Chapter 764

tail

"Full speed out!" Jonas Ingram had already received the news that the main German force was chasing the returning fleet at full speed, but he nevertheless gave the order to evacuate

According to the terms negotiated between the British and American top-ups, Mountbatten took command of the return fleet. After all, the British were more familiar with the local sea conditions and were more conducive to cooperating with the local troops.

Jonas was left to take charge of the safety of the cargo fleet.

Even if the two sides negotiated compensation for the damage, after all, it was not as great as the temptation of huge profits, and Jonas preferred the safety of the fleet.

"It's not safe here, the Germans won't sit idly by and leave so much supplies alone......," he said, not long after the order to evacuate was given, an alarm sounded.

"Aerial reconnaissance discovered the submarine of the Germans!" The report of his subordinates made Jonas's face change.

In recent times, too many losses of American merchant ships have been lost to German submariners. In the first half of the year alone, cargo losses exceeded 4 million tons.

Their Atlantic Navy was also the most reproached for this, and the German submarines became bombs under their ass.

"I knew they were coming!" Jonas whispered hatefully.

On this trip, more than 100 merchant ships followed and transported more than 600,000 tons of materials. It is no wonder that Britain and the United States attach so much importance to so many supplies, but they also attract the peep of the Germans.

The U.S. Navy has developed a detailed security plan.

"According to the predetermined plan, carry out formation protection!" Jonas shouted.

After more than half a year of observation and the experience of the British, formation defense was undoubtedly the best measure against German submarines.

The order was passed down, and there was immediately chaos below.

After all, a merchant ship is a merchant ship, not an army that must defend its orders, and even if each ship is equipped with a radio to communicate in real time, it is not so easy to form a fleet of more than 100 ships.

"Torpedo! Torpedo! An exclamation caused a flurry of shouts.

"Panic what! Hold your place, the Germans can't get in! Jonas said angrily, such a messy formation was something he didn't expect.

A German submarine took advantage of the chaos and fired a torpedo at a long distance, and then urgently dived. But the torpedo caused a mess of nearby cargo ships. Not only did a cargo ship of about 8,000 tons not dodge the torpedo and was hit and began to sink, but in the rush to dodge, three merchant ships collided, and even a destroyer was damaged by the collision.

"These brainless things, don't they see so many warships around? I knew that more stringent officer measures should have been set up on each ship! Jonas couldn't help but scold.

In order to better manage these merchant ships, the navy proposed strict military control, but it was rejected by the top management. Forces from all walks of life have some unknown private goods, and military control means making many things transparent. The result can only be under the slogan of freedom shouted by all sides, and it will not be done. But also because of this, the management of the entire fleet has not been in place. The so-called formation collective defense formation is also difficult to perfectly arrange.

Fortunately, the Americans had already planned for a long time, and they did not expect this group of civilian ships to defend against the enemy at all.

Although there were many main fleets in the reinforcement fleet, there were not many destroyers and light cruisers attached to the fleet. Britain lacks the escort of capital warships, but the small ships are as numerous as ants.

Most of the small and medium-sized warships of the Combined Fleet remained to escort cargo ships. Their high speed and agility are also better suited to deal with submarines.

The German submarine just now took advantage of the chaos to test for a while, and then quickly slipped away. A little later, it is likely to be chased and sunk by a destroyer approaching at high speed.

"A rabble!" In a submarine farther away, Erich Topp had already seen all this through the periscope and couldn't help but snort coldly.

Dönitz has already focused his offensive on the return fleet, but it is not the style of a wolf pack to let go of the big fat meat so quickly.

Even with super-battleships, the development of German submarine forces did not fall behind. Shanzhai companies can provide finished submarines, which liberates German shipbuilding equipment, and even only needs to use the relevant technology of submarines to exchange for submarines in China. This brought the total number of German submarines to more than 300 in 42 years.

Although it is still a little far from the 393 at the end of 42 years in the original history, it is enough for the German submarine force to cooperate with surface ships to carry out tasks such as cutting off British supply lines.

This time, nearly half of the submarine force in the Sea Lion project was transferred to the vicinity of Great Britain to carry out various missions.

Figuring out the mine array in the English Channel was the credit of the German submarine forces.

The remaining submarine forces continued to carry out hunting missions in the Atlantic, and some of them were involved in this interception mission.

But with the departure of the main German fleet, the submarine forces did not continue to keep up.

Their speed meant they couldn't carry out the increasingly fierce sea pursuit. So they basically stayed behind to deal with the cargo ships that were slower than them.

But the many small and medium-sized ships of the British and American escorts are their biggest threat.

Because Britain was in urgent need of air force support, the Americans sent four aircraft carriers to support this time. The remaining Essex-class aircraft carrier Brave was constantly taking off and landing planes, dutifully undertaking the task of reconnaissance and defense.

The good view of the aircraft makes it clear that long-distance movements are detected, and the search range of those small ships is also constantly expanding, so that the periscope has nowhere to hide.

The fleet of cargo ships is gradually becoming more organized.

"Slowly retreat! Lean towards the Azores! Jonas thought about it for a long time, but decided to retreat. It is not an option to stick to the same place, and it is also necessary to beware of the German main battleship to kill again. The British had a strong control over the Azores, a Portuguese colony, and could shelter the fleet.

"Night is coming!" Unable to raise the periscope, in the U-552 Red Devil boat that was silently moving under the sea, Erich Topp looked at the stopwatch for a long time before laughing, "The time for hunting is coming!" ”

……

The night is falling.

"We need light control!" British Rear Admiral Howard suggested to Jonas on the battleship Queen Elizabeth.

The command of the remaining convoy was in the hands of the Americans, but the British, having suffered a lot of losses, were already very experienced in dealing with the submarines of the Germans.

"Night is the most dangerous time!" Howard looked at the fleet, anxious.

According to the situation detected during the day, the German submarine hunting formation this time must have been very large. But during the day, except for that torpedo, they did not move. Howard didn't think the Germans would give up, they would only show their fangs again in the night.

"Hmmm! Let's not want to get a good night's sleep tonight! Jonas accepted the advice of the British, and the Americans, after more than half a year of losses, also had a series of plans to deal with German submarines, and understood that night was the most rampant time for the German sea wolves.

"As long as you survive tonight, there will be good news tomorrow!" As he spoke, he looked in the direction of the assault of the returning fleet.

By the time he was evacuating, he had already received the news that the two sides had started a pursuit battle.

The return fleet, which was in a hurry to get to the island of Great Britain, would not have become entangled with the Germans. They fought and retreated, even if they led these main German fleets to the English Channel, in those narrow seas, with the defense system of the land and the surrounding sea conditions, the British would have an advantage. Unlike now, the three super-battleships of the Germans cruising the straits alone and claiming to be the king.

The Germans were not in a hurry either, they just hung behind them and concentrated their fire specifically to knock down the battleships behind.

There were still more than 300 nautical miles away from the island of Great Britain, enough for them to catch the prey they wanted.

The speed of both sides was about the same, and they soon fell within range of each other's shells.

It didn't take long for a Yamato-class battleship that fell behind to cover it to be scarred, and the British and American fleets suffered a lot in this somewhat inverted umbrella-shaped pursuit battle. Even the thickness of the Yamato-class battleships could not withstand it, especially when facing the naval guns of the Yamato-class of the same class, and there were also 42 times the diameter of the H41-class 420-mm naval guns. After three heavy artillery hits, the Yamato-class almost exploded its boiler and was completely paralyzed.

The South Dakota-class battleship that followed it was even more inadequate, its 406 mm guns had not yet worked, and its strongest 457 mm turret frontal armor was directly pierced by an armor-piercing bullet from the Prussia, and if it weren't for luck, I am afraid that the impact of the martyrdom would have been enough to tear it apart.

Although the Nanda class is a classic battleship, it is still slightly inferior to those super battleships.

Mountbatten saw that if he continued like this, he would probably be eaten one by one. So he changed the formation again, and originally planned to concentrate his forces to eat one wing of the German fleet, but the Germans were not fooled, and the two wings quickly retreated and continued to entangle. As soon as they retreated, the two Bismarck-class ships would intervene again to harass them by virtue of their high speed. The reinforcing fleet had no choice but to line up in parallel, bombarding each other and retreating.

In order to exert maximum power, a salvo of naval guns on one side of the naval battle is necessary, and it is impossible to move at maximum speed with the movement of the S-type and the coordination of the fleet as a whole.

"It's still a bit of a delay!" Mountbatten was exhausted by Dönitz's wolf-following hunt.

For most of the day, although with the assistance of the aircraft carrier, the damage on both sides was about the same, but strategically, the Germans had already completed the task of delaying.

"London is in dire need of support, do you want to send the aircraft carrier over first?" Approaching dusk, the role of the aircraft carrier was limited, and Mountbatten couldn't help but start thinking about letting the high-speed aircraft carrier take a step ahead, not to mention that some carrier-based aircraft had already taken off to support.