Chapter 538 Discovery of the French Aircraft Carrier

From here, only one silhouette of the other party can be seen for the time being, but just by looking at that silhouette, you know that it is an aircraft carrier!

Yes, definitely an aircraft carrier!

With the constant fine-tuning of the high-power telescope, he quickly saw clearly that the flat flight deck, the huge chimney on the starboard side and the superstructure were integrated into one, and the entire warship had obvious British aircraft carrier characteristics.

But now, the British have no aircraft carrier in the Atlantic Ocean, and it is not the British naval flag that flutters in the wind on the warship, not in terms of color!

"Attention, fifteen nautical miles ahead, thirty degrees to starboard, an aircraft carrier is found, suspected to be a French aircraft carrier!" Carl shouted loudly through the intercom.

The French also have aircraft carriers, but this aircraft carrier is basically unknown in this era.

This is the Bayan, the aircraft carrier, originally the No. 5 ship of the Normandy-class battleship, construction began on January 10, 1914.

Unfortunately, due to the outbreak of the First World War, a large number of workers were drafted into the army and given priority to the manufacture of other armaments, the construction of the Normandy class was slow or even completely stopped.

By the end of World War I, not even a single battleship with quadruple-mounted main guns was built.

After the war, the French believed that the design of the Normandy-class was outdated, and the "Washington Naval Treaty" signed between France and the Western powers in February 1922 made the French military decide to scrap the unfinished Normandy-class battleships.

At this time, the French Navy realized that countries such as Britain, the United States, and Japan had begun to build or transform aircraft carriers with direct access to the deck. France also urgently needs to conduct research on carrier-based aviation. To this end, the French Navy decided to transform the lowest-completed No. 5 ship "Beyarn" into an experimental aircraft carrier.

The French naval technical team once boarded the British "Hundred-Eyed Giant" aircraft carrier for inspection, and learned a lot from the successful experience of the British aircraft carrier during the reconstruction of the "Beyanne". A lot of the appearance characteristics of British aircraft carriers.

The aircraft carrier has a full-load displacement of 28,000 tons and can carry up to 40 carrier-based aircraft. In addition to carrier-based aircraft, the ship itself also has strong self-defense firepower and is equipped with eight 155mm single-barreled naval guns.

Unfortunately, due to the problem of the engine, the maximum speed of this aircraft carrier has just exceeded 20 knots, and it is quite inconvenient to operate the carrier-based aircraft. Therefore, until the end of the war, this aircraft carrier is almost unknown.

However, for France, this aircraft carrier is quite important, because it successfully carried the French gold!

Yes, this is the task that the French Navy has arranged for its aircraft carrier! Although this aircraft carrier is a bit tasteless, it is an aircraft carrier after all!

Using an aircraft carrier to transport gold, then joined the United States, and began to use this aircraft carrier as an aircraft transport ship, which is not a good thing, but this is the mission of the Bayan.

And now, this aircraft carrier is performing this task.

The cruisers "Joan of Arc" and "Belden" were responsible for transporting the gold from Brest, while the "Beyarn" was responsible for transporting gold from the port of Toulon.

After all, Germany can't take care of everything, so let the Beyane load gold from the port of Toulon, and it's relatively smooth in the port of Toulon, all the way to here!

The USS Beyarn, ready to continue northwards, rendezvous with the other two cruisers, when the three ships converged, crossed the Atlantic Ocean, and finally arrived at the Canadian port of Halifax.

The gold in the port of Toulon was only transported this time, and the rest were directly transported to the African colony to which France belonged, which was closer after all.

And now, the Beayne is still sailing on its own course, without any vigilance.

Right now, the French top brass is a mess. Brest was attacked, which made the French tremble with fear. Those who did not know the inside story felt that the Germans were opening up a second battlefield and came from another direction. Those who knew the inside story felt even more terrifying. The Germans actually knew Gained insight into their own gold transportation plans.

If the gold is intercepted by the Germans, there really is no future for France!

Under such circumstances, everyone was in a mess, and no one thought to inform that they would go to the Atlantic Ocean and join the two sunken warships as planned!

The Beyarn was like this, sailing normally on the route, and the fishing boats around it were a good cover for it. It was mixed in the fishing boats, so it could better hide its tracks.

So far, Spain has not joined the war, which makes many people feel lucky.

On the bridge, General Laborde frowned. He was in charge of this maritime operation, and he would lead three warships to Canada.

The situation has deteriorated so fast that the French Republic can't even hold on for half a month?

He was concerned about the French Republic and the entire World War II situation, and he was not worried about his own warship.

Although the Germans have controlled the east coast of the Atlantic Ocean, the sea is too vast, and the formation of their three warships, as long as they are not on the route, will have no problems along the way.

At the beginning, in the early days of World War II, when German submarines were the most vicious, many captains found nothing after going to sea, and often could not find their target for half a month.

And now, in fishing boats, they are much safer.

This sense of security has cost them dearly.

On the bridge, the intern is in charge of the lookout. Paul, he has just joined the Navy for less than a month. This nearly 30,000-ton warship is still relatively stable, but looking into the distance, it takes a long time. It will be dim.

There was no one to supervise it anyway, so he did it casually, took a look, and rested for a while. On the sea, it was just a fishing boat at most, and there was nothing to see.

His inattentiveness caused the entire warship to suffer a disaster!

At this time, the German Deutschland-class battleship Graf Spee had already discovered it!

When the lookout post reported, Captain Lansdorf, the captain, immediately aimed his telescope at the sea area, and soon, he was ecstatic.

"Report to the fleet immediately. We have discovered the French Navy's aircraft carrier. In order to protect the safety of our fleet, we will launch an attack now!" said Admiral Ransdorf.

Attack now! He couldn't wait for a long time. It was really boring to be the nanny of these landing ships. Now, there is a big target, and it is on his own route. Of course, he will attack!

"Attention to the whole ship, battle alert!" Colonel Lansdorf continued to give orders: "All main guns, load armor-piercing shells immediately! Double cars, advance three, and prepare to seize the firing position!"