Chapter 679 Closed 6

"Report, the Third Task Force Report, the Australian Grand Fleet set sail from Sydney two hours ago!"

"Great!"

Hearing the news, Chen Ping, who was studying the war with Tang Shaoyi and others, immediately stood up, but when he got the information, he looked twice and frowned.

"What's the matter?" When Li Enfu saw his appearance, he couldn't help asking in surprise.

Chen Ping took the telegram and did not speak immediately. Instead, he went to the map and scratched his finger with a serious face: "Clarkston did not go to South Africa or South America, but turned the rudder to the north and took the fleet straight to Nouméa!"

"North, Numea?!" Zhang Zuolin, who previously speculated that Clarkston would take the South African route, also frowned. What kind of tactic is this?

If a general who does not know his speed advantage, he may use attack as a cover, and then find another opportunity to support Nouméa or take the opportunity to turn around and quickly evacuate at night to confuse the opponent. However, Clarkston's choice is too strange. After two games with Xinhua, he will not be unaware of himself. There is no speed advantage, not to mention that Xinhua also has an unparalleled aviation advantage, which can control the 300-kilometer combat range with the mother ship as the center. Any fleet within this distance can't escape as long as it is found.

In this case, why did Clarkston choose to go north?

"Unless he doesn't want to leave at all!" Thinking of this, Zhang Zuolin's eyebrows jumped and was about to speak, but another telegram made everyone seem to be in a fog.

"Report, S19 emergency, they tracked the Australian Grand Fleet about 32 nautical miles northeast of Sydney Harbour, and have confirmed all six new main battleships and nine old battleships, but the fleet was divided into three formations 20 minutes ago, moving to the north, northeast and east respectively."

Is the army divided?

Zhang Zuolin grabbed the telegram and immediately marked the direction of the enemy's movement on the chart after reading it. However, the appearance of the arrows made the people present even more puzzled. In the case of a large gap in equipment advantage and insufficient troops, it was almost the same as killing in the attack. What does Clarkston want to do? Question mark

"Is it?" An idea flashed through Chen Ping's mind. He seemed to feel that he had caught something and immediately ordered, "Order all our submarines and patrol ships operating in the southwest to go to the waters of East Australia to support!"

"Yuanshou, what are you?"

Looking at Tang Shaoyi, who was inquiring, Chen Ping said solemnly, "I guess Clarkston is going to cover the offensive target by splitting troops!"

"Crecover the offensive target?" Li Enfu asked, "Do you mean that Clarkston is actually not going to attack Nouméa, but has another purpose?"

"I'm not sure now, but it's too strange for him to divide the troops." Chen Ping pointed to the sea off Sydney and drew a circle: "This area is our key surveillance area. In the past few months, more than five warships have been sunk here, so Clarkston must know that as soon as he goes to sea, he will be found by us. So why does he have to divide his troops under our eyes? Instead of going further away, or waiting until late at night?

This only shows that he deliberately showed us this division of troops. Now it's night there, and aircraft reconnaissance must wait for more than ten hours. During this period, submarines alone can't keep up. Only a few radar-loaded reconnaissance ships can be tracked, but it is impossible to distinguish the type and size of warships by radar. At this time If we take the opportunity to cover a few warships and leave, it will be easy, so we have to wait for a while.

"What about the Third Task Force? Isn't Xiao Tianzhi intercepting him in the past? Tang Shaoyi asked.

"The Third Fleet has rushed away. At the current speed, we can meet in 22 hours. In addition, our patrol fleet in Perth has also entered the Australian Bay of Southern University an hour ago, and General Sa Zhenbing's South American fleet is also ready to intercept at any time."

"What about the Indian side?"

"There is no movement in the Indian Grand Fleet. The reconnaissance aircraft just scouted the port of Mumbai 40 minutes ago, and there was no sign of rising fire and anchoring. From tomorrow morning, the Sokotra Island Air Wing will be on standby. The aircraft carrier Xiqin of the First Task Force has returned to Guangzhou. At present, Yin Shang and Xizhou are rushing to the Arabian Sea. It is expected that the fleet can be remitted later tomorrow.

As Zhang Zuolin received a telegram from the staff, he summarized and introduced it to everyone, but the more he introduced, the more strange it was to Chen Ping and Tang Shaoyi and others. Clarkston came out and did not go west, but to the north. The Indian Grand Fleet, which I thought would flee together, did not move. This strange move made Everyone smelled a trace of strangeness.

In fact, not only the General Staff, but also in the flagship combat center of the Third Task Force is already busy. Clarkston's division of troops was not too unexpected. The Battle of the Gulf of Panama proved that when there is aviation power, the more concentrated the fleet, the faster it is, but why he is in the sea where he knows that there is enemy reconnaissance, there are still some What about the division of troops in the case of visibility?

Out of the bridge, the sea breeze is blowing, and the stars are guiding the way for the soldiers. The fleet has accelerated to 25 knots. At this speed, it can encounter the Australian Grand Fleet tomorrow evening.

But which one can I meet?

Xiao Tianzhi quietly put on a cigarette and fought on the vast sea. To put it bluntly, it was a gamble. If Clarkston did not divide the troops, it would be the two sides of the coin. Now that he divided the troops, he became a color with six faces.

From Sydney to Nouméa, there is a lack of islands on the sea, which is not conducive to the hiding of the fleet, so his division of troops is even more surprising. What on earth is he going to do? What is the goal?

Even if you are an idiotic fleet commander, as long as you go to sea, you must have a goal. Everything must be around this goal. Now that Clarkston is heading north, it seems to support Nouméa, but is it true?

Tomorrow morning, the Second Special Fleet will escort the Marine Corps to land. Three light carriers and three secondary capital ships are sure enough to board the cover troops. At the speed of the Australian Grand Fleet, even if they avoid themselves, it will take at least 55 hours to rush to Nouméa, so that even if they arrive, I'm afraid that the Marines have already After completing the early position, coupled with the fleet attack, he may not have much chance.

Then what does he want to do? If you pretend to attack, you will actually escape, or just fight with yourself?

Xiao Tianzhi took a breath, and the cigarette butt suddenly became dark. It was not until the cigarette butt burned his fingers that he woke up from deep thought and got another message: "Report, the Hunhe sent a message. Five minutes ago, their radar found that the enemy's third formation was divided again!"

====== Flagship, USS North Dakota.

In the command tower, everyone's eyes were on the young major who suddenly came to see Lieutenant General Clarkston before departure. With his explanation, everyone was also moved by his whimsy.

Divide the troops, constantly divide the troops, use the night as a cover, and turn the fleet to zero.

Everyone knows that the enemy has too many submarines and reconnaissance ships in this sea, and more eyes from overhead will be added at dawn, so this tactic is not too unexpected. Before departure, Clarkston and Seymour thought of scattering the fleet.

What is really surprising is that Major Fletcher, who was promoted due to the serious lack of experienced middle-level command officers in the U.S. Navy, came up with an amazing way when splitting troops.

He used the enemy's reconnaissance in the night to distinguish the disadvantages of the number of fleets in detail. In the process of continuous division of troops, he quietly separated several capital ships with the cover of their own fleets. These detached capital ships will resume assembly tomorrow morning, and then mix them into a new team and attack the target!

His tactic seems to be very simple, but it is actually very bold. First of all, it completely abandons the current mainstream grand fleet decisive battle ideas of various countries, and then the escort force around these covered capital ships is very weak, or even not at all. Only when it is re-organized can there be enough escort force, so that In tonight's solo voyage, they will be impossible to survive in the face of attack.

But what people didn't expect was that such a bold, near-gambling tactic was jointly recognized by Clarkston and Seymour, which also showed that the two actually wanted to get rid of the current embarrassment, or at least to win once to save the confidence of the fleet, instead of letting the enemy wander around at home.

"We still can't know whether the enemy's main force has left Nouméa, but I think they must have left and are on the way to intercept us, but even if they leave, they will definitely leave three light carriers to help, so that we will not have much chance even if we arrive."

Fletcher pointed to the chart with bright eyes, pressed his finger on Port Vila, gritted his teeth and said, "So, I think we should take this place as a target!"

"Port Vila!"

"Yes."

Fletcher explained to his left and right companions: "The port of Villa in the New Hebrides is only 570 nautical miles from Nouméa. According to intelligence, it has been temporarily used by Xinhua as the main base for the attack on Nouméa. More than 100,000 marines are on standby there for nearly half a year of combat supplies. Now they Siege of Nouméa, it must be empty there.

It is impossible for us to recapture Port Vila, so the core of the mission is to launch shelling and destroy port facilities, which can at least delay the opponent's attack on Nouméa and Australia. If you are lucky, you may not need to worry within three months. I think the battleship detachment that serves as the attack must avoid entanglement and quickly shelling. Go to the Fiji Islands to join the remaining troops, and then return to New Zealand along the Tonga Islands.

"I'm not going back to Sydney?"

"The facilities in Sydney Harbour are very good, but it is a cage for us. Only by leaving Sydney and moving the anchorage to Auckland or Wellington can we have a better view of the attack, and there are basically no islands between Australia and New Zealand. The sea area is very wide and easy to maneuver and detect."

After listening to Fletcher's explanation, Clarkston suddenly smiled and said, "Major, would you like to be my staff officer?"

"Flagship staff?!" Fletcher took a deep breath and suppressed the ecstasy before saying, "General, this is a dangerous plan. Xinhua has speed and aviation power that we can't match, so I can't guarantee success."

"I know." Clarkston nodded and suddenly turned to Seymour next to him: "Since General Seymour and I made a decision not to leave Australia, we were ready to sacrifice."

"So, we chose to go north!"

(to be continued)