Chapter 318: Aircraft Cluster

While sending the plan to the Second Fleet and ordering it to conduct exercises according to the plan, the First Fleet where Raeder was also conducting exercises while advancing.

The exercise was very simple, that is, the fleet was divided into two, one team played the role of the First Fleet and the other played the role of the Second Fleet, and then constantly calculated the safety angle according to the distance between each other and the height of the warships and issued instructions to the gunners to quickly adjust the parameters.

Of course, shooting and other things were simulated, and the gunners did not have real targets. Although such exercises were not very effective, they at least told the soldiers what to do or what to pay attention to when the battle started, so as not to make some low-level mistakes in a mess.

Raeder took Qin Chuan and others to watch the exercise. The German Navy was indeed well-trained and was very skilled in operating various equipment on the warships, including the warships' maneuvering evasion of enemy bombers and torpedoes... One of the important ones was the "S-shaped" maneuvering artillery fire when the warships escaped from the enemy ships.

The French warships also had a very strange design, that is, all the main guns were placed at the bow, and there were only secondary guns at the stern.

This will not be a problem in air defense, as there are secondary guns at the bow and stern. If there is a problem, it is the 75-degree elevation angle.

However...

If an enemy ship appears behind, or the French warship needs to escape from the enemy ship due to the number or other reasons, then it will be tragic: the 130MM secondary gun may not pose a threat to the enemy ship at all, and the enemy ship can safely chase and shoot from behind until the French warship is sunk.

Therefore, the French warship has a unique "S-shaped" maneuver, which can use its own high speed (the characteristic of French warships is high speed) to move away from the enemy ship while turning sideways to let the main gun fire at the rear.

This requires a high degree of coordination between the main gun and the warship, because it requires the main gun to point to the rear when the warship turns sideways, and the main gun is ready to fire again and adjust the new parameters when it turns to the other side... If the warship turns sideways and the main gun points in the opposite direction, it will be a joke.

Being able to do this fully shows that the German Navy has mastered the control of French warships and learned their tactics, and even surpassed them, such as the mutual cover air defense method mentioned by Qin Chuan... Raeder gave this tactic a name: "cross air defense".

This name is really appropriate, just like two machine guns forming cross fire to minimize blind spots.

Darlan looked more and more heavy as he watched this scene... He seemed to realize that the shame of the French Navy would exist for a long time, and not only would it exist for a long time, but it would also be continuously magnified because of the victory of the German Navy.

This is certainly not what Darlan wanted to see, but he could do nothing about it.

"Marshal!" When Raeder and the officers were watching the exercise with binoculars, a staff officer ran up and reported: "Just received news, enemy aircraft were spotted in the direction of Sicily!"

Raeder was stunned, and immediately took the officers back to the headquarters, and then asked the map: "Location!"

"Here!" The staff officer pointed to a point and replied: "Over Corleone!"

Raeder looked at the staff officer in surprise: "Over Corleone? God, the British aircraft flew over Corleone and the Italians discovered them?"

No wonder Raeder was so surprised, Corleone is the hinterland of Sicily...

Under normal circumstances, the Italian 6th Army in Sicily should send warships, submarines and reconnaissance planes to conduct reconnaissance after receiving the warning. In this way, the British aircraft will be discovered by the Italian army and reported to the German army as soon as they take off or even before they assemble.

But the actual situation is obviously not the case.

A large British fleet passed through the search area of ​​Italian reconnaissance aircraft, then through the reconnaissance area of ​​submarines and warships, and through the coastal defense line of Sicily, and was not discovered until it was over Corleone and reported to the German army!

"God!" Raeder glanced at Qin Chuan, shook his head and said, "I was so wrong. I actually hoped that the Italians could stop the British fleet. Now it seems... we should ignore the existence of these Italians!"

"Marshal!" Colonel Slain said, "You will get used to it!"

"Fortunately!" A staff officer said, "We changed the plan in time to correct this mistake, otherwise the consequences would be disastrous!"

Raeder asked, "How long will it take for the enemy planes to reach us?"

"Half an hour!" The staff officer replied, "The enemy planes did not fly at the highest speed, and it is estimated that they have temporarily lost our accurate position!"

This is a common occurrence in sea and air operations... When a fleet is dispatched, it cannot be said that hundreds of fighters are swarming to find enemy warships. If they cannot find them, it will be in vain.

Because submarines have a slow speed, the fleet can easily leave the enemy reconnaissance submarines far behind as long as they run at full speed.

Therefore, the enemy should send out several reconnaissance planes to conduct reconnaissance first, and then reconnoitre and track the enemy ships according to the position obtained by the submarines and the speed and course of the enemy ships, and then let the fleet fly to the enemy ships at the fastest speed.

Raeder nodded and breathed a sigh of relief: "It only takes us 20 minutes to reunite with the Second Fleet!"

At this time, another staff officer reported with a telegram: "Marshal, enemy reconnaissance planes have been found!"

The atmosphere immediately became tense. Finding enemy reconnaissance planes means that the reconnaissance planes have also found the fleet, which means that the British fleet has determined the location of the target, and the fleet is likely to arrive above the fleet within 30 minutes.

"Be ready for battle!" Raeder gave the order without thinking.

"Be ready for battle!"

"Prepare for battle!"

…

The orders were passed on one by one. This time it was live ammunition and not a drill.

However, because of previous exercises, the German Navy was actually ready for battle. The difference was that it had to load live ammunition for various weapons.

"Should we notify the Air Force?" the staff officer asked.

Normally, this is to notify the aviation wing and ask them to come and provide air cover for the fleet, but Redel thought about it and shook his head and said: "No, the battle will be over by the time they arrive, and they can't help much." busy!"

It was this correct order that completely changed the outcome of this battle.

Ten minutes later, a lookout shouted from a high place: "I saw them, Second Fleet!"

The officers raised their binoculars and looked in the direction pointed by the lookout, and sure enough, shadows of warships appeared on the hazy sea, led by the "Richelieu", the flagship of the Second Fleet.

Almost at the same time, someone shouted: "Planes, British fleet!"

British fighter planes arrived almost at the same time as the Second Fleet.