Chapter 566 The Battle of the Sea (Part 1) - for the small side people
On the ninth day of the siege, the anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns of the Gibraltar Fortress had completely lost their role in blocking the German air force. The airport in front of the fortress had become pitted and completely unusable. Its only use was probably to provide space for the attacking axis.
Xin provided some cover. Starting from the eleventh day, aircraft carriers of Fleet H began to dispatch aircraft. However, this was not good news. It meant that Fleet H already felt that the fortress was in danger.
The Italian fleet stopped near Parma, seemingly waiting for something. Maybe it was the fall of the fortress, maybe it was an active attack by Fleet H, who knows. But with the fleet's eager eyes, Fleet H could no longer move.
Mitchell's thinking was already a little confused, and his long-term lack of sleep caused his judgment to decline rapidly. He felt that his eyelids kept protesting, and he really needed to rest.
Your Excellency General, Your Excellency, a non-commissioned officer came in. He called for a while before Mitchell came back to his senses. He looked at the non-commissioned officer and asked, "What's the matter? Has the enemy started to attack?"
The sergeant quickly said no, General, they are reinforcements. London has sent reinforcements.
When Mitchell heard about the reinforcements, he suddenly became smart. He quickly took the telegram and saw that it said that London would send a main fleet to support in the near future, asking him to hold on to the end.
Mitchell laughed and said, "Great, great. Reinforcements are coming. Reinforcements are coming." After saying that, he fell down on the chair next to him. The frightened sergeant hurriedly hugged him, but found that he slowly let out
He stopped snoring and actually fell asleep. The sergeant smiled slightly, called a few soldiers to help put Mitchell on the bed, saluted him and turned to leave.
In England, a huge fleet set off in the dark night. Churchill watched the fleet slowly disappear into the night from the port, took a deep puff of his pipe, and prayed secretly in his heart.
Outside the military port, there was a special submarine that could only hold one person. It slowly lowered its periscope.
Berlin
Führer, it’s an emergency. Erich Raeder walked into Hitler’s office and said, “My Führer, I just received the news that the British army has dispatched its main force, five battleships alone, and six aircraft carriers.
When the war began, Britain's naval strength was tied with the United States for first place. Among them, the large ships included 4 aircraft carriers, 12 battleships, 2 light aircraft carriers, and 3 battlecruisers. Among these large aircraft carriers, the Fury was being remodeled in the United States at this time.
Ark Royal belongs to H Fleet, HMS Brave and Glorious were sunk. Among the light aircraft carriers, HMS Arenas is in service in the Far East Fleet, and the aircraft carrier HMS Eagle is in the Mediterranean Fleet.
But after the war started, Britain immediately increased the construction of aircraft carriers. Firstly, it was because the construction time of battleships was too long and too expensive. Secondly, it was also for escort considerations. The escort range of aircraft carriers was much wider than that of battleships. First of all, it was inherently
The large fleet aircraft carriers under construction: Glory, Victory, Formidable, and Indomitable were completed one after another. They were also equipped with many escort aircraft carriers and light aircraft carriers that were converted from merchant tankers or scrap battleships, and the ones that were originally planned to be discarded were used again.
Old ships such as the Hundred-Eyed Giant, there were more than a dozen aircraft carriers of various sizes at this time, not including the HMS Brave and the HMS Glory, which had been sunk, so the six aircraft carriers dispatched by Britain were actually not many at all.
When Hitler heard this, he said with great joy, what kind of ship did the British take the bait?
Redel nodded and said it was not clear exactly what ship it was. Since they set off in the dark, our intelligence personnel could not see clearly. They could only judge from the outline that there were so many large ships.
Hitler nodded and said okay, then just act according to the plan, I will ask Goering to cooperate with you. Where is our ship now?
Redel walked to the map, held the baton and said that he would probably arrive at the port of Brest tonight. The preparations were already made there.
Hitler waved his arms with great joy and said that the time was just right. This must be something God is blessing. Then why should we hesitate? Let’s fight.
Redel stood with a straight salute and said that the navy will definitely create miracles for the Führer.
Redel returned to the Admiralty as quickly as possible, and the orders were conveyed along the radio waves. The two giant ships that had just stopped to complete the replenishment set sail again. This time, they were no longer two sisters.
Rather, it is a mighty and large fleet.
On the other side of the sea, a large fleet is marching in the dark night. This fleet has dozens of ships of various sizes. It is the absolute main force of the British Navy. Its flagship is the battleship Nelson, where Admiral John Tovey is stationed.
John Tovey was nearly sixty years old at this time. He came from a military family and had a tough and tenacious character. He commanded the Mediterranean Fleet at the beginning of the war and achieved considerable feats in the battle against the Italian Navy. Although the mission this time was to rescue the Strait of Gibraltar.
and Fleet H, but he intuitively felt that the Axis powers must have other conspiracies, so he fought against all opinions and dispatched five battleships, the George V, the Prince of Wales, the Duke of York, the Nelson, the Revenge, and another five battleships.
Two large aircraft carriers, the Victory and the Formidable, two old modified aircraft carriers, the Unicorn light aircraft carrier and the Arena Centauri, as well as nearly twenty heavy and light destroyers, as well as troop carriers and cargo ships.
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John Tovey's idea is very simple. Since the Axis powers may have a conspiracy, then use absolute strength to defeat the conspiracy. If the German army dispatches the main navy, then it can just send them into the water, and then they can use the aircraft carrier to transfer and continuously
The direction of Gibraltar is supported.
Your Excellency, Commander, it will be dawn soon. We have now crossed the Celtic Sea and will soon enter the Cantabrian Sea. Go and have a rest. John Tovey's adjutant said to him.
John Tovey shook his head and said that after daybreak, he immediately sent out a reconnaissance plane to patrol within a hundred nautical miles around us. I always have a bad feeling.
In order to take care of the slower ships, John Tovey's fleet has a speed of less than twenty knots. Their specific route is to make an arc and bypass the waters around France and Spain in order to avoid possible dangers and also
It can minimize possible interference from German army aviation.
After dawn, the reconnaissance plane patrolled around and found no suspicious ships. John Tovey couldn't help but feel a little strange. Was he really too sensitive?
No reconnaissance planes have discovered it, let alone radar. At this time, the British ship radar can only detect a distance of more than 20 kilometers, but when it reaches that position, it can almost fire.
On April 27, John Tovey's fleet crossed the Cantabrian Sea and was about to reach the waters near Portugal.
John Tovey touched his chin and thought doubtfully that he was really paranoid. The Axis Powers had never thought of confronting him on the sea.
At night, the fleet began to turn eastward, preparing to reach the Strait of Gibraltar diagonally.
Due to the lack of intelligence support, the British fleet did not receive the intelligence that the German-French combined fleet had been attacking for a long time. What John Tovey did not know even more was that the German Admiralty judged that no matter what the route of the British fleet, the ultimate target was the Strait of Gibraltar.
, so you only need to monitor the waters around Portugal and Spain to find the opponent. Although Dönitz is a submariner and has used submarines to sink more than two million tons of supplies since the beginning of the war, he understands better that submarines can obtain
Although he failed to win the battle, he could not win the final war. In history, after Hitler's failure in the Battle of the Barents Sea, he believed that the surface fleet was not worth retaining and demanded that all fleets be dismantled. It was Dönitz who persuaded Hitler to retain the fleet.
At this time, he was naturally willing to serve the overall interests of the navy. Of course, he also received Redel's guarantee that he would no longer attack the submarine faction.
At this time, Germany had more than 300 submarines, including more than 100 of the latest Seawolf submarines. Dönitz sent hundreds of submarines to ambush in the vast waters west of Portugal and Spain, waiting for the appearance of the British fleet.
And most of them are wave submarines.
John Tovey's vigilance actually harmed him. Endless aerial reconnaissance made Dönitz's submarine force discover the existence of John Tovey's fleet early. Dönitz immediately passed the news to the commander of the mixed fleet Gang.
Admiral Serlutjens, whose flagship is the Bismarck. Lütjens, who was a member of the navy during World War I, looked forward to leading the German navy to glory more than anyone else. When he obtained Dönitz's intelligence
, immediately asked Dönitz to slowly shrink the submarine. He wanted to decide the world in one battle.
At 7:42 a.m. on April 27, John Tovey's reconnaissance plane suddenly discovered a large fleet appearing in the northwest less than 90 nautical miles away from the fleet. The fleet included the flags of Vichy France and Nazi Germany.
Flag, looking at the escaping reconnaissance plane, Lütjens's eyes shrank, the enemy was in front, he immediately ordered the reconnaissance plane to follow, contact the air force, and be ready to support at any time
Many people think that the German Navy did not have a single aircraft during World War II. This is both right and wrong. The German Navy did not have aircraft carriers and a large number of carrier-based aircraft, but Goering was extremely generous and left the Navy with a small number of seaplanes and long-range aircraft.
Reconnaissance aircraft, but these aircraft can really only do reconnaissance, and the fish they carry may only be useful when encountering lone merchant ships.
Göring, who was having breakfast on the other side, couldn't help but smile when he heard the news that the Navy requested the support of the Air Force. He took a bite of bread and said, "Don't worry. Our Air Force is not the slave of the Navy. We should wait for the British planes to arrive before calling outside to join the war."
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Opposite him was a Chinese man. After listening to Goering's words, he smiled slightly and said, Marshal Goering, in addition to asking me to give you a gift, our boss also asked me to tell you something.
Golin wiped his hands in a haha and said, "Jiang is too polite. You have to change your character of giving gifts when you don't agree with me. You have been coming to my place for breakfast every day this week, and my wife is almost going to have a problem with it."
, tell me, what to say
Chen Nan smiled slightly and said: Our boss said that if the sea battle is successful, everything will be fine. If it fails, the navy will definitely shift the responsibility to you. By then, I am afraid that the Zeppelin's problems will no longer be able to be prevented.
Goering was stunned. He looked at Chen Nan and touched his beard with a serious expression. He was not surprised that Jiang Cheng knew the news about the naval battle. After all, the relationship between Dönitz and him was known to the upper echelons of Germany, and Jiang Cheng's words
But the meaning in it made him keep savoring it. Yes, if the naval battle is successful, it means that the navy can do without aircraft. If it fails, then the navy will definitely shirk the responsibility, and its own air force support will definitely become their shirk.
direction, maybe the head of state will agree to the construction of the Zeppelin. After all, among the major countries, only Germany does not have an aircraft carrier.
After Golin figured it out, he laughed and said, "Look at Jiang, he is indeed my good friend. Let's do this. You can pick three of the paintings in my house and take them as you like. I have some things to do, so I won't entertain you."
Chen Nan immediately stood up and bowed and said thank you for the hospitality. On behalf of my employer, I would like to thank you for your generosity.
Golin nodded with satisfaction and left. Chen Nan looked at Golin's back, snorted softly, and then began to pick paintings under the leadership of the guards.
At this time, John Tovey also received the news that there was a large fleet nearby. He took a long breath, and what was supposed to come had arrived. He looked at the photos taken by the reconnaissance plane, and his face suddenly became unhappy.
Looking at the photo, the opponent seems to have four main battleships, which are very powerful. John Tovey thought for a while and said, but the German navy has a weakness, that is, it does not have an aircraft carrier. He ordered the aircraft carrier of the Unicorn to launch a test attack.
, ordered the George V, the Prince of Wales, the Duke of York, and the Nelson to form a formation. The remaining heavy cruisers, light cruisers, and destroyers were organized into seven pairs according to Plan C. The first and third teams were preparing to attack with us, and the Revenge led the others.
Ships, advance towards Gibraltar, the Victory, the Formidable, the Arena, the Unicorn, stay fifteen nautical miles away from us and provide maritime support.
The fleet was immediately divided into three regiments, and it took almost an hour to complete all formations. By this time, the distance between the two armies had narrowed to 60 nautical miles, and the British army's first air attack began.
The German fleet was more than 200 kilometers away from the land at this time, and the maximum range of the Air Force aircraft Moxa that came to support was only 810 kilometers. This made the aircraft's time in the air very short, let alone actively attack the British Navy, and
The German army did not have an aircraft specifically designed for naval warfare, and the pilots had little experience in throwing torpedoes. Therefore, although Goering was determined to provide help, he could only protect the safety of the mixed fleet.