March 19, Solomon Sea. 【 I want: super fast update 】

23 fleet, flagship, light cruiser the Yellow River.

The sky full of stars reflected in the sea, Yuehua was smashed by the V-shaped bow in the waves, and the hull of more than 10,000 tons rose and fell, but there was no light to shine through.

Inside the bridge, Lan Jianshu stood beside him with his arms crossed, watching the staff officers point to the chart and discuss the calculations, and his brows became more and more wrinkled.

The fleet had been cruising here for nearly eight days since the mission was received, but it still found nothing, but no one was to blame for this, "because this is a sea that is so broken that it is maddening, and thousands of islands are dotted from the south of the Solomon Islands, and trying to find the enemy in this area of thousands of nautical miles is no different from looking for a needle in a haystack."

Although the imperial counterattack was also launched here, at that time Britain and the United States were in full swing, and the goal was large and obvious, but now Britain and the United States no longer dare to fight head-on. So judging from the several sneak attacks, they were all fight-and-run, and they didn't even care if the results were achieved. It's just a blind attack.

A fleet of 8 types of battleships, 11 old battleships, nearly 80 cruisers, destroyers, and possibly submarines, if they are not curbed and harassed unlimitedly, I am afraid that all the previous efforts will be in vain.

The important thing is that there are also two mysterious capital ships in the hands of the enemy, and figuring out the type is the main purpose of the 23 Fleet: "As long as these two speed capital ships are destroyed, the Anglo-American Southwest Fleet can only retract to Australia again."

The proud British Royal Navy began to play sabotage warfare without regard for face, and the empire naturally had to play well with them, and night was not a British patent.

12 fleet, 31 fleet and 23 fleet. Four Guam-class and two Jilin-class battleships, the former is arriving from Honolulu and Zhoushan, respectively, while two Jilin-class ships of the 23rd Fleet are currently in Nauru.

As an old man in Beiyang, Lan Jianshu is not conspicuous among so many generals, but his attainments in cruiser and destroyer tactics are very deep, thanks to the fact that he has been serving in the patrol formation. Knowing well the importance of light warships in the fleet.

Walk to the porthole. The fleet under control could only see a vague shadow, and the two large destroyers on either side of the front made the corners of his mouth hook.

These are two Chongming Island-class destroyers that have just been launched and delivered, and it is after the Weiqing-class. The product of the Navy generation destroyer after the bidding.

The capabilities of the Weiqing-class destroyers are very satisfactory to the Navy, but they are only 2,500 tons, and the main light cruisers of the Navy are more than 10,000 tons, so a small intermediate cruiser was wanted for a long time, but the plan has been shelved.

Until now, the emergence of Chongming Island-class destroyers has closed this gap, with a standard displacement of 3500 tons and a full load of 4200 tons, which is close to the standard of various countries to protect cruisers. Three twin 130-mm high-level rapid-fire guns were installed. 4 quadruple 37-mm and 8 twin-twin 25-mm guns. Two sets of five-pack 550 mm large torpedo launchers with 20 mines. The anti-submarine capability is also much higher than that of the Weiqing class.

Dish pressurized boiler and two geared variable speed steam turbines. High-speed Witch Festival, endurance 4500 nautical miles/1 nautical mile/10 knots.

Because the body size is more than twice as large as the Weiqing class, the endurance and survivability have been greatly improved, and there are ten more torpedo bombs, but the speed is 2 knots lower than the decelerated Weiqing class, which is not that the power is not good, but the navy feels that 35 knots is enough, and there is no need to pursue high speed. Therefore, most of the displacement is used to improve survivability, seaworthiness and enhance long-term deployment capabilities in the open sea.

Although the performance of the Chongming Island-class destroyer is very good, the price is relatively expensive, and it is wartime, and the number is a very important indicator, "so the number of destroyers of this type is not much" The navy is currently focusing on the Weiqing-class with cheap and lightweight construction speed.

The destroyers of the Imperial Navy have developed to the fourth generation, and the total number of destroyers has grown from a dozen when the navy was first established to as many as sixty now. By this time next year, the number will double.

Since two Jilin-class ships with two Yangtze River class are heading south from Nauru, the 23 fleet is incomplete at this time, "only 2 light cruisers, 2 Chongming Island-class destroyers and 6 Weiqing-class destroyers."

Lan Jianshu is not worried about encountering the main battleships in the Southwest Fleet of the Entente, in fact, those warships with a speed of about 20 knots if they appear in front of them now, "can only add merit to themselves, and what really needs to be careful are the two unknown mysterious warships with about 26 knots".

With a 380 mm main gun, if it can exceed 26 knots, then it is basically similar to the Guam class, even if you pull up all these forces now, you can't leave the other party, because it is impossible for the capital ship to move alone, and there will definitely be similar light cruisers and high-speed destroyers around the activity protection.

What kind of warships are these? Lan Jianshu was also thinking about the two mysterious warships that suddenly appeared in the Pacific Ocean, when the sound of hurried footsteps came from behind. (Full text reading, all in. (.i. Want. Wen. Learning Network)

"Report, received a telegram from S33" Half an hour ago they encountered an unknown fleet, and due to the distance, the opponent's speed remained at 23 knots, so they were unable to intercept ...

The voice suddenly warmed up the air in the bridge, and Lan Jianshu hurriedly walked to the chart and asked, "Where did you find it?" Can you determine the type of warship?。。

"Here ...

The communications officer pointed to the island of Nend on the east side of the Solomon Islands: "It is 210 nautical miles away from us, we are now at 25 knots, and if they continue to maintain the speed of the knots, then in three and a half hours they can meet it, and the encounter point is probably Guadalcana...

"In addition, according to the SS captain, he found at least 3 capital ships, 5 light cruisers and 6 large destroyers, one of which resembles the Indefatigable class battlecruiser USS Australia, and the other two are unknown, but the shadow is at least 235 meters long。。

"235 meters。。

This number, not to mention the staff officers around him, even Lan Jianshu's pupils shrank suddenly.

Submarines are limited by the height of the periscope, and it is impossible to distinguish the types of ships at night, so these underwater wolves use a simple way to screen targets, that is, to observe the length of the hull silhouette.

Generally speaking, the longer the length, the greater the tonnage of the hull, and in order to exercise their eyesight, these guys usually use the warships in their fleet to observe and practice their eyesight from different distances. So the data they provide is more credible.

Since it is credible, then it is a big problem! 235 meters.

This is not a joke, the length of the Guam-class in the Imperial Royal Navy is also a little more than 220 meters, and the Xiqin-class heavy aircraft carrier in service is only 260 meters in the fleet, "only 25 meters longer than this guy."

This number "immediately made the officers sketch in their minds the appearance of two super battleships close to the Guam class, and no one could help but swallow their saliva, not to mention the 23rd Fleet, whose combat effectiveness is not yet complete" Even if two Jilin-class ships join, it is not necessarily the opponent of the other party, because the other side still has a battle cruiser. It is possible to restrain their own light cruisers and destroyers.

Lan Jianshu's brain spun rapidly. In the Entente's Southwestern Grand Fleet. The three Belero intermediates had a high speed of 20 knots, the Neptune was built late and installed high-power boilers "at a speed of 21 knots, two French Lone class (Kolbe class) had a speed of 20 knots, and two American Delaware class ships had a similar start time to Neptune, so they also reached 21 knots.

In other words, they are indeed the targets of their own search!

Hum. ”

Lan Jianshu snorted coldly, startling away the nervousness of the people left and right, and said, "It just so happens that we are looking for it." I'm going to see those two pups!

Grouping.

Our ships "Yellow River" "Brahmaputra River", Chongming Island and Penghu Island are the first team. Xue Rengui, Wang Xuance, and Wu Qi are the second team, and Sun Bin, Le Yi, and Xiang Yu are the third team.

The 3rd Republican Brigade was ordered to spread out 40 kilometers to the left and right flanks, and rush at full speed to the vicinity of Guadalcana Island to wait for the signal.

Right rudder 15.

At full speed at 31 knots, the radar was turned on after an hour and a half, and all the same pair entered combat readiness! ”

On the battlecruiser Australia. Seymour looked up at the black, oppressive sky. Big relief.

"Where is the S1 fleet?"

"We're on standby at Rennell Island, and we'll be there when we get to Guadalcana and we'll be sure there's no danger nearby."

Seymour slid his finger across the chart and found the small island, located 150 kilometers south of Guadalcana. The bottom of my heart is finally a lot more stable.

In addition to attacking China, he also had a major task this time, which was to go to the 80,000 garrisons on the Solomon Islands to provide supplies. So after hastily completing the attack off the coast of Peru, I rushed here.

The S1 fleet is a fleet of 5 large fast freighters. The speed reached 16 knots. They departed from Brisbane. I have been cautious all the way to here, and now I am almost in a breath.

Looking up, beyond sea level in the distance is Guadalcana, an important island in the Solomon Islands, "He did not dare to take lightly this sea area that had left Claxton and the U.S. Mobile Fleet in the dust." Moreover, the Chinese Marines are gathering in Rabaul, and judging from the current situation, the battle to defend the Solomon Islands will begin early next month.

After losing the containment of the US Pacific Fleet, the Southwest Fleet alone could no longer contain the offensive of the Chinese press, and it was unable to attack head-on and fight a decisive battle. The use of high-speed warships to carry out sea attacks and harassment and the use of island battles to deplete China's strength are the only two things that can be done at present.

Seymour looked around, and the Entente finally broke the speed advantage that was once exclusive to China, with 30 large destroyers reaching a speed of 30 knots and 5 cruisers of 26 knots. There are also two ships around him that can reach 27 knots high, narrow and huge black shadows. All gave the possibility of implementing the battle plan.

"21 telegram. Two Chinese light cruisers and two small warships of unknown type were spotted heading towards Guadalcanal. ”

Seymour took the telegram, and a cold glint flashed in his eyes: "Our prey is here, order the Gloucester, Newcastle and the destroyer to leave."

Hasten. 25 knots! ”

"Can you confirm where the radio waves are coming from?"

"It is impossible to determine the exact location. But it is certain that it came from near Guadalcanal. Either the Anglo-American troops on the island, or ...

Before the electric officer finished speaking, Lan Jianshu interrupted him and hurriedly said, "Is there a Lou Xian on the radar?" ”

"Searching. But. ”

on the Yellow River. The radar spun in circles, and the electric officer stared at it and flickered. It seemed that the distorted screen didn't dare to blink with its eyes, and a drop of sweat oozed from the vest, wetting the vest in the blink of an eye.

Clutter. The geomagnetic clutter of the Earth itself has a great impact on radars" plus the large number of nearby islands. So the detection performance of the radar has dropped by a large part, and this is not something that can be solved by anyone" must wait until technological progress can automatically filter these clutter lines. But now, he had to find the possible dots in this dazzling flicker.

After listening to the electric officer's words, Lan Jianshu also frowned.

To be honest, the appearance of radar has indeed changed the mode of night warfare, but the performance of radar at this moment is certainly not satisfactory. Fortunately, he had been prepared and arranged for double the number of lookouts, although the distance was very short to the naked eye in such a place where the shadow of the island was made up. But it's more intuitive than the radar below.

On the mast, the watchtower was "full of Chinese sailors with binoculars, which made everyone breathe a sigh of relief, but just as he was about to ask the second and third warbands lurking in the distance to join the search, a bright and dazzling ball of fire appeared in the eastern sky.

At that moment, it was as if someone had suddenly stuffed a high-wattage light bulb into the dark room, and almost all lookouts felt that their eyes had been flashed by something, and for more than ten seconds, nothing could be seen except this dazzling incendiary bomb.

"Discovered!" Lan Jianshu's heart sank suddenly, "He didn't expect that he was discovered first, there is only one possibility for this situation!"

"Turn on all the searchlights, there are submarines nearby!"

"Guns. Determine the location of the target! ”

Lan Jianshu shouted. The lookouts, who had regained their sight, pointed to the east. One by one, the high-power searchlights also began to sweep towards the surface of the sea, and a large bubble was discovered a moment later, and the two Chongming Island-class destroyers immediately surrounded it.

But at this moment, the electric officer with the telephone shouted violently: "Ten o'clock! The radar found that five targets were approaching at a high speed! ”

"Boom......

Almost at the same time as the shouting, two cruisers and three destroyers that had come around from the north side of Guadalcana began to open fire, and since the distance was only 8,000 meters, the water column continued to rise from the four battleships.

Moments later, "the 24 152-mm main guns and 130-mm secondary guns on the two Yangtze River-class light cruisers were the first to roar, and the dense shells tore apart the night sky with a scorching and dazzling red glow."

Lan Jianshu raised his binoculars, and in the distance were two Bristol-class light cruisers and three class-class destroyers. The cruiser had two 152-mm main guns and 10 102-mm secondary guns. The firepower intensity is slightly higher than that of the Wei Qing class, but it is not as good as the Chongming Island level. Not to mention the comparison with the Yangtze River-class, so a few minutes later, the two light cruisers and the three destroyers were on fire.

The powerful artillery fire of the Yangtze River class made it difficult for the opponent to parry. A few minutes later, the destroyers were smashed into a ball of fire by artillery fire, and the remaining four battleships fired three flashbangs again. Begin to release smoke and retreat.

But these three flares made Lan Jianshu's pupils shrink sharply, and no one would shoot flares when he escaped. There is only one possibility for this, to provide coordinates for the distance!

Because, being within the range of the flare, it is like standing in a brightly lit room and looking out at the dark night, it is a blur, and it is remarkable to be able to see three or five thousand meters.

"Report, three-point position. Nine "speed 25 knots" are approaching us at a high speed。。 The electric officer shouted as he wiped a cold sweat, "The radar has finally been wielded at a critical time."

Lan Jianshu turned his head suddenly, looking at the chaos in the south, he finally knew why the British attacked several times to make their small warships that should be flexible on their side become targets, they must have also used this method, sending faster cruisers or destroyers to shoot flares in the opposite direction at close range, illuminating the main battlefield and providing fire guidance for the capital ships in the distance.

Britain is indeed not comparable to the United States, and it is very easy to find the use of night and high-speed warships to distract from it. And then the method of long-range shelling by the capital ships.

It's a pity that the British didn't know about radar!

"Left full rudder, do not go after the cruiser".

"Order the 2nd and 3rd warbands to make a detour behind the capital ship。。

"Flares, due south, three rapid shots!"

"Knock knock repentance...

When three of the same lights pop up in the distance. Seymour first felt a pain in his eyes, and then he experienced the taste of Ganglan Jianshu. He didn't expect the other commander to be so aware of the direction in which he appeared.

But it doesn't matter, the opponent is nothing more than two light cruisers and two small cruisers, and it is enough to tear them apart yourself!

"Fire".

In the darkness, the ball of fire that exploded in vain made Lan Jianshu's eyes widen, 123. The four points of fire were supposed to be the Ao, which had four twin guns. The two ships in the back, 2!

Two turrets?!

How is this possible? How can a capital ship with a length of 235 meters have only 2 turrets? And judging by the size of the fire. The 380mm main tow is true, but it's definitely not a triplet.

That is, the guy installed only 2 twin 308-mm guns. With such a small amount, why such a long body type? For high speed? It's possible, so it shouldn't have more than 20,000 tons of displacement!

In an instant, Lan Jianshu's brain was tumbling, and the sound of cannonballs breaking through the air immediately after the explosion came to his ears. He could finally be sure that these were the two big guys with 380mm guns!

Two weird big guys.

"The right rudder is 25, the speed is 30 knots, out of the range of the opponent's naval guns, and inform the Chongming Island and Penghu Island to temporarily let go of the submarine and maneuver synchronously with our Baojing."

"Destroyer!".

Seymour was happy to see the enemy's four cruisers begin to retreat, but then a terrible cry made his heart flutter.

He only saw a few small dots in the darkness suddenly shooting from a distance behind him, but he knew very well the power of Hua torpedoes, so he immediately ordered light cruisers and destroyers to intercept them, and the secondary guns on the three capital ships also began to fire fiercely at each other.

"Left full rudder, accelerate, let's get out of here!" Seeing the two groups of destroyers rushing out of the darkness, Seymour realized that the people had already prepared, so he simply accelerated and left, as long as he lured the other party away from the Guadaconal Island Heart 1 fleet.

1 a.m. sharp.

Just when Seymour ordered the three capital ships to speed up, the second and third teams of the 23rd fleet had already rushed to within 10,000 meters, so Lan Jianshu ordered 12 flares to be fired in a row, and the prototypes of the two mysterious warships were finally revealed.

Long, narrow, three-chimney, with two twin 380 mm (15 in) naval guns, and at least 16 to 18 secondary guns at the firing point.

"Boom, boom...... Blade"

Two dazzling fireballs, lit up from the other side of the enemy, two British... The class destroyer was hit by a salvo of torpedoes from the 2nd and 3rd warbands, which made Semolga have no intention of fighting, and immediately gave the order to release smoke and leave.

The already dim sea was suddenly filled with smoke, and at this time, the electric officer finally had a chance to show his skills. asked: "Sir, the radar can still catch them, the speed of those two large warships has been calculated, it is a knife knot, do you want to stop it?" ，。

"No need, 380mm guns, we can't stop it" Wait for the 31st and 12th fleets to arrive. , Lan Jianshu shook his head, and couldn't help muttering in his heart, what kind of warship is this?!! ~！