"Commander, are we going south to search the Makassar Strait?" In the war room of the "Li Jing", Wei Zihao leaned over the huge chart and kept drawing something. Operations Staff Officer Xie Boyuan put a cup of tea on the
On the small stainless steel table, "The tea you asked for is here."
Wei Zihao nodded, lifted up from the chart, walked to the small table and sat down.
According to the original battle plan, the attack fleet will head to the Makassar Strait to intercept Japanese transport ships. However, judging from the current situation, the Japanese are likely to have received the news that merchant ships taking this route may be parked somewhere in Nanyang.
port, or took a longer route through the Maluku Sea.
If that's the case, you still won't get anything by heading towards Makassar.
He took two sips of tea, raised his head and ordered to his combat staff: "Let's go to the Caroline Islands and try our luck on the Australian route. Order each ship to keep a distance of 50 yards and search eastward."
In the early morning of July 15, a week had passed since the day China and Japan declared war.
This Republican fleet is sailing in the waters east of the Palau Islands in a battle formation. In the middle is the large cruiser "Li Jing", and to the north is the cruiser "Nanchang", which is an improved "Fuzhou-class" cruiser, larger than the "Nanchang" cruiser.
"Fuzhou" is a whole circle bigger, with a standard displacement of 9,700 tons, and the main gun has been changed to 4 3-mounted 152mm/50-caliber main guns. On the south side of the fleet is the cruiser "Wuchang", Wuchang
It is the first ship of the just-built "Wuchang-class" air defense cruiser. This class of light cruiser was originally designed to the standard of a heavy cruiser, with a standard displacement design of 13,600 tons. In tests conducted by the Republic of the Navy, it was found that the light cruiser is enough to complete the task.
Most of the tasks undertaken by heavy cruisers, the emergence of high-speed battleships made heavy cruisers too fragile, and aircraft ships will become the main force of future maritime operations, and their main guns were changed to 4-seat 3-mounted 152mm artillery. However,
The layout of the anti-aircraft firepower has been greatly strengthened, turning it into a typical anti-aircraft cruiser. Due to the change in the weight of the main turret, a total weight of about 2,600 tons has been saved. Most of this weight has been used to strengthen the armor thickness, especially
The protection of horizontal armor greatly improves its protection.
The rising sun shines on the sea, and the blue sea surface is filled with little waves. The wind and waves are calm, and everything is so beautiful.
On the watchtower on the upper part of the bridge of the "Nanchang", Sun Fuxing, the watchman on duty on the port side, pushed Wang Chengbin beside him, "Hey, wake up, it's time to change the guard in half an hour!" At dawn!
This is the time when sailors are most likely to fall asleep. Wang Chengbin rubbed his sore eyes and wrapped his jacket tighter. Even in this sea area close to the equator, he could still feel a slight chill in the early morning.
Sun Fuxing took out the cigarette case from his pocket, took out two cigarettes, and gave one to Wang Chengbin. The wind on the watchtower was very strong, and he had to hold up his clothes to light a fire. He held up the lit cigarette in his hand and pointed it at the people behind him.
The lookouts shouted, "Man, do you want one too?"
The two people ignored him. Sun Fuxing felt bored, so he walked back to his post while smoking a cigarette. There was a huge monocular cruise telescope like a 37mm army gun. He slowly shook the handle.
Carefully search the waterline on the horizon.
A faint plume of smoke seemed to be floating in the northwest sky. He straightened up, rubbed his eyes, and confirmed again. It was true, there was indeed a faint plume of smoke rising from the waterline on the horizon.
"On the morning of July 15, 1937, the weather was fine and cloudless, and the waves on the water were very small." Inside the captain's room of the Japanese bulk carrier "Haruwa Maru", which was loaded with 1,280 tons of tin ore, the captain closed the logbook and wrote it.
Putting it back in the closet above the desk, suddenly the alarm bell rang throughout the cabin.
Yuan Yuan hurriedly ran to the pilothouse on the bridge, "What's going on?"
"There is a warship approaching us at high speed." First Officer Matsuri pointed to the right rear of the ship.
Yuan Yuan ran to the right side of the bridge and raised the telescope in his hand. On the white sky, he saw a huge warship sailing toward him at high speed on the sea, with two white waves on both sides of the ship.
.
"Three chimneys, four main turrets..." Yuan Mingji carefully observed the rapidly approaching warship while recalling various images of imperial warships in his mind. Soon he found that he was in trouble.
The red naval flag hanging on the approaching warship can already be distinguished.
"Chinese cruiser!" Yuan Yuan shouted and immediately ran back to the cockpit.
The first mate inside had also identified the Chinese warship, and the second mate Hashimoto, who was steering the ship, looked very nervous.
"Quick, send a report. We have encountered a Chinese cruiser. It should be a 'Fuzhou-class' cruiser." Yuan Yuan rushed into the communication room and shouted to the telegraph operator.
About seven or eight nautical miles to the right of the "Haruwa Maru", the cruiser "Nanchang" was ordered to come over to check the situation. In this era, generally only cargo ships with a displacement of less than 3,000 tons will use single chimneys, while warships and even destroyers will have them.
Two to three chimneys, because of the need for speed, they are generally equipped with many more boilers than cargo ships.
"Captain, the Japanese are sending out telegrams!" Captain Song Shijie of the "Nanchang" has been standing in front of the bridge, holding binoculars with both hands and watching the situation of the Japanese cargo ship in front. A signal was sent out from the "Nanchang" asking the Japanese
The boat stopped, but the other party ignored it at all and instead sped up and fled forward.
"Grandma, fire the cannon and sink it!" Song Shijie cursed and then gave the order.
The main guns on the "Nanchang" had already been aimed at the prey in front. As the order was issued, there was a thunderous burst of sound on the sea surface, and three huge water columns rose up from the left front of the "Harnwa Maru".
"Passed, the target is 7,000 yards, the elevation angle is 3, prepare each gun, fire!" After a test firing of the front main gun, the gunnery commander on the command tower of the "Nanchang" stared closely at the bullet point.
Each turret adjusted its bomb point and then issued the order for the first salvo.
With a loud noise, the main gun muzzle of the "Nanchang" sprayed out four balls of orange-red flames. The entire warship suddenly sat back, and the warship was almost enveloped in a cloud of brown smoke.
The port side secondary battery of the "Nanchang" also started firing, just treating it as a live-fire exercise.
After several rounds of salvos, the Japanese cargo ship was already leaning sideways on the sea and unable to move. The surviving sailors began to jump into the water. After a while, the ship sank into the water, forming a huge swirl.
Afterwards, only an oil stain and some floating wooden boards were left on the water.
The "Nanchang" put down the speedboat and fished out the Japanese sailors who fell into the sea. A total of 17 people were fished out. The captain and first mate were both killed in the bombardment. Most of the sailors who escaped were sailors working below the deck.
The results of this day's battle were not bad. Wei Zihao's raiding fleet sank a total of two Japanese bulk carriers and a 4,800-ton oil tanker. In the evening, the fleet caught up on the route from Sydney to Japan in the southern part of Gaferut Island.
A Japanese cargo ship laden with iron ore that fell behind due to mechanical failure. Perhaps because of his long stay in the West, the captain of the Japanese cargo ship automatically raised the white flag. Wei Zihao learned from the logbook found on the ship,
This was a huge fleet with 22 merchant ships, so they immediately ordered the fleet to turn around and chase north at a high speed of 24 knots.
At 11 o'clock in the morning the next day, the Republican attack fleet still saw no shadow of the Japanese fleet. The five reconnaissance planes released by the fleet did not find any trace. The fleet staff climbed on the chart and kept using compasses to calculate on the chart.
The possible arrival location of the Japanese fleet.
According to the speed, the fleet should be able to catch up with the Japanese fleet between 6 and 7 o'clock in the morning. However, now the fleet has caught up to the Northern Mariana Islands, but no trace of the Japanese can be found.
"There is only one possibility. The Japanese hid in a port halfway." Xie Boyuan threw the pencil on the chart and said, "There are only two places along the way that can accommodate so many ships. One is Saipan.
One is Guam. The Japanese cannot go to American territory, they can only go to Saipan!"