In the vast sea, a huge fleet has been quietly assembled, countless transport ships and warships shuttle between them, in front of all this, human beings seem small and abnormal. This is probably the most spectacular spectacle of industrial civilization challenging nature, after all, these warships can be said to have ruled the seas for almost a hundred years.

Although it is already the southern part of the North Atlantic, and the water is no longer cold, the waves still sway back and forth on the ships, always reminding people that this is not a good place for calm and calm, but a dangerous battlefield that can become rough at any time.

The fleet, with its lights flickering to echo the proper radio silence, was ordered to Gibraltar, through which they reached Italy to engage the Germans. I don't know which fool drew up this unfortunate plan, and it didn't even take into account the factor of cooperation.

The Allies, like the Germans, had extensive experience in landing across the sea. When the Germans landed in Britain and went on an expedition to Norway, they accumulated rich experience in cross-sea landing operations, while Britain and the United States won a series of landing operations in the Pacific theater. This time, however, it was not a landing operation, but a covert transport of so many troops through enemy-occupied areas and landing in the heart of the enemy's army -- this was the first time that the British and American forces had landed in the heart of the enemy.

But how could such a huge transport fleet completely evade the detection of the Germans? The German ocean-going submarines all over the ocean, the various long-range reconnaissance planes that took off from Britain and France, and Gibraltar...... The German army on the opposite side had a myriad of means to detect the naval power of this Anglo-American alliance in advance.

"Destroyer No. 97 has signaled that they have just heard some irregular noises, suspecting that it is an enemy submarine......" A colonel walked up to the side of the fleet commander, Admiral Dudley Pound, commander-in-chief of the British Royal Navy, and immediately reported: "This is the second danger alert today, we are close to the danger zone, and if we continue like this, we will be completely annihilated by the German navy in Gibraltar." ”

Dudley Pound sighed helplessly, he didn't know that his fleet was in danger ahead? At least three days after he sailed with the main fleet of the Royal Navy, he received a piece of information from the United States: The whereabouts of the main fleet of the German Navy were unknown.

This means that at least five aircraft carriers of the German Navy have left the harbor where they are stationed and sailed out to the surface of the Atlantic Ocean. Who this enemy fleet is coming for, Dudley Pound naturally knows in his heart. But the landing in Italy was too important for the whole war situation, and even he could not afford to cancel the plan of action casually. He could only bite the bullet and lead the fleet around a huge circle, approaching Gibraltar as covertly as possible.

"Now it depends on whether the Italian fleet has the ability to interfere with the fortress of Gibraltar and let us escape from this mortal encirclement and ascend to heaven. Dudley Pound put his hands behind his back, and his tone was full of hesitation and vacillation: "If that German fleet is really in Gibraltar, I can only say that it is our grave." ”

Behind him, an admiral from the United States put his hands behind his back, barely squeezed out a smile, and said, "General, don't be so pessimistic, right? We are only responsible for escorting the mission, and we don't really need to approach the Strait of Gibraltar...... Even if it's going to be a little bit of a loss, I don't think it's too big, right?"

That's because you haven't competed with the Germans' aircraft carriers! Compared with the Japanese, the Germans are more proficient in playing carrier-based aircraft, right? Is it better that the Germans' carrier-based planes are of higher quality? More importantly, the Germans can completely fight in the cover circle of land-based aviation, and is there anything more depressing than this?

With the deployment of the Germans in Gibraltar, hundreds of aircraft could be dispatched at will, and with the number of fighters in the aircraft carrier fleet, the German army had a clear overwhelming advantage. On the Allied side, on the other hand, three escort aircraft carriers that had just been launched, plus one Ark Royal, the number of planes that could take off was probably not even a third of the opponent's. If this is not a gift to the other party, then what does it mean?

"Two originally hostile countries cooperated...... How is it possible to keep an operation of this magnitude completely secret, including military, port transport, naval warfare, and almost everything involved?" said Dudley Pound in a lamented voice: "You are really stupid to be a spy for the Germans?"

"This is what worries me the most, because so far, the German intelligence services have behaved too well in this operation. They have been realizing it all the time, and it is almost like they are deliberately putting water on us. The American general, apparently, did not want to see his fleet being calculated by the Germans like this, so he thought for a moment and said, "Let the fleet adjust its course and slow down its advance?"

Dudley Pound nodded, agreeing to this adjustment. He himself was unwilling to carry out this plan, not to mention the fact that there had just been an alarm that he might be discovered by an enemy submarine. Therefore, he also felt that he should change the parameters of the voyage in order to free his fleet from some possible calculations of the German army: "Order the fleet to slow down by another 4 knots, and maintain the current formation and course 15 degrees to the left!"

"Understood! Slow down 4 knots, turn the rudder 15 degrees to the left, and adjust the course!" After the helmsman turned the steering wheel in his hand, he repeated the general's order loudly, and in the sky, the naval P-40 fighters escorting the entire fleet were still circling, vigilantly patrolling the sky in the distance.

"Sir, a telegram from Washington!" A British non-commissioned officer pinched the telegram in his hand, came behind General Dudley Pound, stood up and saluted, and said: "It has just been translated, and it is encrypted with the highest level of cipher!"

"Read!" Dudley Pound received a confirmation telegram from Washington every hour, and he had received countless such confirmation telegrams since his fleet left Canada. If there are no special circumstances, he doesn't need to reply, just sign for it. So he didn't even have any interest in reading it, but just casually opened his mouth and instructed his subordinates to read the message again.

"The luna plan has been exposed, the mission has been canceled, and the fleet will return immediately!" the officer seemed to tremble as he read the message, and he himself could not believe his eyes, after all, he had even left his will when he left Canada.

"Huh?" Dudley Pound walked over in disbelief, snatched the telegram from the officer's hand, and lowered his head to confirm word by word. And the American generals behind him also came to his side and followed him to check the contents of the above...... Unfortunately, that was exactly what the message was.

"Italy's plans have been exposed? yes, how could it not be exposed......" Dudley Pound smiled bitterly. He didn't know whether to laugh excitedly or shed tears of sadness. On the one hand, it is exciting news that his fleet still has tens of thousands of men who do not have to venture to Italy, but on the other hand, it also means that the opportunity to use Italy to turn the tide in North Africa and to put Britain in order has completely disappeared.

However, as a famous admiral of the British Navy, Dudley Pound still had a clear sense of priorities. He immediately ordered to break the radio silence and send a telegram to Washington confirming the accuracy of this order. He then ordered the entire fleet to immediately change course and go south to avoid a possible encounter.

"All ships of the fleet, immediately the right full rudder. He raced against time to give the order to turn around, and then went on to order the air defense vigilance to be strengthened: "Let the escort aircraft carriers clear their decks and be ready to take off fighters at any time! After completing the fleet turn, immediately leave this sea area to the south." ”

......

"In another 20 minutes, the Allied fleet should be within our attack range......" Looking at the pocket watch on his chest, the captain of a German Navy destroyer sneered, revealing an expression of ambition: "Prepare for anti-aircraft weapons, and the radar will be turned on in 17 minutes to search!"

About 10 kilometers behind him, on the deck of a German aircraft carrier, one after another FW-190 air-cooled fighter jets were loading bombs under the wings. This time, the Germans were determined to succeed and prepared to encircle and annihilate the Anglo-American fleet that had entered the pocket of Gibraltar in one fell swoop.

Farther away, at the fortress of Gibraltar, the coastal defense cannons originally deployed here have lifted their camouflage canvases, revealing their hideous fangs, these huge weapons that were originally placed here by the British, were prepared to blockade the entire strait, and now they are under the operation of German artillery, pointing in the direction where the British navy, the former master, may appear.

"Reconnaissance submarine No. 6 is calling! The target has not passed through his warning area! We have lost the target!" Just as Lutjens was full of ambition and preparing to win a battle in Gibraltar to annihilate the British and American Atlantic Fleets, the next piece of information poured down from his head like a basin of cold water.

"The enemy fleet has turned! Lost its track! They did not continue near Gibraltar!" said Lytjans, who had marked it on the chart, knowing that he was still careless. In order to be sure, he did not arrange aerial reconnaissance, which allowed him to lose two-thirds of his ability to track the enemy fleet at once.

"Damn! These cunning fellows actually sensed the danger at the last moment and turned around?" Lutjens threw the pencil in his hand on the chart table, and ordered with hatred: "All the radars are turned on, and we will launch a pursuit to the north! I can't let the combined transport fleet of the United States and Britain run away from my hands so easily!"