Bismarck

"We have always believed that these were mistresses found by senior German officers and brought with them as secretaries. However, later on, both Germany and Britain said that these girls on the battleships had the ability to control the battleships to some extent - or in other words, these girls were the battleships themselves."

"They may be the embodiment of battleships."

"In fact, these warships have indeed demonstrated strong combat capabilities that far exceed the theoretical design indicators. I think everyone has seen this - mainly in terms of speed, maneuverability, artillery range and hit rate, and even air combat command, they are far superior to other warships."

Everyone nodded. Lütjens's name was now well-known all over the world. There was no American or British who did not hate him to the core. However, no matter how strong the encirclement and suppression fleet they sent was, the consequences would always be miserable for themselves. He, as a fleet commander, was simply a legend.

The generals of the Red Navy asked themselves whether it was impossible to survive in such an environment, let alone capture the fortress.

"The Lütjens fleet that broke through the Cape of Good Hope fortress a few days ago is said to be a fleet composed of ship girls. When Hitler visited in late 1940, there was a girl on the Bismarck battleship that always followed Hitler. We suspect that girl is the so-called ship girl."

"The Bismarck battleship was Lütjens' flagship. Up to now, Britain and the United States have lost 17 battleships and 12 aircraft carriers, at least half of which are related to Lütjens!"

"However, apart from the fact that most of them appear as female secretaries, there seems to be no particular pattern in the appearance of these ship girls. Moreover, the more detailed situation seems to be strictly blocked by the top leaders in Germany. Apart from some rumors, no more valuable information can be found..."

"As for other countries, the British Navy may have had some as well. It is said that on the eve of the sinking of the Hood battlecruiser by the Bismarck, a girl - apparently Tovey's secretary - rescued Tovey, who had locked himself in the commander's office."

"Also, the British First Sea Lord Cunningham now has a long-time female secretary by his side - although we currently have no evidence to prove that this female secretary is the so-called ship girl... Perhaps, we should ask the British again and ask them to provide more detailed information."

"Well... this is possible." Comrade General Secretary, who is also a fan of large ships and cannons, was obviously already interested. After thinking for a while, Stalin asked again: "Marshal Kuznetsov, can you evaluate the combat effectiveness of these warships? Also, can you evaluate how our fortresses can fight against these things called warships?"

Marshal Kuznetsov, who was upright and serious, stood up and thought for a moment when he heard Stalin's name, and said: "Comrade General Secretary, if this so-called ship girl can capture the Cape of Good Hope Fortress head-on - it seems that they have also broken through the Gibraltar Fortress and the Alexandria Fortress before... This is already a very strong combat power! You know, the fortress artillery is very difficult to deal with. Even a small-scale battle fleet may not be able to defeat a fortress. But if the ship girl can break through the fortress artillery again and again, the combat power can be called terrifying... It's just that I don't know the details, so there is no way to make a more accurate assessment..."

"Well... that is to say, everything depends on finding the data of the ship girls' combat to determine their specific capabilities... Unfortunately, we don't have any ship girls..." Stalin sighed, and his mind seemed to think of the time when Hitler visited, there was indeed a red dot among the entourage...

He still had a deep impression of the beautiful girl, especially when intelligence officers later reported that she had saved an old man who was temporarily ill.

However, he was a steel comrade after all - although Lenin had once pulled his collar and scolded him as "You are not steel, you are jelly!" on the issue of anti-counterrevolutionary activities - his willpower was unquestionable. He calmed down and quickly came out of the so-called legend of the ship girl, and said to the ministers and committee members in the meeting room:

"Since KanColle is so powerful, the British probably can't do anything... But we are the Soviet Union. We have more than just land and national strength. More importantly, we have a people who are thoroughly organized and mobilized according to the GCist production relations! The Soviet Union is not so easily defeated by the fascists!"

"...Negotiations with Molotov can continue, but we don't rely on some bastards who call us America daddy...We are fighting to prevent our own Soviet motherland from being invaded and enslaved! Even without the assistance of capitalist Britain and the United States, we will continue to fight! You know, Hitler's manpower has been mobilized to the limit, and our evacuated factories have just started production!"

"Our people are also working harder and more perseveringly to develop industry, agriculture and the reclamation of wasteland in the eastern region... The various fronts of the Battle of Moscow are still being defended, and the western Rzhev-Bryansk-Orel line, which is closest to Moscow and the most critical, has not yet been broken! They have exceeded their defensive combat missions, and these heroic commanders and soldiers are fully qualified to receive the Order of Hero of the Soviet Union."

"…As long as we can hold out until the end of autumn, we will be able to accumulate enough reserve troops for counterattack! By that time, it will be time for us to start the counterattack and settle accounts with the German fascists!"

As he spoke, Stalin suddenly stood up and waved his hand holding the telegram from Molotov. His not-so-tall body seemed to have turned into a stoic Arctic bear, full of dominance.

Chapter 406: Dagen

"Cunningham, let's be frank. My four aircraft carriers are going to fight those Japanese dwarfs in the Pacific. The only ones that can be deployed in the Atlantic are the four newly commissioned South Dakota-class battleships. There is no more... So how many capital ships do you have left?"

"Me? How many ships can I, an old man, command? The armored aircraft carrier HMS Vengeance plus four Goliath-class light aircraft carriers, the planes on all five ships add up to exactly two hundred and one... and besides these aircraft carriers, I now only have the Duke of York and Howe, two battleships with only 356mm guns. As for the two now "stationed" in the Mid-Atlantic Garrison... Old Jin, I say, you are not so hungry that you even spare the fleet's tankers, are you?"

“…Stop it!”

"Everyone knows your two ships! They are equipped with 406mm main guns and 356mm armor. Only a guy like you, Cunningham, who has a thicker skin than a city wall, would call them tankers!"

"Hey, hey, hey? Old Jin, don't be like that. Those two are obviously oil tankers. Their names are RODNOL and NARSOL. If you don't believe me, just ask and see which one the Royal Navy doesn't call them that?" Cunningham joked with a rare smile.

“…Get lost!!”

Just as Stalin expressed great interest in the ship girl, Cunningham and Ernest King, the chief naval officers of their respective countries, were both holding the microphone in one hand and scratching their scalps with the other, and were having headaches over a cable across the Atlantic Ocean.

There is no other reason. It will take Lütjens at most seven days to enter the Central Atlantic from the South Atlantic!

Even though the Mid-Atlantic is the narrowest part of the Atlantic Ocean, there is still a distance of 2800 kilometers between Freetown in the Horn of Africa and Natal in the Horn of South America! The reconnaissance of this area of ​​waters has been completely dependent on the three scattered bases of Freetown, Ascension Island, and Natal Airport "leased" by the United States from Brazil, which are 1400 kilometers away from each other. A limited number of long-range reconnaissance aircraft are dispatched for search.

Even the most blindly optimistic British and American staff believed that with such a weak reconnaissance force facing the Lütjens fleet with the Edelweiss Zeppelin, the probability of discovering the Lütjens fleet was only 10%, which was God's blessing.

Moreover, even if God really blessed them and they found Lütjens, with the Allied forces now stretched to the limit in the Atlantic, what else could they do except send a warning message to the convoy in the North Atlantic...

----------

The Atlantic Ocean has a long history of navigation and can be said to be the center of world maritime shipping. On the eve of World War II, the Atlantic Ocean's maritime cargo volume accounted for 70% of the world's maritime cargo volume. Such a strategically significant maritime transport route has a profound impact on the world's politics, economy, and military.

Although it had begun to decline, before World War II, Britain still had a merchant fleet with a registered tonnage of about 2100 million tons, accounting for 6600% of the world's merchant fleet's total tonnage of 31 million tons. The total mileage of the sea routes regularly maintained by these merchant fleets exceeded 8 nautical miles, and the annual maritime cargo transportation volume reached 8 million tons. There were as many as 6800 ships sailing on the sea every day!

Even now, with the threat of submarine warfare, there are still 1500 merchant ships in the Atlantic every day, scattered in about fifty convoys.

Although German submarines were rampant and committed crimes everywhere, with an average of about 1942 tons of merchant ships sunk each month in the first four months of , compared with the huge total tonnage of merchant ships of the Allies and the merchant ships that were built and supplemented by large and small shipyards on both sides of the Atlantic working overtime, this loss, although slightly exceeding the construction number, was still within acceptable limits.

After all, Britain had enough coal and iron resources, and the wartime emergency merchant ships, which prioritized quantity, were built with lower standards—which also reduced the cost and difficulty of construction—and using old coal-fired steam engines was not a big problem. Not to mention the terrifying industrial production potential of the United States across the Atlantic, which had not yet fully exploded.

But... this only talks about anti-submarine warfare, but it does not take into account the impact of the main fleet at all.

According to the German Navy's past experience - if Lütjens and Raeder had not fallen out - every time the attack ship went out to fight and returned, other fleets stationed on the European continent would also launch a feint attack in order to coordinate and provide support.

Moreover, the more critical issue is that no one can guarantee that those ships that seem to be just feinting will not directly turn the tables after the feinting, and directly transform from feinting to main attack in the Atlantic Ocean, and hide in the deep ocean, and then they may emerge from the Atlantic shipping line at any time, commit crimes against the wind, and do evil...

In particular, there is such a fleet in Germany now - Kumetz has two Hindenburg-class ships, one Gneisenau with a 380 mm gun, two Europa-class aircraft carriers and two Deutschland-class pocket battleships. They may rush out at any time to avenge the last time they were caught off guard by Warspite in the Faroe Channel!

Although both Tovey and Cunningham knew very well what kind of person Kumets was after dealing with him several times, the strength of the fleet under his command should not be underestimated.

What's even more terrible is that if the Germans hadn't lost their brains - or to be more direct, if Raeder hadn't lost his brains, when Lütjens rushed into the mid-Atlantic, he would have allowed Kumetz, who was originally "living in the Arctic Ocean", to break out of the GIUK defense line with his fleet... This kind of two-pronged attack is so painful to think about.

Speaking of which, it seems that this idea of ​​attacking from both sides to cut off the Atlantic escort fleet was proposed by Lütjens when he wrote the Rhine Exercise... However, even after a year, this combat plan is still a headache for the Allied Navy, which is still short of manpower.

Even as naval giants, Cunningham and King knew that the logistical needs of Kumetz's German Arctic Fleet's sea activities were terrifying, and Lütjens had also traveled a long way. With the strength of Raeder, there were not enough light warships and supply ships to support the long-term sea activities of a large-scale fleet, so even if they really clamped down on the Atlantic shipping lines, it would not last long.

But... the German fleet's range is very long! Moreover, the two fleets are in the Arctic Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean, not far from the convoy's route! Even if the pincer attack cannot be continuously cut off, if it is repeated every now and then, how can the destroyers of the Atlantic convoy escort?

And if the main anti-submarine force - that is, the destroyers - cannot ensure the escort efficiency, then the German submarines that have been eyeing them for a long time will turn the Atlantic upside down.

Not to mention, even on the old rival German submarine side, a new type of submarine seems to have begun to appear in Dönitz's submarine force!

Some people have reported that a German submarine has been discovered in the Atlantic Ocean that is completely different from traditional submarines. It has a whale-like bow and a streamlined hull. It is more concealed and can lurk underwater for a longer time, making it more difficult to "capture"...

The problem now is that as long as Raeder is not insane, the Allied forces will not be able to deal with Kumetz and Lütjens at the same time with their limited resources! In fact, it would be difficult to deal with just one of them!

Even if you want to use your inside advantage to defeat them one by one, you have to be able to defeat them! Moreover, this time, it is not as simple as "defeat them one by one"...

"...If we attack Kumets first, even if we have some advantages, their goal is to cover Lütjens' return to France. As long as they get the timing right, we will lose sight of one thing while focusing on the other...As for attacking Lütjens, it's not a question of whether we can defeat him, but it's hard to find him! Besides, there's Kumets behind us. If Lütjens sinks a few more ships, even if we win, we won't be able to do anything to Kumets..."

"... Tsk, we just don't have any ships right now... We have to wait until the end of the year for the Lion-class battleships, and the Grudge and Ark Royal II will have to wait until next year or even the year after... And as you know, our economy is in recession. In order to ensure the construction of these battleships, we are now even tightening our belts on the production capacity of escort destroyers! There is still a shortage of destroyers and frigates for the Atlantic Escort Fleet."

"...Don't mention it. It's the same for me... The workers in our shipyard are not very motivated now. Even if we order the Essex-class aircraft carriers and Iowa-class battleships to be rushed, they will not be able to form combat effectiveness until the beginning of 1943 at the earliest... Forget it, Cunningham, don't be depressed. We will build a few more escort destroyers and modify escort aircraft carriers to help you share more of the burden..."

"It's all damn Germany! Damn the ship girl!! Damn Lütjens!"

At the two ends of a telephone line, the naval leaders of two countries roared in unison...

Lütjens sneezed silently over the Atlantic Ocean. He felt that perhaps he was being targeted.

"Bismarck, give me a cup of coffee." He said, then closed his eyes and rubbed his temples tiredly.

"Okay, Captain." Bismarck responded briskly.

She is already very familiar with this kind of thing.

-

Berlin, Chancellery, Moustache Office...

The war situation is changing rapidly and the Führer is very busy. Now the man with a mustache is gathering with a group of senior military and political officials to hold a routine meeting to discuss the current situation.

The man with the mustache suddenly remembered the powerful fleet that was returning home.

"...Speaking of which, where is Lütjens now?"

"Führer, I don't know. They are in radio silence now. But it can be predicted that they will arrive in the Mid-Atlantic area within a week at the latest." After the mustache man asked, Raeder answered expressionlessly.

Although the potential of Britain and the United States at sea was taken into consideration, the "loyal and patriotic" Raeder did not cause trouble, but agreed to let Lütjens abandon the isolated Socotra Island garrison and ordered Lütjens to return to the mainland with the ship girl to protect the most critical North Atlantic waters. However, this does not mean that Raeder has put aside his conflicts and prejudices and can cooperate sincerely within the navy.

But now we have to "unite" with Lütjens...

Although Kumetz was a bit useless, after reviewing the personnel information of the naval generals, Raeder found helplessly that, apart from Lütjens, Dönitz, and some people he had dismissed and alienated, among the generals who were capable and qualified to command a large fleet and were obedient, people like Kumetz were already the most capable...

Sometimes Redl himself even had some vague regrets:

He is good for nothing except being obedient. What kind of people did I promote in the beginning? Why is there no one with the ability of Lütjens...

But if there is a next time, I guess I will still promote these people, right? After all, those capable people are either troublemakers or threats to my power.

How can we allow others to covet power? Even if it is just a "possibility", it is not allowed.

...Actually, if it were possible, it would not be impossible for me to consolidate my position and power if I personally led a naval battle to victory.

Thinking of this, Raeder's mentality was a little more balanced. After all, he also came from an orthodox naval background.

Over there, the man with the mustache was still asking, "Lütjens and his men had to travel more than 20,000 kilometers to break out, and they also had to go through several fierce battles... Is there anything they need help with?"

"Yes, Führer. After the assault on the Cape of Good Hope, Lütjens used a code book from a rescued submarine to contact Dönitz and handed over a memorandum to me. Now they have less than a basic amount of ammunition, and only 50% of the mm anti-aircraft shells. In addition, they only have fighter planes left, and two-thirds of them need to be overhauled now..."

"I think we should send a supply ship to reinforce them right away, especially the 50mm anti-aircraft shells and planes. I will immediately ask the Director of the Naval Aviation, Udet, to allocate a squadron of fighter planes and pack them directly into boxes and send them to the port of Brest! I will also have people prepare the 50mm anti-aircraft shells as soon as possible. Anyway, they need to be shipped as soon as possible!"

When the fat Imperial Marshal heard that the Zeppelin suffered heavy losses on its planes, he, who loved his daughter dearly, interrupted Raeder on the spot and said that he could not neglect his female pilot, as she was a hero!

Redel's face turned cloudy in an instant. However, the mustache man nodded approvingly:

"Yes, reinforcements must be sent! Redel, you must arrange this matter immediately, without any mistakes!"

"Yes," Redel responded, but there was no emotion in his tone.

However, the mustache man didn't care about him, but continued to talk about his views on the Battle of the Atlantic from the perspective of war economics:

"...As long as Lütjens and his men come back, we can take advantage of the situation before the Americans increase their military strength and do our best to oppress the British. To be honest, I don't think the British would be stupid enough to give us the last bit of their navy to achieve victory. Besides, our army is now fully invested in the 'Typhon Plan', so it is impossible to threaten Britain with the army..."

"But there is one thing we can do now, which is to suppress their transportation as much as possible! ... Even if Churchill refuses to negotiate with us, we can still suppress the shipping lines as much as possible and force the Americans to allocate as much production capacity as possible to keep Britain alive. This will also delay the time for the Americans to come to the European continent as much as possible!"

"...Raeder, in addition to sending the supply ship out, you must also ask Kumets and his men to prepare and be ready to attack and escort Lütjens back home at any time!"

"Yes, Führer, Kumetz's combat plan and preparations have been completed. But..." Raeder answered the mustache man's words while rolling his eyes a few times. Then, he proposed a bold idea:

"...For Bismarck and the others, I have another idea: Although they are ship girls, I think they have been operating outside and have been away from their homeland for too long. Moreover, judging from the actual combat record, the power of the 380 main gun is not enough... So, Führer, why not take advantage of the opportunity of returning this time and let them return to their homeland. In addition to the overhaul, I have another idea for transformation..."

"Reform? Reform what?" Hitler was stunned when he heard Raeder's words.

"Führer, do you still remember? When we were designing the Bismarck, you said that the 380mm gun was too weak and was only used as a temporary measure before the 406 appeared. If possible, we should modify the Bismarck and Tirpitz to have 406mm main guns..."

Looking at the dazed Hitler, Raeder smiled slightly and said loyally:

"...I have always remembered what you ordered back then...34 more SKC406/ main guns were originally ordered just for this purpose...As long as some modifications are made at the shipyard, their main guns can be replaced with the same guns as the Hindenburg-class battleships..."

Raeder would never say that those sixteen 406 guns were actually the Hindenburg-class spare gun barrels...

"...As for the specific battle plan, I have already thought about it...If we consider it from the perspective of the British and Americans, they will most likely think that Lütjens' fleet is going back to Brest, and Kumetz's Arctic fleet is going to circle around the Icelandic waters, make a feint attack to meet Lütjens, and then return to Norway."

"But... we just need to do the opposite - let the supply ship bring some fuel to Bismarck and the others while carrying planes and anti-aircraft shells. Then Lütjens and his men will not return to Brest, but will directly return to Norway and then return to the mainland through Norway!"

"At the same time, Kumets will take Hindenburg and Europa and sail from Norway without returning to Norway, but go directly to Brest! In this way, we can definitely catch the British off guard!"

"...and Kumets, who is stationed in Brest, can also cooperate with Dönitz, which means that he can also exert a deterrent effect to suppress the British North Atlantic escort route..."

Redel spoke a lot of words in one breath.

"Hey... this one seems to work..."

Moustache, Goering, and other military and political officials looked at each other. They did not know the specific technical knowledge of naval warships, but when they heard that Raeder was willing to replace Bismarck's 380 main guns with the more powerful 406 main guns, their eyes gradually radiated a light of interest.

Official explanation of why Raeder disliked Lütjens

Maybe it's because of fff, please forgive the single dog

single dogsingle dogsingle dogsingle dogsingle dogsingle dogsingle dogsingle dogsingle dogsingle dogs

Although the German Navy had begun designing the 1934 and 380 guns as early as 406, this work was obviously not what Raeder requested.

According to the official archives of the German Navy: "The Gun Caliber Problem of Armored Ships D, E, and F" (April 1935), the expected design of armored ship F (i.e. Bismarck) only had two gun caliber options, and the design of each gun caliber was further divided into two types according to its protection level, that is, a total of four designs. The displacements of each were 4 tons (2cm gun, normal protection), 41000 tons (35cm gun, reduced protection), 39000 tons (35cm gun, normal protection), and 43000 tons (38cm gun, reduced protection) - Raeder himself chose the 39800 main gun solution.

In the end, it was Xiao Huzi who decided to settle on 380.

Two decks of Zeppelin + biplane...this was also Raeder's decision.

Use the Shane, which is only equipped with 283mm guns, to fight against the Dunkirk, which is equipped with 330mm main guns and 230-280mm main armor (Dunkirk came out before Shane, and Shane was designed to fight against Dunkirk)...

不知道有没有人发现一件事：从沙恩（350装甲和80-105穹甲）到俾斯麦(320装甲和80-120穹甲)再到H39（300装甲和80-120穹甲），装甲其实是一个比一个薄的么？

Redel did not comment on the specifics, but at least he has to take the blame for these things.

Chapter 684: Confused

On a sunny afternoon in the South Atlantic, the rare leisure and comfort in the war allowed Lütjens to relax and take a good nap leaning back in his chair.

only……

"Captain, there's a telegram! Captain, there's a telegram!"

"What? Don't worry." Hearing the call from his own ship cat, the sleepy Lütjens rubbed his eyes in frustration and sat up: