In London, in the office of the Lord Chancellor of the British Royal Navy, Churchill and his officers were discussing the next battle plan. If there is one department of the British military that is most anxious at the moment, it is undoubtedly the navy.

In the recently concluded battle off the coast of the Netherlands, in the face of a detachment of the German Navy, 14 warships of the British Royal Navy were unexpectedly defeated, and they lost 1 battleship and 1 aircraft carrier.

So this time Churchill intended to give Germany the harshest revenge. He ordered the Royal Navy to gather the largest fleet and completely blockade German waters. As in the First World War, Germany was trapped on a narrow European continent. Then rely on the absolute superiority in resources to drag down the menacing Germany as a challenger.

Moreover, as the British Admiralty, Churchill's ideas were more radical, and he hoped to have a decisive battle at sea when the German Navy went to sea the next time, and use superior forces to crush Germany's newly formed high seas fleet in one fell swoop.

"The Hood is rushing back from the Mediterranean, and the Italians are very honest this time, they didn't even send planes to track our ships. One of the officers pointed to the huge sea map with a whip and said: "Spain does not have the guts to attack us, the German naval bases there are not well built, and they do not yet have the strength to intercept our battleships in the Strait of Gibraltar." ”

Another officer glanced at the report in his hand and reported to Churchill: "On the other hand, in order to support the frontal operations of France, our convoy is constantly moving to and fro in the English Channel, and it is planned to transport at least 100,000 soldiers to France within this month." Eventually, we will have 300,000 soldiers on the frontal battlefield. ”

"On the American side, they don't have any interest in going to war, and they don't even want to mobilize. In the U.S. Congress, the dominant ideology was still a policy of isolating Europe, and although President Roosevelt was more than willing to provide us with support, the pressure was not gratuitous. An official in charge of foreign affairs briefly described the situation of the allies: "On the other hand, the U.S. military is very interested in the battle off the coast of the Netherlands, and they want to send officers to our side to study the whole process of the operation. ”

In addition, Gaoxin hired American technicians to come to Britain, and we need to produce several types of fighters at the same time, which is somewhat overstretched. Churchill said this by holding his forehead, and then stopped talking.

The plan to withdraw the fleet from the Mediterranean was a desperate move, because the British found that their fleet had no very good tricks against German aircraft carriers. The shortcomings of carrier-based aircraft can only make Britain's aircraft carrier combat capability a big discount, not to mention the quality of the air carrier itself, which is also a new aircraft carrier of the German Navy.

The only aircraft carrier that Britain can get its hands on with the same performance as the Zeppelin-class aircraft carrier is the Ark Royal, which has recently been launched into service. Others, such as the Brave and the Glory, did not have as many aircraft as the Germans.

"Our army will deploy a fleet between the sea off Denmark and the Baltic Sea to lure the German Navy into sorties. We will deploy two support fleets here and here, consisting of destroyers and light cruisers, both of which are warships with strong air defense, and can temporarily protect themselves once they converge. An officer pointed to the map and recounted the entire battle plan.

Then he pointed to Scarpa Bay and proudly introduced: "Then the main force of the Navy's home fleet will pour out of the nest and directly engage in a decisive battle." Although our army is at a disadvantage in terms of aircraft carriers, this time we have concentrated a full 5 battleships, and we have an overwhelming advantage in this regard. ”

"Okay! That's the end of the statement of the battle plan, we have already repeated the argument twice, and there should be no big problem. Churchill interrupted the officer's ramblings and turned to the two men in suits who were silent and did not say a word.

He barely squeezed out a smile and said to the two people: "The Navy needs a completely new warship, an aircraft carrier that is competent enough for the air defense of the fleet. Referring to the style of the German aircraft carriers, at least 30,000 tons should be guaranteed to be able to carry at least 65 advanced carrier-based fighters - similar to the Ark Royal. ”

"The production of such aircraft carriers is very time-consuming, and if it starts immediately, it will delay the production of other ships, and it will not be able to enter service this year. A man in a suit replied, and he was the officer in charge of communication between the British Navy and the shipyard manufacturer, and his words carried a lot of weight.

"No matter how much you rush the work, you can't finish it? I have heard that the new shipbuilding technology of the Germans has greatly increased the speed of shipbuilding. Churchill frowned and asked, "And this technology has been copied back by our spies, is it so difficult to copy?"

"The Germans have a high level of craftsmanship in manufacturing, and we don't have a lot of experience in building their sectional construction technology, so even if they are adopted, they can't be used to build warships within a year. The official sighed and said, "I heard that Germany has been using this method to build Hercules-class transport ships since 1925, and they have been accumulating it for more than ten years, and our technology is not as mature as theirs." ”

"Then, according to the quality of the Ark Royal, will the new battleship be commissioned by the end of 1939?" asked Churchill helplessly.

"As much as we can, if we can start work together, we should be able to build three aircraft carriers of similar class by the end of 1939 at any cost. The man thought for a moment and said.

Churchill nodded: "Then hurry up and do it! The future of Britain rests on these warships." He knew it was just words of comfort, both to comfort others and to comfort himself. At the pace of construction of the Germans, they will soon be launching the 5th and 6th aircraft carriers, followed by the 7th and 8th...... By 1940, Germany would have a terror fleet of eight aircraft carriers, and Britain would only be able to maintain the number of aircraft carriers at seven or eight in full force, which was obviously something he did not want.

After a few seconds of silence, he cleaned up the declining mood of the British Royal Navy and looked at the other person: "How's the development of the new fighter?"

"It has been fully completed, and the new fighter is put into production in two models, and more than 100 are currently equipped. The man said proudly: "The navy model is named Dapeng, and the army model is called Dreadnought." This aircraft has been tested to completely replace the Gladiator fighters of the Navy and has a very powerful air attack capability. ”

He saw Churchill's eyes lit up, so he continued to boast: "This aircraft has a flight speed of 480 kilometers per hour, which is completely comparable to the German export version of the ME-109C fighter, and the firepower is also very powerful." ”

Of course, on the other hand, this dreadnought fighter also has its irreparable shortcomings, and in general there are three major design flaws: first, it is hindered by the cockpit, and the angle of fire directly in front of the machine gunner is only 19 degrees. When the air battle is going on quickly, it is difficult for the machine gunner to see the target clearly in a short time. The driver also did not have a special sight.

The second is the lack of space in the turret. The Heavy could not carry a parachute, and when the machine gun was pointed at the rear of the aircraft, the turret hatch was sealed, hindering escape. Therefore, when a fighter is shot down, the machine gunner must first point the turret in the direction of the pilot in order to get out of the turret and then get a parachute to escape from the cabin. In the meantime, there are many difficulties.

The third is the weight of the turret and the machine gunner, and the air resistance caused by the turret, the flight performance of its two-seat design is not as good as that of the average single-seat fighter. This one is also the most deadly, because as an air supremacy fighter, it is not as flexible as others and not as good as others, which is very fatal.

But the military is already very satisfied, after all, this kind of aircraft is much stronger than the biplane such as the gladiator in its hand. Almost without hesitation, Britain began mass production of this fighter to counter the increasingly formidable Luftwaffe fighter force.

The good news came that this aircraft with a very strange angle of attack with a turret won a French air battle, relying on sudden firing fire, British pilots shot down two patrolling FW-190D fighters, sweeping away the fear and haze of the German FW-190D within the Allied air force units.

Of course, the Navy is only equipped with a few of these aircraft, because the narrow deck of the Navy aircraft carrier is not very suitable for the take-off and landing of such aircraft compared to the land. So Churchill said: "We must also get a good grasp of the work of the new fighter! I have heard that you have found a completely new design...... At the end of 1939 at the shortest, we will catch up with the German fighter gap!"

"Yes! I see! I will urge the designers to complete the design of the new fighter as much as possible. The man nodded in agreement.

"Bell, bell!" the phone on Churchill's desk rang, a little harsh in the middle of the night. Churchill frowned, and in his memory he had not remembered the Admiralty's office phone at such a late hour.

"Hey, hello......" Churchill grabbed the phone, his instinctive premonition that something big was going to happen tonight.

"Something is wrong! Churchill! Scapa Bay's fleet has been attacked by the Germans!" said hysterically on the other end of the phone: "The Sovereign...... The Sovereign is silent! God!"

"What madness is there in the middle of the night? How could the German fleet attack Scapa Bay? I also confirmed yesterday that the aircraft carriers Reich and Zeppelin are indeed maintained in Wilhelmshaven!" Churchill scolded: "Are you stupid?"

"It's over! It's over! The Brave is burning! Get ready! This time we're done! It's really over......! ...... beet, he said the last two sentences and hung up.