Chapter 555 Diao Silk Aircraft Carrier
The aircraft carriers in World War II were actually divided into several different grades.
The first grade was large fleet aircraft carriers, such as the Essex class of the United States, the Zeppelin class of Germany, the Illuminati class of the United Kingdom, the Shokaku class and the Taiho class of Japan, etc.
The second grade was light fleet aircraft carriers, such as the Seydlitz class of Germany, the Shoho class and the Ryuho class of Japan, etc., and the "small goal" of the US president - 20 light aircraft carriers converted from the hulls of Cleveland-class light cruisers.
The third grade was aircraft carriers converted from large cruise ships, such as several "Blue Ribbon Aircraft Carriers" of Germany, the "Eagle" and "Condor" of Italy, and the Taiying, Yunying and Chongying of Japan.
The above three grades of aircraft carriers are all relatively expensive products. Not only can they carry a large number of aircraft, but also because of their relatively fast speed, they can follow the main fleet to participate in fleet decisive battles, and they can be regarded as "fleet aircraft carriers".
And below these three grades, there is also a kind of "escort aircraft carrier" that is not worth much. The so-called escort aircraft carrier cannot be interpreted literally. As long as it is responsible for the escort mission, it is an escort aircraft carrier. There will always be things in this world where there are things that are overkill and overkill. For example, the United States is now using four large aircraft carriers to do escort work in the Pacific.
A real escort aircraft carrier usually refers to a "three small and one no" aircraft carrier with small tonnage, small hangar, small horsepower and no armor. In a nutshell, it is a poor ** among aircraft carriers.
This kind of "diaosi aircraft carrier" does not have a solid warship hull, and usually uses cheap civilian ship hulls to make up the number. It is very easy to sink when encountering attacks from enemy ships and enemy aircraft. In addition, the "diaosi aircraft carrier" does not have a huge tonnage, usually around 10,000, and the hangar is of course very small, and the deck must be wooden.
Finally, the "diaosi aircraft carrier" does not have the professional heavy oil-burning boilers and steam turbines on warships and luxury cruise ships, and of course it does not have a huge horsepower marine diesel engine. Normally, an aircraft carrier of just over 10,000 tons is given a broken diesel engine of 8,000 or 8,500 horsepower, and can run at a maximum speed of 15 or 16 knots.
Such a "diaosi aircraft carrier" has no armor, no speed, and no tonnage. It is cheap and of course very cheap. If you are too lazy to build it, just find an 8,000-ton or 10,000-ton merchant ship, dismantle the superstructure and lay a wooden flight deck.
For the United Kingdom and Germany now, the first and second-tier fleet aircraft carriers are relatively scarce, and the third-tier cruise ship converted aircraft carriers are not worth much. As for the fourth-tier "diaosi aircraft carrier", eight or ten can still be easily taken out. Even if there is none, it can be converted by finding some 10,000-ton merchant ships in a few months.
However, aircraft carriers are easy to get, but carrier-based aircraft pilots are difficult to train. Therefore, Britain and Germany will not build dozens or hundreds of escort aircraft carriers for fun. Even if the escort aircraft carriers that have been built (now there are many in Britain and Germany), they are often idle because there are not enough pilots. The carrier-based pilots on the ** aircraft carriers are not **, they are elites trained at a great cost! Therefore, the United States's behavior of building more than 100 escort aircraft carriers in history is not considered rich at all, but equipping dozens of escort aircraft carriers with carrier-based aircraft pilots is the real rich.
The current commander of the Home Fleet, Cunningham, has several idle "** aircraft carriers" in his hands, and it is unknown when they can be equipped with pilots. Since the United States has temporarily stopped the delivery of lend-lease materials, the training of British pilots has become sloppy in the past few months. It is okay to use them as shore-based pilots, but it is not okay to go on aircraft carriers. Either they fall off the deck or get lost at sea. The range of activities of British aircraft carriers is the North Atlantic, North Sea, and Norwegian Sea, which have complex climates and sea conditions. Without strict training, it is easy to get into trouble. Moreover, the Royal Navy could not take away all the elites of the Royal Air Force, as the Royal Air Force was fighting bloody battles with the German Air Force and the German Naval Aviation every day.
So this time, Cunningham simply put together three 10,000-ton escort aircraft carriers without aircraft and two aircraft carriers converted from cruise ships, the Aquitania and the Berengaria, to form a decoy aircraft carrier formation - the B Fleet commanded by Vice Admiral Somerville.
After receiving Cunningham's order to "attack eastward to about 150 nautical miles east of the Faroe Islands (this position was carefully calculated and just outside the combat radius of the Fw-190 based in Bergen)", the five aircraft carriers began to sail eastward in a mighty manner under the escort of the heavy cruisers Suffolk and Frobes, as well as five light cruisers and 10 destroyers.
This very eye-catching fleet B, consisting of five aircraft carriers, was discovered by the Fw-200C on reconnaissance patrol in the North Atlantic Ocean west of the Faroe Islands not long after it sailed.
…
"Admiral, Vulture 052 discovered five aircraft carriers, two of which are large aircraft carriers, and the other three are light aircraft carriers of 10,000 tons, located in the F5 waters."
"There are two large aircraft carriers? Are they the Glorious class?" Gunther Lütjens stood up and walked to the nautical chart hanging on the wall of the fleet commander's conference room.
"Not sure, but at least one is not the Glorious class. The reconnaissance aircraft reported that one of the two large aircraft carriers is particularly large, with a displacement of more than 50,000 tons. It should be converted from a cruise ship." Lieutenant General Erich Bei suggested, "Commander, why not let Lieutenant General Heyer's aircraft carrier and Bergen's air force attack."
The three 10,000-ton aircraft carriers are obviously escort carriers, and neither Lütjens nor Bay would take them seriously. However, the two large aircraft carriers are certainly valuable targets. Even if they are not Glorious class, they must be converted from large cruise ships. So Vice Admiral Erich Bay wants the five aircraft carriers commanded by Helmut Heyer to dispatch carrier-based aircraft, and at the same time use shore-based aircraft in Bergen.
"The British are not so easy to be fooled, and they are in the F5 waters... It is not far from the north of Scotland," said Gunther Lütjens, crossing his arms, "There must be a large number of P51s to support, and the Fw-190 cannot reach the F5 waters."
The era when the Fokker Zero was king in Europe has passed. Both the Spitfire equipped with the "Gray Falcon" 60 engine and the American P51 (there is no "Gray Falcon" 60 model) can deal with the Fokker Zero. If the P51 is equipped with the superior Merlin 60 engine, it will not be able to be dealt with by an aircraft like the Fokker Zero. The Fw-190 must be used to cooperate with the Fokker Zero.
Erich Bay thought for a while and said, "Then let the P.108S heavy bombers in Bergen go out and use the Hs293V3 to deal with these British aircraft carriers."
The 60 P.108S heavy bombers commanded by Major Mussolini are all specially modified and can drop Hs293V3 bombs. Each aircraft can carry up to 5 Hs293V3 bombs (or 5 ordinary CP-500 bombs), and can carry out precision bombing from an altitude of 6500-10000 meters. Moreover, the range of the P.108S is large enough, with a maximum range of more than 4000 kilometers. When carrying 5 Hs293V3 bombs, the combat radius can reach 1500 kilometers. It is enough to cover the waters near Iceland from Bergen.
If these 60 P.108S attack at the same time, they can drop 300 Hs293V3 bombs at a time! Although it is only a 500 kg high-explosive bomb, it is precision-guided. If an aircraft carrier is hit by dozens of bombs, no matter how sturdy the aircraft carrier is, it will definitely be sunk.
"No, don't touch the P.108S first." Gunther Lütjens thought for a while, shook his head and said, "The first battle of these 60 P.108S must be used against the four Glorious-class... They are the real main force."
After dropping 300 Hs293V3 bombs at a time, this black technology weapon will be exposed, and maybe the British will pick up one or two unexploded bombs. If they are used again in the future, there will be no unexpected effect. So Gunther Lütjens wants the Hs293V3 bomb to achieve a big enough result in the first battle.
"Then we..." Erich Bei looked at Gunther Lütjens and was in trouble for a while.
"We ignore them," said Gunther Lütjens, "We continue to move towards the Faroe Islands and install the original plan to bombard after dark, using the cannons of Hindenburg, Ludendorff, Barbarossa and Schlieffen to bombard the ports and airports of the Faroe Islands."
...
"It's getting dark."
On the battleship "King George V", Admiral Cunningham walked to the side of the command tower, looked at the sunset outside the window, frowned and muttered.
On the long afternoon of March 25, 1942 (it is now the polar day period in the Arctic, so the daytime is very long), Cunningham was waiting for news of the bombing of Fleet B. If the bombing occurred, it would be a fierce battle. There were a total of 108 F4Fs on the Aquitania and the Berengia, and the Coastal Air Force would dispatch at least 200 P51s to assist in the battle, which would definitely cause heavy damage to the attacking German fleet.
The current P51 has not been equipped with the Merlin 60 engine, so its performance in medium and high altitudes is not good. If it encounters the combined tactics of Fw190 and Fokker Zero, it will still suffer. However, it can achieve better results against Fokker Zero alone.
So according to Cunningham's plan, Fleet B will stop outside the combat radius of the shore-based Fw-190 based in Bergen, but Cunningham does not think that Somerville's Fleet B will be unscathed, and the loss of 2-3 aircraft carriers is still expected!
The German High Seas Fleet, which has successfully "severely damaged" the British aircraft carrier force, should also be confident and bold to go north to break through the Danish Strait. In this way, the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force will have the opportunity to annihilate the main force of the German High Seas Fleet after it leaves the German shore-based aircraft cover circle, or at least severely damage it!
"Are they still heading towards the Faroe Islands?" Cunningham turned and asked.
"Yes, Admiral." A staff officer replied. "They are still heading towards the Faroe Islands... If nothing unexpected happens, the German fleet will enter the running position tonight."
"Bombardment?" Cunningham shook his head and said to himself, "It can't be to capture the Faroe Islands... The Germans must be feinting! Their goal must be to break into the Atlantic Ocean!"