Four destroyers, "Yiyang", "Xiangyang", and "Taizhou", and "Xuzhou" kept shuttled back and forth above the sea where the enemy submarines were discovered, throwing deep-water bombs into the sea.
In this era, the underwater ultrasonic detection devices equipped by warships were still very primitive. Several submarines regarded a reef more than 90 meters underwater as an enemy submarine, and repeatedly bombed it back and forth, but in vain.
After about an hour of tossing, several warships gave up their attacks on the enemy, and the fleet left the waters where the enemy submarines encountered, and began to continue sailing towards the Port of Cameroon according to the established combat plan.
The port of Cameroon is located at the mouth of the Woori River. To be honest, the British were not only plundering wealth, but also lacked in the construction of the colony. More than 20 years after they took over the management of German West Africa, this West African commercial port was still the same as before.
The appearance of the Germans during their governance has not changed much.
The next morning, the fleet arrived at the Gulf of Guinea on the coast of West Africa.
In the combat room of the "Huashan", the flagship sailor reported to General Sa Shijun after careful calculations on the chart: "Sir, the fleet will reach the Port of Cameroon in 6 hours!"
The fleet is located about 100 nautical miles off the coast of West Africa. The signal mast of the "Huashan" raised the "z" signal flag of "beginning combat". According to the scheduled plan, two German air ships will launch an Abidjan.
Air strikes, and four Republican Navy airships will launch attacks on British ports in West Africa.
After just experiencing a hurricane, it was still raining heavily in the sky. Under such harsh sea conditions, a large number of British and American joint fleets were braved by wind and rain, hurried south along the coast of Africa, and were in critical condition to reinforcements.
Freetown and Monrovia in the state.
In the well-decorated combat room of the flagship "Queen Elizabeth" of the Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet, the Mediterranean Fleet Commander General Cunningham, was sitting next to him, Lieutenant General Samuel, commander of the H Fleet.
Major General Mountbatten, commander of the destroyer fleet, and Rear Admiral Hewitt, commander of the US North African fleet, were more than a dozen senior fleet officers.
Through the small porthole, you can see layers of gray waves rushing towards the back of the battleship. As an old battleship built in the First World War, it is very symbolic to the entire Royal Navy.
After large-scale modernization and modification, the "Queen Elizabeth" has been completely renovated on both the electronic systems and internal power systems, and has even become the flagship of the main fleet again.
"Everyone, we will face the most difficult time. According to the intelligence, the Chinese and Germans were going to attack Freetown, thank God, this hurricane saved us, otherwise we had not yet arrived at the Horn of West Africa,
I'm afraid there has been a fall. Our conservative and missteps in the naval technology have left our aviation ships far behind our opponents in performance and number, and we will always face enemies that are much stronger than us until the new aviation warships are in service."
Admiral Cunningham, who was already gray-haired, had a firm eye. Under sixty years old, was one of the few senior generals in the Royal Navy who had a deep understanding of aviation operations. Although he had
He strongly advocated reducing the number of battleships and making every effort to build new aviation warships, but his opinions have never been taken seriously.
"I need a special reminder here, that we must admit that our opponents have come to our front in terms of naval thinking and technical equipment. Although they have never been traditional maritime powers, the emergence of aircraft has changed everything.
Although we have more battleships than our opponents, please remember that we only have three aviation warships. And the number of carrier-based aircraft is only one-quarter of the opponents. This is a new era, the sky dominated the ocean, and we are in the process of
In an absolute disadvantage, the fleet cannot leave the shore-based aircraft to protect and go to the far sea to fight the Chinese!”
"Then we will lose control of the ocean, which will be very difficult." Lord Mountbatten said, in his prime: "We must turn this situation around as soon as possible!"
"Before the new aviation warships are put into service, our principle is to try to avoid fighting the Chinese. We have to endure two to three months!" Major General Hewitt said that the U.S. Admiral Hewitt had decided to put the new service "Egypt"
Sex-class aviation warships are given priority to the Atlantic Fleet to ensure the safety of transportation to Britain.
The Mediterranean fleet commanded by Admiral Cunningham includes the H Fleet and the K Fleet, and has two "Glory Class" and "Eagle" aviation warships. Two modernized "Queen Elizabeth Class" battleships, and two newly entered service.
George V-class battleships, the "Hood" and "Counterattack" battleships and six heavy cruisers and other main battleships, while the US fleet commanded by Major General Hewitt has the "Massachusetts" and "Germany"
The three battleships of the USS XX and the USS New York and the three heavy cruisers, Augusta, Witage and Tuscaloosa.
If we analyze the strength before the war, this fleet is definitely not weaker than the Sino-German joint fleet, but in fact, in the aviation era, the balance of power at sea has undergone earth-shaking changes, and battleships have changed from the main force of naval battles to an expensive
The escort warships are not much better than the air defense cruisers that escort.
In the Gulf of Guinea, in the drizzle, dozens of giant ships were stationed in the port of Cameroon. The sailors on the ship were busy repairing antennas and some mechanical devices damaged by the storm. A sudden hurricane caused trouble to the fleet.
After a small loss, after struggling in the storm for more than ten hours, the fleet returned to the port with difficulty to avoid the wind and waves.
The two comprehensive repair ships traveling with the fleet seemed very busy. During the storm, the fighter planes tied to the flight deck were severely damaged, and more than a dozen planes were blown into the sea by the strong wind. In addition, the planes parked on the deck were severely damaged.
About half of the aircraft's wings broke, and a total of 110 aircraft were severely damaged in the storm.
This has almost driven the losses suffered by the Shanghai Air Force in a medium-sized maritime battle.
Of course, the most serious loss is the delicate radio devices on the warships.
In the face of nature, humans sometimes seem very small and cannot fight against it.
On the German flagship "Scharnhorst", Admiral Lukins held a small cocktail party. After the Sino-German joint fleet occupied the port of Cameroon, the German head of state specially sent a enthusiastic commendation.
Telephone, congratulations to the German fleet on returning to West Africa after being driven out of Africa by the British in 1915, which symbolizes that the German Empire has returned to the right path to prosperity.
On the German broadcast, Dr. Goebbels also described the fleet's tactical action as a "great victory!"
"A message sent back from our submarine force, a huge British fleet has moved south from Gibraltar and Casablanca, and has now passed the Green Corner." On the Schonhorst, Admiral Lukins, To Sashijun
The Navy General informed the latest situation. In the Atlantic Ocean, the Republican Army could only rely on the intelligence support of the Germans.
"Do they want to have a decisive battle with us? This is just right." Sa Shijun said with a smile.
"I guess they may not have the courage yet. This fleet is likely to strengthen the defenses of Freetown and Monrovia, including a U.S. fleet," Lukins said. "They will definitely be on the shore-based aircraft.
Action under protection.”
"Maybe we can change our tactics and let them go!" Sa Shijun thought for a while and said.