After a small storm, the Ninghai lookout post spotted the approaching U.S. warship — the USS Saratoga aircraft carrier of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, to be exact. Pen ~ Fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info This 33,000-ton giant ship is like a lazy king cruising the Pacific Ocean. Like its predecessor, Colonel Billy Halsey, the captain, Jack Torles, was extremely wary of the Japanese Navy, so he was intrigued about the purpose of the Japanese warship sailing alone near the Central Pacific Passages, even though the Siamese flag fluttered on the mast. But Siam is a small country, and in the past, his naval ships were purchased from Britain, but now all the warships of the Siamese Navy are purchased from Japan, and the naval advisers are all Japanese.

At this time, just after the storm, the Ninghai was in a mess, and the lifeboats, lifebuoys and other things that had been covered were exposed, and the two Chinese characters 'Ninghai' on it were extremely dazzling. In addition to the scrambling cover-up, all the gunners on the ship actually rushed to the gun position, and this provocative move immediately made the colonel order to stop it.

After scolding countless times, 'you are dead', and there is no block in you, the ship is finally quiet. However, it was only then that the colonel realized that he had not prepared the wrong salute, so he shouted again on the microphone, "Honor guard!" Honor Guard!! ”

Colonel Jack Thomas deliberately let the destroyer approach the Siamese-flagged Japanese warship to see what to do. It's just that seeing that the other party immediately sent a guard of honor after the chaos, he was a little disappointed and immediately shrugged his shoulders, "Why did the Japanese Navy come here?" ”

"Colonel, this is a Siamese warship." The chief of staff next to him corrected that he had seen the cockade on the other party's hat in the telescope, and the other party was a yellow race, not a Japanese.

"But this is a Japanese ship, it's ugly, they're still burning coal, oh my God!" Colonel Thomas insisted on his opinion and was critical, and the light cruiser that pulled out a thick black soot made him a little sick. He then ordered: "Record the ship's information and send it to San Diego." We have to watch out for this ship, it's sneaky, there must be some tricks! ”

Captain Thomas's judgment on the Saratoga is in a word. But this is not a ruse against the Americans, this is a ruse against the Japanese. Of course, the 350 naval officers and men below Colonel Gao Xianshen did not know about the discussion of the Americans, and everyone stood stiffly at this moment. Although they are now flying the Siamese flag, judging from the fact that the Americans are approaching the wrong place, they are not friendly.

The guard of honour standing on the side of the ship, who was in an emergency procession, raised their arms and raised their bugles: 'Tick da... Tick-and-click... Tick... The trumpets were blowing on the deck of the ...... and a line of honor guards lined up on the deck of the American destroyer opposite, also blowing the trumpets of 'Tick Da'. The misalignment of the two ships on the ocean was very short-lived, but the other side was a whole formation, so it took more than half an hour for the Ninghai to stagger with the entire fleet.

"You're inside!" Vice Captain Colonel Chen Hongtai waited for the last US warship to disappear from sight, and immediately relaxed. He has a feeling of being a thief, if the warship is flying the blue sky and white sun flag, then he will not be cowardly even if it is a battle, but now......

"It's good to be over!" Colonel Gao Xianshen unconsciously wiped a handful of sweat. It's not the hot South Pacific, but it's not too cold, especially just now. "At least the Americans don't see anything." After he finished speaking, he called Lieutenant Lin Renji, the chief navigator, and said, "Where is the Tatsuda Maru now?" ”

"Report to the sir, Tatsuda Maru departed from San Francisco five days ago, and according to the course and speed of both sides, there are still two days to go before us." Lieutenant Lin Renji said. "To avoid missing out, I suggest that the plane must be launched to search."

The Ninghai was equipped with two aircraft, but because there were no catapults, the planes could only be lifted by cranes to the surface of the sea to take off. It took a long time to break diplomatic relations with the sea, and the Admiralty turned over the warehouse and loaded all the spare parts onto the ship, and also loaded several tons of gasoline, in order to ensure the smooth breaking of diplomatic relations with the Ninghai. However, the original AB-33 Aichi single-seat water reconnaissance aircraft has a limited range, only about 350 nautical miles, and at the same time, the speed is low, only 140 kilometers per hour, so it can only look for merchant ships.

Colonel Gao Xianshen was thinking about his two weak water reconnaissance planes, and he didn't want a roar of engines in the air, and a Grumman FF-1 biplane fighter flew over the Ninghai, and the lookout on the mast could even see the smiling faces of the pilots on the planes, which was a playful and mocking expression. The plane circled several times over the Ninghai before disappearing, which made the sailors on board a little uneasy. Everyone can feel the hostility of the Americans, and if they think that they are carrying out the task of breaking diplomatic relations, if the Americans interfere under the pretext that there are American citizens on the cruise ship, the consequences are unimaginable.

"I'm Captain Gao Xianshen!" Sensing that the atmosphere on the ship was not right, Colonel Gao Xianshen began to speak, "The Americans think that we are spies of the Japanese Navy, so this is why there is today's misunderstanding, so don't take it to heart." Don't forget that there is a big war going on at home, the Japanese Navy is bombarding our land, and their planes are bombing other ships of the Navy. If the country lives and dies for profit, will it not be avoided because of good and evil? Now Minister Chen of the Admiralty has an order: The day after tomorrow we will capture the Japanese mail ship Tatsuda Maru, which has a displacement of more than 16,000 tons and is praised by the Japanese as the queen of the Pacific. I hope that all members of all departments will be ready, and if the capture is successful, I will approve some of the officers and men with outstanding performance to take turns on the cruise ship! ”

Liner! Queen! Rotation?! In the past, he was able to 'call' twenty-three captains to oppose Chen, and Colonel Gao Xianshen was naturally familiar with human nature. After going to sea for more than 20 days, they were still frightened and uneasy by the US Navy fleet, but at the mention of the 'queen' and the rotational holiday, the sailors immediately resumed their previous enthusiasm and began to discuss how to capture the cruise ship, but more of a guess about what was on the cruise ship - the word "queen" is really unthinkable, you must know that overseas, Japanese women are basically all prostitutes, could it be that there are many prostitutes on the cruise ship?

The sailors were talking about the 'Queen', and in the chief's room of the Ninghai, the officers were in a meeting, and the purpose of the meeting was naturally to discuss once again how to capture the Ryuda Maru unscathed. In the previous discussion and deduction, considering that the ultimate speed of the Tatsuda Maru was twenty-one knots, and the top speed of the Ninghai did not exceed twenty-three knots - this was still due to Chen Shaokuan's change of the captain's contract system, and at the same time, the Ninghai was the flagship and was properly maintained - the difference of only two knots was difficult to pursue, because during the escape process, Tatsuda Maru would definitely send an SOS distress signal to the outside world and summon the Japanese Navy to come to the rescue.

The Japanese Navy, which was beyond the reach of the whip, was not afraid, but the US Navy was on its side, and it would be extremely troublesome if the US Navy, which had enough to eat and had nothing to do, intervened and sabotaged the capture operation. In addition, the leakage of capture information would alert Japanese ships along the entire route - given that the Japanese Navy had already captured Chinese ships off the coast of China, the capture of Japanese ships by the Ninghai did not violate international law.

According to the provisions of the Hague Convention and the London Declaration of 1909 on capture in time of war, because China and Japan had not declared war, the Ninghai could not capture ships going to Japan under the flags of neutral countries or third countries, unless the ships were Japanese, forged flags or stole the flags of other countries. Although it was possible to board the ship and inspect it, if it was wrong, the Nanjing government would definitely be under tremendous diplomatic pressure, so in the order of the Admiralty, the Ninghai was not allowed to capture ships of third countries other than Japanese ships.

Naval warfare is more civilized than land warfare, and for small and weak countries, naval warfare must be civilized and must be fought according to the rules established by the great powers. In the previous discussion, there was a plan to let the Ninghai fly the Japanese flag to deceive and approach the Tatsuda Maru, but this was vetoed because it did not comply with international law, so now the only way to approach the Tatsuda Maru is to approach by speed, and at the same time fire a warning to order it to stop the ship for inspection, but will the Japanese stop the ship when they see the blue sky and white sun flag?

Colonel Gao Xianshen was skeptical about this, although he did not know that at this time, Chang Kaishen very much hoped that international public opinion would support China and mediate the Sino-Japanese war. Judging from the consistent performance of the Nanjing government, the Kuomintang is simply a coward, and it does not dare to fart at 128 o'clock; Chen Shaokuan of the Admiralty is also an eggless thing, Chen Jiliang and Li Shijia, who uphold his intentions, secretly sneak around and hook up with the Japanese. At that time, it was to protect the ships, and if all the ships were all sold out at that time, under the pressure of public opinion, the Nationalist Government would definitely buy more new ships - the government was not out of money, and the money of the government was used to fight the civil war, go into the pockets of foreign firms, and corrupt officials.

While everyone was discussing, Colonel Gao Xianshen actually traveled thousands of miles and thought of Chen Shaokuan and Chang Kaishen in Nanjing. He knew very well in his heart: if the Japanese ship escaped, and the Ninghai shelled and injured and killed the foreigners, he would definitely have to eat Chen Shaokuan and Chang Kaishen's boards, and based on this reason, it seemed that it was the best choice to hang the Japanese flag and approach the Longtian Maru.

“…… Ladies and gentlemen, we are the Navy, and if the Navy does not pay attention to honor and does not reveal its identity before capture, then how is it different from pirates? "The deputy captain, Colonel Chen Hongtai, was a loyal defender of naval honor. After Chief Engineer Captain Yao Fahua said that it was impossible to guarantee that the power system could not be guaranteed to sail at full speed for more than four hours, everyone's minds began to tend to deceptive tactics. Chen Hongtai immediately stood up and objected to this. "If the Japanese Yusen refuses to stop the ship on the grounds that our ship has violated international law first, in the event of damage caused by the shelling, then all the responsibility lies with us. Do not forget that the captain of the Japanese cruise ship must have been a retired member of the Navy, and it is impossible that he will not notice this detail. ”

"Aren't the Japanese afraid of artillery?" The gunner, Major Gan Lijing, did not care about any lawlessness, he believed that as soon as his 140mm caliber main gun fired, the Japanese would stop, and guns were axioms!

"Is there anyone in the Japanese Navy who is afraid of death?" Chen Hongtai asked rhetorically, "Because they are reasonable, they can bear the result of the sinking of the Longtian Pill, can we?" Hanging the Japanese flag to deceive, that is an insult to the Navy! ”

"And now?" Gan Lijing smiled and asked, "Isn't it an insult for us to hang the Siamese flag?" ”

"The same is an insult!" Chen Hongtai waved his fist and said, "We should raise the blue sky and white sun flag and sink the Japanese ships we meet one by one, this is the breaking of relations." Busy for half a month to capture a mail ship, what kind of thing is this?! ”

"That's it!" Seeing the atmosphere in which Chen Hongtai said, Gao Xianshen, the silent captain, finally spoke. As a matter of fact, the main discussion at this seminar was the issue of hanging the flag, which decided on the capture tactics. "What Lan Sun said is not unreasonable, what if I want to drag us into the water desperately, open the sea valve without a few shots, and then blame us?"

Colonel Gao Xianshen's statement made everyone stunned, which everyone didn't expect before.

"Drowning foreigners is not a big deal for the Japanese, it's a big deal to lose some money, but for us, hehe......," the colonel scoffed, "it's a big deal for the government and the Admiralty." We are the only one ship in the whole ocean, and the symbolic meaning is greater than the practical significance, and if hundreds of foreigners are really to die, then we are the sinners of the country. ”

Colonel Gao Xianshen said that the people bowed their heads, including the gunners and chief engineers, who had previously strongly favored deception tactics. The colonel just laughed at this, and then asked the chief engineer, Captain Yao Fahua: "Is it really only guaranteed for four hours?" Four hours is not enough to chase at most eight nautical miles, so we can only fire! ”

"Four hours is the best situation, maybe three hours will have a problem with the boiler, the vast sea, once the boiler breaks, it will be ......" Captain Yao Fahua said his concern again, his brow furrowed - his biggest concern was boiler damage. As we all know, the navy's coal has always been able to save money, and the coal used by the Ninghai has a large amount of ash, contains a lot of sulfur, and is highly corrosive. Although the ministry repeatedly ordered maintenance and repeated requests, the money allocated was only enough to maintain it, and this voyage was supposed to be overhauled, but it was in such a hurry. ”

"Sir, the configuration of the Ninghai is unreasonable, the lateral stability is insufficient, and once it sails at high speed, the hidden danger is great." Captain Lin Renji, the chief navigator, was also worried about the problem with the Ninghai, "If the weather is bad again, I'm afraid that the boiler hasn't gone wrong, and we will ......."

Of course, Lieutenant Lin Renji can't say the word 'capsize', but that's what it means. At the beginning, the navy was poor for a long time, and the Ninghai was not so much a cruiser as a cruiser training ship - in order to save money, the tonnage was very small, and everything was installed for the sake of function. The result is top-heavy, with poor sea conditions and increased roll at high speeds.

If Tatsuda Maru escapes, perhaps the opponent will move in an S-shape to escape from the pursuit, and if this happens, the Ninghai is likely to roll over because it can't withstand the increasing roll. Two years ago, although the Youhe did not turn on its side in the middle of the frequent turn, it was still rolling too much and its recovery was not enough. If the sea conditions were not good, the wind and waves were high on the day of capture, and the Ninghai flipped on its side while chasing the Tatsuda Maru, it would have been a big joke.

"What to do, let's still depend on the weather." After a long groan, Colonel Gao Xianshen finally decided.