Imperial Overlord

The Hood used to be the flagship of Somerville, and it used to sail across the Mediterranean as the flagship with the H fleet. . fastest update

It is a pity that the battleship is now paralyzed in front of Somerville's eyes, which makes him suddenly have a feeling of sadness.

The whole bridge was still smoking thick smoke, but after burning everything that could burn, the fire on the bridge was finally brought under control.

Although 90% of the power has been lost, it is still possible to barely maintain the operation of the water pump, which has allowed the Hood's firefighting work to proceed in an orderly manner until now.

"Can you confirm it?" Somerville leaned on the railing of the battleship Sovereign, looked at the battlecruiser Hood, which was still smoking in the distance, and asked the officer walking behind him.

"Yes, sir... General John Tovey... was indeed killed." The officer who came over bowed his head and replied in pain.

This was the first telegram he had received today, from the Hood's spare telegraph room. The repair work is still in progress, and the situation of the battleship is not optimistic.

Hearing this news, Somerville sighed secretly in his heart: That was a Vice Admiral. The death of a Vice Admiral in a naval battle is definitely a major loss for the British Navy.

What's more, along with the Vice Admiral's departure, there was also a battle cruiser. The naval battle was lost, sadly.

"Have you sent a telegram to the mainland? The loss of Admiral John Tovey is definitely the greatest loss of the Royal Navy..." Somerville said sadly, looking at the Hood in the distance.

It's definitely not pretentious, because he and John Tovey knew each other from the First World War.

He was a radio operations instructor at the time, and John Tovey was a heroic destroyer commander.

Before Somerville was able to command a warship alone, John Tovey took his destroyer to the Battle of Jutland and was rewarded for his heroic and fearless fighting spirit.

The friendship between Somerville and John Tovey and Cunningham, three outstanding commanders of the Royal Navy, was also forged in the First World War.

"Sir..." The officer opposite did not turn to leave, but hesitantly opened his mouth to remind Somerville, who was leaning against the railing, in a soft voice.

"Huh? What else?" Somerville wondered for a moment, then pushed away the railing, turned around, and looked at his subordinates.

"I'm afraid, we have lost more than one general..." The officer held a telegram in his hand and handed it to Somerville in the sea breeze.

The battleship was still shaking, and the waves crashed on the broadside of the battleship, splashing white water. The sky was still raining, and Somerville's hat was soaking wet.

The commander of the intercepting fleet stretched out his hand, took the half-soaked telegram in the rain, and saw the writing on it.

The content written on the telegram was not complicated, but it made Somerville stand there, as if he had lost his soul.

Yes, the Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Navy, Admiral Dudley Pound, has just passed away in office.

If the sudden death of the general had nothing to do with the fiasco of the fleet, Somerville himself would not believe it.

The other party obviously couldn't stand such a heavy loss and suffered an unprecedented blow, so he died suddenly in his post.

The rain soaked the paper, and Somerville stood bewildered. Their defeat seemed worse than it seemed, and the Royal Navy seemed to be getting further and further away from victory.

The sea breeze blew through like a knife, tearing the piece of paper in Somerville's hand. Standing on the swaying warship, Somerville was still standing in the rain.

"General Charles is approaching us... He is calling to ask if he wants to continue the pursuit of the German fleet." The officer said the third telegram he had just received, an inquiry from the Home Fleet.

Of course... only chase! If he gave up on pursuing the German naval fleet now, what exactly would the battle be?

A self-directed children's play? After the loss of the Nelson and the Reputation, and the wounding of the Hood and Ramirez, the naval battle was endless.

"Order the fleet to turn...Let the USS Eagle stay behind to support the USS Hood, join the two nearby destroyers to form a temporary fleet. Tell them not to be careless, there are German submarines here." After giving his order, Sa Merville stepped forward.

He walked back to the direction of the bridge, and continued to instruct without looking back: "Telegram to Charles and ask him to join us and search for the German fleet east together."

On the bridge of the battleship HMS King George V, the flagship of the Home Fleet, Charles, the commander of the Home Fleet, had a thick layer of frost on his face.

In the past not long time, he also received a lot of terrible news. These tragic news are more than Churchill's, which makes it impossible for him to have any good looks.

The K-1 convoy was badly damaged, the Nelson was sunk, the Ramirez was wounded, the Prestige was sunk, the Hood was paralyzed…

Coupled with the death of Commander Dudley Pound and the death of Lieutenant General John Tovey... What happened in these few hours seems to be more exciting than what has happened in the past two decades.

These well-known news made Charles also fall down in the dark, but he was stronger than Dudley Pound's body, so he finally recovered.

After everyone hurriedly rescued the general who had also fainted, they finally avoided the embarrassing fate of three senior commanders returning to the west within a day.

"General Somerville has called back. His fleet is searching east. If we maintain our speed, we will soon join his fleet." An officer reported the latest news. Charles waved his hand and did not speak.

The German fleet went east. This is confirmed information. After all, dozens of minutes ago, the search fleet was still fighting with the opposing warships.

As long as the other side drove eastward, it would be impossible to avoid the patrol net of British destroyers, cruisers and even fishing boats.

The search network spilled from the mainland has been spread out in the eastern part of the Atlantic Ocean, and it is almost impossible to avoid this big network.

Now that the position of the German fleet was known, the exact direction of the pursuit was also known. However, Charles is still not happy about it.

The German fleet far exceeded the speed of the British fleet, making the pursuit of the Royal Navy's main fleet a joke.

Chasing farther and farther, isn't this pursuit a joke? What the German fleet has to do now is to rush towards Brest at the fastest speed, and the main British fleet will be left far behind.

The only variable is to let the remaining battleships of the British Home Fleet go directly south, blocking the gap.

But the problem is... the remaining battleships can't beat the main German fleet! It's obvious that you will die, how can someone approve this plan?

Moreover, once the last battleship of the Home Fleet left the British mainland, what should the Germans do?

Therefore, no matter how you say it, even if you know the specific course and position of the German naval fleet, it is an impossible task for the main British fleet to catch up with the German fleet.

Now, the only reason to follow the German fleet is to send the German fleet back to the port of Brest!

Because if the main fleet does not follow the German fleet, who knows if they will not return to the port of Brest?

If the opponent's fleet tastes the sweetness and walks around again... Then the result will not let people live? The entire British Atlantic shipping line would collapse, and the people on British soil would starve to death.

Charles has Somerville ahead, and now he is not thinking about blocking the German main fleet on the sea and annihilating the opponent.

The problem they are thinking about now is to **** the other party's fleet all the way to the destination. Then, wait for the other party to enter the port of Brest, and then try to find a way to get back to the place.

Although the port of Brest, an important military port in France, has a good position to sea, it is within the attack radius of British long-range bombers.

As long as they are willing to go out and disregard their own losses and dispatch a large number of bombers to surprise Brest, they will be able to paralyze the German fleet entering the port.

The paralysis of the German fleet is equivalent to preventing the German fleet from continuing to operate. Although the cost is huge, it is still within the tolerable range.

The only thing that makes Charles feel aggrieved is that he is a senior commander of the Royal Navy. Now he is thinking about using the air force to stop the opponent's navy.

"In any case, we can't go wrong again! This time we must ensure that the German fleet returns to Brest!" Charles stood on the bridge and told the officers beside him.

At the same time, on the battleship HMS Sovereign, Somerville was also saying the same thing: "If something goes wrong this time, we won't have to go back to Gibraltar, just sink here!"

Similarly, in the naval command far away in the British mainland, Prime Minister Churchill, who had just delivered the body of General Dudley Pound, also said similar words: "Don't think about annihilating the enemy fleet! Let them Go to Brest!"

Don't make any more variables! This is what the commanders of the Royal Navy are thinking about at this moment.

At the same moment, on the dock of Plymouth Port in mainland England, Cunningham stepped on the hanging ladder and stepped off the transport ship.

Looking up at the sky of the motherland, the commander from the Mediterranean Fleet finally returned to his hometown that he had not seen for a long time. As for what he was going to experience after returning, he was at a loss.