Chapter 125: The Pursuit of the Southern Indian Ocean (Medium)

Southern Indian Ocean, May 1947

The so-called Southern Indian Ocean refers to a large area of sea south of the equator in the Indian Ocean, from Mozambique and Madagascar in the west, to Australia in the east, to the Maldives in the north, and to Antarctica in the south. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info This is the deepest and most inhospitable water on the earth, with harsh natural conditions, frequent hurricanes and bad waves, unpredictable ocean currents, and dense submarine volcanoes, there are not many islands that can be used as relay stations, and there are very few airports and ports available around, so it is difficult to find a docking point. What's more, with unpredictable currents and volcanoes, even experienced captains often avoid the area. As a result, the southern Indian Ocean has been invisibly shrouded in a veil of mystery and has become the most inhospitable water area on Earth, known as the "alien ocean on Earth".

However, since the last few months of last year, the world's most inhospitable waters have gradually become a little more lively. Because as the red wave swept through the countries of East and Southeast Asia, millions of "exploiting classes" from various countries were forced to board ships and go to sea, embarking on a long road of escape.

Because the Pacific Ocean has become the arena of naval and air warfare between the United States and Japan, and the eastward route across the Pacific has been blocked, their refugee ships have to go west, past Singapore and the Strait of Malacca, and then across the Indian Ocean to join the "free world" – in the past, cruise ships carrying passengers from all over the world would have traveled as far as possible along the near-sea routes close to the Indian Peninsula. But to this day, the Indian civil war is still in full swing, and the Middle East has become one of the main battlefields of World War III. If foreign cruise ships and merchant ships rush to the past, they are likely to be forcibly requisitioned by the warring parties.

Therefore, in the past year, most of the refugee ships heading west through the Strait of Malacca from East and Southeast Asia do not dare to take the coastal route of the Indian Peninsula and the Arabian coast, but take the ocean-going route across the southern Indian Ocean to South Africa or the island of Madagascar...... The Japanese submarine force, based in Western Australia, also took the opportunity to launch a large-scale hunt in the southern Indian Ocean, and by the way, it fought wits and courage with the escort destroyers of the United States and Britain and staged various fighting scenes between hunters and prey.

However, with the fall of Singapore changing hands, the strange uproar caused by the war in the southern Indian Ocean has also entered the final battle royale phase.

-- Immediately behind the British fugitive fleet that rushed out of Singapore, several capital ships of the Japanese Navy's Combined Fleet also entered the Indian Ocean......

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In the sunny and calm waters of South China, on board the majestic ship "Ocean Oasis" with a displacement of 300,000 tons, Chief of Staff Shen Chongde, who is in charge of the Indian Ocean operation, is using radio control to direct various ships in the Indian Ocean to hunt down the British fleet that has escaped from Singapore.

“…… This looks ...... It seems that there are targets everywhere! But which one should be hit first? ”

Looking at the satellite photos and aerial reconnaissance intelligence, the enemy ships and ships in the southern Indian Ocean that were scurrying around like pepper noodles and had not formed any formation at all, Chief of Staff Shen Chongde couldn't help but feel a little stunned for a while.

-- Commander of the Royal Navy's Eastern Fleet, Bruce Murphy, the prey being pursued. Austin. His Excellency Admiral Fraser knew very well that the only combat ships he could really fight at hand were the destroyer Vixen, in addition to the flagship Prestige, and the rest were supply ships, hospital ships, cruise ships, merchant ships, oil tankers, yachts, maintenance ships, minelayers, and even tugboats, sailboats, and ferries, all in a super hodgepodge. If they were forcibly organized into a group, not only would they not have the minimum firepower for self-defense, but they would also be slowed down to less than six knots...... Moreover, the sailors who operate these ships are also newcomers of questionable quality, and if they form a super-large formation at sea, various collision accidents are likely to occur.

If the Japanese warships or planes catch up, such a bloated and chaotic group of ships will simply be a fat prey that will fall as soon as they poke their heads.

Therefore, Admiral Fraser did not have any delusional intention to escort everyone to escape, and from the very beginning, he had the idea of trying his luck by finding a way to escape, and a few ships could escape - as soon as he sailed out of the Strait of Malacca and entered the waters of the Bay of Bengal, the flagship battlecruiser Prestige gave the signal of "disband the formation and flee separately", and then rushed at full speed towards South Africa, leaving even the destroyer Vixen behind.

As a result, the already chaotic Singapore fugitive fleet was scattered in an instant - regardless of the speed and choice of route, and even the destination of each ship was very different, it was simply the opposite of each other: some went to Calcutta, some went to Ceylon (too little coal or oil to sail too far), some went to Oman or Yemen, some went to Somalia, some went to Zanzibar, and some went to Madagascar. There is also no one on the whole ship who will use a sextant and get lost directly at sea......

And in the face of such an enemy who scattered at every turn, the rookie version of the Japanese naval fleet that followed them after them was also a little confused.

-- The warships that the Japanese Navy's Combined Fleet engaged in this pursuit battle in the southern Indian Ocean were indeed good capital ships and cutting-edge ships, and even included four Yamato-class battleships. But the question is, the sailors who operate these ships...... It's basically a group of inexperienced rookie girls.。

After losing more than a third of the population, Japan's labor shortage has reached the point of total collapse, and it has to continue the war, so it has no choice but to recruit female soldiers on a large scale, whether it is the navy or the army.

Among them, in order to prevent a short board from affecting the overall combat effectiveness of the entire Grand Fleet, the Navy directly organized the ships served by female sailors into a special fleet, that is, the so-called "Great Japanese Women's Fleet" flying the "blue mermaid" military flag -- although the military flag is beautiful, its combat effectiveness is miserable.

In the past, this "women's fleet" was mainly responsible for some simple tasks such as shore bombardment and merchant ship escort, except for sinking a few American and British submarines, there were few records before and after, and the accident rate, lost navigation rate, and battle sinking rate were terrifyingly high...... But in any case, after more than a year of service, these "daughters of the sea" have finally trained a little decently, and then it is time for them to try to actually fight a few naval battles.

Of course, if these women's troops are allowed to go straight to Hawaii and fight the US Pacific Fleet head-on, I am afraid that the chances of never returning will be quite high. So in order to train them to fight monsters, he promulgated this "kill the dog" mission to enter the Indian Ocean to pursue the British fleeing fleet - in fact, if the whole operation had been carried out in full accordance with the plan drawn up by the chief of staff of Kamishito, this pursuit battle in the southern Indian Ocean should not have happened at all: he originally divided the "women's fleet" into two, including the main fleet of four Yamato-class battleships, and entered the east side of the Strait of Malacca from the front of the Java Sea, and slowly advanced to Singapore; Another special force, mainly cruisers and aircraft carriers, attacked several days in advance, entered the Indian Ocean through the Sunda Strait between Sumatra and Java, circled from the south to the east side of the Strait of Malacca, and then blocked the strait from the east and west, advanced against each other, and attacked Singapore in an urn against the British ships stationed at the Singapore fortress, in order to completely annihilate the opponent's living forces.

However, the plan was always too slow to change - due to the inexperience of the sailors in the ocean, the Einsatzgruppen in charge of the roundabout voyage had a lot of accidents along the way, and the action was too slow to block the western exit of the Strait of Malacca before the Royal Navy's Eastern Fleet fled. Then there was a storm in the southwest waters of Sumatra, and all three aircraft carriers were severely damaged, and the flight decks collapsed...... Now that the port of Banda Aceh at the northern tip of Sumatra Island is being put at anchor to rest and wait for standby, and at the same time negotiate with the ruling chieftain, it is impossible to go to war in a short time.

As a result, with the complete paralysis of the aircraft carrier rangers, the "two-sided attack" in the battle plan became "tailgating and hunting", and the prey also escaped separately in a prescient manner...... With the skills of these rookie girls and sailors, it's hard to say whether they can catch up!

If there are some aground on the reef halfway, or a miscarriage or something like that, the scene will be even more ugly.

However, if we watched the British fleet, which had almost no armed forces, flee from Singapore in this way, and in order to avoid accidents, I had a large number of elite ships, but I ordered to stay put, and indulged the enemy, who had become a dead dog, to turn over and flee calmly...... Then the next thing is not only the ugly scene, but that he, the supreme commander, is as timid as a mouse, and even suspected of collaborating with the enemy!

Rather than that, it's better to let the women on the front line drive the ship and play freely! The elite soldiers and strong generals in this world who can really fight are all tempered from blood and fire, if they can't even do such a thing as chasing a refugee ship, will these women still have the face to continue to eat the luxurious rations of the navy?

As for the possible sinking of several ships...... This can only be regarded as necessary tuition. Anyway, there are more ships than people in the country at the moment......

“…… Alas, there is really no way, just think of it as a military training! Anyway, the British don't have a few ships left in the Indian Ocean. ”

While muttering so self-defeatingly, the chief of staff of Shen Chongde picked up his brush and wrote down the order that "all ships should disperse and pursue, and start a single ship or small detachment to break the engagement in the southern Indian Ocean, and pay attention to their own safety", and radioed all the combat ships on the front line...... (To be continued.) )