Chapter 548 Imperial Counterattack

Nauru, 12 noon sharp.

The hot sun burned the charred and shattered fort. Lieutenant General Stedy looked stupidly at the wooden arm in front of him and the fried rubber next to him, and his eyes were almost congested.

One hour of covering shelling, three battlecruisers used 600 12-inch shells, occupying half of all the main gun reserves! But the enemy is a piece of wood and rubber skin!

Steddy's resentment can be understood by everyone. It's like being full of energy when he was young, pushing to his beloved woman, and then found that he was frustrated!

God, how can they be so shameless!

The staff behind them were facing the hot sun, and they didn't even dare to come out. Everyone knew that at this moment, the hot-tempered lieutenant general was a gunpowder barrel. The gunfire bombarded all over the sky for an hour. Thousands of soldiers rushed to the island to search for two hours, but finally found that there were already empty here, such as planes and cannons. It's all fake, and even those soldiers are made of wood.

What can be more frightening than this result?

Compared with anger, the more serious problem is that the Chinese fleet must be nearby, otherwise they would not make such an arrangement at all. Where would they rush from?

"Mt. Gen., E12 found the Chinese fleet!"

Finally, a voice broke the silence, and the staff could even hear the sound of relief in their hearts. No matter how the enemy finally appeared, it could also disperse the depression of the general at this moment.

Sure enough, Lieutenant General Steddy jumped up like a rabbit and grabbed the information from the staff officer with red eyes. Before he could look at it, he had rushed to the steamboat first. As the gas motor roared towards the unyielding in the distance, he carefully looked at the telegram.

The telegram was sent by submarine E12 of the Australian submarine squadron. Before the war, it had been operating near Kosray Island, 400 nautical miles northwest of Nauru, to provide intelligence support for this operation.

The telegram could not judge its current location, but the content was very detailed. Two Yanjing-class destroyers, two Dalian-class heavy cruisers, two light cruisers and four destroyers.

The scale is not very large, and it is a little unexpectedly small.

This made Studi very puzzled. It is reasonable to say that if Li Mo predicted his actions, he would definitely send the main fleet to take the opportunity to attack him, because at this moment, the troops have landed on the island, and he must fight a battle anyway. He fled without fighting and left thousands of army soldiers, and he would be dismissed for investigation after returning. But how did the four capital ships come? And two of them have been in service for nearly ten years.

Since Li Mo guessed his actions, he must know that he had three battlecruisers, not to mention five armored cruisers to cooperate, and the intelligence department has always suspected that the Yanjing class was only a war patrol, because it showed a speed similar to a war patrol in the previous Gilbert Islands conflict, although Xinhua had some special It has a special power advantage, but its displacement is much larger than that of the invincible level, so it will definitely weaken the protection.

The Dalian-class heavy patrol made its debut in the Battle of Westbilo Island. At that time, it was very powerful, but today, eight years later, it is much outdated. Although the power of 9 254mm guns is still there, the small displacement determines that its armor will be thinner.

The current situation is eight to four!

The fight must be fought, which was originally part of the plan. At the same time, three troops were sent to force the Nanyang Fleet of the Xinhua Navy to rescue, and then find an opportunity to kill them.

Although it came too quickly and too suddenly, the expected ambush conditions did not exist because they had been prepared for a long time, but I still maintained enough advantages. The question now is whether the other party will have another reinforcements? Otherwise, why is there only such a small fleet? Are they understaffed? If it is not insufficient, there is only one possibility!

"Quick, send a telegram to remind Seymour and Clarkston to beware of the sneak attack of the Chinese!"

"Prepare to fight!"

"The first cruiser detachment immediately searched in the direction of Kosray Island!"

Mt. Gen. Stedy rushed into the bridge. When the four protective cruisers rushed to the northwest, the warning wave had been sent out quickly -

"Report, Major General Ning asked how long it will take us to catch up!"

"Mother!" Yan Feng pulled off his hat fiercely and shouted, "Tell the commander that my ship is going at full speed and is expected to arrive in two hours!"

The captain's anger shocked all the officers in the bridge, but no one could make the Shanghai fly! It's only because of the boiler failure a few hours ago. If it hadn't been for the sudden loss of two boilers and the sudden reduction to 23 knots, how could it have missed such an important counterattack?!

The declaration of the emperor's counterattack just now is still lingering in my ears. At this moment, I am likely to watch my comrades-in-arms fight hard with inferior forces. This kind of distress and irritability can be understood by no one.

Looking at the four Weiqing-class destroyers who looked and stayed to protect the Shanghai from submarines and sneak attacks, and to protect the mother ship, Yan Feng flew to the chart table.

There are still 55 nautical miles away from the coast of Perth, and the Shanghai, which has repaired the boiler, can be fully arrived within two hours, but the problem is that the two hours lost are irreparable?

While he was upset, self-blaming and angry, he also knew that the power module had done its best. The mechanical failure could not be completely controlled by manpower. The technicians had repaired the boiler as quickly as possible, but the fast battleship could not be like the guys flying in the sky.

The telegram from the Port of Perth came two hours ago. Two British battlecruisers led five armored cruisers and three light cruisers to attack the harbor. Although personnel had already been evacuated, the harbor was still full of mines, and there were no casualties. Moreover, the British fleet must first clear the mines to attack the harbor. District, so there is still enough time to fight back.

But the problem is that the commander's troops are indeed a little tight.

Shanghai-class fast battleships, if they are one-on-one or even one-to-two, have an absolute advantage, so the problem is on the two Dalian-class heavy patrols.

Because the enemy has five armored cruisers!

At the beginning of the design, the Dalian class was used to restrain the armored cruisers of various countries, and after the previous mid-term improvement, the speed was also increased to 25 knots, but no matter how powerful the warship is, it is impossible to be damaged by two to five.

If the commander of the other side sees the weakness of the Dalian class and drags the Hong Kong with a cruiser to let the war patrol deal with the two Dalian class, how will the commander deal with it?

At the thought of this, Yan Feng was even more anxious. If his Shanghai was present, there would not be such a problem, but now.

"The war has started! Hong Kong made the first round of s shot!" The shouting suddenly sounded from the bridge: "Target, the armored cruiser Queen of Nepto!"

Sure enough, I was entangled!

"Accelerate!" Yan Feng's heart sank more and more. He gritted his teeth and shouted, "Let the destroyer reinforce immediately. We are here to fight back. We don't need protection!"

"Yes!"

When four destroyers with a maximum of 37 knots flew out like the fierce light cavalry on the ancient battlefield, there was a roar in their ears at the same time. 16 bumblebees had quickly passed by the bridge and accelerated towards Perth--

four kilometers.

Looking down from this height, the reef and the island are just a black spot. To distinguish the thick smoke from the warship in the dense black spots, in addition to very careful observation, you also need enough luck.

The reason why it flies so high is not a mistake, but because today's clouds, if you want not to be discovered by the enemy when performing tactical reconnaissance missions, you must make good use of the white clouds around you.

Because he has not arrived at the predetermined location, the captain has not ordered the disbandment of the formation to search freely, but what Jin Wei did not expect was that he became the captain's plane with the encouragement of the captain soon after the launch.

Although flying makes people feel very free, it is actually boring and boring. Let alone sitting in the cockpit for a long time and facing the blue sky and white clouds will be tired. The strict rules when flying in formation alone will make many people wonder why they have to form a team in the sky, and there are restrictions.

So far, many new pilots do not understand this truth, but these old birds who have flown for a long time have gradually begun to understand. What's more, these experiences and lessons come from the ace eagles that have soared over North Africa for more than half a year and fought with the enemy.

Holding the vertical pole softly on his wrist, Jin Wei turned his head and looked at his partner beside him. From his point, the eight bumblebees were like a slash, and the nearest one was the captain.

Because the formation was still silent on the radio, the partners focused on flying, instead of looking around hoping to find the cunning American fleet as soon as possible.

To be honest, everyone also admired the American general for giving up the nearest coral sea channel, interspersed at the gate of the Daxia Islands, and taking a detour behind to attack Rabaul and Bougainville.

If it hadn't been for the accidental exposure of the goose-like seaplane, it might have to wait for the garrison to report the attack before it could get the news to launch a counterattack.

Thinking of shooting down the seaplane and their partners who returned after taking off, I couldn't help but feel a trace of envy in my heart, and then subconsciously went into the cracks in the clouds.

But with this look, it can't be taken back again!

I only saw more than a dozen black spots, swallowing thick smoke, driving from east to west north of the Bismarck Islands.

"I found them!" Jin Wei shouted wildly in his heart and stretched out his hand to turn on the radio. However, on his first mission, he was afraid of breaking the radio silence rule, so he turned his head to look at the captain on the side. Finally, he decided not to turn on the radio for the time being, but gently waved his wrist.

The suddenly shaking wings on the right attracted Zhu Houbin's attention. In the cockpit not far away, Jin Wei was pointing to the lower right, and immediately accelerated beyond him and drilled into the clouds.

When the gap in the clouds opened again, he couldn't help but short of breath, but then his wrist froze on the rod. After thinking about it, he did not press down and tilt left and right. On the contrary, he did not report the news immediately, and pulled the nose again and flew north.

"What is the captain going to do?"

There was a stir in the formation, and the pilots subconsciously pushed the oil rod to chase Zhu Houbin, but they muttered from the bottom of their hearts. Obviously, they found the enemy, why did they still go north? Is the captain scared?!

All kinds of speculation and speculation poured into my heart, but the usual strict training still kept everyone's formation intact. It was not until far across the American fleet that Zhu Houbin turned on the radio and informed the position of the American fleet, and suddenly smiled: "Brothers, let's give the Americans a shock!"

While the remnants of the captain in the cabin were still lingering, the engine of the No. 01 long plane had roared violently, the wings suddenly deflected, and the fuselage rushed down in a nearly completely flip position.

Jin Wei held the vertical pole and followed the captain closely. When the altitude soared to a kilometer and black smoke appeared on the horizon, he looked at the compass and the nose pointed to the south!

An idea suddenly exploded from my mind, and the doubts and puzzles just now were completely wiped out in an instant.

Captain, he is the trump card!

(to be continued)