674 Closing (1)

June 28, Coral Sea. 【 I want: super fast update 】

On the beautiful and calm coral sea, the sea water that was broken by the bow of the destroyer Chongming Island scattered to both sides like two strings of white pearls.

By the time the white bō pattern gradually dissolved into the blue, a fleet of dozens of steel behemoths had quietly sailed.

On the Beizhao heavy aircraft carrier, the flagship of the Third Task Force, sailors were either staring at the sun in twos and threes, or pointing at the troop transport fleet protecting them, waving their hats to greet each other across the sea.

Although metal planes are much better than wooden planes, the workload of maintenance and maintenance is much larger, but many soldiers are willing to eat it, as long as they think that the fighters that have been maintained by themselves can drop a few more bombs, they are full of energy.

In the spacious commander's rest cabin, Xiao Tianzhi's face was a little anxious, and he had just spread out the chart when he was interrupted by a knock on the door. "Sir, I received a telegram from Port Vila that the patrol fleet had spotted two Australian cruisers trying to approach Port Noumea last night, in addition to several cruisers near Sealand, and British cruisers in the Tuamotu Islands."

Xiao Tianzhi immediately found these points from the nautical chart, and from the distribution points, all of them were in the east, which made him worried, because the main task of the Third Task Force was to prevent Claxton from escaping.

According to intelligence, after the British Home Fleet was severely damaged in the Battle of Jutland, both the Entente Indian Fleet and the Australian Fleet already had the idea of evacuating, so the General Commander set up the Third Task Force for themselves to come.

Claxton is too late to leave now, and with his speed advantage, as long as he knows the direction, he can ensure that he stops him before he reaches Africa or South America, but the problem is that no one knows where he will go now, you must know that the sea is vast, and once you chase the wrong one, you will not even regret it.

Thinking of this, he immediately asked, "What about Sydney?" Is there any movement? ”

"Not yet, all of the Australian Grand Fleet capital ships are still there at the moment."

Xiao Tianzhi carefully read the telegram and said again: "Inform Port Vila and the Second Task Force that we will arrive within three days, during which time we must conduct aerial reconnaissance of Nouméa and Sydney every two hours, and notify the submarines operating in that area to strengthen night patrols. ”

"Yes."

After the staff officer left the telegram on the table, his eyes returned to the information on the island of Caledonia and Port Noumea, and some information from the General Staff.

Although the dust was about to settle in the chaos and bloodshed of Russia, the war was not over, and the Battle of Lower Normandy began, which meant that there was one more meat grinder on the German Western Front.

However, compared with Russia's withdrawal, Wilson's statement that he once again considered increasing troops in Europe is obviously eye-catching, and if Britain, France, and the United States do not fall, the sound of guns and artillery will probably continue.

On the German Western Front, Britain and France attacked from both the east and the west at the same time, and Verdun and the Somme will be the focus of contention for a long time to come, so it is still early to win or lose. (Full text reading, all in. (.i. Want. Wen. Learning Network)

Therefore, while the Prime Minister's Office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are fully engaged in negotiations with Russia, the General Staff is still fully engaged in military action and is determined to resolve the war in Australia as soon as possible.

Everyone knows that the army must rely on the army to solve the problem of sparsely populated Australia, so the first phase of the troop surge plan has begun, and as many as 500,000 troops are departing from places such as Luzon, Borneo and Guam, and then arriving in Darwin from Rabaul, and from there taking a train into the war zone.

In order to ensure the safety of sea transportation, the Navy has formed five patrol fleets to patrol and protect the shipping lanes, but fortunately, now that the fighting in the Solomon Islands has basically ended, and the Marines have occupied Port Vila in the Hebrides, the area where the Australian Grand Fleet can operate is already very small.

In the Australian campaign, there is not much place for the navy to play, and eating the Australian Grand Fleet has become the goal of the navy, so the third task force will speed up.

In addition to preventing Claxton from escaping, Task Force 3 also had to work with Task Force 2 to cover the Marines' attack on Caledonia, 570 nautical miles southwest of Port Vila, and the Fiji Islands 710 nautical miles to the east, both of which are known as Australia's eastern gateways.

Caledonia and Port Noumea, in particular, are only 1,060 nautical miles from Sydney, and if they can take here, then the east gate of Australia will be completely locked!

However, it is not so simple to take Caledonia, which is different from the Solomon Islands and other islands, it is too important to Australia, so as early as two years before the start of the war, Britain and the United States signed the Pacific Mutual Protection Agreement, began to strengthen the island's defense, plus after the war, the United States took advantage of the Empire's lack of bases here and could not control the weakness of the South Pacific, regardless of the threat of submarines, sent dozens of fleets to this place through the South American shipping lanes, and transported a large amount of supplies.

According to reconnaissance photos and intelligence, the island has more than 30 known large-caliber shore guns, and there are countless cannons below the 152 mm level, and the entire island is covered with dark bunkers and firepower points built of cement and steel bars, and nearly 80,000 British, American, and Australian troops are stationed, and before the Marines take control of Port Vila, the shipping lanes from Sydney and Auckland to the island can still be kept unblocked, so the combat effectiveness of the troops has not only not been lost, but also strengthened.

In order to solve this place as soon as possible, after capturing Port Vila, the Navy used this time to send as many as 402 transport ships to Port Vila, in addition to bringing a large number of supplies and supplies, it also transported two continental divisions here, and will also have 3 light carriers, 2 Jilin-class battleships and the second task force also remain here, as a deterrent and blockade force, which temporarily cut off the shipping lane.

However, the strength of the Second Task Force alone was not enough to take Noumea and close the eastern gate of Australia, so the General Staff transferred warships to form the Third Task Force.

Judging from the number of warships and technology alone, the third task force is probably the current mixed fleet of the empire, because it not only has the two Xiqin-class heavy aircraft carriers of Beizhao and Zhongwei that have just been delivered, but also the two Guam-class battleships that have just been delivered, Zhongmen and Ximen.

In the case that it has not yet carried the Night Owl dive bomber, it is all about these two Guam class ships, because compared with the previous 4 sister ships, these 2 battleships delivered 3 months later than expected not only increased their displacement by 2,000 tons, but also achieved the initial goal of design, and installed 3 triple L42/406 mm naval guns for the first time, becoming a real fast battleship!

In addition to being able to get out of the quagmire of research and development so quickly and officially assemble it, in addition to the fact that the project was developed 10 years ago, earlier than other countries and has actually reached a critical point, it is also due to the large number of technical personnel who poured into China from Europe after the war, especially those military experts from Austria-Hungary, many of whom were invited to join the Chinese Armament Department after their arrival, and some of them even became technical backbones.

Although it is known from intelligence that the United States has also made progress in the 406 mm sample gun, it will take half a year to equip it, not to mention that after the delivery of these two ships, the first four Guam-class guns in his hands will also be modified one after another, and continue to lead the advantage in battleships.

In order to accomplish this mission, the Admiralty handed over most of the warships that had just been delivered to the Third Task Force, in addition to the two Xiqin-class heavy aircraft carriers and the second batch of Changjiang-class cruisers, eight destroyers including two Chongmingdao-class, two Dongtinghu-class comprehensive supply ships, and two Qinshan-class speed support ships.

The reason why the four supply ships were equipped was because of the long distance and long mission time of this operation, because in addition to helping the Marines take this strategic island, it was also necessary to protect and patrol the east coast of Australia for a long time to prevent Claxton from leading the fleet to escape.

He knew that he was inferior to Ji Weishan and Lefei in terms of ability, and compared with the two, he was patient enough and calm, so he always participated in the meeting and let himself lead the fleet to carry out this kind of long-term mission, not to ask how many enemy ships he could sink, the important thing was to block Claxton, and never let him return to Europe or the United States.

"The report, the Sixth Drive Cruiser reported that they encountered four cruisers south of Australia and 230 nautical miles west of Tasmania, two of the British Rainbow Goddess class and two suspected American Omaha-class."

"Tasmania?"

Xiao Tianzhi immediately found this big island located in the south of Australia, 750 nautical miles away from Sydney, and remembered the information just now, his eyebrows furrowed: "Where did Claxton send the cruiser to do what?" Are you going to take a long route to South Africa to return home? ”

"Yuting, do you think Claxton is really ready to go?" In the operational command center of the Beijing General Staff Headquarters, Chen Ping put several pieces of information on the table, walked to the chart and asked while looking at it: "If you go, where do you think you will go?" ”

"According to common sense, you should take the South American route, as long as you drill through Sealand into French Bō Lynesia, where there are many islands that can be used as cover, but after crossing Bō Lynesia, it is the vast South Pacific, not only need to face our pursuit, but the South American fleet can also go south at any time to support, since Ecuador and Peru joined us, Britain and the United States have always suspected that Chile will also join us, the threat of two super battleships is not small, so in the case of uncertainty, Wherever to go, it must have been in Claraxton's mind. Zhang Zuolin stood behind and analyzed.

"From the point of view of distance, the advantage of the South African route is that the distance is slightly closer, but from Sydney, after crossing Tasmania into the Great Australian Gulf, it will be blocked by our patrol fleet deployed in Perth, 4 Yangtze River class and 12 Weiqing class are not strong, but if you count 8 submarines, it is impossible to pass without paying the price.

Claxton had fought us twice, knowing our superiority in speed, and fearing that we would be held back by our speed, and that as long as he departed, we would be able to move south quickly from the 1st Task Force in the Arabian Sea, and although the 1st Task Force currently had only one aircraft carrier, in terms of speed and distance, as long as he showed signs of it, we would have enough time to jam Madagascar and cut off the Cape of Good Hope route. ”

"Hehe, according to Yuting's analysis, wouldn't it be that Claxton won't go." Chen Ping smiled slightly.

"Actually, I don't think Claxton is willing to go, after all, he still has 16 battleships, including 2 Delaware and 3 Bellerophon, 15 cruisers and 22 destroyers, plus dozens of torpedo boats, if he really wants to hold on, he can still stop for a while, not to mention that he must know that no matter where he goes, he will have to pay at least half of the price, and if he can't get replenishment, leaving Sydney, the fleet will be scrapped." Zhang Zuolin continued: "So I think the question now is to see if he can withstand the domestic pressure, if not. ”

Zhang Zuolin walked to the chart and pointed to the west: "I tend to take the African route." ”

"Oh?" Chen Ping raised his eyebrows: "Why?" ”

"It's very simple, because the Indian Grand Fleet also wants to go!" Zhang Zuolin pointed to India and said affirmatively: "So if he goes this way, we can only block one end." ”

Chen Ping nodded, this analysis is indeed very reasonable, although Australia and India are far apart, but for Britain and the United States, it is better to gamble and rescue at least one than to trap both fleets.

The two Yinshang-class aircraft carriers of the First Fleet are being maintained in Guangzhou, and it will take about 10 days from the point of view of time, and when they go to the Indian Ocean, the Xiqin will also come back to rest, and the two Guam-class also need to come back for the first task force at present, mainly relying on two Beijing-class and four Hebei-class battleships.

Two aircraft carriers of the First Fleet and two Guam-class ships are currently being monitored and harassed on the west coast of the United States and in the Gulf of Panama, and although the repair of the four Hebei-class battleships is nearing completion, it will take about half a month from the perspective of time, and only two Beijing-class ships of the South American Fleet are currently in use.

No matter how incompetent British and American intelligence is, they must know that now is the time when their strength is weak, and after the news of the arrival of the third task force on the east coast of Australia spreads, if they want to break through, it will be the best time!

The question now is whether Claxton wants to send cruisers so often, or just to reconnoiter and contain them.

"Report, Berlin Emergency." Before Chen Ping could continue to speak, the two of them were interrupted by a report.

"What's the matter?"

"The Deputy Chief of the General Staff and the Foreign Minister telegraphed that the first negotiations in Brest had broken down, that Germany had refused to reduce the demands for land cession and reparations, and that the Russian representatives had also refused to sign."

"Huh."

The news did not make Chen Ping scratch his head, but made him laugh, it is obvious that some people in Russia still can't understand the situation! So he immediately said: "Yuting, immediately send a telegram to Li Tianhe and Sun Jiugong." ”

"Since some people in Russia don't want to close the door yet, then just block it!"

"Yes!"