Chapter 351: Setting Sail

The sharp bow of a destroyer cut two white waves on the surface of the water. A German destroyer was sailing slowly on the calm sea. It had not yet entered the cold North Sea, because this destroyer had just left its harbor—the naval port of Wilhelmshaven.

The waves cut by this destroyer had not yet calmed before they were cut again by the bow of another destroyer in the distance. And behind this destroyer followed a third. These German warships, all beginning with a “Z,” were new ships with a service life of ten years. They were equipped with new sonar systems and the most advanced search radar.

Behind these destroyers was a huge warship. The triple-mounted 280mm cannons on it were so distinct and outstanding. This was a Lützow-class armored ship, the warship with the largest tonnage and the most powerful artillery in the German Navy at this stage, apart from the aircraft carriers.

For such a massive fleet to set sail from a German port, it must be the German High Seas Fleet, that is, the most elite naval fleet of Germany, the terrifying force that made even the British Royal Navy give it a wide berth.

Sure enough, in the inner circle of the fleet, a huge aircraft carrier showed its tall figure. The huge freeboard and the command island on the deck made the barges following alongside it look incredibly small.

A full sixteen destroyers and eight cruisers, with three armored ships, protecting four massive fleet aircraft carriers, slowly sailed out of the Wilhelmshaven naval port, making the soldiers on the surrounding patrol boats and torpedo boats watch in a daze. This was the hope of the German Navy, and also the future of the German Navy.

Lütjens stood on the bridge, looking at this massive naval fleet under his command. A sense of pride and superiority made the corners of his mouth turn up slightly. He was now, like Dönitz, a de facto fleet commander. And under their efforts, the German Navy had achieved a proud combat record that their predecessors had never achieved.

Since the beginning of the war, they had sunk the British carriers Eagle and Courageous; the battleships Malaya, Barham, and Royal Sovereign; the heavy cruiser Norfolk and the light cruiser Penelope. They had also captured two British destroyers and had sunk another 29 destroyers and one submarine. And they themselves had only lost one destroyer, one submarine, and a few planes.

The four aircraft carriers, Imperator, Graf Zeppelin, Bismarck, and Tirpitz, sailed out of the naval port in sequence. On the deck of each carrier were still parked a dozen or so planes. The ground crew were checking this equipment so that they could exert their highest combat power in the future battle.

Lütjens looked at the sea in the distance and did not speak for a long time. Not far behind him, a huge sea chart table was placed in the combat command room. There were also the air force reconnaissance reports and the latest meteorological analysis provided by the meteorological bureau, piled up on the intelligence analysis table.

“Maintain course!” the first mate commanded loudly from behind Lütjens’s side. This was still the core area controlled by the German Air Force, so the command of the fleet was handed over to the adjutant. Lütjens was also happy to be idle and calmed down to think about how to complete the mission of this voyage.

This time, the navy had been ordered to complete an operational plan personally drawn up by the Führer, the so-called “Operation Blackout.” The content of this plan was very complex; it was a huge joint sea, land, and air operational plan. The navy and the air force were mainly to cooperate to annihilate the British and French navies participating in the Battle of Dunkirk in the English Channel. The air force and the army were to cooperate to annihilate the Anglo-French coalition forces on land and, using this as a bait, to heavily damage the British navy and air force.

To ensure the success of this plan, Akado had ordered the Supreme High Command to mobilize almost all the forces it could concentrate—including four air force groups with a total of 2,100 combat aircraft of various types, the navy’s only fleet, the “High Seas Fleet,” and the entire Army Group B and half of Army Group A, a total of 550,000 troops.

“Operation Blackout” had been fully launched 15 hours ago. The air force had flown 4,000 sorties to carry out air attack missions. The Stuka bombers had dropped their bombs on the Allied positions as if they were free. The bombers had dropped hundreds of thousands of tons of bombs, turning the originally not-so-famous corner city of Dunkirk in northwestern France into almost a field of ruins.

The now-Colonel Galland, as the frontline air force commander, had commanded the fighter units’ hunting plan, shredding all the aircraft that the Allies could get into the air over Dunkirk. This dozen or so hours of combat had produced twelve ace pilots in the air force in one go. The fighter units of the French Air Force that had bravely taken off had experienced a truly life-and-death battle. Of the 300 fighters, only 37 remained after the German army’s slaughter, and 259 pilots had bravely died in battle.

The naval air arm units, which were to serve as the carrier-based aircraft for the subsequent two aircraft carriers, had all been transferred to the field airfields near Dunkirk and, as the main force for bombing the British naval vessels, had gone into battle for the first time. They were required to train in actual combat on how to efficiently sink enemy ships, to lay a good foundation for future operations.

With these special Stukas and naval Fw-190s, the British destroyer units that had risked coming to rescue the troops had suffered a devastating blow. These carrier-based aircraft units, with their precise bombing and first-class techniques, had sunk three British destroyers and one light cruiser in the waters of Dunkirk in one go, forcing the British plan to withdraw troops on a large scale to be postponed again and again.

Since the air force had already held the scene, the navy’s sortie this time was completely kicking a man when he was down. The mission they had received was also very simple: to sink all the British targets they encountered, to destroy the British army’s beachhead positions and ports, and to prevent any British army retreat plan.

Of course, there was also another mission, which was to lure the British navy and air force over, to fight a battle of annihilation in the waters near Dunkirk to completely wipe out the main British Royal Navy fleet and to heavily damage the British air force’s home defense forces.

Lütjens was naturally full of confidence in this mission, because he was not a naval force that had penetrated deep into the English Channel alone. His route was close to the Dutch waters, and close to the dozen or so air force bases in Belgium. There, the German Air Force had ambushed a full 300 fighters and bombers, just waiting for the British Royal Navy and air force to take the bait.

To gain an early warning, Germany had even dispatched submarines to transport a batch of observers with radios, to lurk near the British coastline to provide early warning for Lütjens. If one were to also count the 50 permanent fighter patrols in the sky and the fleet’s new radar, this preparation could be said to be seamless, just waiting for the British to walk into the trap.

That was why the navy had sent out its most precious High Seas Fleet, as a bait placed in the dangerous location of the English Channel. On the one hand, it was because the Führer felt that stopping the retreat of the Anglo-French coalition was very important. On the other, it was because this combat operation could be said to be completely dangerous but not risky.

These Anglo-French coalition forces, which were already in the pocket, had long since become fish on the chopping block in the eyes of the Germans, to be slaughtered at will. From the thunderous artillery fire near Dunkirk, one could hear how unpleasant the days were for the poor British and French people in the encirclement.

So Lütjens’s mood was now very good, because what he was doing now was something that his predecessors in World War I had not even dared to dream of. If they could know that the German fleet could appear in the English Channel, lure the British fleet out, and then annihilate the main British fleet, then they would probably wake up laughing from their dreams.

Thinking of this, he even, in high spirits, handed over command to the fleet’s deputy commander and took a few guards to the deck for a breath of fresh air. The deck of an aircraft carrier was not as spacious as an ordinary warship could compare to. The sea breeze blew on the deck made of steel armor, bringing with it a cold and desolate feeling.

Two sailors on duty on the deck saw their commander and immediately stood at attention and saluted. They were carrying Mauser 98K rifles on their backs. Because of priority issues, most of the second-line combat units could only be equipped with this bolt-action rifle. The saved MP-44 assault rifles and G43 semi-automatic rifles were all given priority to the army.

Of course, every aircraft carrier was equipped with a special 12-man detachment, equipped with excellent MP-44 assault rifles, to be used as a special situation handling detachment under the direct command of the captain. Of course, such elites were not needed for normal duty, so what Lütjens had encountered were just ordinary duty guards.

“Heil Führer!” the two soldiers said loudly.

“Heil Führer,” Lütjens returned the salute and then continued to walk forward. The hem of his naval greatcoat was rolled up by the sea breeze, and he looked full of spirit. He led two guards toward the bow of the carrier. Every time he set sail, he would go there to take a look. This seemed to be a habit he had developed over many years.

On the destroyer not far away, the huge radar antenna began to slowly turn. Because the fleet had completely left Wilhelmshaven, the alert measures began to be activated step by step. Behind Lütjens, on the deck of the aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin, two carrier-based reconnaissance fighters were taking off. The first plane quickly left the deck, skimmed over the sea at high speed, and whistled over Lütjens’s head, followed by the second, and then the third and fourth, which had taken off from the Bismarck.

These planes would soon fly in all directions, providing the most long-range, real-time reconnaissance intelligence for the entire fleet. With these super-long eyes that could observe more than 200 kilometers away, the defensive depth of the German fleet had been increased from the dozens of kilometers of a traditional fleet to a level of at least 130 kilometers. This distance was a long distance that the British Navy’s naval guns could not cross, a death distance that made the British Royal Navy grit its teeth in hatred.

“General,” an officer ran over from behind Lütjens. He had run all the way from the bridge, holding what seemed to be a very important telegram in his hand.

After the officer had reached his position, he saluted at attention and then respectfully handed the telegram to Lütjens. “A telegram from the Führer. ‘Wishing you success!'”