Chapter 1120: Ulterior Motives

For the German naval commander Günther Lütjens, he also did not know just how far the German Navy could go under his command. Three aircraft carriers, protected by new cruisers and destroyers, sailed majestically over the boundless ocean, their sharp bows cutting through the surging waves.

The more modern the war, the more numerous and precise the combat departments involved. By the twenty-first century, a war required so many departments to coordinate and cooperate, just like the gears in a watch, interacting with each other without a single error. And precisely because it was so precise, the word “coordination” was elevated to an unparalleled degree.

It was just like this moment. The German Navy’s all-out sortie was not as simple as just picking a day for the navy to sail out of port. At least one day prior, the German weather department was still calculating the Atlantic climate for several consecutive days, determining whether it was suitable for naval aircraft carrier fleet operations. They used various methods to verify their conclusions, and some results were even calculated by the “Prophet” computer.

Moreover, when the fleet set sail, the sky above the port was still gloomy. This made all the naval officers and men uncertain whether they could actually fight the battle in Iceland as expected. However, an hour after they left Wilhelmshaven and rendezvoused with the supply ships sailing from Britain in the North Sea, they saw the sun, and the waves had subsided somewhat.

“Squadron 5’s reconnaissance plane has spotted two British anti-submarine patrol vessels. They are about 140 kilometers directly ahead of us.” A naval aviation commander pointed to the huge sea chart in front of Lütjens with a teaching stick, introducing the latest intelligence: “The intelligence department has notified us that the British Royal Navy has already departed from Canada and is heading for the waters near Iceland. However, based on the distance analysis, we still have a full day of ample time to attack Iceland.”

Lütjens found that war seemed to have changed its appearance without him even realizing it. At least for this battle, the thing that would decide its outcome was currently lying in an Imperial University laboratory. The Prophet computer had deciphered the British Royal Navy’s code system. For the Germans, the entire Iceland defense system was now like a naked young woman, with no secrets to speak of.

This war was not a fair duel between knights—in fact, war had never had anything to do with the word “fair.” This situation, where the enemy’s every move was in plain view, gave Lütjens, as a commander, a strong sense of frustration. He felt that as long as it wasn’t a madman sitting in his position, anyone could probably win this battle.

“Don’t bother with those small fry up ahead. We need to get close to Iceland as quickly as possible and destroy the airfields and other facilities on the island.” Although he was somewhat disheartened, Lütjens still had to fulfill his duties as commander. He very simply gave the order to ignore them, letting his fleet crash forward like a rhinoceros.

Sometimes, charging straight ahead instead of using a flanking strategy was not due to recklessness, but was the most powerful method chosen after synthesizing all the intelligence. Lütjens completely ignored the risk of his fleet’s position being confirmed by the British, because he knew that in the waters surrounding his fleet, there were no enemy fleets capable of threatening him.

None! Not a single fleet! After the battleship Admiral Raeder had secretly bombarded Iceland last time, the British Royal Navy began to discuss countermeasures for this type of sneak attack. Because in the past they had fighter aircraft on Iceland providing protection, they had only kept anti-submarine forces, like destroyers, nearby.

Back when they had planes, the German Navy naturally didn’t dare come close to get虐 (get abused). But as Iceland’s main airport was destroyed by German long-range bombers, this air umbrella vanished. The drawback—that the main British fleet could not be deployed in the waters near Iceland—was thoroughly exposed.

The massive battleship Admiral Raeder and its accompanying cruisers were obviously not something British and American anti-submarine destroyers could handle, so these ships were clearly unable to confront a German fleet at this time. After much thought, the British came up with two of the most reliable methods. One was to rush repairs on the Iceland airfield the Germans had bombed, seeking to restore their air umbrella as soon as possible. The other method was to have the battleship Villain and some cruisers patrol the nearby waters to counter German provocations at any time.

Using the battleship Villain was a last resort for the Royal Navy, because American battleships had some subtle differences in main gun caliber compared to British and German ones. Therefore, the Villain, a battleship procured from Germany, had no place to replenish its shells. The British were trying to order a batch of ammunition from the US, but it couldn’t be produced in a short time.

There was another reason. Ever since the Hood and other battlecruisers were sunk, the British suddenly discovered they had no capital ships left that could catch up to the new-style battleships the Germans were producing. Other than the Villain, none of their warships could match the speed of the Admiral Raeder. And building a new battleship was clearly unrealistic.

But even so, the German Navy had now sortied in full force. A fleet of three carriers was, if not invincible in the Atlantic, at least a decisive force. Clearly, this German High Seas Fleet was not something a single battleship Villain could handle.

Who could have imagined that the German Navy, which had been so inactive, would suddenly begin to frequently increase its surface fleet activity within just two short months? The Libyan oil fields had brought too great a change to Germany, a change so great that American and British spies had not even had time to transmit so many changes back to their home countries.

…

Looking at the gradually clearing weather, a British destroyer captain standing on the bridge lowered his binoculars. For a naval destroyer commander like him, this was undoubtedly very good weather. After all, if the weather was bad, the anti-submarine mission he was performing would also become more difficult.

“I say, that German plane we just saw, was it really a single-propeller plane?” He had been holding his binoculars, searching for that legendary, ultra-long-range… single-engine German plane… that could fly here from Britain. It wasn’t that he forgot about the German carrier fleet, but the German carrier fleet simply had not been deployed on a large scale in recent months.

So in his subconscious, he hadn’t even considered those distant German carrier fleets. He preferred to believe that the Germans had cooked up some new, bizarre, advanced weapon, or that his lookout had been mistaken.

“Yes, that plane flew a circle far away at the edge of the clouds, and then left. Maybe it was a twin-engine plane… but to me, it looked more like a single-engine fighter,” the British sailor who had witnessed the event said affirmatively.

Just as he was confirming that everything his eyes saw was the truth, a telegraph officer walked onto the bridge behind the captain and handed an urgent telegram from Canada to his commander. “Sir! This telegram is from Canada… It has very urgent intelligence that I need to notify you of immediately.”

The destroyer captain took the telegram and lowered his head to look at the text. A line of small words met his eyes: “According to reliable intelligence, the German High Seas Fleet’s carriers sortied yesterday. All commanders on mission, please be extremely careful.”

“German High Seas Fleet? Carriers? A single-engine plane?” The captain muttered to himself for a moment, then his eyes suddenly widened. “Turn south immediately! Full speed, break away from this sea area! Quick! Hurry! The German planes are from a carrier! Their main fleet is nearby!”

Realizing he was now in a dangerous situation, the British destroyer captain immediately sounded the battle alarm on the ship. The anti-aircraft gun crews, who were not very well-trained, ran nervously to their posts. Everyone put on their life jackets and pointed all kinds of weapons at the sky in every direction.

“Send a telegram to Iceland immediately! Tell them a German fleet has been spotted in the vicinity! Tell them to prepare for anti-aircraft combat.” While accelerating to escape, he quickly relayed his message back to the Iceland base behind him. This captain was clearly a very seasoned officer; he had already done everything he could, and done it to the best of his ability.

Thus, less than 10 minutes later, Iceland also sounded its air-raid alarms. The battleship Villain and two cruisers, which were still patrolling nearby, went to full steam and retreated westward. They didn’t dare stay, lest they be discovered by the Germans and sunk in the nearby waters. That would truly be a loss that far outweighed any gain.

Just as the British were scrambling to prepare their air defenses, German carrier aircraft began to take off from their decks. With Lütjens’s order, 24 German carrier-based attack aircraft, loaded with various bombs, charged toward their target like vultures.

“General, I don’t understand… Why are we launching such a high-profile attack when we know the British have spotted us?” an officer standing behind Lütjens asked with a frown.

“Hehe, just looking at the present, of course you don’t understand… We have other plans for this air raid on Iceland.” Lütjens gave a cold laugh, then turned his gaze toward the departing attack planes and said, “Just wait. When this plan begins to be executed, forget the Americans and the British… even you, I guarantee, will be shocked!”

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