Chapter 718 Is it really the Baja California Peninsula?

The West Coast of the United States.

Off the coast of San Diego, the patrolled Juno and San Juan, with seven small destroyers, shuttled in the dark like a ghost, and could not see any light source except for the fog-red anti-collision lights.

The young Major Spruance held the telescope and walked into the bridge with a solemn face.

Originally, he was unable to command cruisers with his qualifications, but because the U.S. Navy suffered unprecedented heavy losses, almost all of the experienced naval officers were killed or captured, and he had no choice but to promote many grassroots officers.

"Where are we?"

"The power failure just now cost us an extra 2 hours, so we are not expected to return to San Diego until noon tomorrow." The same young captain shook his head with a wry smile.

Juno and San Juan are the third batch of light cruisers improved by the Brooklyn class. They have four triple L45/152 mm guns, and the displacement has also been magnified to 9,000 tons. For the first time, a steam turbine developed by the United Kingdom was used in the light cruiser, with a speed of 28 knots, but also because it is too In pursuit of speed, the power is stuffed with 8 steam turbines and 20 boilers, which not only reduces the endurance to 5,000 nautical miles, but also reduces the survival surname a lot. What's worse, due to design problems, the failure rate of steam turbines has been high.

"Arrive at noon?" Spruance frowned.

It's terrible!

Because there have always been Xinhua aircraft carriers operating outside the Baja California Peninsula. With their army's recent entry into Mexico, the reconnaissance and surveillance of San Diego has also been strengthened a lot, so if they continue to move along this route, they will definitely be exposed to the enemy's wings.

2 light cruisers and 7 small destroyers, it is almost impossible to escape the attack of the aircraft and reach San Diego smoothly! You must change your course, at least you can't go straight into San Diego during the day, which is no different from looking for death.

Spruance quickly walked to the chart, but the dense red dots on the chart made him difficult. Each red dot represented the area where the Xinhua warship had been found, and then the red dot was connected to infer the general activity area of the other party.

In order to obtain this detailed chart, the fleet has paid the price of 26 destroyers and dozens of submarines for damage in more than half a year. Although the West Coast can produce some small warships, even if the coastal shipyard is blown up, the inland river can still provide some, but it can't withstand this consumption, plus the Panama Canal. It's gone now, so in the face of heavy patrol tasks, the navy has become more and more powerless.

But the problem is that even with the painstaking effort to get the information, Spruance has no clue, because now there is almost no gap in the middle of these red circles.

In fact, the west coast was under close surveillance after the end of the Gulf of Panama. Although there is no detailed data, it is speculated that Xinhua has deployed more than 15 light cruisers and more than 40 destroyers on the west coast of the United States, plus their coast guard patrol frigates and submarines. There are about a hundred warships operating off the entire west coast, greatly reducing the scope of activities of the U.S. [***] ship.

Now that the army has lost Panama, the navy is no longer afraid to go to sea to spy, which makes intelligence more and more scarce.

In fact, he has suggested to the above many times that the fleet should be gathered and leave the garrison before the enemy lands, and use the width of the sea to carry out maneuvers. Even if it is finally completely anniversed, he can at least delay the enemy for a period of time, instead of waiting for death like now, but unfortunately The ship's idea has permeated every corner of the West Coast, making the United States the second Germany after the Battle of Tehran.

Entering and exiting the port of San Diego, where planes patrol almost all the time during the day, is undoubtedly suicide, but where can I go now? Unless you turn back to the north of the coastline, it's not.

"to the west."

"to the west!"

Suddenly, there was a sound of inhaling in the bridge. Isn't it throwing itself into the net to the west?

"We went west, and the fleet dispersed and paid attention to the search for submarines." Spruance didn't explain. In fact, he couldn't explain it, because there were aircraft carriers off the coast of San Diego, and there were also on the back of San Francisco. As long as it was dawn, the planes on the two motherships could completely block the coast of San Francisco to San Diego, so they had to go west and use each other's attention to focus on the offshore aircraft. Yes, bet on luck.

The bow deflected to the west at a high speed, and the waves showed that the fleet had reached full speed. It could help the fleet run about 70 nautical miles in 3 hours. Maybe it could avoid the enemy's plane?

Spruance was not sure. He could only gamble, but he didn't know that just as he was heading west, a huge fleet was also coming.

====== "Have you found it?"

"No."

"Look again."

"It's really not."

In the narrow cabin, seeing that the first mate in charge of observation kept shaking his head, Jin Hai had to bite the apple fiercely, sat down at the chart table, looked at the battle record on the bulkhead in a daze, and didn't even notice that the juice slipped from the corners of his mouth.

In fact, even if he pays attention, he won't wipe it. Anyway, the submarine soldiers don't have anyone who loves cleanliness.

The battle record sheet records all the achievements from the arrow through the three hearts from West Bilu Island to the recent West Coast blockade. In total, 27 various warships and ships fell in front of S01.

But it is such a battle table that can be said to be the best in the submarine force, but he is still not satisfied in his eyes. First of all, the role of the submarine in the Pacific Ocean is obviously not as effective as the Atlantic Ocean, and secondly, his comrades-in-arms on the water swept all the way, scaring the shipping of the United States and the Union in the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean to stop. The submarine The army has no room to play at all. The last result was achieved in the Gulf of Panama a month ago. Recently, it has even become extremely difficult to make a tooth sacrifice.

In fact, what he wants most is to go to the Atlantic Ocean and compare with the German submarine forces. Unfortunately, the Panama Canal will not be repaired until at least March, so he can only continue to nest in the Pacific Ocean where he can hardly find a target at this moment.

It seemed to feel the mood of the captain, and the sailors around him were also a little lazy, and the yawning was endless. Only in the listening cabin, there was a pair of alert ears.

Suddenly, a weak and inaudible noise came from the headphones, and the listener quickly straightened up.

After a moment, a voice began to sound.

"The captain, in front of the left, there seems to be a ship."

"15 degrees left, torpedo pod ready, dive ready!" Jin Hai, who was listless just now, almost jumped away the first mate and turned the periscope to the left front. The sailors also stared as if they had hit chicken blood and held their breath.

A moment later, several shadows appeared on the sea level. Although it was impossible to distinguish between the enemy and us, the shadow of the cannon could still be seen, so Jin Hai felt that 70% of the outline was likely to be the U.S. patrol fleet, because the navy did not have such small destroyers in this area.

"Water injection of No. 1 and No. 3 water cabinet!"

"Depth of periscope."

"Rise the communication buoy, the target speed is 26 knots, the distance is 5300 meters, the angle."

"Sunch!"

A moment later, when the first two 10,000-ton warships exposed their chimneys, Jin Hai did not hesitate to order the launch of torpedoes. It's very simple, Xinhua did not have three chimney cruisers or even capital ships!

"Ban Bang." Six soft sounds came from the head of the boat in a row, and the periscope only captured the white waves of less than 100 meters, and the shadow of the spear could no longer be seen.

Oxygen torpedo has become the king of darkness and the biggest killer of the submarine force. After firing the torpedo, Jin Hai did not dive immediately. This distance was night again, and the depth of the periscope was enough for him to hit the target without being found.

The first mate counted the watch anxiously beside him. When the second hand turned more than a circle, a violent explosion suddenly spread into the boat.

"Send a telegram and summon a nearby patrol ship to intercept."

"Notify the fleet to be careful."

"All water cabinets are filled with water and dive! Dive at full speed!"

Although there was an explosion, it only hit a destroyer. Jin Hai was obviously not satisfied, but if he wanted to launch a second wave of attack, he must first avoid the enemy ship.

The continuous explosions came above the head, and the shock wave of the deep-water bomb kept hitting the hull. Fortunately, the telegram had been sent, and these American [***] ships fighting alone certainly did not dare to waste too much time.

Jin Hai guessed it right. Spruance did not dare to stay at all, but left in a hurry after dropping a few deep-water bombs, because he knew that the submarine must have sent a telegram for help. If he did not leave in the last dark time, he would be drowned by the Xinhua warship from all directions.

Two hours later, when a trace of fish white was sprinkled in the east, Spruance and all the American sailors, who thought they had escaped from the enemy, were all stunned by the scene in front of them. Under the horizon, a fleet of nearly a hundred cargo ships suddenly jumped out of the sea, and more than a dozen escort warships rushed over like hounds.

=====San Diego, U.S. Pacific Fleet Command.

It's a mess!

Yes, this already unnamed headquarters has not only become the West Coast Defense Command, but also a place full of all kinds of shouts and noise.

Xinhua's local fleet leaves the garrison!

The Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf Fleet left the station!

The Nanyang Fleet left the garrison!

Nearly a thousand transport ships suddenly left.

Where have you been?

"Damn it, where are they!"

Lieutenant General Carl's throat was almost dry, but no one could answer his question. More importantly, the fleet in the far east has set off. So where are the nearby South American fleet and the Pacific fleet? Is it still in Hong Kong, or has it arrived somewhere on the west coast?!

I don't know, no one knows!

This kind of blind war makes him particularly angry. As the commander-in-chief of the West Coast Defense, he is helpless and angry about this lack of information. More importantly, he has not received any accurate information that the Chinese will land there so far!

Is it San Francisco with better facilities and conditions, or directly attacking San Diego, or Los Angeles, or the most likely Baja California Peninsula?!

It doesn't matter. It's important to know where the enemy is now!

"General, telegram!"

The staff rushed over with a trace of excitement: "It was sent back by Major Spruance. They encountered a fleet 230 nautical miles southwest of San Diego, and the fleet sailed to the southeast."

"How many ships are there?"

"He said, about 200, and at least 20 escort ships!"

"Southeast, is it really the Baja California Peninsula?!"

(to be continued)