Chapter 255 Surprise Attack Ending

September 3, 1939, 4pm UK time.

The surprise attack on Scapa Flow has come to an end, and almost all the He-111, Ju.88 and He-115 have dropped their bombs and torpedoes.

The entire Scapa Flow has now become a sea of ​​fire, and the British warships inside are either on fire or firing! The nearby oil depot is also burning, and the thick smoke rises to the sky.

The air exchange has also begun, and all the military airports in northern Scotland near Scapa Flow. As long as there are fighters, whether it is Spitfire, Hurricane, or biplane Gloster Gladiator, or Blenheim that can act as a fighter, all rushed to Scapa Flow.

The first to arrive was of course the Spitfire from the 18th Fighter Squadron of Hallwalk Highland Airport.

In this world war, the first battle between British and German aircraft took place between the Spitfire and the Fokker Zero.

A four-finger formation led by Adolf Galland won the first battle. With four against three, they easily shot down three Spitfires by taking advantage of the excellent low-altitude hovering performance of the Zero and the tactical advantage of the four-finger formation.

But the rapid climb of the other three Spitfires made him look at the performance of this British fighter with new eyes.

"Lieutenant General, the British have a great fighter, not inferior to the BF-109!" He used the intercom to report to Lieutenant General Graham, who had a false alarm. The Fw-200C that the latter was riding was hit by several bullets, but it was not serious and was leaving the battlefield under the escort of the formation led by Adolf Galland.

"Not inferior to the BF-109?" Vice Admiral Graham asked thoughtfully, "Why do you say that?"

"Because I have also flown the Fokker Zero and fought against the BF-109 many times," said Adolf Galland, "The BF-109's low- and medium-altitude hovering performance may not be as good as that British aircraft. As for speed and climbing, both are about the same. If the BF-109 fights with that aircraft at low and medium altitudes, unless the pilots' skills are very different, the BF-109 has no advantage."

Adolf Galland flew the BF-109 in Spain and was also one of the first pilots to fly the Fokker Zero. Moreover, the pilots who flew the BF-109 against his Zero were also ace pilots in the Navy Air Force, so when it comes to the performance of the BF-109 and the Zero, Adolf Galland is definitely an expert.

"So how does the Zero compare to it? Is there an advantage?" Graham asked again.

"It definitely has an advantage in low- and medium-altitude combat," Adolf Galland replied. "The Zero is the ultimate in low- and medium-altitude combat and low- and medium-speed combat. Those that are faster than it are definitely not as flexible as it, and those that can compare with it in terms of flexibility are too slow. But the Zero is not good at high altitudes. Its air-cooled engine performs poorly at high altitudes, while that British aircraft uses a liquid-cooled engine and has great horsepower!"

"I understand!" Lieutenant General Graham thought for a while, "The Zero and BF-109 must cooperate at high and low altitudes to ensure that the British aircraft is defeated!"

"Yes, that's it!" Adolf Galland said, "BF-109 occupies a high-altitude position, and the Zero bombs that kind of aircraft at low and medium altitudes... If the British know enough about the Zero, they will definitely climb to high altitudes."

"Yes!" Lieutenant General Graham nodded, "But the British can't figure out the performance of the Zero so quickly."

He glanced at the burning bay again and said to Major Franz Speer, the combat staff officer beside him, "Have the losses and results been counted?"

"The preliminary statistics are out," said Major Franz Speer, "The torpedo fleet suffered heavy losses, 33 were confirmed to be shot down, and 9 were seriously damaged. It is estimated that they can't fly back to Germany. Now they are all heading to Stavanger Airport in Norway. It seems that we have to review the tactics and performance of torpedo planes..."

Norway is a neutral country. These He-115s will be detained there until the end of the war or Norway joins the war. It is also planned in advance that the seriously damaged aircraft will fly to Norway.

"The He-111 was not damaged in the battle, but one broke down on the way back and made an emergency landing at sea, and the crew members were missing."

"Four Ju.88s were confirmed to have been lost, and two were seriously damaged and were flying to Norway."

"Two Fokker Zeros were shot down by British planes, and the pilots parachuted."

Major Franz Speer paused and said, "All the planes that fled to Norway are calculated as losses. So far, we have lost a total of 42 He-115s, 1 He-111, 6 Ju.88s and 2 Fokker Zeros."

A total of 51 aircraft were lost, accounting for about 13% of all the aircraft that went into battle. The loss was not small, but the results were still very significant!

...

September 3, 1939, British time, 8:15 p.m.

In the meeting room of the Admiralty on Whitehall Street, the choking smell of cigarettes and coffee floated. All members of the British Empire Cabinet, except for the Secretary of the Navy Churchill, gathered here. Everyone's face was livid, because they had already known the news of the air raid on Scapa Flow and the heavy losses, and the Second Sea Lord had already reported the heavy losses of the Home Fleet to the ministers.

The aircraft carriers "Glorious", "Furious", and "Brave" were severely damaged (not sunk) and completely lost their combat effectiveness.

The battleship Royal Oak sank, the training ship Iron Duke sank; the battleships Nelson and Rodney were moderately damaged and needed major repairs to restore their full combat effectiveness.

The battlecruiser Repulse was severely damaged, and the rudder and power system were damaged.

The heavy cruisers Kent and Berwick sank; the heavy cruiser Devonshire was severely damaged.

The light cruiser Aurora sank.

The destroyer Somali sank.

A total of 3 aircraft carriers were destroyed; 2 battleships were sunk, 1 battlecruiser was severely damaged, and 2 battleships were moderately damaged; 2 heavy cruisers were sunk, and 1 was severely damaged; 1 light cruiser and 1 destroyer were sunk.

This loss... is not very big, after all, the three damaged aircraft carriers are still floating on the water, so they can be considered as sunk, and one of the 2 battleships sunk is a training ship.

But this loss is quite fatal! Because three of the Royal Navy's four fast aircraft carriers are basically scrapped - the time and energy required to repair them is almost the same as building new ones.

That is to say, before the completion of the "Glorious" aircraft carrier, Britain only has one aircraft carrier that can provide air cover for the fleet. And Germany has two!

This means that Germany can send two commerce raiding fleets with aircraft carriers, while Britain can only send one fleet with aircraft carrier cover.

As for using a fleet without aircraft carrier cover to chase a fleet with aircraft carriers... It sounds a bit like suicide!

And what's more fatal is that the efficiency of a commerce raiding fleet with aircraft carriers in attacking merchant ships is definitely not comparable to those commerce raiding fleets without aircraft carriers. Because aircraft carriers can not only carry fighters, but also dive bombers and torpedo attack aircraft.

Everyone's eyes are focused on Neville Chamberlain's dead face. Britain is about to face a disaster, that's for sure.

Now a truly powerful person is needed to lead the British Empire out of trouble. And Prime Minister Chamberlain seemed a little weak...

Heavy footsteps sounded, and then the door of the conference room was pushed open, a fresh air rushed in, and then the Navy Minister Winston Churchill, with gauze wrapped on his head, limped in with a cane.

He had just returned to London from Scapa Flow by seaplane, and then went straight to the Admiralty on Whitehall Street.

"Winston, we are defeated..." Chamberlain looked at Churchill and said in a low voice.

"No, Prime Minister, the war has just begun!" Churchill walked to the Prime Minister and sat down on a chair reserved for the Navy Minister.

"We still have the capital to fight!" Churchill said seriously, "Although the navy suffered some losses, we are very strong and these losses are nothing. We still have 4 aircraft carriers and 13 available battleships and battlecruisers, and there are 5 "King" class and 4 "Glorious" class fleet aircraft carriers under construction. And we still have two reliable allies, France and Poland, and Italy, a friend to win over. Of course, we can also win over the Soviet Union..."

"But how can we win them over?" Chamberlain asked.

Anyone with a little diplomatic common sense knows that the Battle of Scapa Flow is not good for Britain to win over allies! If the Soviet Union and Italy knew the truth (Britain would certainly not admit defeat), Stalin and Mussolini would definitely stand on the side of Germany.

"Of course it's a counterattack!" Winston Churchill had a solution long ago, "It's useless to just publicize victory, the Germans will also publicize it. So we must use bombs and guns to tell the world who is the real winner!"

"Are you going to bomb Germany?" Chamberlain asked again.

"Yes!" Churchill thought for a moment, "Did the French also declare war?"

"Yes, they declared war in the afternoon."

"That's good," Churchill said, "We will launch night air strikes on German cities! This will force them to withdraw their air force from the Eastern Front back to the West. In addition, we must also send the Mediterranean Fleet into the Black Sea, forcing Romania to cut off its oil supply to Germany, and require Romania to allow aircraft to pass through their airspace to Poland. The Poles will soon launch a counterattack, and we must do our best to support them! The British and French armies must also take action to put pressure on Germany's western border!"

Chamberlain was stunned, "Ask the French to attack Germany's Siegfried Line?"

Churchill nodded, "Yes, this is what France must do now!"