All the officers and men of the aircraft carrier Liberty Dragon were making preparations before the expedition, and Li Guang once again received a telegram from Tanggang. Ceylon, thousands of miles away, is already about to rain.

Back on March 29th. The British deciphered the Japanese code and learned that the Japanese Combined Fleet was going to attack Ceylon.

Somerville, commander of the British Far East Fleet, led the fleet out of Ceylon. That's where Somerville's old way comes in. General Layton of the British Army was arrogant, completely ignoring the fact that the Japanese army had beaten the British army to the ground, and still extremely despised the combat effectiveness of the Japanese army.

And Somerville decided from the beginning that the British Royal Navy was no match for the Japanese army. Therefore, his chosen tactical means was to avoid its edge and attack the Japanese fleet on the periphery. This tactic, which did not conform to the identity of the Royal Navy of the British Empire, was opposed by many British troops, but Somerville still insisted on this tactic. This was the main reason why Li Guang agreed that he commanded the battleship Atlantic.

Somerville, who had extensive naval experience, judged that the Japanese might strike on the night of April 1 or April 2.

Because these two days are full moon nights, the Japanese aircraft carriers can take off fighters at night, bomb and then return at dawn. (British aircraft carriers of this period were not yet able to land planes at night.) The same is true in Japan and the United States. ）

It should be said that Somerville's inference is quite reasonable, but unfortunately, the level of command and staff of the Japanese fleet was not yet at this level.

The air fleet led by Nagumo Tadaichi did not have the consideration of 'taking off fighters in the moonlight and landing fighters in the early morning'. The Japanese army was well prepared for the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, both in the weather and otherwise. However, for the sneak attack on Ceylon, the Japanese army was seriously underprepared for intelligence. However, Ceylon is not Pearl Harbor, and Lieutenant General Nagumo, who has made great achievements in battle, does not seem to need to pay so much attention.

On 4 April, the British seaplane 'Katerina' was in charge of reconnaissance and spotted the Japanese fleet. Subsequently, this seaplane was ravaged by more than a dozen Zero fighters on the Japanese aircraft carrier, and the British seaplane was shot down. However, the Canadian Air Force pilot who flew the Katerina seaplane sent back the news.

Somerville led the fleet to hide in the Maldives Islands, more than 900 kilometers away from Ceylon, in an anchorage called Addu Atoll. Immediately after receiving the information, the British Navy began to mobilize the fleet. Earlier, Somerville led the fleet in the Indian Ocean for several days in vain, running out of fuel, and at the moment refueling.

The enemy is clear and I am dark, this is a first move.

In the early morning of the 5th, the Japanese fleet reached 680 kilometers southeast of Ceylon. But this information, Somerville did not know. He could only roughly judge that the Japanese fleet should be in the south of Ceylon.

Vice Admiral Somerville chose the Atlantic as the flagship of the Naval Resistance Force, an unusual act in the British army. Although Somerville itself is an old British aristocrat. The family wields a vast amount of wealth. But Somerville himself was not so popular among the British upper classes, accused of often making "humorless jokes" with inferior sailors.

Li Guang commented that Somerville's ability to mingle with lower-level officers and soldiers shows that he is qualified as a general. If Somerville and the British sailors who have little culture want to make that kind of aristocratic "joke with a sense of humor", I wonder if those British sailors can understand it. Among the generals of the East. This should definitely be considered a plus. The gap between the military culture of the East and the West seems to be greater than the cultural gap.

Zheng Xuechang, together with Somerville and the staff officers of the British army, learned a lot of subtleties in the command of the British army in the past two days. Then. Zheng Xuechang discovered a mistake by the British army. Everyone was in the same boat, so it was immediately reported to Somerville.

The reason was that when the British staff estimated the position of the Japanese fleet, they calculated it according to the combat radius of the British fighters. The British have been fighting with the Japanese for several months, and until now they have not been able to figure out the combat radius of the Japanese Zero fighters, and they still think that the combat radius of the Japanese fighters is about the same as that of the British army. When Zheng Xuechang put the endurance of the Japanese Zero fighter - 2,200 kilometers. Report to Somerville.

Somerville's performance made Zheng Xuechang speechless. It turned out that Somerville's judgment of the strength of the Japanese fleet was only because of the large number of Japanese aircraft carriers, not that he thought that the Japanese army had advanced weapons and strong combat effectiveness.

Don't say Somerville doesn't believe it. Even the U.S. military, in the first few months of the war, did not believe that the Japanese Zero fighters were so advanced.

In the experience of the British army, the German range was not long, either fighter or bomber. The British army itself has a good range of bombers, but the range of fighters is just over 1,000 kilometers, and some fighters are only more than 700 kilometers. On the European battlefield, if it is said that bombers still have a longer range, but fighter planes are completely unnecessary, and the British mainland is only more than 200,000 square kilometers, and long-range fighters are of little use. Besides, if the fighter has a long range, then there will be more fuel, and it will not be so flexible.

How did the British know that there was an important reason for the little devils to design the Zero fighter - to take off from Wuhan to bomb Chongqing.

Somerville still paid a little attention to the news provided by Zheng Xuechang, but it didn't have much effect. The reason for this is that if a circle with a radius of 700 kilometers from Colombo is drawn according to the range of the Japanese fighters, the British reconnaissance planes will not be able to patrol at all. With the exception of a few Ekarina seaplanes that had sufficient range, the other aircraft did not have such a range at all.

Therefore, the Japanese fleet was 680 kilometers southeast of Ceylon, and unless the British broke out, they could not detect it at all.

Somerville still set the most likely position of the Japanese fleet at three or four hundred kilometers southeast of Ceylon. This was a mistake on Somerville's part, but this mistake was an unsolvable one, and Zheng Xuechang could not find the position of the Japanese fleet with the existing means.

In the early morning of 5 April, Nagumo Tadashi took out the means to deal with the US army's Pearl Harbor and raided Colombo, and more than 100 warplanes were overwhelmingly attacked Colombo. The powerful fleet easily took out 27 British fighters, and only lost 7 fighters of its own. Although the British had about 80 land-based fighters, these 27 were the essence of them, and after this battle, half of the British air power in Ceylon was destroyed.

However, due to the precautionary measures of the British army, the harbor was empty, not to mention warships, not even civilian ships, and the Japanese air raids were successful.

In the morning, Japanese fighters crossed the coastline of Ceylon and were spotted by the British who were waiting for them. Somerville got the news and immediately sped up the fleet.

At this point, the British naval staff officers began to flinch strangely, when they heard that the Japanese had sent out a hundred and fifty fighters and bombers (the British in Colombo exaggerated the size of the Japanese army). ), immediately demanded that Somerville retreat. These Royal Navy staff officers, who a few days ago were arrogant, thought that the tactics adopted by Somerville were very unroyal, and now they have become fearful of the enemy.

It is not surprising that this kind of thing happened, you must know that the Indian Ocean Fleet was mobilized by the British from all over the place, and most of the warships had not fought together at all before, and they had not run in. It is normal for the captains and staff officers to have their own thoughts. And what is even more unusual is that the flagship turned out to be the Atlantic battleship of the Naval Resistance Army.

In fact, Admiral Somerville had already received a notice from London, telling him that it was more important to protect the Eastern Fleet than to defend Ceylon, and to lead the fleet to take advantage of the situation and avoid disadvantages. With this fleet, it will be possible to maintain deterrence against the Indian Ocean. To put it bluntly, they still want to use a kind of strategic intimidation to maintain control of the Indian Ocean. The British abacus played very well. But this deterrence was not useful at all against the Japanese devils, and after only a few days, the British forgot about Singapore? Just forget about the fate of the two main battleships of the Far Eastern Fleet?

Somerville did not command the fleet as required by London for two reasons. The first is the "aggressiveness" of the British. In his own words, he needed to deliver "a heavy blow" to the enemy. (Somerville's biography was titled "The Combative General"). In fact, to say "aggressive", it is better to say that the British Empire at this time thought that naval warfare was at the level. No. 1 in the world, he looks down on Japan at all.

The second reason was that Somerville had intelligence at hand that led him to believe that he could take advantage of the favorable situation to strike at the Japanese. He is confident enough in the combat strategy he has adopted.

Somerville did not change his mind and decided that the fleet would continue to run to Ceylon, looking for fighters. Then. Somerville made a judgment that the Japanese should have two or three aircraft carriers, because he believed that the Japanese aircraft carriers could carry up to sixty fighters. This judgment did not differ from the previous intelligence received by the British, because British intelligence showed that a total of three Japanese aircraft carriers had entered the Indian Ocean.

The number of Japanese aircraft carriers that actually entered the Indian Ocean was six. Arriving near Ceylon were five.

Even if Somerville believed that the Japanese army had three aircraft carriers, he had not avoided the battle, which was unusually brave, or a little reckless. When Somerville first took office, the British Far East Fleet was in tatters, and he once boasted of Haikou and famously said, "The old violin still plays beautiful music." Now Somerville has painstakingly pulled the Atlantic battleship of the Naval Resistance Army. Plus two new British aircraft carriers, and a couple more heavy cruisers. The speed of the entire fleet can reach thirty knots, which can be regarded as an attack and an escape when retreating.

Somerville's thinking is consistent with the experience gained by the Naval Resistance Army in the Battle of the Arabian Sea, a battleship, firepower is only one aspect, and greater combat effectiveness should be reflected in speed. If the original Pacific battleship could reach a speed of 30 knots, the two Japanese battleships would not only be unable to win, but also might be completely wiped out by the naval resistance forces.

To be fair, the British aircraft carriers were indeed well built, especially with excellent seaworthiness and strong hulls.

At this moment, the fleet led by Somerville is still called the Far Eastern Fleet, and there are quite a few warships. But there are too many old, weak, sick and disabled. So Somerville divided his fleet into two teams, the main high-speed battleships were Fleet A, and the other group of low-speed fleets was Fleet B.

The battleship Atlantic is now acting as the flagship of the A fleet. The A fleet also includes two large aircraft carriers, the Indomitable and the Dreadnought. As well as two heavy cruisers, several destroyers.

Historically, Somerville did not have high-speed battleships, so he could only use the battleship Warweary, which had a speed of only twenty-four knots, as the flagship.

This war-weariness battleship is an old battleship from the First World War, and it is almost the same grade as the Pacific battleship of the original Naval Resistance Army. That kind of speed can seriously affect the combat effectiveness of the entire fleet.

Now this battleship is war-weary, with two weaker Royal Monarch-class battleships, as well as a small aircraft carrier Athletic, and a few cruisers, destroyers, etc., as a B fleet. This Fleet B is now following Fleet A, slowly dangling behind its ass. (To be continued......)

PS: Because of the previous chapter, there are certain words, which were caught by the and, harmonious gods, and the update was delayed, sorry.