December 27, morning.
400 nautical miles north of Nauru, in the waters near Kwajalein Atoll.
A fleet of dozens of various warships is plowing white waves on the vast ocean. The core of this fleet is 6 aircraft-carrying armored cruisers equipped with angled decks, 2 of which were converted from the Black-class armored cruiser with a standard displacement of 9,300 tons, and 2 were converted from the 11,000-ton Crown-class armored cruiser. , and the other two are the largest, using the Qiangsheng class with a standard displacement of 14,400 tons.
However, no matter what class of armored cruiser hull is used to modify it, these six British "aircraft carriers" all follow the "stitch monster" route. The ideas are the same as those of the Ming Dynasty's "Shu Zhongwang" class, and they are all retained. For the aircraft-carrying cruiser's bow, midship superstructure and starboard cannon, only the stern cannon and mizzen mast were removed and replaced with a flat deck. At the same time, a sloping piece was added to the port side, and all the miscellaneous things on the port side deck were removed, turning the port side deck into part of the flight deck.
Different from the Shu Zhongwang class, these six British "stitch monsters" did not build closed hangars - firstly, they are not that big, and even if they were disemboweled to build a hangar, they would not be able to swallow a few aircraft; secondly, It was because the construction schedule was too tight and there was no time to build a hangar.
Therefore, the aircraft on these six "aircraft carriers" were simply crowded on the original rear deck. In order to protect these small pigeon aircraft from wind and rain, the British also put up "pigeon canopies" on the "butts" of the six aircraft-carrying ships. The conditions are still very good.
The official name of the Pigeon aircraft is the F2 Pigeon carrier-based fighter!
Among them, the Blake-class aircraft-carrying armored cruiser can carry up to 21 F2 "pigeon aircraft", the Crown-class aircraft-carrying cruiser can carry up to 24 "pigeon aircraft", and the Qiangsheng-class aircraft can carry 27 "pigeon aircraft" because of its largest size. . The 6 aircraft carriers carry a total of 144 "pigeon aircraft"...the number is not small!
These "pigeon planes" are not only numerous in number, but also of good quality. They are all carefully manufactured by the Hindustan Aircraft Company headquartered in Bombay. Moreover, these planes are no different from the "prototype pigeons" that the British obtained from the Austrian Empire. Same. The "Prototype Pigeon" is a single-wing, two-seater aircraft. Engineers from the Hindustan Aircraft Company changed it into a single-wing, single-seater aircraft... From a two-seater to a single-seater, one less person needs to be installed. Counting a 200-pound fat man, then How much weight should be saved? The weight saved can be used to hold more fuel and hang another bomb. So these "Indian Pigeons" made in India are said to be fighter jets, but in fact they are all team bombers. They are very powerful!
Because of these 144 fighter-bombers, William Baga and George Elliot were able to formulate an air attack plan on Kwajalein Atoll.
According to the intelligence collected by the British, although the defense of the Kwajalein Atoll is not as exaggerated as that of Truk Lagoon and Oahu, it is not weak at all. It has everything it needs - Kwajalein has a land area of 15 square meters. kilometers, and the lagoon area is as high as 1,684 square kilometers... It is also a good place to contain the entire Pacific Fleet. After being liberated by the Ming Dynasty, of course it was necessary to improve the infrastructure in order to better serve the local people. .
After more than a year of construction, there are all kinds of forts, airports, anti-landing obstacles, mine fields, minefields, reinforced concrete shooting shelters, underground oil depots and warehouses, ship docks, submarine docks, etc. There are special restricted areas everywhere on the island that say "No Entry, Violators Will Be Shot." It's so convenient to have them all shot and killed. You don't have to go to Hawaii, you can just go to the atoll.
In addition to everything on the lagoon, there are also torpedo boats, gunboats and shallow water heavy gunboats stationed in the lagoon!
Although these "good things" on Kwajalein Atoll and in the lagoon are difficult to resist the attack of the main force of the British Royal Navy, it is not easy to rely on traditional giant ship cannons to destroy the atoll in a short time. They may suffer considerable losses... and the British Royal Navy doesn't really want to take Kwajalein Atoll. They came all the way to encircle the point and get reinforcements from the Pacific Fleet!
Therefore, it does not make much sense to use precious battleships to attack this low-value (for Britain) and difficult-to-gnaw bone.
Therefore, William Baga and his aviation fleet commander George Elliot formulated an attack plan of "aircraft bombing" and "battleship hiding".
That is to say, George Elliot commanded planes to bomb the Kwajalein Atoll first, destroying the defense facilities above, and at the same time forcing... or luring the main force of the Ming Navy's Pacific Fleet to come to the rescue.
As long as the main force of the Pacific Fleet of the Ming Navy comes, George Yilu will use the method of bombing and retreating at the same time to guide them to William Baga's main fleet... and then William Baga will command him The powerful battleship formation composed of William IV class, Indian Emperor class, Victory class, and Indomitable class will fight to the death with the Pacific Fleet of the Ming Navy!
Although the Ming Navy has a large number of cutting-edge battleships with excellent design and fine manufacturing, these battleships have followed a balanced development path. The three lines of power, armor, and firepower are almost "equilateral"... This kind of ship is indeed There are no weaknesses, but neither are the strengths.
The British King William IV class and the Indian Emperor class are both "ships" that take the opposite direction, giving up speed and focusing on armor and firepower... Although they cannot outrun the fast battleships of the Ming Dynasty, their artillery and armor will not fall behind. Windy.
If you can open up and fight, there will be no problem in fighting to the death.
For the current British Empire, as long as they can fight to the death with the Ming Dynasty's Pacific Fleet, they can delay their attack on India and Australia... When there is time, there will be variables.
Maybe the Americans in North America showed their might and defeated the Japanese and Mexicans in Texas?
Maybe something big will happen in Europe, like a republican revolution in Rakshasa! Or is the French Republic and the Rakshasa Empire fighting over the revolution?
Maybe Prussia and Austria reached some agreement at that conference of German states to form a unified German empire or republic...
In short, as long as the UK can keep Australia from losing and prevent the Ming Dynasty from achieving results that are enough to gain unanimous domestic support, there is still hope for a "peaceful and pro-communist world"...
George Elliot stood on the bridge of his flagship, the Black aircraft-carrying armored cruiser, nicknamed the "Lucky Black", watching the soldiers below playing with a "pigeon plane". This pigeon plane He flew into the sky to expel an uninvited reconnaissance airship from the Ming Navy.
Seeing that the plane finally rose into the sky after gliding on the deck for a while, George Yilu took a breath and asked: "Has our reconnaissance airship generated electricity? How far are we from Kwajalein Atoll?"
"Still..." Just as the staff officer was about to reply, he was interrupted by a telegram handed to him. After a few quick glances at the telegram, his eyebrows relaxed and he reported: "Telegram from reconnaissance airship, Kwajalein Ring There are more than a dozen Ming warships and cruisers docked in the reef!"
"What?" George Yilu also looked happy, "There is actually a battleship!"
