high-speed battleships to replace part of the battle cruisers! And unlike the fact that they also started construction of 2 prestige-class and 3 Valiant-class, the Germans seem to have gone more thoroughly on the road of high-speed battleships! (To be continued......)

PS: Thank you for the monthly ticket support of the book friend book friend 130808235350616, and the reward of returning to 1m and zhouyu1976~~~~

Anyway, yesterday's subscription volume plummeted again, and the author's heart was cold