James Hood's confidence is not unreasonable.
Although he suffered a lot of losses in the previous battle...but it was just bad luck.
He could obviously win, but somehow he lost, and he lost miserably!
But Hood's capital is very deep. He also has as many as 22 cutting-edge battleships in his hands!
If the 12 battleships of the Ming Dynasty's Nanyang Fleet did not retract to the Batam Port anchorage, but were guided by the Blake to the western section of the Strait of Malacca.
James Hood can completely defeat them with the advantage of his troops!
But it doesn’t matter if we can’t defeat the main force of the Nanyang Fleet now, because the Ming Navy’s Nanyang Fleet has also detached part of its forces to bypass Sumatra Island and march westward... I don’t know if it wants to outflank the west entrance of the Malacca Strait? Anyway, it's almost delivered to James Hood's lips.
According to the results of the airship reconnaissance, this fleet has approximately five battleships and three airship carriers, and its strength can only be said to be quite average.
James Hood was a little suspicious at first that this fleet was a bait sent by Guan Tianpei... But after sending more than a dozen airships for repeated reconnaissance, he had determined that this was a huge mistake made by Guan Tianpei!
Therefore, he is ready to eat this fleet in one bite!
And Lieutenant General Hood does have such confidence. This confidence comes not only from his 22 battleships, but also from the secret weapon in his hand-aircraft!
Yes, it’s a plane!
However, the plane in James Hood's hands is different from the plane in Zhuge Weidao's hands.
They are actually a kind of triangular glider equipped with a small rotary cylinder motor... It is the kind of man-operated guided glide bomb with a motor and a propeller added, so it has a certain amount of power, can fly farther, and can also achieve Flying against the wind.
According to the evaluation of Dr. Kelly, a British air expert, this man-operated guided glide bomb equipped with a small motor... is actually a flying machine. This is an airplane!
Compared with the kind of aircraft with landing gear (Dr. Kelly's team has built a powered glider with landing gear), this kind of aircraft has a simpler structure and is lighter in weight. It can also be folded and loaded into an airship, and Launched from high altitudes for greater payload and range.
An aircraft dropped from an altitude of three thousand meters can carry up to two hundred pounds of bombs and fly more than 50 kilometers relying on the power generated by gliding and small motors!
In this way, after the pilots operating these aircraft complete bombing, they can still use the remaining fuel to drive the small motors and propellers to fly a considerable distance. This is enough for them to fly to the sea near their own destroyer after the bombing is completed. The proportion of rescues and survivors will be greatly increased!
The latest Kelly IV carrier-based airship can carry 6 such aircraft and launch them from an altitude of up to 3,000 meters.
James Hood's 15 airship carriers can carry a total of 15 airships, and each airship can carry 6 aircraft. That is a total of 90 aircraft, and they are still bombers!
This is the hard power of "flying on the face", how could he lose?
.......
In the waters west of Sumatra Island, the aircraft-carrying battlecruiser Shu Zhongwang, the flagship of the "First Air War" of the Ming Dynasty's Nanyang Fleet.
Within the bridge, Ma Xuchen, Chief of Staff of the First Air Warfare, took a telegram he had just received and said to Zhuge Weidao: "Junmen, telegram from the Hongwu Emperor, Guan Junmen has led the main force of the Nanyang Fleet to return, and it is expected to arrive today. Arrive at the anchorage south of Batam in the evening.
The statistics of the battle results from last night to today's daytime are also available. 18 armored cruisers were sunk, 10 shallow water heavy artillery ships were sunk, and more than 20 second- and third-class cruisers were sunk. A total of about 40 ships... This is an unprecedented victory! "
Zhuge Weidao stood in front of the chart table and looked at the position of the main force of the Second Indian Ocean Fleet on the chart attentively.
"Where is the British fleet?" Zhuge Weidao asked.
"It has exited the Strait of Malacca." Ma Xuchen lowered his voice and said, "This is the result of submarine reconnaissance, and there should be nothing wrong with it."
actual
When the Second Indian Fleet entered the Strait of Malacca for the first time, it was discovered by a submarine ambushing there.
After Guan Tianpei got the news, he ordered the submarine to continue monitoring, and on the other hand, he canceled several airship reconnaissances. In order to make the British think that their position is still not exposed!
And Zhuge Weidao also learned about the existence and whereabouts of the Second Indian Fleet at the first time!
However, he didn't know that this fleet also had 15 airship carriers and as many as 90 bombers!
The reason why they were not discovered is because those airship carriers did not follow the main activities of the Second Indian Fleet - the range of airships is much greater than that of airplanes, so the airship carriers can hide in very safe waters and do not have to be close to the battlefield.
In addition, the British's human-guided gliding bomb has been a top secret since its birth.
The intelligence agencies of the Ming Navy and Army did not discover this ridiculous-sounding weapon... Maybe someone found some clues, but gave up the pursuit because the news seemed too unreal.
So Zhuge Weidao didn't know that the British had developed this alternative aircraft that was used in conjunction with airships.
Until now, he thought that only the Ming Dynasty had aircraft carriers and carrier-based aircraft!
"They shouldn't be returning to India, right?" Zhuge Weidao looked at the chart and said with a slight frown, "If they run away, our aircraft carriers, aircraft and battlecruisers will be useless."
"It's impossible," Chief Staff Officer Guo Xiaobao said with a smile, "It's impossible for the British fleet to return to India... They have hundreds of thousands of British and Indian troops on the Malay Peninsula and are preparing to fight us. How can the navy Return to India?"
Fleet Aviation Staff Wang Wen also smiled and said: "Baozi is right. The British fleet is leaving now, and the hundreds of thousands of troops in the Malay Peninsula will collapse... Then they will lose miserably!
Moreover, the Malay Peninsula has complex terrain, dense jungles, and humid climate, making it an easy-to-defend but difficult-to-attack place. If you want to get it quickly, you can only advance by sea and land.
The British Grand Fleet had to defend the sea lanes from the British forces on the Malay Peninsula. "
Wang Wen had served in the Nanyang Fleet for several years and was very familiar with the situation on the Malay Peninsula. However, Zhuge Weidao knew very well that the terrain and climate of the Malay Peninsula could not stop the two Japanese divisions...
"Since the British fleet refuses to leave," Zhuge Weidao smiled coldly, "then the decisive battle will almost be tomorrow... We should fight a sea and air coordination this time. How are we going to fight? Have you thought about it?"
His question was addressed to Ma Xuchen, chief of staff of the First Air Warfare, Guo Xiaobao, chief staff officer of the fleet, and Wang Wen, chief staff officer of the fleet aviation.
"Think about it!" Aviation Staff Officer Wang Wendao said, "Military Gate, their battleships are much more than ours. We must avoid head-on confrontation. We must give full play to the advantages of aviation. You can send planes to bomb them hard first!"
"Blow up their battleships?" Zhuge Weidao said, "I heard that the British strategic ships also installed many anti-aircraft weapons during this period. I'm afraid they won't be easy to blow up, right?"
"Let's not blow up their battleships yet. Battleships are difficult to blow up." Wang Wen said with a smile, "Junmen, my idea is to blow up their supply ships and coal ships!
A fleet as big as theirs must have brought many supply ships and coal ships with them when they attack... If we can find them and blow them all up, we will be sure of victory! "
"good!"
