69novels Chapter 589
Chapter 589
See all
: 0.040s Scan: 0.022sNimitz was a little nervous. This was his first time to participate in actual combat since he joined the German Navy.
When night fell, the entire sea became dark. Because of the blackout, no lights were turned on even in the aircraft carrier fleet.
The more times like this, the more cautious you have to be, so as not to leak your whereabouts and cause the entire combat plan to fail.
Therefore, apart from the sound of waves hitting the aircraft carrier, nothing else can be heard or seen under the dark night!
The aircraft carrier under Nimitz’s feet is the first ship of the Midway-class aircraft carrier: Friedrich the Great.
About two kilometers behind him, another aircraft carrier is hidden under the dark night – the Hindenburg!
These two aircraft carriers are the trump cards in Hans’s navy. Everyone knows that Hans launched the two super battleships Bismarck and Tirpitz, so subconsciously they all think that these two battleships are the cards of Hans’s navy.
However, people do not know that within the German army, these two world-ranked super battleships are just a cover for the aircraft carrier battle group.
Their strength is indeed strong, but it is not Hans’s real trump card. The real trump card is these two aircraft carriers and the 260 aircraft on the aircraft carriers.
After abandoning almost all of the 203 mm caliber main guns, the full load displacement of the two Midway-class aircraft carriers reached 56,000 tons. This displacement is definitely the largest warship in the world, no one! The huge tonnage of the two aircraft carriers makes their internal space wider and can carry a full 130 aircraft of various types, including fighters, dive bombers, torpedo attack aircraft, reconnaissance aircraft and early warning aircraft.
In addition, in order to meet the take-off requirements of anti-submarine aircraft and early warning aircraft, two steam catapults are installed on these two aircraft carriers. These should be the only two catapults in the world!
With the help of these two catapults, Hans’ aircraft carrier can launch medium-sized and even heavy aircraft that other countries’ aircraft carriers cannot launch, such as the E2C Hawkeye early warning aircraft and the S-2 Tracker fixed-wing anti-submarine aircraft.
Nimitz stepped down from the scabbard of the aircraft carrier and walked to the deck of the aircraft carrier to get some fresh air.
Because taking off and landing at night is too dangerous, and in order to prevent being discovered by passing enemy submarines and merchant ships, the entire aircraft carrier fleet has implemented a blackout, which makes it impossible for the aircraft carrier to take off and land any fighters at this time.
So a large number of fighters are neatly parked on the deck at this time and are fixed up.
The wind and waves on the sea come suddenly. It may be calm in the previous second, and a storm may break out in the next second.
When encountering a storm, even a large ship of tens of thousands of tons is still as fragile as a leaf, drifting on the sea, and may be overturned at any time.
The structural strength of the Midway aircraft carrier is good. Unless it encounters wind or a tornado, it is unlikely to sink. However, the fighters on the deck of the aircraft carrier are not necessarily safe, because the weight of the fighters is not heavy. In addition to the Hawkeye early warning aircraft and the Tracker anti-submarine aircraft, the tonnage of the fighter, dive bomber and torpedo attack is less than 7 tons. Such tonnage may be blown away by the strong wind!
The firepower of the aircraft carrier itself is very small, and the upper armor is relatively weak, so its own combat effectiveness is very poor. Their main combat effectiveness comes from these fighters on the aircraft carrier. Therefore, protecting these fighters is very important for the aircraft carrier.
When Nimitz walked to the deck, he happened to see a team of soldiers carefully checking the fighters fixed on the deck, and the ground crew and mechanics were also taking the time to maintain and repair the aircraft. Once it was dawn, they would immediately take off and fight!
Even if the situation was urgent at night, the aircraft carrier would even have to send out aircraft to attack the enemy in the dark!
“Hello, Captain!”
“Hello, Captain!”
Nimitz didn’t want to alarm these soldiers, but his black rear admiral uniform was so eye-catching that even under the faint moonlight, the soldiers recognized him and saluted him.
Nimitz nodded, and seeing these young and excited faces, he felt a little relieved.
The British Navy was right. Hans’s navy was indeed a very young navy with little experience.
The soldiers of this army generally did not have much combat experience, and were obviously much more immature than the experienced British Navy.
However, if we conclude that their combat effectiveness is low based on this alone, then we can only say that the British Navy made the mistake of empiricism! Insufficient combat experience does not mean that the combat level is not good!
Before the war, the German army had secretly carried out long-term training in the Baltic Sea. Whether it was battleships or aircraft carriers, even submarine forces, they all participated in and conducted several large-scale joint exercises.
Therefore, for this combat operation, the German army was obviously well prepared and full of confidence!
The only thing that is uncertain is the actual combat effectiveness of the aircraft carrier!
In 1928, aircraft carriers of various countries had basically not participated in any battles, and had never performed well in wars.
Therefore, the world did not pay much attention to new weapons such as aircraft carriers. Although some far-sighted officers had realized the importance of aircraft carriers, the mainstream opinion of various countries was still on battleships!
In the original history, it was not until the outbreak of World War II, when the Eagle Sauce and the Foot Basin launched an aircraft carrier war in the Pacific battlefield, and battleships were completely reduced to spectators and foils, that countries realized the important role of aircraft carriers and began to develop them with all their strength.
���The battleship class was gradually phased out by the emergence of Mainz, which was 14 years away from 1942.
Even though the emergence of Mainz caused some deviations in history, the attention of various countries was still on battleships, especially under the stimulation of Hans’ Bismarck-class battleships being launched ahead of schedule.
At this time, all countries were competing to develop battleships with high speed, high armor and high firepower!
The arms race of battleships had entered a climax after the outbreak of World War II.
Although all countries had built some aircraft carriers, because the main resources at this time were used on battleships, the aircraft carriers of various countries were generally not taken seriously and the number was not large.
Because aircraft carriers had not achieved any decent results, and Mainz had high hopes for their aircraft carriers, and even gave the main tasks of this combat operation to Nimitz, this was the fundamental reason why Nimitz felt nervous.
Nimitz still remembered what Mainz and others said to him before he set out:”Nimitz, this naval battle is destined to shock the world, and you will be the first person to change the pattern of naval warfare and go down in history!”_