The German Home Fleet's two formations immediately split apart. The Capital Ships Formation's seven capital ships, protected by cruisers, destroyers, and frigates, rapidly headed south. Meanwhile, the Aircraft Carrier Formation's eight aircraft carriers, likewise protected by cruisers, destroyers, and frigates, increased their speed to thirty knots and sailed east at high speed.
Although thirty knots was not slow, it was nothing compared to aircraft traveling several hundred kilometers per hour. The distance the fleet covered in an hour would take aircraft only a dozen or so minutes. Thus, if the American and British fleets' carrier-based aircraft gave chase, they could easily catch up.
The only question was whether, after discovering the German Home Fleet's Capital Ships Formation, the American and British fleets' carrier-based aircraft would turn a blind eye to it, abandon an attack on those capital ships, and continue searching until they found the German Navy's Aircraft Carrier Formation. If that happened, the German Home Fleet's plan would have come to nothing.
No matter what choice the American and British fleets' carrier-based aircraft made, the German Home Fleet had to adopt this strategy to save itself. Only then would there be a glimmer of hope.
On the flagship of the Capital Ships Formation, the battleship Kaiser, Lieutenant General Görcke wore a grave expression. He knew that the Capital Ships Formation under his command would soon face a bitter battle that concerned life and death. If things went badly, they might even be wiped out to the last man.
"General Rudolf, do any officers or men in the formation resent the choice I made?" Lieutenant General Görcke asked. After all, it was his proposal that had driven the entire Capital Ships Formation into a dead end.
"General, no one has the slightest complaint. We are all soldiers of Germany; sacrificing