The moonlight was so clear that every hill, every house, and even every tree on the land was clearly visible. Pen~Fun~Pavilion www.biquge.info U.S. Navy Captain William Frederick Halsey Jr. stood quietly on the night bridge of the super-dreadnought "Mississippi", and his mood was very solemn. The surviving crew of the USS Conway has been rescued by U.S. and Mexican ships, and only 87 people have survived, which means that 59 U.S. Navy officers and sailors have been killed or missing. If it is a time of war, it is fate for soldiers to spill blood on the battlefield, but the US fleet's trip is to quell the Mexican civil war, and without any provocative moves, how can it not let people be angry?

As night fell, the ship received a clear radio notice from the US Government, in which the White House condemned the brutal acts of the Mexican rebels in extremely harsh terms, calling it "a separatist force that has rebelled and usurped power in the name of a defender," and that the US Government and military will spare no effort to support the Mexican Government's armed counterinsurgency action.

Immediately afterward, the U.S. fleet stationed at the mouth of the Almagre River received a coded telegram from the Admiralty, instructing them to immediately launch an artillery bombardment of the Mexican Christian Resistance Army in the middle and lower reaches of the Almagre River as soon as the Mexican government sent a telegram requesting the assistance of the American army in counterinsurgency.

From Norfolk Naval Base to New Orleans to the mouth of the Almagre River, Halsey had heard the name Halsey countless times, but had not heard or read any military information about it, whether it was tall or short, large or small, how many forts it had, how many artillery guns it had and how many artillery pieces it had, Halsey and his colleagues had no idea at all, such an expedition made him both dissatisfied and worried, after all, the Christian rebels in Mexico were not isolated rebels, The European allies have been secretly supporting them for a long time. Judging from the fact that the Paraguayan army can ravage Bolivia by fighting more with less, the German military equipment has a significant technical advantage in actual combat, coupled with the very rigorous work attitude of the German instructors, both Ireland during the war and Paraguay after the war have achieved amazing transformations in a relatively short period of time. Isn't it for this reason that the Mexican government forces have repeatedly suppressed the Christian rebel army, which has grown stronger day by day?

Having easily defeated Spain and not experiencing a large-scale war for 20 years, the judgment of the American top brass on the situation in Mexico was inevitably hasty and underestimated the enemy, and Halsey did not think it at first, but the sinking of the "Conway" left a series of question marks and exclamation marks in his heart: Is it safe for the two New Mexico-class battleships guarded by only a few light ships to stay here? Is it safe to send a mere 1,000 Marines ashore to fight? Will the direct war of the U.S. fleet against the Mexican Christian rebels provide a pretext for the European allies to attack?

At this point, Halsey's worries and doubts could not change the situation, the order to prepare for battle had been issued, and the officers and men of the whole fleet were gearing up, vowing to make the enemy pay for the debt with blood. The "Mississippi" and "Ioda" were both facing the coast on the starboard side, and the 24 powerful 14-inch guns were held high in a majestic manner, and although the seaplanes sent to reconnoiter in the afternoon were unfortunately shot down by the other side, the information provided by the Mexican government forces was enough for the professional firing commander to calculate the shelling parameters, and in order to calibrate the projectile impact point, the fleet would also send seaplanes to try night reconnaissance.

In this moment of silence, about five kilometres from the fortress of Lapska, on the edge of the woods, the fighters of the Mexican Christian Resistance Army had pushed the brand-new "Swordfish" into the take-off position, with a round creature hanging from its flat belly, shaped like an oversized Mexican cigar. In the front and rear of the cockpit, a young man with a dark complexion and a green face sat in the back seat, but there was no one in the front seat, only to see a tall white young man wearing a handsome flight suit, holding a wrench to carry out the final maintenance of the oil supply pipeline at the engine position.

After a while, there was a faint humming sound in the distance, and although many people were looking curiously, they could see that they were used to this situation. Hearing this, the white young man quickly finished his work, handed the wrench to the others, climbed onto the plane like a knight on a horse, and sat in the cockpit. Unlike the last big war and even the early 20s, the planes built in the late 20s began to use electric starting, but in order to save weight, the "Swordfish" designed and manufactured at the same time did not have a battery and an electric motor, and still used hand cranking as the only way to start. After receiving the signal from the white youth, two small Mexican men turned the shaker together, and the faster and faster it turned, the Irish "Freedom III" engine made with Daimler technology made a cough-like roar, and then the roar suddenly smoothed out, and a puff of gray-white green smoke instantly filled the plane around.

The alloy three-bladed propeller spun rapidly, driving the clumsy-looking "swordfish" to glide across the grass. The natural meadow was certainly not as smooth as the concrete runway or the wooden flight deck, and the plane bounced all the way as it taxied, its slender fuselage and wide wings fluttering rhythmically, and there was nothing to worry about, but the heavy torpedo under the belly was a pinch--its head was on the wheels, and its tail was in the middle of the fuselage, and the tail of the torpedo almost touched the ground every time the plane made a large jump.

Fortunately, the plane left the ground without danger and slowly rose into the breezy night sky. The previous humming sound grew louder and closer, and two other dull-colored planes appeared in the night sky as clear as a lake, their shapes and lines like elegant "albatrosses", flying together, one after the other.

The three planes met in the air and flew together in the direction of the Gulf of Mexico to the east. The people on the ground watched as they drifted away, when suddenly there was a strange screech in the sky, like a shrill whistle, but neither the steamer nor the locomotive could have reached such a harsh level. The whistling sound was fleeting, the ground shook suddenly, and four huge fireballs rose in the distant wilderness one after another, followed by an incredibly loud explosion......

The cloud of smoke from the previous explosion was still rising, and the piercing whistle of the previous one was heard again, and under the stunned gaze of the Mexicans, the same huge fireball rose up in the field slightly to the east, and the roar was deafening!

The shells from the Gulf of Mexico did not land in the Lapsca Fortress or at the airport, but they were terrifying enough to terrify the fighters of the Mexican Christian Resistance. Even if they could hide in trench bunkers, such shells would hardly absorb the massive impact of the explosion if such shells landed nearby.

During the massive bombardment, the Spanish pilot, Major Anthony Gomez, his partner, Mexican Date Santos, and the two German pilots who flew the Albatross were able to see not only the ground with flames and smoke, but also the sparkling and smoky sea. The firing of the large-caliber naval guns was particularly striking at night, the position of the cannon flame revealed the exact orientation and hull posture of the two American battleships, and the brave matador flew over the shoreline to the rumble of cannons, smoothly and slowly lowering altitude.

Two Albatross followed, ready to respond at any time.

At this time, on the battleship "Mississippi", Colonel Halsey, who had moved to the command tower, had a wild jump in his left eyelid. He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers, and heard nothing in his ears except the echo of the sound of cannons.

"Sir, sir? Sir! ”

"Oh?" Halsey snapped open his eyes and saw the adjutant looking at him suspiciously.

"Sir, the Detroit has signaled that their catapult is malfunctioning, and the plane has taken off from the water, and it seems that it will be a little later to provide a school firing report."

"I didn't have any expectations, so I just canceled the operation." Halsey's blurted out words implied multiple intentions. The commander of the detachment, General Upperm, was a naval general with high qualifications and prestige, but his concept was rigid and his thinking was difficult to adapt to modern naval warfare; Many young officers have long suggested that the United States should follow the example of Germany and Ireland and carry as many maritime reconnaissance planes as possible on warships with conditions, speed up the replacement of carrier-based aircraft, and equip them with the latest and greatest radio equipment. The Admiralty officers were keen to build aircraft carriers, and when it was necessary to intervene with foreign countries, they did not send even a single auxiliary aircraft carrier, and the most immediate consequence was that after they lost two seaplanes during the day, the entire dispatch detachment was left with only three seaplanes available, belonging to the "Mississippi" and "Ioda", and the light cruiser "Detroit". The two battleships were responsible for shelling and were not suitable for catapulting and receiving seaplanes, so they only planned to use the Curtiss F6 water reconnaissance aircraft carried by the "Detroit".

As early as 1914 in the Battle of Jutland, the German Navy had sent carrier-based aircraft to carry out reconnaissance and attack missions at night, after the end of the war, the British naval aviation attached great importance to night operations, and the US Navy also carried out night sailing training, and the aviation units belonging to the two major fleets could be called the first British, but that was still limited to the carrier-based aircraft carried by aircraft carriers, and the water reconnaissance planes carried by combat ships have always been not taken seriously, and the visual observation at night was indeed inefficient. Pilots are not adept at night operations, either technically or psychologically.

The worst thing was that the watchmen on duty on the battleships were attracted by the majestic bombardment, and no one noticed that a torpedo plane with dark paint was quietly approaching. Twenty-one years ago, during the Spanish-American War, the emerging United States defeated the aging Spanish Empire, and since then, the United States has steadily ranked first in the world in terms of national strength, and Spain has been mired in economic decay and social turmoil, and it has not improved until the past decade.

At the moment when the torpedo was dropped from the height of the sea, Major Anthony Gomez was not fighting alone, but pinning on the spiritual will of the Bourbon princes and nobles and many Spanish civilians - the root of Spain's fall was not the loss of the Spanish-American War, but this shame was deeply rooted in the hearts of every Spaniard, knowing that there was no chance of revenge, but hoping that one day the Americans would be able to taste great.

(End of chapter)