Chapter 569 I Am Mutsu

April 15, 1942, North Atlantic.

Dozens of military ships of various types flying the American flag are escorting more than 100 British merchant ships, sailing in the vast Atlantic.

2 brand-new South Dakota-class battleships, 2 Wyoming-class battleships, 2 New York-class battleships, 2 Mexico-class battleships, 1 Florida-class battleship, 4 New Orleans-class heavy cruisers, 4 Omaha-class light cruisers, 21 destroyers of various types, and the USS Ranger and USS Wasp aircraft carriers.

A total of 50 warships, plus 3 military tankers and 3 fast supply ships, formed the largest escort fleet since the beginning of the Atlantic War. The US Atlantic Fleet was almost fully deployed, with a fleet that almost covered the entire ocean, demonstrating to the German Empire across the Atlantic!

Although the United States suffered a despicable sneak attack a few months ago and lost 10 battleships and 1 aircraft carrier, for the United States, this loss is just the tip of the iceberg! The United States can still take out 9 battleships and 2 aircraft carriers at one time in the Atlantic, including 2 powerful South Dakota-class battleships!

Although the South Dakota-class is a treaty battleship, no one cared about the treaty when this class of battleships was built. So its standard displacement is not 35,000 tons as stipulated in the treaty, but 38,000 tons. The overweight tonnage and excellent main guns give the South Dakota-class powerful firepower and decent defense. According to the Americans' own estimates, this class of battleships is enough to fight against Germany's Bismarck class, and even if it encounters Germany's Hindenburg class, it is still capable of fighting.

Therefore, after the two South Dakota-class ships were commissioned, President Roosevelt already had the confidence to be tough on Germany in the Atlantic.

However, in the flagship battleship USS Nantakota, Vice Admiral Jonathan Ingram was not as confident as Roosevelt. Standing in front of the porthole of the bridge and looking at the Atlantic Ocean shrouded in morning mist, he was even a little nervous.

That's right, the commander of the Atlantic Fleet has been feeling nervous since the fleet left the coast of Canada.

It's not that he is afraid of the Germans' wire-controlled glide bombs... This weapon can only bully the declining British Royal Navy, but it is not so effective against the US Navy. After the US military figured out how the Germans combined high-altitude bombers with wire-controlled glide bombs, they immediately deployed several P-38 fighters equipped with turbocharged engines in Iceland. As long as he is within the combat radius of the P-38, Vice Admiral Jonathan Ingram does not have to worry about being attacked by wire-controlled glide bombs.

Although there is still a distance in the North Atlantic that the P-38 deployed in Iceland cannot cover, it is far enough from the German airports in Brest and Bergen that even the P.108 and Fw-200 with super-long range cannot cover it.

But Vice Admiral Jonathan Ingram knew very well that his fleet could not fight against the new battleships of the European Combined Fleet! There are too many of them. There are already 2 Hindenburg-class, 2 Bismarck-class, 3 Scharnhorst-class (Americans can't tell the difference between the Scharnhorst-class and the Barbarossa-class), 4 Veneto-class, and 3 Richelieu-class, a total of 14 new battleships!

In addition, the Germans have 4 aircraft carriers running rampant in the Atlantic! This is not a joke. If these 4 aircraft carriers carry aircraft according to American standards, 300 commonly used aircraft can be stuffed... and now it is the Arctic polar day period. There is almost no night to cover the fleet on the route near the Arctic Circle, but sometimes there will be fog for a few hours in the early morning every day.

To be honest, he really didn't want to escort the unfortunate British!

But now the United States has to escort Britain because the Germans were too ruthless in the Battle of the Faroe Islands and sank four British fleet aircraft carriers, which made the British Royal Navy no longer able to keep the North Atlantic transport line open. The United States must take action to maintain it, otherwise Britain may surrender.

The British have begun to waver now! Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret have arrived in Canada, and it is said that more British middle- and upper-class people and troops will go to Canada in the days to come.

Moreover, the battleship "Duke of York" that escorted Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret to Canada suddenly had a mechanical failure in the port of Quebec City and is now in Canada for repair! This is a brand new battleship, how could it break down? It seems that the British Empire has really declined...

All signs show that the British Empire can no longer support itself. The United States must either join the war immediately or watch the Germans dominate the world.

So when Roosevelt proposed to escort more than 100 British cargo ships and tankers loaded with supplies in the name of attacking Japanese ships in the Atlantic, the entire top leadership of the United States had no objection.

This already shows that most of the American bigwigs believe that it is time to declare war on Germany. Now all they need is a reason to arouse the anger of ordinary Americans!

But...what if the Germans have the same idea? What if they send a powerful fleet to the Atlantic to launch a surprise attack? Are they going to turn the Atlantic Fleet into another Pacific Fleet?

So from the moment he received the escort order, he had a strong feeling of uneasiness in his heart.

"Did the light cruiser find anything?" Vice Admiral Jonathan Ingram turned around. In order to detect the German fleet in advance, he sent four Omaha-class light cruisers equipped with SG-type sea search radars to guard the escort fleet at a distance of about 15,000 meters in front, behind, left and right.

"Except for the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth, which were discovered an hour ago and four escorting destroyers from the UK, no more were found."

The Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth are two 80,000-ton luxury cruise ships, and their speed is very fast, both exceeding 30 knots. If they are used to transport troops, as long as they are not afraid of crowding, they can fit 15,000 people at a time.

Since the beginning of the World War, these two super cruise ships have become troop transport ships, transporting countless soldiers to battlefields around the world. In early April, the two super cruise ships returned to the Port of Liverpool at the same time. Now they are full of troops and dignitaries leaving the UK to defend Canada...

"They were not attacked?" Vice Admiral Jonathan Ingram suddenly felt a little strange.

The British Royal Navy is no longer the overlord of the Atlantic Ocean. Will the Germans just sit there and watch these two priceless super cruise ships without attacking them?

"No," the staff officer replied, "they were safe and sound all the way and were not attacked."

What a lucky guy! Lieutenant General Jonathan Ingram thought to himself that the Nazis also had their moments of dozing off. He hoped that these blond and blue-eyed supermen would take a nap a little longer and let their fleet safely deliver the British merchant ships to the vicinity of Scotland.

This American lieutenant general turned out to be an honest man. He did not expect that the British played a word game with him - the two British super cruise ships were just not attacked, not that they did not encounter the German fleet!

In fact, they were discovered by German aircraft just a few hours after leaving Liverpool, and then they encountered a giant battleship (the Hindenburg battleship) and several other large battleships, as well as more light cruisers and destroyers.

But now there is a tacit understanding between the two mortal enemies of Britain and Germany. The Germans will not attack ships leaving the British mainland. The upper class of the British Empire took their gold and silver treasures and left for Canada to "one Britain, different representations", so the two super cruise ships were safe and sound.

Just when Vice Admiral Jonathan Ingram breathed a sigh of relief and felt that his large fleet might not be discovered, the fleet's communications staff suddenly shouted: "The Richmond light cruiser has discovered an unidentified fleet, with more than 10 ships!"

The atmosphere in the bridge of the South Dakota suddenly became tense. More than 10 unidentified ships... It is very likely that they are the German fleet!

Vice Admiral Jonathan Ingram wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, and then looked at the situation outside the porthole. The morning mist had not yet dissipated.

"Let the Richmond approach and ask about the situation with lights." Lieutenant General Jonathan Ingram ordered, "At the same time... everyone sounded the battle alarm!"

...

"Tell them with lights that we are a US Navy cruiser, performing a free cruising mission in the high seas of the Atlantic Ocean, and let them leave immediately to avoid misunderstandings."

The captain of the Richmond, Lieutenant Commander Clark, quickly commanded his cruiser to approach the "unidentified fleet" shrouded in fog. The other side did not open fire, and it was obvious that they were still concerned about the United States. So Lieutenant Commander Clark followed the standard procedure and issued a warning with lights.

The US Navy is cruising freely, this is the power of the United States, don't you know?

Not long after the Americans sent out the lights, a huge "unknown ship" in the hazy light also began to send lights.

"Major, they are speaking in lantern language."

Major Clark laughed, "I knew these Germans wouldn't dare to open fire... What are they saying?"

The first mate of the Richmond raised his telescope and looked carefully, then read it out word by word: "We are the battleship Mutsu of the Imperial Japanese Navy, carrying out a maritime commerce-breaking mission. Please surrender immediately, otherwise we will be sunk..."

"Ah!" Major Clark was so surprised that he almost fell to the ground, "Japanese... Japanese battleship Mutsu!? How is this possible? How could it reach the Atlantic?"

"Boom, boom, boom..."

In the thick fog, 8 406mm caliber cannons suddenly fired!