69novels Chapter 591
Chapter 591
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: 0.038s Scan: 0.032sTime goes back to half an hour ago.
At around seven o’clock in the morning, after Lütjens gave the order, an AR-196 Arado seaplane took off from the Bismarck with the help of a catapult and began to fly towards the location of the British fleet.
AR-The 96 seaplane is Hans’ latest generation of seaplanes. It has just been finalized and is currently only equipped on the battleships Bismarck and Tirpitz, with 6 on each battleship. It is the main aerial reconnaissance means of the battleship.
There are two huge symmetrical floats under the wings of this aircraft, which are used to provide buoyancy for the aircraft, allowing them to take off and land on the water, thus replacing the role of the flight deck.
AR-The 96 reconnaissance aircraft has a short range of only 1,000 kilometers and a combat radius of only 100 kilometers, which is much shorter than the famous Catalina seaplane during World War II..AR-The performance of the 196 Arado seaplane is not outstanding. After all, the main purpose of seaplanes is not combat, but reconnaissance.
To complete the reconnaissance mission, they must meet two conditions:
1. The range is large enough, so that the search area can be expanded, and every area can be checked as much as possible, so that the enemy has nowhere to hide.
2. The speed is sufficient, so that they can search more areas in the shortest time, thereby reducing the possibility of the enemy slipping through the net!
Among these two points, the AR-19 meets the second point.
Its maximum flight speed reaches 330 kilometers per hour.
Although this speed is very slow for fighters and even bombers, it is very fast for seaplanes!
In comparison, the Catalina seaplane equipped by the US military only meets the first condition.
Its maximum range of 4,000 kilometers allows it to fly at sea for more than ten hours, thus meeting long-term surveillance and tracking tasks.
It is precisely with this excellent performance that the US military can often gain intelligence leadership during the Pacific War, and repeatedly rely on the first discovery of the enemy’s position and preemptive strikes to win naval battles.
However, the Catalina’s flight speed is very slow, with a maximum speed of only 290 kilometers. This is an improvement signal after 1944. The speed of the early models is basically below 250 kilometers, which makes their reconnaissance efficiency very low.
However, the maximum take-off weight of the Catalina aircraft is as high as 16 tons, and the vast interior space provides them with extremely ample upgrade space, allowing them to install a large number of electronic equipment, so that they can make up for the speed gap with electronic equipment.
The later models of Catalina aircraft have begun to install sea search radars, relying on radar to search for enemies, greatly improving the search efficiency, and even after discovering the enemy, contacting ships on the water to assist and command warships on the water to deal with the enemy.
This is also the prototype of the US Navy’s later naval early warning aircraft. Of course, the appearance of the E-2C Hawkeye early warning aircraft is a milestone event. Her appearance has given the Eagle Sauce aircraft carrier battle group the real overlord strength!
There are two AR-196 aircraft taking off from the Bismarck, one flying directly to the northwest, and the other flying to the west.
Lütjens hoped to expand the search area to determine the size and type of the fleet and avoid being ambushed by the enemy during the battle.
AR-After the 96 took off, the clouds on the sea were scattered, and the pilot had to lower the altitude, descending to an altitude of about 500 meters above the sea surface, and slowly moving at a speed of 150 kilometers per hour.
Generally speaking, because of the curvature of the earth, the lower the altitude a person is at, the smaller the range they can see. In order to improve the efficiency of reconnaissance, they must increase the flight altitude as much as possible, so that their visual range will be much larger.
However, because the human eye has a maximum visual range, even if a telescope is used to assist in observation, the visual range is still limited, so the flying altitude of seaplanes in various countries is usually below 2,000 meters.
Only when encountering good weather with high visibility can the altitude be increased to more than 2,000 meters.
Although the noise of propeller planes is much smaller than that of jet planes, their noise is still very loud. If they are too close to the sea surface, they can easily be discovered by the enemy.
However, the situation is special at this time. If the altitude is too high, the thick fog below will completely block their sight. They can’t even see the enemy’s position clearly, let alone complete the reconnaissance mission.
So in order to complete the task assigned to them by the fleet commander, the pilots of the seaplanes had to lower the altitude.
Fortunately, the AR-196 is a two-seat seaplane with two crew members, one is responsible for operating the aircraft, and the other is mainly responsible for observing and searching the sea, while also taking care of the weapons and equipment on the aircraft. If they encounter the enemy, they also have to operate the weapons to fire back at the enemy.
When Major General Holland discovered the AR-196, the German seaplane also discovered the traces of the British army!
“Report to the fleet immediately. The enemy fleet has been found. There are five enemy battleships, and the leading one is a huge battleship with an estimated tonnage of nearly 50,000 tons. It may be the Hood battleship!”
For scouts, memorizing the specific models and appearances of enemy battleships is a compulsory course for them. However, due to the heavy fog, they can only see a rough outline. When the enemy has been alarmed by their voices and began to use anti-aircraft guns to try to attack them, they dare not lower their altitude to determine the specific model of the enemy!
“”Shoot them down for me, we must not let them get away!”
On the deck, Major General Holland gritted his teeth at the plane in the sky. The German seaplane appeared above their heads, which proved that the Germans had discovered their position, but they didn’t know where the Germans were. The fog on the sea had not dissipated yet, at least it would not dissipate before nine o’clock.
This means that the enemy has one and a half hours to launch an attack on them, and they will be in a situation of being beaten unilaterally.
Of course, in this era, the combat distance of battleships of various countries is generally within 15 kilometers, and the current situation is that the fog on the sea is very heavy, and the visibility is only about one thousand meters. Even if the other party knows their position, it is unlikely to launch an attack on them in this case, because they can’t see the target at all, and the shells fired will not have any accuracy!
But even if he knew that the enemy could not attack, Major General Holland’s heart was still very Very unhappy.
This feeling of being spied on by the other side unilaterally, but not knowing the enemy’s position, is really terrible!
Looking at the soldiers and officers shouting on the deck of the enemy battleship, the two German pilots smiled contemptuously, quickly bypassed the battleship Hood that was firing at them, and flew towards the rear of the British fleet.
They still have two targets that have not been determined. The Germans estimated that these should be two heavy cruisers, but before seeing the targets, they have not made a dictatorial conclusion!
Soon, the seaplane flew over the British battleship formation and flew to the rear of the fleet, where they found two other targets on the radar!
However, to their shock, what they found was not a cruiser, but two aircraft carriers.
Da da da!
Just as they were shocked, a burst of gunfire came from the air, and two strings of bullets made a sharp whistling sound and flew past the wings of the plane!