The Shen Mi ran away, but that didn't mean the battle was over, as the Shen Mi was far more than the enemy ships that had encountered it at sea. On the other side, the sister ship of the Zenmi also rammed two German destroyers, the Z7 and Z14.

The Z7 and Z14 are both Type 1934 destroyers, and their firepower and speed are good, but because of the stacking of weapons, the center of gravity is too high, and the power system is too sophisticated, which leads to considerable reliability problems, and the most troublesome thing is that the hull structure is seriously lacking in strength. Let's put it this way, the German Project 1934 destroyer is a ship that is powerful on paper, but not so perfect in practice.

Of course, the Soviet Type 33 destroyers had similar problems, but the Type 33 destroyers had a larger displacement and the problem was less prominent, while the German Type 1934 destroyers had too small a displacement and the problem was particularly serious.

Let's put it this way, in the exchange of fire between two 1934 ships and the same Type 33, the former did not take advantage at all. Under the command of the artillery sighting radar, the Steadfast aimed at the Z7 and sprayed wildly, and the fierce fire directly broke the main mast of the Z7, forcing the Z7 to quickly turn the rudder to evade, but this was useless. The Steadfast locked Z7, and the 8 main guns fired 16 consecutive salvos until the aft turret was limited by the firing range and could not continue firing, and even the AK630s on both sides joined in the firing.

Greeted by the furious hail of bullets from the Steadfast, the Z7 was soon transformed into a large torch, and from a distance, it was filled with smoke and fire, and the entire deck was burning.

Seeing that Z7 was about to be blown up, Z14 hurriedly stepped forward to rescue, and one of its sides fired at the Steadfast, and fired eight torpedoes in one go, and then immediately released smoke to cover Z7's retreat.

The Firm had the heart to come forward and beat the water dogs, but the ship's commander, Major Chernenko, chose a more cautious approach. He didn't pursue too much, and after repulsing the Z7 and Z14, he immediately turned the rudder and retreated.

It should be said that Chernenko's choice was correct, because after receiving the information that the Z7 had been heavily damaged, the heavy cruiser Prince Eugen immediately accelerated to the rescue, once Chernenko recklessly caught up. It is quite possible to be blown up by German heavy cruisers.

Of course, this clearly reflects the irrationality of Grechko's formation, and if he had not completely dispersed his fleet, but had gathered more closely, he would not have had to fight alone when the Cautious encountered Z25 and Z28, and he would not have been outnumbered and wounded. And if the Steadfast has the cooperation of friendly ships, I am afraid that it can sink the Z7, and even if there is a cruiser pressing the formation, it is not without the strength of a battle when it encounters the Prince Eugen.

All in all. Grechko was to blame for the disadvantage at the beginning of the naval battle, and if he could have sunk one or two of the German destroyers while they were lined up, he would not have been so passive.

After receiving the report of the destroyer, Siriakos judged that he had already encountered Gorshkov's formation, so he immediately ordered the whole army to attack. The Scharnhorst-class battle cruisers and the Admiral Hipper-class immediately accelerated to 30 knots in the middle of the month and began to catch up with the imaginary Red Navy Type 36 frigate group. As for the Tirpitz, it also tried its best to accelerate, but its speed was already a little slower, so it gradually fell behind.

In the opinion of Siriacos. He had to hunt as many targets as he could before escaping with the Red Navy's destroyers and frigates, so it was a bit of a random shot. Of course, he did not forget to remind himself of the battle patrols and heavy patrols: "As soon as the traces of enemy battleships are found. Inform the ship immediately, and don't go to war on your own! ”

It can be seen that Siricos is not completely carried away, he knows very well that the two Bayern-class battleships of the Red Navy that have been stolen from the High Seas Fleet and have undergone a comprehensive transformation are still quite lethal, at least that is not something that the Scharnhorst-class battlecruisers can face alone.

Of course, Siriacos also hoped to find the two battleships as soon as possible, in his opinion. As long as these two battleships were destroyed, the German Navy would be able to run amok in the Barents Sea in the future.

When the Red Navy and the German Navy exchanged fire, the Royal Navy finally reacted, and after a series of reasoning and calculations, they "surprised" to find that the target of the German Navy was most likely the Type 36 frigate they ordered. This discovery sent the Admiralty in London into a cold sweat, and soon the British issued a warning to the Soviet Union through diplomatic channels.

Seeing this, some comrades may have questions, didn't a certain immortal engage in a fishing operation without notifying the British? That's right, a certain immortal did not inform the British, even though it was more likely that the Red Navy and the Royal Navy working together might annihilate the Tirpitz, but he still chose to go it alone.

The reason is very simple, first, the key to the success of the fishing operation is to lure the Tirpitz out. This involves intelligence deception, and if you want to hide it from the Germans, it is better to hide it from the British, so that it will be real enough.

Secondly, the more major the operation, the higher the requirements for secrecy, Li Xiaofeng can guarantee that his side will not leak information, but whether the British can do this, he doubts.

Finally, the annihilation of the Tirpitz was a great honor. Li Xiaofeng did not think of sharing it with the British, and he still needed this honor to support his proposed naval development plan. How is it possible to give the British a piece of the pie.

Therefore, the fishing operation was destined to be undertaken by the Red Navy alone, and Li Xiaofeng also believed that the Red Navy could complete this task.

Of course, there was a little trouble now, and after learning the real-time battle report, Li Xiaofeng immediately added a note to his memo: Carrier-based reconnaissance/early warning aircraft equipped with maritime search radar are imminent, and it is best to get on board immediately!

Indeed, if there had been AWACS, the German fleet would not have slipped through the cracks, and perhaps the naval battle would have ended. Of course, it is not so easy to get this kind of early warning aircraft, first of all, there must be a suitable carrier aircraft, and secondly, there must be a suitable radar. The former was possessed by the Red Navy, while the latter was really not.

"Let's pre-research first!" Li Xiaofeng sighed, and then ordered: "Tell the British that we thank them for their kindness and will take immediate measures to deal with this 'unexpected situation'." ”

The British were a little proud, they felt that they had helped the backward Red Navy and demonstrated the strength of the Royal Navy, which would make the backward Soviet Union face up to the "gap". In addition to selling and boasting. The Royal Navy also took certain measures, such as immediately ordering two heavy cruisers and several light cruisers that were patrolling the sea to rush to the area where the incident occurred, and also ordering two Nelson-class battleships and two George V-class battleships to leave the port urgently and go straight to Trondheim. Presumably, the British wanted to intercept and sink the Tirpitz before returning to the fjord.

However, the idea of the British was not destined to be realized, because before they reached the battlefield. The battle is over. Returning to the battlefield of naval warfare, while Grechko was hesitating, he received two telegrams, one from the naval headquarters inquiring about the battle, and the other from Gorshkov informing him that he would join him in two hours.

Grechko didn't feel much about the first telegram, and naturally told the truth, but he made a point of mentioning the discovery of the Steadfast, believing that he had encountered the main fleet of the German Navy. In fact. Grechko's implication was obvious, he just wanted the Navy General to understand the disparity between the forces of the enemy and the enemy there, and would agree to his retreat.

However, Grechko will be disappointed, Orlov has problems judging the future direction of the navy, but he knows how to win a naval battle. Orlov was well aware that at this moment, Grechko's fleet must not retreat, once Grechko retreated. It is quite possible that the traces of the main forces of the German Navy will be lost, which will be extremely detrimental to the ensuing battle.

Orlov is clear. Grechko should not only not retreat, but should also take the initiative to keep in touch with the German fleet and find out as much as possible the movements of the German fleet, so as to facilitate the next battle decision. So Orlov quickly telegraphed back to Grechko, and simply and clearly ordered Grechko to gather the fleet and maintain contact with the German fleet.

Naturally, Grechko's side was disappointed by this order. The uncourageous admiral considered the task completely beyond the strength of his fleet and that the command of the Navy was risking their lives. In the event of a mishap and the loss of two precious heavy cruisers and light cruisers, who bears the responsibility?

It can only be said that Grechko's pattern is too small, for Orlov or for Li Xiaofeng. What was the loss of four cruisers compared to the sinking of the main forces of the German Navy? Even if Grechko's fleet is completely destroyed, it is not a big deal, and the elimination of the main surface ships of the German Navy means the safety of the entire Arctic route, and then it is only necessary to deal with German submarines with all their might.

Unfortunately, Grechko did not understand this, and Orlov made a small mistake by forgetting to inform Grechko of one of the most important pieces of information - he forgot to inform Grechko that Sukhoi's aircraft carrier group had launched an attack and that more than 200 warplanes were rushing towards the German naval fleet.

Why is this information so important? As mentioned earlier, Grechko lacked courage, and he always believed that the disparity in strength between the enemy and the enemy could not be maintained. Especially when Gorshkov told him in the second telegram that it would take two or three more hours to get to join him, Grechko felt that his life was bleak, and he did not believe that he could hold out for three hours. It was also thought that there was no point in holding out for three hours, because how could Gorshkov's two old battleships be the opponents of Germany's new capital ships?

Therefore, these two telegrams directly determined Grechko's next countermeasures, although he had to carry out Orlov's order to continue to stay on the battlefield, but it was a bit of a lack of effort.

Grechko ordered the wounded Shenmi to return to Tromsø, and on the other hand, he began to gather his fleet, placing two heavy and light cruisers away from the main German forces, and sending only three destroyers to make contact with the Germans.

To put it bluntly, Grechko is putting on a posture of being ready to flee at any time, and if the situation is not good, his cruiser formation can run away immediately, and there is no danger at all, as for the three destroyers, is it very dangerous? He did not consider the risk to be great: "The speed of our destroyers is enough to get rid of enemy heavy cruisers or battle cruisers and battleships, and our destroyers far surpass enemy destroyers in firepower and have an advantage in a clash of equal forces!" ”

In fact, this is still the idea of running if you can't beat it. Grechko's approach did ensure the safety of his fleet, but it was not a good thing for the overall battle plan?

Why? Because Siriacos was a very cunning admiral, he was very clear-headed, and his attention and grasp of the battlefield were quite keen. After more than an hour of searching and chasing, the vice admiral also wondered why no more enemy ships were found other than those three destroyers. Why can these three destroyers escape if they can't fight them? But it seems to be running away?

The alert Siriacos began to realize that these destroyers were bait? Or is it a cover for the entire Red Navy to deliver Type 36 anti-submarine frigates? As soon as this idea popped up, Siriacos could no longer hold back, he had to take responsibility for the main fleet of the German Navy, he had to figure out the truth!

Siriacus immediately took action: first he ordered the immediate launch of several maritime reconnaissance planes to search the surrounding waters to determine whether there was really a trace of the enemy fleet. Secondly, he immediately telegraphed Dreyer, asking the Admiralty to confirm whether there were any unusual movements in the Royal Navy and the Red Navy, and especially to pay attention to any signs of large warships leaving the port, and finally Siriacos also ordered the formation to be regrouped in case it was broken by the enemy fleet.

Ciliacos's response was still very effective, for example, the water reconnaissance aircraft quickly found Grechko's cruiser formation, and Dreyer's side quickly discovered the unusual movements of the Royal Navy.

Let's start with the discovery of seaplanes, the Ar196 seaplane of the Admiral Hippel mistakenly identified the heavy and light cruisers of the Red Navy as battleships. So when Siriacos heard that there were four battleships waiting for him in front, his mood was understandable.

He would even have thought like this: "Is it true that there are only four battleships in ambush ahead?" Maybe in other directions, more battleships and cruisers await Lao Tzu! ”

And soon Dreyer's side also sent new information: "Two Nelson-class battleships and two George V-class battleships have gone to sea, and it is preliminarily judged that the enemy's target is Trondheim......"

This discovery made Siriacus break out in a cold sweat, and he felt more and more that there was a trap ahead, the Red Navy was waiting for the net, and the Royal Navy was hiding behind and closing the door and beating the dogs. It's so ruthless!

Based on this judgment, Siriacus immediately ordered the fleet to turn around and retreat immediately. He even ordered the fleet to speed up to 29 knots at once, and he was to return to Trondheim as fast as possible!

Grechko did not know that Siriacos had decided to retreat, and that his cruiser formation was still retreating in the direction of Tromsø, with the intention of slipping back into the harbor as soon as the situation was bad.

This continued until the destroyer Steadfast reported to him: "The enemy is turning the rudder and retreating at high speed!" ”

When he got the news, Grechko breathed a sigh of relief, he was really worried that the Germans would be unreasonable. Then he would have to flee back to Tromsø in embarrassment, and although he was really cowardly, he did not want to be called a coward by his other colleagues. Now that the Germans have retreated on their own initiative, then he can save face.

Of course, count on Grechko to take the initiative to catch up. That was also impossible, and under the pretext of waiting for Gorshkov's fleet, he ordered the cruiser formations to stand by and only ordered three destroyers to reconnoiter the movements of the German fleet.

Grechko was relieved, but the fishing operation was in danger, especially after nine o'clock in the evening, when a sudden rain cloud arrived in this area, and the strong wind and waves and large dark clouds caused great trouble to the three destroyers who "reconnoitred" the movements of the German ships.

For example, the Steadfast, as I said before, the Type 33 destroyer had to adopt a large aspect ratio in order to pursue powerful firepower and high speed.

Under the lapping of the wind and waves, the bow of the firm was once submerged in the seawater, even if it was desperately burning the boiler, its speed could not go up, or even plummeted, and when the wind and waves were at its highest, in order to ensure the safety of all the officers and men of the ship, the captain could only order to slow down and turn around.

Soon the Steadfast withdrew from the "track", leaving only two Type 36 destroyers, the Tenacious and Reckless, to continue to bite the German destroyer tightly.

"These pesky tails!"

When Siriacos received a report from the destroyers that the destroyers of the Red Navy were following his fleet, he further determined that this was a trap, and in order to mislead and get rid of these pesky tails, he categorically ordered: "The destroyer formation will keep its original course unchanged, we will first turn north, and then march towards Trondheim!" ”

Siriakos was much more decisive than Grechko, he knew very well that the most valuable thing for the German Navy was the capital ships, and in order to ensure the safety of these precious capital ships, the destroyers could be abandoned.

The cunning Siriakos survived with a broken tail like a four-legged snake, not to mention that this trick really worked, and when the destroyers of the Red Navy were misled in the wrong direction by German destroyers, it would bring about a series of chain reactions.

An hour later, more than 200 warplanes taking off from four aircraft carriers received a false message, and they adjusted their course and flew in the wrong direction. Of course, Grechko did not know all this, because he was enjoying peace in the sea far from the front line, and even this courageless naval officer was still dreaming of promotion, but after more than an hour his dreams would soon be shattered, and then after the battle, he would soon say goodbye to his naval career...... (To be continued......)

PS: Bow and thank you to Comrade Southern Rangers and Juventus!