On the night of June 7, 1941, on the Celtic Sea south of Ireland, the huge British Royal Navy fleet was sailing westward at a height of nearly 25 knots along the coastline of the southern Ireland. [??.. The entire fleet implemented strict light control, without any light, and could only vaguely see huge hulls like mountains, one after another, walking through the waves through the waves under the hazy moonlight.

Inside the commander's tower of the flagship "King George V", Lieutenant General Somerville took out a beautifully crafted pocket watch and looked at the time, then looked at the thick black cloth that covered the window of the commander's tower.

"It should be all dark outside now, right?" asked Lieutenant General Somerville.

"Lieutenant General, it's completely dark." Colonel Lynch, the captain of King George V, replied.

"Did the radar and sonar appear?"

"Nothing was seen," Colonel Lynch said, "but this area is very active in waters for German submarines and reconnaissance aircraft."

Lieutenant General Somerville nodded and ordered: "Split the troops now!"

The fleet is about to divide its troops! This is part of the combat plan formulated by Admiral John Coloning Tovey, commander of the British local fleet.

Because Admiral Tovey knew very well that the German submarines and reconnaissance planes were wandering around the doorstep of the British Royal Navy, it was impossible for the fleet and the fleet to attack without realizing it, but it was almost certain to be discovered! So Lieutenant General Tovey could only use some additional means to confuse the German Navy.

Letting the fleet venture south from the Strait of St. George is part of Tovey's plan to confuse the enemy, and now the fleet's division is also to confuse the Germans.

According to the plan, a fleet with Somerville's flagship "King George V" and four aircraft carriers will bypass Ireland and sail northward, and will run at least 25 o nautical miles in one night. By tomorrow morning, the distance between the fleet and Brest Port will exceed 7 o kilometers. As long as it is not revealed at night, the probability of being discovered by the enemy during the day will not be too high. In this way, the fleet can ambush the designated sea areas without knowing it.

The part of the fleet includes two battlecruisers, "Reputation" and "Counterattack", two troops transport ships (empty) modified from luxury cruise ships (empty) and several large oil tankers, as well as dozens of lighter ships, which will form the e-fleet.

The e fleet will be commanded by Lieutenant General Phillips and will swagger to the southwest, that is, the Yar Islands. However, no matter how much the e fleet is added, it is impossible to rush out of the patrol circle of German aircraft in the Port of Brest before dawn tomorrow.

Therefore, it is a high probability that the e-fleet will be revealed! At that time, the Germans will most likely mistake the e-fleet for the British fleet leaving the St. George's Strait. Once the e-fleet is discovered by the Germans, the mission will be completed. According to the plan, the formation will be disbanded immediately and fled in scattered ways to reduce the losses caused by bombing by German aircraft. As long as the "Reputation" and "Counterattack" are not sunk and the loss of some medium and light ships is still acceptable for the British Royal Navy.

After German aircraft bombed the British ships that disbanded the formation, the highest command of the German Navy was likely to believe that the British aircraft carrier would not pose a threat for the time being, so that the fleet's ambush would be very successful.

It has to be said that the British Royal Navy is an old maritime overlord who has dominated the sea for hundreds of years. I don’t know how much better than the German Navy at the level of maritime battle command and organization. Now it is just a plan that a few naval generals have taken care of, and it looks more advanced than the plan carefully planned by the German Navy headquarters for several months.

If it weren't for the revolutionary change of "using air to control the sea" or the decisive battle of the surface fleet, even if the current German Navy is twice as powerful as the British Royal Navy, it may not be sure of winning.

But there is no "if" on the battlefield. The ocean is increasingly dominated by aircraft. Not only during the day, but even at night under the darkness, aircraft can still use radar to search the sea surface.

Shortly after the division of the British Royal Navy's e-Fleet and fleet, an F-2oo long-range reconnaissance aircraft that took off from Brest 2 Airport showed the e-Fleet that was sailing omni-southwest.

"Marson, we have found the main force of the British local fleet heading south. Near Ireland Island, the coordinates are 5o.4 degrees north latitude and 9.2 degrees west longitude. The course is southwest."

At the Naval Headquarters of Port Keel, Marshal Redell, who was yawning and staying up late, heard the news, and all his sleepiness disappeared without a trace.

"Did you see a submarine or an aircraft? Do you know how many ships there are?" Redel suddenly jumped up from the chair he was sitting on, and walked towards the chart platform in the combat command center, while asking the staff who informed him of the news.

"It was found in the F-2oo, and from the radar, there were at least a ship."

"At least?" Radell knew that airborne radar was something more unreliable than carrier-based radars, and often had large errors. So "" this number just indicates that this F-2oo has a large number of unidentified fleets.

Hans Yeshunnek and Otto Schnewind had been talking in a low voice next to the chart table for a while. Seeing Redel coming, Schnewind said: "Marteor, you can basically confirm that they are the main force of the British local fleet. They should be in the direction of Gibraltar."

Redell nodded, as if he agreed with Schnewind's analysis, "This fleet is to reinforce Gibraltar, so the fleet heading north is to reinforce Shetland."

"Hans, what do you think?" Then Redel sought Yeshunnek's opinion.

"Marson, I have no opinion." Yeshunnek shook his head and said. His "command art" is simple. If you don't think about such a complicated matter, you will bomb the enemy ships and shoot down the enemy planes. That's it!

Yeshunnek said: "Since the enemy's fleet is revealed, give orders to Brest's 2nd Aviation Division and let them attack!"

The Aviation Division is a superior organization of the Aviation Regiment. An Aviation Division usually consists of 3-5 aviation regiments, plus several independent aviation brigades (usually reconnaissance aircraft brigades). The 2nd German Naval Aviation Division deployed in Brest is an aviation division with a 4th regiment. It includes 2 combat aviation regiments (one brigade of Fox Zero and BF-11o night fighter jets, and another training regiment), 2 bombing aviation regiments (one of which comes from the Italian Air Force) and 4 reconnaissance aircraft brigades (two brigades of F-2oo and He-115). It is very powerful.

Among them, the 3rd HNA Bombing Aviation Regiment and the 8th Italian Air Force Bombing Aviation Regiment. There are 24o aircraft that can be used for combat under the two bombing aviation regiments, with ju88 and s.m.79 each accounting for half.

Hessman's former boss, Adolf Garland, is now the colonel commander of the 2nd Aviation Division. The F-2oo, which appears in the British Royal Navy's E-Fleet, belongs to the 2nd Aviation Division. Before Marshal Redell ordered the 2nd Aviation Division to attack, Colonel Garland had already issued the order to "attack at 3 am tomorrow." As the commander of the front-line Aviation Division, he of course had such authority.

So when the Navy Headquarters' order arrived, Garland had already summoned all officers from squadron leaders (including squadron leaders) to arrange an attack mission in the early morning of the next day in the division's combat command center.

"Each squadron must prepare all preparations before the attack before 3 o'clock!" Garland said, "The first aircraft at each airport will take off at 3 a.m. tomorrow, and the aircraft will be guided to take off by searchlights at night. At 4 a.m., all aircraft participating in the first assault wave must take off."

Garland took a breath, narrowed his eyes, and looked at the captain and squadron below him. They were all eager to try, and two-thirds of them had the blue Max medal on their necklines!

Since the Battle of Poland, the Luftwaffe and Navy Air Force have had a great advantage in the exchange ratio, so the consumption of pilots is very slow, and there are more and more old birds with superb skills and rich experience, and of course there are more and more ace pilots.

In contrast, since the UK has always been at a big disadvantage in pilot exchange ratio, the average survival time of pilots is very short. Therefore, huge personnel losses can only be compensated by shortening the pilot training time. The consequences are that the British front-line pilots' skills are getting worse and worse, and it becomes easier to shoot them down. The morale of the German front-line pilots is naturally increasing day by day.
Chapter completed!