Transmigrated as the Crown Prince

"50 degrees to the left of the fleet, 30 kilometers, enemy ship found!"

"An enemy ship was found at 80 degrees to the right of the fleet!"

"An enemy ship was discovered 30 kilometers ahead of the fleet!"

Fletcher was a little confused by the continuous enemy reports. These were all destroyers and speedboats, not a single large warship. Is the German army going to rely on these small battleships to intercept their fleet? It’s obviously a mantis trying to use his arms as a cart!

Are they going to launch torpedoes? ! Fletcher instantly thought of a torpedo attack. Those so-called speedboats were torpedo boats!

But then he shook his head. As far as he knew, the range of the torpedoes currently in service by the German army did not exceed 15 kilometers, and the distance between the two sides was now at least 30 kilometers, and the other side had no intention of approaching, but just maintained this distance from a distance.

Unless the Germans have torpedoes with a range of more than 30 kilometers.

Fletcher was startled by his guess and immediately gave the order. "The fleet must maneuver to avoid! Be alert for torpedo attacks!"

However, Fletcher felt that this possibility was unlikely. 30 kilometers, even if it is sailing at a high speed of 40 knots, it will take nearly half an hour; is the torpedo still accurate after sailing for half an hour?

In May 1934 in the original time and space, the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) learned from translated Japanese documents that Japan was developing "a torpedo without a wake," which meant that given the technological level at the time, it could only be an oxygen torpedo. .

Intelligence agent Smith Hutton also learned from a Japanese naval apprentice at the time that this was a 24/25-inch (61 cm) torpedo, propelled by pure oxygen and with a range of nearly 10 kilometers (10,000 yards) at 45 knots. In fact, Even the intelligence officer himself underestimated the torpedo's range.

But it is a pity that this information was not taken seriously by the U.S. Navy Weapons Department. Because the U.S. Navy had insufficient experience in developing oxygen torpedoes, it was judged that it was just a smoke bomb. At the same time, the U.S. Navy also believed that placing oxygen torpedoes on warships was too dangerous and could easily cause explosions, and judged that the Japanese Navy would not do such a thing.

After the outbreak of World War II, in a series of naval battles on Guadalcanal, especially after the Battle of Savo Island, senior U.S. Navy officials finally realized that Japan’s torpedoes were unusual, and then the search operation began. Finally, in 1943, an unexploded torpedo was found on the coast of Guadalcanal. torpedo. Later, the true performance of the Type 93 oxygen torpedo was known to the U.S. Navy in the Japanese Navy's weapons intelligence statement released in March 1944.

Now the Americans have no idea that the German army has torpedoes with a range of up to 40 kilometers, and that this torpedo is equipped with an advanced sound guidance mechanism and can automatically track and hit the target.

Just when Fletcher was wondering whether the Germans would build a torpedo with a range of more than 30 kilometers, a report came from the radar room. "Enemy planes were found 50 kilometers ahead, five in number, with an altitude of over 11,000 meters."

"More than 11,000 meters?" Fletcher's face looked a little ugly. He picked up the telescope and looked at the sky in the distance. Sure enough, he saw five black spots approaching from far away. He quickly saw that they were four-engine bombers.

However, Fletcher was not too worried. The flying altitude exceeded 11,000 meters, and his own anti-aircraft guns and carrier-based aircraft were helpless, but bombs dropped at this altitude would not be very accurate. Even if dozens of tons of bombs are dropped at once, they may not be able to hit.

The bombers that flew over the fleet did not drop bombs, but began to circle around the fleet.

"??" Fletcher was wondering what these bombers were going to do, and the correspondent reported loudly. "Commander, the radio is out of order." Harsh interference came from the communicator, and nothing could be heard. "There is strong interference across all frequency bands."

The radio suddenly failed? Fletcher vaguely felt that this had something to do with the five bombers hovering over the fleet. "Ask other ships." In addition to advanced radios, communication between ships also includes ancient semaphores, lights and other methods. However, compared to radio for instant communication, the efficiency of semaphores and lights can be imagined.

The flagman used the flag to ask the ships not far away, and the answer he got was that the radio was out of order. He asked several ships around him one after another, and they all got the same answer.

"Damn it!" Fletcher couldn't help but cursed secretly. The uneasiness in his heart became stronger and stronger. He really wanted to order the fleet to turn around and evacuate immediately. But his mission does not allow him to do this, and in another hour, the fleet will reach the combat waters. When the five battleships show off their power together, he does not believe that they will not be able to capture Greenland.

The most important thing is that once this operation fails, there will no longer be such an opportunity to approach Greenland. The Germans will definitely strengthen Greenland's defense.

Fletcher was calculating the distance on the nautical chart when an explosion came from the distance!

Fletcher's heart suddenly skipped a beat, and he immediately picked up the watchtower's phone. "Watchtower, what's going on? Where did the explosion come from?!"

The watchman on the watchtower reported. "Commander, a destroyer on the periphery exploded." Before he finished speaking, one after another explosions came, and Fletcher could even hear the sound of the lookout post's teeth chattering and hitting. Not only the lookout post, but also a chill in Fletcher's heart.

The outermost part of this fleet is destroyers, from the outside in, cruisers, battlecruisers, aircraft carriers, battleships and transport ships.

But now there were explosions from all directions outside the fleet, and Fletcher was a little collapsed.

"Is it an enemy submarine?!"

Unfortunately, the radio is out of order, so we can only use semaphore, which is very slow. After a while, the flagman ran into the bridge to report. "Commander, the outer destroyers did not find the submarine. They also did not find the torpedo track." One of the advantages of oxygen torpedoes is that the track is very small, very concealed, and difficult to be discovered. Since the main engine is started by air, there is still an obvious track within the first 300 to 400 meters of launch, but this distance is completely negligible compared with the ultra-long range of the oxygen torpedo.

"Is it a mine?" It's impossible. If it were a mine, how many mines would the Germans have to lay in such a vast sea area? Moreover, in order to prevent encountering German mines, there were minesweepers in front of the fleet to clear the way.

what is going on? !

Before I could figure it out, a series of explosions sounded again!

The lookout reported with a trembling hand. "Commander, eighteen destroyers have been hit."

"Oh God!" Fletcher stumbled and almost fell to the ground. Their fleet has a total of 41 destroyers. In a short period of time, they lost nearly half of them? !

What exactly is going on? !

No matter what happened, only one thing is certain, that is, they fell into a trap carefully laid by the German army!

Fletcher yelled hysterically at the thought of this. "Turn around immediately and retreat quickly. Leave here and leave immediately!"