Chapter 740 Similar and Different Fate

"It's a pity that the Germans are too stubborn, otherwise the losses would have been smaller!" Meng Xiang sighed. The intelligence of the vanguard army has always been the most convenient, and at this time, two reconnaissance planes were always flying in the sky above the Anglo-German naval battle, transmitting the progress of the naval battle throughout the whole process.

"The Germans, I'm afraid, were not just looking for Jutland for glory. The German navy expanded rapidly, but they always lacked personnel who were familiar with the sea conditions. Relatively speaking, after the Battle of Jutland, the German Navy studied it thoroughly and was most familiar with the environment around Jutland. They chose to be here, first of all, in terms of their grasp of the environment, which is not weaker than the old maritime empire of the United Kingdom. Shen Honglie, who accompanied Meng Xiang to watch the real-time deduction at the Navy Staff, knew what Meng Xiang was referring to, but he still put forward his own opinion.

The navy needs not only equipment, but more importantly, highly skilled personnel. At this time, the Chinese navy was unable to form combat effectiveness for a long time, not because of the lack of warships, but because of the lack of talents familiar with the sea.

Even if Meng Xiang made a big move and let the navy extravagantly use physical warships to consume astronomical amounts of fuel to double its training, it was not possible to grow a strong army all at once. Although the current Huaxia Navy is familiar with the coastal environment, its ability to conduct ocean-going operations is still somewhat insufficient.

Meng Xiang smiled and nodded, but he didn't say anything, anyway, the Germans obviously had a better place for the decisive battle, but they were selected in Jutland, if there was no German Navy stubbornly wanted to find the field and honor in Jutland, it would be strange.

"The British pursuit fleet in the rear rushed up, and the main battleship at the front was the Hood!" The information report of the combat staff officer next to him immediately attracted everyone's attention. The naval staff officer next to him immediately pushed a model of the battleship of the USS Hood to the corresponding coordinates transmitted back by the reconnaissance plane.

After the timely reconstruction, the Hood also reached a maximum speed of 29 knots, which was much faster than the 27 knots of the Yamato-class battleships, and it was not unusual for the British Empire to lead the charge with pride.

"Is this fate?" Meng Xiang couldn't help but sigh in his heart when he saw that the model of the Royal Ark was also pushed up by professional staff officers and followed near the Hood.

At this time, the battleship Bismarck was not sunk in May 41, and the aircraft carrier Ark Royal also escaped, and was not sunk by a German submarine in November 41, although it was injured by a submarine attack when it rushed out of the Strait of Gibraltar, but the repaired Ark of Kings still participated in the operation to encircle and destroy the battleship Bismarck.

Bismarck, Hood, HMS Ark Royal, HMS King George V, a history full of many coincidences, finally came together again.

However, history has changed a lot, and it is not Bismarck who is under attack, but King George V.

On March 31, at about 11 o'clock in the afternoon, the battleship Bismarck, which had no way to escape, opened fire with all its might and bombarded the King George V, which was blocking in front of him. When George V tried his best to dodge the heavy attack of Bismarck's eight 52x380mm naval guns, and held out for 10 minutes, the rapid fire of the SKC34 with a maximum of 3 rounds per second was heard behind him.

"Oh God!" Captain Hawke, who had just been promoted to rear admiral, immediately shouted as soon as he saw another German battleship appearing in the left rear.

According to the British intelligence, the Tirpitz, which was supposed to stay in Wilhelmshaven due to injuries and modifications, appeared on the battlefield like a shadow of the battleship Bismarck, and launched a fierce attack on George V side by side with Bismarck.

"Beware of spotting the enemy's main battleship, suspected to be the Tirpits!" At this time, information was transmitted on the radio by the reconnaissance plane on the aircraft carrier Indomitable. But this was over, the shells on the Tirpitz had already hit the King George V.

"Are you sure that the main battleships of the Germans are all out of the way?" Marshal Pound, who was stationed in London, also got the news of the appearance of the Tirpitz and couldn't help but sternly question his subordinates. Because of its powerful navy, Britain's subordinate Naval Intelligence Service is also famous.

"At least based on the available intelligence from us and the Military Intelligence Agency, it should be like this." The staff colonel of the Naval Intelligence was drenched in sweat. At this time, Lord Menzies, the director of the British Intelligence Bureau, sent a special person to the naval command.

The Military Intelligence Agency had discovered the movement of the German Tirpitz and immediately reacted by gathering the latest intelligence for the Navy's reference.

"We did not hesitate to expose three intelligence points and sent the latest information. Although the appearance of the Tirpitz was regrettable, now the four superships of the German Fantasy class were stuck in place and did not arrive. The lieutenant colonel of the Intelligence Bureau was very sure. Before the British hunting plan began, several of the main battleships of the Germans had already been stared to death.

However, after a moment's hesitation, he continued, "But we have discovered a large-scale movement of German naval personnel, the direction and objectives of which are unknown. ”

"Hmm!" Pound didn't say anything, but he breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, as long as there was no super battleship involved, the hunting plan could still succeed. At the beginning, he had already considered the appearance of accidents, and Pound was also convinced that the huge fleet of 12 battleships with three Yamato-class as the core would be enough to deal with all the accidents in the face of two Bismarck-class battleships.

"Looks like we've got another dinner on our plate!" Churchill, who asked on the phone, also laughed. He was also resolute and continued to hunt.

Unfortunately, as he said this, the Hood, which rushed up from behind to rescue, was included in the hunting target of the Bismarck.

At 12:23 p.m. on the 31st, the shells fired from the No. 3 and No. 4 turrets of the Bismarck, which had turned the direction of the attack, and one shot passed over the Hood, stirring up a column of water higher than the chimney, and the other directly concentrated the Hood.

800 kg of 380 mm caliber armor-piercing shells directly penetrated the turret in the rear of the Hood, detonating the ammunition depot. Then there was a devastating explosion, which directly tore the Hood in half.

The Hood became the first boastful prey in the plans of the Germans this time.

And when the three Yamato ships of the British caught up, the King George V, which had been hit by six shells, was already tilted into the sea, almost becoming the second trophy worth showing off by the Germans.

Faced with the persecution of three super warships, the Bismarck, which was hit by a 381-mm shell and an aerial bomb, did not relent, and immediately accompanied by the Tirpitz, slowly retreated towards the Skagerrak Strait.

The Indomitable aircraft carrier was powerless to stop these two super battleships covered with hedgehogs. When Prince Eugen rushed at full speed of 32.5, the Unyielding Horn, who had been hit by Prince Eugen from a distance and was close to missing the bullet, had to retreat as well.

"Keep up!" Admiral Tovey hesitated for a moment and ordered directly.

He was not willing to let his prey slip away, and besides, the sinking of the battlecruiser Hood needed an explanation.

Even with the threat of bombing by German land-based bombers stationed near Denmark and Norway around the Skagerrak Strait, Tovey gave the order to continue the attack.

"I can accept defeat, but I will not let the glory of the Imperial Navy be lost in cowardice!" Tovey's explanation is simple. In order to evade the super-battleships of the Germans, the British Navy took refuge for too long.

In addition, the 300-kilometer-long Skagerrak Strait is about 100 kilometers wide except for 65 kilometers at its narrowest point, and there is plenty of room for detours. The Battle of Jutland was fought here, and Baron Tovey, who led a powerful fleet, was not afraid of German attacks.

Although after the Japanese aircraft carrier attack on Pearl Harbor, all countries have paid attention to air defense. But judging by the current level of aircraft, in a dense air defense network, the chances of success are very small. Everyone attributed the victory of the Japanese to a sneak attack, and the idea was that battleships armed with more anti-aircraft weapons were still invincible.

The previous British aircraft carrier Indomitable could not help the Bismarck, which was greatly affected by the Chinese Navy's anti-aircraft firepower, and Tovey believed that the anti-aircraft firepower of his fleet was not bad.

When the Yamato-class was renamed the Fantasy-class super battleship and sold, the anti-aircraft weapons on it were modified.

The 127-mm twin-mounted anti-aircraft gun, regardless of its performance, remained unchanged for the sake of convenience and savings. Only the famous 25-mm naval anti-aircraft gun of the Japanese was replaced by Meng Xiang without hesitation. The use of 25-mm anti-aircraft guns of the Japanese Navy was not enough to discredit the reputation, and Meng Xiang changed to the 40-mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns, which were known as the barrier of all nations.

Even the 13-mm anti-aircraft machine guns of the Japanese were dismantled and replaced with 20-mm anti-aircraft guns from Erlikon. The makeover utopian-level air defense capability has indeed been greatly strengthened, not to mention that the British have made more modifications and improvements to it, at least in domestic exercises, with the cooperation of the fleet, they will not fall behind in the slightest against their own aircraft carriers.

After a half-day battle, the British, like the Germans, were killed by the same three destroyers, which did not affect the play of the air defense network of the fleet, which had nearly a hundred warships of all sizes.

"Catch up!" With the same order from London, the huge pursuit fleet slowly pressed towards the Skagerrak Strait.

It wasn't until the British fleet, which was guarding the western end of the Channel, saw the figures of the three super battleships go away, that a hurried alarm sounded from Tovey's command room: "Unidentified super battleships have been discovered!" Heading towards you! ”