The Rise of the Third Reich

In the early morning of December 12, Marshal Lütjens, who survived the catastrophe and was bound to be blessed, found that he had eaten the most expensive bait in history. A patrol unit he deployed in the Denmark Strait discovered a huge Allied fleet!

"Your Excellency Marshal, we may be able to intercept it in the waters near the Faroe Islands... If we go in a straight line, it will be almost 600 nautical miles."

Fleet Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Messer came up with an interception plan at the first opportunity. Because there are a large number of slow ships in the Allied fleet that can only reach 10 or 11 knots, while the warships of the European Combined Fleet are fast and can easily reach 20-25 knots. Therefore, as long as we do not take a Z-shaped anti-submarine route, it can be in place in up to 30 hours.

"No, it's not safe." Marshal Lütjens immediately rejected Messer's suggestion. "Since the enemy has paid such a high price, it is impossible for him to have no other preparations... The British submarine base is in Scotland. There must be dozens or hundreds of submarines waiting for us in the north and the Faroe Islands."

His guess was correct. Ingersoll had indeed arranged for backup, not only dispatching all available submarines, but also destroyers and torpedo boats stationed in the Faroe Islands and Scapa Flow (the UK did not have torpedo boats). , preparing to use the polar night and snowy weather as cover to sneak attack the battleships of the European Combined Fleet.

"Then let the Thunder Strike Team be dispatched," Lieutenant General Messer thought for a while and then said, "This way we can at least achieve some results with the T-93 torpedoes."

"Yes, but... what will the weather be like in the Norwegian Sea in the next 60 hours?" Marshal Lütjens asked, "It won't snow all the time, right?"

"No," Lieutenant General Messer said, "This rain and snow are caused by cold air from the north moving south. As long as the temperature in the Norwegian Sea drops to a low enough level, the rain and snow will stop. The weather forecast said , the rain and snow will continue for 24-36 hours.”

"That means it is impossible to launch an air strike today," Marshal Lütjens said, "but there will be opportunities tomorrow and the day after tomorrow."

"Air strike?" Lieutenant General Messer asked, "Sent Ju288 and Do217 from Bergen?"

"And our aviation fleet!" Marshal Lütjens paused and said, "Admiral Haye has 5-10 hours. If he is lucky, it will be enough for him to launch several air strikes."

Although it is the polar night period in the Arctic, Iceland and northern Scotland are not within the Arctic Circle after all (even most areas within the Arctic Circle also have short daylight hours), so in December, Iceland has less than 4 hours of daylight every day. , there are 5 hours of daylight in northern Scotland. Therefore, the aircraft carrier is not completely useless in the polar night period of the North Atlantic. If it is a good day, it can be used for 4-5 hours a day. Therefore, Marshal Lütjens headed north this time with Admiral Helmut Haye's aviation fleet.

…

At noon on December 12, in the dim light and snow, the commander's flag of the Allied Atlantic Combined Fleet was hoisted on the battleship USS New York. Admiral Ingersoll has now finally gotten rid of the "Soviet Chairman" and has once again become the sole commander-in-chief of the fleet.

However, he also knew that after losing two South Dakota-class battleships and a 1 million-ton transport ship, his term as commander was coming to an end.

Standing on the tall bridge of the New York, looking at the retreating Soviet-class battleships, Admiral Ingersoll sighed softly and said to the British Vice Admiral Fraser next to him: "Now the only thing left is Leave us behind...the next two and a half days will be very difficult!”

"Admiral, the next difficult time is not two and a half days, but five hours." Fraser said, "The latest weather forecast shows that the wind and snow will continue until tomorrow night. Starting on the 14th, the weather will clear up."

Weather forecasting also has combat effectiveness. The UK is still stronger than Germany in this regard. After all, the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic have been the backyard of the British Empire for the past two to three hundred years. The British Royal Navy's climate research on the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic far exceeds that of the German Navy.

Therefore, the weather forecast that Fraser now gets is far more accurate than that of Marshal Lütjens.

"In other words, we will be attacked between the Faroe Islands and northern Scotland?"

"I think so," Fraser said, "Since the snow and wind can continue for another 24 hours, we can let the troop transport fleet go ahead so that they can arrive at Scapa Flow before daylight comes on the 14th day. At least... we can get 108,000 US troops to arrive safely."

The lives of 108,000 American soldiers are too precious, so the best and fastest ships are used to transport them. Three 80,000-ton luxury cruise ships can run more than 30 knots. The rest of the troop transport ships (mostly passenger ships) They also have a speed of about 25 knots.

Therefore, they can enter Scapa Flow first, but those freewheelers transporting oil and weapons and equipment can only move forward slowly at a speed of 10 knots. We will definitely not reach the safe Scapa Flow before daylight comes on the 14th.

"Not all of the more than a hundred ships will be sunk," Ingersoll sneered, "I think there will always be some ships that arrive safely...and we in the United States still have many ships that can withstand huge losses! So we will never give up supporting Britain no matter what.”

American tycoons are so awesome. It is said that there are so many ships that they are not afraid of being attacked!

…

In the early morning of the 14th, the North Atlantic, which had been roaring in the wind and snow for several days, finally returned to calm. On a dark ocean, the aircraft carrier "Graf Zeppelin", the flagship of the European Combined Fleet's aviation fleet, was sailing slowly under the escort of two light cruisers and six destroyers.

The current location of the "Zeppelin" is less than 200 nautical miles from the island of Ireland, and 250 nautical miles from the Faroe Islands-Orkney Islands (Scapa Flow) route, which is about 460 kilometers - from the Zeppelin alone The current location of the aircraft carrier shows how difficult it is for the British mainland now. This is the backyard of the British Isles!

"Commander, the He219 taking off from the island of Ireland has arrived," Colonel Werner Hartmann, chief of staff of the aviation fleet and a former submarine force, put down the phone and said to Admiral Haye who was in the command center on the second floor of the bridge, " A total of 16 He219s came.”

These He219s are all long-range night combat models. The aircraft are equipped with radars. If cooperated with surface ships with air search radars, they can easily attack British reconnaissance aircraft trying to approach the German aircraft carrier.

"Okay," Admiral Haye looked up at the starry sky (it was early morning, but the sky was still dark), "It's a sunny day... How many hours are left until dawn?"

"At the beginning of the day around 10:30, there are still three hours." Hartman replied, "If the reconnaissance aircraft can detect the enemy's transport fleet in time, the carrier-based aircraft can be released in two hours."

Haye's air fleet now has 5 aircraft carriers, namely Zeppelin, Strasser (Zeppelin class), Europa, Bremen and Alsace. Among them, the Zeppelin and the Strasser are both large fleet aircraft carriers that can carry 92 fighters when operating in the North Atlantic - because the Fw-190T, Fokker Zero D and Fokker 100 all use folding wings , so the number of aircraft carried has increased, and the number of carrier-based aircraft on the Europa, Bremen and Alsace has also increased to 66 due to the new models.

The five aircraft carriers now carry a total of 382 aircraft, including 34 reserve aircraft and 348 regular aircraft. The 348 commonly used aircraft are divided into 29 squadrons. There are 10 squadrons equipped with the Fokker Zero D carrier-based fighter, 7 squadrons equipped with the Fw-190T carrier-based fighter-bomber, and the Fokker 100 carrier-based bomber. The squadron is 11.

This kind of carrier-based aircraft formation method of low-altitude Zero + medium-high-altitude combat bombers + fast dive bombers cannot be placed in the Pacific Ocean. Because the positioning of the Fw-190T is a bit strange, it is a carrier-based + mid-high altitude + combat bomber multi-purpose aircraft, but its main focus is still mid-high altitude rather than the mid-low altitude that other carrier-based fighters are good at.

But for the European Combined Fleet in the Atlantic Ocean, the Fw-190T is an indispensable fighter, because its main task is not to attack ships and direct air superiority, but to escort the Ju288 with a large range. It does not need to defeat the opponent's carrier-based fighters at medium and low altitudes, as long as it can defeat them at an altitude of 10,000 meters and clear the offensive interference for the Ju288.

Therefore, the main attack method of the European Combined Fleet's carrier-based aircraft force is now a combined carrier-based + shore-based attack, rather than a separate attack by carrier-based aircraft.

Therefore, whether Helmut Haye's aviation fleet can release carrier-based aircraft in time depends on when the 1st German Naval Aviation Division based in Bergen can send out Ju288 long-range bombers - due to the Ju288's flight time It is super long, so the first one to take off and arrive near the enemy ship formation is usually the Ju288. Normally, the Fw-190T will not take off until the Ju288 arrives.

"Commander, telegram from Bergen headquarters," the communications officer on board the Zeppelin reported to Admiral Haye at 8:35 on the morning of the 14th, "the reconnaissance aircraft has discovered the enemy ship formation, and the location is F3 sea area. 170 nautical miles from Onik Islands.”

"When will Ju288 take off?" Haye asked.

"It's taking off. The formation will be completed in 30 minutes and it will arrive over the target formation at about 10:30." The communications officer replied, "The fleet will consist of 60 Ju288s, 48 ​​P.108s and 36 He219s."