Bismarck

She smiled and waved at him, and he nodded back.

Everything he had done for her over the past year taught her, in addition to the naval spirit, that one should remain optimistic even in adversity - after all, she was aware of her captain's sandwiched state.

After all, Top was his captain, and he had a natural sense of responsibility for her.

As the captain, you have the responsibility to the warship.

-------

"Colonel Top, everyone else has arrived, and now we're waiting for you!"

In the conference room of the battlecruiser Scharnhorst, the flagship of the German Arctic Fleet, Top had just walked in when he was shouted at in a strange tone by the person in the main seat.

Admiral Oskar Kummetz, commander of the German Arctic Fleet! He is also Top's immediate superior. Although he was born in the torpedo boat unit and won the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross in World War I, he was once a leading torpedo boat expert. However, after many years of bureaucratic career and almost never being involved in the command of large warships and large-scale fleet activities, his command ability is somewhat unimpressive...

A well-known joke is the Battle of Oslofjord in the Norwegian Campaign in 1940. Kumetz, who thought that the Norwegian defenders had been defeated without a fight, commanded his flagship, the heavy cruiser Blücher, to recklessly rush through the Oslofjord. As a result, he ran into the shore-based torpedo launcher of the Norwegian coastal artillery and the muzzle of the 283MM fortress gun. Even after the warship sank, he was captured by the Norwegian defenders...

Kumetz was only a major general at this time, and only became a vice general in January 42. However, his ability can indeed surprise the whole world: in addition to the reckless destruction of the Blücher in the Battle of Oslofjord, another "masterpiece" commanded by this man in history was the Battle of the Barents Sea in January 1. In this battle, the heavy cruiser Hipper and the pocket battleship Lützow were originally intended to slaughter transport ships, but they were beaten by two British light cruisers and fled in panic, and Raeder was also dismissed from his post. However, because of his ability to maneuver, he was obviously a defeated general, but he was not affected at all after Raeder stepped down, and was promoted to admiral in March 43! After that, he was very successful in the German Navy Ministry headed by Dönitz, and finally got the rank of admiral in September 1-one of the thirteen admirals of the German Navy in the entire World War II.

As for abilities, everyone understands.

However, after all, this guy is now his boss.

A higher-ranking officer can crush a lower-ranking officer, especially in a military with strict military discipline! Although Top would not think highly of such a guy if he were him, there was nothing he could do.

People have to bow their heads under the roof.

Moreover, if he had a conflict with his boss and was really transferred, he didn't know who Redel would send to take over Eugen.

For Eugen's sake, Top, who was in a bad mood, suppressed his temper as much as possible, and bowed his head to apologize honestly: "I'm sorry, Your Excellency the Admiral."

"Hmph, you're a colonel, not a recruit. Pay attention to the minimum military discipline!" Admiral Kumets snorted, and after seeing that he had criticized Top for no reason, he turned around and said, "Now, let's have a meeting!"

"…Our country has won victory after victory in its offensive against the Soviet Union. Now the United States and Britain have organized various escort teams to provide assistance to the Soviet Union in order to hold back our forces!"

"…The target of this mission is their PQ-3 convoy, which consists of merchant ships, as well as the eight escorting destroyers and an old Delhi-class light cruiser!…In addition, the British Arctic Task Force, led by Tovey himself, has been operating in the Arctic waters! Their forces include the Ranger aircraft carrier, the Argus light aircraft carrier, the Renown battlecruiser, about two heavily armored light cruisers, two anti-aircraft cruisers and eight destroyers. They are opponents that require special attention…"

"According to the intelligence we already have, the PQ-3 convoy left the Iceland assembly area three days ago and is expected to arrive in the waters near Bear Island in about three days... The Arctic Circle is no longer experiencing polar daylight, with six hours of darkness every day! In addition, according to meteorological data, sudden severe weather often occurs in the waters near Bear Island!"

"…We predict that the British may hope to break through the interception with the help of the Arctic Task Force's cover force and the ever-changing severe weather near Bear Island, but the severe weather is also a great opportunity for us to reduce the threat of British carrier-based aircraft!"

"…The Navy Department ordered our fleet to intercept this convoy for the honor of the Navy!"

"For the honor of the navy?" Looking at Admiral Kumets on the stage, gesticulating and acting arrogantly, Top could not show any expression on his face, but he felt unhappy in his heart.

After all, Top knew very well about the falling out between the ship girls!

"Our forces include the battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, the heavy cruisers Admiral Hipper and Prinz Eugen, six destroyers, and a submarine brigade... As for the air force, although there are dozens of bombers and long-range fighters supporting the Norwegian air force at the airport, as well as a naval aviation fighter brigade, I think we shouldn't expect too much help from the air force!"

Listening to Kumets' speech, Top felt a little amused.

"...You actually said 'Don't put too much hope in the air force'!? You need a head of granite to say that, Raeder, the people you promoted are really..."

However, while Kumets was speaking eloquently on the stage and Top was secretly complaining in the audience, Kumets mentioned Top's name directly:

"…The arrangement for this naval battle… Top, this time your Prinz Eugen will serve as the vanguard search ship, and the main fleet will follow up about two hours behind you!" Looking at Top, who was confused when he was named, Kumets said with a fake smile: "You also know that the Prinz Eugen has the 'strongest search capability here'! So, you have to perform well!"

"How can you lead us to shake off the British reconnaissance planes? How can we find their escort when the weather turns bad? All these are up to you! - I am the most fair in employing people. Just do your job well. If you do well, I will commend you in front of the marshal!"

Looking at Kumets's fake smile, he knew that this was going to be Eugen's way of stepping on a landmine.

But this guy is the boss, and he is also Redel's confidant...

It seems that this guy also knows about Eugen's existence. To put it bluntly, he is just a military supervisor. But if something happens to Eugen, will Redel really not be angry?

Top was extremely depressed and gloomy, so he could only secretly smack his lips, suppressing his frustration and saying "yes..."

Chapter 486: Nature's Debuff

It is said that the weather at sea is unpredictable and storms can come at any time. The weather in the Arctic Ocean is even more unpredictable!

The North Atlantic warm current blowing from southwest to northeast is formed by the rotation of the earth, and the polar easterly belt and the Arctic Ocean cold current are formed in the Arctic Circle under the polar high pressure due to the rotation of the earth. The two currents collide head-on in the sea area from the Svalbard Islands to Bear Island, and then on the clear ocean surface of the Barents Sea, they raise dangerous triangular waves that can reach three or four meters high. Under the influence of the strong wind, they begin to angrily hit the ships, coasts, icebergs... and everything they can hit!

The strong collision between the North Atlantic warm current and the Arctic Ocean cold current also makes the weather in this sea area even more mysterious and unpredictable. It may be sunny in the morning, but it may be cloudy in the morning, and the north wind may howl at noon. Even in the blink of an eye, before the clock hands jump to the afternoon, the howling polar wind mixed with rain, snow and hail, rolled up huge waves, and pressed down on us!

The heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen was struggling to move forward under the fierce wind and waves...

After all, it is just a "small boat". Under the mighty power of nature, even Yapier and Bismarck are just small boats, let alone her.

At this time, Eugen was swinging back and forth between the crests and troughs of the waves. She was fine, and her secret projection had already been connected to the floor. However, the crew members on the ship were about to cry, including Captain Top.

The Arctic Ocean is really not suitable for sailing.

"These British people really know how to choose the time. This damn weather is terrible... A-choo!"

Top, who was on the top of the bridge, was still unable to withstand the biting wind even though he was wrapped in a thick leather windbreaker. In the fierce winds and waves of the Arctic Ocean, even a heavy cruiser with a displacement of 14,000 tons was like a rubber duck, being tossed back and forth by the might of nature...

But... in such an Arctic Ocean storm, not to mention the sailors who had not been out to sea for almost a year had been made nauseous, seasick and vomiting by the power of nature, even an old sailor like Top, who had not been out to sea for many years, could not bear it when he suddenly encountered such a level of strong winds and waves!

But there is no way...

Especially now that the wind direction is uncertain, and the waves are four, five, or even six meters high, the waves are triangular! The steel hull is banging loudly... Although even if the surging waves hit the steel body of the warship, except for a few weak spots, it can only produce water splashing like foam.

But this is still very dangerous, even for combat ships. One cubic meter of water weighs one ton. The impact of an unknown amount of water being hit like this on the hull can be imagined.

The railings have all been put down. If they weren't, they would probably be bent.

If we consider the inertia and structural stress of the warship being thrown up and down between the crests and troughs of the waves, and the fact that the wind direction is constantly changing...

In addition to ensuring that the bow faces the wind as much as possible and never faces the wind sideways, we must pray that there is no problem with the stability calculation during the design and construction of the warship! And the structural strength is guaranteed, and we must not cut corners or blindly increase the center of gravity!

If the German battleships had not been designed to ensure structural strength and a certain stability even if they were significantly overweight, any danger could have occurred under such raging waves if the ship was not maneuvered properly!

Even so, as the captain, I have to step up at this time! Stand at the steering wheel.

Looking at the sailor beside him whose face had turned green and who was vomiting bile, and the deck that was covered with vomit and smelled sour, Top, who was also feeling nauseous, forced himself to swallow the nausea and leaned against the chassis, desperately grasping the +- steering wheel beside him to keep the course stable...

Damn this weather, Top sighed.

In fact, Top also knew that although Prince Eugen, who was standing next to him, looked dazed, she was actually trying very hard to control the course - rather than saying that Eugen was helping him control her body, it was more like Top herself knew that he had hardly been out to sea for a year, and this time he hastily went out to sea and encountered a storm. Now he was lucky enough to be able to stand here while enduring the nausea!

But... in this kind of weather, what about the enemies on the other side?

Although the island nation that relied on the sea for 300 years has declined to this point, the British Empire, which still has its might, has never lacked brave sailors who dare to brave the wind and waves on the ocean.

"Tsk... Raeder is just trying to protect the ships from going out to sea... As expected... After hiding in the port for a long time, the navy's combat effectiveness... has declined to this extent."

Top was somewhat unwilling, but also somewhat helpless...

After all, Raeder is the Admiral of the Navy...

But he also knew that no matter how strong the British were, they would inevitably suffer debuffs when facing the indiscriminate attacks of nature. Thinking of this, he felt much better.

-------

While holding his position while suppressing his nausea and vomiting, he could not help but glance at Prince Eugen, who was symbolically wrapped in a large military waterproof windbreaker and supporting him. Top knew very well that this was just to avoid shocking the world, that's all!

You know, our ship girl doesn't know what "cold" is. Even in the blizzard in the Arctic Ocean with a temperature of more than ten degrees below zero, even if Eugen continues to wear her short skirt, the hem of her skirt will occasionally be blown up by the strong wind of the Arctic Ocean, revealing her white panties.

Oh, of course, as a captain, how could he allow his secretary to affect the combat effectiveness of officers and soldiers on a warship? A bunch of young men were all shocked.

So, even if Eugen felt any discomfort, Top still let her put on her windbreaker.

Even so, the girl in a short skirt wearing only a windbreaker was regarded as a monster by nearly a thousand officers and soldiers on the ship...

"Top, how are you?"

"It's OK, I won't die..." Looking at Eugen's concerned eyes, Top smiled and forced himself to stand up straighter. Especially the pride in Top's heart from years of fighting the wind and waves at sea made him feel angry, and it was this kind of pride, whether it was chauvinism or arrogance, that supported Top to stand firmly at the steering gear - after all, he was an old sailor for decades, and he couldn't make a fool of himself that he needed his own warship to support him to stand firm when he was driving a warship to sea for the first time!

"Eugen... we should be almost at Bear Island now... have you spotted the target? Oh, and report the navigation parameters!"

Top asked with all his might, wiping the saliva that overflowed from the corner of his mouth as he tried to suppress his nausea.

"Now... heading northeast 040 degrees... because we are heading into the wind, the maximum speed can only be maintained at 30 knots... Now we are nautical miles southeast of Bear Island... um... no target was found." Eugen said, shaking his head.

"...Huh... they probably haven't arrived yet!" As the ship shook more and more violently, Top's face became worse and worse. He held on for a breath, clenched his teeth, looked at Eugen's face and said, "Slow down to 16 knots first... We will hold on here... and wait for Shane and the others to arrive... Wow!"

A huge wave hit the boat, causing it to shake violently. Top couldn't hold back his words, and a stream of filthy bile burst out of his teeth, vomiting all over Eugen...

"Top! Are you okay?"

Seeing Top suddenly vomiting and bending over, the startled Eugen didn't care about the embarrassment of being vomited all over himself, and hurriedly supported the seasick Top while taking over his own steering gear...

Fortunately, Eugen is a relatively obedient child. If someone dared to spit on her on Bismarck's ship... Do you remember the crew member who fell at the beginning?

Oh, maybe Bismarck wouldn't say anything even if Lütjens vomited on her, but the problem is that the fleet commander would never vomit.

Eugen had already helped Top down, and the deputy captain temporarily took over the battleship.

----

The raging wind and waves only subsided a little at night.

It is already the end of August and the beginning of September. Even in the Arctic, which has polar day all year round, nights have begun to appear.

But up to now, no trace of the British has been found.

The Arctic Ocean is very large! Even if we don't consider the large area of ​​sea filled with permafrost ice to the north of Bear Island, Bear Island alone is a full 450 kilometers away from the Norwegian coastline!

Germany's airport in Norway is even farther away from the coastline than tens of kilometers away! The Scandinavian coastline is "thick" with cliffs, precipices, glaciers and snow-capped mountains for hundreds of kilometers, and there is no space to build an airport! Only the small plains and basins at the end of the fjords that are hundreds of kilometers inland have slightly open flat land to set up airports. Moreover, these places can also rely on docks to establish supplies from the fjord routes.

However, this also means that the range that fighter jets can control is only two hundred kilometers beyond the coastline!

The British Arctic escort fleet has aircraft carriers, and although the Germans have the twin-engine heavy fighter BF-110 in Norway, given the performance of the BF-110, it is unlikely to be a match for the British carrier-based aircraft!

In other words, although Germany's shore-based bases have long-range aircraft, the range in which the Air Force can ensure safety is only 200 kilometers beyond the coastline.

The remaining 250 kilometers could only rely on the risky long-range reconnaissance aircraft, the submarine warning line with a very small search range, and the fleet's own search capabilities to discover the enemy fleet's traces...

Moreover… not to mention, the storm that raged for almost the entire day today has made the reconnaissance capabilities of reconnaissance aircraft and submarines basically negligible… and even now, apart from the necessary radar, before actively using the radio station to break the radio silence, the internal communication of the formation can only rely on light signals - and in the pitch-black night, as long as the distance is a little far, nothing can be seen, except for the still howling north wind…

The command of a large force requires, at the very least, first of all, to have a full grasp of the position and situation of one's own troops deployed over a wide area; secondly, each of one's own troops must at least be aware of the position of its own neighbors; at the same time, if a troop discovers the enemy, it must be able to convey this information in a way that will avoid misinterpretation as much as possible, so that all other units on the side can obtain accurate first-hand intelligence.

The so-called command, control, communications, intelligence, etc., this is what they are talking about!

On a complex battlefield, if even just one point is not done well, it may lead to the collapse of the entire formation!

This is no longer a problem that can be solved by a few famous generals with outstanding command capabilities, but rather the organization and concept of the entire army, the most basic, but also the most fundamental thing!

After all, Top had seen the sign with "C4ISR Center" written in Bismarck's beautiful handwriting on the Zeppelin, Lütjens' flagship at the time, during the Battle of Newcastle, so he knew a little about a certain cat's "advanced" concept.

As a professional soldier with a practical background and experience in the Battle of Newcastle, Top quickly understood this concept.

But... ever since Lütjens was forced away by Raeder, Top has hardly seen any of the generals of the Home Fleet who have come up with any advanced ideas!

At least, Top could see that Kumets obviously had no good solution.

However, since this matter is related to the construction of the basic concepts of the army... not to mention that Kumets has no way out, even Redel and Top don’t know if he has any way to govern the army!

"Tsk... I didn't realize it when I was following Lütjens, but now I realize that Redl and his gang are really weak!"

Top curled his lips in disdain, thinking that with Raeder in power, the Greater German Navy might not be able to survive...

----

There was no other way. After all, he was the captain. He never knew when the enemy would appear while sailing. If he was not there, it would be chaos. So even though he vomited all over the place, he managed to return to the bridge after rinsing his mouth. Eugen even went to take a shower - even if she didn't care, the people on the bridge couldn't stand it.

After taking a shower and returning to the bridge, she started working again. She was actually a good girl, at least not as lazy as her sister Tirpitz.

While Top was complaining in his heart, Eugen, who was standing beside him, reached out and grabbed Top's sleeve and pulled it gently:

"Top, there's a signal from the flagship!"

"Oh? Let me see what Kumetz has to say." Top, who had been pulled back to his senses by Eugen, looked in the direction of Kumetz's flagship, the Scharnhorst. On the huge black shadow not far away, a searchlight was constantly and rhythmically flashing...

Soon, Top understood what the flashing light signal meant...

Kumets was quite quick-witted and actually thought of dividing his two battleships and two heavy cruisers into several small teams to conduct parallel searches.

Each of the three large ships, Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, and Admiral Hipper, brought two destroyers to form three teams, with each team responsible for a range of several kilometers, forming a huge single horizontal team for parallel search. If the enemy is found, each team will separate to outflank and intercept!

As for identification of friend or foe, it all depends on the IFF integrated into the German radar...

Speaking of which, this function was implemented on Freya's air search radar more than a year ago.

In the Battle of Newcastle, German officers and soldiers, including Top himself, found this function very useful - at least they could roughly see who was the enemy and who was a friendly force in the chaotic battlefield, and then judge the situation on the battlefield!

Since it received unanimous praise in the Battle of Newcastle, this function was quickly promoted in the German Navy - although Top knew without thinking that Raeder and his men would never thank Lütjens and the German Air Force who first invented this routine...

While thinking about these things, his eyes never stopped staring at that place. Quickly, Top finished reading the light signal sent by the Scharnhorst. For a practical and experienced naval officer like Top, understanding this flashing Morse code is just like reading a newspaper at home.

After looking at Kumets' plan, I didn't find any major problems. After all, to be honest, the problem now is that the battlefield is too large. And directly splitting into small teams to expand the search range is also a way to save the situation.

but……

Why were only Scharn, Gneiss and Hipper with destroyers? Where was Prinz Eugen?!