On September 3, 1939, at 12 noon GMT and 1 pm Berlin time, Hitler had received an ultimatum 2 hours earlier.
British Admiralty Chancellor Winston Churchill is at the desolate, breezy Scapa Bay Naval Base.
In two hours, two and a half hours at most, the British Empire will declare war on the German Empire, the most evil country in the world.
That is why Churchill arrived in the bay where the main force of the Home Fleet was located ahead of schedule, and after the official declaration of war, he would deliver an exciting speech to the officers and men of the entire fleet on the battleship "Nelson", the flagship of the Home Fleet.
Now, he was having lunch with First Sea Lord, Sir Rogers Pound, First Sea Lord, and Admiral Charles Forbes, Commander of the Home Fleet, in the lavish officers' lounge of the Nelson.
Although the wind and waves in the bay are not small, sitting in a huge battleship with a full load displacement of 38000 tons, only slight ups and downs can be felt.
"Chancellor," Admiral Forbes, who had just finished his fragrant seafood soup and, while waiting for the food to be served, reported to Churchill the plans for the home fleet after the start of the war.
"The Channel detachment, consisting of HMS Hood, HMS Determination and HMS Revenge, is already on its way to the English Channel, escorted by the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, the light cruiser USS Alola, and two destroyers.
Together with the French Navy, they were to be responsible for blocking Germany's sea lines of communication. ” The blockade has always been a sharp weapon of the British Navy against Germany, and in the last world war, the British Navy successfully blocked the German Navy at its doorstep.
And this time, Britain still wanted to use the blockade strategy to strangle Germany.
Sir Pound, First Sea Secretary, added: "The German navy is much weaker at present than it was in 1914, and they have only two battlecruisers armed with 280-caliber guns to fight a battle, so two battleships Resolve and Revenge are enough to blockade the English Channel."
Moreover, we still have shore-based aviation at our disposal in the English Channel, from where the Germans are extremely unlikely to break through.
Now we are facing a problem mainly with the tactics of breaking diplomatic relations with the Germans, whose submarines are most likely already lurking in the Atlantic.
And their capital ships, after completing the task of blockading Danze Bay, may also disperse and break into the Atlantic. ” Churchill snorted: "The convoy system must be activated as soon as possible, and the survival of the empire is at stake."
In addition, air and sea patrols must be strengthened to prevent German ships from breaking through the North Sea into the Atlantic. ” It is not enough for the Germans to pull out the two "Scharnhorst" class to fight a decisive battle in the fleet, but with their high speed, once they break through to the Atlantic, they are two great scourges.
"Rest assured, the Navy has had a plan for a long time, and now it just needs to follow it."
Sir Pound, First Sea Lord, said: "We now have 74 old destroyers left over from the First World War, as well as new destroyers built after the war, including the USS Amazon, the USS Ambush, which is two trial ships, Class A, Class B, Class C, Class D, Class E, Class F, Class G, Class H, 9 of each class above Class I, 16 of the Tribal class, and 8 of Class J, for a total of 184 destroyers in service, although much less than the 447 ships at the end of the last war, but still sufficient for escort missions." 8 ships are under construction or planned to be built.
In the event of rampant activity of German submarines, emergency construction was also arranged.
In short, there will never be a situation where evictions are insufficient. ” This is the essence of the century-old navy, although the number of battleships and battlecruisers in Britain at present cannot be compared with that before World War I: Dreadnought 20, Battle Cruiser 9, and Dreadnought 40, with only 12 battleships and 3 battle cruisers, and 5 "King George V" class battleships under construction, and aircraft carriers are not too many, only 6, and a few more are under construction.
However, the number of British cruisers and destroyers is still very large, there are as many as 184 destroyers in service, and there are 64 cruisers, including 15 heavy cruisers and 49 light cruisers.
In addition, Britain's submarine force is not small, with as many as 57 submarines of various types.
In contrast, the German Navy's surface ships were far behind.
Not to mention the quality, the quantity alone is at a great disadvantage.
So far, there are only 2 battleships in service, 3 armored ships with combat strength similar to that of British heavy cruisers, 6 light cruisers, 1 aircraft carrier "Seydlitz", 21 Z-type destroyers, and more than 800 tons of Raptor-class thunder ships, which are much larger than torpedo boats, and can barely serve as 12 offshore destroyers.
At this point, it is not enough to be a "presence fleet".
Therefore, Admiral Raeder never thought about competing with the British Navy for sea supremacy, and all his thoughts were on the sea raid battle.
The route is good, but it's a pity that Admiral Raeder in this time and space met a group of naval aviation commanders who had transferred from the Air Force and had very strange ideas.
At 1 p.m.
Berlin time on September 3, 1939, Field Marshal Raeder and Admiral Otto Schnywinder, commander of North Sea and Baltic operations at the High Command of the Navy, drove from the headquarters in Wilhelmshaven to the nearby Wilhelmshaven naval air base.
By the time they arrived, the naval aviation base was already in the highest state of combat readiness, and the huge No. 1 airfield, the naval air force No. 1 airfield, 56 Zero fighters, 81 HE115C shore-based and 2 FW200C long-range maritime patrol and reconnaissance planes were all ready for action.
Two of them, the FW200C, which is responsible for battlefield observation tasks, are already waiting on the runway for take-off orders, and the task of these two large reconnaissance aircraft is to "lead the way".
There are three airports from Wilhelmshaven, namely HNA Airport 1, 2 and 3 to Scapa Bay, which has a range of nearly 900 kilometers, almost all of which are at sea, which is quite a challenge for pilots.
On the British carrier-based aircraft of the same era, there were navigators, so the British carrier-based aircraft had at least two seats.
And the German naval aviation, which had not been formed for a long time and did not have a lot of experience in flying at sea, took a different path and came up with the method of "pilot aircraft".
This time, the fighter formation, torpedo aircraft formation, dive bomber formation JU88 and horizontal bomber formation HE111 were each equipped with an FW200C.
The four F200Cs also carry aerial photography equipment, which can shoot the engagement at an altitude of 5,000 meters.
The obtained video data will serve as a reference for the future combat training of the German naval aviation, and will also be released to the public at the right time in order to obtain political and diplomatic benefits.
"Marshal, Commander Graham will be on the battlefield in FW200C."
In the HNA command building in Wilhelmshaven, Rear Admiral Wolfgang von Richthofen, chief of staff of the HNA Navy, told Field Marshal Raeder, "According to the plan, all aircraft will take off in 20 minutes, at 1:30 a.m., 56 Fokker Zeros, 84 HE115s, 110 HE111s and 86 JU88s will form a group of attack aircraft, and at 4:30 p.m., the group will fly to Scarpa's Gulf, the northernmost part of the British Scottish region, in the Orkney Islands."
It will then take 30 minutes to complete the air raid, return home at 5 a.m. at the latest, return to Wilhelmshaven Airport at 8 p.m., and all planes will land at 8:30 p.m. ” This is a rather challenging attack plan, with a continuous flight time of up to seven hours alone, and an average of more than 2,000 kilometers per aircraft And when the plane returned, it was already 8 o'clock in the evening.
The aircraft must be guided by the lights on the ground to land.
At the same time, it is also necessary to pay attention to the retaliatory bombing of British aircraft, and the HNA Command estimates that the British are likely to be angry after being bombed and send planes to attack Wilhelmshaven at night.
Of course, it is also possible that the British would have made the same calculation and attacked German naval bases with air strikes Therefore, at the same time as carrying out this surprise attack, the Naval Air Command also mobilized 74 BF110 and 36 Fokker Zeros, piloted by supplementary pilots, to stay at the three major airfields in Wilhelmshaven.
In addition, more than 100 anti-aircraft guns were deployed around the three major airfields in Wilhelmshaven for air defense.
"Well, what a desperate operation" Field Marshal Raeder and Admiral Otto Schnywinder glanced at each other, they were not really opposed to the development of naval aviation.
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However, we absolutely cannot agree with this kind of combat operation in which hundreds of advanced aircraft are put on a bet.
"Well, how many British ships are waiting to be bombed in Scarpa Bay now," asked Admiral Otto Schnywind.
Rear Admiral Wolfgang von Richthofen replied: "At present, there are three battleships that can be determined, including the Nelson, the Royal Oak, and the Sovereign, the two battle cruisers Prestige and the Counterattack, three aircraft carriers, including the Fury, the Brave, and the Glorious, as well as at least 10 cruisers and 20 destroyers, and dozens of auxiliary ships and training ships of various kinds."
Marshal Raeder nodded, and suddenly said in a serious tone: "Now give me Commander Graeme, I have the latest order from the Navy General Command to issue." ” "Ordered" Major General Wolfgang von Richthofen was stunned.
"The plane can take off, but whether or not to carry out an air strike must be personally ordered by me to attack or cancel the operation by 4:30 p.m.
This is an order from the Ministry of Defense" t1706231537: