The Rise of the Third Reich

"What? Heading towards Bermuda?"

Arleigh Burke was greatly surprised by this order. In the original plan, the target of the 31st Task Force was the Azores Islands, and it was not dispatched now, but had to wait until the sea and air battle near Guyana started. Sorted out between the Leeward Islands and Puerto Rico.

"What's going on?" Arleigh Burke took the copy of the telegram and read it.

It turned out to be the A-13 ultra-long-range reconnaissance aircraft deployed in the Bermuda Islands. During several aerial reconnaissance operations on August 31, it discovered the German fleet moving towards the Bermuda Islands!

This scared Nimitz, Halsey, Ernest King, William Leahy and Roosevelt.

Bermuda is only more than 1,000 kilometers away from the mainland of the United States. If Germany were to occupy it and deploy Me264, the atomic bomb would fall on the heads of the American people!

So Roosevelt immediately issued an order to the Joint Chiefs of Staff: The absolute safety of Bermuda must be ensured!

After receiving the order, the U.S. military immediately mobilized its troops to the Bermuda Islands at full strength. The U.S. 30th Task Force, which was originally planned to wait for an opportunity to attack the Azores, also received an order to approach the Bermuda Islands.

"Admiral, telegram from the Essex," at noon on September 1st, Eastern Time, Admiral Halsey, who was sitting on the battleship "Iowa", received a call back from the 30th Task Force. "Task Force 30 will arrive in waters 250 nautical miles south of Bermuda in 56 hours."

The current position of Task Force 30 is 1,100 nautical miles from Bermuda and 850 nautical miles from its position 250 nautical miles south of Bermuda. However, the U.S. 30th Task Force did not dare to walk in a straight line. The Atlantic Ocean is not the Pacific Ocean. There can be hundreds of Type 21 U-boats underwater!

Therefore, Task Force 30 must take the anti-submarine route, and the straight-line distance of 850 nautical miles becomes an anti-submarine route of 1,360 nautical miles. Even at a high speed of 24 knots, it would take 56 hours.

"How far are we from Bermuda?" Halsey asked Callahan, his chief of staff.

"About 1,350 nautical miles," Callahan understood what his old boss was thinking. "The anti-submarine route is about 2,150 nautical miles and can be reached in 90 hours. Do you want to go?"

"Of course!" Halsey nodded heavily, "We must concentrate on using the main force of the Atlantic Fleet. Only in this way can we ensure victory... Since the German fleet is approaching the Bermuda Islands, we will fight them there!"

"Or it's a trap," Callahan said, "just to lure us away from Guya."

"It doesn't matter." Halsey said, "There are now more than 30,000 Marines and paratroopers in Georgetown, and there are nearly 3,000 shore-based aircraft on Trinidad. Even if we leave, the Germans will come soon Can't win either.

And as long as we can destroy the German fleet approaching Bermuda, a decent peace will come. "

Halsey only said half of this last paragraph. The other half was that even if the 30,000 U.S. troops who had landed and airborne in Georgetown were completely wiped out, the United States would still be able to bear it!

As long as the Atlantic Fleet can give the European Combined Fleet a heavy blow! The United States hopes to take a large lead in the "race" of naval strength on both sides of the Atlantic - what affects the future and destiny of the United States now is not the gains and losses of tens of thousands of ground troops, but the comparison of the naval strengths of the two sides.

In this life-threatening game, although the United States is temporarily in the lead, it is ahead of its opponents in several important data such as aircraft carrier gross tonnage, battleship gross tonnage, cruiser gross tonnage, and naval gross tonnage.

However, the European Community countries are no worse than the United States in terms of shipbuilding capabilities. Before the World War, the United Kingdom alone had a greater share of the international shipbuilding market than the United States! The current lead of the United States is just that the Two Oceans Navy Act enacted in 1940 gave the United States a head start in the shipbuilding competition.

But now, the land war in Europe has basically ended, and the Germans can finally use the strong shipbuilding industries of the European Community countries to go all out to build warships.

If the United States wants to maintain its "naval superiority", in addition to going all out to build ships, it will not miss any opportunity to severely damage the European combined fleet - if it can completely establish the United States' naval strength through a decisive sea and air battle advantage, then the war is likely to end honorably.

So it doesn't matter even if the ground troops who have landed in Guyana have become prisoners of the Germans.

"Transfer all F7Fs to the Norfolk base (the home port of the Atlantic Fleet, 1,160 kilometers away from Bermuda)." Halsey thought for a while and felt that he should add some chips to the battle of Bermuda. "Now we should go all out and bring out all our trump cards!"

…

"Marshal Imperial, this is the 21st Task Force, now about 800 nautical miles away from the Bermuda Islands. A large American reconnaissance aircraft flew around them for an hour last night and should have discovered them.

These are the 491st and 492nd Groups attached to the 21st Task Force. These are two submarine hunting groups currently responsible for reconnaissance and warning tasks. Among them, the 491st Group was deployed 200 nautical miles south of the 21st Task Force, and the 492nd Group was deployed 200 nautical miles north of the 21st Task Force.

This is the 1st Submarine Group, which is currently located about 200 nautical miles east of the 21st Task Force and is heading towards the Bermuda Islands at full speed. According to the plan, the 16 Type 21 U-boats of the 1st Submarine Group will be deployed in the waters around the Bermuda Islands, mainly responsible for war zone patrols.

This is the 20th Task Force, located 200 nautical miles west of the 21st Task Force.

This is the 31st Task Force, including the Strasser, Austria, Chaffee and Companion. Two of the Chaffee-class aircraft carriers (Chaffee and Companion) are equipped with a total of 48 twin-engine Br.810 carrier-based torpedo bombers. This aircraft was improved by the French Breguet Company based on the Br.690 series of attack aircraft. It is the first known twin-engine aircraft that has been successfully deployed on a ship. Its bomb load and range exceed those of ordinary single-engine carrier-based aircraft, and the Br.810 carrier-based torpedo bomber also has radar and radio altimeter, which can carry out night torpedo attacks.

Currently, the 20th Task Force, the 21st Task Force, the 491st Brigade, the 492nd Brigade and the 1st Submarine Group are approaching the Bermuda Islands at a speed of 14 knots. The 31st Task Force is heading to the standby area at a speed of about 20 knots.

It is expected that the 21st Task Force will be attacked by US bombers taking off from the Bermuda Islands in 20-24 hours. "

In Zossen, Germany, at the Joint Intelligence Center of the General Staff, Admiral Messel, Chief of Staff of the German Navy, held a baton in his hand, pointed at a huge nautical chart, and told Imperial Marshal Hessman the deployment of the European Combined Fleet on the battlefield of the Bermuda Islands in a simple and clear manner.

Listening to Admiral Messel's report, Hessman was quite proud. The current European Community Navy has really grown!

Although the European Combined Fleet only used a small part of its force for the decisive battle in the Bermuda Islands, its strength should not be underestimated. There are 8 battleships and missile ships with combat power above battleships, a total of 15 aircraft carriers and auxiliary aircraft carriers, 6 heavy cruisers, 18 light cruisers, more than 100 destroyers, 16 high-performance Type 21 submarines, and nearly 400 combat aircraft of various types (including seaplanes).

"Have the specific combat plans been drawn up? "Hersman asked.

The plan to lure the main force of the US fleet by feinting at the Bermuda Islands already existed in the "Atlantic Storm" plan. However, this plan was formulated in a rather general way, just a rough plan, without a specific plan.

"It has been prepared, and the plan is code-named Storm 1." Admiral Messer replied, "The Atlantic Front Command plans to use the 21st Task Force as bait, and after engaging in battle with the US shore-based and carrier-based aviation forces, and severely damaging the US aircraft carrier forces or carrier-based aircraft forces, pretend to be severely damaged and retreat, and retreat eastward at a low speed of about 10 knots to attract the US battleship forces to pursue.

At the same time, the 20th Task Force moved westward at full speed, engaged in a decisive battle with the US battleship forces, and defeated and severely damaged the US battleship forces with anti-ship missiles. Then the 21st Task Force and the 1st Submarine Group will pursue. The mission of the 31st Task Force is to cover the battleships of the 20th Task Force in pursuit or retreat, so as to prevent them from being attacked by US aircraft carriers or shore-based aircraft. "

...

"Mr. President, the 'Poseidon Plan' has been drawn up. "

At the same time, Admiral Ernest King, the Chief of Naval Operations of the United States, also brought the decisive battle plan that had just been formulated, and met with Franklin Roosevelt, whose presidential term would end in a few months, together with Admiral Leahy, the Chief of Staff of the President.

The name of the battle plan was "Poseidon 1 Plan", and like the German "Storm 1 Plan", both used the Bermuda Islands to fight.

In the view of the German General Staff, the Bermuda Islands operation was a good opportunity to severely damage the US Pacific Fleet.

Similarly, in the view of the US Navy Department and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, this was also an opportunity to severely damage the European Combined Fleet - those German military strategists were obviously not experts in naval warfare. When they were commanding the decisive battle at sea, they completely forgot the most basic military principle of concentrating forces, and repeatedly dispersed their already weak maritime forces.

This gave the US Navy, which had the advantage of the Panama Canal, the opportunity to concentrate all its main forces to annihilate part of the European Combined Fleet!