Imperial Overlord

Leaving aside the fake Führer Li Le who is far away in Berlin, the battle on the front line has entered its most intense stage.

In order to push back the German fleet, the British fleet took the lead in launching an attack. The German fleet ignored the approaching British fleet and adopted a strategy of continuing to attack the enemy transport fleet.

Lütjens released the plane in his hand, and the remaining troops were really incapable of fighting the British home fleet. So there is only one thing he can do now.

"Order, the fleet turns to the right, ninety degrees! Accelerate forward! Keep the speed at 23 knots!" Soon, he made all preparations and embarked on the road of escape with his fleet.

Since he couldn't beat him, of course Lütjens didn't plan to stay on the spot and be beaten any longer. He naturally had to run away with the fleet.

For Lütjens, this is a matter of no choice, and there is no need to think about it.

In addition, his deep-rooted German naval tactical thinking also allowed him to retain the tactical thinking of partisans in his subconscious.

The surface ships of the German Navy, from the time of Count Spee, have deeply rooted the idea of ​​breaking wars at sea.

When it can be beaten, the German fleet will run away, and when it cannot be beaten, of course it will run even more. They never intended to fight the British fleet for life or death, nor to challenge this huge enemy.

The core tactical idea of ​​these submarine formations is only one, that is to run! Dodge all enemies, and specifically find people who won't fight back.

In the good years, the German Navy would even intercept British merchant ships, and then rob the ships of food and wine, similar to what the Pirates of the Caribbean did.

They pointed their cannons at the enemy's transports, then boarded and robbed them with their weapons, and finally sank their opponent's ships with their cannons, and with a mocking expression, they sent a telegram to the British, asking them to come and save their unfortunate drowning. Egg.

The sea battles in those years even carried the manners of a knight. It is a pity that the etiquette has now been inherited, and the battle at sea has become more and more bloody.

Lütjens' fleet turned, without the slightest drag on the water. In this small fleet, the slowest warships could drive more than 28 knots.

As a result, the cruiser Prinz Eugen, which was closest to the British fleet, quickly turned, followed by the battlecruiser Gneisenau.

Then Nuremberg turned with Zeppelin, followed by the massive Tirpitz.

The broken Scharnhorst was more flexible than the Tirpitz, so after the Tirpitz was turned, the Scharnhorst had already completed the turn and drove a distance.

The British Navy did not know the direction of the German fleet. The huge British fleet had no carrier-based aircraft to see each other, so they could only maintain the original course.

Some people saw that in the far away sky, near the gray clouds, two German planes were moving with the British fleet. Obviously, the Germans' reconnaissance methods were better than their British counterparts.

Whether it is in flight height or flight speed, German aircraft have an absolute advantage. British carrier-based aircraft have no ability to fly to that height to drive away their opponents, so they can only ignore the opponent.

But there were two enemy planes overhead... It's impossible to catch up with the faster German fleet...

Then, realizing the embarrassing situation of his fleet, Phillips suddenly thought of another possibility.

"Let the fleet slow down!" After he issued a strange order, he looked helplessly at the direction of the German ship, not knowing what was on his mind.

"Sir! Why don't we continue to attack?" a British naval officer asked Phillips with a blank expression.

Phillips sighed depressedly, and then explained: "The enemy's carrier aircraft is flying near us, and we simply can't catch up with the faster German fleet..."

This is like two people playing hide-and-seek, one person knows the other person's movements, and his speed is even faster, no matter what, it is impossible to be caught by the other person.

"The enemy can use the change of course and faster speed to easily get rid of us... I underestimated the role of the opponent's aircraft carrier." Phillips glanced at his men and continued.

He really underestimated the role of the opponent's aircraft carrier, and underestimated the terrifying power of modern naval warfare after air supremacy was used.

Now that the number of German aircraft carriers is not large, the British navy is overwhelmed. If there are more aircraft carriers, the opponent may have to choose and directly attack the fleet to decide the outcome.

Although he didn't believe that the carrier-based opportunity would pose any threat to the heavily armored battleship, Phillips was still very worried, worried that his advantage would completely disappear.

Without air supremacy, his fleet is a blind man and a lame man. Even with a kitchen knife in hand, it is very difficult to find an enemy in the yard to cut a knife.

No matter how he turned, the German fleet would adjust in a few minutes, giving him the advantage of the fleet, but not the slightest power.

Since he couldn't catch up, Phillips realized that it was a dangerous thing to chase him blindly.

Once his fleet is far away from the convoy he wants to protect, how about the German fleet bypassing his fleet by taking advantage of its speed and rushing into the convoy?

If neither side could see the exact location of the other's fleet, perhaps the Germans would not dare to rush to the convoy. The problem now is that the Germans know exactly where the British fleet is.

In this way, the British fleet could not keep away from the convoys it was escorting. Otherwise, let the German fleet find an opportunity and rush to the vicinity of the transport fleet, it will be lively.

At that time, the guns of the German warships will be more efficient to slaughter those British transport ships without the carrier-based aircraft, and maybe half of the ships can be sunk in 20 minutes.

Hearing Phillips' explanation, the officers around him also turned pale. They also realized the crux of the problem, and realized what a huge advantage the Germans had with the few aircraft.

"When can our carrier planes get rid of these damned guys?" an officer complained, looking at the USS Formidable aircraft carrier that was following in the fleet in the distance.

Waiting for naval aircraft? Phillips felt that this kind of thing was too naive. The only thing he can do now is to quickly order to return his battleship and prevent the German fleet from approaching the transport fleet.

"Start turning, the fleet to the left! Ninety degrees, full speed!" Phillips gave the order, and then closed his mouth.

He is not passively avoiding the war, but is afraid of the fleet behind him. After being ravaged by enemy planes, he will be bombarded by German naval warships...

In any case, getting as many transports as possible to the British mainland is the highest mission of the home fleet now commanded by Phillips.

"Your Excellency... The losses just reported by the transport fleet... We have sunk 4 grain ships, 6 arms ships, 9 steel and other material ships, and 3 oil tankers." An officer came over, Reported the loss of the transport fleet behind him.

Such a huge loss has made Phillips vomit blood. Originally, he planned to drive away the German fleet after the loss of 10 transport ships to ensure the safety of the transport fleet.

It's a pity that now, he not only failed to drive away the enemy's fleet, but instead increased the number of losses to 22 ships.

It now seems that this is far from the final number of losses, and perhaps the fleet will be attacked a few more times before it enters the cover of fighter jets on the British mainland...

After the German fleet repeatedly attacked several times with carrier-based aircraft, Phillips himself felt uncertain about how many transport ships were left.

Similarly, in the local naval command, Charles also knew that his transport fleet was still attacked by the enemy's fleet.

"What's going on? How many dozens of planes can be so powerful?" He looked at the generals around him angrily, really wanting to know how long he could stay in the position of commander-in-chief of the navy. .

Pound, or Churchill, left him a mess, and now this mess seems to be in his hands, and it has become a bit worse...

"The German carrier-based aircraft interfered with all our combat plans. In the future, we have too many things to do~www.wuxiaspot.com~ A naval admiral reluctantly opened his mouth and expressed his thoughts.

There are too many things to prepare for the Navy, with the activities of the German Navy. Including adding anti-aircraft guns and other self-defense weapons to existing sea transport ships, including more **** ships, and new carrier-based aircraft...

Judging from the current situation, the navy is already struggling to cope with one thing, let alone these problems appear together.

The new type of transport ships must be replenished as soon as possible, otherwise the local raw material reserves will be exhausted; but the requirements of the new type of transport ships are still increasing, which is a headache.

Originally, these ships were required to be able to sail as long as they could carry a large amount of materials. Because at that time, the British fleet was still firmly in control of the sea lines of communication.

But now, the naval **** force has proposed to increase the speed of the new transport vessel to about 15 knots. After today, the construction time and cost of anti-aircraft weapons may be added, which will increase too much.

With a sigh, Charles did not speak. He put his hands behind his back and looked at the direction of the European continent, not knowing what was in his mind. But the sad look on his face was clearly seen by everyone.