Seven Seas Beacon Fire

All the warships in the port had already been started up, and the boilers of all the warships had been filled with steam for navigation. Led by Haiqi, this fleet of warships, which had been anchored in the port until now and whose hulls were covered with barnacles, was finally about to embark on a great voyage.

The sun was about to set, and soon night would fall. Yang Yuchen's plan was to take advantage of the darkness to send all the warships out of port. The original plan was to have the fleet leave port under the cover of the hurricane and then embark on the return journey. The purpose of doing so was to completely avoid the destroyers and torpedo boats that the United States had set up around the port.

The Federation military has used these destroyers and torpedo boats, along with a number of cruisers and some battleships providing support, to build a relatively complete near-shore blockade system around Surabaya Port. These small vessels, which are not very resistant to wind, obviously cannot be deployed during hurricane weather.

However, Yang Yuchen did not wait until the hurricane made landfall before setting sail. He moved the departure time of the fleet forward slightly. The main reason was that, in his view, fighting against the big waves at sea during a hurricane was one thing, but the risk of leaving port in the hurricane weather was really too great. At least Yang Yuchen believed that this risk was even greater than encountering a blockade by a few enemy destroyers and torpedo boats.

Moreover, given the current sea conditions, even if the officers and men of the Federal Navy's destroyers and torpedo boats are extremely dedicated to their duties—still fighting on the front lines of the blockade, battling the sea and dancing with the giant waves—there is nothing to worry about.

After all, in this kind of weather, enemy destroyers would become complete foot-washing boats—meaning that in such weather, your feet would almost never be dry. Destroyers these days are too small, and their bridges are too low; a single wave would leave everyone on board soaked to the bone.

In this situation, it would be virtually impossible to operate a 76mm gun or launch torpedoes from a destroyer.

Moreover, being discovered by the enemy is a minor matter. In such bad weather, the mines deployed around the port area may not stay where they are supposed to be. Whether you accidentally deviate from your course or the mines are blown up by the waves, if the two collide, things will get really messy.

In the current situation, the sea conditions are not bad enough to cause much interference to large warships, but they are enough to make it difficult for smaller warships, including destroyers, to adapt, not to mention those ocean-going torpedo boats.

Today, the first ship to sail out of the naval port will be Yang Yuchen's "Weiyuan". All other ships will follow behind their flagships and sail out of the port together, using the night lights on their heads to determine their position and direction.

At such critical moments, Yang Yuchen would always easily make the decision that was easier to sacrifice himself. When leaving port, he would have his flagship sail at the front, laying the groundwork for all the friendly ships behind him.

Once everyone has left the harbor, he will lead these warships from the vanguard to the rearguard, responsible for fighting to the last shell in case the news gets out and the pursuing Federation 39th Fleet comes.

With the battlecruiser Weiyuan being the first to weigh anchor and set sail, the fleet officers and men trapped in Surabaya Harbor finally embarked on that unknown path, though they did not know whether this path would ultimately lead to success or failure, or bring them honor or disgrace.

But for them, from the moment they embarked on their journey home, no one had any regrets.

As the famous Western saying goes.

Do not try to stop an army from returning home.

Chapter 106 The "Great" Fleet

Let's turn back the clock 48 hours.

On the waters of the Bashi Channel, a flotilla consisting of four cruisers and four destroyers, led by the cruiser BAR Omaha, the flagship of the 38.6 Cruiser Group under the 38th Fleet of the Colombian Navy, is patrolling the Bashi Channel.

For the Federal Army, which is currently launching a full-scale southward offensive, the waters south of Okinawa, including the Sakishima Islands and the Bashi Channel, are crucial for its defense, as this area is not far from Taiwan, but rather right next to it.

Although the Ming army had not stationed many large surface ships in Keelung or Kaohsiung before, in order to avoid battle and protect their ships, after the Battle of Yuanshan, no one dared to underestimate those small speedboats that were like assassins at sea, carrying sharp blades.

Although, rationally speaking, both the federal intelligence agencies and the Colombian Navy understood that after the Ming army had concentrated so many torpedo boats in the Yingzhou Sea in a fierce battle that mobilized the entire nation's resources, the remaining vast eastern and southeastern coastal areas no longer had such a large torpedo boat force.

But rational as it may seem, as the saying goes, once bitten by a snake, twice shy. Since the Ming Dynasty was able to mobilize so many torpedo boats to Vladivostok without anyone noticing, who can guarantee that they won't repeat the same trick and deceive everyone again?

At least one senior officer in the Third Fleet stated that if the Ming army deployed around 50 large torpedo boats around the Bashi Channel, it would pose a significant threat to the supply lines for the southward operations.

After all, the frequency of Ming submarine activity around the Bashi Channel and even throughout the Western Pacific had been increasing since the previous provisional government "stepped down." The Federation Army was now facing increasing anti-submarine pressure, and even considered directly purchasing a batch of their Q ships from the Britons as an emergency measure. However, this suggestion was quickly rejected by Congress.

The reason for the rejection was very simple. It wasn't that the congressmen thought the deal was bad, nor that they thought buying Q-ships was useless. Rather, they felt that such an order should stay in the country.

Meanwhile, the shipyards of the United States all said that it was unnecessary to buy such a simple Q-ship from the Britons. They could simply modify existing merchant ships.

All I can say is that making such a decision is truly very Colombian.

The problem is that industrial production isn't postmodern cyberpunk magic, nor is it the control panel in Hearts of Iron. It's not like you can just click "build" and things will pop up immediately. Even the strongest industrial capacity needs time to switch production. And since we're rebuilding from scratch, we can't just be satisfied with the simple modifications that the Britons made to merchant ships.

Just like the Constellation-class destroyers being built by the Federal Navy in the 21st century, the European FREMM destroyer was originally designed quite well, so why did you have to change its design? As a result, the completion date has been delayed again and again. Our own two great sons, Japan and South Korea's new generation FFG, are already everywhere, and across the ocean, the Tokyo 054 series has gone from A to AG to B, but the Constellation still doesn't know when it will be completed! We'll be grateful if it can be completed in 2027. With the warship construction progressed like this, we'll lose to Britain, then to Russia, then to Bharat, and finally there's nothing left to lose.

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Since the Ming army's submarines became active, even if the Federation army's factories in the rear use half-built merchant ship hulls to modify them, no matter how fast they speed up the process, these American-made Q ships will not be able to be put into use until the second half of the year. At present, the Federation army can only continue to build cruisers and destroyers in this direction, increase the patrol frequency of these warships, and try to reduce the chances of those submarines surfacing.

After all, submarines these days don't have snorkels, and the battery technology on them is far inferior to that of World War II. Therefore, they need to surface more frequently to recharge their batteries than submarines of World War II. Moreover, submarines of this era only have a few knots of underwater speed. As long as the patrol frequency of surface ships increases, the operational efficiency of these submarines can be greatly reduced.

Routine patrol missions like these are naturally very tedious, but they are extremely important for a navy. A fleet that only has the ability to fight decisive battles but lacks the ability to provide logistical support is like a ferocious tarantula being enlarged to the size of an elephant; its own weight would be enough to crush it.

Whether it was the former Japanese Combined Fleet during World War II or the USN after the 2010s, both navies demonstrated through their actual performance how severe the loss of combat effectiveness of the main battle fleet would be if it lacked a support fleet in addition to the main battle fleet.

Fortunately, the Federal Navy's operational capabilities are still quite strong in this era. At least in the waters related to the Colombian Federal Navy's most important southern front maritime transport routes, the Federal Navy can organize relatively sufficient forces to conduct inspections of all kinds of ships they encounter in these waters and suppress the increasingly active Ming Dynasty submarines.

With the main force of the Ming army confined to the South China Sea, the Omaha-class cruisers, weighing several thousand tons, were already considered rare large surface warships in this area. Although the Ming army also had several active commerce raiding fleets in the Western Pacific, this squadron of Omaha-class cruisers was not afraid to engage those adversaries.

After all, given the current balance of naval power between the two sides, this fleet is like a hunter's sheepdog. Even if it gets injured in a fight with a wolf, the sheepdog will be treated by a shepherd and have a warm fireplace, while the wolf can only lick its wounds in the wind and snow. Even if the wolf does kill the sheepdog, it will most likely be greeted by a terrifying hairless upright ape that comes out of the house with a gun.

Therefore, when the light cruiser USS Richmond spotted some black smoke on the sea surface ahead of it, the first thing the entire fleet thought was that the enemy's commerce raiding fleet wanted to break through the Bashi Channel and enter the wider ocean to carry out its activities.

For the 38.6 cruiser squadron led by the Richmond, this was naturally a target that could not be overlooked—although they did not know whether the black smoke came from an enemy commerce raider or a merchant ship, wasn't this exactly the kind of target that cruisers should be tasked with identifying?

However, as the target emitting black smoke in the distance gradually appeared on the horizon, Captain Thomson on the bridge of the cruiser USS Richmond watched in astonishment as the figure slowly emerged from the sea.

Its massive hull, triple-mounted superfiring turrets... these elements, which seem similar to those of the standard battleships of the Federal Navy, along with its tall triangular mast and the Ming-style battleship's larger and more complex bridge structure compared to battleships of other countries at the time, all reveal the identity of this battleship.

The Dingyuan-class battleship of the Ming Dynasty Royal Navy was the most powerful battleship in the Ming Dynasty Royal Navy at that time. Although in terms of firepower, the Dingyuan-class battleship with 12 330mm guns seemed to be slightly inferior to the Pennsylvania-class and Tennessee-class battleships of the Colombian Navy equipped with 12 356mm main guns, this did not mean that the Dingyuan-class battleship was inferior in combat capability.

This battleship has a displacement of nearly 33,000 tons, which is almost the same as the Colorado-class battleship equipped with 16-inch guns in another timeline.

What shocked the 38.6 Cruiser Squadron even more was that the Ming army did not only have a single Dingyuan-class battleship here. What they saw was not one or two big ships, but huge figures that kept emerging from the horizon.

This unusual sight plunged Captain Thomson into a long silence, until General Lando, the commander of the cruiser squadron, couldn't help but ask, "Your Excellency, while I admire your courage in launching the attack, I also hope that you can see clearly the opponent we are facing now."

Once they realized what was happening, the 38.6 cruiser squadron, led by the Richmond, immediately began to turn 180 degrees, and the boiler crew inside the ship began shoveling coal into the boilers at all costs.

Captain Thomson kept counting in his mind the number of the "tall and mighty" ship silhouettes that emerged from the horizon: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5... When the number kept increasing and finally reached double digits, the officers and men of the 38.6 cruiser squadron realized that they had encountered a "big fish" this time, although this fish was now far too big.

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When the news from the Bashi Channel reached the Third Fleet headquarters, Admiral Benson was puzzled upon seeing the telegram.

An enemy fleet has appeared in the Bashi Channel? What are they doing in the Bashi Channel?

It's important to know that the Bashi Channel is located in northern Luzon. Although the fighting on Luzon Island is not yet over and there is still gunfire on the island, compared to Yanping, several major cities and ports in Luzon have been controlled by the Colombian Navy. Apart from sending some troops to garrison the ports and important cities, the federal army does not have many other troops fighting deep in the jungle on Luzon Island.

Although they had guessed that their upcoming military operations would greatly attract the Ming navy, no one expected to draw the enemy's main fleet to the Bashi Channel.

As can be seen from the map, the Bashi Channel is actually located at a latitude further north than Leizhou Port, while Dongdu, which is currently under siege by the Federal Army, is located to the south.

In other words, after the Ming fleet completed its assembly at Leizhou Port, it did not attempt to head south to relieve the siege of Luoyang, but instead immediately headed north shortly after setting off.

What was their purpose in heading north?

The thought had barely crossed his mind when Admiral Benson quickly deduced a possibility—the Ming warships were most likely heading north to fundamentally weaken the fighting capacity and morale of the hundreds of thousands of troops the United States had committed to the southern front, and their northward advance was naturally also for the same purpose.

Were they going to bombard Yingzhou?

Yingzhou has now become the United States' most important bridgehead in the Far East. Deep-water transport ships that have crossed the entire Pacific Ocean from the United States enter Yingzhou's port, pile up and store supplies around the port, then load them onto smaller ships, and then transport them to various ports—especially those where large merchant ships have moved south.

Regardless, this is a great opportunity, a chance to completely eliminate the main fleet of the Ming Dynasty Royal Navy. The Admiral and the Colombian Navy both need such a victory to consolidate their position and maintain their glory.

The crucial point was that the cruisers in the Bashi Channel confirmed they had spotted a full twelve capital ships. For Admiral Benson, after the unforgettable night of torpedoes, the command style of this Colombian Pacific Fleet commander had become more conservative. Politically, he could not and was unwilling to take any risks—because his political career was no longer enough for him to suffer another defeat like that.

It was clear that, given the relatively equal strength of both sides, the admiral himself did not have absolute certainty that he could defeat them using only the capital ships of the 38th Fleet.

Under these circumstances, Admiral Benson naturally made a decision – to send a telegram to the 39th Fleet, requesting the transfer of troops from the 39th Fleet, and specifying that he wanted only those Colorado-class battleships equipped with 15-inch guns.

This battleship had a United States hull but British turrets. Before the Colombians designed and developed their own 16-inch naval guns and mounted them on warships, these 15-inch-barreled behemoths were the most powerful battleships in the Colombian Navy's arsenal.

To be on the safe side, Benson did not withdraw all the forces of the 39th Fleet, but only these four ships. In his view, this should not deprive the 39th Fleet of its ability to monitor Surabaya Port.

If he could capture and annihilate the remaining capital ships of the Ming Dynasty's Royal Navy, Benson believed he could certainly become a figure in the Federal Navy like General Nelson.

All the previous failures and humiliations will be swept away!

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Chapter 107 They Won't Come Out

Within the Third Fleet, there were indeed those who objected to Admiral Benson's decision to remove four Colorado-class battleships from the 39th Fleet.

For example, Husband Edward Kimmel, who had served as gunnery officer on the battleship USS Texas and squadron commander of the 12th Destroyer Division of the Union Army, and Ernest King, who had served as assistant chief of staff in the Atlantic Fleet and was now adjutant to Admiral Benson, both young officers expressed varying degrees of opposition to Admiral Benson's decision.

The objections raised by both sides were also different. Kimmel has no experience serving in the command headquarters so far, and has basically served in various positions on front-line fleet combat ships. Therefore, Kimmel is considering from the perspective of a junior fleet combat officer and believes that some forces can be drawn from the 39th Fleet. For example, if four capital ships are to be drawn, then four dreadnoughts should be selected.

After all, the 39th Fleet only has five super-dreadnoughts, including these four Colorado-class battleships. The four powerful Colorado-class battleships are basically the absolute core of the 39th Fleet, and many of the fleet's tactical arrangements are based on these four Colorado-class battleships.

Now that they've so easily discovered some movement in the north, they've mobilized the four most powerful battleships in the 39th Fleet. What can the remaining dreadnoughts, led by the USS Ohio (the fourth ship of the New Mexico-class battleships), possibly do?

In contrast, Ernest King, who had more experience in command, opposed the idea from another perspective—the USS Washington was the flagship of the 39th Fleet, and the newer Colorado-class battleships had a relatively larger bridge and superstructure compared to the previous United States Navy battleships, which naturally could accommodate more personnel and facilities, making them more suitable as flagships.

By rashly transferring all four Colorado-class battleships, the 39th Fleet will have to change its flagship. If something happens in the south, this could very likely affect the command efficiency of the 39th Fleet.

In the modern era, it is essential to have the necessary flagship facilities pre-installed during the construction phase of warships.

General Benson, however, seemed unconcerned about these two opposing opinions.

"The role of the 39th Fleet is to keep an eye on Surabaya Port to the south. However, just a few days ago, the enemy began to lay mines on a larger scale than before. The newly expanded minefields not only made the channel into the port more curved, causing our warships to lose several firing positions when bombarding the port from the sea, but also made it more difficult for their warships to leave the port. The newly set minefields are quite dense, and the channel they have left for themselves to pass through is probably very narrow."

This certainly makes our assault on Surabaya Port more difficult, but it also makes it harder for them to leave the port. It's clear that our enemies inside Surabaya Port still prioritize preventing a full-scale attack. The 38th and 39th Fleets are a unified entity; I'm merely selecting a portion for a coordinated operation that will last at most a week. Afterwards, the deployed warships will naturally return as soon as possible. What problem could there be?

At this point, Admiral Benson looked around at the expressions on the faces of the many officers and soldiers in the headquarters: "I know what you are worried about. Some of you are worried that the enemy forces surrounded in Surabaya Port may take this opportunity to retreat back to their homeland. However, we are not without any precautions. Our navy is an army that can learn from experience. Those who have defeated us on the battlefield will only make us stronger!"

At this point, Admiral Benson tapped Makassar with his baton: "The southern waters are narrow, and the main players here should not be battleships, but rather all kinds of small vessels. I have already dispatched several squadrons of our patrol boats to Makassar. These patrol boats can play a greater role in the south."

Some officers who also wanted to express their opposition were persuaded after hearing their commander's words. However, they all felt that after the commander's mishap at Yingzhou Sea, he now paid much more attention to small things like torpedo boats. In some officers' eyes, the attention was even a bit too much.

Admittedly, torpedo boats can indeed play an important role in these narrow waters, which no one can deny. However, it must also be acknowledged that these little guys are really afraid of wind and waves. They can hardly go out to sea to fight when they encounter even a little bit of wind and waves. Many times, whether these little guys can be used depends entirely on the weather.

For the military, most of the time it's not about which equipment is better, but about which equipment can function in the worst conditions. Reliability is always the most important indicator of military equipment, without exception!

Just as carrier-based aircraft proved in numerous battles during World War II that their strike capabilities and efficiency far surpassed those of battleship guns, as long as carrier-based aircraft do not possess the ability to take off and land at night, aircraft carriers can never be said to have completely replaced battleships.

Of course, those who are more familiar with Admiral Benson know that he doesn't really believe that the enemy fleet besieged in Surabaya will definitely not take any action. It's just that the weather in the south has been gradually deteriorating in recent days, and a hurricane forming from the Bharat Ocean is making landfall on Java. Such bad weather is indeed not suitable for naval operations, and normal commanders would choose to take shelter in the port.

If the enemy fleet wanted to take any action, it would either have to flee before the hurricane arrived or after the hurricane passed. In the roughly one week in between, it is unlikely that any crazy officer would choose to rush out of the harbor to face the hurricane under such circumstances.

I've never seen anything like it done!

At least the United States Navy had never seen an officer do this, especially since the United States Navy's battleships generally used birdcage masts. Although birdcage masts are lighter and have a better weight-saving effect, their structural strength is indeed problematic, and they are more likely to be blown down in strong winds than triangular mainmasts.

Therefore, Admiral Benson took this opportunity to move four Colorado-class battleships, which were vulnerable to typhoons, to the north. If no opportunity was found in the next two days, the four Colorado-class battleships would be sent back. By then, the hurricane would have passed, and if the enemy fleet trapped in the harbor wanted to move, it would face the 39th Fleet's blockade. It seemed that nothing would be delayed.

Moreover, to put it bluntly, Admiral Benson's actions were not without an element of gambling, given that he had just suffered a crushing defeat. The reason he hadn't been dismissed after such a loss was partly due to the President's protection, and partly because the weak Federal Navy couldn't find a more suitable senior officer to replace him.

However, during this war, a group of younger Federal Navy officers will emerge. If the general himself wants to make a name for himself in the military after the war, then he naturally does not want to end the war with the shame of the defeat at Yuanshan.

Therefore, for Admiral Benson, he is now the one who most urgently wants to fight the Ming army again—he is eager to prove that he is not incompetent with a victory, and perhaps in Admiral Benson's mind, it would not matter if part of the fleet in Surabaya Port really escaped.

In those days, if the difference in naval strength between the two sides was too great, then the battle would not even take place. The weaker side would retreat before even seeing the stronger side's fleet. The decisive battle that Admiral Benson hoped for would end before it even happened.

Didn't you see that when Schell met Jericho in Jutland, he turned around and left?

Therefore, if the enemy's capital ships actually manage to retreat in several directions, it might actually embolden the enemy to seek a decisive battle with them.

What? You're asking why Admiral Benson isn't worried about what to do if they can't win? Well, Admiral Benson isn't really worried, because the United States Navy is a completely different country now—they have double-digit numbers of standard battleships in service, and this masterpiece of the Federation Navy is top-of-the-line in terms of both firepower and protection.

Did the Royal Navy have any battleships with 13.5 inches of armor?

No!

The Bavaria-class battleships of the Leitanian High Seas Fleet do have 350mm main armor, but can your main armor belt be as high as mine?

I have a complete armor box! Not to mention the turret and gun mount protection that are like a wall of sighs in this era.

With such armor and the Midwell M916 armor-piercing rounds, it's truly a weapon that can penetrate and defend!

These standard battleships were Admiral Benson's biggest trump card. If we disregard the fact that the Ming army's surviving warships were under siege, their number on paper was indeed greater than that of the Federation Navy, which had lost all its battlecruisers and four dreadnoughts in the recent events from the Sulu Sea to the Java Sea. However, in terms of quality, the two sides could not compare. The Federation Navy had a significantly larger number of super-dreadnoughts than the Ming army.

Admiral Benson never expected that the enemy would actively seek a decisive battle with him without rescuing the Surabaya fleet. However, the admiral could "understand" the enemy commander. The Federation's attack on Dongdu had entered its most intense phase, and the pressure on the ground battlefield might have forced the remaining enemy navy to take action.

Moreover, the enemy's fleet strength is relatively good. None of the enemy's eight super-dreadnoughts are stuck in Surabaya Harbor. At least the fleet that the enemy can currently muster, if it were to engage the 38th Fleet, would actually have one more super-dreadnought than the enemy.

In his view, the enemy probably wanted to see if they could find a window to engage the 38th Fleet alone in the north.

Since that's the case, then I'll give you that chance!

Come on, EMS! The Colombian Navy has been waiting for you!

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Zheng Guanyin stared blankly at the now somewhat empty port. The fleet had indeed set off as scheduled, but the Fourth Princess was now somewhat bewildered, because she was not sure whether this whole battle plan could relieve the siege of Dongdu.

She felt like she had been tricked.

This fleet was not a truly powerful and well-equipped one; most of its ships were camouflaged, and it would be exposed as soon as it engaged the enemy fleet!

The purpose of the entire fleet operation was to find an opportunity to withdraw the besieged fleet in Surabaya Harbor. However, in retrospect, the purpose of the entire operation was not to directly relieve the siege of Dongdu, but to gain a kind of "power" to confront the Federation Army "in a dignified manner" after rescuing the fleet in Surabaya Harbor.

However, Dongdu will not receive direct support throughout this entire operation.

"Is Your Highness worried about the Eastern Capital?"

Suddenly a voice came from behind her. Zheng Guanyin turned around and saw a young naval officer who had appeared behind her at some point. He had a warm smile on his face, a smile that seemed to carry the feeling of winning battles outside the imperial court.

“My father and brothers are fighting against the enemy’s invasion alongside the people and soldiers in Dongdu. I am here now enjoying a leisurely vacation, while my father and the people face enemy bayonets, bullets, and cannons at all times. How can I not worry about the situation in Dongdu?” Zheng Guanyin’s eyes were slightly red as she said this. “If the situation in Dongdu really reaches an irreversible point, then I absolutely cannot live on.”