November 20, 1831, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, Mobile Anchorage.
In the commander's office of the Atlantic Fleet flagship USS United States, standing in front of the window and seeing the large and small warships moored in Mobile Bay, Vice Admiral David Porter was also a little excited. All the veterans of the U.S. Navy were there. Here it is!
There are six battleships alone, and they are all brand new United States class! The names of the ships are USS United States, USS Washington, USS South Carolina, USS Michigan, USS Delaware, and USS North Dakota.
There are eight armored cruisers in total. In addition to six new Pennsylvania-class ships, there are also two old armored cruisers, the USS Maine and the USS New York.
In addition to the six Chester-class protected cruisers, the protected cruisers New Orleans and Alba purchased from the United Kingdom, as well as five airship carriers and 30 other destroyers, gunboats, minelayers, and minesweepers, he It already possesses more than 90% of the combat power of the US Navy!
This is the strength of the United States, which likes to speak in terms of rules based on strength. Although it started late, relying on the strong potential given by the east coast and central plains of North America, the United States, which was only founded for more than fifty years, has grown into a country that is only as old as the Ming Dynasty. The industrial countries of Britain, France, Prussia, and Austria are comparable to the Slavic empire of Rakshasa in eastern Europe.
However, considering the growth rate of the United States, it is only a matter of time before it surpasses the United Kingdom, France, Prussia, and Austria. It will not even take until the end of this century. In another twenty or thirty years, the United States will climb to the third position in the world.
By then, the strength of the U.S. Navy will be unimaginable today... It is a pity that the Ming imperialism did not give the United States a chance to develop and grow. It began to pursue the policy of suppressing and containing the United States early. It is really too bad. Hateful!
Looking at the large fleet moored on the sea, Lieutenant General David Porter took two deep breaths before retracting his gaze and returning to his desk. Looking at the intelligence he had just received, his face was a little solemn.
This information was sent by wired telegram from the British entrenched in Port of Spain, Trinidad, reporting the situation of the Japanese Texas Maritime Self-Defense Force currently resting in Port La Guaira, Republic of Colombia... ...Only three Nandao-class transport ships, two old-fashioned 10,000-ton sail battleships, and seven Guogong-class armored cruisers were discovered - this type of cruise ship is only equivalent to a third-class protected cruiser in terms of tonnage. and several other armed merchant ships carrying coal, supplies, and ammunition.
Compared with the last discovery of the airship station in the Falkland Islands (Malk Islands), there are two fewer large battleships and five cruisers... These seven ships are the real main force, right?
Because they were worried about the presence of aircraft-carrying warships in the maritime self-defense formation, the British airships did not dare to get too close at all and could only watch from a distance. Therefore, the airship sent by the Falk Islands did not find out the specific situation of the maritime self-service formation. The information reported in Port of Spain this time came from British spies in Port La Guaira.
So David Porter has no idea what models the two missing ships are?
He could only guess that one of these two large ships should be an aircraft-carrying battleship that showed its prowess in the Battle of Tregg Strait, and the other one was probably a fast battleship.
The reason why David Porter has this view is that in the war game conducted by the US Navy, the coordination between fast battleships and aircraft-carrying battleships is the most powerful!
During the deduction, the fast battleships held up the front, while the aircraft-carrying battleships launched carrier-based aircraft from behind to drop bombs. Then the carrier-based aircraft will blow up the enemy's battleship formation to pieces, and the aircraft-based battleship will then join the battle group, and together with the fast battleships on the front line, use naval guns to bombard the injured enemy ships.
This method of bombing first and firing later is advanced no matter how you look at it!
Therefore, naval experts from Western countries, including David Porter, have all become the "aircraft-carrying battleship faction" - now there is no such thing as the "battleship faction" and the "aircraft carrier faction", but the two factions have merged into one!
Driven by these "two-in-one faction", although the British and American countries did not have operational combat aircraft, various plans to build aircraft-carrying battleships and aircraft-carrying cruisers were launched one after another.
The United States is of course no exception. The design of an aircraft-carrying armored cruiser "Enterprise" class developed on the basis of the Pennsylvania-class armored cruiser has now been completed.
The Bath Shipyard in New York is working day and night, and sea trials should be started before June next year.
By then, the U.S. Navy should also have its own carrier-based aircraft!
A new era - the era of aircraft-carrying warships crossing the oceans is coming soon.
In fact, before and after the Battle of Great Strait, flying-loving engineers from Britain, the United States, France, Prussia and other countries had already built aircraft that could use internal combustion engines to drive propellers.
However, due to the lack of powerful internal combustion engines, the range and load capacity of these aircraft are too small to be put into military use.
However, internal combustion engine technology is advancing rapidly, and it is hard to overstate how rapid it is.
So by the time the aircraft-carrying armored cruiser "Enterprise" begins sea trials, the U.S. Navy will probably already have available aircraft (aircraft).
But now, David Porter has neither an aircraft-carrying armored cruiser nor an aircraft. He can only rely on the speed of the Pennsylvania-class armored cruiser and the US Navy's familiarity with the Caribbean to fight night battles with the Texas Sea Fleet from afar... …
But the problem is that in order to seize the opportunity to engage in a night battle with the Dezhou Navy's fleet, one must first determine the location of the Dezhou Navy's main force ships.
But where is the enemy's main force?
When David Porter was worried, there was a sudden knock on the door.
"Vice Admiral, I just received a telegram from Port of Spain." This was the voice of Major Farragut, communications staff officer of the Atlantic Fleet.
"Come in, little David." David Potter's tone seemed very friendly. Because the Major David Farragut outside the door is his adopted son. He joined the U.S. Navy with him at the age of 8, and has been working as a sailor all the way to the current major. Not long ago, he also learned to fly a plane.
David Porter planned to let Major Farragut become the commander of the "Enterprise" flight wing after the "Enterprise" was commissioned.
At this time, the door of the commander's office had been pushed open, and a navy lieutenant colonel in his early 30s, a little short, and looking very shrewd, stepped in, gave a military salute to Lieutenant General Porter, and then reported: "Lieutenant Admiral, a Japanese cruiser in the port of La Guaira left last night, and at noon today, the airship discovered that it had passed through the Strait of St. Lucia and entered the Atlantic Ocean.
In addition, the Texas Marine Corps notified the La Guaira Port authorities that they will leave the port around dusk today! "
"A cruiser entered the Atlantic Ocean?" David Porter immediately went to the chart table and started searching. Saint Lucia is located between Saint Lucia and Martinique, and those two islands are Trini They are two of a chain of many small islands that resemble a necklace of pearls between Puerto Rico and Puerto Rico. Beyond this chain of islands is the vast Atlantic Ocean.
Looking at the island chain on the chart, David Porter fell into deep thought. After a while, he was heard muttering to himself, "Why did the Japanese divide their forces into two groups? Do they want to use the main force of their fleet in the Atlantic Ocean?" The superior force broke up the engagement and attracted us to attack to cover their convoy passing through the Yucatan Strait?"
"Vice Admiral," Major David Farragut said, "This possibility is very high! But we must not let their convoy pass through the Yucatan Strait... Three of the convoys are full. A 25,000-ton troop carrier and two 13,000-ton motor-sail ironclads - according to intelligence, the Chinese have transformed their old motor-sail ships into landing ships that can transport troops and support landings! If these five ships have all It’s a landing force, at least 20,000 people! If they are allowed to land in Texas, the United States will lose Texas!”
David Porter nodded and said: "But we can't let go of the so-called main force of the Texas Maritime Self-defense... We also divided our forces into two groups, one to block the Yucatan Strait, and the other to search for them in the Atlantic Ocean. Aircraft carrier battleship!"
