Chapter 395: Sea Battle 3

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"

Under the bright moonlight, the British Mediterranean Fleet B, consisting of 2 aircraft carriers, 1 heavy cruiser, 2 light cruisers and 6 destroyers, formed a column and quickly headed north. Behind them, the dull roar of depth charges exploding came from time to time.

The attack on possible Italian submarines has lasted for several hours. It is hard to say whether the Italian submarines have been sunk, but it has caused a lot of noise.

"If there are Italian submarines nearby, they must be deep in the sea and dare not move." Captain Boyd, the captain of the Illustrious aircraft carrier and the chief of staff of the B Fleet, walked behind Major General Ramley Lister, the commander of the B Fleet, who was "looking at the scenery" on the platform outside the bridge.

"That would be the best. Tomorrow morning we can arrive at point X without anyone noticing." Major General Lister turned his head and said softly, "This is a good start. Now it depends on how lucky we are next."

Major General Lister frowned slightly when he spoke, and it was obvious that he was not sure of victory.

"General, as long as we can grasp the timing of the attack, we have a great chance of winning. After all, the two Italian aircraft carriers are converted from cruise ships and cannot withstand attacks." Colonel Boyd said, "Once we sink these two aircraft carriers, Marshal Hessman will become a defeated general of our Royal Navy."

Although the Italian fleet has a long-range shore-based Fokker Zero, it is still difficult to leave the protection of the aircraft carrier if it really wants to attack the Benghazi-Crete line.

Because the distance between the Benghazi-Crete line and the airport on Sicily is more than 700 kilometers. It takes more than an hour for the Fokker Zero to fly to arrive, so it is too late to dispatch the Fokker Zero after the Italian fleet discovers the enemy aircraft, and it can only send direct cover aircraft in advance to follow all the way. And doing so is a great test of the pilots' physical strength-they go on the road for at least more than 3 hours, and they have to circle over the fleet for 2 hours.

Moreover, if a day is calculated as 12 hours, 6 batches of Fokker Zero aircraft will be dispatched in turn (two dispatches a day, flying for 11-12 hours, even the German superman will be exhausted), which means that the Fokker Zero aircraft deployed by the Germans in the Mediterranean can only play one-sixth of their combat power.

If the battlefield moves further east, those Fokker Zeros will be even more difficult to play a role!

"It's hard to say," Major General Lister paused and expressed his concerns, "In the Mediterranean, the Germans lack aircraft carriers, and we lack pilots and aircraft! The last time we lost carrier-based aircraft and pilots, we didn't replenish them until October, and... the level of those new pilots is obviously not as good as before. If our losses this time are the same as last time, then the Mediterranean Fleet will lack carrier-based aircraft and pilots within a few months. In this way, even if we sink the enemy's aircraft carrier, the value of victory will be greatly reduced."

Since there was no Battle of Britain, Britain and Germany are not short of pilots now. But what is not lacking is ordinary shore-based aircraft pilots, not veterans who can fly carrier-based aircraft. Because they had aircraft carriers very early, the quality of British carrier-based aircraft pilots was extremely high before the outbreak of the war. This is also the reason why they were able to carry out the night attack on Toulon. Such operations are not only impossible for Germany, which has just started to play with aircraft carriers, but also for the carrier-based aircraft pilots of the United States and Japan, two powerful aircraft carrier countries.

However, due to the poor performance of carrier-based aircraft, the generation of elite pilots before the outbreak of the war was basically exhausted by the beginning of 1941, and the level of the pilots who were supplemented was much worse than before.

If the casualties of carrier-based aircraft pilots in this "Judgment" operation are still heavy, then Lister is very worried that the Mediterranean Fleet's aircraft carrier forces will not be able to attack again in the next few months.

...

Heinz Bar, the boss of Hessman Jr. at the beginning of the Western Front Campaign, is now the captain of the 9th Carrier Aircraft Squadron. He was detained for a few days because he parachuted into the Netherlands during the Western Front Campaign, and was released at the end of May. Then he went back to the carrier-based aircraft flight school in Wilhelmshaven to learn to fly the Fokker 99 carrier-based bomber.

This was a necessary course for him to become a carrier-based aircraft squadron leader, because the carrier-based aircraft squadrons were mixed squadrons, with both fighters and bombers and sometimes torpedo bombers. As a squadron leader, he had to be a generalist (just like the workshop director in the German factory).

After completing 6 months of devilish training, Heinz Barr was promoted to captain and was sent to the Italian aircraft carrier "Eagle" as the carrier-based aircraft squadron leader and the squadron leader of the 3rd bomber squadron. He became the boss of Hessmann and Novotny again.

"Now arrange tomorrow's tasks," Heinz Barr called together his three squadron leaders, Hessmann, Novotny and Lieutenant Hans Ulrich Rudel (he was the squadron leader of the 4th squadron and also flew the Fokker 99) at dinner and assigned them the tasks for the next day.

"Rudolf, your men are responsible for the fleet's direct cover. You must ensure that there are four planes in the sky at all times." Captain Barr said, "You must focus on protecting the aircraft carrier and be especially careful of the British torpedo attack planes."

There are currently no usable torpedo bombers on the German and Italian aircraft carriers, and there are no usable dive bombers on the British aircraft carriers (British shore-based aircraft also do not have bombers), but the German dive bombers and the British torpedo bombers But they are all powerful. At the same time, the mine protection capabilities of Italy's two aircraft carriers and four old battleships are extremely weak, and they may sink even if they take one aviation torpedo.

Therefore, the commander of the Italian aircraft carrier force, Admiral Anzu Aquino, and the commander-in-chief of the fleet, Admiral Igoni Compioni, both focused the fleet's air defense on British torpedo bombers.

"Don't worry," Rudolf Hessmann said, "those slow biplanes will never be able to get close to the aircraft carrier."

Captain Barr said to Novotny again: "Walter, your task is to cover the 3rd and 4th Squadrons to bomb Malta."

"Bombing Malta?" Before Nowotny could speak, Lieutenant Rudel, who was sitting next to him, had already shouted, "Why not the British aircraft carrier? Who will bomb the British aircraft carrier?"

"The aircraft carrier will be bombed by shore-based aircraft!" Captain Barr frowned and said, "They have 30 squadrons, and there is no shortage of 4 squadrons on the aircraft carrier."

"But there is not a single real dive bomber among those 30 squadrons!" Lieutenant Rudel shook his head repeatedly.

The Ju88 is a dive bomber and can only perform shallow dives. Compared with the Ju87 and Fokker 99, there is still a gap in bomb delivery accuracy. There is no problem in dealing with ships anchored in the port, but it is not easy to deal with aircraft carriers that are evading at a high speed of 30 knots.

"And there are still 6 battleships in the Italian fleet!" Little Hersman also interjected, "Can't 6 battleships deal with the British fortress on the island of Malta?"

"Okay, okay." Heinz Bahr waved his hand vigorously, "Stop talking nonsense, Rudolf, let your people rest after dinner, they will be busy all day tomorrow. Walter, Ulrich, call all of you to the pilot lounge for a meeting after dinner. I have to arrange the bombing mission tomorrow morning!"

…

The time has arrived at 4:10 a.m. on January 15, 1941. When the sky was dim and bright, Admiral Cunningham had already ended his short sleep and returned to the command tower of the Warspite.

Major General Crutchley, who stayed here all night, reported to him: "Admiral, no telegrams have been received from Fleet B. They are obviously still in radio silence."

Fleet B is used for ambushes, and according to the plan, radio silence will be maintained before launching an attack. Once the silence is broken in advance, it means that Fleet B has been discovered by the enemy. The news that there is no B fleet now is actually good news.

"Very good." Cunningham took his breakfast from the adjutant, took a bite of an egg sandwich, and asked, "Is there any news about the Italian fleet?"

"According to the seaplane report sent by Malta, the Italian fleet sailed southwest after leaving the Bay of Taranto. The target should be Malta. It is estimated that bombing and artillery will start this morning."

"Increase the speed to 20 knots and move the entire fleet towards Benghazi..." Cunningham thought for a moment and then ordered, "We cannot let the enemy's Fw-200 get close today. We must make the enemy mistake Ark Royal and Glory Still with us.”

Major General Crutchley smiled and said: "Admiral, the Spitfire on the Eagle is enough to complete the task of driving away the Fw-200, and maybe it can shoot down a few more."

"When can we get near Benghazi?" Cunningham asked again.

"Another three hours," Major General Crutchley said.

"Very good, prepare for the bombardment. First destroy the forts in the port. Then use the grid method to cover and shoot the entire Benghazi port area and urban area. All the main guns of the eight battleships will participate in the firing, firing out 50% of the high-explosive bombs. "Cunningham said with a sneer, "As long as the Italians in Benghazi are hurt, the main force of the Italian fleet will definitely come to fight us. As long as they come, we can destroy them!"

Although Benghazi is a large Italian stronghold in North Africa, it is not an impregnable fortress. The coastal forts have only been repaired in a haphazard manner and cannot withstand the bombardment of eight battleships. Moreover, there are still a lot of ammunition and supplies shipped from mainland Italy piled up in Benghazi City. Many troops who have just withdrawn from the North African front line are also resting in Benghazi City. If they are bombarded by battleships, they will definitely suffer heavy losses. !