Chapter 539 Sea Identification

Now, the opponent is in front of him. If he rushes directly to shoot the gun, then he can only bombard the opponent with the naval gun in front of him.

The bombing area is small and the hit rate is low.

In maritime combat, the most accurate hit is, of course, firing sideways. Especially, if your warship is traveling in the same direction and speed as the opponent, you hardly need to make any advance and just hit it directly.

Now, Lansdorf has this idea. He hopes that his warship can move to the port side of the opponent and sink it at close range!

The diesel engine at the rear roars. Compared with the steam engine, the power of the diesel engine is still limited and cannot make the Deutsche-class reach a high speed of more than 30 knots. However, the diesel engine has another advantage, that is, the starting speed is fast!

It takes time to heat up the boiler, and the diesel engine almost goes away when it catches fire. At the same time, the diesel engine needs to be accelerated, which is a matter of the throttle lever.

Push the throttle stick to the end, and the diesel engine at the rear emits a violent roar, pushing this battleship, accelerate, accelerate!

Just escorting the formation, it can only sail at a speed of less than 15 knots, and now, its speed is constantly increasing, 20 knots, 25 knots, 28 knots!

At the time of design, the maximum speed was 26 knots, but when the trial sailed, due to the excellent design, this warship could reach a high speed of 28 knots.

And other battleships of the same period, almost all have only more than 20 knots, so they can fight if they can beat it, and run if they can't beat it.

And now, it is to catch up and fight!

At this time, the aircraft carrier Beyane was still sailing unhurriedly, and its huge outline became clearer and clearer.

From the point of view of this era, the 30,000-ton Beyen is still tall and mighty, and it can carry dozens of carrier-based aircraft, making it a leader among aircraft carriers.

However, from the current point of view of the German Navy, this type of aircraft carrier is completely behind, and the problem of speed is not to be mentioned. The deck is directly connected to the deck. Although there are three elevators, they are all on the deck. When the elevators are activated, It is simply impossible to operate the aircraft from the deck.

This makes its deck operation quite slow. For example, it once took an hour to recover 20 carrier-based aircraft. If it was on the battlefield, this efficiency would have been bombed long ago.

Normally, the Bayan had a fighter squadron, a reconnaissance squadron and an attack squadron, but now, on deck, there was only one old biplane scout.

It is preparing for takeoff. Although it does not have much vigilance, it is undertaking a daunting task after all. Every once in a while, it will take off a reconnaissance plane to scout the surrounding sea area.

At this time, the lookout Paul, who was operating his telescope, walked around the sea carelessly, and suddenly found a warship behind his port side, chasing after him!

From a distance, he couldn't see the flags fluttering on the mast of the other party at all, and, as an intern, he was not familiar with the various types of warships of various countries and could not visually identify the model.

"Report to the captain that a warship of unknown nationality is found behind our port side."

Port rear? Hearing this news, the captain on the bridge was stunned for a moment. Could it be the two warships that were planned to meet with their own side? It shouldn't, the orientation is wrong, it should be in front of you!

"Immediately send a light identification signal, radio, and contact each other on the Navy channel," General Laborde said.

In the Bay of Biscay, there is no danger for the time being, and even General Laborde did not expect that the Germans would come, he just thought it was a warship of his own.

He raised his binoculars and looked into the distance, but the wind direction was not good at this time. The smoke from the other party's chimney just drifted to the right front of the other party, and it was not clear from his own side.

Only a rough outline can be seen.

Light recognition signal!

How to communicate with each other at sea has always been a difficult problem to solve. In the beginning, the ancient means of carrier pigeons and fireworks were still used. Later, with the continuous progress, the international semaphore and light signal are all quite commonly used.

Although it is daytime, when the lights are aimed at each other, they can still be clearly seen, and then they can use the lights to communicate with each other. In complicated situations, this is better than semaphore.

Like now.

On the top of the bridge, the lights are rapidly sending identification signals to the German warships. This is a unique identification signal of the French Navy. As long as the other party responds according to the standard signal, it can be proved that it is its own.

"Report, the other party sent a light identification signal." Here, the German lookout Karl, who had discovered the other party's intention, immediately reported to the bridge.

"Don't worry about them, let's move on!" Captain Lansdorf said in the bridge, very excited in his heart.

Now, their own side has accelerated to a high speed of 28 knots. As long as they drive for another ten minutes, they can drive side by side with the other side. This is the best attack distance.

The other party is unprepared and is still releasing the light identification signal to himself, that is simply giving himself a chance!

The rangefinder and radar are working at full speed, and the ballistic solver in the command room is humming. Now, they are ready to shoot at any time, and the shooting Zhuyuan has been calibrated!

Get closer, and when you are driving side by side with the other party, pour all your artillery fire on the top of the other party's head!

"Report, the other party has not responded." Here, on the bridge of the French aircraft carrier, they have been waiting, but they just can't see the other party's response.

"It may be that the other party did not see our light signal, we can try again." The captain said.

General Laborde shook his head: "The reconnaissance plane takes off immediately, fast!"

In his heart, there is an ominous premonition. As an old sailor who has been floating on the sea for many years, he can see a lot at a glance without tools, such as the speed of the other party.

But now, he always felt that the speed of the other party was very fast, even exceeding 25 knots. His own warships were not so fast. Could they be Spanish warships?

Hurry up and take off the reconnaissance plane, go to reconnaissance!

After hearing the order, the PO390 reconnaissance plane on the deck finally stopped dawdling. After the engine came out with black smoke, it was started. The pilot wore a flight cap and was about to push the throttle stick. After the engine was fully opened, Take off from the deck to scout.

This ancient reconnaissance plane has been in service for 30 years, and the open cockpit cover is very beneficial to the pilot's observation.

Unfortunately, before the ancient biplane took off, a sharp siren was heard.