"Sir, 1 Mosquito plane spotted!"

Flagship of the German High Seas Fleet, battleship Hindenburg, Gunther. General Lu Teyans listened to the staff officer's report with a blank face. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

"Commander, the British fleet is coming soon!" Erich. Lieutenant General Pei said loudly.

Needless to say, this Mosquito plane must have been the eyes of the British air raid group, which had come to search for the German fleet. Since it appeared high in the air near the Hindenburg, it means that it has found its target.

Taking the helmet from one of the adjutants' hands and fastening it to his head, Gunther. Admiral Lütjans asked: "Haven't you found the aircraft carrier formations of the British yet?" ”

Erich. Bei replied, "Not yet...... At the moment the Bergen base and 5 of our aircraft carriers have sent aircraft to search, and 11 more submarines are searching in the North Atlantic between Iceland and Scotland. ”

"British aircraft carriers will definitely appear!" Gunther. General Lütjans pondered for a while, "Send a telegram to General Richthofen at the Bergen base, and ask him to recall all P.108S immediately, I ask all P.108S to install HS293V3 bombs within one and a half hours, and be ready to attack at any time!" ”

Not waiting for Erich. Bey replied, Gunther. Senior General Lütjans had already turned to the communications staff officer: "Inform the Navy Headquarters and request a diversion air attack." ”

Now the location of the confrontation between Britain and Germany is not only the North Atlantic and the Norwegian Sea, but also the English Channel and the North Sea. If the German navy and naval aviation could launch air strikes in other directions, they could lead a significant part of British air power and prevent them from rushing north to help.

"Sir...... Enemy planes are coming! ”

The shouting alarmed the officers in the command tower, and everyone turned their heads to look, only to see that the British planes that covered the sky had appeared under the white clouds in the distance, and the 96 Fokker Zero fighters on their side had also been strangled with the other side.

"Let all the Fokker Zeros take off......"

"Sir...... Condor 057 (FW-200C) reported the spotting of a large number of enemy aircraft over the F5 sea area west of the Faroe Islands, heading towards us. ”

"F5 seas? It should be the carrier-based aircraft of the British! ”

"Their aircraft carrier must be west of the F5 sea!"

Hearing the appearance of a British aircraft group over the F5 sea area west of the Faroe Islands, the fleet staff officers in the command tower of the "Hindenburg" immediately thought of the British aircraft carrier. Now the British battleships are no longer worth mentioning in front of the German cutting-edge "Hindenburg" class and "Bismarck" class, and the only thing that is still a little threatening is a few Radiance-class fleet aircraft carriers.

If they can be sunk, then the British Royal Navy will no longer be a military force that can threaten German hegemony in the Atlantic!

"Sir, we have received another report from the Condor 057, and the radar has detected an unidentified fleet, located in the S6 sea area."

"S6 seas? It's almost 350 nautical miles from the Faroe Islands. "Erich. Lieutenant General Bei quickly found the location of the S6 sea area on the chart.

400 nautical miles is almost 650 kilometers. Generally speaking, the combat radius of an aircraft is 35%-40% of its maximum range, and if it is to bomb an enemy ship 650 kilometers away, this aircraft has a maximum range of at least 1,800 kilometers, and it is even more than 2,000 kilometers to be safe.

"Is the Fokker 100 capable of a range?" Gunther. General Ruteryans asked with a frown.

"No, the maximum range of the Fokker 100 is only 1,600 kilometers." Erich. Beth pondered, "If there is to be an attack, the fleet must sail west for 25 hours at 3 knots. ”

"That's not going to work, we're under airstrikes." Gunther. General Lütjans immediately vetoed Erich. Bey's proposal. "If we go too far west, the FW-190 taking off from Bergen will not reach us...... Let's let the Bergen base send P.108S bombers. ”

……

"Sir, it's the German FW-200."

On the battleship King George V, Sir Cunningham received reports of the discovery of a German reconnaissance aircraft.

"The position of the German aircraft carrier?"

"It's still east of the Faroe Islands, at least 370 nautical miles (less than 700 kilometers) from where we are now, and it shouldn't be out of reach of us."

"We continue to the east, keeping a distance of 500 nautical miles from the German aircraft carriers."

Cunningham is very aware of the value of these four Tejas in his hands, and as long as they exist, the British Royal Navy is a very deterrent maritime force in the Atlantic. If the United States and Britain can fight side by side in the Atlantic Ocean in the near future, these four Tejas class ships will be able to load carrier-based aircraft with deck-tethered methods, and their combat effectiveness can be at least doubled!

However, Cunningham can't let the 4 Tejas class go into hiding, as they still need to recover the F4F and SBD that flew back from Shetland after 6-7 hours.

So now Cunningham can only place his aircraft carrier at a distance of 500 nautical miles from the German aircraft carrier, and this position is about 1500 kilometers from Bergen. Completely within the striking range of the P.108s.

……

"Captain, I've been bitten by a mustang and it's firing at me!"

"Pull up, pull up quickly, lead it to chase!"

Novotny shouted orders to his wingman, and his squadron was now in a jumble with the same number of P51s.

Novotny is already familiar with the performance of the P51, an American-made fighter at a low altitude of 3,000 meters and a much better performance than the Fokker Zero. Although the Fokker Zero is more agile than the P51, the latter has a sturdy body, powerful firepower, and excellent dive performance. Once bitten by a Fokker Zero, it is usually possible to escape with its dive performance.

However, the Fokker Zero also has a life-saving skill, which is to increase the height. This trick is definitely killing if it is against the Spitfire, but it is very effective against the P51 with poor performance at high altitude (there is no weakness when the Grayback Falcon 60 engine is installed). The current P51 takes 11 minutes to climb 6,000 meters, while the Fokker Zero takes only 6 minutes and 30 seconds. So when the Fokker Zero is grabbed by P51's ass, the most effective way to get out is to pull up.

Fortunately, the sea area of today's battle is nearly 500 kilometers from the north of Scotland, and the British short-legged Spitfire can't reach it, otherwise the Spitfire + P51 will be coordinated, and the German Fokker Zero will be miserable.

But these P51s without Spitfire are still very difficult opponents, and even if the German pilots flying the Fokker Zeros are far more skilled than the British pilots flying the P51s, it will be difficult to deal with them quickly. Because the P51 is so sturdy, it weighs more than 3 tons unloaded, while the Fokker Zero has an empty weight of less than 2 tons (the Japanese Zero is lighter, less than 1.8 tons), which makes the P51's body much stronger than the Fokker Zero. The firepower combination of 2 20 machine guns + 2 7.62mm machine guns of the Fokker Zero is a little weak, and it suffers a lot in the process of confrontation with the P51.

Due to the entanglement of the P51, most of the Fokker Zeros covering the fleet had no way to get out of the way to deal with the British 65 Beaufort torpedo bombers and 65 Boston attack aircraft (A-20) and 20 Mosquito bombers.

At the same time as the P51 and Fokker Zero were fighting fiercely, British bombers and attack aircraft began to rush from high, medium and low altitudes to the dense network of anti-aircraft fire surrounding the German aircraft carriers. Hundreds of anti-aircraft guns and machine guns spat out tongues of fire continuously, while four battleships and one armored ship closely protected the five aircraft carriers, acting as "meat shields" to attract torpedoes and bombs.

"Boom ......"

A ball of flames rose again from the port side of the battleship "Hindenburg", and the large column of water then dispersed into countless droplets, which sprinkled on the deck of the "Hindenburg", almost covering a quadruple Bofors 40mm anti-aircraft gun, and the crew members were soaked as if they had been salvaged from the sea, and they were blown by the cold wind on the Norwegian Sea in March, and they suddenly shivered.

"Commander, it's a near-missed......"

"Don't worry, the Hindenburg is sturdy enough!"

Near-miss bombs pose no small threat to merchant ships and destroyers without heavy armor protection. In the German naval aviation's operations to break diplomatic relations, there was a near-miss tactic. But against a giant ship like a battleship with solid waterline armor, it is useless to miss a bullet at close range.

But Gunther. When General Lütjans spoke, his brows couldn't help but wrinkle. Because in his fleet there was an aircraft carrier "Potsdam" with little armor.

Since the "Potsdam" was rebuilt from an older cruise ship, unlike the "Europa" and "Bremen", which had a powerful power system comparable to that of a battleship (with 100,000 horsepower), it was possible to add four or five thousand tons of waterline armor and mine-resistant armor when it was rebuilt.

In addition, the British Boston attack aircraft (A-20) and Mosquito bombers adopted the attack method of medium and high altitude penetration and horizontal bombing, which also allowed Gunther to attack the enemy. Lütjans thought of the P.108SG bomber and the HS293V3 bomb. German surface ships, like those of Britain and the United States, focused their air defense on medium and low altitudes. So the British Beaufort torpedo bombers have now been shot down a lot, and the torpedoes that were barely dropped are too far away to pose a threat. However, the Boston attack planes and mosquito bombers, which penetrated from more than 4,000 meters, were not shot down.

It seems that the German aircraft carrier needs to be equipped with a couple of real high-altitude aircraft...... The wire-controlled glide bomb is a weapon that can be easily imitated!

At this moment, the Chief of Staff of the Fleet, Erich. Bey suddenly shouted: "Commander, the Potsdam reports that the starboard side was hit by two near-miss bullets, 5 compartments were flooded, the deck was tilted 3 degrees, and it was being filled with water!" (To be continued.) )