Chapter 552: Trap

"Sir, it will be difficult for us to defeat the German fleet with 5 aircraft carriers and 2 super battleships."

After losing the "Ark Royal" in the last Battle of Shetland, Vice Admiral Somerville frowned and seemed a little less confident. He analyzed: "First of all, it is impossible to use battleships for a decisive battle. Even if the Nelson is dispatched, it is impossible to defeat two Hindenburg-class ships, let alone the King George V class equipped with only 14-inch cannons. No, they are no match at all.”

In fact, when two Bismarck-class ships broke through the Denmark Strait in December last year, the British Royal Navy did not dare to use the few battleships that could fight. Not to mention that now we are facing a behemoth like the "Hindenburg" class. Its 406mm cannon can hit the 13.7-14.7-inch side armor of the "King George V" class with "one shot to the soul"!

"There will be no battleship decisive battle," Cunningham said. "From the beginning of this world war to the present, all large-scale maritime conflicts have shown that air superiority is truly decisive."

"But the air supremacy is also on the side of the Germans!" Somerville said. "The German Fokker Zero is still ahead in performance, and they are likely to have converted the more powerful Fw-190 aircraft into a carrier-based aircraft. Our F4Fs can't defeat them at all, so how can we have air superiority?"

"It's definitely not possible to open up and fight," Cunningham's fingers tapped on the desk unconsciously, "but the Royal Navy cannot retreat at this time. We must use all our wisdom and courage to defeat the enemy."

"Create a trap for the Germans?" Somerville shook his head and expressed his disapproval. "The Germans also have very good naval admirals. The current commander of the High Seas Fleet, Admiral Gunther Lütjens, is a very difficult fleet commander to deal with. We failed to let him fall into the trap in the Battle of Shetland. "

In fact, Gunther Lütjens was deceived by the British at the time, but Germany's shore-based aviation was too powerful. The Fokker Zero and the Ju88 S.M.79 almost became the "three anti-ship weapons." No matter how perfect the plan of the British Empire's "century-old navy" is, it will only be bombed if it encounters the "Three Anti-Ship Treasures".

"The situation is different now," Cunningham said. "In the Battle of Shetland, our fleet was often under the threat of German shore-based aviation. It was the German shore-based aviation that really caused us heavy casualties. Instead of their carrier-based aircraft. This time, if the German fleet breaks through the Denmark Strait and enters the Atlantic, then they will be far away from their shore-based aviation."

"But the Germans will also go around the combat radius of our shore-based aviation." Somerville still shook his head.

This made Cunningham very dissatisfied. As a senior general of the Royal Navy, how could he not have the belief that he would win?

"They can't get around it," Major General Lister, chief of staff of the Home Fleet, interjected. "If planes flying from northern Scotland land in Iceland controlled by the United States, the combat radius can be increased by at least 80%. And it's the polar day in the Arctic." "The weather and sea conditions near the Denmark Strait are very conducive to the effectiveness of aviation."

"In addition, we can also use two large aircraft carriers converted from cruise ships and several escort aircraft carriers converted from merchant ships to serve as decoys." Cunningham said thoughtfully, "Just like what we did in the last Battle of Shetland... ...The aircraft carrier's release and recovery of a large number of carrier-based aircraft is a very complicated task and can easily cause confusion. And the shore-based aircraft taking off from northern Scotland will cause even greater confusion for the Germans. This will create opportunities for the four Glory-class ships! "

In Cunningham's plan, the four Illustrious-class fleet aircraft carriers are the real main force of the Royal Navy. Not only because the speed and armor of these four aircraft carriers are first-class, but also because the air fleets on these four aircraft carriers have concentrated the most skilled pilots in the UK, and they are the elite of the elite - after the Shetland Battle In the past few months, the British Royal Navy has been trying to improve the combat effectiveness of its carrier-based aircraft units, recruiting elite pilots everywhere, and training them at all costs. Now it has finally gathered more than 160 elite captains, and they are equipped with the equipment provided by the United States. F4F fighter, SBD dive bomber and TBD torpedo bomber. Now I finally have the strength to fight.

And now the Royal Air Force also has an aircraft that is comparable to the Germans' "anti-ship triple treasure" - the De Havilland-Mosquito fast bomber.

This kind of aircraft is fast, has a high ceiling, and has a long range. The vast majority of active German fighter jets cannot catch up with it - it is not that the speed of these German fighter jets is not as good as the "Mosquito", but that their speed at high altitudes is not as good as the "Mosquito".

Because of this characteristic, this "Mosquito" aircraft became a trump card used by the Royal Air Force to harass and spy on Germany just after it entered service. The Coast Air Force of the Royal Air Force and the Royal Naval Air Service also received a lot of "Mosquito" types. These "Mosquito" types belonging to the Coast Air Force and the Navy were not only used to scout the German High Seas Fleet, but also often carried 4-8 missiles. 500-pound bombs for horizontal bombing. Although its bombing accuracy cannot be compared with the Ju-88, it still poses a certain threat to surface targets.

However, the most troublesome thing for the German High Seas Fleet was the "Mosquito" as a reconnaissance aircraft.

"Sir, the radar has found the target!"

Off the coast of Bergen, Norway, the radar officer's shout rang out again in the command tower of the battleship "Hindenburg".

"Two planes! Azimuth 320 degrees, distance 180, altitude 7000." The radar officer continued to report, "It should be a Mosquito."

"Damn Mosquito!" Lieutenant General Erich Bei, Chief of Staff of the High Seas Fleet and Captain of the battleship "Hindenburg", could not help cursing when he heard the report.

Although the bombs dropped by this "Mosquito" aircraft are not a big threat to the surface ships sailing. But their existence makes it difficult for the navies of Germany, Italy, France and Spain to hide at sea during the day when the weather is good. Even at night, the "Mosquito" equipped with airborne radar can still find the German fleet.

Lieutenant General Erich Bei then asked: "Commander, should we call the Bergen base and ask them to send high-altitude aircraft?"

Germany now also has several "high-altitude interceptors", such as the Bf-109G series and the Fw-190B/C equipped with a liquid-cooled engine. These three aircraft are "emergency models" developed according to the requirements of the General Staff, ready to deal with possible strategic bombing.

However, due to the unexpectedly good situation in the Pacific War, the Bf-109G series and Fw-190B/C were not mass-produced and equipped to the troops. After all, they were "emergency aircraft" with less than ideal performance. Hessmann and the German Air Force hoped to wait until the real "ultimate aircraft" appeared before mass-equipping them. And the day of the appearance of the "ultimate aircraft" does not seem to be too far away.

The "extremely high-altitude fighter" Fw-190D, which is being developed by Focke-Wulf, is undergoing test flights. In addition, the TA-152/153 developed on the basis of the Fw-190D is undergoing preliminary research and development. The "extremely high-altitude fighter" Me.155A of Messerschmitt completed its test flight in January 1942. The He-219, an "extremely high-altitude multi-purpose aircraft" with similar performance to the British "Mosquito", has a faster progress. On March 10, 1942, it completed all test flights and officially finalized production.

The DB-603 series engines of Mercedes-Benz and Jumo-213 series engines equipped with turbochargers produced by Fokker are equipped with these aircraft. BMW801R (double-row 14-cylinder air-cooled) and BMW802 series (double-row 18-cylinder air-cooled), which also have good high-altitude performance, have now entered the stage of finalization and small-scale mass production. To improve the performance of aircraft engines, it is nothing more than working hard on the three points of high temperature resistance, high pressure resistance and high-octane gasoline. To put it bluntly, it is a competition of resources. High temperature resistance and high pressure resistance are rare metals, and high-octane gasoline is oil resources.

Germany is no longer seriously troubled by the supply of rare metals and oil, so it can naturally produce aircraft engines with excellent performance.

However, TA-152 and TA-153 are far away, and Me-155 and Fw-190D will not be available for a while. As for the Me-262 and He-280, two jet aircraft that are undergoing test flights, because they are epoch-making products and use many advanced but immature technologies, the development process will only be longer and longer.

So now the Bf-109G, Fw-190B and Fw-190C can still be used to defend the high altitudes of Europe, but the high-altitude performance of these three aircraft is not yet superior enough to pose a great threat to the "Mosquito" aircraft. Usually they can only be driven away, and there is little chance to shoot them down.

"No need to drive them away," General Gunther Lütjens shook his head slightly and said, "According to the plan, we don't need to hide our tracks now, just let the British reconnaissance planes have a good look."

As he spoke, General Lütjens looked at the clock hanging on the bulkhead of the command tower, and then instructed the communications staff of the High Seas Fleet: "Contact the Naval Aviation Command and ask them whether the plan for the large-scale bombing of the Faroe Islands has been implemented?"

The "plan" Lütjens mentioned is called "Operation Neptune", although the purpose is only to ensure that the main force of the High Seas Fleet breaks into the Atlantic. But the whole operation was very complicated, including a series of feints and preparatory plans for fleet engagements. The feint attack on the Faroe Islands was an important part of "Operation Neptune"!