"It's a trap!"
It was not until the battleship Royal Oak was hit by a torpedo and a huge column of water exploded at the stern that Fisher finally realized what was happening.
"We have walked headfirst into the Imperial Navy's trap..."
Now it seems that everything is obvious!
Perhaps from the very beginning, the Imperial Navy had carefully laid this trap, a trap designed to weaken the Combined Fleet.
But how did their torpedo boats travel so far?
When this thought came to Fisher's mind, the atmosphere in the command tower had become extremely tense.
"18 degrees starboard! Torpedo boat!"
A sudden scream rang in Fisher's ears. He saw a small torpedo boat approaching him against the wind and waves. Then the torpedo boat fired two torpedoes almost at the bow of the ship. It was a head-on attack that could not be avoided.
"Order, immediately..."
Before Fisher could give the order, a violent explosion was heard from the bow of the HMS Canopus, the British Empire's most advanced battleship. The waves caused by the explosion almost submerged the bow. The Canopus, which was sailing, suddenly stopped as if it had hit a wall, and Admiral Fisher fell down like everyone else in the command tower.
The flagship was hit!
At this moment, another torpedo boat approached from the starboard side. These two torpedo boats were like fish in troubled waters on the battlefield, passing through one warship after another, and finally fired two torpedoes two or three hundred meters away from the "Canopus", and then immediately broke away quickly.
A minute later, two violent explosions were heard again on its starboard side. Amid the violent explosions, some crew members had already begun to save themselves - lowering lifeboats.
In the pitch darkness, shouts of "Water in the ammunition depot!" and "Water in the boiler room" kept coming from the voice tube of the battleship "Canopus". Just a few minutes after being hit, the front bow of the Canopus was submerged, the stern began to lift up, and the boiler and engine could no longer work normally.
At this time, the "Canopus" had been completely paralyzed in the sea. Fisher, who stood up with the help of something, realized that this was his last moment. He gave the last order to the radio operator beside him.
"My ship is under torpedo attack. All ships, leave me alone and retreat from the battle zone immediately!"
After giving this order, Fisher emphasized it again.
"All ships retreat to the northwest!"
This is the only thing he can do. If an hour ago, what Fisher valued in his heart was victory, now what he hopes for is to preserve his strength.
When the captain gave the order to inject water to maintain balance, Fisher saw a torch burning on the sea... More than twenty warships were hit, at least half of which were battleships or armored cruisers.
This naval battle between a small force and a large one completely overturned his imagination, but what could he do? He was powerless.
"Ma Han, it's up to you..."
When Fisher put his hope on Mahan, the torpedo boats on the other side did not give up the attack. As the British and American Allied fleets fled, they did not pursue them, but continued to consolidate their results - using the remaining torpedoes to fire at those warships that had lost their ability to move and were trying to fill water to maintain balance.
Zheng Peiyun, who had already used up all his torpedoes, looked at the British and American fleets fleeing to the northwest, raised the corners of his lips and said.
“We won!”
Yes, we won!
But this is just the beginning. There are other troops who will continue to take over their attacks on their way of retreat.
When Mahan took over the command ship and led the British and American fleet, which had lost one-third of its strength, to escape the battlefield, he did not know that another group of killers was already prepared.
"Okay, brothers, now it's our turn!"
In the central valley of Trindade Island, on a wooden platform painted with camouflage paint, a group of pilots were shouting excitedly. This is a simple airport. Unlike ordinary airports, it is built with steel beams and wooden boards, like a double-decker bridge. The top floor is a flight runway that is 1 km long and 100 meters wide at its widest point. The lower floor is a hangar. This airport was built temporarily - after the "Hampton Raid", in the face of the amazing power of the aircraft, the Navy expanded the naval aviation fleet on a large scale and modified the interception plan. 175 aircraft were deployed on the island. Their mission was to wait for opportunities to carry out air strikes before and after the torpedo attack.
For the Imperial Navy, which closely grasped the pulse of the times, they did not limit naval battles to battles between warships. What was the core of their plan? It was to give full play to every force of the navy to defeat their enemies.
So whether it is a torpedo boat or an airplane, they all exist for one purpose, which is to defeat the enemy.
The Imperial Navy did not limit naval warfare to ordinary battleships. After all, for the young Imperial Navy, they had no historical baggage. The only thing they needed to consider was winning.
Just defeat the enemies as much as possible!
“Sheng Decai!”
"have!"
"Li Chengen!"
"have!"
"Xu Guoen!"
"have……"
At the side of the runway, the commander of the 23rd Naval Aviation Wing personally held the list and called out the names of the pilots one by one. Every time a pilot's name was called, he would step forward and salute the commander in return. Then the officer holding the wine glass would place the glass in front of the pilot with both hands, and only after receiving the wine would he leave the formation.
"Drink to victory!"
Li Chengye, holding a wine glass, shouted in a deep voice.
"Drink to victory!"
Everyone raised their glasses at the same time and drank together. According to Chinese tradition, when a soldier is about to go to war, he will always raise his glass and drink it all. Since ancient times, fine wine has always been with heroes. When everyone raised their glasses, the solemn farewell ceremony has reached its climax.
"Everyone! Stand at attention!"
Everyone who had just put down their glasses stood at attention again.
"Sir, the 23rd Marine Regiment has completed its attack preparations. Please give instructions!"
"Prepare to attack! Disband."
Following the order from the wing commander, after the ceremony, the pilots ran towards their planes, talking and laughing, without any hesitation or delay, even though they had reiterated in the previous combat meeting that they still had the right to voluntarily withdraw before the plane took off and that there would be replacement crew members to fill their places, but no one did so.
Even the pilots of the substitute crews offered high prices of hundreds of dollars in exchange for the opportunity to take their place in the flight.
But who would miss such an opportunity?
This is the moment that determines the fate of the country!
The fate of a country is decided in an instant. If I can be involved in it, even if it means death... I would be willing to do it!
Most of the ground crew members at the airport gathered on both sides of the runway at this time, watching them leave.
"salute!"
Following a command, the officers and soldiers standing on both sides of the runway saluted at the same time to the group of brave warriors who were about to go to battle.
When the 23rd Wing set out, the band played the national anthem. Photographers near the runway took photos of the pilots saluting their comrades, using film to record their last moments before the attack.
They smiled towards the camera lens, their smiles were very bright. At this moment, no one knew that they had already decided to die!
"Goodbye, sir..."
After boarding the plane and sitting in his seat, Li Chengye was about to check the aircraft instruments when the ground crew officer next to him looked at him with red eyes. They all knew the decision made by these pilots.
Looking at his appearance, Li Chengye nodded and said casually.
"When you return victorious, let's meet at the Martyrs' Shrine!"
…
Just as one plane after another took off facing the early morning sun and as the pilots flew towards the sea amid the farewell of the ground crew, Emperor Zhu who was far away in the Forbidden City in Zhongdu had already learned the result of the first wave of interception battles.
"Hmm, hmm, very good, very good... hmm..."
Emperor Zhu was holding the phone, listening to the report from the other end of the line, with a look of joy on his face, nodding from time to time.
"The officers and soldiers of the torpedo boat unit did a great job! They are truly worthy of being called the Jing Ke of the empire. There is no better way to defeat the great with the small. When they return victorious, I hope to invite them to the palace for a banquet. Yes, the Ministry of Internal Affairs will arrange it. Yes, not only them, but also other meritorious soldiers. I will entertain them in the palace!"
When hanging up the phone, Emperor Zhu couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief. He stared at the nautical chart on the wall, then walked to the wall, looked at the map and said.
"The first attack was successful, sinking seven battleships, including Fisher's flagship. That means the Combined Fleet now has 25 battleships left. It's still very strong! But it doesn't matter..."
While talking to himself, Emperor Zhu picked up a blue pencil and drew a line on the nautical chart. This was the route of Mahan's retreat as speculated by the navy. Then, based on Trindade Island, he drew a circle with a radius of 400 kilometers. This was the combat radius of the "Sea Holly Aircraft". As long as they entered this range, they would certainly not escape the second wave of attacks.
What will be the consequences of the second wave of attacks?
According to the navy's calculations, about 20% of the enemy ships can be sunk. After the second wave of attacks, the Anglo-American fleet has been severely weakened, and the main force of the navy will be here...
To the north of Trindade Island, there is a big black "X" dot. The main force of the Imperial Fleet will intercept it in that sea area and engage in a decisive battle at sea with its remaining forces.
"After X days, there will be submarine attacks. Next, the remaining enemy ships will face attacks from the Imperial Sea Wolves..."
Emperor Zhu drew a circle on the map with a pencil and a smile appeared on his face.
"These three attacks depend on whether you can hold on..."
At this time, it was 4:37 in the morning and the sun had already risen.
Under the shining sun, 175 planes were flying low over the sea. The young pilots kept scanning the sea with their eyes, and they were only 400 to 500 meters away from the sea surface.
This height is neither too high nor too low.
"Location!"
Once again, Li Chengye asked loudly, and the mechanic in the back seat shouted loudly.
"Sir, they are still maintaining the same course, about 200 kilometers away from us, the encounter point..."
The mechanic's answer made Li Chengye frown. Whatever he feared would come true. Before setting off, what he feared most was that the Combined Fleet was too far away from them, outside the combat radius. And now it seems that it will definitely be outside the combat radius.
"What if we are outside the combat radius?"
Once again, the deputy commander's question emerged in Li Chengye's mind. That was the question raised by the superior during his instructions at the land base before they entered the base.
"There is no combat radius!"
A young pilot said in a relaxed tone.
"What?"
"Sir, we don't know what the combat radius is. We're already at war, so why are we still talking about it? The most important thing about war is winning. As long as we are allowed to attack, it doesn't matter if it's 400 kilometers or 800 kilometers, it's the same to us!"
Yes, there is no difference!
…
At 7:30 in the morning, for the naval officers and soldiers of the British and American Combined Fleet, they were like wounded beasts licking their wounds. The night attack in the early hours of the morning brought an unimaginable blow to the fleet, but it was more of a psychological blow.
"how so?"
Mahan was in a terrible mood. As a naval tactical expert, although he had considered the threat of torpedo boats, he had never thought that torpedo boats could be used in the ocean, let alone that torpedo boats could be used alone to carry out night attacks. This was simply... unbelievable.
"Admiral, we lost eight battleships, four aircraft carriers, and three armored cruisers..."
While listening to the report, Mahan's brows were furrowed. Facing the heavy losses, he asked.
"Can you be sure that their torpedo boats set out from Trindade Island?"
"Sir, this is just our speculation at the moment. Yesterday, we were attacked about 200 nautical miles from Trindade Island, which is consistent with the activity range of torpedo boats."
"How far are we from Trindade now?"
"300 nautical miles,"
"We must get out of the dangerous position as soon as possible. After all, we cannot afford to suffer such losses again..."
After thinking for a while, Ma Han said again.
"On the way back, we will pass those islands, I mean the islands controlled by the Empire. Mark them on the nautical chart, and then we must try our best to avoid similar attacks. Also, be alert to the Empire's submarines..."
Raising the telescope and looking towards the vast ocean, Ma Han suddenly felt an ominous premonition in his heart.
How many murderous intentions are lurking in the sea!
How could the Empire have only sent out torpedo boats?
Torpedo boats are just their first move, so what’s the next step?
While Mahan was looking at the sea with great concern, the lookout on the American destroyer USS Caldwell, who was on alert outside the fleet, was also watching the sea. Holding a telescope, he observed the sea surface again and again.
Torpedo boat?
submarine?
You will never be successful again.
"Hey, man, there's no way they'll come out again..."
Tom on the side said.
"A sneak attack will only happen once, and it will happen at night. It's daytime now, and the weather is so..."
Suddenly, Tom froze for a full second or two before he spoke.
"Hey man, what do you think that is?"
Following the direction of Tom's finger, Jefferson looked through the telescope and shouted loudly.
"Plane, plane spotted in southwest direction..."
The captain's voice came from the destroyer's bridge.
"Sound the alarm immediately!"
The shrill battle alarm sounded on the USS Caldwell. The anti-aircraft gunners who had been sitting on guard near the gun positions ran to the gun positions and operated the 30mm Gatling anti-aircraft guns. One by one, the anti-aircraft guns began to adjust their firing angles according to the command of the gun commander. While the gunners kept adjusting the guns to try to aim at the planes flying in arrogantly, the officers on the ship looked at the planes through telescopes, and their serious eyes suddenly relaxed.
"It's our plane..."
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