Word: fleetly
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...will be a daring but interesting undertaking, never before attempted in the history of the world. Protected by the fleet and with the cooperation of the Air Force, I shall order a series of unexpected individual exploits." So spoke Adolf Hitler in 1934 to Hermann Rauschning,* then his chief Party henchman in Danzig, today one of numerous experts who believe that the Austrian Corporal, having taken final leave of his senses, is spinning insanely toward the same fate that overtook a Corsican Corporal 125 years...
...project was still worthwhile, provided Hermann Goring's air force was as all-powerful as rated. But Norway's coast is a nearer target for the R. A. F. than Germany's air bases at Sylt and in Helgoland Bight. Moreover, destruction of the German Fleet would leave the Allied navies more free to fight elsewhere to Germany's disadvantage...
...Spain in the English Channel. The French Navy of Louis XIV was vanquished at La Hogue (1692). Since then four other masters of bulging European powers have forced a showdown on that rule. Under Nelson at Aboukir Bay in 1798 and at Trafalgar in 1805 Britain's fleet crushed Napoleon's dream of making France an overseas power. Under Jellicoe at Jutland in 1916 Britain's fleet hurled back the challenge of Wilhelm II. Under Sir Dudley Pound Britain's fleet faced last week the challenge of Adolf Hitler...
...crews grinned and pummeled each other as they stripped, washed down with antiseptic and put on clean uniforms (to avoid infection if wounded), before going to battle stations, as the fleet put to sea for battle. If they expected another full-dress performance like Jutland, they reckoned without Hitler's strategy. He had no hope of winning in a concentrated battle between capital ships. His plan was so far as possible to avoid battle at sea, to divide his fleet into a number of small squadrons and scatter them as protection for numerous parties at strategic points along...
...diffuse. In the usual foul weather up & down the Scandinavian coast, the first problem of Britain's Navy was to find the enemy, to avoid his mines and submarines, to brush aside his air craft and come to grips, here, there, anywhere with detachments of the German Fleet and its convoys...