"Where do you think the Germans will ambush Gorshkov's fleet?"

This question is easy to say, because the route to Gorshkov is basically dead, there are only two routes from Murmansk to Skapawan, and the area ambushed by the Germans is dead. But it's hard to guess and it's really hard to guess, because the ocean is too big, even if the Germans don't have many choices, but that sea area is big enough, and it is not easy to find the German fleet in that area, after all, the airborne radar is not popular in this year, and there are no AWACS aircraft, so it can be regarded as looking for a needle in a haystack!

"I can't guess, and I don't want to!" Sukhoi replied coldly, "I just hope that the weather over there will be better for now, otherwise, we will be in big trouble next!" ”

This is the truth, bad weather will inevitably affect the field of vision, and it is not at all strange that a reconnaissance plane misses a target at sea, and even when the weather is bad enough to a certain extent, the reconnaissance plane is blind.

Kuznetsov also knows this truth, and he has been thinking about this problem all the time, but this question is in vain, because it depends on whether God gives face or not, and it is an objective force majeure.

It was not only the Red Army who cared about the weather, but the Germans also cared about it, because the weather affected them just as much, and even they were inferior to Kuznetsov's. After all, aircraft carriers have a greater take-off and landing capacity and can take off more reconnaissance aircraft, while the seaplanes equipped on their warships cannot be used at all once they encounter bad weather.

However, God is very appreciative, the weather in the northern seas of Norway is still very good, not to mention the sun. At least there were no strong winds and waves. The only thing that was a little troublesome was a slight fog. In order to broaden the scope of your search. Siriacos took a more aggressive approach, ordering the four destroyers to temporarily separate from the capital ship formation and form a reconnaissance curtain wall to search northeast.

The move was somewhat successful, and at 8 a.m. Z25 spotted a plume of smoke from the Soviet cargo ship Avila, which had just been on its way back to Murmansk with fuel on its way back to Murmansk.

Destroyer Z25 immediately accelerated its pursuit. She had to deal with the Avila as quickly as possible to prevent the two-thousand-ton tin can from leaking the fleet's tracks, which would be a big problem if it aroused the vigilance of the Soviet fleet.

The Z25 caught up with the slow Avila without much effort, and the five 150mm guns were a fierce bombardment, and the clumsy Avila tried to dodge on one side, and the other side also fought back heroically, and the crew picked up rifles and machine guns to fire at the Z25 continuously, giving out a final roar.

Of course, this resistance is not of much significance, and the Z25 at a distance of several kilometers is completely beyond the effective range of the bullet. But even within the effective range. Rifles and machine guns are no match for the Z25, which is like a small cruiser.

It took only 15 minutes, after 150 shells were fired. The Avila slowly sank into the North Atlantic with bullet holes all over its body. Only five sailors were eventually rescued.

After packing up the Avila, the German destroyers moved on, conducting repeated dragnet searches in the sea area where they were intended to be intercepted. However, they have not been able to find any trace of the Red Navy, and as of three o'clock in the afternoon, the destroyer was short of fuel and had to retreat to the capital ship formation to replenish it.

It was at this time that Siriakos received erroneous information from the German garrison in Norway that the Navy's operations had been leaked and that the Red Navy formation had turned around early. Misled by this, Siriacos felt that since the Russians had already fled, there was no point in continuing the operation, and that the consequences would be unimaginable if the precious battleship was discovered by the enemy's aviation.

So at four o'clock in the afternoon, Siriacos ordered the fleet to begin its return voyage and prepare for the return of Trondheim. And then the funny scene happened, when Siriakos had just turned around and walked back a hundred nautical miles, intelligence from the command of the Navy arrived.

Dreyer told him: "The Red Navy formation, with a total of twenty ships, is heading in the direction of Tromsø......"

Ciriakos immediately went crazy, isn't this a joke, saying that the Russians are cowardly, and at the same time saying that the Russians are still advancing, who should be listened to?

So whose intelligence is more accurate? Dreyer was right, because his intelligence came directly from Dönitz's submarine force, and the U-123 had been operating in the waters north of Norway, and it happened to be the case that Gorshkov was spotted. The Norwegian Army's intelligence came from aerial reconnaissance, and they mistakenly mistook the QP-9 merchant formation for Gorshkov's formation (which was advancing towards Murmansk at the time).

Siriakos had to confirm the accuracy of the information to the Admiralty again, and after receiving confirmation from Dreyer, he had to order the fleet to turn around again, which not only delayed valuable time, but also made the destroyer, which was already short on fuel, even more stretched. This also created a lot of trouble for the German Navy in the later battles.

While Siriakos's fleet turned back to the north, Gorshkov's fleet was preparing to slowly turn southwest, and according to the plan drawn up by the naval command, he was to sail to the Tromsø naval base. There he will join the long-awaited Type 35 heavy cruisers, the Moscow Komsomol and the Leningrad Komsomol and the Type 36 light cruisers Brest and Nikolaev. Then the 12 Type 36 frigates will enter the Tromsø naval base to "take refuge", while the formation of 4 destroyers, 2 light cruisers, 2 heavy cruisers and 2 battleships will continue to move southwest.

In Li Xiaofeng's words, Gorshkov's fleet was used to clean up the battlefield and see if it could find fish that had slipped through the net under the devastating blows of naval aviation. However, Gorshkov did not see it that way, he thought that he could do a lot, he did not believe that the aircraft could solve the German fleet, in his opinion the aircraft could only play a role in containing and harassing, and when the German fleet was seriously weakened by the aircraft, his fleet would launch a fatal blow.

Looks. Gorshkov's idea was similar to the Japanese Navy's nine-dan tapering campaign before World War II. In fact, he was also indeed influenced by the idea of Combined Fleet operations. Merely. Gorshkov planned well, but when it came to real combat, his good ideas were quickly shattered.

First of all, on the way from Murmansk to Tromsø, the accident of the aircraft carrier Raider delayed a lot of time, and by the time Gorshkov reorganized the formation and moved on, about two hours had already been wasted. Moreover, upon arrival near Cape Nolchen, the reduction gear set of the battleship October Revolution suddenly malfunctioned again, causing the entire formation to have to reduce its speed to about 12 knots.

Let's put it this way. Agoshkov arrived off the coast of Tromsø at least eight hours later than scheduled. The four destroyers, two light cruisers, and two heavy cruisers previously stationed in Tromsø went to sea ahead of schedule as planned. And this leads directly to a very bad situation! These eight ships collided with the German formation in advance!

It has to be said that the Red Army was very unlucky, the Ro-3 on the aircraft carrier did not find the trace of the German formation, even if Sukhoi once sent all 48 Ro-3s on the four aircraft carriers out for reconnaissance and searched the coast of Norway from bottom to sky, but failed to find the German fleet.

The reason was not that the performance of the Ro-3 was too poor, but that there was a time lag, and when Siriacos sailed north, the reconnaissance planes of the Red Army searched behind the ass of the German fleet. And when the Red Army's reconnaissance planes turned north to intensify the search, Siriacos was misled by the wrong information and turned south. When Sukhoi, who did not give up, again ordered the reconnaissance plane to search south, inch by inch. Siriacos turned back to the north. As a result, the two sides are always staggered by the slightest margin.

At 6 p.m., when the four destroyers of Siriakos, who had gone out to reconnoitre, met with Tromsø's fleet waiting for Gorshkov, Kuznetsov and Sukhoi figured out the exact location of the German formation.

"The Ro-2 of the two brigades is loaded with torpedoes, and the Ro-2 of the other brigade is loaded with aerial bombs, and the landed Ro-3 will be quickly taken back to the hangar, and be ready to refuel and hang up the bombs!"

Sukhoi quickly issued a series of orders, and then the four aircraft carriers soon began to sail at full speed against the wind, the crew on the deck kept refueling and hanging bombs, and the pilots were also dressed in full flight gear and ready to take off.

"The bad news is that we discovered the enemy too late, and we lost a lot of time, and the Tromsø side is in danger." Kuznetsov said with some concern, "The good news is that now there is no need to worry about the sunset." ”

The so-called problem of not worrying about the sunset is actually a problem of the pilot's ability to fight at night. You must know that taking off and landing on an aircraft carrier is a tightrope walk, and taking off and landing at night when the line of sight is dim is even more dangerous. For the carrier-based aviation of the Red Navy, which was not very experienced, the ability to fight at night was almost equal to zero. And Kuznetsov said not to worry about this problem, it is because of the polar day phenomenon. In the high latitudes of summer, there are nearly 20 hours of sunshine per day, so there is no need to worry about light.

Of course, this advantage is also relative, in the more than three hours that the carrier-based aircraft rushed to the German naval formation, the small fleet in Tromsø had to be tested, and now both the carrier-based aircraft and Gorshkov's fleet were quite far away from them, and they could not be saved from the near fire by far water.

Vladimir. Ivanovich. Admiral Grechko's mood was agitated, his fleet had been waiting on the surface for several hours, and Gorshkov's formation was long gone, which clouded the colonel's heart.

Grechko was well aware of his abilities, and he had no problem commanding one heavy cruiser, but with him commanding four destroyers and two heavy cruisers and light cruisers, he was somewhat inadequate. Originally, he only needed to wait for Gorshkov's formation, and then he could unload this burden, but now, Colonel Grechko wanted to cry a little.

Luck was too bad for the Red Navy, and Colonel Grechko's confidence and ability were so low that he could hardly cope with the wolf-like and cunning Siriacos.

In fact, Grechko's formation at this time was problematic, four destroyers, as well as two heavy cruisers and two light cruisers, were scattered on the sea, and the distance between them was at least about ten nautical miles. It can be said that his formation is scattered like a plate of loose sand in this remote sea area, and once it encounters the German fleet, I am afraid that it will be more than lucky.

In fact, it is also more auspicious. Around 6 p.m. The destroyer Z25 at sail noticed a rising plume of smoke. The captain of the ship reported the discovery to the flagship on the one hand, and sped on the other side to inspect it.

Almost at the same time, Yushchenko, the captain of the Type 33 destroyer Shenmi, also discovered the smoke column of the Z25. He did the same, and he went to check it while giving back information.

When the two destroyers approached quickly at a high speed of 30 knots, it was soon confirmed that the other side was the enemy, but the Germans were in a much better situation, their formation was tighter and they assembled faster. On the contrary, the reaction of the Red Army was much more sluggish.

As mentioned earlier, Grechko's confidence and ability were insufficient, so after receiving a report from the Cautious, he hesitated. What to hesitate about? Naturally, it is hesitant to engage or run away.

Grechko was terrified, and it was very likely that the Shenmi had encountered the main German fleet, and it was very likely that the giant ships, including the Tirpitz, were behind them. And the difference in strength on Grechko's side is too far, where are the four cruisers the opponent of the enemy's battleships and battle cruisers?

Grechko subconsciously wanted to run away, but he knew it well. He can't just run away, first of all. He had to confirm the existence of the enemy's capital ships, which was directly related to the success or failure of this fishing operation. Secondly, he could not really run away without hesitation, he had to act as an eye and ear, constantly informing Kuznetsov of the exact location of the enemy fleet. Of course, to do the above two points, the risk is also quite large, if he is not careful, he will be eaten by the enemy fleet without even a bone!

So, Grechko hesitated, hesitated, and didn't know what to do.

And this battle is really quite deadly, at least for the Shenmi. As soon as Yushchenko discovered Z25, he announced that he was in combat mode. The tonnage of the Shen Mi may be smaller than that of the Z25, but it is not inferior in firepower.

The Type 33 destroyer is armed with eight 130-mm guns and two five-pack 533-mm torpedo tubes, and can reach a maximum speed of 37 knots. The German destroyers of the 1936A type had a large caliber of main guns (150 mm) but a small number of main guns (5 guns). Coupled with the fact that the Red Army's 130 guns had a faster rate of fire and a complete radar and fire control system, the Red Army actually had to take advantage of a little bit in the counter-fire.

This was indeed the case at the beginning, when the eight main guns of the Shenmi rained down on the Z25 at a rate of 12 rounds per minute, the Germans did feel a lot of pressure, they did not expect the Red Army destroyers to fire so fiercely and so accurately.

Speaking of which, the Z25 and the Shenmi can also be regarded as meeting good talents and chess opponents, they were born in a similar era, and their ideas are also similar, they are both heavy firepower destroyers with enhanced strike power. The only difference is that the top brass of the Red Navy (such as Li Xiaofeng) did not actually like the Type 33 destroyer, because this thing was born from the idea of taking care of Stalin, and as mentioned before, a total of four destroyers of this class were built. Immediately the Red Navy switched to the construction of Type 36 destroyers with more outstanding air defense capabilities.

However, at this time, the two destroyers were still fighting lively, and the sound of guns resounded one after another in this sea area. At first, it was the Shen Mi who had the upper hand, and under the guidance of the fire control radar, the rain of bullets continued to greet the Z25, almost making it difficult for the Germans to fight back. But soon, things began to change as the Z28 also arrived on the battlefield.

Yushchenko had no choice but to redistribute firepower, with the four-door 130 in the bow against the Z25, and the four-door 130 in the stern against the Z28. Obviously, the density of fire has doubled, and the Z25, which had been badly suppressed just now, was finally able to catch its breath, and together with its sister ship Z28, it continued to greet the Shenmi with 150mm guns.

The good line of sight made the hit rate of both sides very high, in just twenty minutes, the Z25 hit 7 bullets, and there were local fires on the bridge and in the middle of the hull, as for the Z28, it also ate two bullets, but neither of them was fatal. Similarly, the Shenmi was not comfortable, although she was shot less, but the lethality of the 150 mm ammunition was greater, and the structure of the Type 33 destroyer was not so strong, so the Shenmi was seriously injured.

At that time, the deck of the Shenmi was full of fire, and one of the main guns was directly hit by a 150-mm grenade, and it was scrapped in an instant. Another 150mm grenade hit the Shenmi directly under the main mast, destroying both the gunner's radar and radio communication antenna.

"Full rudder left, retreat at full speed!"

As a last resort, Yushchenko could only order the rudder to flee, because he vaguely noticed that another column of smoke had appeared on the left side of the Z25, which was likely to be the enemy's follow-up reinforcement fleet. It's enough to suffer now, and it won't be even more disadvantageous if we continue to fight. Yushchenko doesn't have the stupidity of moths to the fire and hitting stones with eggs, isn't he stupid if he can't fight and don't escape!

Thanks to Stalin's perverted request back then, the speed of the Type 33 destroyer was really fast, the design speed was 37 knots, but the quality of the boilers was wonderful, in fact, the Type 33 destroyer exceeded 37 knots as a play, for example, this time, the Shen Mi in the full-speed retreat inadvertently set a record.

According to the observation and speed measurement of the German Z25 and Z28, the fleeing Shen Mi quickly accelerated to 39 knots, and the two German destroyers also tried to speed up the pursuit, but when they were about to exceed 36 knots, the Shen Mi had already soared past 40 knots, and then increased to 42 knots, and escaped without a trace like a cloud of smoke...... (To be continued......)

PS: Bow and thank you nirvana, Xuanyuan Extreme Holy Emperor and Comrade Juventus!