"Your Majesty the Emperor, do you want to launch a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor?"
"Your Majesty the Emperor, now we have declared war on the Ming Dynasty, and the undeclared war has been going on for two years. The defense of Pearl Harbor has been completed long ago!"
"Yes, the Ming Dynasty's Pacific Fleet is very powerful. Our Australian fleet is far away and may not be a match."
When Emperor William's ministers heard that a "surprise attack on Pearl Harbor" was planned, they felt it was inappropriate. Not to mention anything else, the commander of the Pacific Fleet, Zhuge Weidao, was an expert from the Zhuge family of the Ming Dynasty. He was able to count things passed down from his ancestors. You still attack secretly, but when you turn around and others count them, what do you do?
Moreover, the Ming Dynasty also had reconnaissance aircraft, reconnaissance airships, and oh, submarines!
Rumors about submarines have been circulating for a long time, but this time they were actually discovered. Dozens of photos were taken by a British airship in the Caribbean, including photos of its dive.
When these photos were taken back to the Admiralty in Whitehall Street, London, for study, everyone was shocked. Although Britain also has submarines, its submarines are not that big and cannot travel such a long distance. They are small ones of one to two hundred tons, and they are all experimental in nature. The quality is not good either. It’s gone if you try. But Ming Dynasty’s submarines have all come to the Atlantic Ocean!
Now there are Zhuge who can do calculations in the headquarters of Pearl Harbor. Outside Pearl Harbor there are reconnaissance airships, reconnaissance aircraft, reconnaissance submarines, and inevitably there are surface ships wandering around. If this sneak attack is successful, it will really be a manifestation of God. .
When Emperor William saw that his subordinates did not agree with the attack on Pearl Harbor, he was not angry. He just smiled and said: "This emperor knows the conspiracies of the Easterners best! Back then, I spent some time with Zhuge Weidao's father, Zhuge Youde. On his recommendation, I also read two books full of Eastern intrigues, one is called "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and the other is "Sun Tzu's Art of War". So I will also use Eastern tactics this time, I will use Easterners Use your own strategy to deal with the Chinese Pacific Fleet! This is called treating the enemy in return!"
William's words were spoken in a mixture of Chinese and English, but the British ministers present could actually understand them.
It seems that Ming’s cultural output in this timeline is still very powerful!
"Your Majesty, what are your plans?" Duke Wellington asked curiously.
Of course, this Duke was also a China expert. When he led troops in India, he believed that sooner or later the Ming Empire would compete with the British Empire for India. So from then on, he began to study China issues. And he has seen much more Chinese art of war than Emperor William has ever seen.
Not only have I read "Three Kingdoms" and "Sun Tzu's Art of War", but I have also read "Six Tao", "Wu Zi's Art of War", "Sima Fa", "Three Strategies", "Wei Liao Zi", "Li Weigong's Questions", "Training Soldiers" "Real Records" and "Selected Works of King Zhuge Wuzhong". And they are all in classical Chinese!
As for the Duke of Wellington's "old friend" Emperor Napoleon, he is even more familiar with China - the Bourbon kings Louis XIV, Louis XV, and Louis XVI are all old friends of the Chinese people, and they are good friends of the Zhuge family. Brother, so there is a course "Chinese Art of War" in French military academies! That Emperor Napoleon could not only speak Chinese with a Corsican accent, but he could also write calligraphy with calligraphy!
In the Louvre in this timeline, there are also several calligraphy works of Emperor Napoleon - the contents are all ancient Chinese poems. The calligraphy works of Napoleon in his early years include "Viewing the Sea", "The Turtle Lives Longevity", "Dan Ge Xing", later calligraphy works include "When will the Spring Flowers and Autumn Moon", "Speechless Alone on the West Tower", "Family and Country for Forty Years", and "Life grows and hates water and grows east".
Emperor William smiled and said: "Duke, I know that a simple sneak attack on Pearl Harbor will not succeed. Our large fleet will be discovered by the Ming Navy's various reconnaissance methods before it approaches Pearl Harbor."
Definitely!
Now even the latest carrier-based bombers of the Ming Dynasty are unlikely to have a combat radius of more than 200 kilometers - these aircraft are basically "deck defenders", so simple bombing cannot defeat the enemy fleet, it must be bombing plus water surface A decisive battle between fleets will do.
Therefore, the attack on Pearl Harbor envisioned by Emperor William was not a sneak attack by planes, but a large fleet pounced on it!
Naturally, there would be no sneak attack unless the Ming army was all blind.
"My idea is to attack from the west and attack the east!" Emperor William said, "We can first assemble the fleet in the Indian Ocean and assume a posture of preparing to counterattack Malacca. In this way, we can mobilize the main force of the Ming Navy from the Pacific to the Strait of Malacca area.
After the Ming navy is concentrated near Malacca, it is very likely that it will land on Java Island. At that time, our large fleet will be able to maneuver in the direction of Australia, bypassing Sumatra in the name of reinforcing Java. Then, we will use part of the fleet to emerge as the main force and be active between Java Island and the west coast and northwest coast of Australia. At the same time, the main force moved along the north coast of Australia, sneaking to Port Moresby to join the Australian Grand Fleet, and finally headed north to Pearl Harbor together. And near Pearl Harbor, seeking a decisive battle with the remaining units of the Ming Navy's Pacific Fleet! "
There was silence for a moment in the throne room of St. James's Palace, and everyone stared blankly at Emperor William.
This emperor seems to be quite powerful!
Emperor William was also very proud. He was a professional naval admiral and had studied naval warfare all his life, but he had no chance to practice it. Now that he became emperor, he finally had the chance to do something big.
The emperor asked the Lord of the Admiralty and the First Sea Lord: "Viscount Palmerston and Sir Hardy, how soon can we be ready?"
"August, August this year!" Sir Lord Hardy, the First Sea Lord, calculated and said, "By then there will be 2, no, 3 Indian Emperor-class ships in service!"
The Emperor of India class is the "25,000-ton class" battleship that started construction early last year.
According to the finalized design drawings, the standard displacement of this class of ship is 25,000 tons, and the full load displacement is 29,500 tons!
The side main armor belt of this class ship is 305 mm; the command tower armor is 280 mm; the deck armor is 25-65 mm; the main gun turret is surrounded by 280 mm armor, the top is 102 mm, and the gun mount is 76-254 mm.
The armaments of this class of ship are: 10 twin 13.5-inch 45-caliber naval guns; 12 6-inch guns; 12 3-inch anti-aircraft guns; 12 1-pound anti-aircraft rapid-fire guns; and 4 533mm torpedo tubes.
The power of this class of ship is: 18 triple-expansion steam boilers and 4 steam turbines; the maximum output power of the main engine: 31,000 horsepower; 4-axis propulsion. The maximum speed can reach 21.6 knots, and the maximum cruising range at an economical speed of 10 knots is 7,500 nautical miles.
I have to admit that British shipbuilding skills are still quite strong! Although it is impossible to build a fast battleship due to the backwardness of steam turbine technology, some slow-speed battleships can still be built.
And this Indian Emperor-class with a full load displacement of 29,500 tons definitely has the ability to compete with the Ming Dynasty's "Shihuang" class!
"Three ships are not enough." Emperor William said, "All four Indian Emperor-class ships must be commissioned!
In addition, our secret weapon, the first and second ships of the King William IV class named after me, with a standard displacement of 28,000 tons, must also be put into service! "
(End of chapter)
