The Huaxia fleet participating in the Ranger combat operation is divided into two parts, the first is the 6 Snow Leopard-class light armored cruisers under the unified command of Lin Yingqi, these displacement of 4300 tons, equipped with 8 6-inch guns, and 70MM waterline armor, the maximum speed of 26 knots of light cruisers will serve as the eyes and ears of the entire Huaxia advance fleet, they are located at the forefront of the fleet in groups of two! Take on reconnaissance missions while eliminating any ships they think might reveal the fleet's whereabouts!

Behind the six Snow Leopard-class light armored cruisers are Lin Yongsheng's battle cruiser formation, Deng Shichang's fast battleship formation and Liu Guanxiong's armored cruiser formation, the distance between these three sub-fleets is about 60 to 80 nautical miles, and they will advance south at an economic speed of 12 knots, and before entering the Java Sea, they will also get the last chance to replenish at sea, and after completing the replenishment, they will be alone in the dangerous Java Sea.

"After we enter the Java Sea, all the main warships should not carry out the operation of breaking diplomatic relations first, the six light cruisers under the command of Rear Admiral Lin Yingqi can attack the Russian or Dutch transport ships within a certain range, we need to wait for the other party's reaction and then make our action plan." Ye Zusi, who had been promoted to commander of the advance fleet before departure, ordered.

Until then, the Chinese Navy still hoped that the Russians or the Dutch would choose to divide their forces, although this was relatively unlikely, but in order to catch the light cruisers running around in the Java Sea, the Russians had to expand their reconnaissance range, even if they kept a certain distance. As long as Lin Yongsheng is given a chance, even if it is just 2 hours, Lin Yongsheng is confident that he can destroy about 2 armored cruisers of the other party!

So in order not to irritate the Russian-Dutch fleet. Ye Zusi restricted the activities of the capital ships, but let the light cruiser formation move, in the hope of attracting Russian armored cruisers, and then creating a wreck for the capital ship attack! After all, in Ye Zusi's opinion, in the face of such small fish and small shrimps, it is unlikely that the Russians will directly use fast battleships, right? Even if it ran into the Peter the Great-class fast battleships or the seven-level fast battleships of the Russians, if the Deng Shichang fleet was not far away. Ye Zusi can still choose a battle when the situation is right. Of course, if the Russians arrived with a large number of patrols, Ye Zusi would have to consider avoiding it. After all, the Russians have the advantage in terms of overall firepower and auxiliary ships!

And when the Chinese advance fleet entered the Java Sea, Makanov and Essen were also considering countermeasures in the port of Batavia. The distance between the two sides is far away, and in the face of the vast sea, both sides are in front of a smear. Unless the other party acts first. Otherwise, the Russians would not have known the distribution of the Chinese fleet. Not to mention that the current Russian fleet went to the Makassar Strait to reconnoiter and fight, and even the Java Sea could not be controlled, it was not that the Russians did not have the strength, but that the Russians were also waiting! Makanov needs to let the Chinese Navy strike first, and then explore the opponent's strategy from the other side's size and location and other information

"Are we going to wait? Wait until the other side smashes our transport ship or port to smithereens? Facing Makanov, who was calm and relaxed in front of him, Essen finally couldn't stand it anymore. The war has begun, and under the cover of the Chinese Navy, a large number of Chinese Army and Marine Corps have landed in many places on Kalimantan Island. If this trend continues, China will be able to advance by land and sea and occupy the coast of Kalimantan. Then moved to the Java Sea. And the current situation in Essen's opinion shows that the Russian fleet has the upper hand, and the main forces of the Chinese fleet are dragged down by the land and must be dispersed on landing grounds and long sea transport lines. And this is exactly what gives the Russian fleet every chance to break through! In the Sino-Japanese War and the Spanish-American War, the victorious side seized this opportunity to gain the initiative, so Essen felt that it was necessary to replicate the example of the successful one!

"That's better than rushing out and then your fleet being smashed to pieces by the other side, right?" Makanov said slowly. "Don't think that we know everything about our opponents, the vast sea is fair, the enemy does not have the ability to know everything, and we don't have either, we don't even know the location of the main fleet of Huaxia! All the naval guns that provide fire support for the landing fleet are under 8 inches, and we have never seen 12-inch naval guns to support the first line, so it means that the main force of the Chinese Navy may be hiding somewhere and quietly waiting for us. No matter how big the Makassar Strait is, it is just a strait. It is not the Caribbean Sea, nor is it the Yellow and East Seas. As long as it is exposed in this strait, it is easy to be targeted by the other party. So we absolutely cannot easily enter the Makassar Strait. Makanov said, pointing to the map.

"And I can guarantee that the Chinese Navy will be the first to enter the Java Sea for safaris! The reason is simple, even if they take the whole of Kalimantan, they still lack a suitable forward base, the navy is different from the army, there are no docks, no workshops, no shore defense batteries and mine arrays in the harbor is worth nothing! Therefore, throughout the war, if the Chinese fleet wants to annihilate us, it must enter the Java Sea with a short assault and quickly knock out our ports or other places, and go back before the fuel and ammunition run out. We'll have to wait until we get the chance to strike a fatal blow! "Makanov knew very well in his heart that those ports, merchant ships and even supplies could be consumed when necessary! As long as they can find an opportunity, then their efforts are worth it. Anyway, I'm pinching the eastern section of the Strait of Malacca now, and the Russians can afford to wait!

But Essen is not willing to wait quietly like this, Makanov waited because some of the battleships in the capital ship have not completed the most rearmament, but the Russian-Dutch fleet under Essen is ready to go, 4 fast battleships and 6 new armored cruisers are enough to destroy a second-rate naval power, Essen has never had such a powerful force, and now he is naturally unwilling to let the force in his hands be so silent.

Similarly, Makanov, although very cautious, also believes that staying in the port like this is not an option, and if the other ports are destroyed, the home advantage of the Russian-Dutch fleet will be greatly reduced. And there are thousands of Russian troops fighting on the island of Kalimantan, and this number will continue to increase over time. A large number of troops and supplies had to be transported to the other side of the Java Sea, and if something went wrong with these ships, it would be a big deal! It doesn't matter if the ship sinks, but when thousands or even thousands of people hang up, the cost and impact are unbearable.

But Makanov will definitely not escort the transport ships at this stage, because this means that the fleet will be split, at least until he gets the information of the Chinese fleet in the Java Sea, Makanov refused to send his precious fleet, and even he persuaded the army to let them suspend their support for Kalimantan Island, after all, the Russians, who lack heavy weapons under the cover of naval guns, cannot drive the other side into the sea, in this case, it is better to retreat inland and drag down the opponent with a long supply period. Since there is no one on the ship who is not armed, then the loss of the remaining transport ships will not be so heart-wrenching, and the loss will be lost, and the right to give the sacrifice to the god of war first!

So Makanov's idea of reducing losses by limiting the size of the transport ship and the cargo it could carry and to detect the whereabouts of his opponent was a very good idea and very feasible, but Makanov forgot that this was a colony of the Dutch! Maybe Makanov can command the fleet of the Dutch and use the military port of the Dutch, but he will definitely not be able to control the Dutch transport ships, and he will definitely not care what is transported on them!

No matter how good the allies are, they will do something behind their backs, and the Dutch have upheld this law! Navy warships are kerosene mixed burning, normal navigation can use coal, but at high speed navigation must be kerosene mixed burning, compared to everywhere there is a large amount of coal, this era of oil is undoubtedly a precious strategic resource. If these supplies were placed in the common anchorage of the Russian-Dutch fleet on the island of Java, they would definitely be discovered by the opponents, so the Dutch brushed their eyes and put most of their fuel reserves on the other side of the Java Sea! That is to say, as long as the Java Sea is sailing, the Dutch fleet can be supplied with sufficient fuel whenever and wherever it is, and with fuel, the battleship can always maintain high speed. Don't look at the current maximum speed of more than 20 knots when the battleship moves, but this speed can only be used occasionally, and it is usually 12 to 16 knots to climb slowly! A large number of boilers are actually idle. Generally, it is not needed.

And now, with the Chinese Navy covering the landing operation on Kalimantan Island, the Dutch suddenly found that the fuel they stored across the Java Sea was no longer safe! Don't talk about tens of thousands of tons of marine heavy oil, you can't just go away! But at this time, the Dutch must not let the Russians know the way, and it is secondary not to let the other party get a piece of the pie, which will aggravate the estrangement between the navies of the two countries, which are already in the same bed and have different dreams, so the Dutch's idea is very simple, that is, to mobilize the clippers to hurry up and transport them away, and how much can be transported!

But it's a pity that when the Dutch were hurriedly planning to rescue these precious supplies from Kalimantan, a light cruiser detachment led by Lin Yingqi was also sailing in the northern part of the Java Sea. After thinking about it again, Lin Yingqi decided to do it off the coast of Kalimantan. At the same time, in his opinion, the land war is tight, and the Russians and the Dutch can't always be indifferent, right? So the two light cruisers, the Snow Leopard and the Sea Lion, sailed north together, and their destination was a supply distribution center near Machen!

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