Chapter 1,103 The Battle of the Norwegian Sea 1
Chapter 1103 Battle of the Norwegian Sea 1
"If you all have no questions, then here we go. The first, third and fourth detachments of General Moore are each assigned a seaplane carrier. The light cruiser detachment is deployed in the predetermined sea area. We use a new confidential frequency to communicate. , In addition, please note that we have plenty of time to drive the German fleet to the northern sea. They will definitely not last longer than us. We must have confidence. If there is no problem, then let's set off! "Lieutenant General Thomas said, and with his order, the first naval battle in the Norwegian Sea began!
2 days later, Norwegian Sea. Two huge figures and a smaller figure emerged from the morning sea fog. The two battlecruisers under Hipper's command, with their sharp bows like long knives, cut through the turbulent waves of the North Sea and moved quickly towards the north. The leader is naturally Germany's most elite battlecruiser Moltke, and the one behind is Germany's first battlecruiser, Blücher. They were followed by a light cruiser.
"Send a signal to Colonel Hullhouse and ask them about the condition of the ship." Colonel von Lefetzov, who served as the captain of the Moltke, ordered. Because just yesterday, in order to seize this fleet transporting supplies to Russia, the two German battlecruisers had maintained a high speed of more than 23 knots, and today, the cutting-edge Moltke was better, but Bu Lüschel was already a little tired, and a steam pipeline also had problems due to excessive pressure, so the fleet's speed had been reduced to 20 knots in the past few hours.
"Captain Hullhouse replied that the battleship's fault has been eliminated and it can continue to maintain a speed of more than 23 knots." After a moment, an officer said.
"Okay, send a message to General Hipper. Everything will go according to plan. From now on, we will return in 5 days. If nothing happens, we will contact you once a day." Colonel von Lefetzov ordered road. The reason for doing this is actually to allow the naval headquarters to keep track of the fleet's movements. In the North Sea, the German fleet will not easily send reports, but in the Norwegian Sea, in this wider water area, there should be no problem. ..... However, this time it was different.
"It's the devil's whisper! The Germans are here!" About 50 nautical miles away from the German fleet, Thomas directly commanded the Queen Elizabeth, the Malaya, and the four attached light cruisers. 10 destroyers and 1 seaplane carrier were cruising at low speed, and to the east of them, a group of transport ships was quickly heading towards Norwegian territorial waters.
Because the British never knew the principle of the new cipher used by the German Navy, they were naturally unable to decipher this non-simple substitution cipher. Therefore, they called this cipher the devil's whisper, which means that only the devil of the abyss can understand it. This is impossible for humans to decipher.
"Very good, let the decoy fleet send the message again. Colleagues will rule the third detachment and prepare the two new queens, the Reputation and the Counterattack. Once we lose track, they will have to make up for it. 1 hour Afterwards, seaplanes were dispatched for tracking. The fleet turned 3 compass points south,
that's all. "
Lieutenant General Thomas ordered. A moment later, the Thomas fleet, which received the order, began to rush towards the German fleet at a speed of more than 20 knots. At this time, due to the sea fog in the morning, the visibility of both sides dropped drastically. If you want to spot large warships in the distance, The distance between the two sides is probably close to 15 kilometers. It was precisely for this reason that Thomas waited a while to ask for a seaplane.
Although there are sideways radios in this era, deviations of a few degrees are still normal. Thomas can only know the approximate position of the other party, and in the case of low visibility, he can only order the destroyers and light cruisers to disperse. A wide cordon was stretched out in front of the two battleships, searching for traces of their opponents like the tentacles of an octopus. This time Thomas was lucky. After sailing for about an hour, a light cruiser located in the southeast discovered the target.
The light cruiser Banquet God sailed carefully. As the last light cruiser before the British war started, the British, who did not have a fuel crisis at the time, equipped this cruiser with a full oil-fired boiler, so it could hide itself better. When the sea breeze gently blew away the morning fog nearby, Major Wintour was surprised to find that less than 12 kilometers away from his left chord, two huge figures puffing out thick smoke were heading north quickly. !
"Send a report to Lieutenant General Thomas immediately and say that we have caught our opponent!" Major Wintour immediately ordered. The British fleet using the new frequency band successfully avoided the Germans' radio detection this time. They discovered their opponents half an hour before the Germans. Major Wintour did a good job. After spotting his opponent, he followed up quietly without firing. But what was unexpected was that a British destroyer also discovered the German fleet. Unfortunately, the destroyer was not equipped with new radio starting equipment, so a telegram revealed that there was a British fleet nearby!
"There seem to be British warships around us!" an officer said to Colonel von Lefetzov. "The distance is very close, probably at our 9 o'clock direction, probably no more than ten kilometers!"
"Hold the grass, what's going on?!" Colonel Lefetsov's brain began to spin rapidly. If he could find himself at such a close distance, but he couldn't find them, it meant that they were not large battleships. However, in this case, should the British warn the surrounding merchant ships, or should they keep an eye on themselves?
"We have found prey. If the weather is good today, they should be almost within the range of our main guns." Thomas rubbed his hands excitedly after receiving the telegram. "Immediately issue an order to the fleet to outflank the German fleet, Queen, prepare to fight!"
When the morning fog was gradually blown away by the sea breeze, the German fleet finally discovered the surrounding British warships. This sight directly shocked Colonel Lefetsov, because he saw at least 3 British warships in his field of vision. Battleship! If these little things don't have any brain problems, then it means that the British main fleet is right next to them!
And on the sea level, there is really a shallow smoke column that is quickly approaching me. The distance between the two parties is about 22 kilometers at most!
"Okay, let's go." Lefetsov's level is still good enough. Although he can't see the incoming ship clearly, he can already guess that it is the queen. As for the reason? The answer is very simple, the smoke emitted by coal-burning battleships other than the Queen is not like this! Moreover, for an assault ship, it is a basic principle to try not to encounter the opponent's battleship. If it encounters the invincible and the like, Lefetsov can deal with it easily. Otherwise, try not to fight.
Here comes the second update~~~! Please subscribe and reward~~~!