Chapter 3 Journey

Sansha Bay is located in the southeast of Ningde City, Fujian Province, which is the midpoint of China's 18,400-kilometer Gold Coast Line. It is the "gateway of entry and exit, the throat of Wuyi" along the eastern coast of Fujian. The topography of Sansha Bay is large and the abdomen is embraced by the Dongchong Peninsula and the Jianjiang Peninsula. The water area is 714 square kilometers, and the outlet has only Dongchongkou, with a width of only 2.6 kilometers.

Sandu Aokou is lined with Qingshan, Douhat, Jigong, Dong'an, Hengyu and other islands, intertwined with coastal mountains and headlands, becoming a natural barrier to block the strong wind and waves from the Pacific Ocean. In the 714 square kilometers of Sansha Bay, the equal depth of more than 10 meters reaches 173 square kilometers. There was a U.S. Navy general who was led to Sandu Australia for an expedition. He was deeply attracted by the unparalleled natural conditions here. He said, "Whoever controls this harbor can control the entire Western Pacific Ocean; if the United States obtains three capitals Australia and the Pacific Ocean will become the lake of the United States.

It is precisely because of the special strategic position of Sandu Australia in the military that the Chinese navy, which suffers from the absence of a cone, chose Sanshawan as a naval base. In the beginning, it only added steel-mixed structure trestles and barracks on the Dongchong Peninsula and dug into the caves.

In last year's tariff negotiations, Fu Customs, located in Sandu Ao, was cancelled after China made a promise that it would never rent Sandu Ao to other countries without authorization. After the ruling axe invested in the purchase of foreign banks and church buildings on Sandu Ao Island, the whole people near Sansha Bay were moved out.

This first natural port in Asia has since become a military forbidden place. Since then, the Navy has begun to plan and build Sansha Bay according to the naval base camp. There are a large number of naval factories such as naval special steel mills and naval shipyards along the Gulf coast. Although these projects have not been completed or even started, here is a note It will definitely become the largest naval comprehensive base in southern China.

Although there are only dozens of steel stacks in Sanshawan now, this is a naval exclusive base owned by the Chinese navy after losing Weihaiwei and Lushunkou. Sanshawan will be the place where the dragon's fleet sets sail again. In this regard, any naval soldier who knows this base will never have a trace. It is doubtful that the two sheltered docks with a length of about 330 meters and a width of 135 meters in the Sansha Naval Shipyard alone can be seen... It should be the determination of the Chinese Empire to go to the sea.

No, at this time, compared with the forts on the mountain, this huge natural port really doesn't have the appearance of many naval bases, let alone the appearance of the "naval base camp". Only the docks, shipyards and caves under construction under the lights are reminding people that this will be the first place of the Chinese navy. A large base camp.

Battleships Zhenhai and Dinghai, these two battleships were ordered during the arms race between Chile and Argentina in 1901. After several twists and turns, they became the army of the Chinese navy. With a displacement of about 11,800 tons, it is equipped with the standard firepower of a second-class battleship - 4 10-inch MK, VI main guns, and 10 of 14 7.5-inch secondary guns, which are installed in a well-protected profile above the main deck. In addition, there are 14 14 14-pound guns, although both British and Chileans have It is regarded as a battleship, but because of his light arming and protection and fast speed, he is more like a "super armored cruiser".

But these two "super armored cruisers" have been the main ships of the Chinese navy or the current Chinese Imperial Navy since their return to China. They are the only two main ships in the Imperial Navy.

At this time, after two weeks of training in the East China Sea, on the third day of returning to Hong Kong, we began to make sea preparations at the base of the Dongchong Peninsula, which was unprecedented. In the light of the port lights, the two "warships" are adding supplies, trying to saturate all their supplies and ammunition tanks. Pack fresh meat in the refrigerator and flour and vegetables in the food store.

The military port conveyor belt is filled with anthracite produced by Shanxi into the coal tank. This kind of low-sulfur and high-calorie anthracite is not inferior to that of Welsh anthracite. It is a high-quality coal found by the navy after searching thousands of large and small coal mines across the country. It is sufficient, cheap and supplied with high-quality anthracite, which makes the Chinese navy have the most basic fuel guarantee to maintain high-intensity training.

In the boiler room with a temperature of nearly 40 degrees at the bottom of the ship's cabin, the shirtless sailors waved the shovel hard and sent Datong anthracite into the burning boiler. When they desperately added coal to heat the boiler to make the warship have enough steam to move, the rubber pipe filled with water was being added to the water cabinet. Fresh water.

Of course, the most important thing is to load shells into the ammunition compartment. A small narrow-gauge steam locomotive with smoke was parked on the side of a long open-top train, full of ten-inch shells. The crane on the ship is lifting 500-pound shells into the air, and then slowly descending.

A ten-inch armor-piercing shell and high-explosive shells made by the Jiangnan Naval Manufacturing Bureau passed through layers of decks and were loaded into the ammunition chambers deep under the waterline. At the same time, 200 pounds of 7.5-inch secondary shells and the launcher kits of the main and secondary guns were hoisted onto the ship.

The cruiser fleet composed of "Haiqi", "Haitian", "Hairong", "Haicho" and "Haichen" in the mooring area is ready to leave the port at this time, and at another trestle, the marine brigade is waiting to set foot on the training ship.

Outbound, sail, expedition!

This is another expedition of the Dragon's fleet!

When the whole base was making final preparations for the upcoming expedition, a new team drove along the dock to strengthen the crew of Zhenhai and Dinghai.

This is a young officer detachment. They are indeed very young, almost still children. They are students who have not yet graduated from the Brocade Naval Academy. More than 100 young naval officers were ordered to enter the warship internship. These young people are proud of their new status and new military uniforms.

With the unique activity of young people, they lined up in two teams and drove to the gangway of two huge Zhenhai-class warships. Soon, they stopped by the gangway and continued to play, and the young people boarded the warship along the gangway with the precise and neat pace unique to the army.

When the team came to the stern deck, the leading officers saluted the officers who were reviewing them on the ship and reported the arrival of their team. At the end of the loading and unloading work on the edge of the dock, an order came from the team to face the bridge.

The officer who supervised the loading and unloading of arms on the dock shouted, "The last one!"

An officer on the deck waved the flag in his hand and replied.

"The last one."

The command was repeated several times before and after! The crane staggered and sent the last cold 10-inch shell into the ammunition compartment. It turned out that a group of busy attendants on the dock gradually dispersed, leaving only the sailors standing in line.

"It's time to go on an expedition!"

Cheng Biguang on the "Dinghai" sighed deeply. He knew what this expedition meant. This was the Chinese fleet's horn for the ocean again, just like the telegram sent by His Majesty.

"Dragon's fleet, re-road into the ocean today!"

The Netherlands is undoubtedly just a small country. Its naval strength is even inferior to that of the Chinese navy before the "Zhenhai-class" returned to China. In the Dutch East India, the only threat is probably the "Seven Provinces Soyuz" coastal defense gun. He is not worried about the opponent he is about to face. The only thing he needs to worry about is to protect overseas Chinese. Will it trigger the reaction of the great powers?

If that's the case... When Cheng Biguang was thinking about the reaction of the powers, Vice Admiral Liu Guanxiong, who looked serious on the Zhenhai, left his cabin. Today, he was appointed a new appointment, the commander of the Imperial Royal Guard Navy Battle Fleet.

He left the cabin and walked to the loudspeaker on the bridge.

"Gentlemen! ......"

He stood in front of the loudspeaker and began to give a speech. The young officers listened attentively to the voice of the commander from the radio, which may be a feature of the Chinese navy, and the loudspeaker was a Chinese invention.

"The Chinese Empire has two armies, the army of the army and the sea. Although they are all adapted from the Guangfu Army, only our navy was established by the emperor, that is, he was loved by His Majesty the emperor and awarded the name of the Royal Guards Navy. The expectations of the empire and His Majesty can be seen from this..."

His speech spread throughout the ship through the amplification system. Unlike the army, the navy today not only confers the name of the guard, but also the royal name. For naval soldiers, they understand that this title is more of an expectation in addition to glory.

Then he warmly welcomed the young officers to the ship and explained to them.

"... You were specially selected by the Imperial Navy Department to participate in this voyage. The purpose is to train the process of naval warfare, so as to quickly become a qualified naval officer. Now you have boarded the latest and most powerful "Zhenhai"-class warship of the empire, and you will get the most adventurous experience. The enemy we have to face, no warship in the Dutch navy dares to compete with it, and no Dutch warship can survive from its muzzle. After nearly four months of strict training in the East China Sea and the South China Sea, Zhenhai and Dinghai have become the most powerful and combative warships in Southeast Asia today... And our mission is to build Zhenhai-class warships to prove to the Dutch the empire's determination to protect overseas Chinese, that is, to maintain the rights of our expatriates at the cost of war. "Yi!"

Liu Guanxiong's expression in front of the loudspeaker was solemn. Finally, he took a deep breath and calmed down.

"I hope you will live up to the trust of the empire and the name of the royal guards!"

As soon as Liu Guanxiong's voice fell, the whistle of the fleet's departure sounded. The young trainee officers standing on the stern of the ship saluteed in the direction of the trestle at the same time. The officers and sailors on the trestle watched the departure of the fleet.

The whistle converged in Sansha Bay, and the unswered training fleet and the destroyer fleet sent out light signals one after another.

"Worth! Triumph!"

(to be continued)