Episode 42 Battle of Java

At eleven o'clock in the morning, about 40 nautical miles northwest of the port of Surabaya in the Java Sea.

This morning was covered with dark clouds, gray between the sea and the sky, and the wind was blowing five or six on the sea, and the gray water rose and fell as if to indicate that a storm was coming.

The Royal Netherlands Navy's Surabaya and Batavia are cruising westward at 22 knots, with the destination being the western section of Batavia Island, off the coast of Batavia, to provide protection for Batavia that could be attacked. The two light cruisers of the same class were marching side by side in battle formation, and the observers on the bridge wore life jackets, steel helmets, and telescopes, and their feet were undulating, while closely observing in eight directions.

They were warned that the Ming battle cruiser detachment had now entered the Java Sea and could encounter it at any time. According to the report, the flagship of this detachment was the "Gonggong" battle cruiser with a full load displacement of 31,024 tons and eight 305-mm guns, and the "Le Yi" and "Wuqi" light cruisers accompanying it, each with a displacement of more than 6,000 tons, each with eight 155-mm guns. In addition, there are four destroyers.

The Batavia and the Surabaya, on the other hand, are only as tonnage as the two light cruisers of the other side, and the main guns are only equipped with 10 150 mm each, which is two more than the light cruisers of the other side. The absolute disadvantage is self-evident.

The fleet commander of the flagship Batavia had already made up his mind that once he encountered the Ming fleet, after casting a round of torpedoes and firing a salvo, he would immediately rely on his speed advantage to get out of the battle and never entangle. The Gonggong had a maximum speed of only 29 knots, and the two light cruisers had only 30 knots, while the Batavia and Surabaya had a maximum speed of 31 knots, and if they were not too close, they could barely get rid of each other. Although the destroyers of the opposing side were faster, the four destroyers would never dare to chase the two light cruisers.

……

The captain of the Batavia and the commander of the fleet stood in the command room, holding a telescope and looking out at the gray sky on the eve of the storm. I looked to the left, and then to the right, and the more I looked, the more I felt breathless. Gradually, a creepy feeling rose from the back.

The sky is overcast, the sea is relatively rough, and the visibility is not high. He always had the feeling that the enemy's huge battlecruiser would appear in front of him from under some gray cloud.

"Put a reconnaissance plane."

He turned his head and commanded.

"But, sir," said the first mate, looking at the grey undulating sea outside, with a grim expression, "it is too dangerous for a seaplane to take off in these conditions!" ”

"I know, I know......" The captain waved his hand irritably, glanced around with the binoculars again, and ordered again, "Put the reconnaissance plane." ”

The first mate had no choice but to obey, repeating:

"Yes, sir! Put a reconnaissance plane! ”

Javanese-class light cruisers, each equipped with two water reconnaissance aircraft. Two or three seaplanes, which was also the common armament of cruisers and battleships in general.

The crane in the rear of the ship "clicked" and the sailors were fixing a seaplane, ready to be put down.

Suddenly, an observer on the bridge shouted:

"The target - the plane! Bearing 330! Distance - 4000 meters! ”

All the binoculars looked in that direction, and all the anti-aircraft guns in the forward part of the starboard side also turned, aiming in that direction.

In the distance in the sky in front of the right, there is a small black dot, which is not high and not fast, not far from the sea, and is slowly getting bigger.

It was a water reconnaissance aircraft.

Several observers held up their binoculars and made sure it was not the style of a seaplane in their country.

The captain thought it was likely to be Ming's. If it was from the Ming Kingdom, then it should have come from that battle cruiser detachment.

And this kind of carrier-based reconnaissance aircraft is generally not too far from the mothership, and once the opponent's seaplane is discovered, it means that the opponent's fleet is nearby.

The entire ship of the Batavia immediately sounded a sharp battle alarm and began to speed up, and a long white mark suddenly appeared behind the stern. The signal lights on the ship flashed incessantly, and soon, the entire ship of the Surabaya sounded the battle alarm.

The black dot is getting bigger and bigger, and the outline can be clearly seen without a telescope, and a "buzzing" sound begins to sound in the sky. The seaplane flew quickly past dozens of meters above the head of the Batavia, and the people on the bridge looked up their necks, the blue dragon pattern under the wings was clearly visible, and the flash of the camera flashed everyone.

The first mate asked the captain, "Sir, should we take it down?" ”

The captain grabbed the binoculars on his chest and hesitated:

"We ...... We have not officially declared war yet. We cannot afford to be the first to provoke a war. ”

The first mate said urgently: "Sir, what if we encounter the enemy's battle cruiser?" Also waiting for them to fire at us first? ”

The first mate's words obviously moved the captain. If the two Dutch light cruisers encountered the battle cruisers of the Ming Dynasty, the only hope of survival was to fire a volley of torpedoes first, then a salvo, and then run away. If you wait for the other party to fire first, it is tantamount to giving your life to God. Just one 304-mm shell would be fatal to the light cruiser of more than 6,000 tons.

Beads of sweat rolled down the captain's head and ordered: "Okay, let's knock it down." Let's fire. ”

The water reconnaissance plane of the Ming army was slow, and it had not yet flown far at this time, and it swept past the Batavia, and was flying towards the Surabaya at the moment, trying to take a picture of it, when suddenly the whole body of the two light cruisers erupted with tongues of fire, and the large and small caliber guns opened fire together, and the sea area was roaring, and the surroundings of the reconnaissance plane were quickly covered with black clouds.

In the open cockpit of the seaplane, three members of the Ming military crew wore goggles and scarves, and black explosive smoke swept around them, and shrapnel clanged on the wings and fuselage. The machine gunner at the back suddenly lay on his back in his seat and did not move, with a piece of shrapnel stuck in his forehead and a face covered in blood. The observer was huddled in the cockpit, the pilot jerked the joystick, and the bulky seaplane slowly leaned over the fuselage, trying to dodge and get out of the airspace.

But it was too late, and a large explosion was in front of the nose of the nose, and flames erupted from the nose engine, and the pilot's chest and hands were full of fire. He screamed and pounced on himself, shouting:

"Skydive! Skydive! ”

The observer was about to crawl out when the plane exploded in the air, engulfing all three in the fireball.

"All ceasefire. …… Sent a report to China: The Batavia detachment shot down a Ming reconnaissance plane 15 nautical miles southwest of Bavean Island. ”

After the captain of the Batavia gave the order, he looked up at the wreckage of the plane that was still dragging black smoke in the air, and the light smoke rising from the sea. The surrounding sea became silent again.

"All right," he muttered, turning pale, "the war has begun." ”

……

Ten nautical miles to the northwest, the battleship detachment of the Ming Dynasty was marching southeast in a circular formation, dragging seven white marks.

The battle cruiser Gonggong was in the center, the light cruisers Le Yi and Wu Qi were in front of and behind it, and the four destroyers were on the outskirts of the fleet, holding down the four corners.

In the bridge command room of the seven warships, the fleet commanders and captains had just heard a radio voice ten nautical miles away.

In the bridge command room of the Gonggong, the mapping staff officers were marking the approximate location of the encounter on the chart table.

The commander of the detachment watched coldly beside him with his arms crossed, and suddenly ordered:

"The whole fleet turned to the southwest, with a new course of 240 and a speed of 25 knots. We're going to get ahead of them and get in a good position. They're fast, and we're going to hit them in the head. ”

"Yes, the whole fleet is turning, the new course is 240, and the speed is 25 knots!"

Then the commander of the detachment said to the captain:

"Send a report to the command: a water reconnaissance plane of our army was shot down by a Dutch warship. The Dutch army first began the act of war, and if we encountered a Dutch warship, we would return fire. ”

The telegram was sent quickly.

Ten minutes later, the Nanjing Ming government announced to reporters: Ten minutes earlier, the Dutch Navy had first started a war operation and shot down a Ming reconnaissance plane in the Java Sea.

Almost at the same time, the Dutch Government also announced to the press: Ten minutes ago, an armed reconnaissance plane of the Ming Army had intruded into the airspace over the Dutch East Indies, repeatedly photographed and provoked the Dutch warship, and was shot down by the Royal Dutch Navy fleet.

……

In Batavia, the clouds were low and sweltering, thunder was rolling in the distance, and the air was damp and dripping. Xiang Xiaoqiang was sitting in front of the electric fan combing the last few telegrams, and Qiu Yu, who was sitting next to the radio station and wearing headphones, suddenly grabbed a pen and paper and quickly wrote something. Xiang Xiaoqiang sat up straight, looked at her serious expression, and knew that the most important news must have come.

Xiuxiu put down the pen, tore off the telegram paper with a sigh, and did not translate, but handed it directly to Xiang Xiaoqiang.

"Clear?" Xiang Xiaoqiang was a little strange.

"Mingma," Qiu Yu's face turned a little pale, "to be exact, it's electrified." ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang looked down, suddenly put down the telephony paper, and said, "Qiuqiu, hurry up and let them pack all the documents, and you can also pack up your things." Let's go right away. ”

Qiu Yu immediately ran out of the room, and the entire corridor knocked on the door one by one and called people. After a while, the entire corridor was filled with footsteps, and everyone in Xiaoqiang's delegation moved.

"Autumn Stream!" Xiang Xiaoqiang stretched his head into the corridor and shouted, "Let Mr. Song call the German consulate!" Say we'll be there soon! ”

A guard ran up from downstairs and said breathlessly:

"My lord, the car from the German consulate has arrived downstairs to pick us up!"

"Good!" Xiang Xiaoqiang was overjoyed in his heart, and his hanging heart suddenly let go, "It's really interesting!" That's what you call being able to do things! ”

The group packed up their things and gathered in the corridor on the second floor of the hotel, ready to go down. At this moment, there was a sound of footsteps on the stairs, and several people with large-brimmed hats came up.

Xiang Xiaoqiang took two steps back, Qiu Yu's face turned pale, and he was the first to be in front of him.

Four Europeans came up, dressed in officer uniforms, and looked like gendarmes. The military police major led by him stepped forward and said something coldly to Xiang Xiaoqiang. A gendarmerie officer next to him translated:

"Your Excellency Xiang Xiaoqiang, in view of the fact that our two countries are already in a state of war, we have to temporarily place protective detention on you and your delegation. Please come with us, the car is right down there. ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang and the others suddenly changed color on their faces and looked at each other.

Then there was another sound of footsteps in the staircase, and three more people came up in the hallway.

The leader was a tall, lanky man, in his fifties, dressed in a diplomat's black gown, with monocles reflected in his eye sockets. Two blonde-haired German officers, wearing armbands, were lined up on both sides.

The tall and thin old man in the middle didn't even breathe, so he bowed slightly to Xiao Qiang, and then turned around and said to the military police major in Dutch:

"Mr. Major, I am the Consul of the Third Reich in Batavia, Laurenz von Nurenberg, the first military attaché and the second military attaché of our Wehrmacht in Batavia."

Two German officers wearing Nazi armbands "clicked" their leather shoes and bowed slightly. The Dutch gendarmerie major subconsciously took a half step back, squinted at them, and then at Xiang Xiaoqiang, and began to be vigilant.

Consul Nuremberg then asked:

"Mr. and Mrs. Xiang Xiaoqiang are my friends and my guests, and they are about to come to me at my invitation, why do you want to arrest him?"

The military police major said in a loud voice:

"Mr. Consul! This is Batavia, a Dutch territory! You have no right to ask who we arrest and who we don't arrest in our own territory! Besides, we are not arresting, but temporary protection, and we will deport them at the right time! Get out of the way! ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang saw that it was the time, and he didn't stop doing anything, and glanced at his four guards.

A second later, the four gendarmerie officers found that each of them had a box gun on their chests.

The German consul and military attache were also shocked, they received a domestic order to take the Ming delegation to the consulate for protection, originally they didn't have hope for this posture, but they didn't expect this Ming Qincha to be so strong.

Xiang Xiaoqiang confiscated their guns and had them locked up in a room. Then the group went downstairs with their luggage and radio station, and three German diplomats.

The Dutch gendarmes on the next shift downstairs were in the truck, waiting for their commander to bring people out. As soon as the chiefs entered, two German ** officers immediately ran out of the three cars on the side of the road, and one in a dress also followed upstairs. Now, I only saw a few Chinese people following the three people out and getting into three cars, which still had diplomatic license plates.

It was only when the three cars had driven away that the commander had not yet come down that the gendarmes in the truck realized that they should go up and have a look.

By the time they let their chief out of the room, it was too late. Three cars with diplomatic license plates had already sped away and could not catch up.

In the German consulate, Xiang Xiaoqiang gratefully hugged Consul Nuremberg, and then hugged the two Nazi officers wearing armbands, and said the only words of thanks in German that he could speak:

"Dangke! When grams! Very Dangke! ”

Consul Nuremberg and the two military attachés were also red-faced, and obviously elated. They have fulfilled important tasks assigned by the government. As diplomats, they knew that this was a powerful boost to the relationship between Germany and the Ming Dynasty.

The consul's wife also came out to welcome Qiu and hugged her cordially.

The members of Xiang Xiaoqiang's delegation recalled the thrilling scene just now, and they were all happy. Song Ruhai smiled and translated the consul's words:

“…… You can make this your home, where your life, your freedom, your activities, are all secured. Lord Chincha can do as he pleases and control the situation outside. I am proud to say that in Batavia, apart from the Governor's Palace, the German Consulate is the safest place to be......"

Yes, Germany is on the border of the Netherlands, the two countries border, and it is n times stronger than it, especially since it has recently begun to be less British and French. If the Netherlands still dares to call the Ming Dynasty, it will never dare to call Germany to the board.

Living here, even if the fight is raging outside, your life and freedom of movement can be fully guaranteed, and you can continue to stay at the center of the incident and grasp everything.

……

The observer of the Batavia bridge shouted:

"Targets ahead - warships! Orientation - 270! Distance - 10,000 meters! …… Another warship! Bearing ......"

The captain saw in the telescope that several pale gray figures appeared in the gray blur of the sea and sky in the distance. The one in the middle is the largest, with only one chimney, and the silhouette is not a cruiser at first glance. A slightly smaller figure in the front and rear, with two chimneys each.

Soon, two smaller figures loomed, presumably destroyers.

At present, there are five warships. If it was a detachment of Ming battle cruisers, there should be seven. But it doesn't matter, there should be two destroyers further away, blocked by the ships at the closer.

These warships were all dragging long black smoke, and several smoke bands were moving in different directions, and it was obvious that they had spotted their two ships, and they were rapidly changing positions.

They stopped directly in front of the two Dutch light cruisers, formed a horizontal position, headed 180 directions due south, and in a short time rearranged the formation, which was pulled apart from the original circular central formation, and formed a single formation, in which all the guns on the side of each warship could be aimed in this direction.

The captain of the Batavia was also giving the order to turn, because there were only two ships, so they quickly turned at the same time, and changed from the original parallel line to a line formation, and was also heading due south of 180, in the same direction and side by side with the Ming fleet in the distance. All the guns on the sides of the two light cruisers, as well as the torpedo pads, were also aimed at the Ming fleet in the distance.

Thunder rolled in the sky, and dark clouds surged. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning struck, and the sky and the sea were bright, followed by raindrops the size of beans on the water. The sea was rising more and more, and the gray waves were falling one after another, and the rain was pouring down.

As the heavy rain permeated the sky and the sea, the visibility suddenly deteriorated, and the Ming fleet in the distance seemed to be about to disappear in the rain curtain, and at this moment, a bright spot flashed on the blurred outline of the Ming fleet.

"The enemy ship fired a salvo !!"

The Batavia observer shouted nervously, pale fingers gripping the telescope as the cold rain ran down his head and face.

The captain immediately ordered:

"Order the Surabaya, prepare a salvo!"

The communications staff officer immediately radioed the order to the friendly ship. Then shouted to the captain:

"Sir, you're ready!"

"Put!!"

There was a dense loud bang, the bridge shook, and the main guns of the two light cruisers fired a salvo.

At this moment, the air in the sky hissed, as if countless behemoths were rushing towards him. The first salvo of the Ming fleet arrived.

The officers in the command room all subconsciously raised their heads and looked up in horror.