The Rise of the Third Reich

June 11, 1941, 4:10 a.m., southern Norwegian Sea.

Two aircraft carriers as huge as small islands, the British "Ark Royal" and "Formidable" are galloping into the wind. The back half of the flight decks of the two aircraft carriers are now filled with aircraft. Parked at the forefront is the "Sea Spitfire" fighter jet. The two aircraft carriers are now quite close to the Shetland Islands, although the combat radius of the "Sea Spitfire" is not enough to cover the Shetland Islands.

However, Vice Admiral Somerville decided to send 20 "Sea Spitfires" to cover the SBD dive bombers and TBD torpedo bombers.

After completing the escort mission, these "Sea Spitfires" will land at a secret field airport on the Shetland Islands, and then temporarily assume the air superiority cover mission of the Shetland Islands.

In addition to 20 "Sea Spitfires", Somerville also dispatched all SBD dive bombers and TBD torpedo bombers in hand, including 23 SBDs and 18 TBDs. Counting the "Sea Spitfire", a total of 61 carrier-based aircraft were dispatched this time.

"Vice Admiral, you can take off now!" Captain Scott, the captain of Ark Royal, said to Vice Admiral Somerville on the bridge after the aircraft carrier had been sailing at full speed for 10 minutes.

"Let them take off!" Lieutenant General Somerville nodded and said, "After the first assault wave is released, Fleet C will immediately approach the northern coast of Scotland, and then ask the Coastal Air Force to send aircraft to cover us."

Somerville's conductor was almost as careful as Helmut Haye. Because he has realized that the role of aircraft carriers in future operations with the Atlantic as the battlefield has far exceeded that of battleships.

If Gibraltar is not secured and the French and Italian fleets rush into the Atlantic, the trump card that Britain can use to deal with them is not battleships, but several valuable fleet carriers.

As long as these fleet aircraft carriers exist, French and Italian battleships will not dare to leave the protective circle of shore-based aircraft. In this way, Britain's maritime lifeline can be maintained, and Britain can grit its teeth and persevere. If these fleet aircraft carriers no longer exist, then if the Germans' "only remaining" aircraft carrier breaks into the Atlantic to join the French and Italian fleets, then Britain will face the hard days of being completely blockaded.

Standing on the side of the bridge, watching the carrier-based aircraft take off one after another and then hovering around the fleet, waiting for the formation, Somerville breathed a sigh of relief. In 30 minutes at most, Fleet C can move south, and in 3 hours at most, the fleet can hide in the protective circle of shore-based aircraft in northern Scotland. By then, even the terrifying Ju88 and S.M.79 will not be able to threaten the "Ark Royal" and the "Formidable".

At this moment, the radar officer on the "Ark Royal" suddenly reported: "Sir, an unidentified aircraft was found in the sky 20-30 kilometers away from the aircraft carrier."

Unidentified plane? Somerville frowned. There were too many planes flying around in this area. There are British Short "Sunderland" seaplanes, American "Catalina" seaplanes, and German Fw-200C and He-115. You can't really tell whose plane it is by relying on radar alone.

"Send two Spitfires to have a look."

When Somerville gave the order, the unidentified plane had already turned around and left. This was a Fokker 99 that took off from the "Seidlitz". It took off from the aircraft carrier before dawn. It flew westward for more than an hour before the sky completely brightened, and then the altitude was raised to 3,000 meters. Start your search. Unexpectedly, as soon as they reached high altitude, they saw an aircraft carrier releasing carrier-based aircraft.

"Lieutenant General, an aircraft carrier has been discovered. It is a large fleet aircraft carrier. The coordinates are 59.5 degrees north latitude and 8.3 degrees west longitude! It is in the southwest waters of the Faroe Islands."

News of the discovery of the "Ark Royal" was quickly transmitted back to the "Seidlitz" aircraft carrier via the airborne radio. The captain, Major Hinze, reported loudly: "The reconnaissance plane also discovered that this aircraft carrier was releasing carrier-based aircraft!"

Release the carrier aircraft!

The atmosphere on the aircraft carrier bridge suddenly became tense. Could it be that they were coming to attack the German aircraft carrier formation?

"We also release carrier-based aircraft!" Helmut Haye immediately ordered, "Move quickly, we will leave immediately after releasing the first assault wave! In addition, send the position of the British aircraft carrier to the naval aviation command in Bergen Ministry, let them send out S.M.79 torpedo bombers!”

It was discovered that the location of the British aircraft carrier was only 770 kilometers away from Bergen, completely within the combat radius of the Italian hunchback aircraft S.M.79. Because the German aircraft carrier was originally positioned to escort the break-up fleet, and it was equipped with a small number of carrier-based aircraft in a full hangar, the development of carrier-based torpedo bombers was ignored for a long time.

Therefore, although the German naval aviation now has the very powerful shore-based torpedo bomber S.M.79, it does not have a carrier-based torpedo bomber that can take off and land on an aircraft carrier. So now we can only let the Bergen base dispatch S.M.79 torpedo bombers - after all, the ship-borne Fokker 99 is still not powerful enough. It can only deal with aircraft carriers without armored decks, and it is unlikely to sink a British Royal Navy ship. armored aircraft carrier.

However, the Bergen base that received Helmut Heyer's telegram temporarily had no S.M.79s to send, because all S.M.79s and Ju88s had been sent out to bomb the "Prince of Wales".

The "Prince of Wales" is now in the Port of Lerwick, moored against a cargo pier. The pier and the open space next to the pier are filled with anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns. In order to keep "His Royal Highness", the British Army and Royal Marines defending the Shetland Islands really tried their best. They pulled all available anti-aircraft guns to the Lerwick Port dock and knitted the "Prince of Wales" A large air defense net was set up. At the same time, the "Prince of Wales" and a destroyer next to it continued to release smoke in an attempt to hide "His Royal Highness".

But even with such careful protection, the situation of "His Royal Highness" is still worrying. Because the battleship is now trapped in Lerwick Port and unable to move, it has become a dead target that can only be beaten. To attack such immobile battleships, there is no need to dive bomb or drop torpedoes at low altitude.

Therefore, the Ju88 dive bombers and S.M.79 torpedo bombers sent for bombing all carried 1,000 kilograms and 500 kilograms of armor-piercing bombs. They carried out horizontal bombing at an altitude of 3,000 meters, and the bombs fell from the sky like raindrops.

"bomb!"

"Anti-shock..."

"boom!"

Another dark bomb fell from the sky and slammed into the deck in front of the two main turrets at the bow of the "Prince of Wales" ship. Due to the key protection adopted by the "Prince of Wales", solid armor is used to protect important parts such as the front and rear ammunition depots, engine rooms, boiler rooms, and oil depots, while the less important bow and stern (mainly personnel below the deck) Cabins and various supply warehouses and living areas) are basically unprotected.

So this 500-kilogram bomb easily penetrated the bow deck and then bloomed in the center. The shock wave generated by the explosion shook the 38,000-ton ship violently, and everyone on the bridge was unable to stand.

"Tell me about the loss..."

Captain Rich struggled to get up. Just as he was about to ask about the damage, he was stunned by the scene outside the bridge. A ferocious breach appeared on the deck at the bow of the ship, with thick smoke and fire pouring out of the breach.

"There is a fire in the bow cabin and the fire is spreading..."

"The turret of Battery A has a mechanical failure and cannot rotate."

Fortunately, there was nothing serious for the time being... Rich was slightly relieved when the second officer of the "Prince of Wales" loudly reported the damage.

The bomb didn't hit any vital points, but... the bombing had just begun!

He already regrets his decision last night, because he never thought that the German planes would be so sharp! The Royal Air Force's Coast Air Force dispatched hundreds of P-51, P-40, Spitfire and Hurricane aircraft to cover the "Prince of Wales" before dawn, but these aircraft faced German fighter jets (Fw-190 and Fokker Zero) were vulnerable to a single blow and were expelled from the sky after holding on for less than 20 minutes. Then the German Ju88 and the damn "Italian Hunchback" came to drop bombs.

Although it was not a combination of dive bombing and torpedo attack, the horizontal bombing accuracy of these aircraft greatly exceeded John Rich's expectations!

"bomb……"

Suddenly someone shouted again, and in John Rich's sight, a black dot fell from the sky like lightning and hit the top of the bow A turret of the "Prince of Wales". Richie's vision froze in an instant. He only saw the top of the four-unit turret exploded, like an inflated balloon suddenly bursting, and then turned into a dazzling ball of fire. The entire battleship seemed to be After being hit by a giant with an iron fist, the bow of the ship sank suddenly, and the violent vibration caused Colonel Rich to fall again.

After Richie was helped up, he looked towards the bow of the ship. The corners of his eyes seemed to have been pricked by something. He saw that the A turret was gone, leaving only a pile of twisted metal and raging bears. Fire.

What just hit the No. A turret was a 1,000 kilogram bomb!

Colonel Rich opened his mouth and was at a loss when the bridge seemed to be hit by something, making a terrifying loud noise.

The bomb hit the bridge! The most terrifying words flashed through Colonel Rich's mind, and then he subconsciously fell to the floor of the bridge. Then he felt his back being swept by a stream of hot gas...