The Rise of the Third Reich

Aircraft carriers in World War II were actually divided into several different grades.

The first level is the large fleet aircraft carriers, such as the American Essex class, the German Zeppelin class, the British Tejas class, the Japanese Shokaku class, the Taiho class, etc.

The second level is light fleet aircraft carriers, such as Germany's Seydlitz class, Japan's Shoho class, Ryūho class, etc., as well as the "small target" of the US president - 20 ships modified from the hulls of Cleveland class light cruisers. light aircraft carrier.

The third level is aircraft carriers converted from large cruise ships, such as several German "Blue Ribbon Aircraft Carriers", Italy's "Eagle" and "Condor", and Japan's Otaka, Cloud Eagle and Okutaka.

The above three grades of aircraft carriers are all relatively expensive products. Not only can they carry a larger number of aircraft, but because they are faster, they can follow the main fleet and participate in fleet decisive battles. They can be regarded as "fleet aircraft carriers" in any case.

Under these three levels, there is also a less valuable "escort aircraft carrier". The so-called escort aircraft carrier cannot be explained literally. As long as it serves as an escort mission, it is an escort aircraft carrier. There will always be overkill and overkill in this world. For example, the United States is currently using four large aircraft carriers to perform escort duties in the Pacific.

A true escort carrier usually refers to the "three small and one useless" aircraft carriers with small tonnage, small hangar, small horsepower and no armor. In a word, it is the poorest star among aircraft carriers.

This kind of "diao silk aircraft carrier" does not have a solid warship hull and usually uses cheap civilian ship hulls. It is very easy to sink when attacked by enemy ships and enemy aircraft. In addition, the "diao silk aircraft carrier" does not have a huge tonnage, usually around 10,000. The hangar is of course very small, and the deck must be wooden.

Finally, the "diao silk aircraft carrier" does not have the professional heavy oil-burning boilers and steam turbines found on warships and luxury cruise ships, and of course it does not have huge horsepower marine diesel engines. Under normal circumstances, an aircraft carrier of over 10,000 tons is equipped with a diesel engine of 8,000 or 8,500 horsepower, which can run a maximum speed of 15 or 6 knots.

Such a "diao silk aircraft carrier" needs armor but not armor, speed but not speed, and tonnage but not tonnage. It is a bargain, and of course the cost is very low. If you are too lazy to build it, just find an 8,000-ton or 10,000-ton merchant ship, remove the superstructure and lay out a wooden flight deck.

For the current Britain and Germany, the first and second-tier fleet aircraft carriers are relatively scarce. The third-tier cruise-modified aircraft carriers are not very valuable. As for the fourth-tier "**Silk Aircraft Carriers" ", eight out of ten ships can still be taken out easily. Even if it didn't happen, it would take a few months to find some 10,000-ton merchant ships and fix it.

However, aircraft carriers are easy to obtain, but carrier-based aircraft pilots are difficult to train. Therefore, Britain and Germany will not have enough food now to build dozens of escort aircraft carriers with a hundred ships for fun. Even if they have built escort aircraft carriers (now Britain and Germany have many), they often fail because they do not have enough escort carriers. The pilots on the aircraft carrier were idle - the carrier-based aircraft pilots on the aircraft carrier were not the Air Force, they were all elites trained with a lot of money! Therefore, in history, the United States' behavior of building more than a hundred escort aircraft carriers is not considered wealthy at all, but equipping dozens of escort aircraft carriers with carrier-based aircraft pilots is truly wealthy.

The current commander of the Home Fleet, Cunningham, has several idle "Japanese aircraft carriers" in his hands, and he doesn't know when they will be equipped with pilots. Since the United States has temporarily stopped the delivery of Lend-Lease supplies, the training of British pilots has become sloppy in the past few months. It can be used as a shore-based pilot, but not on an aircraft carrier. It will either fall off the deck or get lost at sea. The operating range of British aircraft carriers is in sea areas with complex climate and sea conditions such as the North Atlantic, North Sea, and Norwegian Sea. Without strict training, it is easy for accidents to happen. Moreover, the Royal Navy cannot take away all the elites of the Royal Air Force. There are bloody battles between the Royal Air Force and the German Air Force and the German Naval Aviation every day.

So this time Cunningham simply put together three 10,000-ton escort aircraft carriers without aircraft and two cruise ship-modified aircraft carriers, the Aquitania and the Berengaria, to form a decoy aircraft carrier formation - by Force B, commanded by Vice Admiral Somerville.

After receiving Cunningham's order to "attack eastward to near 150 nautical miles east of the Faroe Islands (this position was carefully calculated and just outside the combat radius of the Fw-190 based in Bergen)" , the five aircraft carriers began to sail eastward under the escort of the heavy cruisers HMS Suffolk and HMS Fulobis, as well as 5 light cruisers and 10 destroyers.

Not long after this very eye-catching B fleet, composed of five aircraft carriers, sailed in the North Atlantic west of the Faroe Islands, it was discovered by the Fw-200C on reconnaissance patrol in this area.

…

"Admiral, Condor 052 discovered 5 aircraft carriers, 2 of which are large aircraft carriers, and the other 3 are 10,000-ton light aircraft carriers, located in F5 waters."

"There are two large aircraft carriers? Is it the Glorious class?" Gunther Lütjens stood up and walked to the chart hanging on the wall of the fleet commander's conference room.

"It's unclear, but at least one of them is not a Tejas-class aircraft carrier. The reconnaissance plane reported that one of the two large aircraft carriers is particularly huge, with a displacement of perhaps more than 50,000 tons. It should be modified from a cruise ship." Vice Admiral Erich Bey proposed. He suggested, "Commander, let's let Vice Admiral Haye's aircraft carrier and Bergen's aviation attack."

The three 10,000-ton aircraft carriers were obviously escort carriers, and neither Lütjens nor Bei took them seriously. However, the two large aircraft carriers are definitely valuable targets. Even if they are not Tejas-class, they must be converted from large cruise ships. Therefore, Lieutenant General Erich Bey wanted the five aircraft carriers commanded by Helmut Heyer to dispatch carrier-based aircraft, and at the same time use Bergen's shore-based aircraft.

"The British are not so easily fooled, and they are in F5 waters... which is not far from northern Scotland," Gunther Lütjens said with his arms crossed. "There will definitely be a large number of P51 dispatched to support, and Fw- 190 can’t reach the F5 water area.”

The era of the Fokker Zero's dominance has passed in Europe. Whether it is the Spitfire equipped with the Merlin 60 engine or the American P51 (without the Merlin 60 model), it can deal with the Fokker Zero. Gram Zero. If the P51 is equipped with a Merlin 60 engine with superior performance, it will not be able to deal with an aircraft like the Fokker Zero. The Fw-190 must be used to cooperate with the Fokker Zero.

Erich Bey thought for a while and then said: "Then let Bergen's P.108S heavy bombers be dispatched and use Hs293V3 to deal with these British aircraft carriers."

These 60 P.108S heavy bombers commanded by Major Mussolini were specially modified to drop Hs293V3 bombs. Each aircraft can be loaded with up to 5 Hs293V3 bombs (it can also be loaded with 5 ordinary CP-500 bombs), and can carry out precision bombing from an altitude of 6,500-10,000 meters. Moreover, the range of the P.108S is also large enough, with a maximum range of more than 4,000 kilometers. When equipped with 5 Hs293V3 bombs, the combat radius can reach 1,500 kilometers. Enough to cover the sea from Bergen to Iceland.

If these 60 P.108S attack at the same time, they can drop 300 Hs293V3 bombs at one time! Although it is only a 500 kilogram high-explosive bomb, it is precision-guided. If an aircraft carrier is hit by dozens of bombs, no matter how strong the aircraft carrier is, it will definitely be sunk by so many bombs.

"No, don't touch the P.108S yet." Gunther Lütjens thought for a while, shook his head and said, "The first battle of these 60 P.108S must be used against the four Glorious-class ships... They are the real Main force.”

After dropping 300 Hs293V3 bombs at one time, this high-tech weapon will be exposed, and the British may even pick up one or two unexploded bombs. If you want to use it again in the future, there will be no unexpected effect. Therefore, Gunther Lütjens wanted the Hs293V3 bomb to achieve sufficient results in the first battle.

"Then let's..." Erich Bey looked at Gunther Lütjens and was in trouble for a moment.

"We ignored them," Gunther Lütjens said. "We continued to advance towards the Faroe Islands. The original plan was to wait for the bombardment after dark, using the Hindenburg, Ludendorff, and Barbarossa. and Schlieffen's guns to bombard the Faroe Islands' ports and airfields."

…

"it's getting dark."

On the battleship "King George V", Admiral Cunningham walked to the side of the command tower, looked at the sunset outside the window, frowned and muttered.

During the long afternoon of March 25, 1942 (it was the polar day in the Arctic, so the daylight hours were long), Cunningham was waiting for news that Fleet B had been bombed. If the bombing occurred, it would be a fierce and fierce battle. There are a total of 108 F4Fs on the Aquitania and Borenlia. In addition, the Coast Air Force will dispatch at least 200 P51s to assist in the battle, which will definitely cause heavy damage to the attacking German fleet.

The current P51 has not yet been equipped with the Merlin 60 engine, so its mid- and high-altitude performance is poor. If it encounters a combination of Fw190 and Fokker Zero, it will still suffer a loss, but it can be achieved against the Fokker Zero alone. Better results.

Therefore, according to Cunningham's plan, Fleet B will stop outside the combat radius of the shore-based Fw-190 based in Bergen. However, Cunningham does not think that Fleet B in Somerville will remain unscathed, with a loss of 2- Three aircraft carriers are still expected!

The German High Seas Fleet, which successfully "severely damaged" the British aircraft carrier force, should also be confident and bold enough to go north to break through the Denmark Strait. In this way, the British Royal Navy and Royal Air Force will have the opportunity to annihilate the main force of the German High Seas Fleet after it leaves the German shore-based aircraft cover, or at least severely damage it!

"Are they still heading towards the Faroe Islands?" Cunningham turned around and asked.

"Yes, Admiral," a staff officer replied. "They are still heading towards the Faroe Islands...If nothing happens, the German fleet will enter a running position tonight."

"Artillery attack?" Cunningham shook his head and said to himself, "It can't be to capture the Faroe Islands... The Germans must be feinting! Their goal must be to break into the Atlantic Ocean!"