Bismarck

Since Hood could spot small torpedoes five or six kilometers away, if Bismarck was present, they would also be able to spot this larger commando team. Moreover, it is very likely that the night would be of no use to them.

Therefore, such an attack would be a life-threatening situation!

However, even though Tovey and Lord Mountbatten allowed the members of the assault force to withdraw freely from such an action, what they got in response was only the fearless gazes of the commandos who were determined to die...

No one quit...

The setting sun had gradually hidden the sea and sky. Under the last rays of the setting sun, the assault fleet, which had already disregarded life and death, slowly sailed out of Falmouth Harbor, met up with the support fleet waiting in the open sea, and headed towards the French coast, embarking on a journey of brave warriors ready to die.

On the empty dock, only Lord Mountbatten and Admiral Tovey stood by the sea for a long time, facing the sea breeze, and sent off these warriors with a military salute...

Already, the last prayer.

----

At nightfall, the French town of Saint-Nazaire was already silent under the blackout and nighttime martial law. Although the fires in several places that were bombed by the British army the night before had been extinguished, a few wisps of light blue smoke seemed to be visible between the ruins...

The port of Saint-Nazaire was too small, with only one artificial port. Although the British bombing could often be stopped due to the nearby German Air Force night fighter units and the cover of dozens of large-caliber anti-aircraft guns, the Hamster minesweeper, which was on alert and kept its boilers burning behind the outer harbor breakwaters and under the cover of layers of anti-submarine nets, as well as the Zeppelin docked at the dock in the artificial port and the main body of the three Bismarcks, were all fine. It was just that in the bombing the day before, the dock where Bismarck was located was also hit by a bomb, but fortunately, it was a dud, and was successfully dismantled by the bomb disposal engineers in the end - of course, it can be said to be extremely thrilling. If the main body in the dock was hit by a bomb now, Bismarck would be severely damaged directly...

The original garrison headquarters in Saint-Nazaire was fortunate enough to be hit directly by a bomb dropped by a British bomber that managed to break through the defense during the night bombing a few days ago, and now it has turned into a huge bomb crater... Fortunately, the air raid took place in the second half of the night, and Lütjens had already returned home, but the garrison commander and his headquarters were collectively killed...

Now, the Atlantic Fleet needed a new headquarters. However, the Bismarck battleship had not been completely repaired yet, and other places were either not confidential enough or not convenient enough, so after much selection, they finally chose Lütjens' home...

There were temporary buildings around, and some security forces began to move in. A large group of staff and officers turned the living room and several guest rooms on the first floor into offices, and the second floor, because it was suitable for confidentiality, became the headquarters and code room.

Inside the brightly lit headquarters, thick curtains were drawn on the windows, two door curtains were installed at the door, and the window glass was covered with thick cardboard, so from the outside, no light could be seen at all.

The indoor air quality was not good. Although there were a few small skylights on the top floor for ventilation, the air in the room was still ventilated. Even in early spring in March, people were sweating profusely and put their military coats aside. They even wanted to wear only single clothes inside. What was particularly annoying was that a group of men were smoking. The smoke in the room was so thick that it was comparable to the "public bathhouse" in the Auschwitz meat processing plant... However, the group of men seemed to think that the smoke was not thick enough, and almost everyone had a cigarette in their hands!

Smoking is obviously harmful to health, but they act like they can't live without cigarettes! I don't know how these men can all like smoking so much!

Lütjens generously moved to a small room, and no one touched the Persian cat's room. However, one Persian cat was very depressed about this: they could no longer live together as a couple...

Damn the British!

Around eight or nine o'clock in the evening, a military truck painted with an Iron Cross, escorted by two armored vehicles, groped its way along the night road, passed the inspection of the sentries at the temporary barracks, and drove into Lütjens' home in the temporary barracks near the port. Now this is the temporary headquarters of the Atlantic Fleet, how can the security not be strict?

An officer jumped out of the car and directed several soldiers to move two large iron boxes with locks and seals on the keyholes from the car and carried them into a large room on the second floor of the headquarters - originally Lütjens' room, now a meeting room of the command post.

In the conference room, Lütjens, Bonte, Lindemann, Bismarck, Zeppelin, and several other officers, each holding a coffee cup, leaned back in their chairs, seemingly taking their last break before overtime. When they saw the boxes being carried in, they all stood up and went towards them one by one.

As for the hamster, he is probably standing guard (lazy?) outside the port now...

"Reporting to His Excellency the Admiral, the detailed information about the Gibraltar Fortress that I was ordered to escort has been delivered from the Navy Ministry in Berlin to the Atlantic Fleet Command. Please sign for it!"

The officer who got off the car waited for Lütjens to check the box and confirm that there was no problem with the seal and the number on the box, then handed over a receipt. The captain also took out a pen and a seal, signed his name and stamped it.

Seeing the escorted officers go down, except for Lütjens and the two girls, everyone else started to rush forward, opened the boxes, and took out the bound documents one by one, putting them together in different categories, and spread out several large drawings on the conference table. Including Lütjens, several senior officers also sat down beside the map and began to check the map and read the documents, Bismarck and Zeppelin were no exception...

For a moment, the conference room was full of concentration. The only sounds were the rustling of fingers and paper when flipping through documents, or the sound of footsteps when someone finished reading a document and went to get another one, or the sound of someone walking to the map to mark important content, and the sound of several people whispering to each other while biting their ears to communicate...

However, as time went on, everyone's brows gradually frowned, and the frowns became tighter and tighter...

"They said we had to find a way to get in. How can we get in this damn place?" Finally, someone got upset. Lindeman put down the information in his hand, held his chin and looked at Gibraltar on the map, and sighed heavily.

"At least ten 155mm and 233mm heavy artillery batteries, covered by mountains and fortresses, have a range that can block the entire Strait of Gibraltar. I don't know if there are any hidden artillery batteries and larger caliber heavy artillery... How can we fight this? With such powerful firepower, we still have to rush through the artillery batteries... Isn't this just suicide?"

"The fortress artillery is fine, but there is also the H Fleet stationed here..." Bangtai also put down the intelligence in his hand depressedly, rubbing his dizzy eyes while complaining: "Samoville's H Fleet, even though it is a squadron number, its combat effectiveness is no worse than that of the main fleet!"

"The light aircraft carrier Hermes, two old battleships, four cruisers, at least ten destroyers and at least twenty torpedo boats, as well as several minesweepers and auxiliary ships... This is the intelligence captured by the reconnaissance aircraft ten days ago. There must be some that were not captured!" Bangtai put several large aerial photos and a reconnaissance report on the table for everyone to see, while complaining about the dangerous situation. "The most important thing is that these guys and the Gibraltar Fortress are covering each other! This amount of troops is nothing on the high seas, but if they cooperate with the Gibraltar Fortress, it will be a problem..."

"It's more than just a trouble..." Another officer who kept rubbing his temple also spoke up: "If they have at least 24 torpedo boats, according to the organization of British torpedo boats, there should be at least two torpedo boat squadrons with torpedo boats, or even more! You know, the width of the Strait of Gibraltar is only to kilometers, and the range of their torpedoes is at least to kilometers! If their torpedo boats ambush near the shore on both sides, they can block the entire strait without any charge - especially here!..."

The officer's finger pointed to the narrowest part of the entire strait, about 20 kilometers in front of the Gibraltar fortress, between Cape Tarifa in Spain and Seguirre in North Africa.

"You see, the width here is only 20 kilometers, and from here on, the direction of the strait changes from degrees east to degrees east by north. From our side, the -kilometer coastline from Cape Tarifa to Gibraltar is completely blocked by Cape Tarifa! And here, along the coastline, is the bay of the Gibraltar Fortress. If they ambush torpedo boats here, and then block the exit of the strait with battleships, and form crossfire with the fortress's artillery... this is the gate of hell!"

Looking at the narrowest corner of the Strait of Gibraltar on the nautical chart, many people's eyebrows were already knitted together and tightened even more...

Chapter 366: Night Raid (Part 2)

The conference room was in complete silence. Everyone frowned at the dangerous situation... A fortress, two battleships, a dozen cruisers and destroyers, dozens of torpedo boats... It was obvious that if they charged in forcefully, they would most likely be surrounded on all sides and then crash into the south wall and die...

Seeing everyone frowning, thinking hard, and keeping silent, Lütjens did not show it on the surface, but he sighed in his heart... He had received an order from Raeder before, saying that he was "fully authorized" to be the commander of the Gibraltar breakthrough operation. He knew it was not a good thing. The so-called "full authorization"...? Another meaning is probably that if the operation fails, he will bear all the responsibility for the failure!

However, this battle plan was approved at a formal meeting of the German top leaders, and this cannot be faked. Moreover, Lütjens also knew that the situation of the Italians in the Mediterranean had indeed reached a point of near-destruction. Although the army and air force had organized reinforcements, Italy could not go to North Africa at all because it did not have sea control. If Britain could wipe out the Italians in North Africa, it would be able to withdraw a huge force of 90 troops! With Italy surrounded by the sea on three sides and % of its borders on the sea, it would be impossible to land anywhere. At that time, I am afraid that the entire line would be passive. Even if the collapse of the Italian situation could threaten Germany's survival, it was very likely!

So… this time, I’m afraid I’ll just have to bite the bullet and fight whether I want to or not…

However, if they could break through the obstacle of Gibraltar and enter the Mediterranean Sea, they would be further away from Regger. Thinking of this, he felt a little better.

"These Italian teammates are just pigs. Can't they make us feel more at ease..." Just like the guy with a mustache in the conference room a few days ago, Lütjens cursed in his heart. In fact, he had wanted to curse for a long time. He had been holding back his anger since Taranto.

But there was no way, this battle had to be fought... The depressed commander of the German Navy's Atlantic Fleet pinched the bridge of his nose between his eyes and continued to look at the information and intelligence in his hands.

But soon, Zeppelin, who seemed to have discovered something, began to attract everyone's attention with a soft cry.

"Everyone... Got it! Here is the weather data from Spain, which says that Gibraltar has bad weather in spring and autumn, especially in spring, when it is often foggy and pitch dark! Can we find a way out of this?"

"Oh? Is there such a thing?"

"Where are the records? Let me take a look."

All of a sudden, a bunch of heads gathered in front of Zeppelin and began to look at the meteorological and hydrological data on the table in front of her.

It turns out that in the spring, the air temperature and water temperature of the Atlantic Ocean are lower than those of the Mediterranean Sea. This leads to two consequences. The first is that the evaporation rate of the Mediterranean Sea is greater than that of the Atlantic Ocean, and the humidity of the air containing water vapor is greater. Another consequence is that warm air will enter the Atlantic Ocean from high altitude to the west, while the cold air (heavier) of the Atlantic Ocean will blow the fierce westerly wind (i.e. Levantine wind) towards the Mediterranean Sea along the low altitude. In this process, the warm and humid air currents of the Mediterranean Sea are affected by the cold air of the Atlantic Ocean in spring, which will quickly form rainy and foggy weather, and will also blow hard towards the Strait of Gibraltar along the cold air of the Atlantic Ocean. Since both sides of the strait are mountainous, the thick fog and sea breeze can only be poured into the strait, which is less than 20 kilometers wide...

Therefore, in April and May every year, the strait is filled with thick fog, and the westerly wind blows hard, with high winds and rough waves. The average speed of the ocean current driven by the westerly wind in the strait can be as high as four or five kilometers, and if you are unlucky, you may encounter an ocean current with a speed of up to four or five knots! Whether it is fog or wind and waves, it is terrible weather for navigation safety - especially for small warships and torpedo boats! Even large warships and fortress batteries have a big problem in such weather.

"…Today is March 28th, and there is no moon. Bismarck will be repaired in early April, and we can prepare by then, and break through the Strait of Gibraltar on a moonless night at the end of April! And even if there is no fog that day, the moonless night will have certain restrictions on them - especially torpedo boats!!" Zeppelin looked at the meteorological and hydrological data, calculated the days, and said to everyone happily. "…So, now is really the time!"

"Yeah! That makes sense!!"

"Take advantage of the foggy weather to sneak in!"

"…But what about our navigation safety in this foggy weather?" However, even among the decision-makers of the Atlantic Fleet, not everyone knew about the existence of the ship girl. In fact, apart from the three captains, only a few people, such as the gunnery chief on the Persian cat, knew about it. Therefore, someone soon raised this question.

If this problem happened to a conventional warship, it would be a huge problem. It would be fun if it ran aground in the fog. However, Lütjens, Bonte and Lindemann all seemed confident and answered almost in unison: "We have ways to solve these problems! Not to mention sailing, even changing the formation or searching for the enemy or even fighting with the enemy, these are not a problem!"

"Hey, don't doubt our Tirpitz!" Lindemann, in particular, almost laughed out loud with his smug face: "Remember when we shot down a submarine during the sea trial, and we were able to move freely in the minefield at Dunkirk! - So you don't have to worry about these!"

Some officers below did not know the truth, and when they saw Lindemann's face, some wanted to refute him. But when they heard about the sea trial of naval gun anti-submarine, and the minesweeping ability of the Tirpitz in the Battle of Dunkirk, which could make four minesweepers unemployed... they were speechless for a while.

Well, it would be great if the leaders could solve this problem... Although I still don't know how they did it...

Seeing hope, everyone started to feel excited again. However, Bangtai asked a question, and it almost poured cold water on everyone's heads...

"I say, don't be too happy yet." Putting the enemy information and enemy ship photos on the table, Bangtai frowned even tighter: "Look, these photos of British ships seem to be equipped with radar..."

"Look at this. This should have been taken near the Spanish border with Gibraltar. Several ships here have radar antennas... Look at this. Is this a destroyer? It also has something that looks like a radar antenna!"

"…If that's the case, then the Gibraltar fortress itself should also have radar. After all, the British have occupied here for three hundred years, and they know the climate here best! It's impossible that they are unprepared..." Lütjens frowned, supporting his chin with one hand, and it went without saying that he was worried.

Solve one problem, and another one appears.

"If there is radar, the effect in foggy weather will be discounted. And even though the ship radar is not perfect now, it is a big problem for the fortress itself to have radar! The trajectory of heavy artillery is flat within 10 kilometers. As long as the azimuth is correct, you can always hit the target by firing in the direction. But the width here is only 13 to 20 kilometers, and they also have battleships that can form cross fire with the fortress..." Lindemann also put away his usual heartless funny behavior, and was frowning and thinking hard about countermeasures.

But...when the Persian cat heard the radar, he laughed softly.

"Everyone, this question is very simple~"

"How is it simple? If there is radar, the effect of fog will be greatly reduced!" Bangtai asked.

"Bismarck, have you thought of any solution?" Lütjens was relatively calm.

"If there is radar, the fog will reduce its effectiveness. In other words, the British rely on radar in the fog. So, can't we just jam the radar?" After all, it is a cat that traveled through time. In the future, because a certain superpower is causing trouble everywhere, information warfare, electronic warfare, etc. are familiar even in the news. Not to mention that the TV station also invited commentators to introduce and explain.

"Electronic jammers and the like, it seems that both the British and our air forces used them during the Battle of Britain? In addition, their night bombers also seemed to have dropped chaff and the like... So..."

After all, it was something that was summarized by later generations. In early 1941, when few people had even heard of electronic interference, it was completely a myth. And it just so happened that this had actually been used to a certain extent in the previous Battle of Britain (and the German Air Force was still at a disadvantage in electronic warfare). Therefore, with Bismarck's explanation, a bright light bulb lit up in the heads of many people...

"...In other words, the solution now is that Zeppelin should first go to the Air Force to borrow a few jammers, and then use high-power signal transmission to suppress the British radar? And if that doesn't work, use chaff bombs similar to smoke bombs, which are specially designed to interfere with radar, to directly cover their faces and make their radar completely blind?"

After Bismarck's explanation, the captain, who was not very knowledgeable about radar and electronic warfare, understood a little. "...The key is to get their frequency, right...But according to what you said, if there is a jammer, there must be a frequency search machine, so let's borrow it when the time comes!"

"Also, what if the British come up with a frequency band that we can't receive?" Bangtai asked worriedly. Although it's layman's talk, it's true that it was a blessing in disguise in history... In February 40, after the outbreak of the war, the British invented the magnetron resonator, which can resonate radio waves with much greater power than normal magnetrons. The Germans didn't copy it until 2, when they captured a British radar.

"Well, that depends on how Zeppelin talks to the Air Force. Let them explain to those research institutes. After all, the Imperial Marshal has more face." The Persian cat glanced at Zeppelin and said with a smile.

Maybe there is a hint of joking in it?

The others also looked at Zeppelin. A certain beautiful lady had no choice but to agree to communicate and coordinate with the Air Force as soon as possible, while glaring at the Persian cat fiercely.

--------

But at this moment, there was a sudden rumble of artillery and a shrill alarm outside the window...

A group of officers who were in a meeting were suddenly stunned and asked curiously.

"What's going on? Where are the guns firing?"

"It's the direction of the port!"

"What happened?"

When talking about the direction of the port, everyone's heart jumped! At this moment, the voice of Tizi came from the WIFI of Persian Cat and Zeppelin:

"Sister, Sister Zeppelin, quickly inform the commander! A torpedo ship just sent an alarm, saying that Renown and King George V of England are coming to attack the port at night! Now the torpedo ship has been chased to the river mouth by the British! It is seriously injured..."

At this moment, the red emergency phone on the telephone table also rang. Lütjens rushed to the telephone table, grabbed the phone and put it to his ear. Bismarck, who was standing on the side, could also vaguely hear the commander of the port artillery unit's report, which was almost the same as the report just now.

Well... there are still some differences. It seems that the Air Force radar station sent a warning saying that a large British aircraft group is approaching and is only twenty minutes away from here. It is requested to move to the air-raid shelter as soon as possible.

The British have invested heavily this time, mobilizing both at sea and in the air.

Looking at Lütjens who hung up the phone with a serious face, Bismarck and Zeppelin stood up before their captain could speak.

"Captain, how about we go back to the port and arrange the defense of the port and several large warships?"

Lütjens thought about it for a moment, and his gaze towards the two shipgirls softened a little. "Well! You go now! The Tirpitz, which is on guard in the outer harbor, is still capable of fighting, but you (quickly change your words)... the other two, one is an aircraft carrier, and the other is being repaired in the dock and has no resistance, remember to ensure the safety of these two!"

"Yes!!"

The two ship girls saluted, turned around and walked out quickly. After leaving the house, the two of them turned around and disappeared into a corner after looking at each other...

Well, after all, if the ship girl needs to go back to her main body to arrange emergency defense, this is the fastest way. After all, time is life on the battlefield, isn't it...

Almost instantly, the battle alarm on the Zeppelin sounded.

367: Trojan Horse

There was a war raging in the sea off Saint-Nazaire. Under the bright light of flares, a "German Navy torpedo boat" with billowing smoke was fleeing in a panic towards the port of Saint-Nazaire amidst the dense rain of bullets and tall water columns...

However, if you don’t look closely, you won’t be able to tell that the range of these “intensive rain of bullets” is either too close or too far…

Even so, in the cabin of the "German Navy torpedo boat" Campbell City, hundreds of Commander special forces were still squatting in the cabin with their heads in their hands, trembling at the rain of bullets outside.

Although they knew that they were not hit intentionally, if one of the shells was blown slightly off course by the wind and hit the iron boat, they, these mortals, would be doomed.

They are now really moving through a hail of bullets.

However, the naval officers and soldiers around them in the commando team remained calm despite the hail of bullets chasing them from behind.

"Hey, aren't you afraid of being accidentally hit by your own people? This is a battleship's artillery fire!" Although they have undergone rigorous training, they are skilled and brave and have many successful raid experiences, and they have already made up their minds to sacrifice their lives when they set out. However... looking at the dense rain of bullets and tall water columns outside, these special forces soldiers are still unsure: "... If our own people hit us, our ship will probably be destroyed directly...?"

"Tsk, do you have so little confidence in the gunnery of our Royal Navy?" In response to Commander's question, the sailor said with a proud look of disdain: "There is an intersecting angle between our current route and the battleships behind us. We can avoid being hit by the position offset shooting in target practice. Pay attention and see if most of the previous round of artillery fire is always in front of us, and the next round of artillery fire is always behind us?"

Hearing the sailor's words, the Commander climbed up the gangway with a puzzled look on his face and began to look around. As expected, the water column of the shelling was concentrated in front of the Campbell City for a while, and then in the back. Although there would be a few shells scattered outside those positions, the probability of such stray bullets hitting was basically negligible. In such a moonless night, even if there was still the glow of flares in the sky, if the smoke from the destroyer's smoke canister was added, it would look a bit hazy in the night.

Even though the destroyer he was on was not very far from the water column, he still felt dizzy. And in this mixed light and dark environment, I guess the German coastal artillery more than ten kilometers away probably couldn't see it clearly either?

The special forces soldier, feeling a little relieved, climbed down the gangway again and looked at the sailor opposite with a convinced expression. The sailor was not polite and said as a matter of course:

"…Of course! Let me tell you, with the artillery level of our Royal Navy, artillery fire at a distance of 15,000 yards is as easy as your special forces shooting at a distance of 15 meters! If I say I want to shoot your left eye, I will definitely not be able to shoot your right eye!…"

"Awesome, awesome..." Although he is always the second in command, at this time, and on the enemy's pirate ship, the special forces soldier couldn't help but give a thumbs up.

But before he could finish his sentence, there was a loud noise outside, and then the ship shook, shaking the unprepared special forces soldier to the ground. The sailor almost fell to the ground, but he was experienced in "battleship fall prevention" and quickly grabbed the handle on the wall before he fell...

But the sudden attack almost dislocated his hand.

Not long after, the horn on the ship sounded, and it seemed to be mixed with the captain's curses, "Don't worry, it was just an accidental stray bullet, just a near miss, there is only a small area of ​​water leakage on the ship, it has no impact on the mission and safety! The damage control team has already gone to control it..."

The sailor who heard the broadcast felt relieved. However, looking at the suspicious look on the face of the special forces soldier who had crawled up from the floor in a mess, even though he knew it was a self-torture tactic, the sailor couldn't help but greet the gunners of his own battleship from the bottom of his heart with a famous British national curse...

Damn, I almost died here.

However, the British battleships' self-torpedo tactics were effective. The German shore artillery on the shore had obviously regarded the "severely damaged torpedo ship" as one of their own, and began to fire at the two battleships that were "pursuing" them. The Tirpitz in the port area behind also seemed to move towards the estuary exit, and at the same time began to fire with its 380mm main gun, which far exceeded the firepower of the German shore artillery.

The British strategy this time was very cunning, similar to the Trojan Horse War thousands of years ago, and of course a self-torture strategy of an ancient Eastern country. First, they used mutual fighting to make the Germans mistake the modified warship for their own, and then let the warship sneak into the German port and take the opportunity to launch an attack.

Seeing that the German artillery and battleships did not fire at the Campbelltown disguised as a German torpedo boat, the two battleships, knowing that their cover mission was half completed, gave up "bombarding" the Campbelltown and turned their firepower around, ready to not give up until Saint-Nazaire was flattened, and engaged in a serious fight with the German artillery on the shore.

No one seemed to doubt why the two battleships would engage in a firefight with the shore artillery. Generally speaking, only a fool would do such a thing, after all, the power of the shore artillery was unbearable even for battleships.