When the orange sunset shone on the wide deck of the USS Germany battleship, traffic boats followed by one by one, and the well-dressed naval generals boarded the battleship on a crane, and then walked into the inner cabin of the battleship with serious expressions.

In the senior officers' meeting room of this super battleship, Admiral Paul Bernke, the acting commander of the German High Seas Fleet, stood in front of the round porthole with his back, staring at the sparkling sea with a melancholy expression. The straight-line distance from the Belmalit Naval Base in northern Ireland to Texel Island is 2,400 kilometers. If you go at a cruise speed of about 18 knots, you can reach it in three days and three nights. It has been a day and a half since the US and British fleets raided the Azores. Bernke and his flagship are on the vast ocean between Europe and the Azores. The battle reports from the front and the intelligence coming from the rear are increasing. Not only does this make Bernke feel confident, but he feels more anxious about the prospects of the battle. The two Earls of Tirpitz

Class battlecruisers are regarded as the pinnacle of the German shipbuilding industry in the late 1920s. They are also highly anticipated naval combat weapons as German-class battleships. The reason why the German General Staff and Navy Staff deployed them in the Azores was to use their rapid maneuverability to restrain the enemy when the strong enemy suddenly launched an attack and gain enough time for the assembly and mobilization of the main force of the high seas fleet. Although William August, the royal general of the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg, understood the combat intention of maritime guerrillas, failed to protect these two super battle patrols in the battle. The next day of the battle, the "Earl of Tirpitz" was lost. The injured "Prince Heinrich" was unable to support it. This made the high seas fleet cut off its arm before fighting, and then the tactical space was greatly restricted.

Since the tragedy has happened, it will be useless to hold the responsibility accountable. What Bernke has to do now is to strive for the advantageous situation as possible before fighting with the main American and British fleets. Without two Earl Tirpitz class, the German Navy still has 12 first-class main battleships, 10 old-fashioned main battleships and 10 aircraft carriers. If these forces can be concentrated, even if they fight head-on with the US and British fleets, there will still be a certain chance of winning. However, the facts are not as expected. The two Bavarian-class battleships and most old-fashioned dreadnoughts are used to block the British mainland and support the attack of landing forces.

The Allied class aircraft carrier was sent to escort the ships to reinforce the Azores. The rest was the force that Bernke could put into the battlefield. Moreover, they had not yet gathered all of them at this time. The three Markensen-class battlecruisers and two Bavarian-class battleships under the admiral were still on their way. In other words, the main battleships that Bernke could see now were only five German-class battleships, three Zeppelin-class aircraft carriers and two Ulster-class aircraft carriers of the Irish Navy. Even if the combat situation in the Azores was urgent, he had to wait patiently while walking.

There was no tea or ashtray on the oval table in the conference room of the senior officers, but a huge miniature sand table was placed in the center, which simulated the natural landform of the Azores and surrounding waters. The exquisite ship model was only the size of a fingernail, which directly reflected the situation of both sides in war. Major General Rolf Lars, Chief of Staff of the High Seas Fleet (there were erroneous in the previous chapters, and the German Atlantic Squadron Chief of Staff Bem was written as Lars. All have been corrected and apologized) stood at the conference table, staring at the sand table with his eyes straight at it, as if he was thinking about something very seriously.

The footsteps coming from the cabin passage were getting closer and closer. Bernke and Rawls still maintained their respective positions. Then, the generals and their adjutants called up took their seats. Among these people, the oldest was General Eberhardt Schermitt, who was the commander of the 1st aircraft carrier formation of the High Seas Fleet, directly commanding three Zeppelin-class aircraft carriers. The two Ulster-class aircraft carriers of the Irish Navy are currently under his control. The youngest is Christian August, another prince of the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg. He is 42 years old and is a major general of the army. He is another highly-watched royal talent. He is now the commander of the 1st destroyer detachment, in charge of the 20 German destroyers accompanying him and the temporary Irish destroyers.

There were three other naval generals present, namely Lieutenant General Hermann Paul, Commander of the 1st Battleship Detachment, Lieutenant General Alfred Zalvehitel, Commander of the Reconnaissance Detachment, and Rear Admiral Rost Setwick, Commander of the Irish Task Force. This Irish general with half-German descent, served in the German Navy for twelve years, and then became Irish nationality, gradually growing from a low-level officer to a fleet-level commander, familiar with every battleship under his command and every position on the battleship, and passed the strict carrier-based aircraft flight course, and was able to be an all-round naval commander.

After everyone arrived, Bainke turned around and walked slowly to his position. His face returned to calm, but he could not hide the gloom in his eyes: "Thank you all, I have been so hard that I have summoned everyone to come today to use everyone's wisdom to discuss the next combat strategy. Everyone also knows that our Atlantic Squadron was accidentally hit this morning, and the previous first combat plan was not possible, and I personally think that the second combat plan was difficult to cope with the current situation, so it is very necessary to formulate a new combat plan based on the current actual situation."

After Bainke sat down, Lars took a slender guide stick and explained on the sand table: "As you know, the enemy launched a landing in the north of Texel before dawn today. Judging from the multiple battle reports we received, the enemy launched an attack at any cost in order to gain a strategic foothold before we arrived in the Azores. However, they did not choose several other islands with relatively weak defenses as breakthroughs, but directly attacked Texel, which had the strongest strength and fortifications in the garrison.

To my surprise, thinking in turn shows that the enemy's determination and preparation are so strong, and the troops they invested are stronger than we expected. Now, we have to make the worst plan, that is, when our fleet arrives in the Azores, the enemy's landing forces have approached Hero Port and established several field airports on the island. In this way, we will confront the enemy's main fleet in a basically equal situation, and our main ships are only half of the opponent's."

Speaking of this, Lars looked around everyone. Regardless of whether they were old or young, they were calm or cautious, without a pair of eyes, the soldiers' perseverance and the sense of honor rooted in their hearts were the greatest motivation for them to face difficulties.

After a pause, Lars continued: "About forty minutes ago, we got good news, one that could be described as 'wonderful'. The bomber taken off the 'Emperor Karl' and 'Ottoman Sultan' successfully raided the enemy aircraft carrier formation, sinking one large aircraft carrier, and injuring one large and medium aircraft carriers, which means that the aviation power of the enemy fleet has been greatly weakened. Including the 'Emperor' and 'Sultan', we will use seven aircraft carriers to deal with the remaining aircraft carriers of the enemy, and each of our aircraft carriers is fully loaded, and the enemy has lost a lot of aircraft and pilots in the battle. This is our biggest advantage at present!"

Bainke continued: "Because of this, our General Lars proposed a plan that surprised me very much with our existing ships to the Azores at full speed, and took the initiative to launch an attack before the enemy attacked Texel, and used the advantages of the aviation force to defeat the enemy in one fell swoop. I thought about it for a long time and felt that this plan was too risky. You must know that our German class has no speed advantage in front of the enemy's battlecruisers. Once dragged by the enemy's battlecruisers and carrier-based aircraft, and was forced to engage in head-on battleships with the enemy's battleships, how can the five German class fight against the enemy's ten super battleships?"

This statement seems to have completely rejected Lars' plan, but if that is the case, there is no need to mention it at such a meeting.

"The cornerstone of this plan is that dive bombers and torpedo bombers are more destructive to large warships than most people expected." Lars gave his deputy a look, and the officer quickly sent a handwritten hand-painted information to everyone present.

Give the generals and their right-hand assistants two minutes to view the information. Lars explained: "This is our own analysis chart, which compiles the sea and air combat data over the past 24 hours. Some numbers may have errors, but the main body is still relatively reliable... For every 12 dive bombers we deploy, 7-8 can complete bomb drops, at least 2 hit the target or cause near-loss damage; for every 12 torpedo bombers we deploy, 3-5 can enter the effective attack position, and if we are lucky, one torpedo can hit the target. We used 5 aerial armor-piercing bombs and 2 aerial torpedoes to make a British Admiral-class battlecruiser lose its big deal.

Some of the combat power has created sufficient conditions for the Earl of Tirpitz to sink it, and the aircraft required can be provided by one Zeppelin-class aircraft carrier. In this way, even if it is not smooth, the attack of five aircraft carriers can damage at least two enemy main battleships. Before the enemy battle patrol formation uses its speed to approach, we should have the opportunity to attack four to five carrier-based aircraft. So how much combat power can the enemy battle patrol that can rush into our sight? It solves the enemy's fast battle cruisers, and uses the same means to deal with the remaining battleships, and we can also get support from the Azores land-based aviation troops."
Chapter completed!