Republic of China: Ace Pilot

Chapter 404, Section 402: The Speedboat That Appeared Ahead of Schedule, the Interception Battle in the Ten-Degree Strait
A D.332 passenger plane carrying 20 Spanish Republican Army cadets took off.

This time, we took a commercial flight, so there was no need to hide, and the journey was smooth.

The plane changed course at Kolkata airport and instead of flying to Kunming, it headed to Yangon for a stopover.

After landing, Fang Wen instructed Lin Yifei, the new director of the aircraft manufacturing plant, "These people are here to train in gunboat operations. Take them to the seaplane training center. The rest of the training will be your responsibility."

“Yes, Prime Minister Li.” Lin Yifei walked toward the Spanish soldiers.

Isabella Laurence, however, was looking at Fang Wen. When she heard that he was leaving, she took the initiative to come over.

"Will you stay here?" she asked, looking at Fang Wen.

Fang Wen was a little embarrassed, but still replied, "Yes, there are some things to take care of here."

Isabella smiled and said, "May I invite you to have a coffee with me?"

This woman still remembers!
Fang Wen said helplessly, "Of course."

"Goodbye." Isabella leaned in, trying to say goodbye with a cheek kiss, but Fang Wen dodged to the side.

She ran to the line with a smile and happily followed along.

Huo Duanyang, who also came to greet Fang Wen, stood behind Fang Wen and said quietly, "The passionate and fiery French women are like the French national flower, the iris, blooming on the land of Yangon, spreading their fragrance."

Fang Wen glared at Huo Duanyang: "What are you talking about? Don't overthink it, there's nothing between her and me."

In his heart, Fang Wen was also restraining himself. As a married man, marriage is a vow, and he could not be as casual as he was before he got married.

At the same time, another voice also appeared in my mind.

"What's there to be afraid of? Didn't Mingzhu say that Chuncao and Qiuju were both concubines? She even said she wanted to be sisters with Yue Jinping."

Two conflicting thoughts were battling in Fang Wen's mind, making him feel irritable.

He used work to clear his mind.

"Huo Duanyang, what do you think of Lin Yifei? Is he capable of being the director of the aircraft manufacturing plant?"

When discussing official business, Huo Duanyang said seriously, "Lin Yifei is good. During the time he took over, there were no production problems at the aircraft manufacturing plant. Furthermore, because he comes from a technical background, there were no discordant voices within the plant."

Fang Wen nodded: "That's good. The aircraft manufacturing plant is about to build its second plant, so there can't be any problems."

Then he looked at William: "Has everyone arrived?"

William replied, "All 100 soldiers of the Independent Regiment are in place, and they were all selected for their excellent swimming skills."

"Okay, let's go to the meeting."

The group then left the airport and headed to Taishan Industrial Park.

Inside an empty warehouse at the bullet manufacturing plant in Taishan Industrial Park.

The area was converted into temporary dormitories, with 100 single beds placed there to serve as rest areas for the soldiers of the Independent Regiment.

The large building next door is the temporary operations command center.

After Fang Wen arrived, he convened a meeting inside with everyone.

The house was a bit crowded with more than 100 people, but that couldn't dampen their excitement.

Everyone knew this was going to be a major operation, otherwise the commander wouldn't be so cautious.

Under everyone's watchful eyes, Fang Wen explained the situation.

"Our target this time is a Japanese cargo ship carrying a shipment of important military supplies from the United States. It will travel from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean, and then through the Strait of Malacca to Japan. I have decided to make my move before it passes through the Strait of Malacca."

After listening to Fang Wen's explanation, William asked, "How should we proceed? What kind of firepower does that cargo ship have? What is its defensive strength?"

“I’ll handle that. Let’s talk about how to attack the cargo ship first,” Fang Wen replied.

His requirement was that it couldn't be done openly.

After all, the area from the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean is within the sphere of influence of the British Navy, and their own cargo ships need to pass through this area to transport goods. An open attack would make the British Navy lose face and would also affect their cargo transportation.

To launch an attack without being detected by the British Navy, good air and sea communication was needed. Fang Wen's special ability was used to observe the movements of the British Navy in advance and to notify his own ships to take evasive action in time. Only in this way could the cargo ship be captured without the British Navy's knowledge.

This requires several speedboats to transport soldiers, equipped with Taishan walkie-talkies that can communicate with the air.

Everything else is ready, except for the speedboat.

In this day and age, with a lack of efficient civilian engines, no company produces speedboats.

It wasn't that they couldn't build them; Fang Wen decided to produce a few speedboats himself as an emergency measure.

The manufacturing process is not complicated.

He summoned the engineers from the aircraft manufacturing plant and showed them the design drawings of the simple speedboat.

This type of speedboat with a propeller engine mounted at the stern has a very simple structure. After the engineers reviewed it, they all said they could start building it right away.

They took out an old 450-horsepower R1340 engine from the warehouse, connected the bearings and propeller, and then found a wooden boat as a test subject.

After installation, an engineer started the engine by pulling a rope while no one was around.

With its powerful propeller spinning rapidly, the wooden boat was propelled forward like an arrow in an instant.

The propulsion was too great; the wooden boat lurched a long way before crashing into the opposite wall and stalling.

Clearly, the power is sufficient, but the hull needs to be redesigned.

Wooden hulls won't work, so we'll make a tin boat instead.

A group of engineers and technicians carried out on-site renovations.

By wrapping the steel frame structure with riveted sheet metal, they, who are capable of manufacturing aircraft keels and skins, easily created the new hull structure.

This ship has a larger volume and is much heavier, and can carry more than 10 people.

After loading sandbags of equal weight with the equipment of 15 soldiers, an engineer volunteered to board the boat and steer it.

He started the speedboat, and with the strong thrust, the speedboat initially reached a speed of 30 kilometers per hour. Later, as the power increased, the top speed even reached 60 kilometers per hour.

In ocean speed terms, that translates to a speed of 16-32 knots.

This speed far exceeds the 10-20 knot speed of cargo ships, and it can definitely catch up.

Subsequently, Fang Wen requested that production be carried out according to this standard, and a total of 10 ships were manufactured and completed within 2 days.

In response to this requirement, the aircraft manufacturer immediately halted all other work and began full-scale production.

While the aircraft manufacturing plant was busy with the speedboats, Fang Wen took off to conduct aerial reconnaissance in a Xuanming-type long-haul seaplane that had not yet been delivered.

At 10 a.m., the Xuanming-type seaplane took off and flew over the Indian Ocean at a speed of 320 kilometers per hour.

Fang Wen was piloting the plane while silently calculating in his mind.

The cargo ship has been gone from Marseille port for four days. At the speed of the cargo ship, it can only reach the waters near the Arabian Peninsula at most.

That area is 4000 kilometers away from Yangon.

With its two large fuel tanks fully loaded, the Xuanming long-haul seaplane can travel up to 1 kilometers when empty, which would allow it to complete reconnaissance in that area and return safely.

The process is a bit tedious.

The long flight continued.

The plane flew over the Bay of Bengal and the Indian peninsula, taking 10 hours to reach the Arabian Sea.

A warship appeared in the sea below.

Fang Wen had seen it before; it was a British naval battleship stationed in the Asiatic Fleet, named HMS Warspite.

What a strange name! For a main battleship to have such a name is considered very unlucky in Eastern culture.

Fang Wen controlled the aircraft to increase its altitude to avoid being detected by the other side, and continued to explore westward.

Five hours later, the plane flew over the Arabian Sea and arrived at the Gulf of Aden.

The Gulf of Aden is the exit of the Red Sea, and cargo ships must pass through it. Fang Wen had not found any trace of cargo ships before, so they must be here.

Fang Wen activated his mechanical senses and observed carefully.

Finally, I saw it.

A cargo ship sails out of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the mouth of the Red Sea.

The flags flying on the cargo ship indicated that this was likely Fang Wen's target. He lowered his altitude, amplified his mechanical sensing capabilities, and surveyed the situation on the cargo ship.

The cargo ship was loaded with cargo on both its fore and aft decks.

On the foredeck, two huge gun barrels were secured with steel cables.

This should be a custom-made cannon barrel casting from Japan.

Fang Wen looked at the guy and found him increasingly familiar.

Isn't that the cannon barrel of the train that I destroyed during the night raid on Taiyuan by my own mobile forces?

It seems the Japanese army has not given up on the giant cannon project and has purchased cannon barrels from France in preparation for restarting it.

But this time, the cannon barrel is even longer than the previous train cannons.

It reached a staggering 30 meters.

Fang Wen remembered.

During World War I, the German company Krupp produced a weapon called the Paris Gun, which had a range of 130 kilometers.

Therefore, France is determined to develop a super cannon with the same power.

They call it the TLP program.

After World War I ended, the plan was shelved.

Later, in the 3s, Schneider Electric received orders from the government again and produced a batch of three-section gun barrels.

These cannons were the same as the 30-meter-long cannon below, but after only one test firing, the subsequent plans were halted.

Unexpectedly, the Japanese army took a liking to these cannon barrels and bought them.

(Paris Cannon)
Looking at the giant cannon barrel below, Fang Wen smiled.

Don't even think about bringing this thing back to Japan; it won't be long before it becomes your own trophy.

His viewpoint was towards the aft deck of the cargo ship.

The aft deck contains several metal containers, which are likely aircraft parts that cannot be submerged in water.

How much defense force does this ship have, and what weapons is it equipped with?
Fang Wen touched the necklace around his neck and infused it with energy.

Instantly, his X-ray vision ability was activated.

With the two abilities combined, his vision penetrated the cargo ship's deck, allowing him to see what was below.

There was definitely something fishy going on below.

In addition to the three cargo holds filled with goods, a group of armed personnel were also hidden inside.

These armed men were probably Japanese naval soldiers who had simply taken off their uniforms for escort duties.

But their weapons gave them away.

The Type 35 rifle was the rifle used exclusively by the Japanese Navy.

There was also the SIG1920 submachine gun, which Fang Wen had seen equipped by Japanese Marine Corps soldiers.

In addition, they also concealed a Maxim heavy machine gun in the cabin. Although it was rather bulky, it could be carried to the deck by manpower to suppress the forces on the sea.

These armed forces were more than capable of dealing with pirates, and given that they had certainly made arrangements with the British Navy, they assumed they would not face any greater danger.

But clearly, they were wrong.

After the reconnaissance was completed, Fang Wen immediately piloted the plane back to base.

It was already the early hours of the next day when we got back to Yangon.

Even he felt tired after a 22-hour flight.

After disembarking from the plane, he gave William the order: "Get the soldiers on board immediately to get used to driving the speedboats, and begin operations in two days."

After saying that, he went back to his room to rest and replenish his energy.

Fang Wen woke up after a few hours of sleep.

After eating a quick bite, he went to inspect the soldiers' makeshift training.

Those soldiers are conducting training exercises in speedboats at the port.

Ten speedboats lined up in a row on the sea and moved back and forth in an orderly fashion.

Clearly, the soldiers quickly adapted to this simple speedboat operation method.

Fang Wen felt much more at ease. As long as the speedboats went smoothly and there were no problems, coupled with the support of air power, taking down the cargo ship would be no problem at all.

Images of naval warfare flashed through his mind.

Ten speedboats launched an attack, rapidly approaching the cargo ship.

Air gunnery provided fire support, which was coordinated with the boarding operations of the speedboat squadron.

Once the armed forces on the cargo ship are dealt with, the entire plan can be successfully completed.

Within two days, Fang Wen took off again to conduct reconnaissance missions.

We will continue to track the cargo ship's movements.

The cargo ship crossed the Arabian Sea, passed through the Maldives, and stopped at Krent Port in Sri Lanka for supplies.

They then continued their journey, heading east.

Fang Wen made his judgment based on its sailing direction.

The cargo ship will definitely be crossing the outer waters of the Bay of Bengal, passing through the Ten Degrees Strait of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands before heading to Malacca.

The Ten Degrees Channel was not on the British naval fleet's patrol route, making it the best option for an attack.

Immediately, Fang Wen signaled to Huo Duanyang, who was temporarily acting as a messenger, "Send a telegram to them saying that we are to depart immediately, with our destination being Point A."

Point A was one of the ambush points he and William agreed on; it was the code name for the Tenth Strait.

After Huo Duanyang sent the telegram, Fang Wen continued to follow in his plane.

During this time, most of the fuel was used up, and he said, "Gong Xiu can replenish the fuel."

"Yes, Commander." Gong Xiuneng rolled the large oil drum, then took out an oil pipe and inserted it into the internal oil supply line in the rear compartment.

After filling two iron drums with aviation gasoline, the fuel gauge is full again.

The plane then spent six hours tracking the cargo ship below.

They only stopped tracking when they were almost at the Ten Degrees Strait and flew ahead.

As the gunboat approached the Shidu Strait, Fang Wen lowered its flight altitude.

Noise is emanating from the central wireless equipment.

Fang Wen picked up the microphone and adjusted the frequency to make a call.

"Air call to speedboat squadron, report your current location."

The noise disappeared, and William's voice came through.

"Reporting to the commander, we have already taken cover on a small island near the Ten Degrees Strait and are ready to move at any time."

"Okay. Stay hidden and follow my orders."

Fang Wen ended the call with the speedboat team and then circled high in the sky, waiting for his target to walk into his trap.

Half an hour later, the cargo ship arrived.

When he was only two kilometers away from the Shidu Strait, Fang Wen picked up the microphone.

"Airborne call to ground: Enemy has appeared. Begin operations."

As he made repeated calls, 10 speedboats hidden behind the island sped off, heading straight for the cargo ship.

At the same time, Fang Wen also piloted the gunboat to lower its altitude and ordered the gunners to prepare.

(End of this chapter)