Imperial Overlord

What is the highest state of guerrilla warfare? Some people may recall the famous four-character mantra.

But the German Navy has now achieved another level to go where they want to go and fight the battles they want to fight!

Lütjens led the fleet into the Atlantic when the weather was fine. Unlike submarines, the German Navy's surface ships were more than twice as efficient.

Using the intelligence provided by the submarine force and the carrier-based aircraft on the only aircraft carrier, the German naval surface ships were soon able to find the British transport ships and quickly send these ships to the bottom of the sea.

Although General Charles led the British Royal Navy to follow him every time, he could never find a way to break the rogue trick of Germany.

On December 1, the German Navy submarine force attacked the CK-4 transport fleet, killing four British transport ships.

On December 2, the next day, the CK-4 fleet was overtaken by the German guerrilla fleet, sinking more than half of the transport ships in one go.

In just two days in December, the British maritime transport fleet lost 63 ships of various sizes and hundreds of thousands of tonnages.

If this development continues, the British transport fleet will lose at least a thousand transport ships in December, a loss that the UK cannot afford.

Even in real history, thousands of carriers are lost a month, and the capacity of the United States and the United Kingdom cannot make up. What's more, there is no war in the United States, and the production capacity of the United Kingdom is collapsing now?

Several transport ships are now sunk in the Atlantic every day, and to supplement these losses there is actually a shortfall of seafarers that no one has ever counted!

Everyone thinks that the production capacity of Britain and the United States in the shipbuilding industry is terrifying, and some people even use dumplings to describe the speed at which the United States builds ships: it is as simple as pouring dumplings into a pot.

But although the speed of building ships can reach an unimaginable level by relying on huge production capacity, the speed of cultivating excellent crew members cannot keep up with the speed of shipbuilding.

Historically, the United States used the limit speed to build a freewheel in a little more than 4 days, which is a miracle in the history of actual shipbuilding.

This is also the speed at which a single ship is built. Historically, in the middle and late stages of World War II, several Liberty ships were launched every day. Maintaining this production rate will require a large crew to fill the gap.

Come to think of it, if it takes 5 days or so to train a captain it would be like a joke.

In other words, Germany actually annihilated the American and British transport ships at the expected speed, and no matter how terrifying the American production capacity was, it could not make up for its own losses.

In fact, a large part of the reason why the United States was famously terrible during World War II was because Germany and Japan never had the opportunity to annihilate the living forces of the United States from beginning to end.

The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and killed thousands of American soldiers. The German submarines tried their best to break the battle, but they were not able to annihilate the American and British crews on a large scale.

Therefore, when most of the crew were retained, the terrifying production capacity of the United States played a decisive role in the middle and late stages.

Now, the situation has changed. Germany destroyed a large number of British ships. Because of the excessive speed and the time to sink the opponent's ships was winter, the impact of the loss of British sailors began to be reflected.

On December 3, the British Royal Navy finally ushered in a piece of good news, that is, the battleship Prince of Wales, which was finally towed to a safe area, was finally commissioned ahead of schedule.

Almost all the forces have been assembled, and the Royal Navy has finally launched the battleship Prince of Wales in advance at this time of crisis, and has the ability to fight for the motherland.

"God bless Britain!" Charles looked at the brand-new body of the battleship in front of him, and his mood recovered somewhat.

He was impassioned on his podium, in order to let the British Royal Navy regain its former self-confidence. Although the enemy is still raging, the victory will definitely belong to the British Empire.

In Charles' view, it was because of the forgetting of Nelson's spirit that the British Navy declined to what it is now. If he wants to revitalize the Royal Navy, he must start from the aspect of lifting spirits.

"I hope General Phillips can bring back some good news this time." Watching the military band playing hard under the podium, Charles whispered while applauding.

"You know, our current situation is worse than it seems." Standing beside Charles was his deputy.

The speaking deputy was in a bad mood because he had just learned something about the battleship Prince of Wales.

With a sad face, he whispered to his superior: "Sir, I just got the news that the Germans attacked CK-4, I heard that the fleet suffered heavy losses, 4 destroyers were sunk, and only less than half of the ships escaped. Protected area of ​​the Home Fleet."

"What is Phillips doing? Didn't he read my telegrams and focus on protecting the CK-4 fleet?" With a helpless smile on his face, Charles coldly asked a question from between his teeth.

The adjutant smiled bitterly and said, "The Germans dispatched bombers... When General Phillips arrived, the Germans had already left."

It's the same battle again, and the same result. The old fleet of the British Royal Navy seems to be a late hero, unable to catch up with the little thief who stole its own wheat, and can only starve to death in winter with less and less food...

"Hopefully, the service of the battleship Prince of Wales will allow us to improve some of the passive situation at this stage." Charles has no good solution. If there is, he will not be so passive now.

So he could only open his mouth to comfort others while also comforting himself, pinning all his hopes on the faster battleship Prince of Wales.

Combined with the fast battleship HMS King George V, the Royal Navy has managed to scrape together two high-speed battleships. Now, facing the German Navy, it can be reluctant to give it a try.

Using the cover of the Ark Royal and the Dreadnought, let the two battleships catch up with the German fleet.

Then after the two sides fought, when the slower main battleship arrived, turning the tide of the entire naval battle, at least on paper, the Royal Navy had a chance to win.

"General, although the battleship Prince of Wales has been launched, it will take at least 2 months for the battleship to be officially commissioned..." The adjutant had to remind his chief officer when he heard Charles' words.

After the reminder, he added a more realistic question: "Also, General. We seem to have to worry about more than 1,000 Navy sailors and officers and soldiers."

Speaking of this, Charles is like a deflated balloon: he seems to have reached an incredible stage now, with battleships but a lack of people to launch them...

How ironic! The dignified British Empire relies on the navy to make its fortune, and a few months ago it was the first country in the world's maritime hegemony! There will be a shortage of sailors!

"Damn, can't we even recruit some qualified sailors?" Charles was in a very bad mood. At this time, the celebration music for launching into the water had stopped, and he had already stepped off the high stage of the celebration speech.

His adjutant followed him half a step away, and cautiously opened his mouth to talk about the situation he had mastered: "Sir... On the transport fleet, the conditions for recruiting sailors have been extended to 52 years old."

It's 1940, and a 52-year-old was still a young man around 1916. And most of these guys have experienced the First World War.

Many of these people were sailors during the First World War, and they have good maritime experience themselves. These people are now a valuable asset.

These men were recruited mainly to supplement the various transport ships sunk by the German Navy. In the beginning, sailors with sailing experience were recruited.

As a result, recently, those former sailors, as long as they are willing to continue to serve the British government and join the transport fleet, can immediately serve as captains.

Because the losses are too many, the captain has become a scarce resource. The training of ordinary crew members is like child's play, and the requirement is just "not seasickness".

"What? They're all recruited to be so old at 42?" Charles didn't believe in this kind of thing, because this job was under the jurisdiction of the transportation department, and he, the naval commander, didn't care too much about this.

It's a pity that now, he has to care about this aspect. His adjutant shrugged his shoulders and corrected, "You heard it wrong, it's 52 years old~www.wuxiaspot.com~sir!"

"..." Glancing at his adjutant, Charles couldn't find any words to continue talking for a while. In the end, he didn't say a word, just walked away without saying a word.

In the harbour, cheers for the launch of the battleship Prince of Wales could still be faintly heard, but far away on the sea, the sound of German naval battleships shelling British ships could not be heard here.

At this time, Phillips was on the bridge of his flagship HMS King George V, looking at the transport fleet that lost its armor and armor in the distance, and wanted to smash the telescope in his hand in annoyance.

Yesterday evening, he came here with all his strength, but he could only watch helplessly as the CK-4 transport fleet in front of him disintegrated and hid in the east.

In addition to the scattered losses, in two days, he knew that more than 60 ships had been sunk by the Germans. This is obviously not a good sign, or it is simply terrible.

"Keep the fleet on course! Check the shipping schedule, and don't make any trouble!" Phillips was also a very good naval commander, but he found himself in a situation where he couldn't do anything when he faced the German fleet. in the state.