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Chapter 1746 The mussels and cranes fight

On 17 August, Admiral Laborde, commander of the Indian Ocean Fleet of the French Navy, received a telegram from the British and immediately returned to the military port of Tuamasina with the Governor of Madagascar, Armand. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

Just as Laborde was about to convene a meeting of officers to adjust some key positions in the fleet, he was suddenly seized by the Marines, and Laborde was horrified to find that he had lost control of the people around him, and was disheartened and captured, but Governor Armand was forced to resist by force because he believed that he had the army under his control, and was forcibly subdued and detained by the Marines. More than 6,000 colonial troops were bombarded by large-caliber naval guns, and they were immediately scattered.

Deputy Commander of the Fleet Provan. Vice Admiral Grillio was proclaimed the new commander of the fleet, and he immediately ordered the fleet to be ready at any time, in the name of Laborade. At the same time, Provence. Grillio used the fleet's radio to contact the British, asking the Royal Navy's Atlantic Fleet to move north quickly and take over the defense of Madagascar.

Commander of the British Fleet, Admiral Charles Murphy. Sir Forbes was worried about the situation at home, and although he had doubts about the French betrayal, in order to solve the threat of the French navy as soon as possible, he resolutely joined the South African home fleet with one aircraft carrier, one heavy cruiser and six destroyers, and slowly moved north along the east coast of Africa, advancing in a vigilant formation towards the island of Madagascar.

On 18 August, the front of the Navy's aircraft carrier task force appeared in the Seychelles.

The Seychelles archipelago is located in the western Indian Ocean north of Madagascar, off the east coast of Africa, and consists of 115 islands.

The voyage from Mauritius in the western Indian Ocean to India via the Seychelles was shorter and safer than other routes, so in 1756, the new French Governor of Mauritius declared sovereignty over Mahe and its surrounding islands, naming it "Seychelles" after the then French Minister of Finance.

However, French control of Seychelles lasted only 38 years, and the British, in order to protect their interests in India, decided to gain maritime control between Africa and Ceylon. Thus, on May 16, 1794, with France completely undefended, Seychelles was occupied by the British Navy.

On August 31, 1903, King Edward VII of the United Kingdom officially declared Seychelles a British colony, and at the same time, began to build the same shape as London's but smaller "Big Ben" in the center of Victoria, the capital of Seychelles.

After the defeat of the Royal Navy's Eastern Fleet at the Battle of the Maldives in March this year, the British were no longer strong enough to maintain their dominance in the western Indian Ocean, so they handed over the defense of the western Indian Ocean islands, including the Seychelles, Zanzibar, and Mauritius, to the French.

Up to now, the *** people do not know that the Atlantic Fleet of the Royal Navy has been stationed in southern Africa, but because the strength of the Indian Ocean Fleet of the French Navy is not weak, the commander of the aircraft carrier task force, Admiral Nagumo Tadaichi, is afraid of falling into the ambush circle of the French Navy in unfamiliar waters, and the psychological pressure is very great, and he acts extremely cautiously.

On the morning of 19 August, after continuous and meticulous reconnaissance by reconnaissance planes, the main force of the Navy's fleet entered Mahé, the main island of the Seychelles archipelago, and the amphibious forces landed smoothly and occupied Victoria Harbour, the best seaport in the Seychelles, almost without encountering any resistance. The harbor is a natural deep-water harbor that can accommodate 50,000-ton warships, and with this harbor where he can shelter from storms, Nagumo Zhong was relieved and immediately set up Victoria Harbor as a forward base for attacking Madagascar, and frequently dispatched reconnaissance planes to investigate the movements of the French Navy.

On the same day, Provan, who was watching every move of the navy. Vice Admiral Grillio, in the name of Laborde, telegraphed to the British, citing the occupation of the Seychelles by the *** navy, and said that he would lead the fleet north to meet the battle in order to consolidate the security of East Africa.

To the west of the Seychelles is the British colony of Tanzania in eastern Africa, to the west of Madagascar is Portuguese Mozambique, and to the south are the British colonies of Eswatini, Basutoland and South Africa. The British are happy to see the French Navy and *** Navy desperately, Charles. Sir Forbes telegraphed to the French fleet to express his support for the "just" cause of the French Navy, and that the British Navy would then rush to the Seychelles to reinforce it.

On the 20th, the French naval fleet was dispatched, the main force of the fleet was marching towards the Chagos Islands, and the fleet air force carried the headquarters radio and cruised in the northern area of Madagascar. Under the protection of the "Galisoniet-class" class light cruisers and six super destroyers, they advanced towards the Seychelles.

At this time, the *** Navy was searching the islands of the Seychelles one by one to prevent a sneak attack by the French Navy. You must know that people who often like to sneak up on others are most afraid that others will use the same tricks against them.

At 7 o'clock in the morning of 25 July, after three days of hiding and seeking, 70 carrier-based planes from the aircraft carriers "Jean-Bar" and "Xiafei" that had moved to the vicinity of the Agalega Islands in the southeastern part of the Seychelles flew into the blue sky with a roar.

Nagumo Tadaichi, who was resting in his apartment in the back garden of the Victoria Harbour City Hall, was shocked and angry, and immediately instructed the First Aircraft Carrier Squadron, which was cruising in the northern waters of the Seychelles Islands, to immediately dispatch reconnaissance planes to search the southwest where the planes came.

Three days ago, the American detachment of the French Navy, which had escaped from the American and British navies and had worked hard to rush to the port of Tuamasina in Madagascar, after getting in touch with the Indian Ocean Fleet, followed the orders of the fleet commander and went to the Chagos Archipelago to join the main forces of the fleet.

After arriving at the ground, the admirals of the American detachment learned the truth of the matter.

However, most of these generals have dark ghosts in their hearts, plus their families immigrated to South China, and at the same time they are not very optimistic about the current prospects of France, and they have chosen to take refuge in South China under the lure of heavy money. There were also a few recalcitrant ones, all of whom were detained along with the generals of the Indian Ocean Fleet who insisted on their allegiance to Admiral Laborde.

When the reconnaissance plane of the *** Navy searched southwest of the Seychelles Islands, it found a large amount of black smoke in the sea and air ahead, which seemed to be the situation of the main fleet assembling and passing, and immediately reported this anomaly to the fleet command.

Admiral Nagumo decided that this was the direction where the main force of the French Navy was located, and immediately ordered the First Aircraft Carrier Squadron to cruise southwest under the protection of the Fourth Cruiser Squadron and the Tenth Destroyer Squadron.

At this time, the sky is clear, and the turquoise waters of the western Indian Ocean are dotted with countless emerald islands, which is a fascinating tropical ocean scenery.

At about three o'clock in the afternoon, the Japanese dive bomber group found the target, so they rushed over, and when they got close to the target, the naval aviation found that the fleet below was flying the British Navy's rice flag.

But at this time, the *** naval aviation could not take care of so much, because the British Navy also discovered the Japanese aircraft group at this time, and was turning the bow of the ship, preparing to sail against the wind, so as to quickly release the planes on the fleet mothership.

Unfortunately, the struggle of the British was in vain, and as the dive bombers whizzed down, the black Japanese bombshells had been mercilessly poured onto the decks of the ships.

The 1st Torpedo Squadron of the 1st Aircraft Carrier Squadron of the Navy braved the intensive artillery fire of two light cruisers and four destroyers of the British fleet to launch a fierce attack on the opposing aircraft carrier, and three torpedoes hit the target immediately. The Royal Navy aircraft carrier "Fury" suddenly burst into flames, and a few minutes later, the second squadron of torpedo planes took advantage of the victory to pursue, and four more torpedoes hit the "Fury".

At the same time, the Japanese dive bombers, wave after wave, concentrated their fire on the "Fury", one of which was a 500-kilogram bomb, which landed in the middle of the flight deck of the "Fury" aircraft carrier, and the deck immediately billowed with thick smoke, and a quarter of an hour later, the first aircraft carrier in the real sense of the word of the British, with thick smoke and flames, suddenly flipped over and disappeared from the sea.

As the main leader of the British Navy's Atlantic Fleet, the "Fury" aircraft carrier formation suffered from the *** naval aviation at the same time, the carrier-based reconnaissance planes that took off from the deck of the aircraft carriers "Glorious" and "Ark Royal", where the main fleet is located, also found traces of the *** naval aircraft carrier.

Fleet Commander Charles. Sir Forbes had no time to think about where the French navy was going, and immediately led the main fleet to attack.

Of course, when it comes to dealing with the opponent's aircraft carriers, the first thing to consider is naturally your own carrier-based aircraft. With Charles. At the command of Sir Forbes, seventy bombers, torpedo planes, and fighter planes took to the air and swooped down directly on the sea where the Japanese ships were found.

At the position indicated by the pilot of the reconnaissance plane, the British naval pilots really spotted a small fleet, surrounded by five or six warships around a huge steamer, witnessing the dense British aircraft group, and the escorting battleships spit out angry tongues of fire together, exploding flowers in the sky.

The British naval officers and men all had a bitter hatred for the *** aircraft carrier that had brought great humiliation to them, so they rushed down in a swarm, surrounded the huge steamer, bombed for more than 20 minutes, watched it catch fire and explode, and finally raised its butt on the rough sea, and gradually sank.

The pilots of the British Navy were ecstatic and immediately telegraphed the exciting news to Charles. Sir Forbes's command room - sank a *** Navy aircraft carrier.

This is the first time that the British Navy has sunk an aircraft carrier in a naval battle. Sir Forbes was overjoyed, and immediately reported the victory to London, and at the same time sent a telegram to commend the officers and men of the air force for the attack.

However, the British were mistaken, between the islands of the western Indian Ocean, sometimes there was inexplicable fog, and in the case of a rapid reduction in visibility, the British reconnaissance planes regarded the fleet tankers and five or six protected destroyers as aircraft carrier formations, although the pilots in charge of bombing felt that the situation was a little strange, but the wide and flat deck of the tanker did not look much different from the aircraft carrier at first glance, so the mistake happened.

As night fell, the two sides withdrew their troops.

Calm has returned to the islands of the western Indian Ocean. In the afternoon attack, it not only sank an aircraft carrier of the British Navy, but also sent a heavy cruiser and two destroyers to the bottom of the sea, and shot down nearly 20 planes of the British Navy.

At a time when the British Navy and the *** Navy were fighting to the death in the western Indian Ocean, Provence. Lieutenant General Grillio, in the name of Laborade, sent a telegram to the Vichy government in France:

After several days of hard fighting, at 9 o'clock in the morning of the same day, our fleet met unexpectedly with the aircraft carrier task force of the Navy near the Seychelles Islands, and launched a strategic decisive battle. I, Laborde, swear by the honor of the French Navy, live and die with the fleet, long live the French Navy!

The almost "swan" telegram sent by the Indian Ocean Fleet caused the Vichy government to be in a mess, and everyone did not understand what was happening in the waters east of Africa, especially Admiral Darlan, who regarded the French Navy as his own private property, and immediately called the fleet to inquire, but there was no reply. Darlan immediately found Petain, and together they went to the German embassy.

The Germans were very surprised by the arrival of Petain and Darlan, and quickly reported the situation to Berlin.

German intelligence immediately launched an investigation into this, and since the *** Navy was fighting against the British Navy at that time, and the *** Navy had the upper hand, the situation was preliminarily confirmed from the Japanese base camp, and it seemed that the future of the navy fighting against the *** Navy was not good.

On the night of the 25th, Nagumo Tadaichi received a telegram from the headquarters and the Combined Fleet Command asking whether he had defeated the French naval fleet in the daytime battle.

Nagumo Tadaichi still did not understand where the British Navy came from, so he vaguely declared in his reply: Maybe it is! But the brutal battle will continue!

Nagumo Tadaichi's words were misinterpreted as modesty, and the Japanese army headquarters quickly issued a report on the battle situation - in the naval battle of the western Indian Ocean on the 25th, the Imperial Navy showed great courage and eliminated the main fleet of the French Navy, which had a superior force, and initially established hegemony in the Indian Ocean!

The media of various countries in the world quickly transmitted the news back home, and the first reaction of the British was that the French navy had failed, although it was a little regrettable, but the hidden dangers around them had been eliminated, and they could not help but feel relieved, and the Germans, who were anxious to get the French ships to strengthen their naval strength, were very disappointed, and the German ambassador symbolically comforted the Vichy government officials with a few words and left them alone.

Within the upper echelons of the Vichy government, Darlan was hit the hardest, his fame and power came from the navy, and now without the navy, he did not know if he would be abandoned by Marshal Pétain, and Petain's feelings were very complicated, and in the official newspaper the next day, he wrote an article calling on the French people to "turn their grief into strength" and "live well!" ”

Knowing the strength of the French Navy, the United States could hardly believe the brilliant results achieved by the French Navy, and after receiving confirmation from the British, German and French Vichy governments, it could not help but think a little higher about the strength of the French Navy, and once again strengthened the defense of Pearl Harbor. At the same time, the US Navy quickly adjusted its shipbuilding program, making the manufacture of aircraft carriers and carrier-based aircraft a top priority.

However, at this time, Nagumo Tadaichi did not know what the consequences of his ambiguous answer had caused, and he was still trying his best to deal with an attack that the British Navy could launch at any time.

Royal Navy Atlantic Fleet Commander Charles Murphy Sir Forbes received domestic intelligence, although full of doubts, but still agreed with Prime Minister Churchill's judgment - after the decisive battle with the French Navy, the strength of the *** Navy will inevitably be seriously weakened, although it is not clear about the damage to the *** Navy ships, but with the strength of the French Navy, it is impossible to do nothing. There is no doubt that now is the best time to regain hegemony in the Indian Ocean, so the Royal Navy must actively attack in order to gain sea supremacy in the Indian Ocean region.

In the early morning of 26 July, in the western part of the Indian Ocean, the atmosphere was extremely tense, and a major war was about to break out.

The Navy had five aircraft carriers, two high-speed battleships, six heavy cruisers, four light cruisers, and fifteen destroyers, and although the British Navy lost one aircraft carrier (formerly part of the South African Fleet), one heavy cruiser, and two destroyers, it still retained two aircraft carriers, three battleships, eighteen heavy cruisers, and twenty-eight destroyers.

The British Navy decided to take advantage of the weakness of the Navy to break the kettle and sink the ship, not to achieve the goal, and vowed not to withdraw from the army. The strength of the two sides can be described as half a catty, and there is a great potential to fight.

At 8 o'clock on the morning of the 26th, the reconnaissance planes of the *** Navy were again the first to discover the British fleet and immediately reported the situation to the command. At the same time, the reconnaissance aircraft of the British Navy also sent back telegrams almost simultaneously.

At half past nine o'clock in the morning, Nagumo ordered 90 planes from three aircraft carriers to take off, divide into five formations, and pounce on the British fleet with lightning speed.

At 10:30 a.m., the fighters that took off from the aircraft carrier "Soryu" flying in front were the first to spot the British warship, and this time the British Navy was much more well-behaved, dividing the fleet into two formations, the "Glorious" and the "Ark Royal" about nine nautical miles apart, and sending fighter planes to escort the ship.

The Navy's bombers and torpedo planes were about to repeat their old tricks, but they were clung to by the British carrier-based fighters, and for a time they were unable to show their hands and feet, and were frozen in the air.

At 10:55, more than a dozen dive bombers broke through the interception of British fighters under the cover of the same number of Zero fighters, and dived down to the "Glorious", a 500-kilogram bomb hit the right side of the bow, causing gasoline to burn, and the fire spread to the entire deck in an instant, and another bomb hit the tail, and the "Glorious" suddenly turned into a raging fire coffin.

At this time, another wave of bomber squadrons of the Navy arrived at the right time, tightly biting the embarrassed "Glorious", and bombing again and again, and finally, the "Glorious" with three bombs in a row was scarred, the plane could not take off and land, and more than 100 people were killed and wounded on the ship, like a leper dog that had been broken in the backbone, and fled with injuries.

At the same time that the Navy sent fighter planes to attack the British fleet, sixty British fighters also took off from the "Glory" and the "Ark Royal" and pounced on the *** fleet with great momentum.

At 10:55, the British fighters flew over the *** fleet and were surprised to find that the Japanese Zero fighters were already in full array. It has to be said that the five aircraft carriers of *** have almost more than 2.5 times the number of carrier-based aircraft of the British fleet, so they are more comfortable when it comes to operations.

As the cruisers and destroyers around the aircraft carrier opened fire together, British fighters continued to fall, and the remaining British planes, while evading the hunting of the *** Zero fighters, looked for flaws in the surface fleet. The British were undoubtedly tragic, they frantically rushed to the aircraft carrier again and again, and several torpedoes dropped from the planes, at a speed of fifty knots, rushed towards the vital point of the aircraft carrier.

Although the Japanese aircraft carrier made a serpentine evasion in time, a torpedo still hit the port side of the "Sanglong" aircraft carrier, and the violent explosion caused the bloated aircraft carrier body to shake violently. Fortunately, these aircraft carriers, which were converted from cruise ships and merchant ships, all used the technology of the water trap, and although it was difficult, they still managed to return to Victoria Harbour in the Seychelles after emergency repairs.

The British Navy's inferiority in the number of aircraft carriers led to the overall collapse of the war situation.

At 12:35 p.m., the fighters used by the British Navy to protect the fleet were shot down one by one by the Zero fighters that poured out of the nest, and the retreating aircraft carrier "Glorious" was torpedoed by the Japanese torpedo planes pursuing the tail, one hit the starboard rear, one hit the right waterline, and one exploded directly in front of the bow.

In the end, the dive bombers successively dropped four 500-kilogram bombs that hit, directly detonating 20 1,000-pound bombs and 48 torpedoes in the ammunition depot of the "Glorious" aircraft carrier.

By this time, the British had thoroughly felt how sad it was for the navy to fight without air supremacy.

Now that it is more than 100 nautical miles away from the opponent's fleet, it is already wishful thinking to rely on the fleet's superiority in the number of capital ships to win a naval battle. The opponent can evade at the same time, frequently send carrier-based aircraft to attack themselves, but they are completely unable to fight back due to the loss of carrier-based aircraft, this kind of passive beating no one can stand the taste, so the Royal Navy Atlantic Fleet Commander Charles. Sir Forbes ordered a general retreat.

The navy was unforgiving, pursuing the British fleet all the way, and before sunset, it sank three British heavy cruisers, seven destroyers, and more than 20 auxiliary ships, and the British Navy suffered another crushing defeat after the Battle of the Maldives.

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: Thank you huanghuzia, johnli8, reincarnation 9, the *** big tip with the gun, thank you brothers for ***!

The end of the year is approaching, I wish you all a good mood every day!