March 3, 1916, Sydney.

Walking on the docks, Claxton sighed.

With a total area of 55 square kilometers and a large bay, Port Jackson is a rare natural harbor in the South Pacific.

It's just that the cruise ships and cargo ships that used to fill the harbor were squeezed into the corner by warships, and the heavy shore gun positions, anti-aircraft gun positions and anti-aircraft machine guns scattered all over the bay turned this beautiful bay into a military fortress, reminding everyone that Australia is no longer a paradise, and war is approaching step by step.

In the past six months, Xinhua has sent 500,000 troops to Northwest Australia, and the total number of troops surrounding Australia is also so much, and the Australian Entente army has also reached 2.3 million, including 550,000 in the United States, 150,000 in Britain (most of them are colonial troops such as India and South Africa), 1.3 million in Australia's local army, and 300,000 in New Zealand (after Britain started the war, almost no Australian and New Zealand soldiers were transferred, so the number was sufficient).

In addition, Britain and the United States are well aware that Australia is the front line to contain Xinhua, so they have also done their best in equipment, even when the 31 fleet made a big fuss in the Atlantic, the fleet that came to Australia still did not stop, after half a year of nearly 5,000 merchant ships, at present, the main island of Australia alone already has 370 tanks, 2,500 cannons, 7,500 machine guns of various types, and the aircraft have also been assembled locally through direct transportation of parts, with 1,700 army types and 300 Navy Short 184 and other models. In addition, the reserves of various types of ammunition and materials are also very sufficient, and it already has the ability to resist the Xinhua Imperial Army and form a stalemate.

The temporary security of the land is becoming more and more powerless at sea.

It's okay to lose the Gilbert Islands, and it's okay to lose the Lane Islands, but along the Solomon Islands, the New Hebrides (Vanuatu), Noumea, Palau, and Samoa, this defensive line is the gateway to Australia, and it must not be lost, so this line has strengthened the deployment of 300,000 troops to guard, as the Xinhua army begins to approach step by step, the battle for the islands is about to break out.

Not far away, there are the two remaining new battleships in the US Pacific, the USS Delaware and the USS North Dakota, and although they are accompanied by two old battleships, the USS Illinois and the USS Alabama, and 11 cruisers including the Tennessee-class, the Omaha-class and the St. Louis class, these steel behemoths cannot bring any confidence to the soldiers who go with him.

The sailors crowded the deck, smoking cigarettes or muttering quietly, talking about the great events that had happened recently, but there were always a few sad sighs with a deep sense of depression.

Since the declaration of war on 22 May last year, the United States has unwittingly become one of the countries most injured in this war, France has become the most injured country because of its borders with Germany and the occupation of Paris, Russia has been surrounded by millions of troops because of Xinhua's seizure of the Tomsk fortress last winter, and the United States is the country with the most serious naval damage.

And, there is no one!

Since the beginning of the war, the United States has lost a total of 20 capital ships, including new-style battleships and heavy cruisers, plus 8 old-style battleships and more than 30 other cruisers and destroyers.

More seriously, the situation began to deteriorate significantly.

The South African fleet collapsed and sank, and the US Pacific Fleet, which was considered to be powerful, was destroyed in one afternoon, and the Indian Grand Fleet was again pinned down to the west of the Andaman Islands, threatened by the two fleets of Xinhua, and with the accession of Ecuador and Peru to the alliance, Xinhua's tentacles could already extend to the southeast Pacific Ocean, and if it were not for Chile still remaining neutral, if it were not for South Africa still in control, Australia could already declare that it was strategically encircled.

What makes everyone's hearts palpitate is that it has only been half a year since Xinhua declared war, and they have relied on their equipment superiority to establish a victory in the Pacific Ocean in one fell swoop, and at this moment he knows better than those ordinary sailors that the United States has little chance to turn the tables around.

Because the opponent is just too terrible.

When Li Mo built one battleship after another, deliberately instigating the United States to move the whole world to the road of thicker artillery, thicker armor, and building a large number of expensive capital ships, he himself found another way to study aircraft, and pushed the aircraft to the current height in just ten years, and also built a new aircraft carrier, and supported it as the core of naval warfare, which can show that this person began to calculate the world a long time ago!

The United States has a super industrial capacity, but it can't make up for such a huge loss, and what is more serious is that the United States is too far behind in technology, and when the battleship technology is finally closer, the opponent plays with metal planes, and the gap not only does not narrow but expands sharply!

Now, unless strong support is obtained, the Entente Southwest Fleet stationed in Australia will grow old in the constant battle for islands by opposing Marines to the south, but is there still support?

Claxton looked at the battleship behind Delaware, and the only one who could save the United States at the moment was the British!

It's ridiculous, but it's true.

Although Britain has lost a large number of warships since the start of the war, strictly speaking, there are only five first-generation battlecruisers and the most recent Agamemnon, and the others are old battleships, which will not damage the core strength of the British Navy.

Although Britain sent 4 and 8 capital battleships to the Southwest Fleet and the Indian Fleet respectively, and the battle cruiser Australia will also return today, its domestic territory, including the Achilles, the fourth Tiger-class ship that has just been launched, still has a total of 27 new capital ships, and its vitality is basically unharmed.

However, Britain also had troubles, and Germany on the other side of the North Sea also gathered 23 battleships and battle cruisers, so when Germany could be solved and the home fleet was freed has become the key to determining the life and death of the Entente at sea.

Once Britain can free up its hands, even half of it, plus the five new Normandy-class battleships of France, which can be delivered by March next year, funded by Britain and the United States, as well as Italy, Spain and other countries, there is no problem in making together 30 capital ships.

But no one knows when Germany will be solved!

Just when Claxton had a headache, a loud whistle interrupted his thoughts, and when he looked up, he saw a large fleet of ships slowly sailing into the harbor, the battlecruiser Australia, which had been stationed here and was once again sent by the British to support, took the lead, in addition to it, there were also 5 new Bristol-class light cruisers built by the British after the war also slowly sailed into the harbor, and finally a fleet of up to 41 ocean-going freighters and 30 British and American destroyers towed by them along the way.

Of course, in the end, there are two British motherships Bergasus and Campania that have just completed the second transformation, but unlike the all-access type used by Xinhua, these two decks are only two-thirds the length of the whole ship, and they have to pass through the bow for both take-off and landing, and they are carrying Camel F2 naval fighters that have just completed test flights and are hastily equipped.

Such a large fleet made the sailors who were hit by continuous bad news excited, especially the arrival of the two motherships, at least so that the fleet had a long-range reconnaissance force, and there was no need to fight back against the Xinhua planes in the sky.

However, everyone was only excited for a while, because everyone knew that the situation was still difficult, although I heard that the Camel F2 with a new 230 horsepower engine was much stronger, and it could be hung on a 14-inch 350 kg torpedo for the first time, but it was not as good as the legendary Xinhua aircraft made of metal, but it was a special strengthened air defense capability of 5 Bristol-class light cruisers and 30 destroyers with a minimum speed of 28 knots, because all of them used new steam turbines to propulse, It became the core force of the fleet to increase its speed.

Whether it is Commander Claxton, who has just lost his mother fleet and is immersed in grief, or Deputy Commander Seymour, who is well aware of Xinhua's strength, or French Chief of Staff Bernice, who is absent-minded, they all know very well that this will be the last batch of aid ships to arrive in Australia, and the Southwest Fleet will not be replenished with warships for a long time to come.

As cargo ships began to dock, soldiers were busy, from tanks to artillery, from machine guns to bullets, boxes of cargo were constantly unloaded, these things were especially important for the Australian Army, which was in dire need of more heavy equipment, and for the Grand Fleet, the five 30,000-ton freighters full of rapid-fire guns and anti-aircraft machine guns were the key, which could keep the old warships that were seriously lacking in air defense from being beaten passively and make the harbor safer.

Seymour and Vice Admiral Bernice also came to the port area by car, but after the former read the list, he frowned sharply and greeted the captain of the Australian who walked down the gangway: "John, those two, where are they?" ”

At this time, Claxton and Bernice also found that there seemed to be two very important big guys missing from the battleships that came to support. Or did it encounter the Xinhua fleet?!

"Lieutenant General, please rest assured, they have been dragging behind, and they should have arrived in Lord Howe Islands by now." Captain John glanced around and lowered his voice: "The plan is assigned by the Admiralty, and they can't ensure the presence of spies in Sydney Harbour. ”

Hearing this, the three of them finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Wall (Claxton)."

After Chief of Staff Bernice left to arrange for speeding up the conversion of the old warship with anti-aircraft guns and machine guns, Seymour suddenly grabbed Claxton and handed him a telegram: "This is the telegram we have just received, asking us to carry out an attack as soon as possible to divert the attention of the Chinese fleet from Panama Bay, so that your four capital ships can pass through the bay." ”

It turned out that the USS New York, the USS Texas, the USS Indiana and the USS Chilshaji, which urgently set sail from Scapa Bay, arrived in the Gulf of Mexico with four Omaha-class light cruisers, and after joining the last four Brooklyn-class light cruisers and the three old armored cruisers of West Virginia, California, and Colorado, they could not successfully cross the canal to the San Diego base because the new South American fleet blocked the door.

Therefore, after discussing with Britain and the United States, they are ready to arrange an attack on the Southwest Fleet to force the newly formed South American Fleet to reclaim and temporarily open the Gulf of Panama, so that these warships can go to San Diego and temporarily relieve the pressure on the west coast of the United States.

There are no problems with the battle plan, and it is more urgent to let the Atlantic Fleet enter the Pacific Ocean Claxton than anyone, but how to carry out the operation? Will it attack the Marines of the Xinhua Empire near the Gilbert Islands, or will it go to the coast of Peru to harass?

What's more, Xinhua has control of the sky, whether it is a destroyer or a capital ship, it has an absolute speed advantage, and in this case, launching an attack is no different from taking a fire from the fire.

You must know that it is impossible for the Southwest Fleet stationed in Australia to obtain external warship replenishment, and even if it does, it will need to wait until the US Pacific Fleet recovers, so even a small torpedo boat is extremely critical and cannot be easily lost.

Once exposed during the attack, or dragged by the fast Xinhua warship, then the problem can be big!

"Wall, Vice Admiral Andrew is the best fleet commander I have ever met, he is well aware of his disadvantages, just because you are not with him, otherwise I believe that Panama Bay would be a different situation!" Seymour sniffed and looked up at the setting sun.

This action reminded Claxton that Lieutenant General Andrew was also the officer he admired the most, not only because his personal relationship with Andrew was like a brother, but also because if it weren't for Mayo's clumsy performance, the plan to use the darkness to counteract the opponent's air superiority might have succeeded.

These days, he, Seymour and others have been studying the process of the naval battle in the Gulf of Panama, and from the deduction, if Mayo had faithfully carried out the plan to lure the enemy at that time, then Xinhua would have to pay at least two or three Hebei-class battleships if it wanted to win.

Although it fell short in the end because of some people, one thing is undoubted!

Darkness will be the only opportunity that the Southwest Grand Fleet can take advantage of!

The five new Bristol-class light cruisers, the 30 new large high-speed destroyers, and the two big ones that are on standby in the Lord Howe Islands are all new-generation fast warships with a speed of no less than 27 knots.

I already have the ability to launch a surprise night attack!

"Wall, the Gilbert Islands have been controlled by Xinhua, and the Lane Islands will definitely not be able to hold it, so it is very likely that Xinhua will launch a campaign to attack the Solomon Islands in advance."

"What do you mean, Lord Seymour? We return to the Solomon Islands! Claxton's eyes lit up, remembering that sad place, he still had some heart palpitations, but it would be a wonderful thing if he could go back there and fight the Xinhua Navy.

Seymour nodded: "The Solomon Islands is the first barrier we have set to defend Australia, and now we have 80,000 troops there, but without naval support, they can't support it at all, so I think we have to launch an operation, and the other two big guys can also use this cover to go to the eastern Pacific and let the Chinese know that they can't fully control the Pacific Ocean yet!" ”

"Tell them."

"Night, will be our best cover!"

(To be continued)