Bismarck

Hearing Tovey's words, the cold-faced battleship HMS Contempt immediately smiled: "Come to think of it, this is also because they have never played this trick in front of me, so I have never understood how they can hit those artillery positions and hit them accurately! If it weren't for the Zeppelin being bombarded by anti-ship missiles in the morning when attacking Bermuda, and suddenly taking out a bunch of missiles in the afternoon to blow up the fortress, I really couldn't imagine that they could modify bombs. And then when I thought that the control surface could also be modified into artillery shells, I really thought that the Germans had developed some black technology!"

"Humph, now everyone is holding back their energy and wanting revenge!" Tovey also sneered - War-weary had already mastered the secrets of the German warships, so what was there to be afraid of? !

Not to mention, this is when the German crew on the opposite side is at its weakest!

Kill him while he's ill. If we don't kill that evil bandit Lu now, when will we do it?

Sir Riddle (Gibraltar Fortress Garrison), Alexandria Fort, Algernon Willis (Commander of the Cape of Good Hope Garrison), and the looted Bermuda Fortress... We will help you to get an explanation from the German ship crew for this matter!

Tovey and War-weary looked at each other and saw the burning fighting spirit in each other's eyes - if the German crew did not give them an explanation this time, the Royal Navy would not mind giving her a direct blow!

Well, a variety of beatings and none of them are repetitive!

===================

The new moon had long disappeared on the horizon in the west, and the sun was already high in the sky at six in the morning. Under the clouds, several dark shadows were dragging their wounded bodies through the deep sea, speeding towards the north regardless of anything.

Inside these huge shadows, the officers who were on high alert were all on high alert. Even the officers and soldiers who had been on duty for a night and were resting made temporary beds at their positions, sleeping in their clothes, ready for battle...

We are close to the North Pole, and the nights are very short in summer. The sky is already light before 3 a.m. And if we continue northwards past Iceland and enter the Arctic Circle, the day is all day long.

Along with the dawn came the large and small ships that were moving around their fleet like ghosts, as well as the reconnaissance planes that took off from the Iceland airport!

The blazing sun was hanging in the sky, shining brightly, which was extremely unfavorable for the German fleet that was eager to break through and return home! In fact, at this moment, everyone was very clear about the position of the fleet, and I am afraid that every move of the fleet had been seen by the British!

The fleet command room was also filled with worry at this moment.

In a room with a C4ISR sign nailed to the door, Lütjens, commander of the Eastern Expeditionary Fleet of the Greater German War Navy, who was no different from the devil in the eyes of the British and Americans, sat upright in the main seat in the command room, staring at his men expressionlessly and silently at this warship that had been "generally recognized" as being possessed by the evil spirit of hell.

In front of him, the evil spirit ship girl, wearing a short grey windbreaker and waist-length blonde hair, was sitting in front of the chart table with a somewhat depressed look, flipping through the intelligence and reports that were sent in from time to time, and calculating something on the chart with gestures. In short, she was helping her captain to summarize and integrate the intelligence information from various sources.

Although she still felt a little depressed, she had to finish the meal she cooked herself, no matter how bad it tasted. After all, the signboard of the Command, Control, Communications, Intelligence, Reconnaissance and Surveillance Center was nailed on the door by herself.

"Report! Our hidden weather station in the Arctic Circle has sent us a weather forecast!"

A communications soldier ran over and handed over a telegram manuscript, reporting: "According to the weather station's survey, the weather in the Arctic Ocean will be good in the near future, and no severe weather is expected in the short term..."

When Bismarck heard this weather forecast, his face instantly fell.

The climate of the vast North Atlantic Ocean has an extremely important influence on military and shipping. The northern cold current that affects the weather in the North Atlantic originates from the Arctic Ocean and flows southward. In other words, the climate of the Arctic Ocean is the climate of the European continent and the North Atlantic three to five days later! In order to seize the right to forecast weather, the armed weather survey teams organized by the Allied Forces and the German Army were hiding from each other's searches like playing hide-and-seek.

If the weather is "good" over the next few days, it will not be good news for your breakthrough!

"Captain, do you think we can get rid of them if we just keep going north?"

After hearing the weather report, the Persian cat wrote and stroked with some depression, and then looked up at his captain...

Lütjens glanced at his ship cat, but his eyes were full of helplessness - this girl, now she is so careless even during working hours, and she has less and less military rules.

But come to think of it, am I too lacking in dignity in front of her?

Although, I always think this is pretty good. After all, putting on a stern face and pretending to be serious will make others fearful and depressed for no reason, and it will also make me tired...

"Okay, you know what the situation is." He sighed slightly, and his expressionless face finally broke down when he saw his pet cat. Pinching the Persian cat's pointed, soft and furry ears, Lütjens said helplessly: "You guys are all injured, and we only have enough fuel for 60 hours. Their patrol ships and patrol planes are wandering around the sky and the sea. I'm afraid our every move has been exposed long ago. And I dare say that Tovey is definitely racing with us - maybe he's waiting for us in front now!"

"So... even if this is the case, we still have to break through Iceland and return home...?"

Bismarck was not in a very good mood, and his words were full of worry. After all, even if we don't talk about the Tovey Fleet, the several airports on the front line of Iceland and the Faroe Islands are also a real threat!

"Haven't you calculated it? This is the only way to get around Tovey and the others." Lütjens continued to pinch the cat ears between his fingers. The soft, fluffy and fleshy touch made his hands want to keep pinching them. "The Iceland airport is not very large, and there is only one airport. No matter what, this is better than being sandwiched between their airport and aircraft carrier like a hamburger, right? - Forget it. Even if Zeppelin needs to take off anti-aircraft fighters, our entire formation will turn southwest. In this way, we can probably stay 400 kilometers away from the Iceland airport - the scale of their airport is limited, and it takes an hour and a half to bomb them one way, so the density and intensity of the air raids should not be too great."

"But if we take a detour, what if they take a shortcut to block us? We can't defeat them now." Bismarck still looked worried.

After all, as the eldest sister, she knew very well what was happening to the sisters. After the continuous fierce battle, everyone was wounded. The ability to run at more than 36 knots was now only at 32 and a half knots. Moreover, one rear main turret of Tirpitz was scrapped, and both front main turrets of Eugen were completely destroyed. Zeppelin, the most seriously injured, was even on the verge of death. Although it can still maintain its speed after self-repair, the strength of the simply welded hull is very limited. She can no longer withstand any blows!

Now everyone is sailing along the North Atlantic warm current - although in theory the speed will be increased with the wind and current, this is definitely not good news for aircraft carriers! Although when planning the route, it has been determined that it can stay as far away from the Icelandic airport as possible under a certain density of air strikes - but this will make the detour larger and farther. The Denmark Strait is already 400 kilometers away, and now it will be a few more kilometers away!

Another problem was that according to the ocean currents and wind direction, Zeppelin had to turn around if he wanted to take off, but that would be tantamount to handing time to Tovey's pursuit fleet! Although Zeppelin had already planned to release a small number of aircraft in the event of an air raid, using a short turning time of only ten minutes to release no more than one squadron of fighters for temporary air defense, even so, the time spent on the collection and release of these aircraft would take at least half an hour, and if they were unlucky, it might take an hour!

How far away was Tovey and the others now? Although, he had no idea where Tovey was at the moment! At most, based on the submarine bulletin that had long since expired, he could tell that Tovey's previous location was probably not far to the west of the island of Ireland...

Just as Bismarck was thinking wildly and Lütjens looked calm but was probably panicking inside, the communicator ran in...

"Report! A message has come from the submarine! They have discovered the location of Tovey's fleet!"

Another report interrupted their train of thought. But everyone pricked up their ears when they heard the content of the news.

"Submarine report, at 5:30 in the morning, they were found in the XX sea area, at a speed of 27 knots, heading northwest... There is at least one aircraft carrier, at least four warships, and about two squadrons of destroyers covering them..."

As soon as they heard the words "speed of 27 knots", the name of an armored aircraft carrier instantly appeared in Lütjens and Bismarck's minds - the armored aircraft carrier HMS Grudge with a capacity of 72 aircraft!

Excluding the light aircraft carrier HMS Colossus, which had a speed of only 25 knots and, according to the report, should still be in the Bay of Biscay, staring at Kumets, the Allied forces in the North Atlantic now only had one main aircraft carrier, and she was the only one that could run at speeds above 27 knots!

"In the XX sea area?" Bismarck was startled. He quickly shook off the finger that was pinching his ear and pounced on the chart table with a meow: "...800 kilometers south of Iceland, less than 700 kilometers to our east - Captain! They are so close to us!!"

"Don't panic, we are five and a half knots faster than them." Faced with a powerful enemy, Lütjens showed his general demeanor, calm and composed. He glanced at the sea chart and said calmly, "The combat radius of their carrier-based aircraft is 200 nautical miles, or 370 kilometers. If they are still 700 kilometers away from us, they will not be able to enter the combat radius of their carrier-based aircraft even at noon!"

"But... by noon, the distance between us and them will be only around 200 nautical miles!" The Persian cat was about to cry.

"Don't worry, they can't outrun us. If they can't outrun us, it means they are behind us, and they are in a smooth sailing situation just like us - unless the Vengeance turns around, there is no way they can release the plane. But if they turn around, the distance will be outside the maximum combat radius of the carrier-based aircraft." Lütjens said lightly, glancing at his pet cat who couldn't keep his cool with some helplessness in his eyes: "You should also know that the combat radius of carrier-based aircraft is not fixed in actual combat, especially when affected by wind direction and the heading of the aircraft carrier... Alas, when can you learn to be more calm..."

"Eh? Really..." The Persian cat was stunned for a moment, and then began to maliciously act cute to ease the awkward conversation: "Captain, you are really awesome... Hehehehe..."

With a slap, Lütjens, who was already doting on his ship cat to the point of being helpless, raised his palm high in annoyance, but gently patted the Persian cat's golden hair, then continued to pinch its ears, while still thinking about the next plan while looking at the nautical chart.

After all, although we have barely managed to stay outside the opponent's attack limit, the current situation is still quite dangerous...

Lütjens looked worriedly to the north of him on the sea chart, in the direction of Reykjavik Port in Iceland. That was where he and his battleship had fought a bloody battle when the British invaded Iceland...

Chapter 732

The Arctic Circle has entered the polar day on June 17. Although Iceland is located a little south of the Arctic Circle, it is not far away. In this location close to the pole, during this period before the summer solstice, the time of sunrise and sunset is extremely strange compared to people's general traditional habits.

"Bismarck, what time is it now? Is there anything going on?"

Standing in front of the window, Lütjens looked at the sun which was still just setting in the west at this moment, and then looked at the fleet's position marked on the nautical chart, which was less than 500 kilometers away from the Keflavík Peninsula, southwest of Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland. There was no expression in Lütjens' eyes, but he was secretly anxious in his heart.

"Nothing, it's almost six o'clock - speaking of which, Captain, it's time for dinner..."

Bismarck curled up on the windowsill with his ears drooping, answering his captain's questions weakly and bored.

"Really? Then let's eat - give me a piece of bread with some (German) sauerkraut." Lütjens replied indifferently: "Only after a full meal can you have enough energy to start the journey..."

Hearing his captain's words, Bismarck, who was about to get bread for his captain, froze in his ears and couldn't help but glance at his captain.

A road trip meal...why does it sound so unlucky...

Bah, bah, bah, she couldn't help but spit a few times.

Lütjens did not care about the ambiguity in his words, or the captain no longer had the mind to consider these things. Of course, it is also possible that there is no such thing as a road trip meal in German culture.

After taking the bread from Bismarck's hand, he sat down at the chart table, nibbling the bread here and there while staring intently at the enemy and friendly signs on the chart, judging the positions of both sides.

The monotonous scenery on the road of breaking out made the command room full of indescribable depression and dullness. In such a lifeless and depressing environment, those "good friends" who were hovering in the sky or on the sea and came to "visit" every now and then could not make the people in the headquarters full of numb atmosphere of "nothing matters anymore" have any reaction.

Now even eating has become a way to mobilize the last bit of morale in the troops - otherwise, the morale of this fleet has been crushed to the point of being almost like a walking corpse by the suffocating pressure of the battlefield!

The North Atlantic was the British's natural home turf, and the German fleet, which had run out of ammunition, was now in a state of despair. Both sides knew this clearly, and whether it was the reconnaissance planes taking off from the British island bases or the patrol boats patrolling the sea, they were full of murderous intent against the evil spirit sisters who had almost single-handedly defeated the entire Royal Navy's main fleet, and they were madly biting around their own fleet that was "fleeing in panic and in a panic".

Even if we can't beat you for now, and even those frigates can't even outrun you, we will hold you tightly! Let the main fleet catch your clues, which is the victory of us, the little people who are worthless in front of you "evil spirits" who were once so arrogant!

The Royal Navy's tradition of fighting whenever they see an enemy showed its tenacity in this battlefield environment that required resilience and perseverance, but such a battlefield environment was very unfavorable for the German fleet! The enemy encounter reports that were transmitted to the C4ISR center of the Bismarck battleship from time to time were a heavy psychological pressure on people's hearts, and even Lütjens himself felt a little breathless.

What's more serious is that the position of Tovey's fleet, which has been out of the range of German submarines for a long time, can no longer be predicted! Now Tovey's position is basically based on estimation!

Fortunately, their fleet was at least five and a half knots faster than the American fleet that was being dragged down by the four South Dakota-class battleships! And according to the last confirmed position of Tovey, even if Tovey's fleet was chasing them relentlessly, at this moment, they could not bring themselves within the combat radius of the carrier-based aviation of the USS Vengeance!

In particular, if Tovey wanted to chase him, he had to sail with the wind like himself - when sailing with the wind, Zeppelin could not release a large fleet, so the same went for the hatred!

(PS: Not to mention the air catapults of this era, even the early steam catapults had to sail at full speed + against the wind to take off the aircraft, not to mention that the early days of the Enemy seemed to have no air catapults installed...)

So, the only temporary problem now is the air strike on the Icelandic base in front of him.

The fleet is now located nearly 500 kilometers southwest of Keflavík Airport in Iceland. Lütjens, who has rich combat experience, has long discovered that even the reconnaissance planes that have been monitoring him and took off from Iceland take an average of two hours to change shifts.

Keflavik Airport is not very large, and two hours is just the one-way time. In other words, the interval between their air strikes, including the time for coming, going, and preparation, will definitely not be less than five hours!

Even if an air strike is inevitable, you can still use tactical operations to maximize the control distance to stretch the opponent's air strike time interval and weaken the density of air strikes to reduce the threat of air strikes.

Moreover, even if Zeppelin released a small number of aircraft, there would be a deviation in the fleet's position and a time delay, allowing the Tovey fleet behind to pursue closer, but with a speed difference of more than five knots between the enemy and himself, if they could not catch up with him before, they would be even less likely to catch up with him now!

Even if Tovey took the risk and abandoned the four American battleships that were only sailing at 27 knots and directly slowed down the fleet, and let his British fleet pursue alone at 30 knots - it seemed that the speed had increased by 10%, and in fact it had. But... even if it accelerated to 30 knots, when could 30 knots be faster than his 32 and a half knots? !

Thinking of this, Lütjens felt a little more at ease.

Do your best and accept your fate. You have done everything you can. The rest depends on everyone's performance in battle. However, he is still very confident in the performance of the girls under his command.

At this moment, the secretary cat beside him suddenly stood up his ears, then turned around and reported the enemy situation:

"Captain! Enemy bombers spotted in the direction of Iceland! At our two o'clock direction, 160 kilometers away!"

"How many have come?"

"Hmm... about 40 to 50 of them! The battle started in less than half an hour!"

Bismarck was a little panicked - everyone's anti-aircraft shells were seriously insufficient, and several sisters were fighting with injuries. In this case, the scale of forty or fifty planes was very fatal!

"...Is that so...Let Zeppelin launch all its planes to engage the enemy. Anyway, she has more than 20 planes on standby on the flight deck." Lütjens's expression was the same as usual, but the worry in his eyes was still somewhat uncontrollable: "Order, all formations turn southwest together, and let Zeppelin launch its planes. In addition, the fleet will form a wheel formation with Zeppelin as the center."

"Okay!" Bismarck nodded vigorously.

======================

The actions and reactions of something like war are never one-way.

On the other side of the sea, in the bridge of the "second brother" Duke of York, Tovey and Warspite were also looking at the nautical chart, guessing Lütjens' next move from a distance of two hundred nautical miles.

"The Royal Air Force at the Icelandic airport reported that Lütjens' position is 483 miles ( kilometers) southwest of Reykjavik. The Mosquitoes and Blenheims they sent are expected to engage the German ships at around :."

Glancing at the battle report in his hand, War-weary said.

"Our speed is still not enough. Now it depends on what Iceland can do!" Tovey said somewhat depressed.

"The speed of these American ships is really a drag!" Speaking of the speed of these American battleships, Warspite was helpless - the aircraft carrier HMS Vengeance had a speed of 31 knots, and the two King George V-class battleships also had a speed of 30 knots, but now they were all being dragged to death by these four South Dakotas!

The distance between him and Lütjens on the nautical chart has increased from 400 kilometers at the closest to more than 450 kilometers now!

Speaking of these ships, Tovey and War-weary were both speechless.

From the perspective of the British Royal Navy, the South Dakota-class battleships have nine 6-inch MK307 mortars that are quite powerful and have good hull stability. Although the radar and fire control systems (which were urgently modified after the outbreak of the war to adapt to combat needs) have good performance, most of that was due to the operation of Qiu Zhongtang, who was a foreigner and fawned on foreigners. He opened up his own technology and let the Americans copy it. The 20mm built-in inclined armor design was a design idea that the Royal Navy abandoned as early as the s. Although in theory, the inclined armor can be converted into thicker armor thickness and can also exchange for the probability of shells ricocheting, the built-in armor means that more than half of the space in the cabin outside the hull is an undefended area! Once these areas are flooded, they will directly cause the hull to tilt at a large angle or even capsize!

The most bizarre thing is the design of the power compartment - not to mention the American hull design, which makes the speed of South Dakota, which has 10% more power than King George V, 10% slower than that of British battleships. At the same time, like North Carolina, in order to "reduce weight", there are no compartments inside the cabin! Eight boilers and four steam turbines are all squeezed into four large through cabins! As long as the armor is penetrated, the amount of water entering is calculated in thousands of tons! According to the previous combat experience of the North Carolina class (when the Prinz Eugen single-handedly defeated the American Wilcox Fleet), the hidden danger of short circuit in the distribution room due to vibration during combat is also reflected on South Dakota.

Even with that inclined armor, according to Chantley, director of the U.S. Naval Shipbuilding Bureau, the maximum level is only 343 mm of vertical armor... Adding this series of factors together, the actual defense and actual survivability of South Dakota were all questioned by the British who had rich combat experience!

(PS: The statement that the inclined armor defense is equivalent to 343 mm and the power compartment are both from "History of American Battleship Design", which Chantley said in the shipbuilding report submitted to Congress - the reason for this design is to reduce tonnage and save money)

(PS2: In history, the fourth ship of the South Dakota class, the USS Alabama, collided with the Baltimore class heavy cruiser in an accident. As a result, due to water ingress on the outside of the internal armor and the lack of compartments inside the hull, the USS Alabama was almost sunk by its own cruiser.)

I was originally slower than the other party, and now I'm following behind him - how can I think about it? It feels awkward.

"War-weary, what do you think? Why don't we leave these American burdens behind, increase the fleet to thirty knots, go around the Faroe Channel, and pass in front of Lütjens. What do you think?" Tovey looked at the nautical chart, pondered for a while, and spoke slowly.

"Abandon those four American warships? Isn't that a bit risky?" War-weary was a little surprised when he heard Tovey's idea: "If we want to go around to the northeast of Iceland to intercept Lütjens, we will have to sail for at least 24 hours, and the Americans will be left behind by us for a full 130 kilometers!"

"But this is the only way now! If we take those four burdens with us, and the air raid on the Iceland airport fails, we will be completely helpless against Lütjens and his gang!" Tovey was a little hesitant, but he still gritted his teeth and expressed his opinion through his teeth.

"But you have to consider that if Lütjens goes that way, he might also go to the Jan Mayen Island side - over there is the East Greenland cold current coming down from the Arctic Ocean, and Zeppelin can dispatch planes and launch anti-ship missiles!" Before Tovey could finish his words, War-weary interrupted Tovey.

"I know, but now is the best chance to defeat Lütjens! Besides, I just need to get the enemy's air force into the combat radius... The German ship should only have about 20 planes now. Even if they are equipped with anti-ship missiles, we still have 72 planes..." Tovey's face was a little gnashing, and even a little ferocious: "Go and tell Cunningham that I am willing to sign a military order - I will never be willing if I don't intercept Lütjens!"

Seeing Tovey so determined to sink the German fleet, Warspite, who also wanted to destroy the German ships, was somewhat silent. After a long silence, she finally nodded to Tovey:

"...Okay, since you insist on doing this, I'll go talk to the marshal for you..."

Chapter 733: The Mosquito Fighter That Is Hard to Catch Up

"Damn it! They're too fast!"

"What the hell are these British Mosquitoes!"

"Instructor, our BF-109 can't catch up with them..."

"Got it... I'm Zeppelin. I'll take the FW-190 to deal with these guys. The others with BF-109s will go and attack the Blenheims in the back. And remember to shoot at the damaged planes. Don't let them get away!"

"Brothers, follow us! Don't lose us!"

"Brothers flying the FW-190, it's your turn... Damn it!"

The remaining seven BF-186 fighters and fifteen FW-109 fighters of GR-190 have all been dispatched, not a single one is left. Among the pilots who have survived the brutal war, there are the best of the best - Gerhard Barkhorn, Walter Novotny, Hermann Graf, Erich Rudolf, Heinrich Eichler, Theodor Wiesenberg, Alfred Grieslawski... all of them have been dispatched!

Not counting the already sacrificed Marseille and the transferred Heinz Barr, the record of these ace pilots in the GR-186 wing alone exceeded 1100! As for the other pilots of the GR-186 wing, under the long-term training of Zeppelin, almost like waving a whip, basically all of them have ace-level combat effectiveness and record! Even Rudel, who mainly specializes in ground attack, has already had six air combat kills at this time, and now he is driving an FW-190, mixed in a team of fighters full of ace fighters.

There is no other way. There is a real shortage of fighter jets right now, so we can only ask Rudel to make up the number.