Episode 159 Ocean-going assault ship

On December 12, the Ming Army's Nanyang Fleet sailed out of Zhanjiang Port, a heavy cruiser "Weiqing", and went south into the South China Sea, preparing to pass through the Philippine Islands.

The reason why it is necessary to send ships from the port of Zhanjiang in Guangdong Province and to use the Philippine Islands is because now that the sea control in the western Pacific is in the hands of Japan, and the Japanese troops in the Ryukyu Islands in the north are heavily guarded, it is impossible for surface warships to sneak through. The southern tip of the Ryukyu Islands and the northern tip of Taiwan Island, and between the southern tip of Taiwan Island and the northern tip of the Philippines, are also key areas monitored by the Japanese Navy. For Ming surface ships to slip into the western Pacific undetected, the safest route should be through the Philippine Islands. The Philippine archipelago runs north-south, spanning more than 1,600 kilometers, during which there are countless islands and waterways, and the Ming army can choose to pass through. Even if the Japanese Navy has great ability, it will not be able to keep an eye on it.

The Ming Army's "Weiqing-class" heavy cruiser, which was commissioned at the beginning of 36 last year, is the latest, fastest, and best first-class heavy cruiser of the Ming Navy so far. Including the "Weiqing" and "Sick" two. The standard displacement is 14,215 tons, four twin 203-mm guns, eight 127-mm secondary guns, three seaplanes, and the maximum speed can actually be driven to 36.5 knots. This is a heavy cruiser of the first class that can match the "highest class" of the Japanese army. Of course, the firepower was inferior to the most superior, and there were two less 203-mm guns than it. However, the top speed of the Weiqing class is two knots higher than that of the top class.

The imaginary enemy of the Ming Navy has always been Japan, because Japan is an island country and relies heavily on sea transportation lines, so when the Ming army designs warships, it always takes into account the factor of "breaking the war". Warships are required not only to have the ability to fight in the fleet, but also to have the ability to carry out the task of breaking the engagement alone. The design idea of the Weiqing-level heavy patrol is: "Those who run faster than me are not as strong as me, and those who are stronger than me are not as fast as me."

It can be said that this design was a success. At a speed of almost 37 knots, it is difficult for other heavy cruisers to achieve. Only light cruisers and destroyers can surpass them. And even if the light cruiser and destroyer catch up with the Weiqing class, because the firepower disparity is too great, they can only become targets. And if the Weiqing-class encounters a battleship, or a cruiser with firepower that surpasses its superiority, it can completely pull away from high speed and disengage from a distance. Its three seaplanes make it possible to observe who its opponents are from a great distance.

Using a cruiser to attack Japan's sea lines of communication was originally frowned upon by Xiang Xiaoqiang. He thinks it's too costly and too risky. Especially to take such an excellent cruiser as the "Weiqing-class" to do this kind of thing, it is too wasteful. Once there are three long and two short, once it is sunk or something, then even if it sinks dozens of Japanese cargo ships before, it will not be enough to lose money. Pay for one's whistle. In Xiang Xiaoqiang's view, this kind of thing should be handed over to the submarine. Submarines are inexpensive, and that's what they do. As long as you sink a few large cargo ships, even if you are sunk, it will be enough.

But Xiong Dingming is very confident, he told Xiang Xiaoqiang not to worry too much, just sit back and watch the results. He told Xiang Xiaoqiang that the Weiqing-class was originally an excellent attack ship, with high speed and strong self-defense capabilities, and it may be as good as a dozen submarines...... This is evident from the nomenclature of cruisers of this class. Wei Qing and Huo Quzhi, two famous generals, were both known for their bold long-distance attacks and fierce attacks deep into the hinterland of the Xiongnu. This is exactly what this ocean-going assault ship is capable of fighting. "Wei Qinghao" and "Go to Sick" took these two names, but they were not taken in vain.

What Xiong Dingming means is that although submarines are cheap to build, they also have serious shortcomings, that is, they have slow speed, narrow field of vision, poor seaworthiness, single weapons, and their hulls are so fragile that they hardly have the ability to resist attacks, and they have no self-defense capability in the face of enemy ships and aircraft...... Although it is safe and risky to use submarines to strike the lines of communication, the results are very slow, and it is necessary to be prepared for a protracted war.

And cruisers do not have these shortcomings. Cruisers are fast, have a wide field of view, and seaplanes can search the sea surface with greater efficiency. The submarine may not be able to find the enemy convoy for half a month, and the cruiser will find it in a few days. And "finding the fleet" is only the first challenge for submarines. The second challenge was to sink the ship. Faced with a convoy escorted by destroyers, the submarine can only play with its life. But cruisers are different, once the merchant fleet is discovered, then the other side is basically left to slaughter. It can easily take out several destroyers and then beat the cargo ship. If it doesn't want to be hurt, it can also bombard the destroyer calmly from outside the range of the destroyer, knocking one cargo ship after another to the bottom of the sea, while the escort destroyer can only watch dryly......

Of course, the enemy can also equip the merchant fleet with a higher standard of escort, for example, with cruisers. But in this case, the cost of maintaining the transport lines of the enemy country is ridiculously high. There are only a dozen Japanese heavy cruisers in total, how many can be taken out to escort them? If it was really because there was such a Ming cruiser circling around the western Pacific, Japan had to draw out a few cruisers to escort it, then the Weiqing would have played a role several times as much, and this trip would definitely be worth it.

Xiang Xiaoqiang listened, pondered for a while, and felt that what Xiong Dingming said made sense. After all, this old man is also an old navy, except for being forward-looking and not as good as Xiang Xiaoqiang, other professional aspects must be N times better than Xiang Xiaoqiang. Xiang Xiaoqiang knows that he also has a bit of a "submarine warfare complex". Nothing can be absolute. It cannot be said that because the submarine blockade is right, then the combination of a surface ship blockade is wrong.

In mid-to-late December, in the vast Ming army-occupied areas, a pre-holiday atmosphere began to permeate. The holiday, of course, is Christmas, a long-lost Christmas under Soviet rule. Orthodox churches in some villages and towns, large and small, were either demolished or used for other purposes, and now they are all restored. Many of the old White Russians who were over the age of sixtieth century, who were formerly devout Orthodox Christians, were branded as "religious fanatics" during the Soviet period, and were persecuted: they were put on display in public, forced to re-education through labor, reviewed over and over again against their will, forced to spit on the icons and even urinate...... Too many people either commit suicide or are tossed to death because they can't stand the mental torture and ** torture. There were also many particularly religious people, who would rather be martyrs than betray religion, and were put to death.

Now, these old people look at these yellow-skinned and black-haired alien occupation troops, and at the churches and parish organizations that have been restored with some occupation troops on their backs, and their hearts are full of thoughts and mixed emotions. But when the long-lost church bells rang over the town, when the long-lost Mass hymns echoed in the church, the old people wept. With tears in their eyes, they wept bitterly, and they fell down before the image of the Virgin, and they prayed and repented over and over again, asking the Lord to forgive them for all these years of not being able to pray, to pray publicly, to wear the cross......

The power of religion is immense. At this moment, for many devout White Russians, in the presence of the Lord, it doesn't matter who is the invading army and who is Ben**. Man has eyes. Although the current Ming army is an invading army, it is completely different from the devilish beast soldiers propagandized by the country. Not only did they not commit any atrocities, but they also treated the common people very well, giving them houses, land, and livestock, not stealing food, allowing everyone to leave the fruits of their labor, allowing them to buy and sell freely, and allowing everyone to talk and listen to the radio at will...... More importantly, everyone is allowed to be religious.

On December 24, the "Provisional Government of Free Russia" was officially established in Khabarovsk. Kerensky was the head of government, and Denikin was the commander-in-chief of the army. That night, to the sound of Christmas Eve hymns, the whole government team attended the Grand Mass.