Chapter 536： Discover the French aircraft carrier

♂!

From here, only one silhouette of the opponent can be seen for the time being, but just by looking at that silhouette, you know it is an aircraft carrier!

Yes, it is definitely an aircraft carrier!

With the continuous fine-tuning of the high-magnification telescope, he quickly saw clearly that the flat flight deck, the huge starboard chimney and the superstructure were integrated, and the entire warship had obvious features of a British aircraft carrier.

But now, the British have no aircraft carriers in the Atlantic Ocean. Moreover, the British naval flag flying in the wind on the warships is not, not from the color!

"Attention, 15 nautical miles ahead, 30 degrees starboard, found an aircraft carrier, suspected to be a French aircraft carrier!" Carl shouted down through the intercom.

The French also have an aircraft carrier, but this aircraft carrier is basically unknown in this era.

This is the Bayern, the aircraft carrier, originally the No. 5 ship of the Normandy class. Construction began on January 10, 1914.

Unfortunately, because of the outbreak of the First World War, a large number of workers were drafted into the army and prioritized the manufacture of other armaments. The construction of the Normandy class was slow and even later completely stopped.

By the end of World War I, this kind of warship with a quadruple main gun had not even been built.

After the war, the French believed that the Normandy-class design was outdated. Together with the "Washington Naval Treaty" signed between France and Western powers in February 1922, the French decided to scrap the unfinished Normandy-class warships.

At this time, the French Navy realized that Britain, the United States, and Japan had begun to build or transform aircraft carriers through the deck. France also urgently needs to conduct relevant research on carrier aviation. For this reason, the French Navy decided to transform the lowest-completed No. 5 ship "Bayern" into an experimental aircraft carrier.

The French Naval Technical Corps once boarded the British "Hundred Eyes" aircraft carrier for inspection. During the reconstruction of the "Béarn", it learned a lot from the successful experience of British aircraft carriers. In this way, the newly built warships also have The appearance of a lot of British aircraft carriers.

This aircraft carrier has a full load displacement of 28,000 tons and can carry up to 40 carrier-based aircraft. In addition to carrier-based aircraft, the ship itself also has strong self-defense firepower, equipped with 8 155mm single-barreled naval guns.

Unfortunately, due to the engine problem, the maximum speed of this aircraft carrier was just over 20 knots. It was quite inconvenient to operate the carrier-based aircraft. Therefore, until the end of the war, this aircraft carrier was almost unknown.

However, for France, this aircraft carrier is very important, because it successfully transported French gold!

Yes, this is the mission that the French Navy arranged for its aircraft carrier! Although this aircraft carrier is a bit tasteless, it is an aircraft carrier after all!

Using an aircraft carrier to transport gold, then joined the United States, and then began to use this aircraft carrier as an aircraft transport ship, this is not a good thing, but this is the mission of the Bayan.

And now, this aircraft carrier is performing this mission.

The cruisers "Joan of Arc" and "Belden" were responsible for transporting Brest's gold, while the "Béarn" was responsible for transporting gold from the Port of Toulon.

After all, Germany can't take care of everything, so the Bayern was loaded with gold from the port of Toulon. Moreover, it went smoothly in the port of Toulon, and it got here all the way!

The USS Beyarn was ready to continue north and merge with the other two cruisers. When the three ships merged, they crossed the Atlantic Ocean and finally reached the Port of Halifax, Canada.

The gold in the Port of Toulon was only transported this time, and the rest was transported directly to the African colony to which France belongs. After all, it is closer.

And now, the Bayan is still sailing on its own route, and it is not vigilant.

Now, the French senior management can be said to be a mess. Brest was attacked, and the French were horrified. Those who didn’t know the inside story felt that the Germans were opening up a second battlefield and came from another direction. Those who knew the inside story felt terrible. The Germans were actually clear. He has insight into his own gold transportation plan.

If gold is intercepted by the Germans, then France really has no future!

Under such circumstances, everyone was in a mess, and no one thought of telling them to go to the Atlantic and join the two sunken warships as planned!

Just like this, the Bayern was sailing normally on the route, and the fishing boats around it were a good cover for it. It was mixed with the fishing boats, so it could better hide its tracks.

Until now, Spain has not joined the war, which makes many people feel lucky.

On the bridge, General Labaud frowned. He is the person in charge of this maritime operation. He will lead three warships to Canada.

The situation is deteriorating so fast, is the French Republic unable to hold on for even half a month?

He is concerned about the French Republic and the whole situation of World War II He is not worried about his warship.

Although the Germans had controlled the east coast of the Atlantic Ocean, the sea was too vast. The formation of their three warships had no problems along the way as long as they were not on the route.

At the beginning, in the early days of World War II, when German submarines were the most ferocious, many captains got nothing after going to sea, often unable to find a target for half a month.

And now, in the fishing boats, they are safer.

This kind of safety awareness made them pay a heavy price.

On the bridge, the intern was in charge of watching. Paul, he had just joined the navy for less than a month. This nearly 30,000-ton warship was relatively stable, but from a distance, it took a long time. It will be dim.

Anyway, there is no one to supervise, so he just carelessly looks at it and rests for a while. On the sea, there is at most a fishing boat, nothing to look at.

His carelessness caused the entire warship to be destroyed!

At this time, the German Deutsche-class battleship Earl Spey has discovered it!

When the observation post reported, Captain Ransdorf immediately aimed his telescope at the sea area, and soon he was ecstatic.

"Report to the fleet immediately that we have discovered the French Navy's aircraft carrier. In order to protect the safety of our fleet, we will launch an attack now!" said Colonel Ransdorf.

Attack immediately! He couldn't wait a long time ago. Being a babysitter for these landing ships is really boring. Now, with a big goal, he is on his own route, and of course he has to attack!

"Attention all ships, battle alert!" Colonel Ransdorf continued to give orders: "All main guns, immediately load armor-piercing shells! Two vehicles, three forwards, ready to seize the shooting position!"