Back to 1939 Sea Wolf

  On board the British battlecruiser fleet's flagship, HMS Nelson, Admiral Forbes, commander of the British Battlecruiser Fleet, was deeply regretful for sending HMS Repulse and the 11th Destroyer Flotilla to chase after those two German fast battleships. He had originally intended for HMS Repulse and the 11th Destroyer Flotilla to catch up with the German battleships Gneisenau and Scharnhorst, entangle them, and wait for the main fleet to arrive before concentrating their firepower to annihilate these two German fast battleships that were causing too much trouble for Britain's sea transportation lines. However, unexpectedly, these German fast battleships had led their pursuing ships into a trap set by the German High Seas Fleet, and the Germans acted so quickly that they crippled their pursuers before the main fleet could even arrive.

  But now he himself can't regret it, his main fleet has already entered the battlefield and cannot retreat. Retreat will only boost the morale of the German Navy. He observed the German fleet with binoculars and found that this time the German fleet was almost all out, and the main German warships were concentrated here. In addition to the two German fast battleships, there were also the "Lützow" battleship, the "Scheer Admiral" battleship, the "Blücher" and "Hipper Admiral" heavy cruisers, and most eye-catching was the "Elisabeth Queen" class battleship "Gneisenau", which was captured by the Germans in the Battle of Norway and made the British Royal Navy lose face. After being modified by the Germans, it also joined the German Ocean Fleet and is now sailing proudly.

  On the left flank of the British fleet, Zhou Tianlei left the periscope and signaled Müller to continue observing. Then he ordered: "The British Home Fleet has finally brought out their main force. Inform other submarine squadrons that after the British have formed their artillery firing formation, all submarines will launch torpedoes at maximum range."

  Mueller turned his head and asked strangely: "Commander, why don't we get close to them and fire? This way, we can heavily damage many of their ships and they won't be able to fight us."

  "Firstly, if we get too close to them, although our victory might be more glorious, our losses will definitely not be small. The British will have a higher chance of discovering us, and their destroyers will use depth charges against us. These destroyers can opt out of the impending artillery battle, which won't greatly affect the strength of the British home fleet. Our fleet cannot cover for us either. If we launch torpedoes from a distance, we'll be relatively safe.

  Secondly, I don't intend to sink them; we should try our best to capture their ships, just like the 'Munich' battleship. If we want to capture them, wouldn't it be troublesome if we sink or heavily damage them? So, I only want to disrupt their formation, making it easier for our surface fleet to take action. Do you understand my intention?"

  Muller smiled awkwardly and said: "I understand the officer's intention now. The officer's idea is truly astonishing."

  The communications officer on the submarine said: "It has been notified to other submarines."

  On the command tower of the German High Seas Fleet flagship, Admiral Lütjens was observing the movements of the British fleet through his binoculars. He was thinking about the telegram sent by von Reuter earlier, telling him not to rush into firing at the British Home Fleet and only to return fire if the British opened fire first. After a while, he would open fire when the British fleet became disordered. He wondered why the British were suddenly becoming disordered.

  Suddenly he saw the British fleet formation suddenly become chaotic, and each ship was no longer in a line, but instead turned around one by one, as if they were avoiding something! Lütjens saw this and gave orders without hesitation: "Order all ships to fire according to the measured firing parameters, open fire freely."

  On the British fleet's flagship, HMS Nelson, Admiral Forbes, commander of the British fleet, was also puzzled. The Germans had clearly spotted them but were not rushing to open fire; instead they seemed to be doing something else. Captain Mills of HMS Nelson said: "The Germans are probably ranging on us. They always demand accurate range-finding. But their range-finding is a bit slow. However, we haven't formed up properly either, and opening fire wouldn't cause them much loss."

  Just as the British Battle Fleet was forming up, a lookout on HMS Nelson suddenly shouted: "What's that thing?"

  Admiral Forbes and Captain Mills of the Nelson turned to look in the direction indicated by a lookout on the Nelson, and saw that there was a strange wave coming towards them from one side of their fleet.

  As the strange wave approached, Admiral Forbes and Captain Mills of HMS Nelson were horrified to discover that beneath the strange wave was a dense cluster of torpedoes. The wave was actually the final propulsive section of the torpedoes churning up the water as they converged, so numerous that it looked like a wave.

  Admiral Forbes hastily gave orders: 'Disregard the formation, every ship is free to turn and avoid German torpedoes.'

  Some ships, upon discovering the torpedo attack, turned around on their own without waiting for the flagship's orders to avoid the torpedoes. When the flagship's orders were finally given, the British battlecruiser squadron's formation became even more chaotic, with each ship dodging German-launched torpedoes under the skilled hands of experienced helmsmen. Meanwhile, the guns of the German High Seas Fleet began to boom.

  The commander of the German High Seas Fleet, Lüttens, jumped up like a child after giving orders and scared all his subordinates.

  Lütjens continued to gaze through his binoculars, carefully observing the movements of the British Home Fleet. He noticed that the British ships were turning about. His own fleet took advantage of the British confusion and began a fierce attack.

  Only the 280mm main guns of the German High Seas Fleet flagship "Admiral Scheer" began to roar, with a deafening sound, and the unburned flame of the propellant occasionally flashed at the muzzle as the shell left the barrel. The smoke produced by the combustion of the propellant slowly drifted away after the shell left the barrel. The huge recoil continuously caused the bow of its own ship "Admiral Scheer" to deviate to one side.

  He turned his gaze to the largest caliber battleship 'Munich' on his side, and saw that its 381mm main gun was also firing continuously at the British fleet. The unburned flames of the propellant made it look even more magnificent. The smoke produced by the combustion of the propellant slowly drifted from the bow to the stern of the battleship 'Munich'.

  Lüterens admired this magnificent scene in his heart and began to observe the situation of the British fleet.

  The British battle fleet was caught off guard by the unexpected torpedo attack from the submarine forces led by Zhou Tianlei. The ships were in disarray after forming a firing line, and the British were further humiliated as the German High Seas Fleet took advantage of the chaos to launch a fierce barrage. The British fleet had already suffered heavy losses on the outer destroyer squadrons during the dense torpedo attack by the German submarines, and the battleships "Balmoral", "Queen Elizabeth" and "Warrior" were also hit multiple times, with water pouring in from various parts of the ships. The sailors on board were unable to respond to the German fleet's cannon fire as they struggled to repair the damage. The German fleet took advantage of their inability to fight back and concentrated their firepower on the crippled British ships, using high-explosive shells that caused multiple breaches in the upper structures of the three ships. Fierce fires raged on board "Balmoral", "Queen Elizabeth" and "Warrior", with sailors rushing to put out the flames only to be knocked down by the intense heat, German shell fragments and debris from the damaged parts of the ship. By the time the fire had spread to the rear deck, there were hardly any sailors left on their feet. The German fleet, seeing that "Balmoral", "Queen Elizabeth" and "Warrior" had lost their fighting capability, shifted their firepower to other British battleships.

  The situation of other British battleships was not much better than that of the Bellerophon, the Queen Elizabeth and the Warrior, although they were luckier in avoiding the German torpedo attacks. However, their gunfire was disrupted by the German torpedo boats, and they found themselves engaged in a fierce battle with the main force of the German High Seas Fleet. At the beginning of the battle, the British had an advantage in terms of numbers and firepower density, but after being pounded by the Germans, they suddenly fell into a disadvantageous position.

  The British Royal Air Force fighter and bomber squadrons supporting the British Strike Fleet, after receiving orders to reinforce the British Strike Fleet, quickly reacted as they had already loaded their planes with fuel and ammunition. The pilots were waiting for orders in the airport's waiting room, so the first wave of attacking forces from the British Royal Air Force took off shortly and flew towards the combat area where the British Strike Fleet and the German Ocean Fleet were engaged.

  As the first wave of attacking force of the British Royal Air Force flew quickly to the combat sea area where the British strike fleet and the German Ocean Fleet were fighting, they suddenly found that the German air force fighters had been lurking here. The German fighter squadron swooped down from high altitude to intercept the first wave of attacking force of the British Royal Air Force.

  The escort fighters of the first wave of attacking forces of the British Royal Air Force immediately dispersed and formed a pair of formations to rush into the high altitude towards the four German fighter planes that were rushing towards the British aircraft. Unfortunately, there was no personnel on the sea surface at this time, otherwise it would be possible to see the German planes like a large group of black dots like locusts rushing towards the British planes.

  Hans-Ekkehard Bob was one of the German fighter pilots lying in wait for the first wave of British Royal Air Force bombers, flying his Messerschmitt Bf 109 in a dull circle high above until the appearance of the British planes caused him to rub his hands excitedly on the control stick, waiting for the order from his commanding officer before leading his wingman down towards the bomber formation.

  "Hans-Ekkehard Bob, shouting to his wingman Oberleutnant Schmitz over the radio: 'Cover my tail, follow me in!' Dived down and flew head-on against the British fighter coming towards him."

  Hans-Erdmann Bobbing shouted, he aimed at the British 'Hurricane' fighter plane flying towards him with his sight, his eyes fixed on the target, his right hand grasped the control stick tightly and locked the British 'Hurricane' fighter plane in his sight. After making sure that the British could not escape, he pressed down the machine gun firing button on his own fighter plane fiercely.

  Hans-Ekkehard Bob's Messerschmitt Bf 109B fighter plane shook violently in the roar of its on-board 7.92mm machine guns, and as Hans-Ekkehard Bob's Messerschmitt Bf 109B fighter plane opened fire, so did a British Hurricane fighter. Several bullets pierced the cockpit hood of Hans-Ekkehard Bob's Messerschmitt Bf 109B fighter plane, whizzing past his flying cap.

  Hans-Ekkehard Bob then completely ignored the few British bullets that almost took his life, he saw in his sight that his 7.92mm machine gun bullets hit the engine of a British Hurricane fighter, he suddenly pushed the control stick forward and pressed down on the nose to dive down. The British pulled up their noses to jump up. According to the recollection of Hans-Ekkehard Bob's wingman later, when his plane was separating from the British fighter, the distance between them did not exceed 50 meters. And Hans-Ekkehard Bob himself said that I dived for two reasons: one is that I didn't want to expose my belly to the British, and the other is that I saw a British Skua dive bomber below me, which had left its formation to avoid the attack of German fighters. Its wings were full of torpedoes. What a great target!

  Hans-Ekkehard Bob shot up to the side of the British Skua dive bomber and easily latched onto its tail. The pilot of the British Skua also spotted the Messerschmitt Bf 109B on his tail, and the gunner above him opened fire wildly. Hans-Ekkehard Bob carefully maneuvered his Messerschmitt Bf 109B to use the body of the other plane as cover. Then he gently pushed down the nose of the aircraft, which immediately slid under the British dive bomber, then pulled up sharply and opened fire, knocking off a few torpedoes slung under the wing of the British Skua.

  The engine of the British Skua dive bomber was also hit by 7.32mm machine gun fire from Hans-Erich Lehmann-Willenbrock's Messerschmitt Bf 109B fighter. The British Skua hastily jettisoned all its torpedoes and limped back to Britain, trailing smoke.

  Hans-Ekkehard Bob saw the intention of the British Skua dive bomber and led his wingman to fly alongside it, waving at its pilot and indicating that he could navigate for it. Thus, two German Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters escorted a British Skua dive bomber while another British fighter, which had been diving towards Hans-Ekkehard Bob, pulled up after seeing the scene and looked for another target.

  Meanwhile, in the skies above the battlefield, fierce air battles were still ongoing.