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When Tsukahara 243 bombed the Seychelles and the Indian fleet of the Royal Navy, in Chittagong, Saudi Arabia, Zhu Binhou and his officers stood in line at the pier. On the battleship Anhai behind him, the sailors all changed into white dresses and circled the ship to wait for the president to board the ship.

After blocking Inoue Narumi, he led his fleet to join the 13th convoy to the Persian Gulf and rushed towards the Sunda Strait. Although the Japanese Navy wanted to intercept it, the main force of Yama Fifty-six was not there, and the Tokyo battalion did not want a full-scale war, so it could only watch the 22 Fleet enter the Indian Ocean. This time back in the Indian Ocean, the 22 fleet was greatly strengthened. The entire fleet consisted of two Sichuan-class aircraft carriers, one Liaoning-class aircraft carrier, the battleships Anhai and Zhenhai, two Wuhan-class heavy cruisers, four light cruisers, and ten destroyers. Together with the detachments that have been in the Persian Gulf and Addu Atoll, there are as many as 47 ships of various types, which is already the largest combat force in the Indian Ocean in terms of size.

Together with the leased French port of Djibouti, the Chagos Archipelago, the Addu Atoll and the Persian Gulf base, which are being handed over, it can be said that it already has the ability to operate in the Indian Ocean for a long time. As long as the engineering ships and two large floating docks sent by China arrive in the Chagos Archipelago, and then open up railway transportation from Central Asia to the Persian Gulf, the day when the 22nd Fleet will be renamed the Indian Ocean Fleet is probably not far off. Thinking about the dilapidated Late Qingshui Division more than 30 years ago, and then looking at the Republic of China Navy that now has close to three fleets, it is like a dream.

"Stand upright! Played! ”

The majestic naval song came from the pier, and Yang Qiu walked into the military port side by side with the first lady and Saudi King Isaud during the performance of the military band. In addition to escorting the President and his wife to Cairo, a ceremony for the delivery of the warship will also be held today.

After reviewing the naval officers on both sides, Ishat walked towards the two light cruisers in front of the Anhai with bright eyes. The two 4,500-ton Riyadh-class light cruisers were ordered by the Saudi government from the Jiangnan Shipyard in early 1937, and the template came from the domestic Xin'anjiang-class mine-laying cruisers, equipped with four twin 120 mm/L56 semi-automatic high-level dual-purpose naval guns. Four twin 40-mm anti-aircraft guns, one quadruple 550-mm torpedo launcher, can also carry 100 mines or depth charges, and the maximum speed is 37 knots. The telephone, centralized fire control, primary sonar, air defense command, etc., which penetrate the whole ship, are all very advanced. It can be said that except for a few subsystems such as radar and sonar, the base is in line with the current world level, and of course, the cost is also at the world level.

Isat was very happy, and kept thanking Yang Qiu while listening to the officer's introduction. Since forming an alliance with China, he and Saudi Arabia have become giants in the Middle East. The status is not even much worse than that of the traditional boss Egypt. In order to thank China for its support, but also for his naval dream, coupled with a steady stream of oil wealth, he ordered four Riyadh-class light cruisers and four destroyers in one go. If it weren't for the world war and the agreement between the major powers, he even proposed the idea of buying Anhai and Zhenhai.

Thankfully, the old guy didn't make it. Otherwise, the 22 fleet would have lost two Anhai ships today. Although the two Anhai of the First Fleet can no longer be regarded as battleships, their 305 mm naval guns and a speed of up to 33 knots are still safe against the heavy cruiser class. After a burst of muttering among the officers, the ceremony of handing over the two ships finally ended. After seeing off Ischat, Yang Qiu and his wife boarded the battleship Anhai, which had been prepared for a long time. Although it was not far from here to Cairo, Yang Qiu still chose a battleship. Not so much because of safety, but because the battleship was a symbol of national strength in this era. If it weren't for the fact that the four Beijing had to sit in the Yellow Sea and the Shandong-class would be delivered by the end of the year at the earliest, he wouldn't mind taking the world's largest tonnage battleship to the Mediterranean to show it.

With a loud whistle, the Anhai and the escorting heavy cruiser Wuhan were the first to leave the dock, and moments later the two Riyadh-class light cruisers of the Saudi Navy also threw off the cables. According to the alliance agreement between the two countries. In wartime, the Saudi Navy will automatically join the 22 fleet until the end of the war. However, they will not enter Egypt, and they will be escorted to the entrance of the canal to begin training, and then the 22 Fleet and the theater commander will be assigned tasks as appropriate.

After settling his wife, Yang Qiu boarded the bridge of the navigation ship with Gu Weijun and others. It is different from the weird "Demon Town" style of the day. The naval style of the Republic of China is more European, and the four Anhai-class American-style ship islands have also been replaced with ship islands similar to the Richelieu-class and Veneto-class styles after improvement. "President. Good news! Good news! As soon as he stepped into the shipyard, Deng Haoqian rushed in, and couldn't suppress his excitement and reported: "Shan Fifty-six has done it!" Two hours ago, the sun struck Seychelles! The British Navy's aircraft carrier INS Athletic was sunk, the USS Avenger capsized when it ran aground at Amilis west of the Seychelles, and HMS Ramillis took refuge in the port of Seychelles and caught fire after being hit! Two more heavy cruisers and four destroyers were sunk. ”

On the afternoon of 24 June, Tsukahara 243 led four aircraft carriers, Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, and Flying Dragon, to venture deep into search for the Indian fleet in Somerville. With only one day of fuel left, he finally caught the fleet in Seychelles and prepared to continue his voyage to the coast of East Africa, and sank seven warships in one fell swoop, including the aircraft carrier Athletic and two heavy cruisers. The battleship Avenger and the Lamillis fought against it, but they were not spared, the former was completely scrapped due to serious water ingress when it ran aground on its own initiative, and the Ramiris was also badly damaged, and even if it was towed back to England, it would not be able to fight for at least a year. At the same time, Tsukahara 243 also launched three waves of air raids on Seychelles, destroying British and French naval facilities and a large number of warplanes here, and the entire Seychelles was reduced to ashes.

"Great! We are the only ones left in the Indian Ocean! "Marquis Zhu Bin and the officers celebrated with the crown. Somerville lost an aircraft carrier and two battleships, declaring that Britain could not come to the Indian Ocean until it settled the Italian and French forces! Although Shan Wuliu won the bet, it still did not change the lack of long-term deployment capabilities in the Indian Ocean, so he could only continue to rely on Linga anchorage. That is, now in the Indian Ocean, there are only 22 fleets left!

"It's still a pity, if." Gu Weijun smacked his lips, with a look of unfinished business. Yang Qiu understood his thoughts, if Somerville was not distracted to deal with the French Navy, perhaps the entire Indian fleet would have to be accounted for here. So he laughed when he saw this: "Shaochuan has also become greedy." If Somerville is here, I'm afraid that Mountain Fifty-Six may not be fruitful. ”

Zhu Binhou interjected: "The president is right, Somerville has been cruising around Madagascar before leaving, and if Whitehall hadn't asked him to send half of the fleet to the Mediterranean, he might not have gone to the Seychelles." If that's the case, no matter how powerful Shan Fifty-six is, he can only sigh with admiration. ”

"If we turn back now, we can definitely wipe out the main force of Shan Fifty-six!" Pan Duheng's eyes on the side showed a fierce light, and it seemed that he wanted to immediately gather the fleet to pursue the mountain. Yang Qiu also made a big move at this proposal, Shan Wuliu definitely didn't have much oil, so after bombing Seychelles, he had to flee overnight, even if the 22nd Fleet sacrificed half of it to eat it. However, this idea was abandoned after a turn in his mind, China and Britain had not yet formed an alliance, and Roosevelt had not made a move, so there was no need to give this big gift to others.

Yang Qiu slowly walked towards the platform outside the bridge, his eyes half-squinted, and suddenly he wanted to meet Churchill. What is his expression now? Jin Bihui's French feast should be ready, as long as Dar Lang is not stupid, there will definitely be a big battle between the two fleets! If a few more ships are lost, what is left of the confidence of the British Empire? To the east of Suez, there are only Chen Shaokuan and Shan Fifty-six! The Royal Navy is in a hurry, will Roosevelt take some ships from the Pacific Ocean and go to the Atlantic? If the British Navy had suffered heavy losses, the mustache would not have given up this opportunity, right? It's a pity, his navy, otherwise how wonderful it would be. Britain and France are beaten, and the mortal feud is settled! The command of the Southwest Pacific and the actual sea power of the Indian Ocean Roosevelt would not be willing to hand over the Navy to Chen Shaokuan's big-mouthed command, right?! Let him continue to hesitate, he just needs to stand up and mediate between Britain and France, Richelieu, Dunkirk, hehe. Darlan should have made the right choice. Again handing over the arms ordered by the French government to de Gaulle, strengthening relations between Poland and France should be almost the same in the future.

I really should have a drink. Cairo is such a wonderful stage! ”

Gu Weijun looked at Yang Qiu, who walked out of the cabin, clenched the railing with both hands, and thought to himself. Turning his head and smiling: "Commander Zhu, send a message to the shore, let them prepare a plane, and I will bring you a few warships back in a few days." ”

"Warship?"

"Yes, warships! Haha" Gu Weijun laughed loudly-

In the Portsmouth military port, Churchill, who was about to board the ship for Cairo, trembled with his steps, and grabbed the railing with his big hand and was a little sluggish. After a long time, he looked at Cunningham, who brought news from Seychelles, and his tone suddenly became very light: "It's really bad news." ”

Looking at the faltering Churchill, Cunningham was a little unbearable, but still said another news: "The Mediterranean Fleet reports that there has been a transfer in Darlan's fleet, that the Richelieu has set off for Oran Bay, and that some cruisers have left Marseille. ”

Before he could recover from the blow of the Seychelles, Churchill was again distraught: "He found out? ”

"I don't know, it seems to be a normal transfer. Because we found out that there were supply ships and a lot of repair equipment leaving Marseille. ”

"Let's go! Whatever happens, either accept it peacefully or destroy him! Churchill stomped his cane hard and returned to his usual toughness in an instant.

Four hours after the attack on Seychelles, four battleships, including HMS Hood and HMS George V, and an aircraft carrier quietly left Portsmouth and disappeared into the night under the pretext of escorting Churchill. At the same time, the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid and two Avenger-class battleships in Somerville also set sail from Alexandria