"Boom, boom, boom"

The roar of the 380th cannon passed through dozens of kilometers of sea surface and reached the bridge of the "Hood", and it became a little dull, as if thunder was rolling in the horizon.

At this time, Lieutenant General Lancelot Holland walked to the side of the bridge, and looked at the orange-red flames that were constantly shining in the darkness in the distance, and his brows furrowed. He whispered to Lieutenant Colonel Thomasen beside him: "The German fleet should be located in the southeast of Meinland Island. Due to the obstruction of the Shetland Islands, their radar may not be able to detect us. So we should go around to the northeast of the Shetland Islands and let them discover us."

"Lieutenant General, do you want to adjust your formation?" asked Lieutenant Colonel Thomason. "We are likely to have fire with the enemy fleet, and we should put the Prince of Wales, which has strong armor, in front of us, open the way."

The "Prince of Wales" is the No. 2 ship of the "King George V" class, which was just completed in March 1941. The battleships of this class attach great importance to defense. The main armor belt on the side of the side penetrates the length of the waterline 60, and has 15-inch carburized steel armor. It covers the front and rear ammunition depots, boiler compartments, and cabin areas. At a normal combat distance of 10,000 meters, it can withstand Germany's 380 armor-piercing bombs and the British Royal Navy's own 15-inch armor-piercing bombs.

However, the "King George V" class is a "Treaty Battleship" with limited tonnage. While it has solid and heavy armor, it has to reduce its firepower and power system to save valuable tonnage. Its design maximum speed is 29 knots, which is consistent with the "Hood" which has added a lot of tonnage after the major reform, and is slower than all German battleships. However, what makes the commanders of the Royal Navy feel the most helpless is the main gun system of the "King George V" class. A super battleship with a standard displacement of more than 35,000 tons has only 10 14-inch main guns.

"No." Lieutenant General Lancelot Holland thought for a while, shook his head and said, "Let the Hood be in front. The Prince of Wales' firepower is too weak to deal with Bismarck-class armor."

The "Hood" was in front, and the "Prince of Wales" was in the rear, and the formation of the "Prince of Wales" was considered the main cause of the disaster in the post-war summary. However, for Lieutenant General Holland at this time, there was no good choice. The "Hood" was not strong enough, and the "Prince of Wales" lacked firepower, so it was not appropriate for anyone to take the lead.

However, the British did not know the reason for the tragedy of the Hood in this time and space until the end of the war. The reason why the Hood and the fleet really defeated was a Vienna-class fast cruiser-class Riga, which was anchored close to the island of Antes, the northern end of the Shetland Islands. This is a light cruiser with a standard displacement of 5,700 tons. It has two functions in the German Navy, one is the leader of the destroyer formation, and the other is the reconnaissance cruiser, acting as the eyes and ears of the main fleet.

In order to better serve as a reconnaissance mission, the "Vienna" class fast cruiser was equipped with a Type 22 radar. The average distance to sea detection is 2,530 nautical miles. It is not that far on the light cruiser, about 22 nautical miles, and the positioning accuracy error is about 300 meters at 25,000 meters. This radar is currently the most advanced air-to-sea search radar in Germany. It is the latest model of radar developed based on the 22 radar in the late stage of the Mediterranean Battle, referring to the seized British radar system and resonant magnetron.

Resonant magnetrons are actually electronic tube systems that can emit high-energy radio waves, thereby greatly increasing the power of the radar. This thing is of course the highest secret in the UK. Canaris's Central Security Bureau racked its brains and did not steal it from the British. However, Britain lost too many radar systems in the Mediterranean Battle. Some were radars on warships and aircraft, some were radars from ground radar stations, and some were simply thrown in the warehouse, including many intact resonant magnetrons. With these resonant magnetrons for reverse engineering, Germany's Lorentz company quickly created a copycat product. Although it was not as easy to use as the original, it was enough to greatly improve the performance of the 22 radar.

At 11 pm on June 10, when the British Royal Navy fleet appeared on the sea 20 nautical miles northeast of Antes Island, a lighthouse lurking near Antes Island, the "Riga" fast cruiser, which had been occupied by the German Marines, detected them with radar.

"Admiral, Riga discovered a British fleet with more than 10 ships, located 20 nautical miles northeast of Antes Island."

Admiral Gunther Lütjens, who was commanding the fleet to shell out British positions and airports on Maynland Island, immediately took his eyes off the island where the fireballs were constantly raised, and looked at Colonel Lindman, the captain of the Bismarck and chief of staff of the First High Seas Fleet.

"Admiral, it is likely that he is the main force of the British local fleet!" said Colonel Linderman.

Lindeman didn't care much about the data of "10 ships", because the search radar in this era has a huge error, so I can only refer to it.

"It's possible!" Admiral Gunther Lütjens nodded and frowned, "but we can't just escape in shame. If the Nelson is not there, we can still fight the enemy."

The Nelson is not only strongly armored, but also has a 16-inch main gun, which poses great threat to the Bismarck and the Tirpitz.

"Admiral, we are going to fight the enemy?"

"Not a decisive battle right away," said Admiral Gunther Lütjens. "We need to test the power to the Major General Benedict Captain Gneiseno, Prince Eugen, Lüzov, Berlin, Hamburg, Vienna, Prague, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20, and stay here to exchange fire with the British, and test their reality."

General Lütjens decided to divide his troops, with the "Gneisenno" with a maximum speed of 33 knots and two heavy cruisers with a maximum speed of 32.5 knots, Prince Eugen and Luzov as the main force, plus four class and class cruisers with a fast speed, as well as eight destroyers, forming a "first guerrilla formation" to exchange fire with the British.

If the enemy is really the main force of the British local fleet, then the "First Guerrilla Formation" will escape with high speed. If the enemy is not the main force of the British local fleet, then the "First Guerrilla Formation" will try to seduce the opponent to the muzzle of the main force of the First High Seas Fleet.

"Admiral, where are we going?" Lindman asked again.

"We bypassed the Shetland Islands and went to ambush near Antes Island." Admiral Lütjens said, "Drifters and eight minecraft ships have searched there during the day, and no British minefields have been found, we can pass through."

The way around the west of the Shetland Islands is of course to avoid being blocked by the radar of the British fleet, and the British radar is of course "invisible". Moreover, although the current British radar is slightly better than German radar, there is no way to distinguish battleships and heavy cruisers in the dark.

If the one who came tonight was really the main force of the British local fleet, although the Gneiseno and the two heavy cruisers were likely to escape with high speed, they still needed to take some risks. If they were hit by the vital points just when the fire was just started, it would be awful. However, the German "First Guerrilla Formation" responsible for temptation tonight encountered the British fleet responsible for seducing the enemy.

Around 0:45 am on June 11, the radars of the British and German fleets, both of whom were a little weak, discovered each other's positions.

"The enemy fleet was discovered, with 15 ships, with a distance of 30,000 meters"

On the Hood, the radar officer loudly reported the latest discovery.

"15 ships?" Lieutenant General Lancelot Holland and Lieutenant Colonel Thomason looked at each other.

"The radar is incorrect," said Lieutenant Colonel Thomason.

"Maybe not all enemy ships!" Lieutenant General Holland frowned.

Previously, the Royal Air Force Coast Air Force aircraft had bombed the German fleet. At that time, 3,040 warships were discovered, and now only half of them appeared.

"So where is the rest?"

Lieutenant General Holland shook his head, "No matter if you have 15 ships, just 15 ships. Just turn left when you get close to 000 meters, then open fire, keep the distance above 13,000 meters, and after five minutes of fire exchange, we turn north." He paused and said, "Give power to the Nelson and let the fleet go south as soon as possible to meet us."

"Sir, there seem to be only 10 enemy ships."

At the same time, on the "Gneisenno", Major General Erich Bey also received a report from the radar officer.

"Only 10 ships?" Major General Bei breathed a sigh of relief, "It's great! Generate power to the Bismarck and tell the commander that what we are facing is not the main force of the British local fleet."

"Major General, do we want to test the other party's reality?" asked the first mate of Gnaiseno at this time.
Chapter completed!