Chapter 543 Inflating

On July 5, the U.S. Pacific Fleet, San Diego Base.

Walking to the window, Lieutenant General Cameron Andrew couldn't help but be a little short of breath because of the warships full of bays in the distance. Fifteen battleships, five old Virginia-class battleships, four New South Carolina-class, two Delaware-class, two Florida-class, two New York-class, and this does not include three months later. All four Nevada-class ships to be delivered one after another.

All six Pensacora-class heavy cruisers (war patrols).

Add six Pennsylvania-class armored cruisers, ten Omaha-class light cruisers, two seaplane carriers and 40 other protective cruisers, submarines and large torpedoes, he already has the power to account for 60% of the U.S. Navy!

This is the embodiment of American power. Although it started late, relying on strong economic backing, the United States has built the world's Third Fleet in just ten years. If it is under construction, the throne of the world's Second Fleet has fallen into the pocket of the United States.

Looking at the warships and busy sailors in the distance, Lieutenant General Andrew took a deep breath, then withdrew his eyes and frowned again. He returned to his desk and looked at the intelligence with a solemn face.

His opponents are also not weak, and even far surpass themselves in experience.

Four Hebei-class battleships, two Jilin-class battleships, two Yanjing-class battleships, 12 light cruisers, 30 destroyers just known as Weiqing-class, plus 20 other auxiliary ships, the number of submarines unknown so far, and the damn Honolulu base, there is no advantage in attacking themselves head-on. Potential!

And obviously, the Chinese have realized that there will be a war, so they have recently doubled the number of patrol ships in the east of Hawaii, and many of them have even entered the United States for reconnaissance, with at least 20 warships at night.

More importantly, Ryukyu and Guam behind their opponents are supported by the home fleet and the Second Fleet respectively. Compared with them, they lack ocean-going bases. Even the British fleet from Australia can't attack Honolulu because it is too far away. In the words of the Chinese, facing it is simply a cake to satisfy hunger. .

So we must bypass the interception of the Xinhua Pacific Fleet!

Andrew found the information of the New China Nanyang Fleet, two Hebei-class battleships, two Jilin-class battleships, two Yanjing-class battleships, four Dalian-class heavy cruisers, twelve light cruisers, and 30 fast destroyers, plus a large number of auxiliary ships, which is also a difficult bone.

But compared with the front Pacific Fleet, there are many islands in that area, and the British also control enough islands. Their strength is intertwined, and it is more suitable for a sudden attack, rather than similar to the open area outside the west coast.

So.

Andrew glanced at the corners of his eyes, and his fingers were carefully outlined along the chart. Just as his fingers stopped in a place, the knock on the door suddenly sounded.

"The lieutenant general, the minister and the commander are here." As soon as the adjutant finished speaking, the new U.S. Secretary of the Navy, William Benson, and the commander-in-chief of the fleet, Charles Bajeel, walked into the office, and Andrew quickly got up to salute.

After the guard brought the coffee, William Benson's eyes turned to the chart in front of Andrew and smiled at Bagel, "It seems that our hunting bear is ready."

Budger smiled. Bear Hunting is Andrew's nickname, because he likes to go to Canada to hunt bears every year on vacation. So far, he has three prey, so the Admiralty calls him General Bear Hunting.

But only those who know him know best. Andrew's rough appearance and style are delicate. As a captain who participated in the naval battle of Cuba that year, he had rich experience, so he stood out among many competitors and became the first commander of the Pacific Fleet of the United States.

The intimate words of the minister and the commander-in-chief loosened the atmosphere in the office. Bagel took out a piece of information from his bag and gave it to Andrew, saying, "This is just received. This time, two battleships in your prey collided ten days ago, and they were seen by one of our cargo ships when they returned to Shanghai for repair. The captain said that their hull was a little skewed, and the bow was also very damaged. It needed tugboat protection during the voyage, and a drainage pipe was found on the deck, so he suspected that there should be water.

"Oh?!"

Andrew quickly opened the information, but what disappointed him was that there were no photos. Fortunately, the captain of the cargo ship should have been trained in the navy, so the description was very detailed. Moreover, Shanghai also confirmed that two main ships were docked for maintenance. It is said that the maintenance work has also been ordered to be completed by August 10.

Completed by August 10th!

Andrew noticed these words. Obviously, the opponent had realized that the war was inevitable, so he made a strict request to the shipyard. The only regret was that both pieces of intelligence lacked photos.

"In addition to this good news, the French have also taken action. They deliberately provoked the chaos in Indochina. At present, the Chinese fleet has begun to assemble in that area. Lieutenant General Phillips of the British Far East Fleet has sent a message that he can drag at least three capital ships!"

Andrew narrowed his eyes. The New China South Sea Fleet had a total of ten capital ships, five of which were dragged, and only five left were to protect the vast sea north of Australia. This was obviously not enough, but he could not take it lightly, because their own fleet also had four main battleships, two of which were It is the world's largest battleship.

"They have arrived in Ecuador and will arrive in Chile on July 15. In order to remove underwater parasites, the Xinhua Navy has paid the docking and cleaning fees to Chile, so that they can't leave for back at least August 1st." William Benson said with a crooked corner of his mouth: "If you move quickly, maybe you can go back and participate in the siege against them!"

"Britain has assured the President that their Australian fleet and five battlecruisers will all be dispatched, and Prime Minister Asquith is considering forming a new fleet between the Australian fleet and our fleet participating in this attack." Lieutenant General Bajor looked at Andrew, who frowned, and suddenly asked, "So Andrew, what are you going to do?"

"Esect the fleet to visit Japan!" The corners of Andrew's mouth are crooked--

Nauru, the garrison base.

Yan Yan said that a team of engineers opened the wooden box, took out a group of rubber-like things from it, and then chose the position and connected one end to the blower. With the sound of the buzzing motor, everyone covered their ears. Fortunately, most of the people here have quietly evacuated, except for the just There was no one outside the soldiers who arrived yesterday, otherwise they could not hide it from people with such a loud noise.

A little engineer soldier sitting on the rock waiting for the blower to blow looked at the strange ship on the sea in the distance. There were neither cannons nor torpedoes. Except for a few antennas, there were almost no impressive warships, holding his chin.

"What kind of warship is it?"

The little soldier who loves to collect photos of all kinds of warships was a little crazy for a moment. He didn't notice that the blower next to him had quickly expanded a thick rubber tube, and in the blink of an eye, it turned into an inflatable that looked like a cannon. From a distance, if he didn't pay attention, he would really be confused by this big guy.

"Don't look at it, dig a bunker."

The squad leader pushed the little soldier in a daze. The thought of dozens of warships of the British and American fleets pouring shells on this base with ten "shore guns" made people tremble with excitement.

Of course, the company commander said that if you want people to blow up for a long time, you also need to make a relatively strong shell, so after installing the inflatable cannon, you have to dig fortifications and camouflage.

A shovel and a shovel of soil are quickly piled high, and a large number of leaves used for camouflage and are piled up with "forts". Finally, a thin layer of ash is poured on the surface of the soil, so that it looks no different from the real fort.

Of course, there must be fewer people, otherwise they will definitely doubt it when they see that there are no soldiers forts.

So the soldiers took the wooden dummy who squat or stood one by one, and even raised flags to command and carry shells. They put on their military uniforms and muttered while wearing them. They didn't know that these things came from the skilled craftsman. It was so vivid. Thinking that these "comrades-in-arms" would soon be blown up, even the soldiers It's a pity for us to buy one of these things and put them at home to prevent thieves at night.

The fort project is only the first step. In order to disguise here, it is necessary to build some large barracks and build more than a dozen inflatable aircraft. What's more, the harbor still needs to be equipped with several destroyers disguised with wooden boats and paint.

Of course, we also need the cooperation of the navy to keep transporting people here, and then quietly transporting them back at night, but at such a big price, if foreigners don't come to bomb, it will be a loss.

The company commander inspected each project site with a smile. As a reading engineering company, he thought it was to open the road and build a bridge, but he didn't expect that so many good things came out silently.

Just as the company commander was inspecting, the messenger with the radio running over: "The company commander, the Golden Eagle asked us to stop the construction, and an unknown radio signal appeared nearby."

"Quick, stop it all!"

With the words of the company commander, all the soldiers who carried out camouflage work hid in the bunker, but the marines who arrived as bait only yesterday did the opposite. All 3,000 people rushed out of the barracks that might only live for a few days and swaggered.

Half an hour later, a bi-winged seaplane suddenly appeared in the sky. Due to the cloud cover, this bastard could not be found without special observation.

The company commander, who was hiding in the trench holding a telescope, spat. It could be seen that the pilot of this plane was quite experienced. He had been flying along the edge of the clouds, looming from time to time. I don't know if he was transferred from Europe.

The hovering action of the seaplane made the last few falcon pilots stationed on the island really itchy. They wished to rush up and beat down the sneaky guy immediately. Unfortunately, the order was strictly forbidden to take off, and they had to pretend that nothing had not been seen.

About ten minutes after such a reconnaissance, the seaplane slowly flew eastward.

Thirty minutes later, the seaplane without any external marks stopped next to a British seaplane carrier. When the boom recovered it, the British seaplane carrier quickly headed east--

PS: A depressing explanation about letting the United States do it first (no charge).

I didn't want to explain, but some book friends said that the fleet would be attacked by surprise, which was a little depressing. Probably many people did not understand the naval battle in the BB era, so the hippo should talk about it. A situation similar to the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor is impossible in the case of a lack of aviation power in World War I. The port is generally more than ten kilometers deep. Moreover, this does not count the range of shore-based naval guns and the control range of reconnaissance aircraft. If you take into account, the excellent harbor (Pearl Harbor as an example), the battleship can't enter within 40 kilometers (the naval gun and the same caliber shore gun are bombarded, and the battleship will become a cabbage), that is to say, it is impossible for any naval gun that has appeared so far to reach the military port. Of the enemy.

In addition, the naval battle in the BB era is different. In the era of lack of fast battleships, no one will drive BB all over the world. Even if Britain was so powerful before the Battle of Delan, Jericho did not send BB to patrol the North Sea every day, because the cost of BB is too high, and there must be accurate information and targets. They will go out, otherwise they will wait for the decisive battle to guard the old nest!

Coupled with the reality of distance and the lack of overseas bases, it is impossible for the United States to have a chance to completely destroy the First Fleet in the Northeast Pacific Ocean. Even sinking light patrols and destroyers have problems. If they are fast, they can quickly leave. On the contrary, they will face the danger of exposing themselves and being surrounded, so unless it is crazy. Hot, otherwise no commander will do this, which is also the biggest advantage of Pig's feet in daring to fight in the alternative Pacific battlefield.

Of course, there are also political factors. In a multi-ethnic country, the greater the excuse for war, the better

(to be continued)