Bismarck

"Okay, okay, ignore your sister." Zeppelin smiled slightly, and then the cold atmosphere all over his body just disappeared. "Nice to meet you, sister Tirpitz."

She raised her hand and touched Ti Zi's head in the illusory space.

"Me too! I've heard about you from my sister a long time ago!" Tizi said excitedly, "You're so beautiful."

As soon as Zeppelin started laughing, Tirpitz felt that there was no barrier between them and quickly let go. This little girl would talk a lot once she let go.

"You are very cute too." Zeppelin said with a smile.

"You two seem to get along quite well." Bismarck muttered to herself. Grape had already started calling her sister in a very familiar way. This reality really made her feel depressed.

What a world where height matters!

Full of malice!

"But sister, how should I call you from now on?" Tirpitz suddenly asked "Sister is sister, and so are you, it's easy to mix it up!"

"You don't have to call me sister." Bismarck said bitterly. She was very unhappy about Ti Zi's treason.

"You should call her sister, and just call me Zeppelin. Actually, I'm about the same age as you." Zeppelin said.

"is this okay?"

"no problem."

"Well, Zeppelin, I'll call you Zeppelin."

"Remember to come to me when you get to the shore. Your sister told me that you like delicious food, so I prepared it for you."

"Really?" Tizi jumped up happily, "Wait for me!!!"

After Tirpitz docked, he quickly followed Lindemann to the Zeppelin. Lütjens and Lindemann naturally continued to study tactics. Then Bismarck took Tirpitz to wander around the Zeppelin. The huge size of the Zeppelin made this girl who had never seen the world praise it constantly.

Training, studying tactics, replenishment... everyone is preparing for the upcoming war. After all, this is the first debut of the aircraft carrier Zeppelin.

Except for two guys who only know how to eat...

Time passed day by day, and just like that, the Zeppelin aircraft carrier headed for her first battlefield...

On the night of August 8, a fleet that almost carried all of Germany's hopes for maritime power, under the cover of darkness, maintained radio silence and blackout, and slowly and quietly sailed out of the Skagerrak Strait.

The battleship Tirpitz, the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper, and eight destroyers Z4 Richard Betzern, Z5 Paul Jacob, Z6 Theodor Riedel, Z8 Bruno Heinemann, Z10 Hans Rody, Z14 Friedrich Ian, Z15 Erich Steinbrink, and Z18 Hans Lüdemann formed a huge double-ring formation. Surrounded by the formation like the moon surrounded by stars, was the formation's flagship, commanded by Admiral Lütjens, the new commander of the German Navy's Grand Fleet - the Graf Zeppelin aircraft carrier loaded with the German Air Force's "TRAEGER" GR186 carrier-based aircraft wing!

Their mission was to attack Newcastle on the morning of August 8. After that, "if possible", they would provide escort for the ZG15 bomber wing that would bomb central England from its base in Norway.

Under the heavy portholes, not a single ray of light could be seen from the outside, but the interior was brightly lit. The fleet headquarters was in good order. Although people were coming and going, it was not noisy. Apart from the "beeping" sound of the communication equipment, there was only the sound of people walking quietly and whispering to each other. Although it was solemn before the battle, it did not seem tense. Unlike the simpler and rough sailor-style heroic struggle against the sky, the sea, and people on the naval bridge, the well-organized atmosphere in the headquarters gave people a sense of calmness and calmness. At least Ms. Bismarck, the major secretary standing behind Lütjens, felt this way.

Next to her, Lütjens was calmly reading various intelligence and war reports, occasionally glancing at the transparent vertical chart board with a large sea chart in front of him. Next to these two devices, several staff officers were writing down the time shown in the intelligence on the models representing the enemy and our own forces and directions, and then pasting them on the chart board. Soon, a picture of the latest enemy and our own information situation was ready. Although there was still a lot of information that could not be confirmed for the time being, for the commander who was working hard, such an intuitive battlefield situation map undoubtedly provided them with great help.

However, the admiral still frowned. After all, with such a huge fleet, almost the entire combat power of the German Navy, the responsibility was huge. Even though there had been joint coordination between the sea and air forces, and various combat plans and emergency plans had been formulated, the running-in of the aircraft carrier, the coordination of the fleet, the technical level of the soldiers, and the enemy's combat power assessment and possible response, intelligence work was not omnipotent, and there was even a factor of luck... The pressure was too great, so even though the fleet was ready to go, it was still necessary to seize the last minute to make a final inspection and evaluation.

If the captain has read Sun Tzu's Art of War, the first sentence of the book will definitely resonate with him and make him agree: War is a matter of national importance, a matter of life and death, a matter of survival and destruction, and must be carefully considered...

"According to our exploration some time ago, although the GR186 wing has as many as 110 aircraft and the hangar can accommodate them completely, the dispatch efficiency will indeed be greatly reduced if it is too full. Zeppelin's suggestion is to divide the aircraft into two shifts, with about 60 aircraft on standby in the upper hangar and on the deck, and the rest in the lower hangar as spare aircraft. At the same time, it is proposed to divide the fighters in the standby aircraft into four shifts and the dive bombers into two shifts for rotation, so as to maximize the efficiency of the sortie and buy time... Judging from the exercises, the efficiency is still relatively ideal. Now let's see how it will be in actual combat..."

"Intelligence shows that Britain has at least popularized radars in the Channel area, and previous exploratory battles show that Britain also seems to have radars in Newcastle... The nominal detection range of our Freya radar is 160 kilometers, although it is actually lower than this, but the British radar is a shore-based radar, which is larger and more powerful. The detection range should not be lower than this level..."

"The Air Force has determined that the main fighter units of the British Air Force are basically in the Strait area, but there are too many British airports, and we cannot determine the specific deployment locations of British fighters. Moreover... who knows if the British have any tricks up their sleeves? At least our fleet has been waiting in the Skagerrak Strait for a few days, and the probability of being discovered by their reconnaissance aircraft is already very high..."

"There is also the old rival, the Royal Navy... They now have at least three or four old battleships and two or three aircraft carriers in their home fleet. Although it is certain that the Hood, Repulse, Ark Royal and Furious, which are the most threatening and fastest ships, are still chasing Scharnhorst and Gneisenau in the Atlantic. But even so, the old battleships and aircraft carriers left behind are far more powerful than the troops I have. Now we can only see if our speed can get rid of those slow old battleships built 20 years ago. After all, the width of the North Sea, which is to kilometers, is neither wide nor narrow..."

The cup of coffee had been cold for a long time, but the captain, who was immersed in all kinds of intelligence analysis and judgment, had no time to drink it. On the contrary, the ashtray on the other side was already full of cigarette butts - and the one in the captain's hand was almost burnt. In fact, many of the staff and officers below also relied on smoking to refresh themselves while working. Fortunately, the ventilator in the headquarters was powerful, which kept the indoor air environment relatively tolerable. Seeing the captain who almost burned his fingers pressed the cigarette butt into the ashtray, and then lit another cigarette... Bismarck sighed helplessly in his heart, gently picked up the ashtray and walked out to dump it.

At this moment, the sound of running feet came from the confidential room next door. An anxious communications staff ran in and handed the captain a report he had just received. Bismarck, who had just returned from emptying his cigarette ashes, saw the captain take the telegram and his face changed after just a glance. However, the experienced captain controlled his emotions well and did not curse out loud on the spot.

The communications officer left, and after Bismarck put the ashtray back next to the captain, he gently asked, "Captain, what's the matter?"

"Read it yourself." The captain handed the telegram to Bismarck unhappily.

Bismarck glanced at the telegram, which read: "Scharnhorst and Gneisenau encountered Hood and the Reputation formation in the Iceland-Faroe Islands waterway. They suffered heavy losses in the artillery battle and are currently making every effort to break out in the direction of Norway..."

Bismarck was also horrified. She had almost memorized the North Sea map and the general strategic deployment of the British Navy after many battles with the British Navy, so she immediately thought of how dangerous the situation of Shane and Gnay was: "...The main battleships of the British Home Fleet should be in Scapa Flow. If they go north to intercept Shane and Gnay..."

"Yes, that's right!" Lütjens' expression was so solemn that ink could drip from it. But after thinking for a moment, he raised his head and said to Bismarck: "You should tell Bonte, Lindemann, Heyer and Top, as well as Flensburg and Zeppelin immediately. Tell them that the situation has changed. The first plan of fighting quickly and retreating quickly and then acting according to circumstances has been changed. We should use the second plan of holding the position for the whole day after the battle. In particular, explain the situation of Schaan and Gne to Bonte and Flensburg. Tell them that we must hit the British harder, at least to attract a part of the main force of the British home fleet and not leave the homeland to besiege Schaan and Gne!!"

Bismarck knew the seriousness of the situation and did not hesitate. He stood at attention and saluted: "Yes!!"

ps: Starting a new volume of "Battle of England" with another 5,000 words, please give me monthly tickets and rewards~

Chapter 199: Battle of Britain (II)

On August 15th, at about 4 o'clock in the early morning of Beihai, the wind speed was level 6 north-east, and cirrus clouds hung in the starry sky.

Under the boundless vast sky is the surging North Sea. Row after row of waves keep rushing towards the silently sailing warship, and then are violently split in half in front of the warship's sharp bow, splashing in all directions and forming pieces of white waves.

On the wide flight deck of Zeppelin, the take-off procedure was in progress, and the crew members were coming and going, busy but orderly. On the bridge, Bonte and Lütjens stood together on the stands outside, watching the sixteen JU87Cs with auxiliary fuel tanks neatly arranged on the flight deck ready to go. These were reconnaissance aircraft used to search the surrounding waters. They would work in pairs to closely search the 300-kilometer range around the aircraft carrier formation to ensure battlefield intelligence acquisition and the safety of the fleet itself.

Next to the runway, sixteen BF109T fighters with auxiliary fuel tanks were neatly arranged on the outer raft behind the bridge, waiting for orders. Under the neatly arranged flight deck, in the busy upper hangar, ground crews were busy refueling, loading bombs, and conducting safety checks for the twenty JU87Cs and twelve BF109Ts.

The pilots were quietly making final preparations in the room. This was their first time to face the test of actual combat at sea. Even though they had practiced it countless times, many people were still inexplicably nervous when it really came to that moment.

After all, fighting at sea is very different from fighting on land.

Although there were aces in the pilot team given by Goering, most of them were rookies who lacked combat experience. They were mostly nervous, while the aces seemed much calmer in comparison.

They punched each other on the shoulder to say goodbye, then walked onto the deck with confident smiles, just like they were carrying out an ordinary training exercise, without caring about what lay ahead.

After the reconnaissance planes take off, the twenty JU87Cs will be lifted onto the flight deck via the modified side elevators at the tail, and then take off together with the sixteen BF109Ts waiting on the apron, flying towards the bombing target Newcastle in the bright dawn.

The blow from the German war navy will come from the sky in what should be a refreshing morning breeze...

After the forty aircraft of the strike group are released, the twelve BF109Ts in the hangar serving as the aircraft carrier escort aircraft will be lifted onto the flight deck and then take off to take over the sky above the aircraft carrier.

In the lower hangar, the adjusted hangar layout can ensure that twelve BF109T fighters can be brought up from below immediately after the hangar is emptied, as a reserve force to prevent emergencies and be ready to attack from the deck at any time.

Lutjens and Bonte stood in the corridor outside the bridge, silently looking at the orderly fleet of aircraft on the deck and the group of proud young men.

Bismarck and Zeppelin stood behind them respectively.

To be honest, the running-in of the Zeppelin in one month was quite successful. Since no one had mastered the use of carrier-based aviation and time was particularly urgent, Lütjens and Bonte relied on the knowledge of the Zeppelin on the one hand, and simply communicated with the front-line pilots on the other hand.

Therefore, within a month, the two of them had at least a general understanding of the use of aviation. In addition, this communication allowed the pilots of carrier-based aircraft to learn more about the navy, and now they can use carrier-based aircraft to take off, land, and navigate long distances on aircraft carriers.

Lütjens and Bonte stood on the edge of the deck, waiting for the aircraft on the flight deck below to complete the final preparations.

Zeppelin began to sail in the direction of the wind, heading at full speed against the wind.

Soon, the officer on duty came over to report that the carrier-based aircraft unit was ready and the conditions were suitable for take-off and could take off at any time.

"It's half past four..." Bangtai looked at his watch and said to Lütjens. Lütjens had the final say here.

"Well, without further ado, let's release the reconnaissance plane first." Lutjens gave the order calmly without looking back. "Also, after the carrier-based aircraft is released, order the formation to accelerate to 30 knots. Turn northeast when releasing. In an hour, we will be to kilometers away from the target, so we have to hurry."

"Yes!"

Turning a large formation around at night is an operation with a certain degree of difficulty, especially a double-wheel formation with relatively wide spacing. The original German Navy destroyers would not be able to complete this tactical maneuver. However, since the anti-submarine exercise at the beginning of the year, Bonte, who was severely criticized by Lütjens and his superiors, felt ashamed, so he carried out special training on this until he was transferred from the destroyer fleet.

Of course, the effect is obvious. Not only did they bring back 60% of the destroyers that participated in the Battle of Narvik, but now they can barely carry out this kind of maneuver when the enemy situation is not too serious.

Bangtai was still very confident about the special training he had given to his destroyers.

Light signals were transmitted back and forth between the ships. After confirming that all ships had received the order, each ship followed the steps of the pre-war drill and controlled its warship to pull out an 800-meter radius turn. Each ship was turning at its own position. When the turn was completed, Lütjens, who had been worried before, found that in this huge double-ring formation with a diameter of 8 kilometers, each ship was able to maintain its position at the predetermined position after turning.

The turn was successful.

Lütjens breathed a sigh of relief without showing any emotion. However… this was because there was no enemy to worry about. If the real battle started during the day, with all kinds of situations arising, that would be the truly serious time.

Under the cover of night, the huge fleet turned its course in the direction against the wind. The pilots who had received combat missions and specific reconnaissance areas walked out of the pilot standby room under the relatively dim lighting, climbed onto their planes swiftly, and jumped into their seats.

The originally low sound of the propeller suddenly became high-pitched, like the roar of a tiger that had been suppressed for a long time and was suddenly released from the cage.

The airflow raged wildly on the deck after the propeller accelerated, but the fuselage remained motionless.

As the flight gave a thumbs up, the commander tightly grasped a small flag and waved it down...

"Snap" the cockpit was slammed shut and the brakes were released instantly.

The plane began to move under the guidance of the dark red navigation lights. As the propellers turned faster and faster, the plane rushed faster and faster. Suddenly, the pilot crossed the marking line formed by the lights at the front of the flight deck, and the plane sank and disappeared from people's sight...

Everyone on the bridge held their breath. If it crashed like this...

But soon, the accelerating propeller pulled the plane up again and it reappeared in sight, leaving only a smooth and natural curve left by the wake of the navigation lights.

"Very good, continue!"

Following the instructions, the planes began to take off one after another, followed by the second and third planes in the team...

After the reconnaissance JU87 took off, the fighters at the rear of the deck also left the standby area, lined up on the flight deck, spread their wings, and lined up to take off. As the fighters left, accompanied by a slight mechanical friction sound, the side elevators also descended, and the JU87Cs in the hangar, with their wings folded and bombs mounted, slowly drove out of the hangar and drove onto the elevators...

In the darkest night before dawn, everyone was busy preparing for the next wave of launches. Only a hint of dawn appeared in the east to see off the reconnaissance planes that had just taken off.

"Not bad, the fleet takes off under nighttime blackout. You always said it was not good enough, but look at how skilled they are." Looking at the orderly launch and dispatch on the flight deck, the captain, in a good mood, turned his head and joked with Bangtai.

"Fortunately, when the Zeppelin was finally put into service, the shipyard was asked to completely flatten the flight deck, otherwise the 'roadblocks' of the two catapults in front would have really killed people." Bangtai replied with a wry smile.

To be honest, even the captain, who is a complete layman, could see something wrong with the installation positions of the two catapult slots of the Zeppelin, not to mention the air force. But now that the deck has been laid again, the installation slots of the catapults have been paved, and the space has been reserved. Although the original design of the catapult is simply a sinkhole, the reserved position saves man-hours. If there is a more satisfactory catapult in the future, it can be installed on this ready-made position.

Come to think of it, under Zeppelin's influence, Bangtai began to have some complaints.

Time always passes quickly in the busyness. Before we know it, the horizon in the east begins to turn pale. The increasingly bright sky bathes the busy people and aircraft on the deck in the dawn light. The twenty JU87Cs and sixteen BF109Ts that have been neatly arranged on the deck start their propellers under the control of the pilots and ground crew. The light BF109Ts take off first, and behind them, Flensburg, who has personally taken action, has jumped into the cockpit of a JU87C and gestured a thumbs-up to Lütjens, Bonte, Zeppelin and Bismarck standing on the bridge corridor, then raised his eyebrows and pulled up the canopy.

One after another, planes took off from the flight deck in the dusky eastern sky, roaring towards the western airspace still shrouded in haze. Behind them, the elevators in the hangar began to busy themselves with lifting the escort fighters of the aircraft carrier...

"We are now 140 nautical miles from Newcastle... Send a message to the entire fleet, turn around and head 270, and increase the speed to knots! Although the range of carrier-based aircraft has increased, it is still very limited, so we have to get closer to Newcastle." Lütjens gave orders to Bonte and Bismarck. Then he pulled his coat and walked towards the headquarters.

"Yes!" "Understood!"

Bismarck subconsciously looked at his watch, which showed August 15, 1940, five o'clock in the morning.

ps: Asking for monthly tickets~ Asking for rewards~ la la la

Chapter 200: Battle of Britain (Part 3)

The deck that was originally full suddenly became empty, as if the mute button had been pressed on a noisy cocktail party, leaving only the background sound of the waves still echoing melodiously.

Everything that happened next depended on the pilot. At such a long distance, neither Bismarck nor Zeppelin could be of any help at all.

"Go in." Lütjens waited until the last plane took off before retracting his gaze and said calmly. As a navy, they have done everything they can, and the rest depends on the air force.

After cleaning the upper level, the crew on the deck returned to the cabin one after another and began to wait for the results of the air raid.

Success or failure?

However, compared to the nervousness of others, Bismarck was relatively free. After the plane took off, she suddenly found that she had nothing to do for about an hour.

To be honest, her responsibilities here are not that great, unlike her own ship, where she needs to pay attention to both the guns and the power at all times and cannot relax for a moment.

Zeppelin was a very serious person. She would do everything herself on her own ship. Compared to her lazy sister, Bismarck felt that she was just a bystander.

Well, but the food on an aircraft carrier is much better than that on a battleship.

The estimated time of contact of the air force is about one hour later. Although it is Zeppelin that is attacking the British, they still have to guard against the British discovering their whereabouts in advance and preparing for counterattacks. However, the new Freya radar, the perception of the three ship girls, the twelve fighters in the sky and the twelve fighter reserves on the deck are basically enough to ensure that even if any accidents occur, they can be dealt with in time. There is really no need to worry about anything.

The clouds in the sky are still as beautiful, the sky is still as blue, and everything is peaceful - if you ignore the dense blank shots fired into the sky.

After staying there for a while, the Persian cat began to get bored. Then he looked at a certain captain who was usually very dignified. He actually took advantage of the fact that when there was no situation, he leaned back in his chair, pulled down the brim of his hat to cover his eyes, and took a nap on the armrest - all his usual dignity had been thrown away!

"Captain, you are slacking off during working hours!" Bismarck complained in her heart. Having said that, she also knew that the captain really had not had a good rest in the past few days. After all, this time almost the essence of the entire German Navy was bet, and the pressure was very high. In order to make the operation as foolproof as possible, they worked on tactical formulation day and night, which was a very torturous test of physical strength and energy for young people, not to mention Lütjens, a middle-aged man.

No one would say anything about taking a nap secretly, but it is not easy for either soldiers or commanders.

But having said that, if I had a mobile phone, or even an old-fashioned camera, I would definitely take a picture of you in this "majestic" sleeping posture!

A Persian cat, who was usually controlled by others and had to sit and stand in a certain manner, was gnashing his teeth fiercely, imagining the feeling of throwing the photo in his captain's face.

No matter how sharp the camera is, it can't secretly take a picture of a certain fleet commander sleeping...

She pouted and hummed softly, thought for a moment, and released her mental power to see what her two sisters were doing.

The downstairs was originally the command room of the aircraft carrier. When Zeppelin was serving, she spoofed it by hanging a sign that read "Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence Center" - and this obviously imaginative sign actually received unanimous praise from the captain, Bangtai, Zeppelin and the flight captains? !

And at this moment... there was no need to think about it, she knew that Zeppelin must be meticulously marking the aircraft's route and the aircraft carrier's scheduled position and so on - as long as it was her carrier-based aircraft, she could directly monitor the situation within the carrier-based aircraft's field of view.

This skill is really good. Bismarck has complained and envied and hated it countless times. In this way, Zeppelin's field of vision is much larger than his. It's unfair...

But Zeppelin is an aircraft carrier. Lütjens "very considerately" comforted his secretary ship, saying that it is normal to have a wide field of view. Don't always do useless things and practice your gunnery skills first.

Now when Bismarck thought back, it seemed that there was something wrong with this sentence?

Everyone is busy, some are resting...why am I the only one who feels a little bored?

But... speaking of boredom... why not go find Tizi and chat with her - biological sisters are closer than adopted sisters. Birds of a feather flock together. Sure enough, the two sisters are both bored.

Bismarck knew this fact at a glance.