Bismarck

Bismarck did not cry out loud, but clenched his fists and tried to speak calmly, but soon he choked up again, and then Bismarck wiped away his tears resolutely.

Now is not the time to cry!

Lütjens was silent, thinking of the disappearance of the aircraft carrier that was being towed, and even the captain of the aircraft carrier, Bangtai, who was also his capable subordinate, was now missing... He couldn't help but shook his head and sighed slightly.

I don't know what expression to use.

"You don't have to hold it in. Just cry if you want to." Lütjens touched her head and patted her shoulder gently.

"But go back to your room first."

This is a battlefield, not a place to cry.

He looked toward the towing aircraft carrier.

Even the thick smoke billowing from the aircraft carrier has begun to die down. This is probably a symbol of some kind...

and many more? !

The smoke has died down?

The damage control team is still doing their best to repair it?

What is this ghost?

Including Lütjens, a bunch of people suddenly felt that something was wrong...

He suddenly remembered, has this person in front of him also disappeared in front of him?

----

The Persian cat, who was being stared at fiercely by a group of people, suddenly felt very panicked.

"So you, little girl, scared me to death!"

Lütjens, who was extremely angry, ignored the Persian cat that was holding its head with its paws in pain. He silently withdrew his fingers that were aching from hitting the cat, and turned his back to Bismarck, who was still crying.

Bismarck felt that he was just too impatient and did not think of the connection for a moment.

"Hehehehe...Captain, we are actually just worried about her."

Bismarck smiled with a silly and cute look on her face - Grape and Eugen were still making fun of her as their elder sister on the WIFI!

"No matter how worried you are, you should at least look carefully..." The corners of Lütjens' mouth twitched unnaturally.

But speaking of it, he could understand why his stupid cat did this. After all, his cat was worried about Zeppelin and that was why he was so anxious.

During the Icelandic naval battle, she was trapped in the bay and had finally escaped from the eighteen heavy guns of two oil tankers; and the time when she was chased by Hood and was almost destroyed by him; especially the last time, when she almost used up her last bit of strength to cover Rommel's assault on the beach of El Alamein... When she thought of how she was driving her real body, whose projection had already dissipated, and had finally run aground on the beach, she felt so anxious, and the softest part of Lütjens' heart was touched.

The so-called stupid cuteness is not just because of excessive worry that one becomes stupid, and it becomes cute when stupid to a certain level...

However, this false report of military intelligence really scared him, fortunately he reacted early.

With a sigh of pampering and helplessness, Lütjens looked up at the sky in silence.

It was already past one in the afternoon, and more than half an hour had passed since the previous bombing, but everyone's damage was still very serious, and certain repairs had to be carried out to ensure a certain speed for the next voyage.

If the strength and intelligence of the British and American combined fleets were consistent...

The speed of the Vengeance-class armored aircraft carrier is 32 knots, the speed of the King George V-class battleship is 30 knots, and the speed of the South Dakota-class battleship is reported to be 27 knots. The speed of the hastily built Colossus-class light aircraft carrier is unknown, but based on the speed of the aircraft carrier required to launch a large-scale fleet, and the time it takes to ambush itself from the UK to the Azores, as well as the relatively brief introduction to its speed in the intelligence, it can be estimated that it will never be less than 25 knots... Although the fleet of 140 aircraft bombed itself before, it was obviously launched in a full-deck attack wave mode with full confidence.

Although, he could guess why Tovey would adopt such a desperate attack mode - although his side was still in the process of replenishment, Zeppelin still had more than forty planes!

If we consider the interception efficiency of Bismarck, Tirpitz and Eugen's anti-aircraft firepower circle, the British's penetration probability will become very embarrassing - although there is flexibility in deployment, the "half-deck" attack mode has no offensive power. The "half-deck attack" can only piece together 70 aircraft at most, and it does not necessarily guarantee the success rate of penetration! If the defense of their own fleet cannot be broken in one go, it is not a big deal to use the refueling tactic, and they can completely escape at a speed of 33 and a half knots.

So Tovey still launched this desperate offensive at this time, which Lütjens could understand.

However, the advantages and disadvantages of all things are complementary to each other.

Although the full-deck attack is powerful, its fatal weakness is that it is not very flexible. After a full-deck attack, it takes one or two hours just to recover the aircraft! And it will take at least three or four hours to dispatch the next wave of attack aircraft. If the half-deck attack is based on the flexibility of dispatch, the second wave of attack aircraft should be dispatched in two hours at most.

But... who knows what the British will do?

What if they have one or two carriers that don’t have full decks…?

Even with the current situation of their own fleet, it would be very troublesome as long as one aircraft carrier could be deployed.

The experience of aircraft carrier battles is now abundant in all major naval powers! If only half of the deck is deployed, it will only take two hours at most...

and……

Now we don't know when their battleships will catch up...

As the attacked party, Lütjens had no way of grasping the enemy's position - although, according to the radar, the enemy's aircraft group could be detected at a certain altitude 160 kilometers away, so the enemy's distance would not be closer than kilometers - at this distance, a battleship at knots would take four hours to run.

Bismarck and Tirpitz were badly injured, but at least several of their main guns were intact. There were six battleships on the other side! And it was confirmed that Warspite was there - although her body was not here, there was no problem in providing artillery observation and command!

Not to mention, if there is a two-hour interval between half-deck airstrikes, half an hour has already passed!

"Bismarck, tell everyone, I estimate that the enemy's second wave of air strikes may only be two hours after the previous wave. Half an hour has passed now, so we must complete the damage control within an hour and a half! At least we must be prepared until everyone can set sail again - especially Zeppelin! Her injuries are the most serious!"

"Got it! I'll contact Tizi and Eugen right away! As for Zeppelin..." Speaking of Zeppelin, Bismarck gritted his teeth and said, "Captain, there's no one in charge of Zeppelin's main body right now. How about I go directly to Zeppelin's main body?!"

Lütjens thought about it for a moment and nodded immediately: "Yes! You go to the Zeppelin and take charge immediately!"

"Yes!" Bismarck, who had regained his professionalism as a secretary to the fleet commander, saluted his admiral hastily and walked away quickly without any delay.

Although she felt a little exhausted from the extreme sorrow and joy, she now knew that she must do her best to protect Zeppelin.

After all, the battlefield is not the place to act cute or stupid, and you only have an hour and a half left.

However, after boarding the main body of the aircraft carrier, I saw that Zeppelin had arranged everything in an orderly manner before disappearing, and I felt even more upset...

"Zeppelin, don't worry!"

Bismarck secretly clenched his fists and said, I will definitely protect you.

"What? Kumetz's fleet is chasing our convoy and moving towards the southwest of Britain?"

"Yeah... Old... Cunningham just told me!" Yan Zhan used a two-color pencil in one hand and a naval drafting ruler in the other to draw on the nautical chart, frowning a little: "It seems that if Kumets moves towards the Bay of Biscay, he will be able to enter the Bay of Biscay within 24 hours at the latest, which may threaten the direction of our return voyage..."

"German warships are famous for their endurance, and Kumetz has suffered almost no losses now. If they refuel and reload at the port in the Bay of Biscay, the threat will be extremely great. And..." Tovey looked at the nautical chart and twisted his chin.

"How much fuel do we have now?" asked Warspite.

"That's what I wanted to ask..." Tovey smiled bitterly, shook his head, shrugged his shoulders, and spread his hands: "At most, there are only two-thirds of the fuel. Speaking of which, the endurance of our King George V-class battleships is really not good enough..."

Looking at Tovey's expression, War-weary also sighed slightly.

当初建造乔治五世级战列舰的时候，为了所谓政治原因不得不控制其吨位，甚至为了吨位还砍了两门主炮。结果就是乔治五世级虽然航速可以达到三十节，但是那仅仅3900海里/22节的续航力却是整个舰队里最低的。要知道，编队里的南达科他可是拥有或者6500海里/25节的续航力。而英国自己的怨仇级航母和巨人级轻母也都分别有11000海里/14节和12000海里/14节的续航力。

In order to ensure that the ambush on Bismarck would not be discovered by the German reconnaissance aircraft deployed in France, the British fleet under Tovey's command bypassed the island of Ireland and made a big circle for 2,600 kilometers! Because of the rush, the average speed of the entire fleet was 22 knots! In other words, the two King George V-class battleships Duke of York and Howe only had two-thirds of the fuel left.

In this case, after chasing the Bismarck, he would also have to consider how to return home - the slowest Europa-class aircraft carrier under Kumets had the same speed as his own Goliath-class light carrier, both of which were 25 knots, which meant that there was a high probability that they would not be able to get rid of Kumets on the way back home!

Although if the five aircraft carriers were fully equipped, with a force advantage of five carriers against two and three aircraft against two, Tovey and War-weary would not be afraid of Kumets, the incompetent commander. But now that they had just airstrike Lütjens, the 140 carrier-based aircraft sent out suffered heavy losses - the losses in air combat alone and the loss of aircraft that could not support flying back to the aircraft carriers reached , and those that managed to land successfully were all injured.

Although this has a funny advantage, it only requires three aircraft carriers to receive all the remaining aircraft.

Now the remaining two aircraft carriers are preparing to send out a second wave of aircraft to try to interrupt the possible rescue of Zebeling and expand the victory. However, the strength in their hands is not enough to deal with Kumets...

but……

The real interests involved can be understood just by thinking about it - whether in terms of ability or the combat effectiveness of his ship girls, this idiot Kumets can't compare to Lütjens at all.

Even though Kumets' two Europa-class aircraft carriers have more than 140 aircraft, the North Atlantic is so vast that he can solve his fuel problem by simply finding American battleships with long endurance to draw some fuel, and then return from any port in the North Atlantic.

You know, three of the four German evil spirit ships are badly damaged and one is on the verge of death. If we don't take this great opportunity to chase the remaining enemy, will we let them revive and make a comeback? !

As for whether Kumets dared to chase him… Let’s not talk about whether he dared to chase him. Even if he really caught up with him, what could he do? Would he be caught in the middle of the Tovey fleet and the British air force base and be bombed by shuttle bombing?

After all, they were both experienced and knowledgeable, and they could see the stakes at a glance! Moreover, Tovey and War-weary were not the kind of people who would drag their feet. The two looked at each other and nodded at the same time:

"As long as we destroy the Lütjens fleet, Kumetz won't be a problem at all - the fleet is moving at full speed! We continue chasing!"

"Yes! With such a good opportunity, we must not let Lütjens get away!"

Chapter 695: Submarine Harassment

In the hangar of the Zeppelin aircraft carrier, which was tilted due to the inflow of water, although the fire had been extinguished, traces of smoke and fire were still visible everywhere. In the fires that had just been extinguished, the charred copper and rotten iron were still emitting thick smoke. The damage control team wearing protective clothing, under the illumination of riot flashlights, continued to water the fires to cool them down, while carefully cleaning the places that had just been extinguished, fearing that if they were not careful, the hidden fire buried in the fire would be rekindled...

At the same time, the pumping teams were pumping out as much free liquid as possible in the hangar where water was gradually accumulating, the flue and boiler room below. The accumulated water not only increased the tonnage of the ship, causing the ship to tilt, but also increasingly endangered the stability of the aircraft carrier.

Fortunately, the Zeppelin's boiler rooms are all large through-compartments that span the hull, so the list has not been very significant until now - given the height of the aircraft carrier's hull and the height of its center of gravity, a list would mean that it is unsalvageable to a large extent...

Now, on this aircraft carrier, everyone who could still move rolled up their sleeves and, under the unified coordination of the chief engineer, consciously participated in the intense rescue work that was being carried out. Even the pilots who were pampered on weekdays were no exception. Although these pilots were exhausted in the previous brutal air battle, they had only recovered a little and now took the initiative to drag their still sore limbs and walked out of the lounge with grimace.

only……

"...We work with the ground crew to transport the fighter parts in the crates to the flight deck and then put them together?"

When the pilots heard that this was the mission assigned to them, they were all confused.

"Yes, this is the last order given by the instructor. Although I don't know where the instructor is now, the Bismarck secretary on the flagship is in charge now. Maybe... the instructor is also tired..."

Looking at the people around him, Grislavsky had the highest rank among them. He had just climbed off the plane with sore body and was responsible for giving orders. He looked at the troops around him who came from all over the world with various numbers - either very familiar old comrades, or pilots who were transferred from the Socotra Island Airport, or simply pilots who were just scheduled to be replenished from the supply ship with the plane. He then looked at several old comrades in GR-186 who were assigning the same tasks to others on the other side, and sighed silently in his heart.

The minds of frontline pilots are not too complicated, but their eyes are actually sharp. Having followed their instructors in battles for so many years, they already have an idea of ​​what "evil spirits" are.

The aircraft carrier was damaged like this, and the instructor also disappeared - in fact, I had heard the legend a long time ago: when a warship is damaged to a certain extent, the "evil spirit" will disappear. My instructor's best friend, the Bismarck secretary ship, also disappeared several times in this way.

Although only a few pilots who survived on the front line knew about these things, Zeppelin did not deliberately conceal them. However, since they concerned the beloved instructor, they did not spread the news everywhere. At most, they kept it a tacit understanding.

Only Eugen had shown some signs of being "ostracized" in the Arctic Ocean before he came here, but as a fleet had been stationed together, fought together, and broken through together for such a long time, it was possible to hear some gossip.

Forget it, let’s not think too much about it for now - the order from my instructor must be because he is afraid that the other side’s second batch of planes will come to take advantage of the situation, so the most important thing is to complete the task first.

Grislavsky, who was one of the best in the entire German Air Force in providing combat records to novices and supporting attacks, shook his head and, following the final order from his instructor, began to organize other people to use trailers and small cranes to move the large wooden boxes containing aircraft segments.

Even if we can only piece together an airplane, it is still a contribution.

-------

Deep underwater in the Atlantic Ocean, several small submarines with the British Royal Navy flag painted on their command towers were stealthily sticking their periscopes out from underwater. With the help of the seawater as a cover, they were monitoring the gray-black shadows that were not too small shining in the sunlight on the sea and sky from a distance of more than ten kilometers...

The Bismarck-class battleship was 212 meters long, more than 21.3 meters wide, and more than meters high. Even considering the curvature of the earth more than kilometers away, it seemed to be a not-small target - not to mention that what appeared in front of him were the Bismarck, Tirpitz sisters, and a Zeppelin. And outside them, there was also a Prinz Eugen, which was also meters long and meters wide, and it was cruising around like a loyal sentinel, looking around...

Even if you look at it head-on, a 30*30 target 1500 kilometers away, even if you consider the obstruction of the earth's curvature and the fact that the warship's superstructure is narrower than the hull width, the projection area is about the same as a 2*2.5 meter target meters away - the latter is basically the area of ​​a tank hiding in the grass, not to mention the open ocean. Although the distance is too far and the effect of camouflage makes it look more blurred to the naked eye, but if you know where the opponent is in advance and can be sure that the opponent has not moved for the time being, then it is another matter...

The British U-class submarines, named after letters, are just small submarines with a full load displacement of 630 tons, a surface speed of 11.25 knots (20.8KM/H) and an underwater speed of 10 knots (19KM/H). They only have one 3-inch gun, four front torpedo tubes and two rear torpedo tubes, plus only ten spare torpedoes. However, they also want to have some combat performance.

Especially when the German submarines on the opposite side were so rampant, almost every British submarine soldier was holding his breath - don't think that only you Germans have submarines.

A soldier who doesn't want to be a marshal is definitely not a good soldier.

British submarines, which have little presence in the ocean, occasionally come out for a stroll, preferably to give someone a finishing blow and show their shining presence.

only……

"…The target is fifteen kilometers away, and they are still repairing there…Prince Eugen is patrolling the periphery, and we don't know if we can escape the search range of those evil spirits. Although it seems that they haven't discovered us yet, but…" The captain of the British submarine spat, gritting his teeth.

The British torpedo range at a speed of 28 knots was only 13700 meters, and a torpedo at knots would take a quarter of an hour to reach this pitiful yards.

With the capabilities of the German crew, they would definitely be able to dodge this kind of torpedo even if they were towing a Zeppelin.

For a small submarine of their size of 630 tons, even if we don't take into account the two torpedoes in the tail torpedo tube which were almost a one-time "last ditch effort", there are only eight torpedoes in the four front torpedo tubes!

However, it was just some gnashing of teeth.

The British captain rolled his eyes and came up with an idea:

"Although these torpedoes cannot hit them, it is not bad to harass them and prevent them from repairing the ship in peace..."

The British captain, thinking of this clever idea, quickly raised the corners of his mouth again.

Just do it!

----

Four speeding white lines suddenly appeared in Bismarck's perception!

The torpedoes came through the waves, passing between the crests and troughs, getting closer and closer from a distance.

Bismarck, who was sitting on the Zeppelin directing the emergency repairs, almost jumped up for a moment!

You know, when a damaged warship is sailing, water will pour into the hull from the breach more violently. Now, for the sake of repair, everyone's speed is very slow and "moving" little by little! Not to mention, his main body is still dragging Zeppelin - although the distance seems far, it may not be able to speed up...

With a teleportation, the Persian cat instantly disappeared from the Zeppelin aircraft carrier and ran to the side of its own captain:

"Captain! Torpedo spotted! There are submarines around them!"

"What? Where?!"

When he heard about the torpedo, Lütjens stood up from his chair immediately.