The cruiser Wei Qing has been at sea for more than a month and has achieved a lot.
It set out to sea from Zhanjiang Port, Guangdong on December 12, passed through the Philippine Islands and entered the Western Pacific on the 25th. It continued sailing eastward for five days, carefully staying away from the Ryukyu Islands. On the 17th, the Weiqing turned northeast and entered a relatively
Busy Pacific route. This route is mainly a series of countries and regions along the East Asian coast, such as the Ming Dynasty, Japan, the Soviet Union, the Southeast Asian colonies of Britain, France, the United States and the Netherlands, and trade routes with Australia and South American countries. Now the United States has stopped trading with Japan
After the steel and oil trade, Australia and South American countries have become Japan's largest trading partners. These resource-rich areas continue to add fuel to Japan's war machine.
Australia, South American countries and some European countries, in short, as long as it is possible for large-scale trade with Japan, have received notes from the Ming government. They were told: Japan and Ming are now at war, and Ming is conducting a war blockade against Japan.
.According to the Hague Convention on Sea Capture by Warring Countries, if your merchant ship sails to Japan carrying prohibited goods, our navy will seize or sink it once it is detected.
Regarding the Ming Dynasty's note, European countries and Australia took it seriously. They banned their own merchant ships from providing goods transportation to Japan and insisted that Japan must send its own ships to transport goods at its own risk. We only sell things and do not guarantee transportation. After all, these
European countries and the Ming Dynasty have inextricably linked interests, including political and economic. Several European powers have great interests in Asia, either as colonies or commercial interests, more or less.
They rely on establishing a good relationship with Ming Dynasty. Especially Australia, not only is its country close to Ming Dynasty, but Ming Dynasty is also its largest trading partner. None of these countries want to offend Ming Dynasty for Japan.
But those South American countries are different. First, Ming is not the largest customer in South America, at least not bigger than Japan. Second, South American countries are far away from Ming. Even if Ming is deeply offended, Ming cannot do anything to them.
And unlike European countries, they have no political and commercial interests to safeguard in Asia. Therefore, South American countries basically ignored Ming's note and did not prohibit their own shipowners from providing freight to Japan. This way they can make a lot more money, because
The CIF price offered by Japan is very high.
Now, the Wei Qing has crossed this route and has begun to search for Japanese fleets bound for Japan, as well as Japanese fleets bound for other areas.
On December 19, the Wei Qing intercepted a Japanese merchant fleet sailing from Australia. The merchant fleet consisted of eight cargo ships and was escorted by two destroyers. The Wei Qing first easily sank the two Japanese destroyers.
Then he ordered the merchant fleet to stop for inspection. Probably because the cruisers looked much more deterrent than submarines, five merchant ships accepted their fate on the spot and stopped to let the Ming navy sailors board the ships. There were also three Japanese merchant ships that were more courageous.
Refusing to stop the boat, he accelerated his escape.
The Wei Qing didn't even pursue it. It just raised its main gun and wiped out all three merchant ships with a few shots. Next, the Ming army sailors boarded the remaining five Japanese merchant ships for inspection. Although the Ming army knew that there must be "prohibited items" on board.
"Product", but this scene still needs to be done. The Wei Qing is not a submarine, but a cruiser. Its speed, firepower, and deterrence are sufficient. It is fully qualified to act in accordance with international conventions. There is no need for others to make excuses.
Sure enough, the five cargo ships were full of iron ore. So, the Ming army officers read out the relevant provisions of the "Convention on Restrictions on the Exercise of the Right of Capture in Naval Warfare" on the spot, then imprisoned the Japanese crew on the cruiser, and then "
"Dangdang" bombarded five Japanese cargo ships and sent them to the bottom of the sea. Then, the Wei Qing continued to cruise and launched seaplanes to search for the fleet.
On December 23, the seaplane of the Wei Qing searched for a Brazilian cargo ship coming from the east, and it was highly suspected of being bound for Japan. So the Wei Qing increased its speed and caught up with it six hours later, taking the ship
The ship was intercepted. The Ming Navy sailors boarded the ship for inspection and found another ship full of iron ore. In the captain's cabin, they found customs declaration documents and cargo documents, proving that it was shipped to Japan. So the Ming Navy sailors
They captured the Brazilian crew of the ship and locked them up with the Japanese in the cargo hold of the cruiser. Then they sunk the Brazilian merchant ship with a few shots.
On Christmas Day, December 25, the Wei Qing intercepted another Argentinian cargo ship. It was a cargo of copper ore, and the documents on the ship also proved that it was an order from Japan. The Wei Qing intercepted the Argentine cargo ship again.
The ship was sunk. The unlucky Argentine captain and crew spent an unforgettable Christmas in the dark and crowded cargo hold of the Wei Qing.
On January 2, the seaplane of the Wei Qing searched for a large Japanese fleet, consisting of 20 cargo ships and 4 oil tankers, escorted by 8 destroyers, traveling from south to north. It is estimated that this is from the Soviet Union in Europe.
The one that came first probably came from the south of Australia, avoiding the Ming Dynasty's Nanyang sphere of influence and was not discovered. The Wei Qing increased its power and caught up with the fleet eight hours later.
But when it caught up, it was already very close to Okinawa, and was already within the combat radius of the Okinawa dive bombers. The Wei Qing did not dare to engage in a slow artillery battle with the Japanese destroyer from a long distance. It wanted a quick victory. Therefore,
The Wei Qing gave up its range advantage, increased its power and rushed to a distance of several thousand meters, and launched an intensive artillery battle with eight Japanese destroyers.
Although the Japanese destroyers only have 120mm main guns, they are well-trained and have excellent gunnery skills. They lined up in a line, fully deployed all the main guns of the eight warships, and focused their firepower on the Wei Qing with a "t" tactic.
At the same time, speed up the evacuation of merchant ships and oil tankers.
The Wei Qing also turned sideways, fully deployed its four main gun turrets and half of its secondary guns, and bombarded the Japanese destroyers one by one.
In such a face-to-face artillery battle, both sides quickly got a taste of each other's shells. Within 15 minutes, four Japanese destroyers were destroyed, and the Wei Qing itself was hit by more than ten 120mm shells, and the rear bridge armor was damaged. The Wei Qing
Now that it was considered a minor injury, it was no longer eager to fight, and did not want to have another conflict in order to attack a merchant fleet. So, the Wei Qing turned its guns and turned to bombard the oil tanker, while at the same time changing its course and breaking away from the battle.
The Japanese fleet is also eager to get rid of this "beast" as soon as possible. The remaining four destroyers provide final cover, and the remaining merchant ships and oil tankers increase their power to escape. However, the Wei Qing is a cruiser, a condition for being called a "cruiser".
It is to be able to become a powerful weapons platform that can attack multiple targets at the same time. Once the Wei Qing breaks away from the face-to-face "battle formation" artillery battle and gets rid of the unfavorable "T" position, nearly half of its artillery will immediately take flight.
It was free. It bombarded a Japanese destroyer and two oil tankers at the same time.
Twenty minutes later, the two sides gradually broke away from contact, leaving only some water columns rising in the distance. At this time, one oil tanker had been sunk, and the other was blazing with fire and burning crookedly.