Imperial Overlord

"Is there any news about the specific location of the German naval fleet?" Standing on the slightly swaying bridge, Charles, Commander of the British Navy's Home Fleet, asked the officers beside him. . fastest update

The officer was visibly embarrassed because he couldn't answer the answer his boss wanted: "Sorry, General, we haven't found the enemy yet."

Hearing the answer he didn't want to hear, Charles turned his head dejectedly and looked at the sea outside Iceland in the distance, wondering what he was thinking.

"The latest news. Two of our army's reconnaissance planes are missing, and we didn't have time to send back any news before they disappeared..." The British police officer saw that his boss was worried, so he had to start talking about the details.

The two Swordfish attack aircraft disappeared inexplicably while searching for the enemy fleet, which cannot be explained by accident.

Although the Swordfish attack aircraft is old, its reliability is quite high. There are three pilots on this plane, and the equipment has been tested for many years. It is impossible for an accident to happen for no reason.

The most likely thing is that these two planes have been shot down by the Germans! And it was shot down before it was too late to send out a distress signal.

On the German aircraft carrier Zeppelin, the performance of the carrier-based aircraft must be very advanced! The ability to shoot down such an attack aircraft before the Swordfish realizes the danger is absolutely similar to the performance of the British Air Force Spitfire.

In fact, the Germans do have the ability to develop a navy-specific aircraft comparable to an army fighter. Their -190b and me-109e are both powerful fighters.

Charles is not an idiot, and he easily speculates that the situation is almost true. But thinking about the real situation and having a countermeasure are two completely different things.

On the one hand, he really did not have more advanced naval aircraft that he could send out to scout the exact location of the German fleet.

On the other hand, he still had no way of knowing the exact location of the German fleet. He knew that it was impossible for the other party to return in this situation, so it was more likely that the other party was heading towards him!

From the south of Iceland into the Atlantic Ocean, although the route was much closer, it risked passing near the British-controlled islands.

As a result, the German fleet could potentially face British shore-based aircraft. Will the Germans take this risk, Charles has been thinking in his heart.

If he was in command, he believed that he would not risk attacking the cordon of British shore-based aircraft under such circumstances.

But he is not sure about this kind of thing. After all, the Germans have advanced carrier-based aircraft in their hands! Whether this will give the other commander the confidence to take risks, Charles has no certainty.

"Damn it! I just want to know, are those **** officials still thinking about saving money?" Charles scolded in a low voice.

The British Navy proposed to replace the aircraft with better performance many years ago, but many officials in the parliament opposed it, and the state funding was indeed seriously insufficient.

Although Britain was a victorious country in the First World War, it was indeed already shaky. The nationalist revolution against Britain that has been launched all over the world has made this old empire on which the sun never sets, into a dilapidated state.

In the era of serious shortage of national funds and even more stretched naval funds, the maintenance of yesterday's brilliant battleship force can only be maintained by transforming the goods of the First World War, not to mention the newly emerging naval aviation.

Everyone agrees that the German navy, which is downwind, is no longer a threat, and the British navy has absolutely no need to equip carrier-based aircraft with excess performance.

Who would have thought that after the war, the Germans used weapons such as aircraft and submarines to bring endless trouble to Britain?

After so much trouble, the German Navy surface ships came out with powerful carrier-based aircraft, and they had no intention of giving the British Navy a chance to survive.

"It's good now! The German aircraft carrier has an overwhelming advantage, and we can't even determine the enemy's position. How to chase? How to block it?"

It is very troublesome to find the enemy's battleship on the vast ocean. Especially when the enemy's attack target is not fixed, this kind of siege and interception is even more troublesome.

In real history, when the British navy intercepted the battleship Bismarck, it mainly relied on a cruiser that could use its speed to follow around the German ships.

Of course, after the Bismarck entered the Atlantic Ocean, the main means of finding this warship was replaced by the carrier-based aircraft on the aircraft carrier.

Now things have turned completely different. The cruiser behind the German fleet has been sunk, the carrier plane that went to find the German fleet has been shot down...

The British fleet, which had lost all means of searching for the opposing fleet, was basically blind. Under such circumstances, it is really impossible to find the German fleet on the vast sea.

I can't find it, let alone block it for a fight... As long as the German fleet doesn't want to fight such a fight, the two sides may be separated by dozens of kilometers, and they may pass by...

"Send all the problems we have encountered now back to the headquarters!" In the end, Charles, who had no good way, could only throw all the problems back to the homeland, giving his boss Dudley Pound a headache.

Dudley Pound is indeed having enough headaches now. Of course, he also knew the news that the two Swordfish attack planes that took off from the USS Dreadnought were shot down by the enemy.

Even if it is possible to roughly infer the range of an enemy fleet based on the location where the plane crashed, this range is too large!

In this fuzzy area, the German fleet turned, or accelerated, and the precise location of hundreds of kilometers was a mystery.

To search for the German fleet based on such vague information, we can only spread our own search fleet widely.

But all fools know that spreading out their search fleet, in front of a fleet of German battleships and aircraft carriers, is the difference between suicide and suicide?

The problem at this moment is not as simple as being unable to stop the German fleet. If you analyze it carefully, Dudley Pound, the Secretary of the Navy, even feels that his combat plan to intercept the enemy must be completely changed.

In the fleet south of Iceland, only the aircraft carrier Fury and the battleships Nelson and Rodney were the only ones, and 80% of this force would be defeated by the German fleet.

And the fleet that has just moved northward to the vicinity of the Denmark Strait is also only the King George V, the Ramirez and the Revenge.

This kind of force is not enough, so Dudley Pounds thinks about it, thinks that the two fleets should be brought together as much as possible, and only when they face the German fleet will they have a chance of winning.

"The German fleet... is really a bit tricky." After thinking for a while, Dudley Pound suddenly said to himself.

When he knew that the German fleet might go to sea, although Dudley Pound felt the pressure, he did not expect it to be so troublesome.

It was not unheard of for a German warship or two to be mixed into the Atlantic. At times like this, the British Navy's senior management generally thinks about how to destroy the enemy's warships that have infiltrated the Atlantic Ocean.

But now, unknowingly, Dudley Pound is not thinking about sieging and annihilating German warships that are beyond their capabilities.

He had to consider the possibility of his own battleship being severely damaged, which was equivalent to placing the opponent's fleet at the same height as his own.

"Your Excellency General, we can't help but gather the fleet... If something goes wrong, then we can't really deal with it." Seeing that Dudley Pound's face was not very good, an admiral stepped forward advised.

Dudley Pound smiled bitterly, looked at the other party and asked, "I also know that the fleet should be concentrated!"

Then he sighed and continued: "But we have gathered the fleet and can't find the enemy's fleet, so what's the use?"

The general shook his head embarrassedly. He also knew that the opponent's fleet could not be found, and that his own fleet was of no use at all.

But scattered like this, even if the German fleet is found, do they have to go up one by one to die?

After struggling for a few minutes, Dudley Pound finally made up his mind and gave Charles clear instructions that even if the German fleet was mixed into the Atlantic, he would not lose his fleet.

Whether Germany goes south of Iceland or the Denmark Strait, he cannot afford to lose either of the British squadrons guarding these two waters!

If the Germans seize the opportunity and sink two British battleships, the Royal Navy will be even more passive.

The seemingly huge British Royal Navy must also be scattered all over the world! The local fleet lost two battleships~www.wuxiaspot.com~ Where can I replenish it by drawing troops?

"Let Charles command the fleet to stand by, order the Dreadnought, the Nelson Rodney, and the Fury to join them!" After weighing the pros and cons, Dudley Pound finally gave his choice.

This option is the safest, avoids the risk of the British fleet, and is in line with the position of a navy secretary. Such a decision is exactly the same as Redel's daring to trust the naval aviation!

When faced with a decision that could change the future of a country, no one dared to make a risky choice lightly. It's human nature, not stupidity.

Soon, this order was passed back to Charles, who was sitting on the battleship King George V. The naval commander finally felt relieved and waited for his fleet to come and turn against him.

Of course, his waiting like this is not a passive and stupid wait, but he is preparing to merge his own fleet to form a superior force and fight the German fleet decisively.

Even if the German fleet cannot be found and the German fleet enters the Atlantic Ocean, he can turn the bow with the fleet, follow behind the German fleet, and drive the other party into his encirclement.