"Fire!"

In the North Atlantic, shrouded in thick fog, eight blazing fires erupted from the starboard side of the light cruiser USS Richmond, and eight 152mm cannons continued to roar at the "Japanese battleship Mutsu" at a distance of 11,000 meters. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

"Captain, it's useless at all, the 152mm main gun can't hurt the battleship......"

"Boom ......"

Before the first mate could finish speaking, the starboard side of the Richmond seemed to have been hit by something, and the huge impact force caused the light cruiser with a standard displacement of more than 7,000 tons to move several tens of centimeters to the left.

"Near-missed!" The first mate of the Richmond screamed. "It's accurate, there must be a fire control radar, now we're going to finish!"

The Omaha class was considered very strong among light cruisers, but the close miss of the battleship's shells above 400mm was no joke, and a hole was punched in the hull of the starboard side of the Richmond on the spot, and a large amount of sea water poured in, and the Richmond light cruiser suddenly tilted to the right.

"Quick, quick, fill the port side with water to restore balance!" Major Clark ordered urgently, "Get out of here...... What the hell, how did the Japanese get to the Atlantic! Why hasn't anyone told me about this? ”

"Major, someone actually said about it." The first mate of the Richmond said loudly to Major Clark as he turned the rudder.

"Who?" Major Clark asked.

"CBS!" The first mate said, "Major, didn't you listen to the radio?" ”

It turned out that in order to pretend to be a little more like, the US Navy Department released fake news about the appearance of Japanese battleships in the Atlantic, and CBS naturally made a focused report.

"CBS?" Major Clark rolled his eyelids, "Then hurry up and report to Vice Admiral Ingram, what CBS said is true, the Japanese battleship is really in the Atlantic!" The Japanese battleship Mutsu is firing at our ship! ”

The telegram sent by the light cruiser USS Richmond gave Vice Admiral Ingram a sense of living hell. The so-called Japanese battleship running the Atlantic Ocean to break diplomatic relations is pure nonsense, and it is just an excuse that conforms to "procedural justice", how can it be true?

Just when everyone on the South Dakota was amazed, there was a sudden orange-red flash of light from the place ahead that was shrouded in thick fog, and then a dull explosion. Apparently there was a big explosion on one of the ships, most likely the explosion of the ammunition depot!

"Sir, I can't contact the Richmond!" Less than a minute later, the communications staff officer reported the bad news to Lieutenant General Ingram in a mournful tone.

There is a high probability that the light cruiser Richmond sank! The hearts of all the people in the South Dakota Command Tower sank.

"We've lost the Richmond!" Lieutenant General Ingram's eyes were red, "Damn it...... The battleship units put on an artillery strike formation, and they must give way...... Let the Japs know that they are awesome! ”

"Sir, the other side is most likely not a Japanese battleship...... "One of the staff officers of the Atlantic Fleet reminded." Perhaps it was the German battleship that was impersonated. ”

Vice Admiral Ingram's face suddenly turned ugly, there is nothing terrible about a Japanese battleship, if it is a whole "Japanese fleet", it will be terrible!

"Battleship formation, meet the battle! The aircraft carrier formation went north to avoid enemy ships. Vice Admiral Ingram gritted his teeth and said, "Send another telegram to the British and let them disband the fleet!" ”

He can't escape now, he wants to escape from the more than 100 British merchant ships, but even the ships and goods will be robbed by the Germans!

A staff officer frowned and said, "Disband the fleet?" Sir, in case there are other enemy ship formations nearby......"

Vice Admiral Ingram waved his hand: "If that happens, the fleet will be even more disbanded, and we will most likely encounter the combined European fleet under the Japanese flag!" Then we are likely to face a tough battle! ”

……

"Sir, there are a lot of enemy ships, at least thirty, and they are heading towards us, which is different from what the intelligence says......

The commander of the battleship Ludendorff, who had just sunk the American light cruiser Richmond, and the commander of the 2nd Fleet of the European Combined Fleet, Hubert. Admiral Schmidt suddenly found himself in a good position to meet the main force of the American Atlantic Fleet.

Since it was wartime and the situation was not very favorable to the United States, all aspects became serious. The Atlantic Fleet put off a lot of smoke before the sortie, saying that it was going to the Pacific Ocean to participate in the counteroffensive against Hawaii, and it also put the entire Panama port area under martial law, and mobilized a lot of land forces to board ships at the Norfolk base, making it just like the real thing.

The German General Staff did not dare to take this information lightly, and now was the critical moment for the implementation of the "springboard plan", a team of rebel experts sent by the National Socialist International had entered Dutch Guiana, and had also found a few young men of the upper class Creole (referring to mixed-race whites) educated in Germany to serve as a façade, and soon they would pull the pole and pull the flag. Of course, it is impossible to fail in the rebellion in Dutch Guiana, but it is difficult to say whether the German army will be able to enter in time and turn Guyana into a reliable bridgehead after the successful rebellion.

After all, the Americans preached the Monroe Doctrine more than 100 years ago, and described the Americas as the Americas of the Americans, and did not let the European powers get involved, and now they will not watch Germany gain a firm foothold in South America.

In the risk assessment of the General Staff of the Wehrmacht, the likelihood of a military conflict between the United States and Germany as a result of the implementation of the "Springboard Plan" by Germany is very large!

However, in the face of the United States' insistence on aiding Britain in its opposition to the cause of European unity, the German High Command nevertheless approved the implementation of the "Springboard Plan" in April or May 1942.

At the same time when the "springboard plan" was on the way, the main force of the US Atlantic Fleet was going to the Pacific Ocean through the Caribbean Sea and the Panama Canal, which could not help but make the German high command nervous.

So the Germans, on the one hand, informed the Japanese and asked them to strengthen the defense of the Hawaiian Islands; On the one hand, the European Combined Fleet was divided into two, one part to support Operation Springboard, and the other part to intercept the British and American escort fleets.

And the battleships Ludendorff, Bismarck, Barbarossa, Richelieu, Jean. The 2nd Fleet with the battleships Barr, the battleships Roma, the heavy cruisers Prinz Eugen, the heavy cruisers Algeria, and the heavy cruisers Gorisia as the core, and the 2nd Air Fleet with the aircraft carriers Bremen and Europa as the core, were sent to pretend to be the Japanese Destroyer Fleet.

……

"That's what thirty?" Hubert. Admiral Schmidt hesitated, "It can't be that the radar is malfunctioning again, right?" ”

German radar technology has advanced by leaps and bounds over the past year or so thanks to the capture of intact multi-cavity magnetrons during the Mediterranean operation in 1941. The brand-new battleship "Ludendorff" is equipped with Germany's latest and best Fumo26 gun control radar and Fumo81 sea-to-air search radar, and the radar display screen has been replaced with the most advanced 15-inch PPI display.

Theoretically, it is possible to fire from radar-guided naval guns at night with extremely poor visibility or in dense fog. However, the reliability of these advanced radars is still a bit problematic, and they often fail during sea trials.

"Sir, we just sank an enemy ship with radar-guided artillery." Captain of the Ludendorff and Chief of Staff of the 2nd Fleet, Friedrich Friedrich. Cal. Colonel Toph reminded Admiral Schmidt that "these radars are doing well today, they don't look like they're broken." ”

"Well, 30 is 30...... Now we also have 6 battleships and 3 heavy cruisers, not afraid of them! "Hubet. Admiral Schmidt wiped his palms and ordered, "Arrange an artillery formation, in the order of Prinz Eugen, Bismarck, Barbarossa, Richelieu, Jean. The Bar, Roma, Algeria, Golicia, Ludendorff, and the rest of the light cruisers and destroyers followed in a single column to the right of the shelling column. ”

"Ludendorff at the end?" Colonel Toph was stunned, "Sir, are we going to run away?" ”

"It's pretending to run away!" Hubert. Admiral Schmidt smiled, "After completing the formation, turn 145 degrees, and maintain a speed of 25 knots." In addition, with the exception of the Ludendorff, the rest of the ships are not to fire without my orders. ”

……

"Boom! Rumble! Rumble! Boom ......"

Lieutenant General Ingram's telescope eyepiece saw four dazzling balls of fire, and at a glance it was clear that a 16-inch (406mm) class 1 cannon was firing.

"There are four 16-inch cannons in the stern," Vice Admiral Ingram put down his binoculars and looked left and right, "is it really a Nagato-class?" ”

"Perhaps, but the morning fog hasn't cleared yet, so I can't see it clearly...... And the radar shows at least 15 ships ahead. ”

"But now there is only one battleship firing, which means that the guns of other ships are not yet up to us, and it should be just cruisers and destroyers."

"This is an opportunity to annihilate the Japanese and German battleships, we have 9 battleships, and the other side has only 1."

"But the speed of the other side is obviously faster than our formation."

"Just let two South Dakota-class go after it, it's just one battleship and 8 16-inch cannons, and it can't beat our 18 16-inch cannons."

The staff officers chattered and soon came to an agreement. Vice Admiral Ingram thought for a while, and nodded heavily, "It's true that you can fight, the enemy's fleet shouldn't be very strong, otherwise there would be no need to retreat...... But we can't just rely on the 2 South Dakota-class and let the other 7 battleships follow. Let them maintain a speed of 20 knots, and 2 South Dakota-class ships at 25 knots. That way they wouldn't fall too far behind, and we wouldn't be left behind by the battleship, and when the fog cleared and we could see each other, we would decide whether to pursue at full speed or retreat. (To be continued.) )