The Rise of the Third Reich

"Sir, the enemy aircraft has been detected by radar. The distance is 50, the number is 1, the bearing is 83, and the altitude is 5000."

In the command tower of the battleship Massachusetts, the radar officer's voice suddenly rang out.

"One plane? Are you sure it's an enemy plane?"

When Admiral Ingersoll asked questions, beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. Although he was the commander-in-chief of the Allied Combined Fleet, he had not really been on the battlefield during this world war. Now he is It was his first encounter with an enemy plane in this world war.

"Not our or British aircraft, that's for sure," the radar officer replied.

At present, the identification friend or foe has been invented. The radar of surface ships can distinguish its own aircraft, and the aircraft equipped with radar can also identify friend or foe at night.

In addition, a device called a radio altimeter was also invented. With this thing, the aircraft can measure altitude during night flight, which allows torpedo bombers to conduct torpedo attacks at night.

"It's a German reconnaissance plane." Although Lieutenant General Fraser of the British Royal Navy has never competed with the Germans at sea, his long-term experience as the Third Sea Lord still makes him well aware of the German maritime tactics. .

He said to Ingersoll: "Admiral, it should be the reconnaissance version of the Ju288. Our current location is less than 2,000 kilometers away from the German air force base in Ireland, and it is completely within the combat radius of the Ju288."

"Will it attack?" Ingersoll asked.

"No." Lieutenant General Fraser replied, "It is polar night now, and the visibility on the sea is not high, so remote-controlled gliding bombs cannot be used."

In fact, it's not that it can't be used, but it's very difficult to use, and the hit rate is not high. It also has to rely on a large number of flares to confirm the target, and the plane that releases the flares cannot fly too high, and it is easy to be shot down by the anti-aircraft guns of surface ships.

In comparison, it is more cost-effective to use He-115 seaplanes equipped with radar and radio altimeter to launch torpedoes for attack - the European Combined Fleet now has many seaplane carriers, which can release hundreds or even more at the same time. Many He-115 seaplanes.

However, this slow twin-engine seaplane can easily become a target for surface ships whose anti-aircraft firepower has been greatly enhanced. Unless the huge Allied coalition fleet is diverted away from the NR21 fleet, the He-115's torpedo attack will not achieve much. Results.

However, even if the Allied Combined Fleet leaves the NR21 fleet, relying solely on the NR21 fleet's own escort force (the escort fleet includes destroyers and escort aircraft carriers, and various transport ships also have anti-aircraft guns), it can still withstand the "He-115" "Classic aircraft", although there will be losses, they will not be too serious.

"Sir, this enemy plane has increased its altitude." At this time, the radar officer's voice sounded again.

"It must have discovered us," Lieutenant General Fraser said. "It should fly above 10,000 meters, and then track us for eight hours before leaving."

Due to the installation of the 24-cylinder liquid-cooled engine Jumo222 - this Ju288 is the latest model of the Jumo222T series, with a maximum output of 2800 horsepower - the latest model of Ju288 not only has two major advantages: high altitude and high speed, but also It has great range and flight time. Among them, the specialized reconnaissance model has a long range of more than 7,500 kilometers and can fly continuously in the air for 18 hours. He is definitely a big guy who gives all his opponents a headache.

As for the technology of remote-controlled gliding bombs, they are also constantly improving. The latest Fritz-X-8 remote-controlled bomb can be controlled remotely from 18,000 meters (straight-line distance), completely avoiding the firepower of surface anti-aircraft guns.

Moreover, the latest models of remote control devices also have strong anti-interference capabilities, which can minimize the effect of British and American interference devices - historically, the effects of British and American interference devices have been limited.

In addition, before the autumnal equinox in 1942, this powerful Ju288 bomber was not the only means for the German army to control the Atlantic Ocean. Ju288s often attack together with extended-range He-219s, and are also covered by Fw-190Ts taking off from aircraft carriers.

The He-115 torpedo bomber/reconnaissance aircraft taking off from the seaplane carrier, and the Fokker Zero C series (low-altitude enhanced version of the Zero) and Fokker 100 taking off from the aircraft carrier are also important attack methods.

Then there are submarines and a powerful surface fleet!

With the use of a series of attack methods, even if the navies of the United Kingdom, the United States and the Soviet Union have more battleships, especially super battleships, most of the sea power in the Atlantic is still firmly controlled by Germany.

Only a small area of ​​sea near the Arctic Circle can still be returned to the navies of the United Kingdom, the United States and the Soviet Union during the harsh polar night.

"But no matter how powerful the Ju288 is, all it can do now is reconnaissance." Lieutenant General Fraser's words seemed confident, "Because the long night in the Arctic Circle is our best cover!"

Admiral Ingersoll nodded slightly, and the staff of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet also repeatedly conducted the chart deduction. The Germans really had no way of defeating the powerful Allied fleet in a night battle on the ice unless they secretly built more powerful battleships.

And does this kind of battleship really exist?

…

"Sir, the target has been found. In the N06 sea area, the number is very large, and the formation has been eliminated on the sea surface for more than 30 nautical miles."

Somewhere in the North Atlantic, on the bridge of the battleship Hindenburg, the flagship of the European Combined Fleet, which was sailing, Admiral Lütjens received a report from the Ju288 flying over the Allied Combined Fleet and the NB21 fleet. .

Lütjens glanced at the fleet chief of staff, Rear Admiral Wilhelm Messer, and said with a smile: "It's finally here... The battleships of the Americans, British and Russians must want to fight us in Jutland now." A decisive battle?"

"That's for sure. We don't have as many battleships as they do." William Messer shrugged and smiled. "Their battleships with caliber main guns (actually 6, the HSD battleship is still in the Pacific Ocean) ), and we only have 2, and the absolute number of battleships is also theirs. "

"But no one wants to fight with them in a battleship," Lütjens smiled. "These backward-minded guys still think it's 1916! Now is the era of aircraft and remote-controlled guided weapons to dominate the oceans."

Before weapons such as the Ju288, Fritz-X, Hs-293 ​​and V3 remote-controlled missiles mature, battleships may be a decisive force in the Atlantic. But now, battleships with huge guns and strong armor are really out of date.

Therefore, not long ago, the German Ministry of Defense ordered the suspension of the construction of four 70,000-ton H41-class battleships. The H39 class will become the swan song of the German super battleship!

However, the four half-built 70,000-ton battleship hulls will not be abandoned. They will be transformed into aircraft carriers-a giant 70,000-ton battleship with an angled deck, a ski jump deck and a steam catapult. Aircraft carrier!

The purpose of using the two technologies of angled deck and steam catapult is to take off and land jet aircraft on aircraft carriers!

In June 1942, the Me-262 aircraft equipped with Junkers' Jumo-109-004A jet engine successfully flew.

Of course, Hessmann would not whimsically regard an aircraft like the Me-262 as an ideal bomber, but ordered the Me-262 to be put into production as soon as possible. But he made another embarrassing request: jets must board aircraft carriers!

For traditional aircraft carriers, this is simply a life-threatening matter. The runways the jets need to take off are too long and they land too fast. It is simply impossible to take off and land on an aircraft carrier.

Fortunately, Hirschman himself came up with a solution. He used a steam catapult and a ski-jump deck with an elevation angle to solve the take-off problem of the jet aircraft, and used an angled deck to solve the landing problem of the aircraft - because the angled deck and the main The deck is staggered, and there will be no airplanes or anything in front of it. If the jet does not hook the arresting cable when landing, it can take off again instead of hitting the aircraft in front and causing an accident.

But it is not easy to install an angled deck and a high-power steam catapult on an aircraft carrier (steam catapults are available now, but the power is insufficient). Germany's existing aircraft carriers are difficult to modify due to insufficient tonnage and power. The only way is to convert the four 70,000-ton battleships under construction into aircraft carriers. In this way, by the end of 1944 at the earliest, Germany will have four super aircraft carriers that can take off and land jet aircraft.

However, the 70,000-ton super aircraft carrier and jet aircraft are far away from the water. The current night battle on the ice and sea still has to be fought by battleships.

Therefore, after learning that the Allied Combined Fleet and the NR21 fleet had left New York Harbor, Lütjens immediately led the main force of the European Combined Fleet anchored in Gibraltar to attack.

The main ships involved in the attack included 2 Hindenburg-class battleships, 2 Bismarck-class battleships, 2 Barbarossa-class battleships (level 0), the Gneisenau battleship, 3 Kaiser Wilhelm II-class guided missile cruisers, and 2 Richelieu-class battleships, 4 Veneto-class battleships, 2 Dunkirk-class battlecruisers, 2 Zeppelin-class aircraft carriers, 3 "Blue Ribbon" aircraft carriers, 4 Admiral Hipper-class heavy cruisers , 2 Foch-class heavy cruisers, 3 Zara-class heavy cruisers, in addition to hundreds of light cruisers, destroyers, mine-laying cruisers, seaplane carriers, ammunition ships, oil ships, hospital ships and other combat ships and auxiliary ships follow.

Basically, everyone came out in full force!