The Rise of the Third Reich

"The Coast Air Force reports that they have just severely damaged a 30,000-ton German aircraft carrier!" Lieutenant General Fraser, the Third Sea Lord, rushed into the conference room of the War Cabinet Command with a face full of surprise.

"A 30,000-ton aircraft carrier?" First Sea Lord Dudley Pound asked, "Is it the Zeppelin class?"

"It's not clear yet. I just know that the aircraft carrier was probably hit by a torpedo and the hull tilted."

"What about our losses?" Winston Churchill asked.

"So far 60 Mustangs (P51) fighter jets, 20 Beaufrit torpedo bombers, 62 Boston attack aircraft (A-20) and 21 Mosquito reconnaissance bombers have returned."

Churchill frowned and asked: "Does this mean that 36 Mustangs (P51), 45 Beaufrets and 3 Bostons have not returned?"

"Yes," Fraser nodded, "Unluckily, when the first wave of attacks was about to end, dozens of German Fw-190s came, thus causing great losses to our Mustang fighters. As for Beaufrit torpedo bombers...their damage rates have always been high."

All torpedo bombers are easy to shoot down, so in standard air attack tactics, the dive bombers attack first, and the torpedo bombers follow up. But the British Coast Air Force had no dive bombers available.

According to the original plan, the British prepared to equip the Coastal Air Force with American SBD dive bombers (shore-based type). The order was placed in June 1941, and delivery was supposed to begin before the end of December 1941. As a result, a more powerful version of the Pearl Harbor incident occurred, and the Americans suspended the delivery of Lend-Lease supplies.

Therefore, in this Battle of the Faroe Islands, the British Coast Air Force did not have SBD dive bombers available, and could only use level bombers to cooperate with Beaufrit torpedo bombers. Horizontal bombing poses little threat to surface ships, and it is difficult to create an opportunity for the Beaufret torpedo bombers to make a last-ditch attack.

So these torpedo bombers had no choice but to attack the German fleet's firepower net. And their attack was not over yet, 48 Fw-190s and 48 Fokker Zeros taking off from Bergen arrived. As a result, the British Beaufrit torpedo bombers were immediately attacked by 48 Fokker Zeros, and the losses were quite heavy!

"The loss is a bit heavy," Churchill said with a frown, "but it's worth it to severely damage an aircraft carrier... Has the second wave of attacks begun?"

"It should have started already," Fraser replied. "Furthermore, the four Tejas-class aircraft carriers of the Home Fleet have also dispatched 24 F4Fs and 72 SBDs. It is estimated that they can reach the sky above the German fleet at the same time as the second attack wave sent by the Coastal Air Force."

"Great, the two attack waves will arrive at the same time, so it should be foolproof." Churchill thought for a while and then asked, "Our aircraft carriers won't be in danger, right? How far are they from the German aircraft carriers?"

"Almost 500 nautical miles, and Fleet A is still sailing westward." Fraser said, "The German carrier-based aircraft cannot reach it, unless they want to come back without any return."

"I can rest assured that."

Churchill just breathed a sigh of relief when a rush of footsteps came from outside the conference room. Then he saw a staff officer wearing an Air Force uniform walking in quickly and handed a note to Lieutenant General Fraser.

"What happened?" Churchill asked.

Lieutenant General Fraser looked at the note, and the frown he had frowned earlier had relaxed. "The Mosquitoes spotted dozens of high-altitude bombers dispatched from Bergen... Italian P.108s, probably to bomb airfields in northern Scotland."

After Norway entered the war, Bergen became an important forward base, and the German army invested a lot of manpower and material resources in its construction. There are now 12 regiment-level airports near Bergen, which can accommodate up to 1,500 aircraft, and large military ports and barracks have also been built. Naturally, the British also regard Bergen as an important surveillance target. There are at least three submarines carrying reconnaissance missions cruising in the North Sea west of Bergen for a long time. In the air, as long as the weather conditions permit, there will definitely be five. Radar-equipped Mosquito or Sunderland "Shot" seaplanes patrolled.

Therefore, the fleet taking off from Bergen or the fleet sailing out can usually not avoid British reconnaissance.

At this point, Lieutenant General Fraser smiled proudly, "But they won't succeed. The Spitfire 10 fighter jets of the Coast Air Force will entertain them well."

The Spitfire 10 fighter is a fighter jet specially used for mid- and high-altitude combat. It is not only equipped with a Merlin 60 liquid-cooled engine with excellent high-altitude performance, but also has a specially designed aerodynamic shape to enable it to obtain greater lift. , which is conducive to fighting at high altitudes.

…

"How far are we from the German carriers now?"

"About 500 nautical miles."

Hearing the navigation officer's answer, Cunningham let out a sigh of relief. 500 nautical miles is equivalent to approximately 926 kilometers, which is far enough. The German Fokker Zero may be available, but a carrier-based dive bomber with bombs cannot have such a large combat radius.

"Another 50 nautical miles to the northwest." Cunningham added another layer of insurance to his aircraft carrier.

At this time, Chief of Staff Lister took a copy of the telegram from the fleet communications staff, looked at it and said to Cunningham: "Commander, Bergen sent dozens of P.108 bombers... They should be going Bomb airfields in Shetland or Onik Islands."

"It's just a little trouble," Cunningham smiled and shook his head. "The Coast Air Force will send out Spitfires... Notify the air raid commander Major Daniel of this news and ask him to keep in touch with the Coast Air Force's Northern Command. . If one of the Shetland Islands or Onik Islands is attacked by an air attack, land at the airport in the other place."

…

"Major, that Mosquito bomber is still following us."

The voice of the captain of a P.108S heavy bomber behind him came from Bruno Mussolini's headphones.

"Damn it!" Bruno Mussolini cursed, but there was nothing he could do. The P.108S, improved with the help of the German Fokker Company, has very excellent high-altitude performance. It is equipped with four BMW801R turbocharged engines and can complete bomb delivery at an altitude of 11,000 meters. Moreover, the aircraft's self-defense firepower has also been strengthened. It is equipped with a total of 13 12.7mm machine guns, fully capable of unescorted penetration.

However, 60 P.108Ss could do nothing against 1 Mosquito. The latter has a light body and is equipped with two high-horsepower Merlin 60 engines with excellent college entrance examination performance. Its speed is far higher than that of the bulky P.108S.

Fortunately it was just a reconnaissance plane. Bruno Mussolini thought that if the British sent 30 or 40 high-altitude combat "Mosquitoes" equipped with large-caliber cannons, his 60 P.108S would be in danger. It seems that if Germany and Italy really want to equip a large number of P.108S (P.108S now also has a German model, called Fokker 108) to bomb the British mainland, they will also need a high-altitude fighter that can escort them all the way.

"Let it follow!" Major Bruno Mussolini said in an indifferent tone, "Let this British plane see how we destroyed their aircraft carrier with Hs293 bombs!"

…

"boom!"

The British aircraft carrier has not suffered yet, but the German aircraft carrier "Potsdam" near the Faroe Islands has just been hit by a 1,000-pound armor-piercing bomb. This aircraft carrier, which looks very similar in size to the "Zeppelin" class, became the target of the SBD carrier-based dive bombers that had just arrived on the battlefield because the hull was tilted and still smoking.

Although the Potsdam's captain, Rear Admiral Langsdorff, relied on his superb ship maneuvering skills, he managed to avoid eight heavy bombs in a row. But the ninth fallen bomb still penetrated the flight deck, which had only thin armor, and then passed through the top floor of the hangar, causing a big explosion in the closed hangar. The fire caused by the explosion immediately ignited the Fokker 100 dive bomber waiting on the flight deck, causing a series of large explosions.

The 30,500-ton aircraft carrier Potsdam seemed to plunge into a sea of ​​fire. Fire and thick smoke began to spread throughout the hull. The damage control team tried their best to fight the fire with water hoses, but it was still a drop in the bucket.

"Commander, Rear Admiral Langsdorf reports that the fire on the Potsdam is getting out of control!"

General Gunther Lütjens frowned when he heard the bad news. The Potsdam was really unlucky. In the three waves of air attacks launched by the British, the paint on other ships was not even wiped off. However, this aircraft carrier was unlucky. First, it was near-missed by a British horizontal bomber. Injured by the bombing, now he has become a target of SBD. Look at this, even if it doesn't sink, it's still a serious injury! Moreover, this place is not close to Bergen. I wonder if the unlucky Potsdam can sail back?

"Order unnecessary personnel to evacuate!" General Gunther Lütjens ordered, "Only the damage control and some engine crews are left for final rescue. If the fire cannot be extinguished within one hour, the ship will be abandoned!"

"Commander, this is an aircraft carrier!" Fleet Chief of Staff Erich Bay was startled by Lütjens' words.

Lütjens waved his hand and said expressionlessly: "It's nothing, it's just an aircraft carrier... We will get it back soon!"

It's just an aircraft carrier!

After the industries of various European countries under the leadership of Germany were operating at full speed because resource bottlenecks were relieved, the German navy also became richer. Plan Z, the shipbuilding plan that was originally regarded as a fantasy, has been stepped up and stepped up. Not only have the orders for the Zeppelin been increased three times, from the initial 2 ships to the current 10 ships, but also a large number of structures are being built. A simple, economical and practical C aircraft carrier (12,000-ton escort aircraft carrier).