"Oh God, we lost the Tiger"

Rear Admiral Holland looked fixedly at the place where the Tiger disappeared, this 28,340-ton sea monster actually disappeared without a trace Next, is it the turn of the Prestige? An ominous premonition came over Holland's mind, and this bait mission was the last time he fought for the British Empire

"Get out of here and disband the formation, all ships evacuate"

Holland was really a little panicked, now his advance fleet was still at least one and a half hours away from the scheduled round location of the main force of the home fleet, if he fought with the Germans for another one and a half hours like just now, did he know if he still had this decoy fleet? Moreover, most of the radars entered by Germany can also detect the lurking home fleet at a distance of about 30 kilometers, and the German high seas fleet can completely escape with a higher voyage Holland estimates that the maximum voyage of the opponent's six battleships is about 31 knots, while most of the old battleships of the home fleet are only about 20 knots, of which the Nelson-class with three three-group 16-inch guns has a maximum range of only 23.5 knots

How can this kind of ambush be ambushed after the search radar appears on the warships of the Navy?

However, while ordering the disbandment of the formation, Vice Admiral Holder still sent an urgent telegram to the main force of the home fleet asking for help, and then ordered the Hood and the Prestige to flee separately, of which the Prestige withdrew due west to Scapa Bay under the escort of two light cruisers and two destroyers, while the Hood fled southwest under the escort of two light cruisers and two destroyers, hoping to turn with the main force of the home fleet that was heading northeast...... As for the rest of the British ships, they scattered and fled

Holland's arrangement, on the radar of the Bismarck, showed that the enemy fleet was scattered in a hurry, divided into two large strands and seven or eight small dots, Vice Admiral Lütjans estimated that those scattered and fleeing dots should be small shrimp, and the two big fish, the Hood and the Prestige, should be in the two large green dots, and they are now fleeing separately, but the German High Seas Fleet does not dare to chase separately, who knows if it will run into the main force of the British Home Fleet? If the main force of the entire high seas fleet encounters the main force of the British home fleet, Lütjans feels that he is still sure of a battle, but if it is half of the main force of the high seas fleet, I am afraid that the British will have to fight the British

In fact, with the search radar and the high navigation, the high seas fleet did not need to worry about the large number of ships of the British home fleet, but the inertial thinking formed by decades of naval career was still at work at this time, and after a little thought, he chose the southwest direction, that is, the direction in which the battlecruiser Hood escaped, and chased wildly

Because Lütjans estimated that the main force of the British Home Fleet was there

According to the plan drawn up by Admiral Raeder, the six battleships of the German High Seas Fleet, including three battleships, five armored ships, and four heavy cruisers of the Chinese Expeditionary Fleet, were to be tasked with the same task as the British advance fleet in this operation, and to attract the main force of the British Home Fleet

The only way to achieve the above two goals is to concentrate Germany's superior air power and inflict heavy damage on or even annihilate the British home fleet in one fell swoop in the North Sea

3:05 a.m

After nearly an hour and a half of chasing after me, the Bismarck's search radar screen suddenly appeared densely packed with hundreds of green dots, and the British home fleet finally appeared

"Hundreds of targets have been found, and at a distance of 28,000 meters, it must be the British Home Fleet, and they are all coming," shouted the director of the Bismarck's radar nervously

"Send a telegram to the 'Frederick the Great' and report the situation here to Commander-in-Chief Raeder" Lütjens ordered loudly: "The whole fleet is reorganized, the guns are shelled in formation, and the order of the shelling is formulated"

"Yes"

When Bismarck's command tower was busy, Lütjans was triumphant and whispered to himself: "Isn't it 6 to 14, let's teach the British here a lesson first, and when it dawns, the overall situation will be decided."

"Sir, the 'Frederick the Great' calls back," at this time, the communications staff officer walked up to Lütjans with a solemn face, and said in a low voice: "According to the most premature forecast, the untimely weather in the North Sea will not be very good this morning, the clouds are very thick, and there will be dense fog in the morning, which may cause the aircraft to be unable to dispatch, and Commander Raeder asked us to hold out until after 10 o'clock in the morning, when the ......"

"Well, after 10 o'clock, there is no problem" Lu Teyans interrupted the staff officer's words, took the telegram and read it, although he was already praying to God in his heart, but he was still calm on the surface He smiled and said: "Call back to Commander Raeder, our main detachment of battleships and armored cruisers will definitely teach the British a good lesson before the air force arrives"

"The reorganization was completed, and the order of the battleship detachments was: Tirpitz, Zhenyuan, Bismarck, Dingyuan, Mackensen, Ningyuan; The order of the armored cruiser detachments was Deutschland, Admiral Scheer, Admiral Count Spee, Fudelin, and Mauzie; The order of the heavy cruiser detachments was Admiral Hipper, Blucher, Prinz Eugen, Lützov ......"

The chief of staff of the detachment reported aloud in the order of formation that since the German High Seas Fleet was at an absolute disadvantage in the number of battleships this time, five armored ships were arranged behind the battleship detachment, and they had to undertake the task of gunfighting with the battleships in the next battle, and even the four heavy cruisers might have to fight with the British battleships

"Distance 25,000 meters"

The navigation staff began to report the number loudly, this distance is theoretically enough to carry out artillery battles, but in the current visibility, it is impossible to hit, but from this distance, every 500 meters shortened between the distance between the two fleets, the navigation staff will report the number once In this series of reports, it is probably the spirit of Lieutenant Colonel Qiao Ghua, the liaison officer of the Chinese expeditionary fleet who is idle on the Bismarck battleship, has gradually become nervous, although he has served in the Chinese Navy for many years, but he has never held a position on the ship, He had not participated in actual combat, but this time he participated in this great naval duel between Britain and China and Germany as a military liaison officer

"Lieutenant Colonel Qiao," at this time, Lu Teyans seemed to have taken another telegram from the hand of the communications officer, glanced at it, and handed it to Qiao Guanhua, "Your White Spoon Navy is fighting a decisive battle with the Navy of the British Empire, and your White Spoon Army attacked Hong Kong, which has been occupied by the British for more than 90 years, a few hours ago, and has now successfully recovered there."

"Oh?" Qiao Ghua took the telegram and read it, and said with an excited expression: "That's great, please ask the commander to inform the officers and men of the three ships of Zhen, Ding, and Ning, this naval battle today is a sea battle that washes away the shame of the Opium War for our Chinese Navy."

Lütjens nodded heavily, "Today is the time for your Chinese Navy to wash away the shame of a hundred years, and it is also the day for our German Navy to avenge Jutland" Speaking of this, the German vice admiral who participated in the Battle of Jutland that day seemed to raise his full strength and shouted loudly: "We will fight the British fiercely"

…… Whitehall, London, Admiralty

In the cramped meeting room of the British Admiralty, the atmosphere was unusually oppressive, as if the British Empire had lost the war. Although Prime Minister Chamberlain was dressed in a straight Western style, sitting there in the most standard posture, and there was a faint smile on his face, but from his eyes, everyone saw that he was exhausted and had no master

Although First Admiral Winston. Chugur had just reported to the Prime Minister in the most cheerful tone the good news that the German High Seas Fleet had taken the bait, but the Prime Minister was worried on the 1st, not because of the sinking of the battlecruiser Tiger and the heavy cruiser Cornwall, and this loss was not unbearable for the British Empire

In fact, even if the Tiger battlecruiser had not been sunk, it would have been retired from active service at the end of 1939, because by that time Britain would have five King George V-class battleships put into active service one after another Due to the bad bad weather in the North Sea and the Ingully Strait, Britain is currently the only major naval power that is still building battleships on a large scale. Britain also launched a huge aircraft carrier construction program, in the past two years, there have been four Tejas class aircraft carriers in service than mentioned in history, and a Ark Royal was also completed a few years ago after the defeat of the Soviet Union, Britain urgently launched the construction program of four Dreadnought-class large aircraft carriers, which are expected to be put into use around 1941 In addition, Britain also plans to use merchant ships to refit a number of aircraft carriers, the number of which is as many as more than 10

It can be said that at present, Britain has gone all out to devote itself to the tide of shipbuilding, and her opponents Germany and China are obviously more than a beat slower in this regard, because these two countries have huge land and air forces, and there are no vast colonies to transfuse, and the colonies obtained by China have not yet reached the harvest period, so their white spoon shipbuilding plan is much smaller than that of Britain, if it is not for Japan's sudden betrayal of the alliance and the sudden attack of the United States, the British Empire really does not have to worry about the risk of defeat

But now, in just over a decade, the world situation has been turned upside down by Japan, which was expected to contain China and prevent China from seizing Britain's colonies in the Asia-Pacific region, but this crazy country has dealt an unexpected blow to the United States...... The balance of power in the Pacific region has been reversed, China and Japan have joined forces, the United States has lost, I really don't know what other forces can defend the colonies of the British Empire, if India, Malaya, Australia and other British colonies all fall, the war potential of the British Empire will at least be discounted, and the United States is not expected to invest too much force in Europe until it recaptures Hawaii, and the situation has suddenly deteriorated to the point that it is difficult to control

And the naval battle of the North Sea was launched in this bad strategic situation, Britain in this big war, can only win, can not lose, only by destroying or severely damage the German navy, Britain can free up a considerable navy to the East, plus the United States can come up with 3 aircraft carriers and a few battleships, at least to contain China east of Malacca, to shut Japan out of Australia

But if you can't win this battle...... The naval power of the British Empire could only be held on to its homeland, and it was even possible to let the warships of China invade the Ingully Channel

Thinking of this, the British gentleman's smile on Prime Minister Chamberlain's face finally couldn't hold back, he and the chubby Chugur glanced at each other, and at the same time turned to Sir Pound, the First Sea Lord, and said to the fat man: "There will be no problem with the defense of Gapo?" They're already attacking Hong Kong now."

Chamberlain and Pound were stunned when they heard this, they didn't expect Chugur to still think about Gapo Chugur at this moment, but they ignored the two eyes, and continued to say to themselves: "Gapo is the throat that holds China's westward march to the Indian Ocean and southward to Australia, if it falls there, the colonial system of the British Empire will also collapse, and even if the North Sea War is won, there is no room for salvation."

Sir Pound nodded lightly and replied: "Gapo has long been transformed into a fortress, the original Huajin who lived there has moved to the Malay Peninsula, we have built an airport, a naval base, a fort and a large number of military camps there, and now there is an army of Australian troops and an Anglo-Indian army stationed there, a total of 80,000 troops, 200 aircraft, and thousands of artillery pieces, including more than 300 anti-aircraft guns, such a defense should be able to hold out until reinforcements from the home fleet arrive ......"

Speaking of which, it goes back to the Great War in the North Sea, and now the British Empire has two dead ends, one in the North Sea, the other in the South Sea, and even if there is a draw on the North Sea side, the British Empire will collapse because the South Seas are controlled by China, and on the South Sea side, as long as China captures Gapo and closes the door to the Eastern world, the British Empire will still not be saved even if it wins the North Sea War

Thinking that most of the glorious empire on which the sun never sets would be buried in his own hands, Chamberlain's eyes turned red, and two old tears swayed inside

"Report, Admiral Forbes reports, the main force of the German High Seas Fleet has put on a decisive posture, and the two sides will begin to exchange fire in 30 minutes," Major Carson, the aide-de-camp of the First Sea Lord, Pound, walked in with a grim face, and when he finished the report, all the arrivals seemed to be relieved, and it seemed that in the early hours of this foggy morning, the 15 battleships of the British Empire and France had eaten the 6 battleships of China and Germany

...... "Boom"

The huge battleship formation of the British Home Fleet fired the first salvo, although it did not hit any target, but the spectacular sight of 15 mountain-like giant ships roaring at the same time still made the Chinese and German naval officers and men on the opposite side feel a little chill down their spines, especially under the flares of the high seas fleet, there were suddenly two more giant battleships flying the French tricolor flag in the entire British battleship formation

"That's Richelieu and Jean. How did they get to the North Sea? ”

In the commander tower of the battleship Zhenyuan, Colonel Chiang Ching-kuo, who had been promoted to first mate, pulled the handrail and exclaimed loudly

Yu Yanshou, the captain of the Zhenyuan and deputy commander of the Chinese Expeditionary Fleet, didn't seem to hear Xiao Jiang's words, and the veteran, who graduated from the first phase of the Haida University, just smiled coldly and said, "We can come to Europe to help the Germans, but they can't come to Beihai to help Britain enter if they enter France?" ”

"Sir, but the firepower and defense of the Richelieu level are no less than the 'Zhenyuan' level, and we win the face ...... with a white spoon."

"It's okay, as long as we hold out until 10 o'clock in the morning, we won, the Germans have prepared 1,000 planes" Yu Yanshou smiled disdainfully, "Unless the British dare to charge and disrupt the battle, otherwise we just need to keep a distance, and under this kind of visibility, we won't be able to take a few shells for a whole day."

After being reminded by Yu Yanshou, Chiang Ching-kuo discovered the mystery Now the distance between the two warring sides is still above 20,000 meters, and the wind and waves on the sea are big, and the visibility is low, so he can't even see it at all, so he can only use radar and flares to see a blur, and then make do with the shells on both sides

Although the British and French fleets have always wanted to shorten the distance with the Chinese and German fleets, but the slowest "Zhenyuan" and "Polish Legion" classes of the Chinese and German fleets can reach the highest voyage of 30 to 31 knots, while the British and French fleets have a maximum voyage of only 20 knots, and there are a large number of faster ones, namely the Hood, the Richelieu and Jean. The three ships of the Baben wanted to let the two French battleships rush up and entangle the six Chinese and German battleships, which was wishful thinking, and the thin-skinned Hood could not charge, otherwise it would definitely be bombarded to pieces by the six "Zhenyuan" class 54 380mm main guns In this case, the Chinese and German fleets could keep the engagement distance between the two sides in a position that was most favorable to them

At this time, Admiral Forbes and Vice Admiral Cunningham, who commanded the operation in the commander of the battleship Nelson, also saw the problem, but they were at a loss, and they could not think of a way to shorten the distance between them and the Chinese and German fleets, and time was lost bit by bit

To be continued