Imperial Overlord

If, if Somerville and Charles, or even John Tovey had gotten more detailed information, they might have guessed that the German fleet had begun to jump out of the encirclement and head north. . fastest update

If Charles knew that there was a huge transport fleet behind him, he would definitely stop going south and go north to ensure the absolute safety of this important transport fleet.

But there is no such thing as history, his fleet is going south in a confused way, getting farther and farther from the goal he wants to protect.

It's really not his fault, or Somerville or even Tovey. Because they don't know anything about this transport fleet, of course they won't consider the German fleet's adventure north.

Remember the elusive "shadow" of the German intelligence service? Remember that the shadow of the Führer "got" the British shipping plan?

In an effort to invalidate Germany's increasingly rampant and increasingly targeted wolf pack attacks, Churchill ordered changes to all shipping plans between Britain and the United States.

In order to change this meticulous shipping plan as soon as possible and prevent the German submarine force from using accurate intelligence to precisely ambush the British transport fleet, the British shipping department made every effort to re-draw a set of shipping plan rules.

This matter has been mentioned before, and because the UK hastily launched a new plan, it has also affected the efficiency of shipping, causing frequent delays in shipping and reducing the total amount of shipping.

While the new shipping did affect the efficiency of German submarine attacks, it also caused endless trouble for the British Navy itself.

It can be said that this is a double-edged sword. While targeting German Navy submarines, it also gives the Royal Navy a headache.

Churchill in order to make the shipping schedule more confidential, in addition to the necessary departments to implement the plan, only Navy Commander Dudley? Pound and several senior Navy officials know.

Most of the senior naval officers who knew this plan only knew part of the plan under their jurisdiction.

Charles, who sits on the battleship HMS King George V, as the commander of the Home Fleet, actually knows this transport fleet code-named K-1.

Regrettably, in the timetable he knew, the K-1 transport fleet should have arrived in Ireland by now...

Yes, this k-1 convoy was late, and by a whole day! This was a common occurrence in a state of war, but because he led the home fleet to sea to intercept the German fleet, no one had told him this astonishing fact.

Dudley Pound and Churchill knew that the K-1 transport fleet was sailing near Greenland, but neither of them had the keen sense of a front-line commander.

The two people who knew the specific location of the fleet believed that the German fleet was far away from the k-1 transport fleet, and there was no need to change the route of the k-1 transport fleet at all.

After losing the t fleet, the British mainland, which lacked materials, urgently needed the blood of the k-1 transport fleet.

Churchill did not have the patience to let the K-1 fleet hide in Canada. He had no reason to believe that his K-1 transport fleet had been discovered by the Germans.

Relying on subjective guesses to cancel the itinerary of a supply fleet is very irrational. Because of the destruction of the T fleet, the British mainland has not had any supplies for a day.

Can we stop the German fleet from falling over the Atlantic, leaving only one night for the British fleet and all the British patrol ships that are looking for the German fleet.

"Haven't found the German fleet yet?" Looking at the positions of the patrol ships marked on the map, Charles muttered uncomfortably to himself.

In the most dangerous patrolled waters, the UK already has three cruisers and two destroyers cruising. But there, let alone the German fleet, they didn't even find a single German submarine.

Although the sea conditions became worse the farther north they went, the British fleet had been heading south, so the current sea conditions were still enough for the British fleet to take off its own patrol planes.

Although the flight performance of the Swordfish attack aircraft is not good, the design is very old, and it is not comparable to the German aircraft.

However, the Swordfish attack aircraft has an incomparable advantage, that is, it has better take-off and landing performance than Stuka and -190t...

Can it be bad? The maximum speed of the swordfish is only 220 kilometers, in other words, its take-off and landing speed requirements are lower. If the German plane drops to 200 kilometers per hour, it will almost crash!

The British Swordfish attack aircraft has taken off hundreds of sorties and searched a large number of sea areas, but still no trace of the German fleet has been found.

There were fewer and fewer spots on the map that could not be identified, and fewer and fewer spots for the German fleet to hide, and the commanders of the British fleet became increasingly uneasy.

"The cruiser due south, are you sure it didn't encounter the German fleet? Search the sea carefully! If it doesn't work, speed up the search to the west!" Charles, who felt a splitting headache, arranged the cruisers on the periphery to continue searching.

"Is there any news about General Tovey's search fleet? They haven't made any progress?" Looking at the search fleet on the map, Charles' eyelids began to jump.

It is impossible for the German fleet to disappear out of thin air. If it is not in the encirclement of the British fleet, it must be outside the encirclement!

This sentence looks like a nonsense, but for Charles, it is not a nonsense.

The local fleet has almost followed the route of the German fleet to the current position. If the German fleet is not here, it means that the opposite side has avoided the local fleet in the west.

Because if it goes east, the German fleet will just collide with the reconnaissance planes scattered from the British mainland, as well as the search network composed of destroyers and cruisers, and it should have exposed its position long ago.

"It may be because the sea conditions are not good and the clouds are too low to miss the German fleet!" An officer said.

"Then keep looking for me! Be sure to find the German fleet before dark! Must!" Charles gave this order, and then silently continued to stare at the chart in front of him.

The encirclement is already very small, but the sky is almost completely dark. At this time, it is more difficult for the British fleet to find the German fleet.

As long as the lights are maintained, the entire fleet is almost invisible at night when the radar cannot catch the target.

For a moment, Charles felt that the Germans had calculated the time and wanted to use the night to escape the pursuit of the British fleet nearby and escape the encirclement of the British fleet.

Because the development of radar technology is not long, the new weapon of radar is also a new thing for the British Navy.

Only a few warships have radars that can search at night, and the German fleet can sneak out of the encirclement without knowing it and rush directly to Brest.

"Cunning Germans!" Thinking of this, Charles groaned in frustration, and then pressed his hand on the map.

In the distant British mainland, Dudley Pound and Churchill, who had been at the headquarters all day, also had doubts.

The cruisers and destroyers departing from the mainland are almost filling up the waters west of the UK, and the German fleet must not be placed upwards here.

Following the route that the German fleet may choose, the local fleet heading south all the way is about to join the search fleet at this time, and the German fleet is still nowhere to be seen.

Strange things are in front of everyone. Unless the German fleet is invisible, how can it be possible to get out of such a net?

Time passed by, and the sky was completely dark. Charles' Home Fleet continued south, and the gap with the Search Fleet narrowed.

"Within an hour, our fleet may have an encounter with the German fleet." An admiral said to the people around him.

If the German fleet was heading south, his guess was indeed accurate. But Dudley Pound, who worked in the Navy, felt that it was impossible for the other party to control the distance so appropriately.

"Assuming that the Germans break through, they will also throw off one side of the pursuers first, and try their best to break through to the east before nightfall, which is the correct tactical arrangement..." Another general expressed his doubts.

It is not that the British navy does not understand people. On the contrary, the British navy has too many tactical experts. Hearing that someone raised their own doubts, everyone thought it was too coincidental.

"The enemy fleet should have happened an hour before, or between two hours. How could it be possible to wait in the middle of the encirclement and encounter our two fleets at the same time?" I understand the key to the problem~www.wuxiaspot.com~ Churchill also realized something was wrong.

At the same time, the captain of the battleship HMS King George V, who was completely darkened, said to Charles, "The Germans can't really go west, because the west is the continental United States!"

"It is impossible for them to continue to the south after going west. That means they have not thrown away our fleet, but are just moving in parallel." At this time, Charles also realized the crux of the problem.

He turned sideways and called to the officer in charge of radio communications: "Telegram to homeland! Tell them that the German fleet may be near Greenland already!"

"Sir!" An officer in the home command handed over a telegram from Charles: "General Charles speculates that the Germans left the home fleet westward, and then returned north to the waters south of Greenland."

"The waters south of Greenland?" Churchill felt that this area seemed familiar.

"..." Dudley Pound raised his head and looked at the open sea there. Because of the distance, there were not many patrolling ships at all. Because of attention, the focus of British patrols has been concentrated on the south.