Chapter 1120： Response Fleet

Chapter 1120

"Yes, it's time for us to act. Are the three camouflage ships in place?" the prince asked after reading the telegram.

"Already in place. Lieutenant-General Hipper wants to personally lead the team to meet his subordinates." Lieutenant General Scheer said.

"Hipper? Let him go on the Cedric, but don't go with the other battlecruisers. Let him take the third battleship squadron." The prince did not plan to have another meeting to discuss anything. Directly ordered.

"The third battleship squadron? Are the three new Bavaria? This, they belong to the headquarters of the High Seas Fleet." Scheer said unexpectedly, asking Hipper to carry out the mission with the warships that did not belong to him. Is it really good?

"Don’t let them go, who will let them go? Don’t forget, two of our three camouflage ships are modeled on the Bavarian-class appearance, and one is a reference battlecruiser. If the British were to discover our harbor If there are 11 Bavaria ships, they will definitely find the tricky. So since there are fakes, the real ones will naturally go out. And I always feel that the Bavarian class is more stable." The prince said.

The prince’s idea was simple. Three camouflage ships were used to fill the main fleet, and then the real ships replaced to perform the response mission. This response mission is not easy to do. The fleet size should not be too large, otherwise the main fleet will be empty. The British aircraft can fly to the vicinity of Wilhelmshaven. If you find that there are too few main ships, you will definitely think of one. The German fleet moved from another exit. So there are three disguises, and the number of warships going out is 3 to 4, not many.

Going out to meet may encounter Thomas Fleet, and Thomas Fleet has 10 fast warships. It is not certain how many Blücher can attract away, so the receiving fleet needs to be ready to fight at all times. In terms of combat effectiveness, The Mochi-class battlecruisers are lower than the Helgeland-class, and the Helgeland-class is lower than the Bavarian-class. If there are three Bavarian-class battlecruisers, plus the Sederitz and Mochi, the British will have 3 queens and 4 The prince is not worried about battlecruisers. Even if more warships arrive, there is a greater probability of evacuation. But to change to other types of warships is not enough. Therefore, in order to ensure the smooth progress of this operation, the prince decided to send three new Bavarian-class battleships in the best condition!

"Then the High Seas Fleet will attack?" Scheer asked afterwards.

"It depends on the situation. We must first know the situation of the British fleet. If they are very close, then don't go out." The prince said hesitantly. In fact, the main battleships of the High Seas Fleet need to enter and exit Yard Bay at high tide, and the water depth is not enough at low tide... If the opponent is really blocked at the door of the house, and the fleet can't get back home, the problem will be a bit serious...

"Or in other words, if the British airships and planes can fly over our port, then we don’t have to go to sea, because the purpose of our existence is to tell the British that we are all in the port and no main battleship enters the North Sea. "The prince said with a smile.

"The British plane is flying over our port? This is a very bad experience!" Lieutenant General Scheer said embarrassingly. Although the German Navy attaches great importance to the role of the air force, but due to the limited size of the German air force and the need to resist the powerful air forces of Britain and France on the western front, the German Navy does not yet have an independent aviation unit. There are several airplanes, but they are not large enough.

In a private meeting after returning this time, Hipper once said to Schell very worriedly that in the future, the German fleet will not only deal with the large fleet at sea, but also beware of the British bombers in the port that do not know when they will arrive. , They can bomb the army, and naturally they can also bomb the aircraft parked in the harbor. After this time at sea, Scheer was no longer concerned about the air defense issue of the high seas fleet, but worried!

"Yeah, V1500 came out too early." The prince also sighed. The V1500 four-engine heavy bomber, the highest achievement in the history of World War I aircraft, has no impressive record. The fundamental reason is that it came out too late. By the time it was in service, the war was almost over. Naturally, it didn't need much. The number is limited, and the role is naturally limited, but the appearance of this behemoth on this plane caught Germany off guard. But fortunately, the double-engine interceptor of the Bavarian Air Force's Tracer has been in service on a large scale. After the Russian Ilya bomber was killed, these idle hunters might as well take on the air defense mission of the German Navy!

Of course, simply supporting an air defense net in his own home is not the ultimate goal of the prince, he has more plans, but now, for the High Seas Fleet, the most urgent task is how to respond to the Maoqi and return to China!

"Operate tonight. Our fleet movement is strictly confidential only at night. Your fleet will first reach the Baltic Sea through the Kiel Canal. There is a seaplane carrier, a light cruiser squadron, and 2 destroyer squadrons waiting for you. , Take them through the Skagerrak Strait, and then meet our warriors in the distance. Note, we must ensure that the radio is silent, and do not actively send signals before the other party finds you. After the British fleet arrives near the German coast, we will always Pay attention to your opponent and tell you relevant information. As for how to make a decision, it's up to you."

Later, when he confessed the task to Hipper, the prince said so. It is impossible for the prince to do everything by himself, he must always give the commanders below some responsibility and decision-making abilities The overall layout has been completed, it depends on how the people below do.

So in the evening, after returning to the port, just after two hot meals, the British fleet attacked again, went up to Jericho and went down to the ordinary soldiers, gnawed the burger in his hand, and drank hot coffee and went to his post again. . At the same time, the high seas fleet's work of stealing and replacing posts is also underway. In the Kiel Canal after the martial law, Hipper took his four warships to pass as soon as possible. After they arrived, the three were powerful and practical. The camouflage ship on which the civilian ship was set up came to Wilhelmshaven through the Kiel Canal.

On this evening, far in the vast Norwegian Sea, the Blücher was carrying the cruiser Wiesbaden into the North Sea at a speed of 20 knots. Although it has been used as a decoy, Colonel Hullhouse still hopes that a miracle can happen. With about 8 hours a night and a speed of 20 knots, the fleet can run 160 nautical miles, which is more than 300 kilometers! This speed cannot be said to be slow, but for the Royal Navy, which has formed a situation of encirclement and is equipped with powerful air and maritime reconnaissance forces, it is not too difficult to find them. More importantly, the British fleet has been blocked. With the two return passages, the Blücher can only sail around at sea!

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(End of this chapter)