At 10:20 a.m., a fierce air battle was still going on over the German sabotage fleet. Although the carrier-based aircraft of the British Royal Navy were terrible, their pilots showed enough skill and tenacity.

Knowing that they could not defeat the Fokker Zero, not a single "Great Europe" that had dropped its bombs chose to flee - in that case, the air battle would have ended 15 minutes earlier. The "Swordfish" aircraft, deprived of the protection of "Great Europe", would have been slaughtered by 20 Fokker Zeros in a matter of minutes. This kind of plane is too "old", it is simply an old antique machine. It can't fly at high altitude, so it can only rely on low-altitude and low-speed agility and enemy aircraft to maneuver, and that's what the Zero is good at. And "Big Gull" can at least threaten the Fokker Zero by pulling up and diving, but it is not too useful, just using his own sacrifice to win the opportunity for "Swordfish" to attack.

"Garand, Garand, don't let those damn dive bombers climb, get them all out of me!"

"Team Brandt! Keep the altitude and don't care about the high altitude, with Garand there's no problem with the high altitude, just watch the low and medium altitudes, and don't let those damn 'swordfish' get close to the right side of the fleet! ”

"Schwartz squad, cover the left side of the fleet and drive away all the 'Swordfish' planes!"

"Heinrich's squad, cover the rear of the fleet and don't let the 'Swordfish' approach."

"Hofer team, you are responsible for the attack, two-plane formation, play the 'swordfish' style!"

Lieutenant Colonel Weiss, the aviation staff officer and aviation commander of the "Seydlitz," became the busiest man in the entire fleet, guarding the aviation command console, watching from all directions and listening to all directions, and constantly giving orders, commanding five four-plane formations to resist wave after wave of enemy aircraft attack.

The tactics were well practiced for a long time, with four formations responsible for covering the left, right, and rear three and high altitudes, and one four-plane formation responsible for shooting down the dispersed "Swordfish" torpedo bombers. The Swordfish were an easy target to shoot down, especially when they were preparing to drop a torpedo - which required low-altitude, horizontal and low-speed flight, which was easier than target training for the "old birds" flying the Fokker Zero. Almost every minute, a Swordfish or Gull plunges headlong into the Atlantic Ocean from the sky.

However, these "swordfish" and "big gulls" fought to the death and stubbornly organized wave after wave of attacks.

"These Brits aren't afraid of death!"

Vice Admiral Machar stood in the command tower of the "Scharnhorst" and looked at the scene of fierce air battles outside, and was also a little dazed. The British planes fell like turkeys, but these clumsy little planes continued to attack one after another. A couple of planes seemed to have dropped torpedoes, but they were too far away and were not at all threatening. However, it still made Lieutenant General Mashal feel a little bad omen!

Now, his three warships are attracting the hatred of the entire British Royal Navy in the Atlantic! Looking at the way these small British planes went one after another, you can see how angry the British were.

"Lieutenant General, an unknown group of aircraft was found in the southwest direction, the distance is 65, the height is 2000, and the number is about 15!"

The staff officer's loud report made the atmosphere in the entire command tower suddenly doubly tense.

Although 15 carrier-based aircraft is not much, it is certainly not the Fokker 99 squadron of the "Seydlitz", but an enemy aircraft! And there are carrier-based aircraft carriers that are necessary, and if there are aircraft carriers, most of them are accompanied by battleships / battlecruisers. This indicates that there are at least 2 British fleets with aircraft carriers and battleships nearby!

"Did the reconnaissance plane find anything?" Lieutenant General Machar asked.

"No," said Major General Reifman, "after nine Fokk-99s went on bombing missions, we had only four Ar-196 seaplanes available." ”

This is the inconvenience caused by the small size of the broken fleet, and only 3 ships naturally cannot carry too many seaplanes. And the 9 Fokker 99s are only part-time reconnaissance aircraft, and their real role is dive bombers. Now that the Fokker 99 was sent to bomb the British AB-1 convoy, there were only 4 seaplanes left that could be used for reconnaissance, so it was impossible to cover a slightly farther area.

"There are at least 2 aircraft carriers, one of which 'should be the Ark Royal'." Leifman said, "Admiral, should we retreat?" ”

"What's the result?" "How many planes did we shoot?" ”

Leifman replied: "1 'Walrus', 16 'Swordfish', 5 'Big Gulls', a total of 22. ”

"What about the losses?"

"One Fokker 99 was damaged during landing, and another Fokker Zero was shot down, but the pilot parachuted out and was rescued without injury."

"But we have backup planes, don't we?"

"Yes, it's all made up with a backup plane."

"That's 22-0, we have an absolute advantage! I'm almost in love with Anthony. Fakker is gone, may God bless him. Mashal laughed, and the ominousness in his heart suddenly dissipated, "Let's keep fighting!" Let the Fokker 99 squadron load up the bombs and take off quickly, and complete at least 3 more sorties before dark! ”

……

"Admiral, the 'Walrus' monitoring the German fleet sent back a telegram that they Fokker 99 had taken off again."

"Flying again?" When Admiral Forbes heard the report, he just nodded, "Got it, report AB-1." ”

A few more merchant ships will be bombed! Everyone in the "Revenge" command tower felt their hearts tighten, and then they all looked at the sky outside. The morning hasn't passed yet, and it's still early before dark! At the current rate of sortie, those damn Fokker 99s can strike 2 or 3 more times......

"Looks like we need better carrier-based aircraft!" Charles. Forbes said in a cold tone, "There is no difficulty in making such a request for the United Kingdom." But today, even if we don't have good enough planes, we will still beat the Germans. Now the more their bombers bomb, the more likely we will succeed tonight. ”

At this time, the fleet's communications staff officer received the latest battle report, "Admiral, Fleet G reports that the attack of the carrier-based aircraft fleet of the 'Ark Royal' has ended, and 19 'Swordfish' and 8 'Big Gull' have lost contact. ”

57 sorties and 27 were lost...... And that's not counting the damaged fighters, what a big defeat!

"Stop the air raids on the Ark Royal, as will the Eagle and the Hundred-Eyed Giant. After the recovery of the carrier-based aircraft, there is no need to arrange sorties. "Charles. Forbes said, "Because tomorrow there will be better opportunities!" ”

Admiral Forbes's order apparently saved the lives of many British pilots and was also a relief to Vice Admiral Machar on board the "Scharnhorst". Although there is a powerful Fokker Zero protection, as long as you are beaten, there is no absolute insurance at all.

"Admiral, the 'Seydlitz' reported that a total of 27 'Swordfish', 7 'gulls' and 1 'walrus' were shot down, and a total of 35 were shot down."

Major General Hoffman reported the latest results, then he looked at the calm sky outside the command tower and exhaled: "It seems that they dare not come again." ”

Counting the 15 "Swordfish" that arrived later (they were sent by the "Eagle"), the British made a total of 72 sorties, and lost 35 (in fact, 37 were lost, and 2 were wounded and fell into the sea on the way back), which was definitely enough for a crushing defeat.

"Admiral, the dive bomber flotilla of the 'Seydlitz' sent back a telegram," another report was delivered to Hoffman, "and three more large merchant ships were damaged. In addition, the seaplanes of the Leipzig reported that five merchant ships in the British convoy were currently on fire. ”

"The British did not disband the formations?" Mashal asked.

"No, the British just abandoned the five merchant ships that caught fire and left them to fend for themselves, while the rest of the merchant ships continued to sail westward in formation at a speed of about 13 knots."

Marcal pondered for a moment, and then said to himself, "There must be British battleships to the west, and they are going to join the battleships." Let the seaplanes focus on the search, if the 'Hood' and 'Ark Royal' are not found, there is nothing to worry about. No, now the Ark Royal doesn't have to worry, the Hood is the only threat! ”

Although the historical "Hood" was beaten into a "royal salute" by the cannons of the "Bismarck" and did not know that it was the "Prince Eugen", Vice Admiral Machar did not know that this was a big ship with a strong foreign power.

In fact, for the German Navy, which uses breaking diplomatic relations as a means of victory, the "Hood", which has a high speed of about 30 knots, a displacement of more than 40,000 tons, and eight 15-inch cannons, is undoubtedly a nightmare within a nightmare.

The "Scharnhorst", which only has a 280mm caliber main gun, does not have the courage to fight it at all. If now the "Hood" was to the west of the AB-1 flotilla, then tonight's night battle would not have happened at all.

At 4:20 p.m., when it was dark, four Ar-196s had already searched the sea area 100 nautical miles west of the AB-1 fleet, and found only two British Fleet I ships of the "Revenge" class, and there was no trace of the "Hood" and the "Ark Royal" at all.

"Two 'revenge' class ......," Vice Admiral Machar glanced at Rear Admiral Hoffman, "we need to be careful. ”

The "revenge" class is very slow, it can only open 21 knots, and it can't catch up at all. And according to reliable intelligence, battleships of this class are not currently equipped with radars. That is, at night, it was also difficult for them to spot the three German shipwrecks.

"Lieutenant General, let the 'Leipzig' go first, and the 'Scharnhorst' and 'Seydlitz' come behind." "If a damaged British ship is found, let the Leipzig deal with it, and the Scharnhorst will not open fire as much as possible, so that it will not be exposed," Hoffman said. ”

Marshal thought for a moment, nodded and said, "Okay, that's how it is arranged!" (To be continued.) )