Before the four-plane formation led by Garland shot down the "Swordfish" torpedo bomber, an airwave was sent back to the "Ark Royal" aircraft carrier from the "Swordfish" plane.
Subsequently, Vice Admiral Whitworth, commander of the G flotilla, with the battlecruiser "Hood" as the flagship, immediately decided to launch an air strike.
Knowing the poor performance of the British carrier-based aircraft, Vice Admiral Whitworth decided to overwhelm the other side with numerical superiority, and took the risk of transferring the carrier-based aircraft on the "Ark Royal" to form 57 aircraft, three of which were "Swordfish" planes for reconnaissance missions and did not return, one of which had already been shot down in an offensive formation, with Major Joseph Lee as the offensive commander-in-chief, and a three-plane formation led by Lieutenant Johnson of the 803rd Fighter Squadron, with three "Big Gulls" as the lead aircraft.
The formation of the "Ark Royal" soon climbed to an altitude of 3,000 meters, and made its way south in search of the German fleet of broken friends.
And about 100 nautical miles behind the G fleet, the "Hundred-Eyed Giant" of the F fleet also sent 15 "Swordfish" to fly slowly south.
To the south of the German fleet, the British H Fleet's aircraft carrier "Eagle" also sent 15 "Swordfish" aircraft.
At the same time, nine German Fokker 99 planes also took off from the aircraft carrier "Seydlitz" and formed a small attack formation, heading for the British AB1 formation, which was less than 100 nautical miles to the northeast.
They had been ordered in advance to be wounded, because Lieutenant General Machar wanted to use the nine 280 cannons of the "Scharnhorst" to go on a killing spree this evening.
So it was hoped that the Fokker Type 99 could damage as many British merchant ships as possible.
In addition, Vice Admiral Machar sent a telegram to the submarine forces lurking in the waters north of the Azores, telling them to immediately come at a distance of nearly 400 nautical miles.
The first to be bombed was the British AB1 convoy, which consisted of more than 80 large merchant ships and 12 escort cruisers and destroyers, which was too large to occupy a large area of the ocean, and it was difficult not to detect them.
Nine Fokker 99s immediately dispersed, and in a formation of 3 aircraft, launched an attack on 3 large merchant ships, and quickly succeeded.
One of the 10,000-ton bulk carriers named "Thames" was hit by an SC250 because it was an attack merchant ship, so the Fokker 99 did not carry armor-piercing shells, but only used a modified SC250.
A large oil tanker named "Princess Bengal" was hit by 2 SC250s and caught fire at sea.
There was also a steel freighter named "Helena" that had 1 SC250 in it.
News of the attack on the AB1 flotilla soon reached Admiral Forbes' battleship "Revenge".
"Admiral, Colonel Wolberton Lee of the AB1 fleet requested that the formation be disbanded."
Major General Phillips said to Admiral Forbes.
"Not allowed" Admiral Forbes did not hesitate to reject the advice of Colonel Walburton Lee.
"Admiral, the Germans are attacking the AB1 flotilla with a carrier-based dive bomber," Rear Admiral Phillips reminded, "and Colonel Wolburton Lee reported that such aircraft were bombed with such accuracy that they were almost comparable to our gulls.
If you let them blow up a few more times, the loss of ab1 will be very large. ” "It doesn't matter," said Admiral Forbes, "that we can afford and only bear such losses in order to catch the German broken fleet."
"The British Empire cannot allow an enemy surface fleet to run rampant across the Atlantic," he said in a solemn tone.
Although the German submarine had a very great success in September, because the German submarine had as many as 300 submarines, the British losses were more than double the historical ones, but the losses were still within the acceptable range compared to the British merchant fleet with a gross tonnage of 21 million tons.
And from October, the climate in the North Atlantic deteriorated, the activity of German submarines was somewhat restricted, and British losses were reduced.
Therefore, the British can still bear the losses of merchant ships at present, as long as the losses are worthwhile "We have more than a hundred warships," Forbes said, "but if they are determined to escape, we can only chase them with Hood and the Ark Royal."
Because no other battleship or aircraft carrier could catch up with them, and the heavy cruiser would certainly not be able to beat the Scharnhorst.
However, Hood and Ark Royal also did not have a speed advantage, and it was easy to lose their opponents.
If our carrier-based aircraft attacks don't work, then it will be very costly to keep them here until tonight."
"In the evening," Rear Admiral Phillips shook his head, "but the German ships have radars. ” The British also have radars, and they have already begun to install them on warships.
But they were still half a beat slower than the Germans, and the "Scharnhorst", "Seydlitz" and "Leipzig" all had "metronome" radars on board.
And on the British side, only a few "air defense ships" were equipped with radars, in addition, there were also experimental versions of the famous 279 radar for experiments on the battlecruiser "Prestige".
"I know," said Charles Forbes, "that is why they chose to leave behind so many wounded and burning merchant ships on the surface of the night battle, and it was so easy to sink them, why should we give up and leave at full speed before dawn, with the cover of the Fokker Zero, we would soon lose them, wouldn't we?"
"Lost with the heel" is almost certain, as can be imagined from the fact that British reconnaissance planes were shot down one after another, and this was the result of the radar-guided Fokker Zero attacks by German surface ships If the British walruses and swordfish are gone, they will naturally not be able to continue tracking.
What's more, when the plane can't take off at night, the vast Atlantic Ocean is pitch black, where to find German warships If such a result is really achieved, the face of the world hegemon of the British Empire will be lost.
Not only will international friends be shaken, but even the voice of peace in Britain will probably rise.
"Garand, the radar found that the unknown aircraft group was in the direction of 11 o'clock in front of you on the left, the altitude was about 3000, and the distance was about 8000, so immediately occupy a 4000-meter altitude attack position" Adolf Garland heard Lieutenant Colonel Weiss's order through his headset.
Although there was no way to distinguish between torpedo bombers and dive bombers from the radar screen, Lieutenant Colonel Weiss still did not dare to slack off and ordered Garland's four Fokker Zeros to occupy the high-altitude position.
At the same time, 12 Fokker Zeros were sent to occupy low-altitude positions to block the "Swordfish" aircraft.
Four other Fokker Zeros also took to the skies and circled above the aircraft carrier in case of emergency.
"Ladies and gentlemen, protecting aircraft carriers and battleships is your top priority," Lieutenant Commander Weiss finally ordered loudly over the intercom, "I don't want you to shoot down as many enemy planes, just drive them out, and don't stay away from the fleet at any time, understand?"
"Understood, Lieutenant Colonel" Garland agreed, and flew with his formation towards the designated airspace.
He and his men were veterans of the Spanish War, having fought over Poland and Scapa Bay.
Of course, you will not get carried away with excitement as soon as you enter the war, forgetting the priority task of protecting the fleet "Major, I've found them, there are so many planes" The voice of the wingman soon came from the headset, "At 12 o'clock, 1000 meters below, it seems to be regrouping" Major Garland looked over and immediately took a breath, it was a huge group of dozens of aircraft, most of which were biplanes, it should be the old-fashioned-looking "Swordfish", and a dozen or so monoplanes were struggling to climb, as if they wanted to seize the advantage of the high altitude.
"Can't let them climb on top of us," Garland yelled, "let's dive down and see if we can force them to drop the bombs." 4 against 12, Garland's side is at an absolute disadvantage in numbers.
However, in terms of aircraft performance, the Fokker Zero is much stronger than the "Big Gull".
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So there is no problem in shooting down a few, the problem is that once these planes enter the dive position, the three warships on the surface of the sea will be unlucky.
At this time, the British also discovered Garland's 4-plane formation, but they did not immediately throw away and blew up.
Instead, they split into a 3-plane formation and threw bombs, and then pounced on them, trying to entangle 4 Fokker Zeros.
"Don't fight them" Although Garland did not see whether the other side had dropped the bomb, the experience of aerial combat told him that the other side would definitely not hang the bomb to send him to death.
"The remaining 9 are our goal" As he spoke, he led his formation to use its speed to bypass the three "big gulls" that blocked the gunholes, and pounced on the nine "big gulls" that formed a dive formation at an altitude of 3,000 meters.
The 9 "big gulls" were startled by the 4 Fokker Zeros, and then 3 more "big gulls" threw bombs and rushed up to block them.
This time the two sides were very close, and Garland did not choose to dodge, but gave the order to open fire. 4 Fokker Zeros against 3 "Big Gulls", and the Fokker Zeros also occupied high altitudes.
It was a battle without suspense, and soon one "big gull" was planted with smoke in tow.
Garland did not pay attention to the remaining 2 "big gulls" and the 3 "big gulls" that were still slowly chasing behind the buttocks, but directly attacked the 6 "big gulls" that had just formed a dive formation.
These six "big gulls" seemed to be frightened birds, and hurriedly threw bombs and fled in all directions.
An attack by a dive bomber was easily shattered by 4 Fokker Zeros.
At the same time, 12 Fokker Zeros also launched an onslaught against 45 biplane Swordfish aircraft t1706231537: