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- November 9, 1941.
The North Atlantic has entered the coldest and most violent season of the year, with thick fog filling the air during the day, cold winds howling at night, and glaciers from the polar regions squeezing and colliding in the white waves. Even a majestic and majestic body like the Titanic still surrenders in front of this sea. At nearly noon, the "Rhine Exercise" plan was carried out in the Rakewell Fjord in southern Norway. The battleship "Bismarck", the battleship "Tirpitz" and the aircraft carrier "Zeppelin" had just arrived here from the Port of Danzig in Poland. , the heavy cruiser "Prinz Eugen" and the heavy cruiser "L¨¹tzow" were quietly waiting for the order to sail.
Hitler personally saw off the fleet, but it did not bring good luck. The engine of the "Zeppelin" aircraft carrier failed not long after it sailed, so the fleet had to stop here to wait for a repair ship.
In fact, as early as the end of the 1940s, the "Rhine Exercise" plan was proposed, but it was postponed because the battlecruisers "Scharnhorst" and "Gneisenau" were injured due to mechanical failures and air strikes respectively. Later, the Mediterranean and Spain distracted Hitler. It was not until recently that the United States accelerated its troop deployment to Europe that Hitler asked to restart the plan. From a certain perspective, the belated arrival of the "Rhine Exercise" was a blessing in disguise for the German Navy, because they could finally concentrate their strongest combat power.
According to the plan, the fleet will bypass the United Kingdom off the coast of Iceland, and then join the "Scharnhorst" and "Gneisenau" departing from France, and together they will enter the Atlantic to carry out the most violent attack on the British and American fleets. If There is a chance that it will also attack the British and American fleets in Gibraltar, and finally return to France.
"Damn it. It's only November and it's already so cold. It looks like this winter will be bad." A German naval engineering ship with the name "Rost" written on it quickly sailed towards the fjord. Inside the bridge, old Hakan was wrapped in a thick military coat and cursed the bad weather. Compared with Kimura Masafuku's use of the Andaman Fjord to avoid aerial searches, the German Navy was the best at using the fjord. , along the entire jagged Norwegian coastline, German submarines and warships can be seen hiding in the depths of the fjords, avoiding detection and waiting to set sail.
After returning from China. He was interviewed by Hitler, who also appointed him as the head of the naval shipbuilding project to build more urgently needed warships for Germany. With his efforts, the construction speed of U-shaped submarines has been significantly accelerated, and the "Mediterranean Fleet" plan has also begun to be implemented. Next, he also plans to promote the technology to destroyers and cruisers, and hopes to bring France, Italy, Greece, Yugoslavia and even the Soviet Union shipbuilding facilities are brought under unified management. According to his estimate. If the shipbuilding capabilities in the appeal area can be concentrated and scientifically utilized, Germany will be able to build a powerful navy comparable to China in up to four years. However, this good wish became dim due to the continuous bombing of the German coast by Britain and the United States, and a phone call from the head of state completely shattered it.
"Marshal, Admiral Gunther." After the ship docked. Hakan saw Raeder and Admiral Gunther L¨¹tjens. The latter is currently the most experienced captain in the German Navy and has experience in many maritime raids. "Captain Hakan!" Seeing him, L¨¹tjens immediately saluted. This is a kind of respect. Although Hakan has retired long ago, the legend of the "unsinkable Seydlitz" has become a symbol of the German Navy.
"The equipment has been brought, and it can be repaired in just one night." Looking at the majestic fleet on the sea, Hakan's eyes were moist, but he was worried: "Marshal, this weather is too bad. The waves will make it impossible for warships to aim. , why can't we wait any longer? The "Peter Strasser" aircraft carrier will be completed in one year, and the two H39 battleships will also be delivered by the end of 2043 and the beginning of 2044, as well as new cruisers and destroyers. 2 Year! As long as we wait 2 more years, we will have 6 battleships (Hakan regards Shane as a battleship) and 3 aircraft carriers. If we can wait 4 years, we will have 8 battleships, 8 aircraft carriers and 10 heavy cruisers ¡.¡±
"Hakan, the F¨¹hrer is not willing to wait any longer." Raeder waved his hand. Interrupt him.
It¡¯s not that he doesn¡¯t want to hear it, but it¡¯s too late to say anything now. Hitler vowed to him that there would be no war before 1944, so the German Navy's shipbuilding plans were all based on this timetable. If he had known that the war would be five years earlier, he would have definitely learned from China. In 1936, all domestic shipyards were covered. "The enemy's maritime power is strengthening, and the pace of U.S. troop growth has become unbearable for the head of state, so we must curb the rampant Atlantic shipping lanes through an attack. Winter will indeed affect operations, but the weather conditions are equal. And I think the weather The worse it is, the more it will limit their aviation power." L¨¹tjens explained why he chose to fight in winter.
Old Hakan nodded. The East Asian War proved that aircraft carriers have replaced battleships as the new overlord of the sea. But because of Goering's opposition, the German Navy did not possess its first aircraft carrier until last year, and the flying squadrons on the aircraft carrier are still affiliated with the Air Force, not the real naval aviation! This complex relationship makes the road to German aircraft carriers particularly difficult. Fortunately, Germany is in the most difficult situation in the worldThe sea, especially the high sea conditions in winter, will make it difficult for British and American carrier-based aircraft to dispatch, weakening their aviation combat capabilities, and taking advantage of the German navy's thicker armor and better artillery fire. But he still felt that the main fleet should not carry out sabotage attacks: "You can let D?nitz's submarine do these things."
"Him? Humph!" When D?nitz was mentioned, Lieutenant General L¨¹tjens snorted: "In addition to reporting the results of the war to the F¨¹hrer every day, building time-consuming and labor-intensive rat bunkers (referring to the numerous submarine bases built by Germany on the Atlantic coast), let the F¨¹hrer What else has he done for the Navy besides ending the construction of surface combatants?¡±
L¨¹tjens¡¯s words are quite representative in the German Navy. This is not to say that D?nitz was not a good soldier. In fact, D?nitz had a good reputation in the navy. The reason why everyone disliked him was because he had been using the performance of submarines to lobby Hitler to cancel the two H39 battleships and the "Peter- The construction of many capital ships, including the aircraft carrier "Strassell," diverted steel and scarce resources into more submarines. If it weren't for the cheap supplies from the Soviet Union, he almost succeeded. But in the eyes of naval men like Raeder and L¨¹tjens, the surface fleet is the only correct path to sea power.
"Let's do it quickly, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau are coming soon. We don't have much time." Redl interrupted the argument.
Hakan stopped talking nonsense and immediately brought people to replace the damaged engine parts of the "Zeppelin". After the repair work was completed at four o'clock in the morning the next day, L¨¹tjens bid farewell to the two of them and led the fleet to Bergen. However, just as it was leaving Kattegat, an American Little Shark-class submarine on a surveillance mission discovered got them. Worried about radio exposure, Captain Wesley waited for the German fleet to leave and then sent the telegram to the Allied Atlantic Naval Command in Portsmouth.
Half an hour later. The door to the HMS conference room in Whitehall was knocked open.
"They're coming out!" The staff officer waved the telegram excitedly.
In fact, as early as October, after the German Air Force strengthened its reconnaissance in Greenland and Mayen Island, the commander of the British Mainland Forces, Admiral John Tovey, keenly judged that this rare situation must be the result of a large German warship preparing to enter the Atlantic Ocean. As a precursor, they immediately strengthened their reconnaissance in the offshore waters of Norway and Iceland, deploying more than 40 submarines and 27 destroyers.
As we all know, the reason why Churchill and Britain can continue to fight. Not the Royal Air Force or the United States, but a proven world-class navy. Although it has been severely damaged and has lost more than half since the beginning of the war, it still has a deterrent force including 8 battleships and 4 aircraft carriers. As long as he had this force, Churchill would not be afraid of Hitler at all, because the weak German navy would not be able to land on the British Isles. As for the Luftwaffe, even in the most difficult air battle over the English Channel. The British can beat the crap out of them, not to mention that now the US Air Force has joined in. If we continue to fight a war of attrition in the air, whether it is pilot reserves or manufacturing capabilities, Hitler will be finished sooner.
Therefore, several battleships of the German Navy have always been a thorn in Churchill¡¯s side! Their existence not only restrained the British Home Fleet, but also prevented Britain and the United States from concentrating all their naval forces to recapture Malta. But now, they're out! An opportunity to completely annihilate the main force of the German navy is right in front of us.
"Destroy them! Sink them!" Churchill immediately gave the order hysterically over the phone.
Pound and Admiral John Tovey also knew that if this German main fleet broke into the Atlantic Ocean, it would bring huge disaster to the maritime transportation in the Atlantic Ocean! So decided to do whatever it takes. Start mobilizing troops.
The United Kingdom and the United States currently have three major combat forces in the Atlantic Ocean, namely the British Home Fleet, which has the battleship "King George V", the battleship "Prince of Wales", the battleship "Duke of York", the battleship "Resolution", the battleship "Warrior", The battleship "Rodney", the aircraft carrier "Glorious", the aircraft carrier "Ark Royal", the aircraft carrier "Formidable", as well as a Borg-class escort aircraft carrier and 11 light and heavy cruisers. Several of them are the capital ships of the Mediterranean Fleet. They were injured in the "Trebuchet" operation and the Italian attack on Alexandria and returned to China for repairs. Since Malta was cut off, they have been stationed on the mainland and Gibraltar.
The second combat force is the U.S. 2nd Task Force stationed in Gibraltar. Commander Fletcher owns the aircraft carrier "Wasp", "Bornet", battleship "New Mexico", battleship "Mississippi", "Nevada" USS battleship, USS Oklahoma and 23 destroyers and cruisers. The latter two battleships were damaged in the Battle of Wake Island at the beginning of the year. It was sent back to the East Coast for repairs and refits. In view of the critical situation in the Atlantic Ocean, it was immediately transferred here after repairs.
The third combat force is the U.S. 4th Task Force stationed in the Bermuda Islands. Commander Kincaid owns the "Raider" aircraft carrier. 2 Borg-class escort aircraft carriers, the battleship "North Carolina", the battleship "Washington", the battleship "West Virginia", the "The battleship USS Nashville, as well as 8 light and heavy cruisers and 20 destroyers. Among them, the USS Tennessee also participated in the Battle of Wake Island, and the USS West Virginia was just transferred to the Atlantic at the beginning of last month.
In addition to the above three forces, there are 2 Borg-class escort aircraft carriers undergoing sea trials on the east coast of the United States, 2 battleships and multiple destroyer cruisers that can be mobilized. The former French Navy battleship "Jean-Bar" purchased by the United States The battleship is also nearing completion. Being able to still have such a strong combat power after suffering continuous heavy losses shows how strong the foundations of the two major naval powers are.
In the eyes of outsiders, it would be easy for such a powerful combat force to destroy the German fleet, but this was not the case. On the contrary, it encountered a lot of trouble.
The first is the speed of the battleship! To sum it up in one sentence, "Those who can catch up cannot be beaten, and those who can be beaten cannot catch up."
According to intelligence, the speed of the two "Bismarcks" and the two "Scharnhorsts" exceeded 30 knots. On the other hand, in the UK, because the "Hood" was sunk, no battleship could catch up with the opponent at this time. Even if the three King George V-class battleships could barely pursue them at a speed of 29 knots, their pre-war decision-making errors left them with only ten 356mm guns, while the other 15-inch battleships were all slow-moving turtles.
Neither can the United States. The new North Carolina class only has 28 knots and cannot catch up.
" If you can't catch up, you can't catch up. Anyway, you can use numbers to encircle and suppress them. What's more, Britain and the United States have 11 aircraft carriers. Marshal Pound thought so, so he called Halsey, the commander-in-chief of the US Navy Atlantic, who was retiring in England. The hot-tempered "Man Niu" jumped for joy when he heard that the "German Bitch" had come out. He immediately called Fletcher and Kincaid and asked all warships to be mobilized. He also shouted that he would take command personally. But Fletcher and Kincaid poured cold water on him because the U.S. aircraft carrier was unable to enter the Atlantic Ocean during the winter.
"What!" Churchill's face became angry after receiving the reply from the US military. Even the mild-tempered Marshal Pound initially believed that the U.S. military was deliberately inactive, so he called King and called his fleet "porcelain." Jin En had a hard time saying that even Yang Qiu felt that he was wronged when he learned about it later. You know, the North Atlantic in winter is really no joke. The average wind speed exceeds 130 kilometers per hour, and the waves are often seven or eight meters high. The remaining three U.S. fleet-type aircraft carriers did not consider the harsh environment of the North Atlantic at the beginning of their design, so they all have wooden decks, open bows and hangars, which are completely unable to maintain takeoff and landing in such harsh sea conditions. The only two Lexingtons that could enter have been sunk, and the Essex class with a closed bow will not be delivered until the end of 1942.
Even the "Zeppelin" of the German Navy, which deals with the North Sea every day, actually has a very poor wave protection design. Because it cannot overcome the harsh sea conditions, the number of carrier-based aircraft is pitiful.
Of course, if they really want to fight hard, the American aircraft carrier can also imitate the Germans and rush in to fight. But the problem is that the United States only has three fleet aircraft carriers left at the moment, and it has to take care of the Mediterranean and Egypt. If another accident occurs, I am afraid that the U.S. Navy can only serve as a "garrison fleet" before the end of 2042. After listening to Jin En's explanation, Pound knew that he had been wronged. Fortunately, the Royal Navy still had three heavy aircraft carriers.
British ship design during World War II was definitely second to none. Because of the harsh sea in the North Atlantic and the complex sea conditions of colonies all over the world, even Yang Qiu has always wanted to learn British shipbuilding technology and design. British aircraft carriers adhere to this design philosophy, so they are all heavy-duty aircraft carriers with enclosed bows and hangars and armored decks. Although this will result in a smaller aircraft capacity, their safety and take-off and landing performance are definitely ahead of the rest of the world.
Although King was worried about the loss and did not let his aircraft carrier rush in to fight, he still asked Fletcher and Kincaid to dispatch all the battleships to participate in the encirclement and suppression, and asked them to place the aircraft carrier in safer waters between Newfoundland and the United Kingdom. Make sure you can rush in for support if necessary. Finally, he resolutely rejected Halsey's application to lead the fleet, leaving Fletcher and Kincaid in charge of the encirclement and suppression.
On the morning of November 11, a U.S. reconnaissance aircraft took the lead in confirming that the battlecruiser "Scharnhorst", the battlecruiser "Gneisenau" and the light cruiser "Leipzig" hiding in France had disappeared.
In the afternoon, the British Royal Navy and Air Force, which deployed all their air reconnaissance forces, finally discovered the target off the coast of Bergen, Norway. The Spitfire fighter piloted by pilot Lieutenant Secling took a clear photo. When the intelligence officer developed the photo and saw clearly the two battleships, two heavy cruisers and one aircraft carrier, he shook his fist fiercely.
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