Chapter 419 Select

April 1st, morning.

The Sulahwesi Sea, which has become the sea of the Xinhua Inland Sea, has a huge fleet ups and downs with the waves.

For Tan Xiaozeng, who is nearly 60 years old, this will be his last battle with the fleet. From the former Fujian Marine Division to the Chief of Staff of the Xinhua Navy, he has witnessed two different eras.

Beside him, the majestic warships made him excited and roar, and made him understand that he was really a little old.

The Royal Xinhua Navy is a unique force, even different from the navies of the world. The army structure and combat concept are completely branded by Li Mo from later generations.

The young generation of officers have risen. Ji Rushan and Le Fei are just their representatives. Behind them, there are also Ning Xiaochuan, as well as Dong Fei, Fang Jin, Liu Haitao, Zhou Cheng and other captains, plus Liu Bu toad, Lin Taizeng, Ye Zugui, Sa Zhenbing, Lan Jianshu, Xie Baozhang and Wu Ying from Beiyang. Ke and others, to put an old saying, it is not too much for the heroes from all over the same place to gather together.

After the implementation of the new navy regulations three years ago, the appearance of the navy has undergone major changes. In this case, Tan Xiaozeng knew that he should also abdicate, so he took the initiative to find Long Guozhang and Chen Ping and explain his ideas to them. Finally, after the general decision, he will leave after the war. In the position of the chief, he retreated to the second line and focused on logistics support for the navy.

According to Long Guozhang's words, "From now on, I will wipe the buttocks of these bastards."

Originally, he wanted to retreat before the war, but this battle was too important. For any navy, more than 60 enemy ships came. If he couldn't witness it with his own eyes, it would be a lifelong regret.

He had to stand on the last shift, so even when he was old, he still sat in the communication cabin with a teapot full of tea scale, and stayed up late with the young non-commissioned officers in front of him.

The Jilin-class battleship and the Dalian-class heavy patrol are the first capital ships specially considered for radio communication at the beginning of the design, and the first capital ships to be initially electrified by the emperor.

This can be seen from the spacious and tidy communication center of Jilin. This cabin, located under the conning tower and protected by thick armor, has 20 fleet short-wave radio stations, four medium-long-wave radio stations and two radio stations. It can not only command 20 capital ships at the same time, but also be thousands of miles away. Contact the general reference of Yanjing directly.

The progress of technology is unimaginable, so that even as the chief of naval staff, Tan Xiaozeng is still a little dizzy, which is why he is considering retreating to the second line, because he finds that he has fallen out of line with the times.

A large number of radio and electrification equipment have high requirements for electricity, so Jilin has four high-power steam generators to ensure the supply of the whole ship. Even for emergencies, it is equipped with two gasoline generators separately for the first time as a backup emergency once all four power compartments are paralyzed.

The installation of various advanced equipment has also led to the high cost of these eight capital ships. At the beginning, Zhonghua finally spent 12 million blue coins, but when it came to the Jilin class, it has reached 18 million blue coins!

Thinking that the war is over, I have to face these troublesome numbers, Tan Xiaozeng can't help smiling bitterly.

"Report to the Chief of Staff, the Golden Eagle is calling, and the Russian fleet has set off from Colombo."

Tan Xiao Zeng's rapid result telegram. After looking at it, he immediately drilled out of the communication center and walked along the passage to the combat conference room at the bottom of the bridge, which was already full of people.

After nodding and greeting the captains, he immediately walked to Long Guozhang, who was staring at the sea map on the bulkhead, and handed over the telegram: "The Russians have set off."

Although the voice was small, it made the conference center suddenly quiet. Long Guozhang pulled the telegram and immediately pointed to the position in Colombo after reading it.

Colombo is a British colony and one of the few places in the Indian Ocean to add coal, but in addition to Colombo, the Russians will face two choices.

Cross Malacca, or take a detour off the coast of Sumatra.

There is no doubt that at a time when it is no longer optimistic about Russia, Britain still opened the port of Colombo to add coal to the Russians not to earn coal money, but to hope that Roger West Winster's fleet of up to 60 warships would cause some trouble for Xinhua, at least sink some Xinhua warships.

But because of the agreement, he could not open any base in the Far East to add coal to Russia, so after leaving Colombo, Roger Strünster's choice became extremely important, because Colombo's closest straight-line distance to Singapore to Singapore is also 3,000 nautical miles. For Russian ships with short legs, it is impossible to guarantee the fleet. All warships were fully equipped in the decisive battle.

So he has to add coal again!

In addition to adding coal, there are other routes that Rogers Winster needs to consider!

The British will never stop the Russian fleet from crossing the Strait of Malacca, but the exit on the South China side of the Strait of Malacca is too narrow. Once trapped, it will fall into a bitter war, but the detour off the coast of Sumatra will increase the voyage, exacerbating the already serious coal-fired crisis, so Roger Stern must make a choice.

From the heart, Long Guozhang tends to put the decisive battlefield out of Malacca. According to the environment there, there is no need for battleships to go out, so he is sure to rely on destroyers and powerful spear torpedoes to kill at least half of the Russian capital ships, but the reality is that the British have issued a warning and asked for a new China should not use Malacca as a war zone.

"Because it's an international waterway!"

International watercourse.

The British used this word to obviously warn themselves that if they take action in the Strait of Malacca, it will cause concerns about the safety of this waterway in various countries. In order to create a better external environment for Xinhua after the war, some compromises are also necessary.

And the British have also strengthened their control over Malacca. The Far East Fleet, which has been away for three years, has been stationed in Singapore last month. The number of capital ships has soared to 12, and the size of the whole fleet has reached 37.

Long Guozhang is 90% sure that Britain will not intervene in the war, but if it starts a war under the eyes of others, will it take the opportunity to revenge when it sees the powerful Britain of Xinhua?

Any war, especially a naval battle, even if it is equipped several times more than the opponent, it is impossible to say 100% victory, especially the Battle of the Bus Strait, which shows the impact of weather and environment on the war, so as a commander, must consider every detail to ensure that the preparations are foolproof.

He can't bet on the whole fleet with ninety-nine times that Britain will not participate in the war. Especially for Britain, which has mastered the Chinese-style battleship technology and escaped from Boer, it is not a big deal to lose a Far East fleet again, but for Xinhua, even a loss of five The six main battleships will also hand over the Pacific naval power that has been painstakingly conquered for several years.

In the final analysis, the national strength is still too poor to consume!

So the battlefield he set is off the coast of Sumatra. In that open waters, the speed advantage of the eight capital ships will be maximized, but is Roger West Winster willing to go to the Indian Ocean?

For any fleet that has sailed 15,000 nautical miles and will be exhausted because of the attack, it is probably the biggest idea to reach the destination as soon as possible and complete the task.

According to intelligence, Nicholas II's request to Roger Stern was to attack Luzon and Borneo based on Dili, and then look for an opportunity to fight.

So up to now, he has not touched Dili under his eyes, but to give Roger Stwenst a bait. If he kills Dili, I'm afraid that the Russian fleet will not have so much trouble, but go directly to Malacca, relying on the number and narrow waterways that can't maneuver the environment, and relying on the tonnage advantage to forcibly break through the barrier.

But this is only an idea to rely on Dili as bait to lead Roger Windster to the Indian Ocean, but will the other party choose this way?

No one can guarantee it, so he must add another weight to let Roger Stern make the wrong choice!

An hour later, Le Fei led three Polaris, three Vladivostok and all eight Jinghai-classes, accompanied by four destroyers, targeting the Linga Islands at the South China Sea exit of the Strait of Malacca.

Long Guozhang was right. Just as Lefei set off, the Golden Eagle called again. The two Russian cruisers broke away from the main formation. Three hours later, they listened to the call of the Wind and tracked that the Russian cruisers Azov and Aphroer were sailing along the Bay of Bengal.

Roger West Winster still wants to go to Malacca!

Yes, after locking himself in the captain's room, Roger Stern was still looking at the chart in a daze. Although Witheft sent another telegram to say that Dili was safe and that he had stored 50,000 tons of coal there, he was still worried.

Because he couldn't figure out why the Xinhua Navy would let Dili not attack in the next year.

Do they disdain those small warships, or do they consider eating their main force first? Or is it just a red apple with a poisonous snake next to it?

So he sent two cruisers to find out whether the Strait of Malacca was open. In his opinion, he went straight to Malacca, reached Luzon at the fastest speed, and even entered the South China Sea to the southeast coast of Xinhua. It was the best choice to blow up there with his large number of cannons.

In addition to the channel selection, he also has a more difficult problem, burning coal!

The damn German, after being scared by the two warships of Xinhua, unexpectedly withdrew all the coal carriers. Although he once again added 4,000 tons of coal to each capital ship in Colombo, the problem is that there are still more than 40 small warships, especially the second fleet brought by Nebogatov, which has become a burden, the largest The flight distance of the two teacher battleships is only more than 2,000 nautical miles. Even if the Xinhua Navy does not stop it, it will not reach Dili.

So coal must be added again.

Rogerst Winster's eyes came to the port of Banda Aceh, northwest of Sumatra, which is controlled by the Netherlands and the demarcation point of choosing the channel. Where to wait for the news of the investigation and add coal is a good choice

(to be continued)