The waters northeast of the British Isle were known as the North Sea, and it was the main line of defense for the German Navy to blockade Germany. At this moment, the sharp bow of a new German destroyer split the sea like a knife, and the white waves churned left and right, scattering to both sides, facing the strong wind and undulating waves, speeding on the endless sea.

And behind the side of this destroyer, another warship can be vaguely seen breaking the waves, and on the masts of the two warships, the signal lights are flashing back and forth, regular and mysterious. Farther away, another warship sailed in formation, soldiers wiping the pale yellow wooden deck with rags on the deck, humming out-of-tune songs.

Warships one after the other, forming a huge fleet, several destroyers lined up, followed by cruisers, and behind the cruisers, followed by two huge aircraft carriers. The waves cut through the bow of the entire fleet stretched for thousands of meters, and it was a spectacular sight.

"Helmsman! Steady the direction! Send a signal to the aircraft carrier 'Reich,' the flagship of the fleet! Report the normal news, and the rest can be handed over to the fleet reconnaissance plane!" A German naval officer wearing a black double-breasted officer's uniform on the upper body and white straight officer's pants on the lower body stood in the command cabin, looking at the sea with binoculars longer than the army-type telescope on the shaky destroyer: "About 36 degrees to the southwest! Keep course!" First mate, go check out our new equipment and check how it works. ”

"Yes! The aircraft carrier 'Reich' replied that the Second Squadron of the High Seas Fleet and supply ships had entered the waters of the North Sea, which was the territory of the British, and the flagship ordered us to be on increased alert for possible British ships in the vicinity. The first mate took the text clip from the midshipman's hand, looked at the telegram inside, and said.

"Adjust the course! Correct 15 degrees to the south. Prepare all artillery shells! Second class alert! Raise the naval battle flag, and all non-commissioned officers will be on duty after five minutes, and they will not leave without permission!" The captain issued a series of orders, and the whole destroyer was in a commotion.

The 88 mm guns in the bow of the destroyer were covered with canvas that had been torn off by the sailors, the pitch-black barrels pointed hideously at the sea level in the distance, the Red Battle Flag of the German Navy was raised to the top of the mast, the roar of the machinery when accelerating, the black smoke spewed out through the chimney in the center of the ship, the rumbling sound was really panicking.

The 40 mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns began to point slowly into the sky, the torpedoes were ready, and the destroyer was now like a little hedgehog with a piercing hand, and there was a tense atmosphere everywhere.

On the aircraft carrier Reich, the core of the fleet, Fleet Commander Gonser Ruetjens received an encrypted emergency message from home with a frown. A brief message was clearly written on the paper: "The main force of the British Royal Navy is missing, and in the event of interception, return to the military port of Kiel is a priority." Don't be reckless. ”

"How did we get the news? We are already in the North Sea...... "Gang Se Lütyans was obviously a little dissatisfied with the speed of the Navy's intelligence transmission, and casually handed the text to the commander of the air force, and at the same time ordered: "Send out all the reconnaissance planes at once to reconnoiter the nearby sea." The fleet canceled the radio silence and sent a telegram to General Raeder saying that the confluence plan had been cancelled and that our troops had withdrawn back to the military port of Kiel. ”

He glanced at his first mate: "The course is adjusted to due north, and after taking off the plane, it is adjusted to the northwest, and this order is conveyed." ”

Alarm bells also began to blow on the aircraft carrier, and ground crews pushed the reconnaissance two-seater FW-190 in the aircraft carrier's hangar onto the elevator, and technicians were urgently opening the folded wings for the aircraft. Several pilots and navigators had already strapped their parachute backpacks and were discussing the details of the reconnaissance mission with the commander and intelligence analyst around them.

"I understand that as soon as I take off I will search north to make sure that the return route to the port of Kiel is safe...... If you encounter an opposing reconnaissance plane, try not to make contact. One of the pilots pointed to the charts and said, "When I run out of fuel, I should join the fleet around here, right?"

"Yes, if you encounter an opposing plane and there is no way to avoid it, shoot them down. Pointing to the chart, one officer added: "Mark the location of the downed enemy plane accurately, but first make sure that the position of the opposing fleet is transmitted back." ”

"Yes! Several pilots and chartplotters nodded, exchanged a few words of blessing, and then went separately to their respective reconnaissance planes.

From the bridge, Gonse Lütjans watched one after another carrier-based reconnaissance planes taking off, retracted his gaze, and ordered: "Send a signal, all warships equipped with radars, turn on radars, and search the nearby sea surface." ”

And to the northwest of the fleet of Lütjans, about 40 kilometers away, a huge fleet with no end in sight was sailing in formation, the roar of machinery and the sound of waves crashing against the hull formed a majestic melody, and the main fleet of the British Royal Navy's home fleet was advancing at full speed.

Several battleships arrived from the British mainland, and the British fleet gathered 5 battleships and 4 aircraft carriers in one go, counting the huge number of escort fleets, this fleet can be regarded as one of the largest naval fleets of mankind at this stage.

After some discussion, the British naval commanders felt that it was a bit overkill to divide the German High Seas Fleet and annihilate half of it, so they deliberately slowed down the speed of the voyage in order to block the entire German High Seas Fleet after the merger and put an end to Germany's ridiculous dream of dominating the Atlantic Ocean once and for all in the North Sea.

So now they set up an encirclement in the western waters of Denmark, and deployed a large number of high-speed destroyers and cruisers on the periphery in an attempt to slow down the escape of the German navy, and once the main force of the German fleet was delayed, the battleships and heavy cruisers cruising not far away would rush over and sink the entangled German warships. In short, after 1919, the Ocean Navy, which had been silent for a long time, once again became the vanguard of the war.

"Report to the captain! The fleet command ship 'Imperial' has called: The radar system is fully deployed, the sea is on alert, and the operation begins! The course is changed, turn due north, and advance at the fastest speed of the fleet. "Almost at the same time that the Royal Navy began to speed up, the first mate of almost all the warships of the German Navy was reporting to his captain the orders of Admiral Lütjans.

"Radar on!" A technician shouted on the huge radar search screen, staring at those dense small bright spots: "The field of vision is clear, the radar is working normally, and I can see every ship in the fleet." ”

The German escort destroyers and cruisers were busy, and the sailors and soldiers on the aircraft carriers were not idle, they were preparing the fighters below deck, and ten fighters were torpedoed and ready to take to the skies.

An aviation commander hurriedly ran from the command room downstairs to the bridge where Lütjans was located with a telegram and handed him a piece of paper: "General! The reconnaissance plane that had just taken off had spotted the British reconnaissance plane in the clouds nearby, and we were indeed targeted. ”

"Call all the torpedo-loaded fighters to take off, we can't be so passively beaten. Lütjans said fiercely: "Spare the Stuka dive bombers! Before we adjust the course, 40 fighters must take off." ”

The commander of the aviation unit nodded and ran out, and the first mate of Luteyans picked up the intercom and ordered loudly: "Sound the battle alarm!"

"Uh......h Woo ......" The mournful sirens echoed across the warship, and in all the cabins and corridors, the red battle sirens flashed with a palpitating light. The radio silence was broken by the two fighters flying into the sky, and it was filled with the pilot's debriefing and various orders from the command system on the warship.

"The destroyers on the periphery spotted the enemy ship, which was supposed to be a destroyer, due north of us, at a distance of about 27 nautical miles. An officer reported loudly.

"Reconnaissance aircraft No. 04 called, they found a battleship, being expelled by British Air Force fighters, they were entangled. Another officer in charge of the radio followed aloud.

"How many fighters have taken off?" a liaison officer held up the telephone receiver and asked loudly: "It's too noisy to hear clearly! Is it ten or twenty? Make it clear! I can't hear clearly!" Everyone on the entire bridge has their own questions for which they are responsible, and all kinds of contact confirmation voices are heard for a while.

"Over there is no intelligence feedback from the submarine force?" asked the first mate beside him with a frown.

"I heard that the army was about to start operations on the Western Front, so Dönitz's side gathered the submarines on the ocean, preparing to deal the heaviest blow to Britain at the first time. So the intelligence gathering was delayed. The first mate replied.

Lu Teyans nodded, and then said, "Record this matter and send it to the Führer." ”

The first mate was stunned for a moment, and then replied, "Yes, I understand." ”

Now the situation of the entire German fleet is very bad, and if we talk about the fleet's ability to fight against the sea, in fact, the entire fleet can be said to be extremely weak: the largest caliber of naval guns is only 150 mm, which is about the same as that of British destroyers.

Therefore, in addition to air defense and anti-submarine capabilities, German destroyers can only be considered large gunboats in the UK, and German cruisers can barely be considered large British destroyers. This left the German fleet lacking the "hand-to-hand" combat capability of naval artillery bombardment, and was a bit like an archer in an online game, relying on powerful long-range attack capabilities to take out opponents.

Theoretically speaking, the combat mode provided by Accardo, which has mastered the mode of future naval warfare, is undoubtedly advanced, but the German Navy is unable to improve its own operational command level for a while, so the current German Navy still lacks the courage to really take that step forward.