"Two Hindenburg class and two Zeppelin class depart from Wilhelmshaven. There are two other Barbarossa class and three large aircraft carriers converted from cruise ships are being parked in Bergen..."

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill frowned while smoking a cigar is is issuing a cigar isolate and Sir Dudley Pound, the chief of the Imperial General Staff and chairman of the Chief of Staff Committee.

Both jazz were frowning because the news that followed was too bad. In the Middle East and East Africa, the Italian-Germany Fleet, with three old battleships and the USS Sedlitz aircraft carrier and the USS Sedlitz aircraft carrier as the core, won a decisive victory in the Red Sea-Gulf of Aden battlefield, repelled the British Eastern fleet commanded by Lieutenant General Phillips, and captured the Port of Aden and Socotra Island. At the same time, the German Middle East Army commanded by General Rommel also attacked along the Persian Gulf and has now captured Ras Khaimah in the Strait of Hormuz.

Now Britain's base in the Middle East is only Muscat in the Gulf of Oman. As long as the Germans seize it, the sea transportation channel from the Persian Gulf to Europe will be fully opened. At that time, the oil produced in Persian Huzestan Province will be continuously transported to Europe and injected into the German war machines.

Moreover, even if Muscat can be temporarily defended, Germany will not be too short of oil now. According to the information detected by MI6, Europeans have not only repaired the oil fields in the Sinai Peninsula and Kirkuk, Iraq, but also launched many new oil fields. It is so attractive that oil companies in Europe, except the United Kingdom, have broken their heads and joined the oil development industry in the Sinai Peninsula, Syria, Iraq and Persia. Therefore, the restoration and development of oil fields in the Middle East are progressing very smoothly!

But these are not the worst. The worst news comes from the Far East, which was highly anticipated by the British government, and fell in February 1942! 130,000 British troops surrendered to the Japanese Army, which was far less than theirs, in the besieged fortress, which performed the most shameful scene in the history of the British Empire.

After losing the Singapore Fortress, the Strait of Malacca has been opened by the Japanese. After the German-Italy Combined Fleet captured Socotra Island, it opened the door to the Indian Ocean. In other words, the maritime transportation line between Japan and Germany has been opened!

Today, the Hindenburg-class battleships and the Zeppelin-class aircraft carriers that had been worried for several months finally showed signs of being dispatched. If this fleet was allowed to break into the Atlantic Ocean, the German, Italian, Faspiscopter joint fleet in Gibraltar met, then the British Empire would really have reached its most dangerous moment.

Although Churchill looked fearless and heroic at the cabinet meeting, it was actually a dead pig that was not afraid of boiling water. At that time, even if the United States and the Soviet Union came to save each other, the British Empire would be a dead pig. After the World War, we would wait to be slaughtered and divided!

If the British Empire did not want to be a dead pig, the British Royal Navy would have to block the two Hindenburg-class battleships, two Barbarossa-class battleships and five aircraft carriers that wanted to break into the Atlantic Ocean.

Churchill was silent for a moment and suddenly asked: "Do we still want to watch the German fleet drive through the Denmark Strait like in December last year?"

In December last year, three battleships including Bismarck, Tirpitz, Gneisenno, as well as two aircraft carriers including Seedlitz and Seckert broke through the Denmark Strait and entered the Atlantic Ocean. At that time, due to the Arctic night period, the climate on the North Atlantic was harsh and unsuitable for aircraft carriers and aircraft operations. Therefore, the British Royal Navy did nothing and did not send troops to intercept the German fleet.

But now the vernal equinox has passed, the weather on the North Atlantic is beginning to improve, and the day is getting longer, which is the time for aircraft carriers to attack.

"Prime Minister, this time we cannot let the German fleet pass through the Denmark Strait!" said Sir Dudley Pound, "Once they meet with the German, Italian and Faspis fleets currently in Gibraltar, they will form a powerful European joint fleet, and then they will become overlords in the Atlantic!"

The German, Italian, and Faspis fleets gathered in Gibraltar now far exceed the British Royal Navy in terms of the number and quality of battleships, and are enough to dominate the Atlantic Ocean. However, there is no aircraft carrier in Gibraltar now, so the battleships gathered there can only operate under the cover of land-based aviation forces and cannot carry out ocean-going operations.

This is also the reason why the British local fleet can barely gain certain sea power in the Atlantic Ocean. But if five German aircraft carriers are allowed to break through the Denmark Strait and arrive in Gibraltar, the European Combined Fleet will defeat the British local fleet without any effort.

"Can you win?" Churchill looked at Sir Dudley Pound with uncertainty.

"There's a chance!" Dudley Pound dared not make a promise. He carefully used the words, "Our battleship troops are definitely not opponents. The five Queen Elizabeth-class and one Nelson-class are too slow to be useful. The remaining few King George V's main guns are only 14-inch, and they are not opponents of the two Hindenburg-classes at all. But we now have four powerful fleet aircraft carriers, including the Glory, Victory, Terror and Inconvenience. In addition, the reconstruction of the Aquitania and Berongaria (converted into aircraft carriers) has also been completed, so we now have 6 available aircraft carriers!"

Due to the loss of the "Brave", "Furious" and "Glory" in the Scapa Bay air strike on September 3, 1939, the construction speed of British aircraft carriers accelerated. By March 1942, not only were the four "Glory" class fleet aircraft carriers already completed, but two "Glory" class enhanced versions of "Glory" and "Undevour" were about to be launched.

Moreover, in order to respond, the British also began to use large cruise ships to convert aircraft carriers. The 45,000-ton Aquitania and the 56,000-ton Berongaria (which was actually the Emperor whom Germany compensated the United Kingdom after World War I) have now been transformed into aircraft carriers, and the power system has been improved so that they can keep up with the fleet that sails quickly. There are also four larger "Dreadnought" class aircraft carriers, which are planned to start construction in 1942.

Therefore, there are now as many as 6 aircraft carriers in the hands of the local fleet that can be used to fight the aircraft carrier, which can indeed be fought by the fleet led by General Gunther Lütjens.

However, the six British aircraft carriers in the UK are loaded with few carrier-based aircraft. The four "Glorious" class "Glorious" and "Victory" have 36 carrier-based aircraft on each of the two ships, the "Qiuwei" and "Indomitable" have 48 carrier-based aircraft on each of the "Aquitania" and the 56,000-ton carrier-based aircraft on each of the six aircraft carriers. There are only 276 carrier-based aircraft on each of the six aircraft carriers.

The reason why these six aircraft carriers have so few carrier-based aircraft is not only because the hangar area of ​​these aircraft carriers is not large enough, but also because the British carrier-based aircraft troops have often been wiped out in the wars over the past two years. Therefore, the UK now lacks excellent carrier-based aircraft pilots, and it is not easy to be able to collect 276 commonly used carrier-based aircraft.

"And we have replaced all carrier-based aircraft," Dudley Pound continued. "The carrier-based fighter jets have been replaced with 4, and the carrier-based bombers and torpedo bombers have been replaced with SBDs and TBDs. This greatly improves the combat effectiveness of the carrier-based aircraft troops."

Replacing the British biplane with SBD and TBD can certainly improve combat effectiveness. The performance of the Sea Spitfire is actually better than that of the 4, but because the UK has lost too many elite pilots, there are too few pilots who can safely take off and land on aircraft carriers with liquid-cooled engines, so the Sea Spitfire always falls the deck, and in the end the Royal Navy simply replaces them with a safer 4.

"It's great!" Churchill nodded in satisfaction and said in a serious tone, "I look forward to the Royal Navy bringing a great victory to Britain... because our empire needs a victory now."

...

The flag of the commander of the British local fleet flew high on the battleship "King of George V". Sir Cunningham, who was only recalled from India in January 1941, immediately moved the flagship from the old and slow battleship "Nelson" to the "King of George V" with a maximum speed of 29 knots as soon as he took over the local fleet.

This change is not because Sir Cunningham realized the importance of speed in naval combat, but because Sir Cunningham began to regard aircraft carriers as the core of the British Royal Navy.

The Nelson, which has a maximum speed of only knots, cannot keep up with the four "Glory" class aircraft carriers that can run 30.5 knots. The "King George V" that can run 29 knots can barely keep up with these four fast aircraft carriers. Therefore, the "King George V" can be used as a fleet flagship with an aircraft carrier as the core.

"The German aircraft carrier has been dispatched!"

In the commander's office of the "King George V", Cunningham said to his three deputy, Major General Lister, Chief of Staff of the Fleet, Lieutenant General Somerville, Commander of the Local Fleet Aircraft Carrier Force, and Lieutenant General Whitworth, Commander of the Local Fleet Battleships, Lieutenant General Whitworth, Commander of the Local Fleet Battleships: "There may be five aircraft carriers! If they are allowed to join the fleets of the Atlantic and Gibraltar, then our local fleet can do the next thing to do is to fight the English Channel. With the current strength of the battleships of the two sides, there is almost no chance of winning in the Battle of the English Channel. Therefore, we must fight hard within the next few days to more than ten days!" (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!