"But is this a bit far?" Major General Simon, chief of staff of the fleet, worried. "Now the distance between each other is more than 600 kilometers. Although they are barely within the attack range, if there is a mistake, I'm afraid..."

Crank nodded, which was also the factor he had been worried about just now. In the past, Crank had long led his troops to escape in the face of such an unfavorable comparison of troops, but now he can't leave because he doesn't have much fuel and can't hold on at sea for too long. If he had to go back to Buenos Aires to replenish, the opponent could wait for him halfway, and if he fought at that time, he might not have the advantage of taking the lead.

After so many battles, especially after following the Japanese joint fleet, the German Navy's confidence, especially the confidence in head-on battle, has increased to a good level. If he runs now, the confidence he has accumulated will suffer setbacks. Moreover, after entering the era of aircraft carriers, the space for combat has been greatly expanded. What if the Americans discover themselves tomorrow? Wouldn't that be more dangerous? So he believes that the current risk must be taken, killing one is one, otherwise the consequences will be unimaginable.

"There is currently 600 kilometers apart. After attacking, it will take at least 3 hours to return. The fleet can run 150 kilometers forward at this time, which means that the return plane can fly 150 kilometers less. So I think the distance is enough. Of course, the pilot will work hard." Crank added, "If the pilot does not work hard today, we may all go feeding the fish tomorrow!"

"Then just hit it." Simon clenched his fists, "I believe them!"

At 10:07, just as the two aircraft carriers were intensively loading oil bombs, the second additional reconnaissance information from the adjacent sector was sent back: the enemy ship formation advanced at a speed of 23 knots, with a route of 145 degrees, and the enemy seemed to have sent reconnaissance planes...

"Look, the opponent is very cunning. Although he doesn't know our specific location, he guessed the location of our army and deliberately widened the distance to win time for his reconnaissance plane!" Crank said, "This has strengthened my determination to fight a battle immediately!"

Supplementary reconnaissance in the adjacent sector is a tactical routine learned by the German fleet from the joint fleet. The essence is to rely on the powerful speed and extraordinary range of its reconnaissance aircraft, and use the adjacent sector reconnaissance aircraft to forcibly reconnaissance again and continue to contact the other party. This can continuously indicate the direction for the attack aircraft group of its own attacks and avoid losing. In order to achieve this routine, Japan did not hesitate to squeeze out valuable aircraft carrier space to develop exclusive reconnaissance aircraft. The US military's idea is versatility. Using SBD as a reconnaissance aircraft can ensure that its attack power is not weakened.

These two tactical ideas have their own advantages, and we cannot absolutely say which one is better or who is worse: when fighting long distances, Japan is obviously dominant; when fighting close distances, the United States is obviously dominant because of the large number of attack aircraft. This idea is aligned with other tactical ideas of Japan, including cross-platform long-range combat ideas. Carrier-based aircraft with extremely long range (especially zero warfare) are all prepared for long-distance battles; while the US military emphasizes a wave of full-deck attacks, hoping to flood the opponent with quantity. When it comes to the German Navy, it not only absorbs Japan's long-range tactics, but also learns the characteristics of the US military's deck carrying. In addition, German aircraft have performed well, and the results are also significant.

When he saw the second reconnaissance plane appearing over the fleet, Spruins's face turned pale. He knew that the fleet could not escape the other party's continuous tracking. He dared to bet that even if the fighters drove away the reconnaissance plane, the Germans would send new planes to stare at him later. His judgment was very correct. The third, the second reconnaissance plane near the sector was ready to conduct a forced reconnaissance at 11 o'clock to provide the final attack guidance for the formation.

Time passed by minute by minute, and the reconnaissance aircraft of the t44 fleet continued to expand their reconnaissance vision northward. The planes of the four aircraft carriers were ready, and everyone stretched their necks to find the exact location of the German fleet. While they were waiting, the planes on the two aircraft carriers of the Ise and Savoy had already taken off one after another, hovering and preparing to set off.

In order to improve the efficiency of the first attack, Crank required all ju-198 attack aircraft (meteor modification) to mount bombs instead of relatively bulky torpedoes. As a dive torpedo dual-purpose attack aircraft, the meteor modification was well received by the fleet. When its strength was weak, it fully utilized its versatile value.

There are many differences between the ju-198, which was designed and improved by the European Joint Design Bureau, and the original Japanese meteor (meteor modification). In addition to the engine power increased to 2,200 horsepower, the body structure was greatly strengthened, including a series of defense measures such as self-sealed fuel tanks and armor, the maximum speed is nearly 570 kilometers per hour and the maximum ceiling is more than 11,500 meters.

The increase in the ceiling has brought about an expansion of the range (low high-altitude resistance and fuel saving). Not only does its range exceed 2,600 kilometers, it can also carry 800 kilograms of bombs. In order to maximize the use of this bomb load, the German side has specially developed and designed a 400 kilogram class aviation bomb with a size and smaller weight (actual weight of 385 kilograms). In this way, a single ju-198 can carry 2, which is more prominent than the He-218, which can only carry one 500 kilogram bomb.

This arrangement is particularly popular with the fleets that have the main responsibility of breaking the war. After all, in breaking the war, not to mention 500 kilograms, 250 kilogram bombs are enough to reimburse a ship. If it is a 250 kilogram bomb, the ju-198 can carry three wings on both sides and one built-in ammunition compartment on the belly, which is still one more than the he-218.

Coincidentally, the US side was old because of the sbd dive bomber and the sb2 were not popular with the fleet. Faced with Japan and Germany, the endless new aircraft (they were mainly He-218 and Ju-98), so it launched an emergency carrier-based attack aircraft bid (fighter 6 was at that time and B-219 was half a pound). Douglas submitted the BTD Destroyer, Martin submitted the BTM thug, Henry Kaiser submitted the BTK, and Curtis submitted a total of 4 BT designs. In the end, the BTD Destroyer, which integrates dive bombing and torpedo attack, the military believed that the Douglas company was more reliable in dive bombing, and the mass production model was basically ready by the beginning of 1944, but due to some manipulation and adaptation issues, it was still in China to train and fight. Although this progress has exceeded the level of the same period in history, it is still lagging behind compared to Germany.

From the perspective of conventional performance, the performance of the BTD is not as good as the Ju-198. It lags behind the latter regardless of speed, altitude, and range (of course it is much better than the SBD), but there is one thing that BTD leaves the Ju-198 far behind. The former can carry 2 torpedoes or 4 1,000-pound bombs. From the analysis of the load capacity alone, one BTD is equal to two Ju-198s. Of course, after doing this, the BTD's weight reached an unprecedented 8.9 tons, which is a huge thing that Americans can afford to play with.

Of course, BTD is just an emergency plan, not Douglas's ultimate goal. The company's latest improved design is still on the cardboard of the company, but the R&D process is relatively slow. Optimists believe that it will be able to serve before June 1945, and pessimistic people believe that it will not be able to even mass production within 1945. If you compare A-1 to ju-198, it will have a clear advantage in all aspects. Unfortunately, the German army now takes J

U-198 is here to fight, A-1 is still lying on the test bench, and Spruins on the front line can even continue to use the modified SBD! Finally, the fighter improved to 6-5 and overwhelmed the B-219. The problem is that the Americans don’t know that the do-412 will be fighting with them. No matter who can become the main force of the future axial carrier-based fighter, the b-219 is destined to complete its mission and withdraw from the front-line stage.

10:41, the German attack formation flew towards the predetermined target. In order to shorten their return distance, the entire fleet still advanced south at a speed of 24 knots. In order to maximize the attack effect, Crank only left himself 20 air defense fighters and released the remaining 84 aircraft. Due to the losses that harassed Brazil a few days ago, he had replenished the backup aircraft carried by the two aircraft carriers once, and his potential was almost exhausted. Now there are only three do-412 left in the large hangar. As they were assembled by ground crew and then took off to form the air defense formation that formed 23 fighters, he could not provide an aircraft that could supplement the damage.

20 minutes before the formation set off, Spruins calmly instructed four aircraft carriers to take off 60 fighter jets. In addition, the 24 SBDs that had been released for reconnaissance, he still held nearly 200 combat aircraft. The problem was that he did not know the exact location of the enemy, and he did not dare to let the aircraft go directly and do nothing but loss of the aircraft. The loss of the pilot was a headache.

In order to ensure that the Atlantic Fleet has enough carrier-based pilots, Nimitz not only transferred 60 skilled pilots from the Pacific Fleet, but also forcibly asked 100 pilots from the Royal Air Force to transfer to HNA. As for the LV.5-class pilots who had been trained and survived by the escort aircraft carriers, they had long been drawn on the main aircraft carriers. With the successive service of several new aircraft carriers, the skilled pilots on the escort aircraft carriers are now being continuously drawn, and their skilled reserve forces are almost exhausted.

In May, two more Essex-class ships were in service, with a pilot gap of nearly 200 people (groups). They were originally hoping to continue to transfer 100 pilots from the Royal Air Force to transfer, but now the German army is fiercely storming the British Isles. The Royal Air Force lost more than 300 pilots in one breath within three days. How could it be used for HNA to transfer? The Pacific Fleet faced the aggressive situation of the Japanese fleet breaking the trade, and it was unable to support the Atlantic direction anymore.

In other words, without these two sources, he doesn't know how to fill the gap in May! Could it be that the lv.4 in the escort aircraft carrier formation was forcibly upgraded to lv.5 and stuffed into the main fleet?

ps: Let’s start writing this month’s monthly ticket update tomorrow. Please continue to receive some monthly tickets...
Chapter completed!