Battle of Dunkirk (Air and Sea)

  On the flagship of the British Strike Fleet, the battleship 'Nelson', Captain Mills was holding a reconnaissance report from an air reconnaissance plane on the command bridge, while sipping a cup of coffee in his hand. After reading the contents of the report, Admiral Forbes, Commander-in-Chief of the Home Fleet, who was also sipping a cup of coffee, said: "Respected Admiral, do you think the German High Seas Fleet will evade us and let us make a futile trip? Have they slipped back into their own ports?"

  Admiral Forbes sipped his coffee leisurely, put the cup on the chart table, narrowed his eyes and said, "How, you want to find a decisive battle with the Germans so much?"

  "Admiral Nelson" battleship captain Colonel Mills took off his military cap, embarrassed to touch his own head and said: "My wife wants to see me take a photo with a sinking German warship as the background, she wants to get a piece of metal from the German warship to show off to her girlfriends. So I'm worried that the German warships will quietly disperse after taking advantage of us."

  Admiral Forbes's face stiffened as he said, "Have you forgotten what our main task is? If we hadn't encountered the German High Seas Fleet, we would have used our firepower to destroy the heavy guns deployed by the Germans at Dunkirk Harbour, covering the retreat of our army. How can you think of engaging the German fleet in a decisive battle if they entangle us and we cannot extricate ourselves to support the army? Can you bear to see them groaning under the German heavy artillery? I suspect that if the German fleet appears, our army may already be at a critical juncture. So now that you haven't found the German fleet, you should be grateful that they are allowing us to complete our more important task."

  "Ah," said Colonel Mills, commander of the battleship 'Nelson', snapping to attention, "Yes, General, I know what our most important task is now."

  Admiral Forbes smiled with relief and said: "Good, you know what you should do as a glorious officer of the Royal Navy..."

  Just then a sharp whistling sound of a heavy shell came, interrupting Admiral Forbis's words. Then several near misses fell around the battleship "Nelson", raising high water columns.

  "The Germans' big guns have got the range on us. They're giving us a bracket." Admiral Forbes muttered to himself as he watched the high water spouts kicked up by several near misses.

  "German fleet is attacking, German fleet is attacking!" Colonel Mills, captain of the battleship "Nelson", shouted loudly: "We have been attacked by the German fleet. The whole ship enters first-class combat readiness. Each department reports losses." Meanwhile, Admiral Forbes also woke up and shouted: "Quickly determine the position of the German fleet, the entire fleet enters first-class combat readiness. Each ship reports its situation."

  When his initial shock had passed, Admiral Forbes angrily exclaimed: "Those damned Germans, how did they manage to evade our reconnaissance planes? The air force pilots are a bunch of bloody fools, how could they let the German High Seas Fleet escape detection?"

  On the German fleet side, Admiral Lütjens of the German High Seas Fleet had already received reconnaissance reports from scouting U-boats and was well aware of the movements of the British Battlecruiser Fleet. With the help of his own scouting planes' reports, he evaded the reconnaissance of British scouting planes and lay in wait on the route that the British Battlecruiser Fleet must take, preparing to disrupt the British fleet's formation with a sudden burst of gunfire.

  On the British side, when they came out of the confusion caused by the initial cannonade, they found that the German fleet's gunfire had ceased. The whole fleet began to wonder if they had encountered the German fleet, and after dispersing, they prepared to evade the reconnaissance and pursuit of British patrol planes and ships. In such a short period of time, the German ship with such large-caliber guns disappeared without a trace, and it could only be the German battleships "Gneisenau" and "Scharnhorst", which, according to their usual combat principles, would quickly retreat if they found that their target could cause harm to themselves, even if the target was very valuable.

  Admiral Forbes looked at the coffee cup that had been thrown to the deck in the sudden German attack, and saw that the coffee was starting to flow across the lower parts of the deck. He asked Captain Mills of the battleship Nelson: "Has the German shelling stopped? Have we located their firing position?"

  "Found them, bearing 220 degrees, southwest of us, at a distance of about 20,000 yards. Must be the German battleships Gneisenau and Scharnhorst; only those two can shoot at us from that position and run away so fast that we cannot track them. Those damned German battlecruisers are cowards who will retreat as soon as they see our strength."

  Admiral Forbes said, "Put yourself in their shoes and you would do the same. After all, self-preservation is most important. Now, each ship in the fleet reports that damage is not great, the German gunfire this time was basically some near misses, only causing some riveted structures below the waterline of our warships to leak, but the damage control centers of each ship reported that they have been brought under control. If the Germans do not attack us again within ten minutes, we will cancel the combat alert."

  At this time, a lookout on the battleship "Nelson" shouted; "An unidentified nationality aircraft has appeared in the sky."

  Captain Mills of the battleship "Nelson" immediately inquired which country's aircraft, type, and lookout replied that the aircraft was distant, only recognizing it as a seaplane, unable to identify the nationality and model due to excessive distance.

  Captain Mills of the battleship "Nelson" rushed up to the observation deck with binoculars and saw several planes flying in the distance. Indeed, as the lookout had said, he could only tell that they were seaplanes, but couldn't identify their nationality or type.

  He put down the telescope and said, "Hail that plane with standard Royal Navy frequency. If they don't answer, it's definitely a German plane." The officer beside him nodded and went off to do so.

  Admiral Forbes walked onto the bridge and asked: "Is it a German plane?"

  "Captain Mills of the battleship 'Nelson' said: "I'm pretty sure that's a German plane, just confirming by wireless. They're watching us. Well, let them inform their troops and their air force will probably be here soon."

  Admiral Forbes' face began to look grim, saying; "Signal the fleet to form an anti-aircraft formation and request Royal Air Force support for our planes to rendezvous with us quickly."

  The British fleet began to follow the orders issued by the flagship and formed an anti-aircraft formation, slowing down its speed.

  At this time, the captains of the German battleships 'Gneisenau' and 'Scharnhorst', standing on their respective ships, saw the reports from the reconnaissance planes they had sent out. Although they were not together, they both burst out laughing at almost the same time and immediately gave orders: "Ask the reconnaissance plane to provide the coordinates of the British warships, we want to fire at the British again."

  When Admiral Forbes, commander of the British Battle Fleet, thought that the German raiders had gone, he suddenly heard again the shriek of heavy shells over the British Battle Fleet.

  "The Germans are not leaving, they're firing at us again!" Colonel Mills, captain of the battleship 'Nelson', shouted loudly.

  "Look, you guys see the battleship 'Rodney', it's been hit. Oh my god, how did the Germans' shells hit so accurately?" The lookout on the lookout tower shouted desperately.

  Admiral Forbes, Commander of the British Strike Fleet, and Colonel Mills, Captain of the battleship 'Nelson', rushed to the observation window together, looking in the direction where the battleship 'Rodney' was located. Only to see that a huge column of smoke had risen from the top of the 'Rodney'. Flames burst out of the windows of the upper structure. On the deck of the 'Rodney', teams of damage control personnel were running back and forth non-stop.

  "Admiral, this is a message from the battleship Rodney." A staff officer walked up to Admiral Forbes.

  "What is the extent of the damage to the battleship Rodney?" Admiral Forbes asked.

  "He reports that his ship has taken on water in two boiler rooms and is now stopped, Rodney's captain reports that he can no longer keep up with the fleet's speed and requests to stop for repairs." The staff officer reported.

  "Alright, let him drop out of the line and make repairs. Send two destroyers to help them." Admiral Forbes said weakly shaking his head. Meanwhile, German battleships Gneisenau and Scharnhorst's shells fell again in the middle of the British striking fleet after correction by reconnaissance planes, this time the unlucky one was a destroyer.

  Admiral Forbes finally lost his temper and shouted: "You now quickly determine the position of the German warship, after determining it, divide the entire fleet into two parts. With the battlecruiser 'Renown' leading eleven destroyers to chase the German warship at the highest speed! The rest of the fleet follows at 25 knots."

  The formation of the British fleet began to become disordered. The battlecruiser "Renown" led a flotilla of eleven destroyers away from the British striking force and towards the German battleships "Gneisenau" and "Scharnhorst". The remaining battleships fell behind due to their lower speed.

  The commanders of the German battleships Gneisenau and Scharnhorst, upon learning that the British striking force had divided, signalled to each other and began withdrawing at maximum speed in the direction of their own fleet.

  In the command bridge of the German High Seas Fleet flagship, Admiral Lütjens stood with a report from the battleships Gneisenau and Scharnhorst in his hand, a faint, almost imperceptible smile on his lips.

  "He gave the order; 'The entire fleet will form a T-shaped formation, here the German Navy will engage in a decisive battle with the British Navy. Whether the German Navy can become strong depends on this one battle.'"

  As the British battlecruiser HMS Renown led a flotilla of eleven destroyers in pursuit of the German battleships Gneisenau and Scharnhorst, they found themselves caught in the crossfire of the German High Seas Fleet.

  The German fleet formed a line of battle and the entire fleet opened fire on the British battlecruiser HMS Repulse and the 11th Destroyer Flotilla she led. The main guns of the German warships belched out flames from the propellant gases, followed by clouds of smoke from the partially burnt propellant that enveloped the entire battlefield.

  The British battlecruiser HMS Repulse and the 11th Destroyer Flotilla she led had no idea that ahead of the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau was the entire German High Seas Fleet. Caught off guard, after the first round of gunfire, three destroyers were heavily damaged by the heavy guns of the German battleships and had to withdraw from the battlefield with smoke. The British battlecruiser HMS Repulse was also unable to withstand so many shells, her engine room was hit, her steering gear was destroyed, and she could not turn. She rolled on the surface of the sea with the waves.

  Meanwhile, the British striking fleet saw that the fire in front of them illuminated half the sky with a bloody red glow, and they knew that their dispatched British battlecruiser "Renown" and its led 11th Destroyer Squadron were in a precarious situation. The sailors and officers above gritted their teeth, vowing to tear the German warships apart and make them unable to turn over forever at the bottom of the Atlantic.

  When the British battlecruisers came into sight of the German High Seas Fleet, they found that the British battlecruiser "Renown" and the 11th Destroyer Flotilla she led had been largely put out of action. The sea was dotted with British sailors jumping into the water to save themselves. Meanwhile, in the distance, the German warships not only did not retreat but seemed to be preparing to welcome them.

  Admiral Forbes of the British Battle Fleet ordered: "All ships form a firing line according to Plan 2, we are going to have a decisive battle with the German fleet!"