758 West Wind Flame (4)

February 20, 1917, the first day of the first lunar month. (Full text reading, all in. (.i. Want. Wen. Learning Network)

In the early morning, when the sun jumped out of the sea east of the Maldives archipelago, two Hummingbird long-range reconnaissance planes had already taken off at the Gan Island base in the Addu Atoll in the southern part of the archipelago.

After circling twice in the air, the lightness of the airframe, which was made entirely of balsa wood, accelerated and flew northward, and the airfield, which was not large under the wings, was already in full swing.

Gan Island is one of the two largest islands in the Maldives archipelago in Addu Atoll, but it is only 27 square kilometers, only 4 meters above the water, the island is narrow but less than 450 meters wide, since the Maldives became a British protectorate, the British Navy has built a naval base here, which is currently controlled by the Chinese Navy, and an airport was established here for the first time.

Addu Atoll is not deep enough to dock destroyer-class warships, so only a bomber/reconnaissance regiment is stationed here, and there are submarines and patrol ships that often come here to resupply relaxation.

Looking down from the sky, the emerald island resembles a string of pearls set in the turquoise Indian Ocean. But for the naval aviation stationed here, the humid and muggy climate has left them complaining, because this kind of weather is a big killer for aircraft, especially aluminum-metal aircraft.

Today's resentment at the airport was louder than usual, and the sound of swearing was endless, of course, all the targets of the scolding were the Indian Grand Fleet that suddenly rushed out of Mumbai last night, and the female relatives from the queen to Campbell were all taken care of.

What's more, because today is the first day of the Lunar New Year, no one likes to work on this day.

Boxes full of butter were brought out and smeared on the engine and drive shafts, and under the graceful posture of the pilots soaring into the blue sky, it was the hard work of countless air force ground crews, without whom the metal plane was just a pile of aluminum ingots slowly rotting on the ground.

The early possession of aircraft, the early systematic development of ground crew training, and the possession of the world's largest professional air force ground crew personnel are not only the precious wealth of the army, but also the future aviation industry of the entire country.

"Morning Commander."

"Come on, one for each person."

"Wow......."

"Brothers, the head of the regiment has sent red envelopes to everyone."

Hula, hundreds of soldiers and pilots surrounded the regiment commander in the middle, and the exquisite red envelopes were snatched up in an instant, and when everyone opened the red envelopes, they found that it was not money, but a photo of the same beautiful woman.

"It's beautiful, Captain, who is this?"

"I know, I know, I've seen it in the newspapers, I've heard about what movie stars are. 【 I want: super fast update ]"

"Movie stars? What's the use of giving us? ”

"Don't understand this? The head of the regiment is afraid that you will miss you in front of the sow! ”

"Haha......."

"Fuck off! Net. The head of the troupe kicked away the yelling guy and said, "Miss Lin is coming to us next month to give a condolence performance, so I will relieve your hunger first." ”

"Wow, really, come to us?"

"Really, the telegram sent to me by the chief of staff himself, and the logistics department also confirmed it, and I heard that ......, there are also a hundred and ten beautiful women who came with it."

"Wow, my heart, I'm going to die."

"Get out of here and work, who is not ready in an hour, always let him stand guard when watching a beautiful woman's performance!"

Give me pliers! Bomb truck, push over. Bounce, play me! ”

Although the Indian Grand Fleet came out, it is unknown whether it will really pass through here, after all, beyond the atoll is the deep ocean, which cannot be completely covered by bombers alone.

However, he believes that as long as Campbell enters his circle of attack, even if there are only 32 bombers, he is sure enough to teach the other side a profound lesson.

"Left front, 2 submarines."

Jiang Qixiong, who had all the hopes of the regiment commander, held the helm in his hand, stuck to the window and saw the two slender black dots on the blue sea below, and immediately pressed the nose of the plane and rushed down.

"It's our people."

Before the planes approached, the observers, who had a dark complexion tanned by the scorching sun of the Indian Ocean, saw the familiar military uniforms on the deck of the submarine, and saw the submariners waving to him, Jiang Qixiong circled around and continued to fly north.

The navigator and radio operator carefully calculated that the distance from Gan to Thiruvananthapuram at the southern tip of the Indian peninsula was about 800 kilometers, and it was more than enough for a bomber to fly one way, and the hummingbird, which had a high endurance of 2,200 kilometers, could even go deep into the skies over Bangalore and go back and forth.

The Indian Grand Fleet came out last night, although it is impossible to grasp the exact time and speed of departure, but warships are warships, and the speed is also about 16 to 20 knots, if it is no longer impossible, but the problem is that the speed of each ship in the Indian Grand Fleet is not even, and the power system of the Indian Grand Fleet is a reciprocating steam engine, so it is impossible to keep it above 20 knots all the time.

According to this calculation, the other party should still be along the coastline west of the Indian Peninsula, and the big question now is whether they sail close to the coastline or go deep into the Arabian Sea, no one knows, so the focus of the search circle is the vast sea area between the southern tip of the peninsula and the Arabian Sea.

The navigator's calculations were not wrong, 150 kilometers west of the Indian Peninsula, on the edge of the Krasha Islands, a huge box-shaped formation of 46 warships and 11 transports, during which the Malaya was leading the formation to split the waves at a speed of 19 knots and fly south.

Whether it is a flagship or a small class destroyer, the deck and mast are full of sailors holding binoculars, and in the center, on the deck of the only mothership in the Grand Fleet, several camel fighters rise to the wind and act as sentinels on the periphery of the fleet.

Everyone was nervous, because everyone knew that there was a Chinese heavy aircraft carrier operating in the Indian Ocean, and no one knew whether they were close by, not to mention that in addition to the aircraft carrier, they also had to carry long-range reconnaissance planes from Ceylon, Gan, and Socotra.

"At the same time that we left last night, the army had already begun to attack Paris."

Inside the bridge of the Malaya, Campbell, who had just had breakfast, frowned, he didn't expect such a coincidence, but it wasn't something he wanted to know, so he immediately waved his hand: "I don't want to know this." ”

"Yes!"

"Lieutenant General Hill sent a telegram 3 hours ago, they have bypassed the Cape of Good Hope, and they expect to arrive in Madagascar this evening, and if it goes well, they can round with us in the Seychelles in 3 days!

In addition, the Y3 formation reported two hours ago that they encountered two Chinese submarines in the Arabian Sea, and after being discovered, they began to turn around and head south as planned, and are currently about 130 nautical miles due west of us. The British senior vice admiral with grayish temples who had been tortured for more than a year, Cameron, chief of staff of the Indian Grand Fleet, immediately marked the specific location of the Y3 formation on the chart, and then raised his head again: "If the submarine sends a telegram, they will be bitten by a reconnaissance plane in 3 more hours!" ”

Campbell's expression was cold, as if he hadn't heard the latter sentence, and said coldly: "Go on." ”

"The Y1 formation is in front of us on the right, about 87 nautical miles southwest of the archipelago, and the Y2 formation has arrived at the island of Minicooy, is passing through the Octave Strait, and is scheduled to move east in 1 hour."

"Have you found any traces of the Chinese fleet?"

"Not yet, but now that it's dawn, if China's heavy aircraft carrier is with us, it should be very easy to report back." After Cameron handed the pen to his assistant, he looked at the Y1, Y2, and Y3 formations he had marked.

After nearly a year in Mumbai, the Grand Fleet did not do nothing, first of all, dozens of transport ships and freighters stranded in India were camouflaged, and some of them were equipped with small-caliber naval guns to be used as temporary cruisers.

And now, they are all organized into three Y formations to camouflage and deceive enemy submarines and reconnaissance ships, and in order to appear real, an old battleship and at least 3 cruisers are added to the formation, respectively, and some Schott-184 water reconnaissance aircraft.

But even so, everyone is not at ease, because China has an absolute aviation advantage, maybe submarines and warships cannot be accurately distinguished because of the perspective, but the aircraft can easily see the camouflage.

So everyone knows that as long as the 3 Y formations are discovered, there is no chance of surviving, but no one can blame Campbell for being cold-blooded, because this is the only effective way to confuse the enemy with which they can get along.

"Sir, we're about to enter the Ninth Degree Strait."

Campbell looked at the chart expressionlessly, and after drawing his fingers twice between the three Y formations, he said: "Left rudder, order the plane to disperse and fly to the southwest for reconnaissance, let the Y1 formation spread out to expand the search area, and we will intervene horizontally." ”

Cameron looked at the route drawn by Campbell's finger and said with some surprise: "If we cross the Ninth Strait and go deep into the Arabian Sea, it is very likely that we will encounter Chinese aircraft carriers, is it too dangerous to do so?" The Y3 formation entered the Ninth Strait and did not encounter the enemy, which means that it is safe there, and we ......"

"No, we don't have a choice."

Before he could finish speaking, Campbell interrupted him by pointing to the chart: "Safe now, it doesn't mean it's safe before sunset!" The Ninth Degree Strait is only 230 nautical miles from Colombo, Ceylon, from which Chinese reconnaissance aircraft and bombers can take off and easily launch an attack and return to base.

We don't have an air advantage, so we have to keep a certain distance from Colombo, and even if they encounter that mothership, one can't completely eat us yet.

The Y3 formation was in the northwest and the Y1 was in the southwest, and they held up a reconnaissance barrier to the west for us, and if the enemy's aircraft appeared, they would definitely be discovered first. Campbell habitually took out a cigar from his pocket, and the inferior Indian cigar made him frown slightly, and continued: "We are still 87 nautical miles away from the close Y1 formation, and if their plane is attracted to it, even if it is found to be a fake research, it will take at least a few hours, so that they will launch one more wave of attacks, and it will be dark after that, and the night can help us get out of trouble!" ”

"Report." As soon as Campbell finished speaking, the communications officer walked in with a nervous expression.

"The Y2 formation reported that they were attacked by submarines in the Octave Strait."

"Do you know how many enemies there are?" Cameron also became nervous and asked, "Is there a plane?" ”

"Haven't found the plane yet, but it's ......." The communications officer swallowed his saliva and said with a blank look in his eyes: "General Barn said that there are at least 7 or more submarines attacking them!" ”

"God!"

"Speed up to 21 knots, immediately cross the Ninth Degree Strait, and get out of here!"

: Use the submarine to blow up the bottom line, Amen!

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