"Kwajalein Atoll...102 Fleet...the main force of the British Navy..."
Zhuge Weidao stood in the fleet command center on the Nanjing command ship, standing on the ocean chart table with his arms folded, staring at the Kwajalein Atoll on the map, and the second fleet of the Ming Dynasty Pacific Fleet (102nd Fleet) marked on the map. , the ship-shaped wooden sign of the main force of the British Royal Navy's Australian Fleet.
These two wooden signs are now located to the west of Kwajalein Atoll. The distance between them does not look too far, probably less than a hundred nautical miles. Since the two fleets are heading towards each other, each time It can be close to 40 nautical miles in an hour, and in two hours at most, we should be able to have a face-to-face encounter... If William Baga does not run away, a battle is likely to determine the outcome of this world war. The decisive battle at sea will begin before this evening.
As long as the fighting begins, the British fleet will be finished! Even if the battleships of the 102nd Fleet cannot solve such a huge British fleet before dark, they can still stick to the British fleet with their speed advantage... As long as the 102nd Fleet can stick to the main force of the British navy, then the 101st Fleet will know Where should we rush? There are three to four hundred carrier-based aircraft on the six aircraft carriers of the 101 fleet. As long as they follow the British fleet for a day or two, they will be blown up!
By then, the Pacific Fleet will have too many ways to deal with the main force of the Royal Navy.
If the Ming Dynasty can achieve complete victory in this naval battle, then this world war does not seem to be a protracted war that will last for ten or twenty years, and it will almost end with marriage in another one or two years.
But it was not yet evening, and the two large fleets had not yet reached a position where they could not escape each other. If William Baga becomes intimidated now and changes direction to evacuate the battlefield, it can still be done. After all, the speed that Fleet 102 can reach is at most seven or eight knots faster than the main force of the British Navy, and it cannot catch up in 10 hours. And this sky will already turn dark in six or seven hours. It will not be easy to locate the British fleet at that time... Where can we find it in the vast Pacific Ocean?
But whether William Baga is a coward or not...who knows?
Thinking of this, Zhuge Weidao lowered his head and glanced at a telegraph newspaper placed next to the chart table - this was a battle report sent by the garrison commander of Kwajalein Atoll. They and the 102 Fleet dispatched more than 120 fighters. Great results were achieved in the bombing of the British aircraft carrier formation. It is certain that one ship was sunk and four were destroyed!
This means that William Baga should already know that a main fleet of the Ming Navy, including at least several aircraft carriers, is approaching the Kwajalein Atoll.
Now let’s see if he has planted it?
...
"There are more than 100 fighters in one attack wave... Could it be that the main force of the Pacific Fleet is already close to us? This, this..."
William Baga is already scared!
The stiff look on his face as he held the telegram sent by George Elliot, and the trembling voice when he spoke, all showed that he was completely cowed. He no longer had the spirit of the Royal Navy to destroy the enemy when it saw it, and all he could think about was There is only one thought left - run!
There are more than 100 aircraft in one attack wave... If the Ming Navy's aircraft carriers are also sent out in two waves, and some aircraft are reserved for air defense, they will have at least 300 carriers, almost. Five or six aircraft-carrying battleships are nearby!
Now five of William Baga's eight aircraft-carrying patrols are gone, and the losses of carrier-based aircraft and pilots are also extremely heavy, exceeding 100. Not to mention bombing the enemy, the remaining "pigeon planes" are not even enough for fleet air defense. If the enemy is allowed to bomb a few more attack waves, the main force of the Australian fleet will be crippled even if it is not crippled... Once the fleet is crippled, He quickly escaped the pursuit of the Ming Dynasty's Pacific Fleet!
Their battleships can wait until the Australian fleet is severely damaged by bombing, and then charge forward for a decisive battle, so that they can be sure of victory!
So...you have to run!
Just as William Bagga was about to issue an order to evacuate, his chief of staff, Major General Jervis, suddenly said: "Admiral, a telegram from His Majesty the Emperor!
"
"What?" William Baga was surprised, "His Majesty the Emperor's telegram?"
The meaning of the telegram seems to be to send orders by telegram!
What does Emperor William mean? Do you want to give orders to the Australian Grand Fleet to conduct operations across the Atlantic Ocean, the American Continent and half of the Pacific Ocean?
William Baga frowned and asked, "What did His Majesty the Emperor say in his telegram?"
"Admiral," Rear Admiral Jervis frowned and said while reading the telegram, "according to reliable information, the Ming Navy's Nanyang Fleet and Pacific Fleet's aircraft carrier formations are moving eastward, and it is expected that they will arrive within a week. Arrive near Port Moresby within 10 seconds! If we cannot seize the current opportunity to defeat the Ming Dynasty's Pacific Fleet, then we will be flanked by the Ming Dynasty's two large fleets. So... His Majesty the Emperor ordered us to Australia The fleet will engage in a decisive battle with the main force of the Ming Dynasty's Pacific Fleet at all costs!"
William Baga grimaced, "But we just lost five aircraft-carrying armored cruisers!"
Major General Jervis said: "Admiral, His Majesty the Emperor is already aware of our losses, so he sent us a telegram. His Majesty the Emperor hopes that we will fully carry forward the Royal Navy's spirit of destroying the enemy on sight and fight the enemy to the end!" said Then, he handed the telegram in his hand to William Baga, "His Majesty the Emperor also said that if we cannot defeat the main force of the Pacific Fleet this time, then we will lose the world empire... Admiral, Emperor His Majesty is the Commander-in-Chief of all the armed forces of the United Kingdom and the Indian Empire, and we are obliged to obey his orders!"
Rear Admiral Jervis is right. Theoretically, the British Royal Navy is the property of the King of the United Kingdom, and of course it is obliged to obey the emperor's orders!
And Emperor William is not giving blind orders. Although the decisive battle now is unfavorable to the Royal Navy, if we don't fight now, when the Ming Dynasty's Pacific and Nanyang fleets merge, the Royal Navy will have a chance to win?
After the merger, the Ming Dynasty's two ocean fleets will have more than 10 aircraft carriers, the number of carrier aircraft will exceed 500, and the number of battleships will also exceed the Australian fleet...
William Baga had already read the telegram from Emperor William, and then he sighed heavily and said to Major General Jervis: "Get ready for a decisive battle! Give the order to Major General Dundas and order him to lead Fleet B to follow from the Kwajalein Atoll. Behind the protruding Ming Dynasty fleet... they will bring us to the main force of the Ming Dynasty Pacific Fleet."
"Yes, sir!"
...
"Sir, telegram from Fleet 103!"
In the spacious bridge of the "Dazhou", the flagship of the second main force of the Pacific Fleet of the Ming Dynasty, Lieutenant General Li Ke, who was looking down at the chart, heard the voice of his chief of staff and the captain of the "Dazhou", Rear Admiral Yu Yang, He quickly raised his head and asked, "How is it? Has the British fleet retreated?"
Yu Yang walked to the chart table, pointed to the sea area west of Kwajalein Atoll and said: "Half an hour ago, William Baga arrived here... The whole team was heading west at a speed of 18 knots. . In addition, he also sent an advance fleet with armored cruisers as the main force, which was following Guo Baozhi's 103 fleet, chasing and beating them."
"Has Fleet 103 completed its assembly?" Li Kezhi asked.
Fleet 103 was previously split into several teams by Guo Xiaobao. It was only one of the teams that went to Kwajalein Atoll to install torpedoes, but the other teams were also near Kwajalein Atoll. After Guo Xiaobao led the team to highlight the lagoon, The various units of Fleet 103 began to move closer to him.
"Not yet, but soon." Yu Yang said: "In one hour at most, the 103 fleet will be able to complete the assembly with the Kwajalein fleet. At that time, the battle between the two advance fleets will begin! In two hours, the decisive moment will be The great sea battle is about to begin!"
Li Kezhi nodded and said to Yu Yang: "Give orders to King Shu Zhong and King Kui Zhong... An hour and a half later, carrier-based aircraft were dispatched again, this time the target was a British battleship. !」
