Chapter 560 Task Start

Poo.

White Hall, in the conference room of the British Admiralty, Fisher stared at Hamilton who came with the news. His face was completely bloody and he slowly fell on the chair.

It is not too fatal to say that four war patrols were lost in the Battle of Perth and the Battle of the West Point, because as long as the U.S. Mobile Fleet returns to Australia, even if only four Pensacora-class tours, the Xinhua Navy cannot attack Australia unscrupulously, but with the news of the naval battle of the New Hebrides, Some people are stunned.

Is it true that the four Hebei-class battleships of the Xinhua Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbor are fake? Or the New South China Fleet, which appeared in the South China Sea and the Strait of Malacca, are all wooden shells?!

British intelligence is not a fool. According to intelligence, Xinhua has built a total of six Guam-class ships, the third and fourth have just begun sea trials, and the delivery will not be at least until February next year, so it is easy to estimate the number of warships intercepting the U.S. mobile fleet.

Just four capital ships sank the U.S. mobile fleet with four battleships and four warships. This combat effectiveness is simply terrible! Is there no other reason for this?

Prime Minister Asquith pinched his eyebrows and asked anxiously, "Edward, has the construction of the prestige-class battlecruiser started?"

Edward Carson, the new Secretary of the Navy, nodded: "Yes."

"Modify it." Prime Minister Asquith turned his head to Fisher, the advocate of "speed is defense", and hesitated for a moment before saying, "They need thicker armor!"

Asquith's words are undoubtedly a major blow to Fisher. As the father of battlecruisers, the results of the three naval battles show that the fragile surnames of this new warship are exposed, and they are not even as much as the heavy armored and slow South Carolina-class battleships.

To put it bluntly, they were simply rag dolls thrown into the fire. Under the heavy artillery and thick armor of the opponent's battleships, they did not have any advantage. This is the main reason for the failure of the three naval battles!

In addition, the three battlefields were disconnected from each other, and there was a lack of echo and contact between the British and American fleets, especially the New Zealand Squadron led by Stedy. In fact, after the submarine found the enemy, he could completely avoid fighting, but quickly went south to meet Clarkston's fleet, and then retreated to Nouméa together.

It can be said that if three more war patrols are added, the U.S. mobile fleet will not fail, and at least the cost of Xinhua will be even greater!

But now it's too late to say this. It's a heavy blow to Britain, and almost a blow to the United States!

Because nearly half of the officers on the four South Carolina-class battleships participated in the naval battle of Cuba a few years ago and have quite rich experience in ironclad battleships, but now they have been awakened by the arsonist, which directly leads to a sharp decline in the level of the U.S. Navy.

In addition to the loss of personnel, 12 capital ships were lost, 8 of which were extremely important high-speed warships, which means that the United Kingdom and the United States lost all their mobile forces in the Pacific Ocean.

At present, the U.S. Pacific Fleet still has two Delaware-class battleships, two Florida-class battleships, and two New York-class battleships. The last four have stopped going south and cancelled interceptions. In addition, they can get four Nevada-class battleships by the end of the year, and the United States also has 8 more in the Atlantic Ocean. A battleship and a total of 16 old-fashioned battleships, so as long as the Panama Canal is still in the hands of the United States, the west coast is still safe.

But the fastest New York level is only 21 quarters. In the face of the vast Pacific Ocean, the defense has more mobility but is seriously insufficient.

Now the United States can no longer find any mobile forces except for the two Pensacora-class heavy cruisers that have left Japan and are returning to San Diego, and the two Northampton-class in sea trials in the Atlantic Ocean. The last six Northampton-class heavy cruisers will not be delivered until the end of next year, which means that it is crucial. The route from the United States to Australia will be ravaged by the Xinhua Navy, which has obvious speed!

If the United States, relying on its strong industrial capabilities and the ship-building frenzy provoked by Li Mo before, at least it will not have the power to fight back, then Britain seems to be a little overstretched.

34 new battleships, 36 old-fashioned battleships, and the remaining 7 battlecruisers. If they can be dragged to June next year, the last four Tiger-class battlecruisers can also be put into service. In addition, they have started construction and are beginning to prepare for Xinhua's war. At the same time, the number of prestige-class battles will increase to six after two wars. Cruisers, so Britain still has enough strength.

But the problem is that it won't take that long in the Pacific Ocean. The tireless was being repaired in the Battle of Dardanelles. Australia also needs to be repaired in South Africa. At present, there are only five battlecruisers that can be mobilized.

If the fleet cannot be mobilized to support Australia as soon as possible, the Xinhua Army can gain a foothold in Australia for up to three months. At that time, the entire Southwest Pacific will be lost.

What should I do?

Who should I send?! The pressure on the Indian fleet is already great!

If too many capital ships are transferred from Europe, will the main fleet of the German fleet enter the North Sea?

Asquith looked at Fisher and Hamilton, the actual helm of the Royal Navy, and asked in a low voice, "I want to know your next plan!"

Hamilton looked at Fisher, who had not recovered from the denial of his beloved war patrol, and gritted his teeth and said, "Your Excellency, we have discussed with the French and Spanish navies. At present, the three Berellophon-class battleships and Neptune have set off. When they arrive in the Indian Ocean, they will be in Madaga. Two Colbel-class battleships of the French navy in Sga went to Australia together.

"In addition, we are also ready to send all nine Majeignity-class battleships to Australia and New Zealand to carry out blockade and cover missions. We will never give up to Australia!"

Although Hamilton's voice is loud, his operation of nine old majestic-class battleships has made everyone clearly feel the decline of Britain. For Asquith, a political axe, an invisible pressure has come. It can be imagined that when the news of the three naval battles spreads, the whole UK will Vibration.

"I think." Asquith looked at the generals in front of him and said sadly, "I will resign as Prime Minister, but we must send more capital ships to the Pacific Ocean, otherwise, we will lose Australia and even lose the war!"

"In addition, I have convinced our allies and contacted President Wilson. As long as the parliament agrees, the command of the Pacific Theater will be fully handed over to the United States!"

"Prime Minister!"

Marshal Herbert Kitchener and Navy Secretary Carson stood up at the same time, because once the United States is allowed to fully dominate the Pacific battlefield, it means that the rise of a hundred-year-old empire at sea will become a bystander of the world's largest ocean, making the proud British Royal Navy from leadership to assistance!

"But the Prime Minister, the U.S. Navy lacks experience and enough generals. They will." Before Carson finished his words, the door of the conference room was pushed open again.

"Your Excellency the Prime Minister, the emergency telegram of the Falkland base. Five hours ago, they were shelled from the sea. The battleships of Old Star and the cruiser Glasgow moored there were destroyed. The damage to the base was very serious!"

"Forkland?! Is it so possible? The Xinhua Fleet is here. As soon as Lao He George said this, the corners of his eyes suddenly saw Chile not far from the Falkland base on the wall map, and he remembered the two Xinhua Guam-class battleships resting there before the war.

God, they didn't go back to China, but turned around and entered the Atlantic Ocean!

Everyone's face turned blue. Under the condition that the route from Panama to Australia is safely cut off, if the bypass route from South America to Australia is also interrupted, the connection between the United States and the Southwest Pacific will be completely cut off!

"At all costs!"

"Intercept it!" -

"Keep 18 knots, carry out the Z maneuver after three minutes, let the sailors who are free temporarily act as lookouts and increase the number of people on the deck."

"Order Tumenjiang and Dongting Lake (it was written as Lake Berga before. Sorry, the one in the set information has just been launched. For the mission, it is temporarily equipped with two seaplanes) to take off one Osprey each. Pay attention to the nearby fleet."

"The listeners of each ship rotate every four hours." Li Xiuyan walked into the HNA bridge and began to give orders before the officers finished saluting.

As soon as the captain began to work, the communication immediately called the signal soldier to launch a flag that was about to maneuver. As a fleet behind the enemy, radio is prohibited, and it is very important to change the Z to maneuver every half an hour, because the biggest threat to the fleet at this time is not the surface ship. It's a submarine!

The cruising speed has been increased to 18 knots, and the Z-shaped maneuver every half an hour can minimize the threat of the submarine. Even if the tiger shark is hit head-on, the fleet in the face of this state can only stare, and the number of watchmen should be increased appropriately during the day, and try not to take diving. A coast that is difficult to move.

Of course, there is no real foolproof in the world, but this maneuver is indeed effective. Even if the tiger sharks were covered in the southwest Pacific before, the Clarkston fleet, which is cautious and constantly changing its direction at night and maintains a speed of 17 knots, can't find a suitable one. You can call the surrounding partners to do it. The opportunity to encircle and annige.

But is that enough? At least the captain was still a little worried and asked, "Captain, do you want the Tumenjiang to start?"

"Power on?" Li Xiuyan was stunned at first, and then quickly shook his head and looked at the Yangtze River-level light patrol Tumen River not far away.

Unlike the previous Xinhua Light Patrol, the front mast of the Tumenjiang and the top of the rear bridge are respectively equipped with two barbed wire-like tile-shaped antennas, which are the biggest secret equipment of the General Staff and the Emperor to ensure that he can complete the task.

Two radars that have just completed the test!

For an excellent captain, it is necessary to be familiar with the surnames of all kinds of weapons he own, so when the Tumenjiang arrived, he immediately found the electronic officer and accompanying engineer above and asked in detail about the surname of this new equipment called radar.

According to the engineer who was temporarily pulled by Zhuang Ding, these are the only two production eye detection radars in China at present, using the principle that radio waves will reflect when they encounter obstacles, and they are not the kind of failures in the early days, which is called garbage by Emperor Li.

Li Xiuyan was not interested in explaining the principle. He only wanted to know the ability and efficacy of the surname. Under the explanation of the engineer, he gradually understood that according to the test, Longjing radar can find ships and aircraft within about 30 to 40 kilometers, and it will not be affected by fog and night, unless it encounters extremely bad weather. Qi, otherwise this distance can be guaranteed.

The only drawback is that it can't distinguish the type of ship, and can only know information such as speed and route. Moreover, there is still a problem with the life of electronic devices. It can't be turned on for a long time. Each unit can only guarantee about 5 hours of working time at a time, so the general staff specially installed two sets to ensure the safety of the night.

However, it is also gratifying to have one more pair of eyes at night. The worry is that once the boot is turned on, there will be a large amount of electromagnetic radiation, which is easy to be found and positioned by the enemy, so the choice of each boot time is extremely important.

It's early morning now. With the optical detector and watchtower in place, there is no need to consume electronic devices that do not have a long life.

Crossing the Tumen River is the Falkland Base of the southernmost part of the Atlantic Ocean, which has been shelled by two Guam-class bombarded. To be honest, it is not difficult to attack the unprepared naval base with a 380mm naval gun. One 750 kg high-explosive bomb can sweep most of the stadium.

So with only 15 rounds of shelling, the most important British naval base in the South Atlantic was paralyzed. Everyone was most excited. No one expected that an old-fashioned battleship rushed out of the harbor at that time, so that the excited gunners found their targets and killed each other.

But it's just paralysis. 18 doors of 380mm are powerful enough, and the range of high-explosive bombs can reach 31,000 meters, but it is unrealistic to completely destroy this base, because as long as no troops are sent to occupy it, any base can be repaired.

Looking at the thick smoke rising from the sky, Li Xiuyan frowned. The Falkland base could not recover in three or four months, and this is also the maximum time limit for this mission, because a Dongting Lake supply ship was not enough to support for so long. Fortunately, the emperor and the chief of staff were prepared in the name of the Gulf of Mexico Oil Company. Two large oil tankers with 40,000 tons of light and heavy oil were stockpiled in Colombia and Guantanamo, Cuba, and some important parts were secretly transported. In case of tightness, they could be parked there for resuppletion.

But this is only an auxiliary means. He knows very well that the current Atlantic Ocean can be said to be a hornet's nest, so the key is whether he can stab it quickly and accurately, and then withdraw it quickly.

In addition to showing its strength to allies, so that the United States does not dare to support the Pacific Ocean and other missions, this time there is also a planned mission that even I didn't know. I was locked in the captain's safe by the Chief Staff when I boarded the ship!

Now, it's time to turn it on!

"Captain, Captain Chen has arrived."

Li Xiuyan turned his head and saw that Chen Shaokuan had walked into the bridge. After looking at each other and smiling, they both took a string of keys from their necks and walked to the captain's lounge.

After the confidential safe was opened by two keys, a thin document appeared in front of the two people, with the word "top secret" on the cover, making the heart jump uncontrollably.

"Mission No. 43351, bombard New York!"

(to be continued)