Chapter 1106 Missiles in the Atlantic Ocean 19

"Deploying the Ju188 night attack from the Georgetown Island base? Is it enough?"

Hirschman asked, looking at Redl. The Georgetown Island base is 2,500 kilometers away from the Atlantic Ocean southeast of the Bermuda Islands where the war is currently taking place. Not only does it exceed the combat radius of the Ju188, it even exceeds the maximum combat range.

"It's enough," Kesselin said. "The maximum speed of the Soviet class is 28 knots, which is 51.8 kilometers/hour. If it sails southwest for 4-5 hours at this speed, the Ju188's combat range is enough. And there are three Soviet-class cruisers tracking that one to provide navigation, and those Ju188s will not deviate from the course."

"Enough range?" Hersman asked. "Is it a one-way flight?"

Kesselring nodded, "After completing the attack, let the plane make an emergency landing at sea, and let the tracking USS Vienna, Diguet Trojan and Cologne rescue the pilot. There are still 30 aircraft that can fly at the Georgetown Island base. The Ju188E-2 torpedo bomber can carry 60 torpedoes and can also conduct night attacks. Even if it cannot sink the Soviet class, it can be severely damaged and slowed down. As long as it can be slowed down significantly, it will be finished. "

Hersman looked at Redel, and the Navy Commander nodded and said: "The 12 Type 21 U-boats belonging to the 2nd Submarine Group are operating in the Atlantic waters northeast of the Leeward and Windward Islands. As long as this Soviet-class battleship When the speed drops to about 10 knots, it won’t be able to run away.”

Because this Soviet-class battleship escaped after the fleet was disbanded, there are not many destroyer escorts around it. Now the American maritime front is also stretched too long. There is still fighting in the Hawaiian Islands, and there is still a sea in the southeastern Pacific. This fleet is containing three German aircraft carrier task forces. There is also a fleet near Guyana and a large aircraft carrier fleet near the Bermuda Islands. These fleets need destroyer protection. Therefore, Halsey's main fleet did not bring many destroyers, and now it was divided into many parts. Therefore, the number of destroyers used to protect several fleeing battleships was not large.

If one of the battleships is besieged by a Type 21 U-boat after being wounded, it will basically be a dead end.

"That's it!" Hessman thought for a while and added, "The safety of the Ju188 pilots must be guaranteed. We will soon attack the Caribbean Sea, and may even land on the North American continent. Then there will be extremely fierce In air combat, every pilot is valuable."

"Ludwig, don't worry, there will be no problem." Kesselin said, "Because the Ju188 is a very sturdy tactical bomber, and the Ju188E-2 is a naval aviation model, and the need for forced landing at sea has been fully considered. "

The Ju188 is different from the Ju288 and the Me264, which rely on high-altitude and high-speed breakthroughs. The Ju188 is an aircraft that can carry out dive bombing and torpedo bombing. Its main combat area is medium and low altitudes. Therefore, it is built very solidly, with an empty weight of 9.9 tons, which is heavier than Japan's "Flying Dragon" (8.9 tons) and "Galaxy" (7.2 tons), so it is naturally strong enough.

The Me264, a long-range four-shot heavy bomber, has an empty weight of only 20 tons (too heavy and it will not fly high or fast), and it does not have a dive bombing function (this shows that the body structure is not strong enough). If it is to be used on the sea It is easier to fall apart during an emergency landing. This is why Kesselring chose the Ju188 instead of the Me264 with a longer range (the combat radius is not enough even if it takes off from the Cayenne base).

…

"Sir, the air strike plan is ready."

About 550 nautical miles east of the Bermuda Islands, little Hersman walked into the command tower of the "Zeppelin" and brought a newly formulated air attack plan. However, this plan is not to be implemented immediately, because it is already 5:50 pm Bermuda time. The sea was dark, which was not a good time to launch aircraft for air strikes. It was not that aircraft carrier-based aircraft did not have the ability to launch operations at night, but it was very dangerous to perform dive bombing missions at night, and there were no torpedo bombers on the German aircraft carriers.

So what Hersman Jr. now submits to Major General Christianson, Chief of Staff of the 21st Task Force, is the air attack plan for the next day.

"Oh, we want to carry 30 Fw190TEs and 48 Fokker 636s on the Zeppelin?" Christiansen looked at the plan.

"Yes, sir." Little Hersman said, "The Fw190TE is a two-seat bomber, and its bomb delivery accuracy is much higher than that of the Fw190T and Fokker 636. The Fokker 636's performance in air combat is also much better than the Fw190T. Therefore. We should focus on Fw190TE and Fokker 636 for air strikes. If we dispatch 30 Fw190TE and 24 Fokker 636, we should be able to severely damage the Soviet-class battleships in one attack."

"Very good, let's do that." Christiansen looked at the sky outside the command tower. It was not particularly dark. It was completely possible to carry out several takeoffs and landings, and all the fighter planes ready to attack in the early morning of tomorrow were deployed to the "Zeppelin" "On board.

Then, the Zeppelin aircraft carrier will break away from the main force of Task Force 21 under the protection of more than a dozen cruisers and destroyers, venture to the northwest under the cover of night, and will dispatch carrier-based aircraft in the early morning of September 7.

…

Just as the Germans began to shift their attention to destroying several Soviet-class and Washington battleships that had fled the battlefield, the battle between the two sides continued on a battlefield nearly 600 nautical miles away from the Bermuda Islands.

However, the number of ships participating in the battle was reduced a lot. Except for the old Provence, all the battleships on the side of the European Community Fleet had disappeared. On the battlefield, the United States still had three super battleships, the Iowa, the Missouri, and the Wisconsin, which had almost completely lost their combat effectiveness.

In addition to the Provence battleship, the European Community Fleet also had three heavy cruisers, the Deutschland, the Graf Spee, and the Admiral Scheer, the light cruiser Glorious, and 10 destroyers, including the Mogador, the Volta, the Kleber, the Fantasy, the Terrible, the Formidable, the Daring, the Lomarin, the Victory, and the Eagle.

The US side has three torpedo formations with three treaty heavy cruisers, New Orleans, Tuscaloosa, and Houston, as the core. In addition to a heavy cruiser, each torpedo formation also has 10 Gridley-class (because there are a large number of destroyers in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, this American heavy torpedo ship has been mass-produced), Benham-class (a copy of the Gridley-class) or Somers-class (an evolved version of the Gridley-class) destroyers.

In addition, there are several Cleveland-class light cruisers and more than a dozen Fletcher-class destroyers guarding the three Iowa-class ships that have basically lost their combat effectiveness.

At this time, the battle was centered around the three Iowa-class ships. The 15 ships of the European Community Joint Fleet were obviously unwilling to let go of the three severely damaged Iowa-class ships. They formed a horizontal formation under the leadership of Provence, following behind the three Iowa-class ships, and did not dare to get too close. Because the stern turrets of the Missouri, one of the three Iowa-class ships, were still usable - the fire area at the stern of the Missouri was mainly near the power compartment. After water was injected into a power compartment section, the fire at the stern was extinguished, so the stern turrets were not affected by the fire. The stern turrets of the Iowa and Wisconsin lost their combat effectiveness due to water injection in the ammunition depot or turret failure (the turret failed to rotate because the missile hit the nearby stern deck).

So Halsey let the Missouri, whose stern was obviously sinking, stay behind and use three 406mm cannons to intimidate the opponent. It was just intimidation, because the fire control radar of the Missouri malfunctioned when it was attacked by missiles, and the sinking of the stern also affected the accuracy of the shooting, so it was difficult to hit targets at a distance.

But even in the face of three 406mm cannons that missed, the Provence battleship with relatively thin armor still did not dare to approach.

However, Halsey, who was on the Cleveland-class light cruiser Little Rock, did not dare to let the 15 European Community ships follow him all the way - he also wanted to drive these three disabled super battleships back to the United States for overhaul!

Therefore, when it was getting dark, the three American torpedo formations turned their bows under Halsey's order and launched a counterattack against the 15 European Community ships that were following.

The counterattack of the three American torpedo formations seemed to have achieved some results, at least blocking the pursuers. The two sides fought fiercely on the sea less than 20 nautical miles away from the Little Rock where Halsey was on board. Water columns and fireballs rose from time to time on the sea. The heavy cruisers and battleships of both sides fired shells at each other, and the destroyers fired torpedoes at each other. From time to time, ships were hit and turned into a ball of burning metal on the sea.

The losses and results were constantly reported to Halsey. The situation seemed to be good. The torpedoes fired by the US destroyers hit several enemy destroyers, and another torpedo seemed to hit the Brittany-class battleship (Provence)!

The US side certainly did not suffer no losses. The three treaty heavy cruisers, New Orleans, Tuscaloosa, and Houston, were all hit by enemy shells. Among them, Tuscaloosa was hit by a 340mm battleship main gun shell, which caught fire.

However, these losses seemed worthwhile. At least the sea area where the battle was taking place was getting farther and farther away from the three Iowa-class battleships.

Halsey breathed a sigh of relief and turned to Chief of Staff Callahan and said, "Dennis, it seems that our three battleships have a chance to escape."

Before he finished speaking, a staff officer exclaimed, "Sir! Submarine found! Sonar found a submarine!"