Pearl Harbor, the home port of the Pacific Fleet of the Ming Dynasty Navy.
On the pier, another 10 "Nanyang Ships" that had just arrived from the mainland of Ming Dynasty began to unload their cargo. Under the command of the soldiers, 10 cranes were swinging back and forth to unload biplanes from the ships.
This time, 180 Sea Flying Dragon 2 fighter-bombers, 100 Ssangyong 2 reconnaissance bombers, 60 Thunder Dragon 1 torpedo bombers, 36 Xianglong 1 4-engine biplane bombers and 18 Yunlong 1 waterborne bombers were transported. reconnaissance aircraft.
These 394 wooden airplanes account for about one-third of the Ming Dynasty’s monthly output. In order to strengthen the strength of the Pacific Fleet and the Southern Continental Army, the Daming Army General Staff made a decision at the beginning of the twelfth year of Taiping to allocate one-third of monthly aircraft production to the Pacific Fleet and the Southern Continental Army starting in February. Southern Continental Legion, sent once a month.
Of course, just having a plane without a pilot is not enough. Therefore, along with these aircraft are 180 rookies who have just graduated from the Navy and Army flight schools. These pilots will be assigned to the aviation division of the Southern Continental Army and the Guarding Flying Corps of the Pacific Fleet. At the same time, more than a hundred veterans who have experienced in the Guarding Flying Corps will be replaced by rookies and then transferred to the Pacific Fleet's Carrier Flying Corps. After completing the aircraft carrier takeoff and landing training, they will become carrier-based aircraft pilots - the Ming Dynasty's current navy has no shortage of aircraft carriers and aircraft, but it is in short supply of carrier-based aircraft pilots!
In addition to these pilots, the First Marine Division assigned to the Southern Continental Army also arrived three days ago. This brings the total strength of the ground troops of the Southern Continental Army to 100,000. The total strength of the ground troops belonging to the Southern Continental Army on Oahu alone has reached 50,000. Together with the personnel of the Pacific Fleet, there are almost 110,000 troops.
The entire Kingdom of Hawaii has become a sea of Ming troops!
In addition, there are many battleships gathered here on Oahu! There are twenty-one battleships and battlecruisers of all levels! Eight aircraft carriers came, and more than 40 armored cruisers and second- and third-class cruisers came together. The number of destroyers is even greater, more than a hundred. In addition, there are Nandao liner, Nanyang liner, and Nantan tanker, which add up to no less than a hundred ships! However, the largest number of A-1 landing ships... there were so many that they couldn't be packed in Pearl Harbor, so they had to be dispersed to other ports in the Hawaiian Islands.
Standing on the pier outside the headquarters in Pearl Harbor, looking at the ships that were almost full of the port, and watching the planes rising and falling, Zhuge Weidao, Chen Jian, Ma Xuchen, Ling Zongjun, Huang Shuren, Wang Wen, and Li Kezhi The senior officials of the fleet or the garrison general department were a little complacent. What they were about to fight was a big battle to conquer a continent!
Since the death of King Zhuge Wuzhong, the Ming Dynasty has put away its ambitions and developed steadily for more than a hundred years. It has never carried out any further development until it developed into a giant capable of leading the entire world. Such a magnificent conquest...and this record will be broken by these Ming soldiers who are now gathered in Hawaii.
Future history books will definitely use the most gorgeous words to praise these heroes of the Celestial Dynasty, and their names will be remembered by future generations. And after this great conquest is over, everyone who is lucky enough to participate in it will definitely get the rewards they deserve.
The current Ming Dynasty is not a country that belongs to the emperor, but a country that belongs to the meritorious officials and their descendants... Although the Ming Dynasty has maintained peace for more than a hundred years, the descendants of the meritorious officials are all "deficient in merit".
But in the Ming Dynasty, military medals...still shine!
"Let's go! Guo Xiaobao just called and said there is important military information!"
Zhuge Weidao withdrew his gaze from the large warships emitting metallic light, then turned around and was the first to walk towards the Pacific Fleet Headquarters building.
The few guards standing in front of the Pacific Fleet Headquarters building couldn't help but straighten their chests when they looked at these senior officers with shining general stars on their shoulder insignias and the large fleet waiting in the harbor. Although they are only compulsory soldiers and not front-line personnel, they have almost no chance to perform meritorious service. But I can be present in this battle, I can watch with my own eyes the figures who will definitely go down in history in the future, walking in and out of me, and I can brag to my descendants for the rest of my life.
When Zhuge Weidao walked into the newly renovated command center in the headquarters building, Guo Xiaobao, chief staff officer of the Pacific Fleet, who had been promoted to rear admiral, was directing a group of young staff officers to use a long push rod to move the information gathered on the super-chart table. In Mumbai, India, several ship models symbolizing the British Royal Navy's Indian Grand Fleet are pushed southward.
Seeing Zhuge Weidao and others coming in, Guo Xiaobao hurried forward and gave a military salute, and then said excitedly: "Junmen, I just received a notification from the Naval Staff that the British Indian Fleet has moved!"
"Oh? Finally moved?" Zhuge Weidao suddenly became excited when he heard this, "They have been lying down in Mumbai for almost five months. I thought they were going to celebrate the New Year in India!"
It is already November of the 12th year of Taiping, which is November of 1832 in the Western calendar... Almost five months have passed since the assembly of the British Royal Navy's Indian Fleet was basically completed!
During these five months, except for some newly commissioned ships and carrier aviation units that are busy training and running in, other ships are basically undergoing maintenance, maintenance, sleeping and routine training, as if it is still a peaceful era. Similar.
But this is also a characteristic of "big sea battles" - those battleships, armored cruisers, and aircraft carriers are all like their ancestors, and they must be treated with care. And the larger the warships are, the more likely their power systems are to wear out and malfunction, and their fuel and coal consumption is astronomical when they are in operation.
Therefore, the main fleet battle is not fought casually.
In addition, these large warships are quite difficult to drive. Now both sides have received many new ships, recruited many new soldiers, and promoted a group of new captains, first mates, chief engineers... Oh, and many rookie pilots have also arrived. If they don't train and run in properly, and let them go out in a battleship as delicate as their ancestors, what will they do if it gets damaged?
Therefore, the commanders of the large fleet are all masters who enjoy fighting for a while but are overwhelmed by management.
In order to train the large fleet under them, Zhuge Weidao, William Baga, Guan Tianpei, and Li Chengxun have been racking their brains in the past few months.
Of course, combat missions are also indispensable. Large ships, especially new ones among the large ships, cannot be dispatched casually. However, small boats, dinghies and old ships still have to be frequently dispatched to perform tasks such as breaking diplomatic relations, escorting, and seizing small islands.
At the same time, these tasks are testing the depth of the opponent in order to provide a basis for formulating the final decisive battle plan.
After several months of testing, Zhuge Weidao was basically certain that the main force of the British Royal Navy was not in Australia. The British mainly relied on small fleets and island chain defenses, as well as deploying a large number of land forces in Australia to defend the wilderness. However, A continent rich in resources.
Since the British Grand Fleet was really not in Australia, they must be concentrated in India.
"Since they have moved, we should move too!" Zhuge Weidao looked at the chart and asked in a low voice, "Does the General Staff have any suggestions?"
Guo Xiaobao said: "Yes! The General Staff believes that we should first cooperate with the Western and Southern Ocean Fleets to encircle and annihilate the British Indian Fleet! Only by annihilating the main force of the British Navy can we be sure of victory in the Southern Continent Campaign!"
