.The Third Reich under Ten Thousand Characters  Volume 5: Battle of Britain   Chapter 2: German navy soldiers!

"Frick reported that the Fourth Team has been reorganized and is currently in case of submerged formations advancing towards the Thames estuary."

The weather also makes the communication more difficult. There are strict regulations for naval combat communication. For the sake of secret, each formation decides to inform each other of its location every 15 minutes. All information is transferred to the main fleet, and Erich Redel decides whether to convey it to other formations. If necessary, the commanders of each formation can cancel silence, referring to fighting against the enemy.

This is the first time the German Navy has carried out a large-scale naval battle. Before the operation, every commander has clearly known the purpose of the operation. Knowing and execution are two different things. They have no combat experience in bad weather, so each commander seems very cautious. Care is nothing wrong in itself, but the consequences of excessive caution make the actions between the formations look a little timid.

Take Frick as a simple example. He planned for 7 minutes just to pick out high-speed warships. A lot of things can happen in military operations, and any small thing is very likely to affect the development of the situation.

Frick's formation was very short of high-speed battleships. He thought about it and repeatedly organized the only two Schonhorst battlecruisers into the vanguard fleet. In order to strengthen anti-submarine capabilities, four of the six z17-level destroyers were placed into the vanguard fleet sequence under the command of Salva.

Of course, these are not enough for the forward fleet to be the enemy's meal. Although the weather is very bad now, it is difficult to guarantee that the weather will suddenly improve. Frick was so sad that he placed two K-class light cruisers in the forward fleet that had just been in service this year into the combat formation of the forward fleet.

After the forefather fleet, with two Schonhorst-class battlecruisers as the main force, left the main formation and headed towards the Thames estuary, Frick immediately ordered the main formation to change its formation and form a T-shaped formation, and the speed of the formation also dropped to 20 knots.

The main guns of the two Hindenburg-class battleships also began to turn. The millimeter main guns on the h39 greatly affected the appearance of the entire battleship, causing the length of the entire battleship to be lengthened. In order to increase its own air defense capabilities, the ship's position was added with a total of 1 mm heavy anti-aircraft guns and a millimeter rapid-fire guns and millimeter machine guns in the left and right directions. The bow and stern of the ship near the ship's position were designed with a 1 mm gun (secondary gun).

The Hindenburg-class battleship is known as the future of the German Navy's surface warships. The construction plan for this class of battleships has been submitted since the 1930s. Later, due to sufficient funds to plan to build six ships, there are currently two Hindenburg-class battleships in service. The construction plan of the class battleships was postponed after the Hindenburg-class battleships, the Hindenburg-class battleships, joined the service of the Hindenburg-class battleships, was postponed. The main reason was that the Navy Bureau believed that the models were no longer suitable for the current naval warfare needs, and the Navy Bureau hoped to improve the design. It launched four Hindenburg-class battleships across generations in one fell swoop. It is expected that the two can be completed in 1942, and the remaining two can also be put into service in the end of 1943 and early 1944.

At present, the number of crew members of the entire Hindenburg class is the largest number of crew members in wartime. Each team has different names. The 14th team is the main and secondary artillery units, and the 5th and 6th teams operate anti-aircraft artillery. The 7th team is composed of cooks, cobblers and other living support personnel. The 8th team is an ordnance personnel. The squad includes signal soldiers, radio operators and other teams are mechanical personnel.

In the original construction plan, the Hindenburg class did not design a carrier-based cabin. This was to save space and add a secondary gun seat. Later, this plan was considered wrong, so the design of two 155mm secondary guns was abolished and the space of the carrier-based cabin (catapult). It turns out that no matter how powerful the battleship without a carrier-based aircraft is, it cannot hit the target. No matter how powerful the firepower is, it is an assumption of objective theory.

The naval commanders who are more senior than Frick cannot be said to be without them. Some senior naval commanders hold important positions in this naval battle. They do not directly command operations, but naval officers as wartime staff gangs understand the current situation of the German Navy. At this time, the German Navy is at an important moment of alternating new and old, and the continuous launch of new warships requires new commanders to take over as captain. The expanding navy also needs to train young and combat-rich naval commanders. According to the original words of the old naval general, the German Navy needs to supplement enough new blood to meet future challenges.

The command of the vanguard fleet fell into the hands of Adolf Venier, a new naval officer. Adolf Venier has been studying at the Royal Naval Academy in the UK. Of course, he did not call this name at that time. Two months before the war, like many of his companions who used fake identities to study advanced navigation technology abroad, he was summoned back to China and entered the reformed German Navy as an intern officer to practice what he learned.

Adolf Venier does not think that the ziram y route is a good battlefield. The y route is a commercial route. Before the war begins, this route is one of the main trade routes in the UK. The British know very well about the waters near the y route. This route is not suitable for submarine warfare, because the waters here are at the intersection of the English Channel and the North Sea. The water flow at the bottom of the sea is very surging, and the unstable water pressure makes every submarine stealth threaten to risk their lives.

Looking at the forward fleet outside, Adolf Venier smiled. He smiled very happily. He felt very honored to be a new naval battle formation with two battlecruisers as the main force. Furthermore, he understood the significance of this naval battle to the German Navy. If this battle is defeated, the German Navy will lose the future, otherwise Erich Redel would not carefully say the words of victory or defeat in this battle.

The Wadden Sea is not very far from the Thames estuary. The only difference is that the Wadden Sea is the coast of Germany and the sea area that the German Navy can control, while the Thames estuary is the traditional British plate. From this we can see Erich Redel's courage. At least Erich Redel is the only German navy commander in the German Navy who dared to propose a battle with the British Navy at the Thames estuary.

As soon as the forward fleet approached the estuary of the Thames, a rapid alarm sounded. For a moment, the red light alarms in each battleship flickered constantly, and the same sentence was repeated in the loudspeaker. Everyone knew that this was not an exercise, but a real battle.

Adolf Venier took a deep breath, stared at the HNA chart, and kept saying the orders from his mouth.

"Attention to all warships!"

"The attack ship (CA, German-class) is advancing at full speed and heading west to the calibration. Admiral Grafspe's captain Hans Longsdolph, responsible for the command of the front team, trying to eject carrier-based aircraft for reconnaissance missions."

"Drop commander should pay attention to changing the anti-submarine formation." The commander made preparations for air defense and shot down all unidentified objects."

"Gneisenau and Schanehorst battlecruiser's main gun are ready for shooting!"

As soon as the words fell, the warships of the forward fleet slowly opened up the distance, and the four attack ships responsible for the forward exploration rose to the German Navy battle flag and advanced westward in a high-speed navigation posture. The order of Hans Longsdolph came from the communicator, and a seaplane rushed up from Admiral Graffspe's catapult. Before it could adjust its posture, it fell into the water.

The wind was too strong, and the waves kept hitting the side of the hull. The attack ship with a displacement of tons was moving forward in a difficult weather. The first attempt to eject the carrier-based aircraft failed, and the second ejection operation was still in progress until the fourth time. Hans Longsdolph, the commander of the attack ship, gave up the ejection of the seaplane.

The war is indeed cruel. The carrier-based aircraft that had failed to eject quickly sank into the bottom of the sea. It’s not that no one wants to stop and rescue them, but this kind of delayed time is not allowed during the war. What will the carrier-based aircraft pilots think in their hearts? Perhaps, while they execute the orders, they have been missing their relatives. At this moment, what empire and revival have gone away from them...

Crack - a striking lightning flashed across the sky. The rain became even stronger and the visibility became extremely blurry. But because of this, the black smoke coming out of the battle stack was not very obvious. As soon as the black smoke came out, the chimney was blown away by the strong sea breeze. Unless it was too close, it was impossible to find several battleships with a distance that were stretched apart from each other.

Under such conditions, Adolf Venier's first thought was definitely not to worry, but to become more excited. He had a fanatical dedication. The bad weather affected visibility, but also created opportunities for the forward fleet to approach the British rescue team. With a loud shout, the forward fleet's mad speeding up was like a group of life-and-death madmen, advancing at full speed in the waves. Their purpose was to discover enemy ships.

Seamen need to be very adventurous, which also makes the seamen's age seem very young. This generation of German naval soldiers does not lack adventurousness. This is the main reason why they dare to advance at full speed in bad weather. Since carrier-based aircraft cannot act as eyes, they choose to bring their warships closer to the enemy. They deeply understand this danger, but no one is afraid. People will inevitably die in war. As long as they are valuable, they do not mind that their young lives will die early.

"The fleet with unknown nationality, unknown number and unknown model was found ahead!"

The sudden sound from the communication channel made all the naval officers in the bridge command room of Admiral Grafspey. Due to vision, the unknown fleet reported by the watchman had not yet been found from the perspective of the command room. The attacking ship formation was ordered to retreat and report the coordinates of the unknown fleet to Frick of the flagship. He could also vaguely see the smoke from the distant sky, which shows that the establishment of the unknown fleet must be very large, otherwise it would be impossible to gather a piece of warship chimneys in the dark cloudy sea to gather out of the smoke that was not blown away.

The flagship of this forward fleet is the Battlecruiser Schanehorst. The reason is that this battlecruiser, which has been in service for 39 years, is loaded with advanced communication equipment, which can use high efficiency to quickly convey the enemy situation found in the front to the rear.

Frick also issued an order to retreat and reported the coordinates of the enemy fleet to Erich Redell of the main fleet.

Frick's forward fleet lacked firepower. In addition to the two battlecruisers equipped with triple 283mm cannons that can threaten enemy ships, the millimeter cannons on the attack ships cannot effectively threaten enemy ships. It is only because the tonnage of the attack ship is too light, and it is extremely difficult to hit the target on the sea surface where it is constantly loaded and suspended. Therefore, retreating has become the most correct choice. Choosing retreating when it cannot threaten the enemy is to maintain its secrets and create long-range strike opportunities for the main fleet in the rear.

Admiral Grafspe's request was agreed upon. Admiral Grafspe was cruising in the original waters and continued to observe the movements of the unknown fleet and reconnaissance of the warships of the unknown fleet.

This is an extremely difficult thing to accomplish. While hiding oneself, you also need to reconnaise the enemy. This requires enough experience to keep the distance between the two sides on the sea without any concealment. All the advantages on land do not exist on the sea surface at all. When you discover the other side, the enemy may have discovered you.

The lookout hand of each warship has been professionally trained, and can roughly determine the enemy's model based on the outline of the warship in a blurred field of view. The first thing that appeared in the lookout hand of Admiral Grafspe was a British Navy B-class destroyer that was nearly 100 meters long. Obviously, the British Navy was posing an anti-submarine formation, and most of the destroyers in the warship formation were arranged in the vanguard formation.

"The enemy destroyers were discovered. One Class A, three Class B, two Class C, and four Class F."

Hans Longsdolff smiled happily when he heard this news. Judging from the formation postures of the British Navy, the British Navy attached great importance to the German submarine forces and was ignorant. He ordered his hand to continue reconnaissance and issued an order to retreat to the first lieutenant.

Hans Longsdolph found that his palms were covered with sweat, and such a task was really exciting.

"I found two enemy bold-class light cruisers, and it was judged to be the Indanae, Dragon, speed 21 knots, direction southeast, etc...... It is the British Navy's Dorset heavy cruiser!"

Hanslongsdorf was stunned for a moment, then ran quickly to the bridge's eyes. In his hazy vision, he had no choice but to see the ripples of raindrops falling on the sea and waves. He knew that he could not find anything from this angle, and he frantically ordered the warship to retreat.

The report of the lookout hand sounded again, this time he discovered a Queen Elizabeth-class battleship of the British Navy and two imperial power-class battleships. The lookout hand's voice was a little trembling, but he didn't know if it was cold or scared.

According to the judgment of the watchman, the British Navy's watchman seemed to have discovered the existence of Admiral Gravspe, and the main gun of the only battle cruiser, the Hood battlecruiser, was debugging the angle.

"Discovered?" Hans Longsdolph's question had just risen. A vague sound of artillery fire broke out, but he didn't feel his warship was hit.

"The British Navy's Hood shot northeast. We don't have a warship in that direction, who is it attacking?" The lookout seemed to hesitate, "It's an empty bullet, as if it's notifying friends.

Hans Longsdolph's mission has been completed. He felt that it was time to order the warships to return. Just as he was about to issue an order, the report from the lookout hand resounded again throughout the command room.

"Oh my God! So many ships!" The lookout seemed to find himself speechless, and his voice was full of surprise: "Motor boats, yachts, lifeboats, tugboats, speedboats, fishing boats, cargo ships, barges... God! There are all kinds of ships! They are behind the British main fleet! A sound from the people was suddenly inserted into the public. Huo, the communication officer in charge of contacting the main fleet, stood up: "Your Captain, the commander General Erich Redell personally issued the order!"

Hans Longsdolph's face changed, looking very strange, but his voice was still sonorous and powerful: "Remember!" Perhaps he already knew what the order was.

"His Excellency Commander-in-Chief Erichreder's order: Upon receiving the order, all the officers and soldiers of the ship will be promoted to one level and stay in the original waters to perform vanguard reconnaissance missions!"

Cheers, people started to cheer in the command room and in the cabin.

Hans Longsdolff looked at his cheering colleague and sighed quietly and gently. He thought that the promotion order might be an encouragement in the war, and more of a task that would be a life-and-death death. After ordering to reduce the power of the boiler and reduce the black smoke from the chimney, he made an extremely bold decision to change the previous order, temporarily shut down the main engine (turbo steamer) and stop the work of the warship's boiler.

When everything was ready, Admiral Grafspe's attack ship floated on the sea like this. Hanslongsdorf understood that his chances of being discovered were extremely low, but in order to express his belief in fighting to the end...
Chapter completed!