ps: One more chapter, ask for votes

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November 22, 2758 (1917), South China Sea, near the Wansheng Islands.

The expansive, smoky blue sea ripples slightly, as soft as silk. A group of dolphins swim happily in the sea, spewing out mist from time to time, and seagulls flying and hovering in the air, this qiē constitutes a peaceful and beautiful picture.

But soon, a group of discordant things broke into the picture, shattering the peaceful atmosphere.

A low engine roar sounded in the "Buzz ......" sky, and two Water Bomber-2 Cormorant water bombing/patrol aircraft appeared above the clouds. This is a large hull seaplane officially put into service at the end of last year, with a double-engine monoplane structure, and its appearance is somewhat similar to the American PBY "Katarina" seaplane in the original time and space. But its design is more reasonable, and its performance is slightly better than that of "Caterina". It is now one of the most important alert equipment of the Chinese Navy.

It is used to replace the slightly outdated water bombardment-1 "Lion's Head Goose" model at this time, mainly equipped with Chinese naval aviation, mainly used for early warning, anti-submarine patrol, coastal security, shipwreck rescue and other tasks. China deploys such aircraft at various naval bases, as well as on important ports and islands.

The two Cormorants flew from Cam Ranh Bay and had a range of up to 4,200 kilometers, enough for them to run back and forth between Cam Ranh Bay and the Wansheng Islands. Soon, two more identical "cormorants" flew over in the south, and after greeting each other in the air, the four planes continued to fly forward, and the next two "cormorants" were from the Wansheng Islands base.

They are conducting alternate patrols, which the Chinese Navy now does whenever it can. According to the Navy's regulations, whenever the fleet sails, as long as the weather permits, there must be aircraft to carry out early warning and patrol. Especially during the voyage of a large fleet, there will be planes patrolling back and forth in the airspace above the fleet, nearby airspace, and even in the airspace in front of the route.

These slow-moving planes had just flown by, and a group of light and nimble fighters flew in from the north, and this was the Jian-5 "Skuas" carrier-based fighter that was only equipped with troops this year. They circled around for a while, then turned around and flew back. These aircraft are the direct cover fighters of the fleet, they do not leave the fleet too far and generally hover over the fleet. Any fleet that has aircraft carriers in store will have this configuration. Generally speaking, as long as you see a direct cover aircraft, it means that you are not far from the fleet.

About ten minutes later, dozens of blue-gray plumes of smoke appeared at the junction of the sea and sky, indicating that a fleet was about to appear. If you are an experienced seafarer, you can tell that these ships must be using oil-fired boilers just by seeing this pure blue-gray plume of smoke.

To make the smoke color so pure, it is necessary to have a very powerful oil-fired boiler to achieve this effect. If the performance of the boiler is relatively slag, it will not burn completely, and the smoke will be mixed with yellow and black, and even the same as burning inferior coal, it will be full of black smoke. At present, China is the only one in the world that can play such a slippery role with oil-fired boilers, and only China's oil-fired boilers can have such a high combustion efficiency and produce such pure color furnace smoke.

Soon, a mast rose on the sea level, and in a short time, dozens of warships appeared on the sea. And that's not all, there are more pillars of smoke rising behind, which shows that the fleet in front of you is just the front, and the big forces are still behind.

If you look down from an altitude of 10,000 meters at this time, you will see that at least six or seven hundred ships are heading south on the sea. Because there are so many of them, they form a huge queue with a length of more than a hundred kilometers and a width of more than a dozen kilometers.

These ships pulled hundreds of snow-white tracks on the surface of the sea, as if countless stripes were drawn with white paint on a piece of blue cloth. The original peaceful atmosphere has been torn apart, and all the poetry and painting are gone, and all that remains is the killing intent of Iron Horse Jingo, and the smell of industrialization mixed with steel, gunpowder and oil.

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At present, the forward fleet of the Chinese Navy is heading towards the Wansheng Islands at a speed of 20 knots, and at the forefront are the eight destroyers of the 3rd and 4th destroyer groups, which form a wide "herringbone" queue and open the way in front. Next were the four light cruisers of the 7th Cruiser Detachment, which sent a horizontal group, which followed about 2 km behind the destroyer group.

Further behind were the eight heavy cruisers of the 2nd and 3rd cruiser detachments, which formed a double column formation and followed behind the light cruisers. In June of this year, the number of the Navy's units was adjusted, and the 5th Cruiser Detachment, to which Colonel Li Ang belonged, was changed to the 3rd Cruiser Detachment, and he is now on the heavy cruiser Huangshan.

The Huangshan, as the flagship of the 3rd cruiser detachment, was in first place on the left. At this moment, its sharp bow cut through the seawater, shredding the waves into snow-white foam and spraying them on both sides, and the four thick 280 mm main guns of the two main turrets in the bow pointed straight ahead. The side side is densely packed with 8 twin 130 mm 50 x diameter secondary guns and 6 quadruple 40 mm anti-aircraft guns. 280 mm 50 times diameter main gun and numerous turret type secondary guns, 230mm thick main armor belt, up to 30. The speed of 5 knots shows the strength of this warship.

Side by side with the Huangshan was the flagship of the 2nd cruiser detachment, the Qingcheng, which was located 2 km to the right of the Huangshan. It was China's first 10,000-ton new heavy cruiser, and after several months of upgrading in 1915, it had become more powerful. The 280 mm 50 x caliber gun is more powerful than the previous 240 mm gun, and the new power system makes it the same as the sister built later, with the same 30. With an ultra-high speed of 5 knots, this ship is one of the world's leading heavy cruisers.

The two flagships were side by side, leading the six sister ships behind them to the south. These eight Qingcheng-class heavy cruisers are a kind of existence that makes foreign naval circles grit their teeth, although they bear the name of "heavy cruisers", but whether it is firepower, defense or speed, they are up to the standard of battle cruisers. Its main armor belt is up to 230mm thick, far exceeding that of the Invincible and Indefatigable class battlecruisers of about the same tonnage as it, with 2. The 60,000-ton lion class is almost there. If you have to say that it is not qualified, it is probably that the caliber of the main gun is a little smaller, only 280 mm. Therefore, the British classified it as a "quasi-battlecruiser", while the Germans called it a "decisive armored cruiser", and the Japanese called it a "super-armored cruiser".

But what foreign countries don't know is that according to the actual test results, the new 280 mm 50 times diameter main gun equipped with the Qingcheng class is more powerful than they imagined, and it is no worse than the British 12-inch 45 times diameter main gun.

In addition, these Qingcheng-class ships have strengthened their anti-aircraft firepower, and they have installed up to 12 twin and 20 single 20mm anti-aircraft guns, as well as 14 12-mm anti-aircraft machine guns, on the side and superstructure, and even above the No. 2 and No. 3 main turrets. These "light weapons" (naval standard) are very easy to install without penetrating the deck, so they can be stacked hard. As for the detonation of ammunition, there is no need to worry about it, even if the ammunition is detonated in battle, it will not cause any damage, after all, it is just a "light weapon".

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Huangshan.

The bridge of the navigation ship is the best view on the warship except for the watchtower. Normally, fleet commanders and captains like to stand here, and only when they are in battle do they burrow into the armored conning tower where they can't see the outside. However, the exception of Japan is that their naval officers do not know what to think, and even when fighting, they like to stand on the bridge of the navigation ship, so I don't know how many of them hang up.

Of course, the Chinese Navy has no combat vices, but it is not in a combat state at this time, and Li Ang's detachment leaders and deputy captains and other command teams are all in the navigation bridge. To be honest, the environment here is indeed much better than in the armored conning tower, not only is the lighting good, but if you open the windows made of bulletproof glass, you can feel the smell of the wind.

At this time, the navigation bridge of the Huangshan was opened by the window, and the sea breeze with a faint smell of sea smell smelled very fresh. However, Comrade Li Ang's expression did not show any relaxation.

He pinched his chin and said, "This exercise is too strange, let's not talk about the ridiculously large scale." In an hour at most, we will be able to see the Wansheng Islands. But now there is no specific drill plan, which is not at all like Mr. Wang's style......"

"Yes, it's really a bit strange, is it to deter the Netherlands? If it's a deterrent, it doesn't seem like we need to send out our whole family, and we still have so many army ......" Chief of Staff Qin was also puzzled.

Leon thought for a moment and said, "I've been thinking about this for a long time, and if it's going to declare war on the Netherlands, this arrangement is not surprising. Nothing else can explain this strange action. ”

Political Commissar Lu said coldly: "Hmph, it's okay to declare war! These Dutch red-haired devils should also clean up, damn, they have done all kinds of dirty things to us Chinese in the past, not to mention oppression, exploitation, and ********, the Hongxi tragedy killed tens of thousands of Chinese, and they also instigated the local natives to kill several times during the period, which can really be called a deep hatred!"

"That's right, I've had itchy hands for a long time, and I just wanted to see how powerful their Dutch monarchy really is......" Leon laughed.

At this time, the communications staff officer ran up and reported to Li Ang: "Report to the detachment leader, the latest order from the headquarters ......"

Li Ang took it and was immediately overjoyed: "Hahahaha, it seems that we guessed correctly! This time we are just to teach the Dutch red hair a lesson!" he handed the order to the political commissar.

Soon, several detachment leaders and deputy captains and others were circulated. Leon immediately summoned the officers on board for a small meeting on the bridge of the navigation ship.

"According to the latest order, our forward fleet is going to be separated, and the 2nd cruiser detachment and the 3rd and 7th destroyer groups are going to Palembang, Sumatra. Our 3rd cruiser detachment, as well as the 7th cruiser detachment, as well as the 4th and 8th destroyer squadrons, immediately went to Jakarta to monitor the Dutch Far East Fleet...... Now immediately inform the 7th Cruiser Detachment and the 4th and 8th Destroyer Groups that we will regroup...... In addition, the headquarters has assigned a Purple Electric escort aircraft carrier to us, and now we have to slow down a little and wait for them to catch up. ”

Soon, the forward fleet was disbanded and split into two parts and headed for their respective targets. Leon and the others reduced the fleet speed to 10 knots in order to wait for the Purple Electricity escort aircraft carrier. That's right, China now also has escort aircraft carriers.

Although the "temporary aircraft carrier" created by the Yankees suffered heavy losses in the Battle of the Faroe Islands, many of them were due to lack of experience, but it was not that this thing was not easy to use. Even the Americans themselves admit that if there were no temporary aircraft carriers in the US fleet at that time, it is estimated that the outcome of that naval battle would have been rewritten.

So now all the naval powers are engaged in this kind of "temporary aircraft carrier", especially the United States, Britain and France, because they need escorts, they have a greater demand for this kind of thing. Especially the Yankees, they said they were good after using it, so after the Battle of Faro, more than 60 merchant ships were requisitioned for aircraft carrier transformation. Moreover, they also thought that these merchant ships were slow, so they also specially designed a simple aircraft carrier of this kind, and they gave this aircraft carrier the official name of "escort aircraft carrier".

Of course, China will not lag behind in this regard, in fact, the aircraft carrier transformation work of China's merchant ships is two months earlier than that of the United States, but it is not as perverted as the Yankees in terms of quantity, after all, China is not in the war now, and the demand for this is very low, so there is not so much need. Because the quantity is not much, it is natural to have higher requirements in terms of quality.

First of all, a speed of more than 25 knots is a must, because if the speed is slow, the reaction during the battle will be slow, and most of the Yankees will die from the disadvantage of slow speed. Secondly, the tonnage shall not be less than 10,000 tons, and the tonnage will not go up if the carrying capacity is small, and it will be meaningless to transform it. So the Chinese Navy carefully selected eight unfinished high-speed troop carriers for renovation. These high-speed troop carriers were originally remodeled with Crescent-class high-speed cruise ships on European and American routes, but after the outbreak of the European war, the number of tourists decreased significantly, but the business of troop carriers was very good. So the Crescent class was changed from a cruise ship to a troop carrier. In the end, it was changed to an escort aircraft carrier.

It would be too troublesome to change it after the construction was completed, so the Chinese Navy simply requisitioned the eight high-speed troop carriers under construction. Because these eight ships were not built, the speed of transformation was a little slower than that of the United States. For China, which did not participate in the war, this progress was enough. The name of the escort aircraft carrier is different from the other ships, it is named after the famous sword and sword of ancient times.

Just as the Chinese fleet began to move, a fleet flying the Dutch flag also sailed out of the port of Jakarta. A collision between Chinese and Dutch naval vessels is imminent.