Chapter 549 Empire Strikes Back

What is the trump card?

Many people have their own answers to this question.

Ji Rushan, who threw gloves in the decisive battle, led the light patrol to chase and shell Banda Aceh's Lefei, who fought abroad, led the warship to savagely hit Fang Jin, and the young army who challenged the enemy with a destroyer across 3,000 nautical miles without fear of danger. In the sea battle, Ye Zugui, who hated one-to-one for the sake of the North Ocean, and many others. They are all trump cards.

There is another kind of person who may not be so vigorous, but can find a way to make the enemy make a wrong judgment in an instant and make a major turning point for the whole battle.

The trump card is a group of special people created by the times. If it hadn't been for the warning telegram of Lieutenant General Stedy, or the series of accurate point shots of Jin Wei, the end of this sea battle, which was later known as the prelude to the empire's counterattack, might have been slightly modified. At least the U.S. motor fleet, which has a clear numerical advantage, would not be like later. That's it.

In the congested and tightly protected constricted conning tower of the third South Carolina-class battleship, Lieutenant General Clarkston is a little hesitant.

There are only 15 nautical miles away from Bougainville Island, one of the targets, which is almost within reach, but such a little distance makes him feel as if he has fallen into some kind of fog. Perhaps as a commander, he should not be so nagging, but luck and sixth sense in the naval battle are often very effective, plus this letter from Nauru. The emergency telegram gave him some kind of worry.

The New Zealand squadron led by Lieutenant General Steddy was ambushed by the enemy. The opponent had already seen through the joint operation of the two countries for the purpose of cutting off the route from Xinhua to Australia and inducing Xinhua Second Fleet to fight a decisive battle.

As one of the few in the navy who participated in the naval battle of Cuba, he led the old battleship Massachusetts to bypass South America. It took several months to return to the east coast and sink the officers of the cruiser that Xinhua sold to Spain. His experience was not bad, and he also saw it with his own eyes as an observer. The field can be called the naval watershed sea battle.

The naval battle witnessed the birth of a new maritime power, the strength of the Xinhua Royal Navy as young as the United States, the new warship, the long-range shelling ability, the important surname of speed in the naval battle, the ability of the captains to seize the opportunity, and the skills shown by the command of the battle were deeply impressed by him. At the same time, be more cautious about this imaginary opponent.

Among the many generals of the U.S. Navy, he is one of the few people who are unwilling to go to war with Xinhua. It is not that he dare not challenge Li Mo. In fact, he knows better than anyone that the United States and Xinhua must have a war, but he also knows that the United States has not gained an absolute maritime advantage. At this time, war will only fall into unnecessary consumption.

Britain's transfer of Pacific maritime interests is a big trap for him. Unfortunately, Taft and the Republicans behind him are so keen on Pacific expansion that they forget the proverb that "beautiful mushrooms are poisonous".

But since the president decided to declare war, as a naval general, he had no right to refute, so he readily took over the task of leading the mobile fleet to attack the southwest Pacific and cooperating with the British fleet to cut off Xinhua's contact with Australia.

This is a helpless choice. For the United States, the Honolulu on the doorstep is like a disgusting, but deadly gadfly, threatening all the passages of the United States in and out of the Pacific Ocean. Li Mo is also very clear about the important surnames there, so he not only spent a lot of money to build it into a super fortress on the sea, but also Half of the best Hebei-class main battleships are placed there.

According to intelligence, if you want to take Honolulu, you must first defeat the Pacific Fleet of the Royal New China Navy, and you need to concentrate at least ten super battleships and at least 100,000 army soldiers.

That's why he feels that the United States has not gained an absolute advantage, because as long as Hawaii is not removed, the United States will never be able to enter the Northwest Pacific Ocean to directly attack Xinhua, and even go to Japan. Therefore, after Andrew's visit to Japan to cover his actions, he did not even dare to go directly to the east for subsequent containment. Run wildly, because he knew that as long as a slight mistake was entangled, it would be the end of the destruction of the fleet.

He knows very well that in order to defeat Xinhua and win the final victory, the first thing is to ensure the security of Australia, and then go north through here, using the strong industrial capabilities of the United States to gain an advantage little by little, until the accumulation of a little becomes more to get the final sweep.

If you want to complete this plan, you must first fight against the New South China Fleet in the southwest Pacific.

Honolulu has a huge geographical advantage, but it also limits the hands and feet of the opponent's First Fleet. After the departure of the fleet, the defense capability of the Pearl Harbor fortress will be reduced by half, so even if Li Mo is arrogant, he does not dare to transfer the capital ship from there to support the southwest. At least four Hebei class must not move!

This is the pros and cons of containment and anti-containment.

When the four most powerful Hebei-class were contained in Honolulu, when the two latest Guam-classes went to South America for training, when Lieutenant General Phillips of the British Far East Fleet sent a telegram last night that at least four large capital ships had been detected, and two Yanjing-class capital ships repaired in Shanghai had just left three days ago, he knew Here comes the opportunity!

Because there are only four capital ships left in the Nanyang Fleet, even including the two Hebei-class battleships of their own fleet, only six can support here. Even if they are transferred from Honolulu, there are only eight. For this operation, the United States and the United Kingdom have invested a total of 13 capital ships and 10 armored cruisers, which is also It does not include the British and French fleets that can come to support from the Indian Ocean at any time!

But it is a battle that is bound to win, but it may face total destruction because the New Zealand fleet of the most important right-wing Lieutenant General Steddy has a problem, because the New Zealand fleet also has the most important follow-up mission, which is to support the United States interception fleet that has set out to the southeast immediately after capturing Nauru, and fight to the death. Drop the two super battleships that appeared before the war.

Although Lieutenant General Steddy's telegram said that there were only four capital ships, and he had a great chance of winning, Clarkston was not so optimistic about Steddy. He was indeed an excellent naval officer, but he also had the unique "habits" of the British navy, which was the last of a hundred years later, and Crado, who died in Spee's hands. It's the same.

Brave and aggressive.

This "tradition" ed by a hundred years of pride will make the British navy win an epic victory and lose the vital war in a few minutes.

If he loses the naval battle, his way back to Australia will be cut off, and the four American battleships alone will not be able to intercept the two super battleships visiting in Chile. If they will merge and go straight to Eastern Australia or even South Australia, the route from the United States to Australia will be in Extremely dangerous. .

In addition to this telegram, there is another thing that worries him, that is, a reconnaissance aircraft released by a British seaplane carrier that has not returned so far. It should have come back long ago. Is it a lost flight or a crash? Or is it?

A telegram, an unreturned seaplane, has made Bougainville Island 15 nautical miles away strange and unpredictable. It is absolutely not a coincidence that the enemy can suddenly appear off the sea of Nauru, because no one will use the capital ship to undertake the daily task, so Li Mo must be prepared!

He set up a big trap. He wanted to kill Steddy's New Zealand fleet, and then let two Guam-class super battleships support the southwest, quickly cutting off his retreat!

Those two super battleships are simply a big bait. They are the fog deliberately released before the war. He has already prepared and is ready to eat his mobile power!

Thinking of this, Clarkston suddenly felt cold all over. The important name of the mobile fleet is self-evident. If this fleet is lost, the U.S. Navy will be on full defense in the Pacific Ocean in the next year. Whether it can defend the West Coast is still a big problem, so we must ensure the safety of the fleet!

"No, I can't move forward!"

Clarkston shook his head and was about to order him to turn around and retreat. Suddenly, a scream came from the deck.

"Three o'clock, plane!"

In the shouting, Clarkston quickly rushed to the starboard window and saw eight black dots suddenly jumping out of the northern sea level. They were close to the sea, flying fast, and rushed into sight in the blink of an eye.

"Single wing?"

As soon as the staff who knew about the plane frowned, they saw a little ignition light from the heads of the eight aircraft. After a moment, a series of noises sounded on the shell of the thick command tower.

Although everyone knows that even if a cannon is installed on the plane, it is impossible to penetrate 12 inches of thick armor, but everyone is subconscious. When the shells jingled on the outer wall of the conning tower, all the officers subconsciously covered their heads and squatted down.

The fighter plane brushed the tall cage mast of the Massachusetts. When Clarkston and the officers raised their heads again and looked at the other side, the eight fast monoplanes that had never seen before flew back after a circle in the distance.

"One team, aim at the conning tower!"

"Second team, aim at the mast!"

"Three and four teams pay attention to the deck personnel!"

In Zhu Houbin's shouts, all kinds of strange screams broke out in the other seven bumblebees, brushing the enemy's battleships, causing panic. It was really great!

After turning quickly, Jin Wei followed the long plane and looked at the battleship with the flagship flag getting bigger and bigger in his sight. He slightly adjusted his posture and pressed the cross on the windshield on the narrow command tower porthole.

"Fire!"

As Jin Wei pressed the machine gun firing button on the top of the rod, the synchronous 25mm (written as 20mm in the front, corrected here) machine gun just installed in the nose sent out a series of screams. At the same time, two 12.7mm machine guns at the root of the wing also roared at the same time, and the porthole position suddenly became bigger and bigger. It was full of fire.

It was impossible for the machine gun to penetrate the conning tower, or even drill a small eye, but Jin Wei still expected a little effect. In fact, his wish really came true. The attack was not in vain. At least an observer standing in front of the window was hit in the neck by scattered shrapnel, and the blood was sprinkled all over the conger.

As Zhu Houbin and Jin Wei drove across the Massachusetts deck again, there was finally a thud behind them, and the balloon cannons on the American battleship opened fire.

The cannonballs constantly passing from their side made everyone nervous, but the six hornets that followed behind them to attack the deck and masts soon made these small rapid-fire guns, which were only used to deal with large airships and reconnaissance balloons, taste the strength of the cannon. Because the cage mast lacked the strength of the triangular mast, the observation sentry above did not The armor was open, so it was quickly hit in flames.

"Captain, do you want to come again!"

In the communication channel, the war eagles who swept the enemy fleet for the second time shouted, and the atmosphere had reached the most **. The sound of the bombarding not only did not scare the team members, but also made everyone tremble with excitement.

"Forget it, it doesn't have much effect." Zhu Houbin knew that this kind of attack was always tickling through his boots. Even if he killed a few sailors, it would not change the situation, so he needed to do something more important to make the enemy make a mistake in judgment!

"01 and 02 continue to carry-out monitoring."

"All the rest will fly north, and then go back after going around the circle."

"Yes!"

As six fighters quickly disappeared north below sea level, Lieutenant General Clarkston's face became ugly. The nearest island to Micronesia is about 150 nautical miles. These planes can never fly from the island, so.

There is a fleet in the north!

At least there are motherships supporting this kind of aircraft, otherwise they would not fly there!

When the adjutant reported that the mast was damaged and two watchmen were killed and one injured, Clarkston immediately made a decision. The fleet turned southeast and entered the Solomon Islands. After using the island cover to enter the Coral Sea, he went all the way south and quickly returned to Australia. Because the mission had been exposed, there must be a strong fleet in the north waiting for himself. Myself!

Unfortunately, he forgot that he used the best plane in Europe at this moment to calculate the range.

At 12:30, after getting Clarkston's fleet to enter the Solomon Islands south, the staff behind Gu Junhuo gave a high-five. Because Zhu Houbin's sudden tickling attack from the north made the cautious U.S. admiral make a judgment that there was an enemy in the north, so the fastest way to get out of the battlefield was Drill into the Solomon Islands and quickly go south back to Australia!

Clarkston's choice is not wrong. It is unwise to continue to go west to the west to the pre-prepared garrison of Gunville Island. It is unwise to be forced to attack at the same time. And once Steddy fails, his fleet will be surrounded in this sea. After losing supplies, the battleship is just an iron coffin!

But the Americans obviously don't know that the first comb is not in the north, but in their southwest. At this moment, the bow is rapidly heading east. As long as Clarkston continues to the south, he will hit the 356mm heavy artillery of the Hebei-class battleship head-on!

"Notify the meal!"

"Enter the battle in an hour!"

"The third flight team sets out and replaces the second team to continue to monitor."

"The destroyers are scattered. Pay attention to the search and be careful of submarines."

As the third wave of hornets rushed out of the deck, Gu Junhuo, after giving the order, also received the news from Guam that he was monitoring the Perth naval battle.

The sea off Perth started first, and Ning Xiaochuan was three against seven!

(to be continued)