With the ship's combat alarm issued, the officers and sailors on the warship left the cabin as fast as possible and ran to their respective combat positions. The entire warship was filled with the sound of hurried footsteps and the whistles of the officers.
, shouting. . . . Within a few minutes, all the posts on the Schanehorst were filled with personnel. In the open air anti-aircraft artillery positions, the sailors were wrapped tightly, and they could not see them.
Clear people's faces.
On the front and rear decks, four huge main turrets are slowly rotating, and the three double-mounted and two single-tube 152mm secondary cannons on the right also point to the direction where the target is discovered.
After leaving the Norwegian waters, the four German warships have maintained a single-line combat column, and they do not need to adjust their formation to enter the combat state.
The heavy cruiser "Blüchel" located in the front of the German fleet first discovered the enemy situation. Captain Brigadier General Voltague ordered the warship to prepare for combat while asking the communications officer to notify the flagship with its light signals.
Those unidentified ships also discovered them and rushed towards the German fleet. As they got closer and closer to the target, the radar personnel on the German warship made a judgment through the echo received on the monitor. That should be
The enemy's three medium-sized ships, which means that opposite is a patrol fleet.
A patrol team consisting of the Royal Navy "Manchester", "Infulham" and "Curle" cruisers are patrolling the waters between the Faroe Islands and Iceland to prevent German attack ships from entering the Atlantic Ocean.
It was already noon, and the sun was slightly slanted westward, and the fog on the sea surface was very heavy. Through the fog, the western sky showed a misty and strange light yellow scene. The sea surface was full of white mist, with floating ice from time to time.
Floating from the north, the biting cold wind swept across the deck, and the warships kept swaying in the wind and waves.
The lookouts around the bridge were wearing thick winter clothes and staying on their posts, holding binoculars up, down, left and right, searching the sea regularly.
The sea search radar on the flagship "Manchester" first discovered the enemy's traces. The fleet commander Brigadier General Warburton Lee reported the information to the Admiralty in London and the local fleet command in Scarpaflo.
, while ordering the fleet to approach and track the enemy's fleet.
"The other side should have two Schonhorst-class battleships, their speed is around 25 knots, so they should want to go south... Our mission is to keep an eye on them until the main force of the local fleet arrives to encircle and annihilate them. Everyone must stick to it.
Posts, don’t let the target slip away from our noses, the opportunity to avenge the Glory is here!”
Brigadier General Lee mobilized the fleet through the radio, without reminding him that the officers and soldiers of the British Navy had naturally hated these two German battleships that had sunk the USS Glory air warship to the core.
Admiral Lukins, along with Admiral Bonty and Captain Brigadier Marshall, stood on the tall bridge on the "Sharenhorst", trying to see through the mist in the dusk, following them closely
The British ship, but nothing can be seen. After a high-speed voyage during the day, the German fleet has advanced to the Atlantic Ocean about 220 nautical miles south of Iceland, but it has been unable to get rid of the three annoying "tails" behind it.
". The British ships are obviously equipped with sea search radars, which have always been outside the range of the German main gun, and are in a staggering manner.
"Sir, those British cruisers will report to the outside world every fifteen minutes, and they will never stop all night." The communications officer reported the latest situation.
"They are reporting our location, speed and direction to the outside. Around us, there must be a large number of British ships coming here with all their might." Admiral Lukins narrowed his eyes and looked at it.
The sea surface was still blurry in front of us, "If there were no opponent's battleships, they would not do anything to us."
After saying these words, the Admiral returned from the bridge to the war room. He stared at the chart for a while, and then muttered the cigar in his hand again, "If we increase the speed to 30 knots, William,
How many British battleships do you think can catch up with us?” he turned his head and said to Brigadier General Marshall.
"No one can catch up. Their latest George V-class can run to 28 quarters at most. But general, they also have the 'Hood' and two prestige battlecruisers." Captain Marshall reminded him.
Fleet Commander.
"Yes, they have three battleships, but they're just as fast as us, aren't they?" Lukins turned around and said to Marshall. "We're sailing in the Atlantic Ocean now, I think their merchant fleet is
After getting the news, you will definitely be scared to hide in the port. Talk about your opinion. Do you think there is anything else ahead that can stop us?"
"General, they still have the Mediterranean Fleet!" Marshall seemed not as optimistic as the Admiral.
"Maybe we can make an illusion, make a maneuver after dark, pretending to sail to the port of Brest in France," said Admiral Lukins. "They would never have thought we were going to the Indian Ocean!"
"A wonderful tactic, the British can only do nothing for a minute and quickly transfer their troops to our front for interception. If we can get rid of the tail behind us, this tactic will definitely be effective. In that case, the gate of the South Atlantic will
Open for us." Marshall agreed very much, and he had this idea in his mind.
"Of course, we should try to get rid of the cruiser behind us and prevent it from following. As long as we enter the South Atlantic, no British fleet can fight us." Lukins said proudly, "These are these things."
The British ships will keep staring at us. What would they do if we dragged two warships behind?"
"Well, their biggest possibility is to stare at the two ships we were dragging in the back. What do you mean?" Brigadier General Marshall saw Admiral Lukins drawing a circle on the chart, and suddenly realized that he was the commander of the fleet.
The official wanted to set a trap for the British.
Major General Bonty has understood what Admiral Lukins means, lying his body on the chart table, using his two-leg gauge and a triangle ruler to make some marks on the chart, and has been calculating some data.
, "It will take about nine hours to achieve our goals without being noticed by the enemy." He raised his head and said to the general.
"Very good!" Lukins looked at some marks he made on the chart, then calculated silently in his heart, and issued the latest instructions: "Shanhorst and Prince Eugen in the rear of the formation
The ship was reduced to 20, and Gneisenau and Blüchel remained in full speed and turned west after an hour."
It was already dark, and the three British cruisers led by the "Manchester" were still unyieldingly following the German fleet, sending out reports every fifteen minutes, which was quite regular.
"Sir, the two enemy ships behind have slowed down their speed!" In the combat room of the Manchester, the radar officer reported the latest situation to Brigadier General Warburton Lee.
"We cannot get too close to the enemy, just focus on the two German ships behind! In addition, report the latest situation to the Admiralty immediately." Warburton Lee instinctively felt that there was something wrong with it, but he had no choice but to
He can follow the German ship with a tough bullet and then watch the two German ships in front slowly disappear on the radar screen. (To be continued.