Chapter 619 Night Battle Unparalleled 1

March 3, 1916, Sydney.

Walking on the dock, Clarkston sighed.

With a total area of 55 square kilometers, the port of Jackson is a rare natural port in the South Pacific. It is precisely because of its unique geographical advantages that it has become the most prosperous place in Australia.

It's just that the cruise ships and cargo ships that used to be full of harbors were squeezed into the corners by warships, and heavy shore artillery positions were scattered everywhere. Anti-aircraft artillery positions and anti-aircraft machine guns turned this beautiful bay into a military fortress, reminding everyone that Australia is no longer a paradise and war is approaching.

There is still a stalemate on land. In the past six months, Xinhua has sent 500,000 troops to Northwest Australia. The total number of troops surrounding Australia is also so much, and the Australian Allied forces have also reached 2.3 million, including 550,000 in the United States and 150,000 in the United Kingdom (most of them are colonial troops such as India and South Africa). The Australian army has 1.3 million and the New Zealand army has 300,000 (the British hardly transferred Australian and New Zealand soldiers after the war, so the number is enough).

In addition, the United Kingdom and the United States know that Australia is the front line to contain Xinhua, so they have done their best in terms of equipment. Even when the 31st Fleet wreas havoc in the Atlantic Ocean, the fleet that came to Australia still did not stop. After the efforts of nearly 5,000 merchant ships in half a year, the Australian island alone has 37 tanks. 0 vehicles, 2,500 cannons, 7,500 machine guns of all kinds, and aircraft are also assembled in the local area by direct transportation. By means of assembly, there are 1,700 Army models and 300 Navy Short 184 and other models. In addition, all kinds of ammunition and material reserves are also very sufficient, and they are already equipped to compete with the Xinhua Imperial Army. The ability to become a stalemate.

The land is temporarily safe, but it is becoming more and more weak at sea.

It's no problem to lose the Gilbert Islands, and it's okay to lose the Ryan Islands, but the defense line along the Solomon Islands, the New Hebrides (vanuatu), Nouméa, Palau, and Samoa is the gateway to Australia and must not be lost, so this line has strengthened the deployment of 300,000 troops. Guard, as the Xinhua army began to approach, the battle for the island was imminent. At this time, if the Southwest Fleet could not play a role, it would be fatal to support the whole island chain!

Not far away, there are only two new battleships, Delaware and North Dakota, in the Pacific Ocean of the United States. Although they are also surrounded by two old-fashioned battleships, including the Illinois and Alabama, and 11 cruisers, including the Tennessee-class, Omaha-class and St. Louis-class, these steel beasts can't carry them. Give any confidence to the soldiers who went on an expedition with him.

When the sailors crowded on the deck, smoking or whispering, talking about the big things that have happened recently, there are always a few sad sighs with a strong decadence.

Since the declaration of war on May 22 last year, the United States has unconsciously become one of the most injured countries in the war. France has become the largest injured country because of the occupation of Germany and Paris. Russia was surrounded by millions of troops because Xinhua seized the fortress of Tomsk last winter, while the United States was the navy. The most seriously damaged country.

And, none of them!

Since the beginning of the war, the United States has lost a total of 20 capital ships, including new battleships and heavy cruisers, plus 8 old-fashioned battleships and more than 30 other cruisers and destroyers. In the past ten years, the achievements of military expansion due to Xinhua's growth and hostility have been completed, and now it is not even able to defend the country!

What's more serious is that the situation has begun to deteriorate seriously.

The South African fleet broke the halberd and sank the sand. The powerful U.S. Pacific Fleet was destroyed in one afternoon. The Indian Grand Fleet was contained west of the Andaman Islands and threatened by the two Xinhua fleets. With Ecuador and Peru joining the Allies, Xinhua's tentacles could extend to the southeast Pacific Ocean, if it were not wisdom. The interest remains neutral. If South Africa is not still under control, Australia could have declared a strategic siege.

What makes everyone's heart shiver is that it has only been half a year since Xinhua declared war, and they have laid the Pacific victory by relying on their equipment advantages. At this moment, he knows better than those ordinary sailors that there are few opportunities for the United States to turn things around.

Because the opponent is really terrible.

When Li Mo built first-class battleships, deliberately instigating the United States to move the world to a road with thicker artillery and thicker armor, and a large number of expensive capital ships, he found another way to study the aircraft, and pushed the aircraft to this height in just ten years, and also built a new aircraft carrier. And support it as the core of naval warfare, which can show that this person has been calculating the world for a long time!

The United States has super industrial capabilities, but it can't make up for such a huge loss. More seriously, the United States' technology is too far behind. When it finally brings the battleship technology closer, the opponent plays with metal aircraft. The gap not only does not narrow, but also widens sharply!

Now, unless we get strong support, the Allied Southwest Grand Fleet stationed in Australia will grow old in the battle for the islands of the opposing marines to the south, but is there any support?

Clarkston looked at the warship behind Delaware. At present, the only one that can save the United States is Britain!

It's ridiculous, but it's true.

Although Britain has also lost a large number of warships since the beginning of the war, strictly speaking, there are only five first-generation battlecruisers and the nearest Agamemnon, and the others are old-fashioned battleships, which will not damage the core forces of the British navy.

Although Britain has sent 4 and 8 main battleships to the Southwest Fleet and the Indian Fleet respectively, and the battlecruiser Australia will return today, it includes the fourth Tiger-class Achilles in China, which has just been launched, with a total of 27 new capital ships, with basic vitality.

However, Britain is also in trouble. Germany across the North Sea has also gathered 23 battleships and battlecruisers, so when Germany can be solved and free the mainland fleet has become the key to determining the life and death of the Allied countries at sea.

Once Britain can free up, even half of them, and with British and American funding, there will be no problem with 30 new French Normandy-class battleships, as well as Italy, Spain and other countries, which can be delivered by March next year.

But no one knows when to solve Germany!

Just when Clarkston had a headache, a loud whistle interrupted his thoughts. He looked up and saw a huge fleet slowly sailing into the harbor. The battlecruiser Australia, which was once stationed here and was once again supported by the British, took the lead. In addition to it, there were five British ships. The new Bristol-class light cruisers built after the war slowly entered the harbor, and finally a fleet of up to 41 ocean-going cargo ships and 30 British and American destroyers dragged by them all the way.

Of course, there are two British motherships Pegasus and Campania, which have just completed the second transformation. However, unlike the full-pass type used by Xinhua, these two decks are only two-thirds of the length of the whole ship. Whether they take off or land, they must pass through the bow and carry It is a camel F2 naval fighter that has just completed the test flight.

Such a large-scale fleet excited the sailors who were hit by continuous bad news, especially the arrival of two motherships, at least the fleet has a long-range reconnaissance force, and there is no need to fight back against the Xinhua aircraft in the sky.

However, everyone is only excited for a while, because everyone knows that the situation is still difficult. Although I heard that the Camel F2 with the new 230 horsepower engine is much stronger and can be hung on a 14-inch 350kg torpedo for the first time, it is not as good as the legendary Xinhua aircraft made of metal. It is the five Bristol-class light cruisers and 30 destroyers with a minimum speed of 28 knots that have specially strengthened their air defense capabilities. Because they are all driven by new steam turbines, they have become the core force of the fleet to improve their speed.

But for the three commanders of the Southwest Grand Fleet, such strong support is not happy. Whether it is Clarkston, the commander who has just lost his mother fleet and is immersed in grief, Seymour, the deputy commander who knows that Xinhua is powerful, or Bernice, the absent-minded French chief of staff, it is very clear. This will be the last aid ships to arrive in Australia, and the Southwest Grand Fleet will not be replenished by warships for a long time to come.

As cargo ships began to dock, the soldiers were busy. From tanks to cannons, from machine guns to bullets, boxes of cargo were constantly unloaded. These things were particularly important for the Australian Army in urgent need of more heavy equipment, and for the large fleet, the five 30,000-ton cargo ships were full of rapid-fire guns and Anti-aircraft machine guns are the key. They can prevent old warships with a serious lack of air defense from being beaten passively and make the seaport safer.

Semore and Lieutenant General Bernice also took a bus to the port area, but after the former finished reading the list, they suddenly frowned and greet Captain Australia who walked down the gangway: "John, where are those two?"

At this time, Clarkston and Bernice also found that there seemed to be two important big guys missing from the supported warships. Did there be a change on the way? Or was it blocked by the Xinhua Fleet?!

"The Lieutenant General, please rest assured that they have been dragging behind, and now they should have arrived at the Lord Howe Islands." Captain John glanced around and lowered his voice: "The plan is designated by the Admiralty, and they can't ensure whether there are spies in Sydney Harbour."

Hearing this, the three of them were finally relieved.

"Wal (Clarkston)."

After Chief of Staff Bernice left to arrange to speed up the modification of anti-aircraft guns and machine guns by the old warships, Seymour suddenly stopped Clarkston and handed him a telegram: "This is the telegram just received, which asked us to make an attack as soon as possible to divert the attention of the Chinese fleet from the Gulf of Panama. So that your four capital ships can pass through the bay.

It turned out that New York, Texas, Indiana and Chilzo arrived in the Gulf of Mexico with four Omaha-class light cruisers, where they converged the last four Brooklyn-class light cruisers and West Virginia, California and Colorado. After an old-fashioned armored cruiser, it could not successfully cross the canal to the San Diego base because the new South American fleet blocked the door.

So after discussion, the United Kingdom and the United States are ready to arrange a Southwest Fleet to carry out an attack, forcing the newly formed South American fleet to temporarily release the Gulf of Panama, so that these warships can go to San Diego and temporarily relieve the pressure on the West Coast of the United States.

There is no problem with the battle plan. Everyone is more anxious to let the Atlantic Fleet enter the Pacific Ocean, but how to start the operation? Is it to attack the Xinhua Empire Marines near the Gilbert Islands, or to attack the coast of Peru?

More importantly, Xinhua has control of the sky. Whether it is a destroyer or a capital ship, it has an absolute speed advantage. In this case, it is no different from attacking and taking chestnuts from the fire.

You should know that it is impossible for the Southwest Grand Fleet stationed in Australia to obtain external warships to supplement. Even if it is obtained, it needs to wait for the U.S. Pacific Fleet to recover, so even a small torpedo boat is extremely important that it cannot be easily consumed.

Once exposed in the attack or dragged by the fast Xinhua warship, it will be a big problem!

"Wal, Lieutenant General Andrew is the best fleet commander I have ever seen. He is well aware of his disadvantages, just because you are not with him, otherwise I believe that the Gulf of Panama will be another situation!" Seymour sucked his nose and looked up at the setting sun that was gradually falling.

This action reminded Clarkston that Lieutenant General Andrew is also his most admired officer, not only because of his personal relationship with Andrew, but also because if it hadn't been for Mayo's poor performance, the plan to use the night to offset the other party's air advantage might have succeeded.

These days, he, Seymour and others have been studying the process of the Gulf of Panama. Judging from the deduction, if Mayo faithfully carried out the plan to lure the enemy at that time, then Xinhua would have to pay at least two or three Hebei-class battleships to win.

Although it eventually failed because of some people, there is no doubt about one thing!

Darkness will be the only opportunity available to the Southwest Fleet!

The new five Bristol-class light cruisers, 30 new large high-speed destroyers, and the two big guys on standby in Lord Howe Islands are a new generation of fast warships with a speed of no less than 27 knots.

I already have the ability to launch a sudden night attack!

"Wal, the Gilbert Islands have been controlled by Xinhua, and the Lane Islands are definitely not able to defend, so Xinhua is likely to launch a battle to attack the Solomon Islands in advance."

"Mr. Seymour, what do you mean? We are back to the Solomon Islands!" Clarkston's eyes lit up, and he still had a little palpitations when he remembered the sadness, but it would be a very wonderful thing if he could go back there and hit the Xinhua Navy.

Seamore nodded: "The Solomon Islands is the first barrier we have set to defend against Australia. Now we have 80,000 troops there, but without naval support, they can't support them at all, so I think we must launch an operation. The other two big guys can also use this cover to go to the East China. Pingyang, let the Chinese know that they can't fully control the Pacific Ocean!"

"Tell them."

"Night will be our best cover!"

(to be continued)