One Thousand and Thirty-Eight Polar Opposites

On the vast sea, a huge fleet has quietly assembled, and countless transport ships and warships are shuttling among them. In front of all these, human beings seem small and abnormal. _﹍8 =`-``=-`··=This may be the most spectacular sight of industrial civilization challenging nature. After all, these warships can be said to have ruled the ocean for nearly a hundred years.

Although this is the southern part of the North Atlantic Ocean, the sea is no longer cold, but the waves are still swaying the ships on the sea, always reminding people that this is not a good place with calm waters, but a dangerous battlefield that may become rough at any time.

With lights flashing in response to proper radio silence, the entire fleet was ordered to go to Gibraltar and through there to Italy to engage the Germans. I don't know which idiot drew up this unlucky plan, but it didn't take into account the coordination factor at all.

The Allies, like the Germans, had extensive experience with the Trans-Hayden 6. When the German army landed on the British expedition to Norway, it accumulated rich experience in cross-sea land operations, while the United Kingdom and the United States won a series of land operations on the Pacific battlefield. But this time it was not a landing operation, but so many troops were transported covertly through the enemy-occupied area, and landed in the heart of the enemy army-this was the first time for the British and American coalition forces.

But how could such a large transport fleet completely avoid the detection of the Germans? The German ocean-going submarines all over the ocean, the various long-range reconnaissance aircraft taking off from Britain, France, and Gibraltar... The German army on the opposite side has countless means to detect the sea power of the British and American coalition forces in advance.

"Destroyer No. 97 has a signal. They have just heard some irregular noises. They suspect it is an enemy submarine..." A colonel walked up to the fleet commander, Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Navy, General Dudley Pound, Lizhenghui reported: "This is the second danger alert today. We are already close to the danger zone. If this continues, we will be wiped out by the German navy in Gibraltar. >>Let's _﹍·``---·· =====”

Dudley Pound sighed helplessly, why didn't he know that there were many dangers ahead of his fleet? At least 3 days after he led the Royal Navy's main fleet to sail, he received a piece of intelligence from the United States: the whereabouts of the German Navy's main fleet is unknown.

What is the whereabouts of the main fleet of the German Navy unknown? That is to say, at least 5 aircraft carriers of the German Navy have left the garrisoned harbor and sailed to the Atlantic Ocean. Dudley Pound naturally knew exactly who this enemy fleet was targeting. However, landing in Italy is too important to the entire battle situation, and even he cannot bear the responsibility of canceling the action plan casually. He could only bite the bullet and lead the fleet around a huge circle, approaching Gibraltar as stealthily as possible.

"Now let's see if the Italian fleet has the ability to interfere with the Gibraltar Fortress, so that we can escape from this mortal encirclement and ascend to heaven." Dudley Pound put his hands behind his back, his tone full of hesitation and wavering : "If the German fleet is really in Gibraltar, I can only say that it is our grave.

"

Behind him, an admiral from the United States with his hands behind his back forced a smile and said, "General, you shouldn't be so pessimistic, right? We are only responsible for escort missions, and we don't really need to approach the Strait of Gibraltar... Even if There will be some losses, but I don't think it will be too huge, right?"

That's because you haven't competed with the German aircraft carrier! Compared with the Japanese, the Germans are more proficient at playing carrier-based aircraft, okay? The quality of the German carrier-based aircraft is higher, okay? The more important point is-the Germans can completely fight within the cover circle of the 6th base aviation. Is there anything more depressing than this?

With the deployment of the Germans in Gibraltar, hundreds of aircraft can be dispatched at will, plus the number of fighter jets in the aircraft carrier fleet, the German army has an obvious overwhelming advantage. 8﹏＞﹍--`··-`-·-`= On the other hand, the Allied forces have three newly launched escort aircraft carriers, plus an Ark Royal—the number of aircraft that can take off is one-third of that of the other side May not reach. If this is not giving away the other party's head, what exactly is it?

"The cooperation between two originally hostile countries...involves almost all areas such as military, port, transportation, naval warfare, etc. How can an operation of this scale be completely kept secret?" Dudley Pound wailed: "You really do German spies are all stupid?"

"This is also what worries me the most. So far, the performance of the German military's intelligence agencies in this operation has been too sluggish. They have been aware of it lately, and they are simply letting us in on purpose." The American general obviously didn't want to see his fleet being calculated by the Germans, so he thought for a while and said, "Let the fleet adjust its course and slow down?"

Dudley Pound nodded, agreeing to this adjustment. He himself is not willing to carry out this plan, not to mention that there has been an alarm that may be discovered by an enemy submarine just now. So he also felt that he should change the sailing parameters so that his fleet could get rid of some possible German calculations: "Order the fleet to slow down by another 4 knots, and keep the current formation heading 15 degrees to the left!"

"Understood! Subtract 4 knots, turn the rudder 15 degrees to the left, and adjust the course!" After turning the steering wheel in his hand, the helmsman repeated the general's order loudly. In the sky, the naval P-fighter escorting the entire fleet was still circling Standing, vigilantly patrolling the distant sky.

"Sir! A telegram from Washington!" A British non-commissioned officer squeezed the telegram in his hand, came behind General Dudley Pound, stood at attention and saluted, and said, "The one just translated uses the highest level of code encryption!"

"Read!" Dudley Pound would receive a confirmation telegram from Washington every hour. Since his fleet left Canada, he has received countless such confirmation telegrams. If there are no special circumstances, he does not need to reply, just sign for receipt. So he wasn't even interested in reading it, he just casually ordered his subordinates to read the telegram and settle the matter.

"The Luna plan has been exposed, the mission has been cancelled, and the fleet will return immediately!" When the officer read the telegram, the voice in his throat seemed to be trembling. He couldn't quite believe his eyes, after all, he left When I was in Canada, I even left my own will.

"Huh?" Dudley Pound walked over in disbelief, snatched the telegram from the officer, and lowered his head to confirm word by word. And the American general behind him also came to his side and checked the content together... Unfortunately, this telegram is indeed the content.

"Italy's plan exposed? That's right, how could it not be exposed..." Dudley Pound smiled wryly. At this moment, he didn't know whether to laugh excitedly or shed tears of sadness. On the one hand, there are still tens of thousands of people in his fleet who don’t have to take risks in Italy. This is indeed exciting news; but on the other hand, it also means that the chance of using Italy to reverse the situation in North Africa and fight for Britain to sort it out has completely disappeared. .

However, as a famous general of the British Navy, Dudley Pound still has a clear priority. He immediately ordered the radio silence to be broken and sent a telegram to Washington confirming the accuracy of the order. Immediately afterwards, he ordered the entire fleet to immediately change course and head south to avoid possible encounters,

"All ships in the fleet, immediately turn to the right rudder." He raced against the clock to give the order to turn, and then ordered to strengthen the air defense alert: "Let the escort aircraft carrier clear the deck and prepare to take off fighter jets at any time! After the fleet turns, immediately head south Get out of this sea."

...

"In a few minutes, the Allied fleet should be within our attack range..." Looking at the pocket watch on his chest, the captain of a German navy destroyer sneered, showing a determined expression: " Arm the anti-aircraft weapons, and the radar will start searching in 17 minutes!"

About a kilometer behind him, on the deck of a German aircraft carrier, one after another F-air-cooled fighter jets were mounting bombs under the wings. The German army was determined to win this time, and was ready to encircle and annihilate the Anglo-American fleet that had entered the pocket of Gibraltar.

Farther away, at the Fortress of Gibraltar, the coastal defense artillery originally deployed here has lifted the camouflage canvas, revealing its ferocious fangs. These giant weapons originally deployed by the British here are for the purpose of blocking The entire strait was prepared, and now they are under the operation of German artillery, pointing in the direction where the former owner, the British Navy, may appear.

"Survey Submarine No. 6 is calling! The target did not pass through its warning area! We have lost the target!" Just when Lütjens was full of ambition and was preparing to win a battle to wipe out the British and American Atlantic Fleets in Gibraltar, the next message It was like a basin of cold water was poured over his head.

"The enemy fleet has turned! Lost track! They did not continue to approach Gibraltar!" After marking it on the chart, Lütjens knew that he was still careless. In order to be sure, he did not arrange aerial reconnaissance, which made him lose two-thirds of his ability to track the enemy fleet.

"Damn it! These cunning guys! They realized the danger at the last moment and turned around?" Lütjens dropped the pencil in his hand on the chart table, and ordered down angrily: "All the radars are switched on. , let’s pursue northward! We can’t let the joint transport fleet of the United States and the United Kingdom run away from me so easily!”