Chapter 394: Great Sea Battle 2
The "big liar" Hessman, who was actually commanding a battle for the first time, wanted to use the offensive and defensive battle of Malta to set up a trap, targeting the three British aircraft carriers in the Mediterranean.
The troops he had were enough to achieve this combat goal, but the problem was that he did not have a naval commander who could really play with aircraft carriers. Neither Germany nor Italy had such talents. So what he could really count on was the shore-based aviation forces of Germany and Italy.
However, Hessman's opponent, Cunningham, commander of the British Mediterranean Fleet, was a naval commander who was good at using aircraft carriers. After several actual battles, Cunningham not only fully realized the importance of aircraft carriers, but also knew how to conduct naval battles centered on aircraft carriers.
After the H Fleet arrived at Alexandria, Cunningham immediately ordered the maintenance of the "Royal Ark" aircraft carrier to be completed in the shortest time. Then, with the Royal Ark and the Glorious as the core, a fast aircraft carrier strike formation-the B Fleet was formed.
The B fleet was led by the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious, and also included the aircraft carriers HMS Ark Royal, the heavy cruiser HMS York, the light cruiser HMS Liverpool, the light cruiser HMS Sydney, and six destroyers.
Since there were no slow-moving battleships and the aircraft carrier HMS Eagle (which was responsible for the air defense of the main fleet), the B fleet could maneuver at a high speed of more than 30 knots.
With only one heavy cruiser and two light cruisers, the B fleet would not consider using its main guns to fight the enemy fleet, so its strike force was carrier-based aircraft.
In order to increase the attack capability of the aircraft carrier, Cunningham adopted the means of increasing the number of deck moorings to increase the carrier-based aircraft of the aircraft carrier. Among them, the aircraft carrier Ark Royal was equipped with 92 carrier-based aircraft (20 of which were deck-moored), while the HMS Illustrious had 45 carrier-based aircraft (12 of which were deck-moored).
After deducting the 12 reserve aircraft of the Ark Royal and the 5 reserve aircraft of the Illustrious, there are a total of 120 carrier-based aircraft that can actually be put into combat, which are organized into 11 squadrons.
The Ark Royal has 7 squadrons, including 1 "Sea Fire" fighter squadron, 2 "Fulbron" fighter squadrons (one of which has only 8 aircraft), and 3 "Albacore" torpedo bomber squadrons. The Illustrious has 4 squadrons, 1 "Sea Fire" squadron (8 aircraft), 1 "Fulbron" squadron (8 aircraft), and 2 "Albacore" squadrons (both 12 aircraft).
The 3 types of combat aircraft carried on the Ark Royal and Illustrious also have different tasks. Among them, the "Sea Fire" with strong air combat capabilities is responsible for fleet air defense, and the "Fulbron" fighter with a longer range is responsible for escorting the attack force. The successor aircraft of the Swordfish, the Albacore torpedo bomber, is responsible for attack and search missions. The 60 torpedo planes of the five Albacore squadrons are the most advantageous weapons of the entire B fleet.
This Albacore torpedo bomber and the escorting Fulmar fighter (which can also carry two 113 kg bombs) have a maximum range of nearly 1,500 kilometers. This allows them to launch carrier-based air strikes 500 kilometers away, greatly enhancing the strike capability of the aircraft carrier.
If the location of the air strike target is near the island of Malta, then the most ideal attack position for the B fleet is 300 kilometers west of Crete, and the P39 Flying Snake fighter taking off from Crete can fully provide additional air superiority for the fleet and the attack aircraft group.
"Everyone, the Italian fleet is out, all of them!"
On the morning of January 13, 1941, in the conference room of the battleship "Warspite", Cunningham announced the important intelligence he had just received. He looked at everyone with a sharp gaze and said slowly: "This is a good opportunity for the Royal Navy to launch an annihilating attack on the Italian fleet, so I decided to mobilize all warships near Alexandria, including those undergoing maintenance, to advance to the waters near Crete and Benghazi to implement the "Judgment Plan" and seek a decisive battle with the Italian fleet."
The plan for the decisive battle had been drawn up before the arrival of Fleet H, code-named "Judgment".
According to the "Judgment" plan, the entire Mediterranean Fleet will be divided into two squadrons, A and B.
Among them, Fleet A is the main fleet, including all battleships and Eagle aircraft carriers, which will be commanded by Admiral Cunningham himself, and the attack position is point Y, which is the waters near Benghazi.
Fleet A has two tasks. One is to act as bait to attract the Italian fleet to approach, creating opportunities for Fleet B and British fighters on Crete to carry out air strikes.
The second task is to fight a decisive battle with the Italian surface fleet. In order to ensure that there is enough chance of winning in the fleet decisive battle, Cunningham incorporated all 8 battleships into Fleet A.
At the same time, the aircraft configuration of the only aircraft carrier in the A fleet, the Eagle, was also adjusted. The bombers and torpedo planes were cancelled and all were equipped with the Seafires with strong air combat capabilities. After adopting the deck-tethered carrying method, the current Eagle (UK) aircraft carrier can carry 33 carrier-based aircraft, including 5 backup aircraft, and the remaining 28 Seafires are organized into 2 squadrons (1 squadron with 16 aircraft and 1 squadron with 12 aircraft).
The B fleet was led by the famous general Lister who commanded the surprise attack on Toulon Port. They advanced to point X to ambush, waiting for the Italian fleet to take the bait, and then rushed from the ambush site to the attack position, giving priority to attacking the two Italian aircraft carriers!
In addition, in order to confuse the Italians. Fleet A and Fleet B will form a large formation to sail westward after leaving Alexandria, and then split into two after dark. Fleet A will go to the waters near Benghazi along the North African coastline, and Fleet B will sail north to point X.
…
"The entire Mediterranean Fleet will sail westward? Are they going to Benghazi?" Marshal Hessman, who was sitting in the Medici Villa, looked at the newly received intelligence and asked, "What does Cunningham want to do?"
"Perhaps he wants to force our fleet to go to the decisive battle by bombarding Benghazi." Admiral Cavgnari replied.
While the navy and air force were preparing to implement the "Battle of Malta", the Italian army was also preparing for the defense of Benghazi, where several new infantry divisions transferred from Tripoli were now concentrated, and many defeated soldiers retreating from the east were also accommodated. If the port was bombarded, it would definitely seriously dampen the morale of these Italians, which would be very unfavorable to the decisive battle that was about to begin.
"Bombard Benghazi?" Hessman glanced at Cavgnari, then said, "Tell Admiral Compionni (the Italian fleet commander) that the fleet will act according to the original plan regardless of whether the British fleet bombards Benghazi or not."
The original plan was a combat plan code-named "Hammer", which was formulated by Admiral Cavgnari and Admiral Jeschonnek. It implemented Hessman's two major ideas of "siege and attack" and "sink the enemy aircraft carrier".
However, unlike Cunningham's method of using aircraft carriers and carrier-based aircraft as the leading role, Cavgnari and Jeschonnek did not regard the two Italian aircraft carriers "Eagle" and "Sparrowhawk" and the 8 German carrier-based aircraft squadrons on them as the main force of air strikes.
Therefore, in the "Hammer" plan, no separate aircraft carrier strike force was formed (they probably didn't know that aircraft carriers could be used in this way), but aircraft carriers and battleships were formed into a large fleet. The four Fokker Zero squadrons on the aircraft carriers were responsible for the fleet's air defense, while the other four Fokker 99 squadrons took on the task of bombing the island of Malta.
The reason for this arrangement was that Jeschonnek did not have Ju87 dive bombers and Hs123 attack aircraft that could carry out precise strikes on ground targets. And Cavgnari continued his inertial thinking of not trusting the Air Force and was unwilling to hand over the air support mission for landing operations to the Air Force.
In addition, Jeschonnek's shore-based bomber aviation was very powerful. Germany's two bomber aviation regiments alone had 18 squadrons (each with 12 aircraft), 9 He-115 torpedo squadrons and 9 Ju88 bomber squadrons. The Italians also provided 12 S.M.79 torpedo bomber squadrons (2 more than at the end of 1940). There were a total of 30 shore-based bomber aviation squadrons available for Jeschonnek to call, so he did not think it was necessary to use the four Fokker 99 squadrons on aircraft carriers to deal with the British fleet.
Therefore, in the "Hammer" plan, Jeschonnek formed two air commands. One was called the "Support Command", commanded by the Italian Air Force Chief of Staff Pricolo, and under the command of 26 Italian shore-based fighter squadrons, responsible for air superiority in the battlefield near the island of Malta and providing direct cover for the Italian fleet.
The other was called the "Attack Command", commanded by Jeschonnek himself, under the command of 6 shore-based fighter squadrons and 18 shore-based bomber squadrons in Germany and 12 shore-based torpedo squadrons in Italy, specifically responsible for attacking the British fleet.
In addition, in order to effectively implement the sea search mission, Hessmann also mobilized more Fw-200C and Ar-1115 seaplanes (not shore-based) from Germany. These aircraft were assigned to the Italian fleet (mainly Ar-196) and the "Attack Command" (mainly Fw-200C and He-115) respectively. At the same time, the Italian Navy also sent a large number of submarines to lurk in the vast waters southeast of Crete to Alexandria, acting as the eyes and ears of the fleet and the air force.
"Admiral, the radio station has detected an unknown radio signal. There may be an Italian submarine nearby."
At about 5 pm on January 14, 1941 (the British fleet set out on the morning of January 14), Rear Admiral Crutchley, Chief of Staff of the British Mediterranean Fleet, reported to Admiral Cunningham, who was sitting in the command tower of the battleship HMS Warspite and smoking his pipe leisurely.
"Should we send out a destroyer?" Rear Admiral Crutchley suggested.
Cunningham raised his wrist and looked at the watch on his wrist, "Okay, it's almost time, let the destroyer go for anti-submarine... Make sure that Fleet B is not discovered by Italian submarines when it leaves for the north at night."