Chapter 686 Dawn (16)

Dunkirk was originally a typical battlecruiser, with a 250mm side armor belt (Strasbourg is 283mm), a 125mm main deck, three layers of armor with a total thickness of 200mm on the engine room, and three layers of armor with a total thickness of 250mm on the ammunition compartment (Strasbourg is 275mm). These were not moved during the renovation, saving a lot of time, otherwise the 10-month construction period would not have been completed anyway.

The biggest renovation was to remove the naval guns and rebuild the bridge, turning the tall tower-shaped battleship command bridge into a strip-shaped and relatively low aircraft carrier command bridge and placing it on the starboard side. It is worth mentioning that this is also the Yunlong-class universal command bridge, and the designer directly adopted it with a slight modification.

The storage function of the ammunition depot and the functional design of the area where the guns and the original bridge were located were transformed inside the hull (changed to an armored aviation fuel depot and part of the hangar). The entire warship optimized the upper deck, built a flight deck based on the main deck and set up a hangar, and at the same time, the port and starboard decks were flared. The port side is a 154-meter-long angled deck, of which the armor thickness of the core section of the flight deck (about 160 meters long and 25 meters wide) is 100mm, and the thickness of the remaining non-core sections and the flared parts is 50mm. Compared with the original design, the weight reduction after removing the turret and the tall bridge is basically offset by the weight of the newly set flight deck, the center of gravity is slightly lowered, and the airworthiness remains basically unchanged.

Compared with Akagi, Kaga and other aircraft carriers that were transformed from battleship hulls, the Dunkerque did not rebuild the hangar across the hull, only in the second half (otherwise the oil depot and ammunition depot would have to be rebuilt, and the workload is very large). In order to take care of the wave situation, the side was raised.

After the transformation, the tonnage of the warship increased slightly, and the standard displacement was about 27,000 tons. The speed remained basically unchanged at 27 knots after boiler maintenance and repair, and the center of gravity and seaworthiness of the hull were good. The fuel and ammunition depots in the front half of the ship have heavy armor protection, and the flight deck is not equipped with an elevator (all side elevators are used). The integrated thick deck greatly enhances the defense performance, and the elevator, the Achilles heel of the aircraft carrier deck defense, is completely eliminated.

The German Navy, which was worried, conducted repeated tests. The tests showed that the 500-pound high-explosive bombs, armor-piercing bombs, and semi-armor-piercing bombs of the United Kingdom and the United States could not penetrate the core belt of the main deck at all, and the 1,000-pound high-explosive bombs could also withstand it. In addition, the heavy defense on the main deck, power compartment, and fuel tank, 1-2 bombs could not do anything to this warship.

While having a strong defense, the ship also has shortcomings - the hangar area is small and only single-layer, and the displacement of 27,000 tons is only 2,000 tons less than that of the Taiho-class armored aircraft carrier, but the hangar carrier-based aircraft is less than half of the other (the Taiho hangar can accommodate more than 60 aircraft), and the hangar capacity of the Essex-class, which is smaller than the ship, is more than twice that of the Dunkerque. Thanks to the slender body of the battlecruiser, the main deck of the Dunkerque is 219 meters long, slightly shorter than most fleet aircraft carriers, but longer than all escort aircraft carriers. Considering its 27-knot speed and the structure with catapults, it is not a problem to take off a fully loaded attack aircraft.

In summary, the purpose of the Dunkerque from the day it was decided to be built was not to fight for the main force of the aircraft carrier formation, but to disrupt commerce, especially to deal with the British and American escort formations with escort aircraft carriers as the core. The reasons include:

First: It is very fast. The maximum speed can reach 27 knots, and it is no problem to chase and intercept the slow escort fleet;

Second, the defense is strong. It is basically immune to artillery damage below 6 inches, and has strong defense capabilities against 8-inch guns, so the artillery strength of escort warships can be ignored;

Third, it can attack effectively. After the introduction of the angled deck, fighters have two runways for takeoff in an emergency, which is twice as fast, and landing and takeoff do not interfere with each other, and the efficiency is rapidly improved-this is the biggest advantage of the angled deck.

Fourth, it is not afraid of air raids. The ship has installed a large number of 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns to improve its anti-aircraft firepower and introduced 8 close-range Phalanx close-defense systems. Except for the lack of long-range anti-aircraft firepower, the medium and short-range anti-aircraft firepower is so powerful that it is outrageous. This is not enough. The starting point of the design is to resist the attack of attack aircraft launched by escort aircraft carriers. Due to the deck length and carrier speed restrictions, British and American escort aircraft carriers of all levels can only take off fighters or light attack aircraft. Aircraft carrying torpedoes or 1,000-pound bombs cannot fly at all. Unless the Dunkerque is hit by two consecutive bombs at the same position on the deck, the core area will remain intact.

In Hoffman's consideration, whether it is artillery battle or air strike, the British and American escort formations will not pose a threat to the Dunkerque. If it is equipped with a bodyguard, such as the Strasbourg, a ship of the same class, plus a few destroyers for anti-submarine protection, such a small and capable commerce-breaking fleet can abuse the escort formation in the North Atlantic. Even if it occasionally encounters one or two old battleships, there is no need to be afraid - the Dunkerque has 6 ultra-long-range Ar-352 reconnaissance aircraft and 22 of the latest Ju-198 (Meteor modified) attack aircraft, which combine dive bombing and torpedo attacks, so there is no need to worry about not being able to deal with individual old battleships.

After the Caiyun Kai, the Meteor Kai was also put into experimental service. Due to its unstable performance, the main fleet dare not equip it for the time being, but it can be used on the anti-shipping aircraft carrier to test its performance. According to the Navy's schedule, if everything goes well, a large number of Ju-198s will replace the main carrier-based aircraft He-218 and Ju-98 in the fleet next spring. In this way, after the Ar-352 is officially put on board, the carrier-based aircraft formation will still maintain three models of reconnaissance aircraft, fighters and attack aircraft, so that there will not be too many models causing command or maintenance difficulties.

During the sea trial of the Dunkirk, Hoffman also specifically asked the Navy to try to take off the Me-262 jet from the deck. The test showed that there was no difficulty in taking off, but there were major problems with landing, with a failure rate of more than 70%. After multiple tests in the calm Mediterranean and the advantage of the angled deck that can be repeatedly passed through the field, a success rate of 30% was obtained. If it was the Atlantic during wartime, I am afraid that the success rate would be less than 10%. Hoffman could only sigh and temporarily gave up the idea of ​​equipping carrier-based jets. Everything takes time.

After the Dunkirk, there are Ise, Hyuga, Jean Bart and other commerce-breaking aircraft carriers that will be completed in the next few months. Hoffman has also selected the "bodyguards" for them. The two Ise-class ships are protected by the two Scharnhorst-class ships, and the Jean Bart is protected by the Richelieu. Together with the gradually formed Hedgehog-class destroyers, each commerce-breaking squadron will be a fatal rope around the neck of Great Britain.

He decided to compete with Britain and the United States to see how long the British-Canadian route and South American route that the United States insisted on can last. During this period, the main fleet was not in the North Atlantic. Luo Quezi ignored the threat of German submarines and sent supplies to Fatty Qiu with a war loss rate of 40-50%. The ships were gradually replaced with Victory ships that could run at the fastest speed of 16 knots and had a load capacity of more than 15,000 tons. They even ignored the Z-shaped anti-submarine route and just rushed forward, the faster the better. Marshal Dönitz was stunned by the merchant fleet that was defeated. The Americans were looking at whether they had more submarines or merchant ships. Every German submarine returned with a full load, but they only regretted that there were too few torpedoes and the reloading speed was too slow.

Wouldn't it be a pity not to eat such a big fish?

Just as Hoffman and Dönitz were scheming to regain the stranglehold advantage in the North Atlantic, Roosevelt and the top leaders of the Joint Chiefs of Staff were ecstatic about the news of the "victory" of the Bermuda Campaign. On the morning of October 19, Admiral Ingersoll commanded the fleet to officially arrive in the Bermuda Islands. Not only did they regain control of the situation on the island, they also sent the wounded, including Ridgway himself, back to the country with the fastest destroyer, and at the same time urgently transferred troops and materials from the mainland to repair the island.

Reporters accompanying the fleet took a lot of photos of the battlefield: the entire Bermuda Islands were full of traces of fighting. Under the indiscriminate bombing of the Army Air Force, there were basically no intact buildings on the island. The bodies of German and American soldiers were scattered all over the main island. On the beach, you can still see paratroopers shot down or drowned by anti-aircraft firepower... Everything indicates that a tragic bloody battle had taken place here.

Two days later, Marshall personally welcomed Ridgway and the wounded at the dock. Major media and public representatives had been waiting at the dock early. When Ridgway and the airborne wounded appeared, the scene was applauded and cheered, and the spotlights were lit up, which was more dazzling than the appearance of all Hollywood stars.

The senior army officials blocked the media reporters who wanted to interview, saying that the soldiers had returned from the bloody battle, exhausted physically and mentally, and would hold a press conference in a few days.

"General Ridgway, General Ridgway, can you please say a sentence to summarize this battle, just one sentence..."

"Yes, yes, one sentence... one sentence! Just one sentence!" The voices on the scene converged into the same content.

"Matthew, say it." Marshall smiled at the latter.

"I think this battle tells us that as long as we work hard and persist, there is no enemy or difficulty that cannot be defeated!" Ridgway thought over and over again, and said this to the microphone.

"Great, it's so well said!" There was a cheer at the scene. Under the attention of tens of thousands of people, Ridgway got into Marshall's car and left.

"Matthew, you fought very well in this battle, very remarkable, and the president is very satisfied." Marshall used three verys to describe it, and was very excited.

"But our losses were huge, several times more than the enemy. Too many brothers of the 82nd Airborne Division were buried there and could not come back. The middle and low-level officers were almost wiped out. One of the two regiment commanders was killed and the other was seriously injured. Only the chief of staff and I were still intact. The Germans were not completely wiped out by us. The remnants were taken away by German warships." Ridgway's tired face was full of a bitter smile, "Sir, I dare not say this is a victory. It is a stretch to say that both sides were injured, let alone great."

Marshall pondered and said a lot of things that Ridgway had never thought of...