Seven Seas Beacon Fire

Unlike the night battle at Dongxinluo Bay, this battle was fought during the day with good visibility. After the destroyers of both sides crossed each other's battle lines, they opened fire with their main guns. Most of the destroyers deployed by the Federation Army were flat-deck destroyers of about 1,000 tons with five-inch main guns, while the Tang Army had two types of destroyers, one of 1500 tons and the other of 800 tons, equipped with 120 mm main guns and 105 mm main guns, respectively.

Upon first encounter, the Federation destroyers demonstrated their firepower advantage. Although the Federation's flat-deck destroyers were rather haphazard in terms of gun layout and hull design, with a total of four 5-inch guns arranged in a cross shape, only three of them could be used on each side, the opposing destroyers were numerous enough, and the larger caliber 4-inch guns were easier to aim at at greater distances than the 105mm guns.

In another world during World War II, the IJN discovered that its Matsu-class destroyers, which were produced in the later stages of the war and had only three five-inch guns, were no less capable in terms of gunnery than the Akizuki-class destroyers with eight 100mm guns, simply because the water jets from the shells of the five-inch guns were easier to observe.

Although the Tang army had bravely attempted to break through to mid-range and use machine guns to suppress the Federation forces in the destroyer duels, the sheer number of Tang destroyers, despite their numerical disadvantage, resulted in a roughly equal exchange ratio with the Federation forces. However, this wave of torpedo attacks was indeed blocked by the Federation destroyer force. Within 20 minutes, both sides lost more than 10 destroyers. These agile sprites vanished almost like bubbles on this battlefield of carnage.

However, the sacrifice of these destroyers did buy the capital ships a breathing space; launching torpedoes was not the goal, but a means.

As McGiffin distanced itself, it received a telegram from the battleship Marco Polo. Rear Admiral Daniel on the Marco Polo reported that the vanguard fleet had essentially lost its combat capability, while six Tang battlecruisers were heading towards the main fleet.

This telegram also fully embodies the subtle and euphemistic style of writing within the Federation Navy. Anyone who sees this telegram for the first time will surely assume that Rear Admiral Daniel was leading three Federation battlecruisers against six Tang battlecruisers.

Because Rear Admiral Daniel did not report it, his ship did not engage the four battlecruisers that appeared behind it, and they passed each other peacefully.

McGiffin naturally assumed that Daniel, while leading his fleet in a battle against two other Tang battlecruisers, encountered the four Tang battlecruisers. The three battlecruisers fought valiantly but were still heavily damaged. At this moment, the Tang battlecruisers, after receiving information about the situation on the main fleet's side, turned around and rushed to the main battlefield.

Daniel's had it tough," McGiffin thought to himself.

Because of the “misleading” telegram, McGiffin did not choose to recall Daniel’s fleet. After the two destroyers finished fighting and new plumes of smoke gradually appeared on the distant horizon, McGiffin decisively ordered the fleet to turn.

The Federal Navy possesses the world's most comprehensive tactical theories on how to use low-speed ships to counter high-speed ships.

Chapter 160 Carousel

As the battle progressed, the main fleets of the Federal Army and the Tang Army had begun to arrive at the eastern corner of Solon Island. The Federal Navy fleet began to turn along the island's coastline as planned, choosing this location from the beginning to limit the Tang Army's high-speed ships by relying on geographical factors.

Although the Tang army's battlecruisers were coming from the northwest and were still more than 30 kilometers away from them, considering the speed difference between the two sides, if the Federation forces did not change course, it would take several tens of minutes for the enemy to catch up and bring them into normal combat range—that is, within 15,000 meters.

Within those few tens of minutes, he was absolutely confident that he could defeat the first few dreadnoughts of the Tang army's battleships.

But McGiffin didn't do that, because even under the best circumstances, that was all he could do in those few tens of minutes.

If he wants to further expand his gains, he will have to face the enemy battlecruisers that have caught up. At that time, the enemy battlecruisers, with their absolute speed advantage, can choose to cut across him from the stern or from the front of his fleet, and he will be the one who is put on the defensive.

More importantly, the enemy in real combat is not an NPC in a game, nor is it a computer AI in a certain magic naval battle game. Real people will make on-the-spot decisions based on the situation on the battlefield. When their reinforcements were about to arrive on the battlefield, the Tang army would choose to temporarily avoid battle.

In fact, when the Federation forces began to turn, the Tang forces did not immediately follow suit and closely follow. They continued to sail on their original course for a distance before turning. Moreover, during the turn, the first four dreadnoughts turned at an angle of 10 compass points, while the Tang fleet led by the Kaiyuan turned at an angle of 12 compass points.

This created a significant difference in the turning angles between the two formations. The four dreadnoughts in front, which were quite damaged, had a larger turning angle and a larger turning radius. As a result, they moved to the right side of the main fleet during the turn. After watching the friendly ships pass by one after another, the two dreadnoughts that were the least damaged and could still maintain a speed of 19 knots followed directly to the back of the formation after all the friendly ships had passed.

The maneuvering and tactical changes during this turn also demonstrated the outstanding qualities of the Tang Dynasty Royal Navy. At this time, the Ming army's battle fleet maintained a speed of 19 knots, chasing the federal navy fleet ahead, which was maintaining a speed of 17 knots.

If there were no island nearby, the six battlecruisers coming from the northwest could easily deploy a battle line directly south in front of the Federation fleet, delivering a fatal blow to the Federation capital ships at the forefront with an impeccable T-shaped crossbow.

However, the Federation forces were maneuvering at a distance of about 5 nautical miles from the coastline. Therefore, if the Tang army's battlecruisers were to continue to move south and cut across the Federation forces, they would only be met with running aground on the coastline.

With its back against the coastline, the Federation fleet was like a powerful wild boar, its rear end against the wall, its sharp tusks pointing outwards. Any opponent who wanted to launch an attack would face the risk of being bitten back by this wild boar. Moreover, since you couldn't get behind it, you could only confront it head-on.

On the bridge of the USS Washington, McGiffin watched the Tang Dynasty battlecruisers sailing towards them. He tried to put himself in their shoes to think about how to break the deadlock. Spreading out to the south and cutting across was definitely not an option. So what if they chose a route closer to the coastline and then turned north to spread out?

While this is theoretically a solution, in reality, a normal commander would not risk sending the fleet so close to the coast. Although most of the waters in this area are quite deep, it does not mean that there are no reefs and shoals near the coast. Many of the islands in this area are related to volcanic geological activity, so in this area, it is entirely possible to have hundreds of meters of water on one side and an underwater mountain range that is only a few meters away from the surface on the other.

The Federation fleet maintained a distance of five nautical miles because the Federation's hydrographic information and related nautical charts for this area could only support a safe route up to this point. The Bashi Channel was closer to the mainland of Dongda, and the Tang army certainly had a richer knowledge of the nautical charts and hydrographic information of the waters near their own home than they did. However, Magifin believed that even so, the other side would not dare to take any further steps and choose a route closer to the shore.

After all, maneuvering like traversing requires distance to execute. They only left the Tang army with a distance of five nautical miles. If the enemy did not press within two or three nautical miles in one go, but simply shifted their course slightly inward by a few hundred or a thousand meters, even if they executed the maneuver, they would not be able to occupy a very advantageous T-position.

After all, ships sail at sea. You can't just turn the ship sideways and stop it at sea to fire like in World of Warcraft, can you?

After considering various possibilities, McGiffin became convinced that the enemy did not have an effective way to counter his tactics, especially since the enemy's chosen route was indeed the same as theirs, only four or five nautical miles from the coastline. If they were to cut across to the north, his side could simply charge forward and easily slip past the enemy formation from behind.

The two sides are now 15,000 meters apart. The four 15-inch guns of the Federation battleship at the front have begun to roar, but the Tang battlecruisers advancing in the opposite formation still do not cut across. They continue to advance blindly, simply using the six 330mm guns on the Jingyuan at the front to return fire to the Federation.

14,000 meters, 13,500 meters, 13,000 meters, 12,500 meters..........

As the distance closed little by little, the Tang army's battlecruiser fleet showed no intention of maneuvering. The scene was just like when two players from different sides collided while trying to cross the strait on the map "IQ Strait".

Are they really planning to let the two fleets collide like this? Wouldn't the Tang battlecruiser fleet, with only six capital ships, be the ones to die?

This is like throwing an egg against a rock.

However, the actions of the Tang battlecruisers that followed truly shocked McGiffin, because when the distance between the two sides reached 11,000 meters, the opposing battlecruisers finally began to turn, which was naturally expected.

Unexpectedly, the Tang battlecruiser, which was turning around, revealed an unexpected weapon.

torpedo!

That's right, it's torpedoes. Even now, most capital ships still carry torpedoes, although not with rotating torpedo tubes added to the surface like the Tirpitz. However, most capital ships these days have underwater torpedo tubes.

As the most advanced battlecruiser in the Ming Dynasty's Royal Navy, the Jingyuan was equipped with the best equipment available at the time in all aspects, including torpedoes—550mm heavy torpedoes.

These 550mm heavy torpedoes are mounted in fixed launch tubes on both sides of the ship. The launch angle of these fixed torpedo tubes is determined by the ship's turning angle, something that players of some magical naval warfare games must have experienced.

In this day and age, there are no "powerful 93% acid torpedoes". The thermal torpedoes of this era are just the most common kind. For example, the Tang army's 550mm heavy torpedo has an effective range of only 7 kilometers under normal conditions.

However, the two fleets were heading head-on at this moment. This is similar to discussing the range of medium-range air-to-air missiles. The fancy data actually refers to the head-on attack distance of the two fighter jets. The torpedoes launched at this moment are like those medium-range air-to-air missiles. The torpedoes themselves certainly cannot travel 11,000 meters. However, the enemy is also moving forward, and the part of the torpedoes that is not within range will be met by the enemy.

When the white wake appeared on the sea, McGiffin realized he had miscalculated. It seemed like the commander of the enemy's fast fleet was leading these capital ships as if they were destroyers. What normal commander would bring capital ships up here to launch torpedo attacks these days?

However, Cheng Hengqi happened to be such an unusual commander. Although he had previously commanded fast fleets, he had mainly led ships that were either light or medium-sized, such as destroyers and cruisers. After getting used to these medium and light warships, he unconsciously used some of his old style when commanding battlecruisers.

In any case, this move of using battlecruisers for torpedo attacks was a lucky accident. Faced with the oncoming torpedoes, McGiffin could only grit his teeth and reluctantly order the fleet to turn north, since no one in the world would want to mess with torpedoes.

These torpedoes were easy to dodge and wouldn't achieve any results, but they did force the Federation Navy fleet to turn around with the enemy—the pig that had been leaning against the wall was finally forced to expose its rear end.

At this moment, the Federation Navy fleet was forced to turn along with the Tang army's battlecruisers, and the speed difference between the two sides was at least 7 knots. Therefore, after being forced to turn away from the coastline, the enemy could maintain a numerical advantage in a local area for a short period of time, such as concentrating all six strategic cruisers to launch a fierce attack on the Federation's first few Colorado-class battleships that were turning.

Behind the Federation fleet, the main force of the Tang army's battleships was also slowly catching up. This feeling of being blocked in front and pursued from behind was almost like the end of the world for some people who were new to the battlefield and had poor psychological qualities.

But you still couldn't see a trace of panic on McGiffin's face. The torpedoes the enemy had just fired were indeed somewhat unexpected, but the Federation Navy still had trump cards up its sleeve.

"Send the signal to prepare for the carousel tactic."

McGiffin ordered the issuance of a code known only to the Federation, which was in fact a legacy left by Admiral Benson. For a year, when the Federation Navy lacked high-speed capital ships, the Federation did indeed begin to experiment with a "slow to fast" strategy on the high seas.

This tactic sounds complicated, but it is actually very simple. It doesn't even require high skill from the soldiers, because this tactical maneuver simply requires the entire fleet to rotate in a circle at sea, like a carousel.

In this situation, the entire fleet is linked end to end, and the enemy's high-speed ships have no chance to break through the enemy's advantage. This can actually be considered a kind of "building strongholds and fighting a protracted battle" at sea.

Our Federation Navy's preparations for high-speed ships are not solely based on geographical advantages!

Chapter 161 Tacit Understanding on the Battlefield?

Li Che rubbed his eyes in disbelief at the "Eight Trigrams Dragon Gate" formation presented by the Federation people.

Ah Zhen, are you serious?

In another world, Li Che heard on the Internet that the Federation Navy had many "ingenious ideas," including hoping that heavy cruisers like the Pensacola would use 203mm naval guns to fire at the Kongo-class battleships of Yingzhou.

For example, while cruisers around the world were equipped with torpedoes, the Federal Navy abandoned torpedoes for all new cruisers built during the entire interwar period. Compared with the navies of other countries, it was like everyone driving in the wrong direction on a highway.

Of course, even more amazing than these is that the Federation's Iron Turtle developed a tactic of circling on the sea to deal with situations where enemy high-speed capital ships used their speed advantage to seize advantageous positions.

Li Che originally thought that in this world, the Federal Navy had not developed similar tactics as in the other world. After all, in the other time and space, the Federal Navy had long faced the most powerful enemy - the suppression from the Federal Congress. Without the urgent threat of a powerful enemy, the Federal Navy could only build a maximum of two new capital ships per year. This limited shipbuilding quota was naturally reserved by the Federal Navy for battleships.

Battlecruisers, naturally, could only appear on the drawing board until they were sunk by the Washington Naval Treaty. Not a single battlecruiser of the Union Navy was successfully commissioned. This directly led to a group of people in the Union Navy plotting to restore Lexington after the treaty ended, from the late 30s to the 40s. These people finally got their wish when the Iowa-class battleships entered service.

In this world, the Federation Navy faces EMS, which is several times stronger than the IJN in the other world. Under the threat of the Ming Royal Navy, the Federation Navy has finally achieved its wish and can develop its own high-speed ships in the era of dreadnoughts. Therefore, Li Che thought that the Federation would not use this tactic again.

Unexpectedly, after losing all of its battlecruisers, the Federation Navy still managed to figure out this tactic during the year-long gap in battlecruisers.

Li Che was unaware that the Federation had named this tactic "Carousel," a name that was actually an exaggeration. The Federation's tactic wasn't about mindlessly circling around the sea like a snake. The reason the Federation had formed a near-perfect closed loop at sea was because the Tang army's battlecruisers were constantly trying to cut off the Federation fleet's T-shaped formation, while the Federation fleet was constantly changing course.

In reality, one side was drawing a large circle and the other a small circle. Although the Ming army's battlecruiser fleet had a clear speed advantage, this speed advantage did not mean that when the two sides were more than 1 meters apart, the Federation forces could still move in front of the Federation fleet when they turned. After all, anyone with a basic understanding of mathematics knows that, with the same angle, the length of the arc of a sector can vary drastically depending on the length of its side.

To put it simply, the essence of this tactic is to passively adapt to the opponent's course, using a smaller turning radius to ensure that one's side can always exert full firepower, and avoid being cut off by high-speed capital ships and then being outnumbered in local situations.

This tactic is actually more common in one-on-one animal chess games or in small-team tactics. It is the first time that the Federation Navy has used this method in large-team tactics. This is not to say that other countries' navies have not thought of similar methods. It is simply because although this tactic can weaken the speed advantage of the enemy's high-speed ships, just as the speed, altitude and energy of an aircraft are constantly changing rather than disappearing out of thin air, the advantage of high-speed ships cannot be completely offset in this way.

The Tang army's battlecruisers circled the entire route until the battle fleet that followed caught up with them, but they still couldn't find an opportunity to cut across the Federation's front. This was because the Federation adhered to the principle of "if you start preparing to cut across, I will turn and evade," which was really tiring to deal with.

However, the Federation also completely relinquished its initiative in the campaign. Once you adopt this tactic, the direction you advance and the direction you turn are no longer within your control. Although the Tang army and the Federation temporarily stopped their attempt to cut across the Federation after circling around for a long time, and the Federation stopped turning around, the two fleets began to move back to forming two battle lines. However, at this moment, the initiative in the movement of the two fleets had been handed over by the Federation.

Because from now on, the Tang army can "control" the Federation fleet to turn whenever they want, and even make the Federation turn however many degrees they want.

"How could they even come up with such a cowardly and disgusting tactic?"

Cheng Hengqi had just gotten stubborn and circled around the Federation forces, but the Federation fleet had already turned into an ouroboros without giving them a chance to cut across.

After such a long detour, the six battlecruisers and the Federation's leading battleships did not gain much advantage in their encounters. Although the hit rate of both sides decreased due to this detour, and they were not hit by many of each other, they were unable to find an opportunity to concentrate their firepower in a localized area to exert their advantage. As a result, the entire turning process was more like a one-on-one battle between the two sides.

Jingyuan and Haiqi are one thing, as these two ships are at least on par with the Federation's Colorado-class in terms of tonnage. However, the four Suiyuan-class battlecruisers following behind—if it weren't for the experienced officers and men on board being quite adept at maneuvering at sea—would have been unlucky enough to be crippled after that round of shelling.

Although he was disgusted by the Federation's tactics and couldn't help but curse them, Cheng Hengqi knew very well that the Federation had initially planned to use the island as a geographical factor to limit the performance of his high-speed ships. After he led his capital ships to lay mines and broke the Federation's underhanded trick, this was now only a backup plan for the Federation.

For the Federation, having already chosen alternative plans means that the Federation Navy has essentially relinquished its current dominance in maritime maneuvering and is prepared to drag the war into a dead end.

"Although the Federation lost the initiative, from the perspective of artillery tactics, they preserved their advantages to the greatest extent possible."

On the Suiyuan battlecruiser, Yang Yuchen lowered his binoculars. He had now completely guessed the Federation's plan—he had indeed given up the initiative, but there was not much time left before nightfall. Once it got dark here, the Federation fleet would be able to leave the battlefield under the cover of darkness, and the Tang army would most likely not pursue them at night.

The Federation fears night battles, but are the Tang army's main warships not afraid of night battles? Night battles are a double-edged sword for both sides. As long as the Federation ensures that the Tang army does not gain a T advantage before sunset, even if their tactics are a bit ugly, the Federation can maximize their advantage of strong armor and powerful artillery.

"Are we just going to keep at it like this?" the captain of the battlecruiser Suiyuan asked. "Should we send in destroyers to launch a torpedo attack?"

“We don’t have as many destroyers and cruisers as they do, so it won’t be easy to break the deadlock with light ships.” Yang Yuchen shook his head: “Didn’t you see that the Federal Army commander opposite us is adopting a defensive strategy, like trying to hold onto the score until the very end of a football match?”

"Hold onto the current score until the end? We still have the advantage in the exchange ratio. Do you think they'll be content with that?"

“Battle reports can be defined flexibly. If it’s just to report back to the country, you can put the number of sunk and damaged ships together in the statistics, and that’s about right, isn’t it?” Yang Yuchen demonstrated his extensive knowledge of the Federation Navy. If Li Che were here, he would definitely applaud and agree. Although the Federation forces don’t have a headquarters battle report like Yingzhou, the Federation people also like to nitpick in their battle reports, and even use all sorts of euphemisms.

This includes, but is not limited to, casualty figures, battlefield exchange ratios, and other factors. In short, these are the kinds of tasks that the Federation army did a lot of in the other world, and they are probably just as proficient in this world.

"Sir, Commander Chen has sent a flag signal, asking whether to cut across the Federation from the rear."

At this moment, the flag officer relayed another inquiry from the flagship. Yang Yuchen was indeed somewhat impressed by this suggestion. The distance between the two sides was currently maintained at 19,000 meters, and the artillery fire had temporarily ceased. This distance was maintained by the Tang army itself. Although they held the initiative in the battle, if they attempted to engage in combat under normal circumstances, both sides would return to the previous situation of circling around each other, making it difficult for the Tang army to gain a local advantage.

What Cheng Hengqi referred to as cutting across from the stern was actually deploying a T-shape from the rear of the Federation fleet. Unlike deploying from the front, this method of deploying from the stern, while less efficient than deploying from the bow due to the ever-increasing distance between the two sides, required enemy warships cutting across from here to maneuver according to the trajectory of the warships in front; they could not turn on their own.

Could this be the key to breaking the deadlock?

-------------------------------------

What if the enemy cuts us off from behind?

It's not just Cheng Hengqi and Yang Yuchen who are concerned about chrysanthemums; some people on the Federation side have also raised this issue. After all, if it's impossible to get in through the front door, everyone would try to find a way to get in through the back door.

“They won’t do that.” McGiffin shook his head. “They only have a few battlecruisers after all. If they really want to use battlecruisers to cut us off from behind, I can just give them the last few dreadnoughts in the rear, and then the rest of the fleet can turn around in the opposite direction and go to engage their main battleship force.”

He spoke with such certainty, as if he was certain that everything would unfold as he had envisioned.

“There is no perfect tactic in this world. I have already signaled to the opposing commander that this is the end of the battle. If they choose to accept this signal, then today’s battle will basically end here. If they choose not to accept it, then we will continue to exchange weapons with them. Compared to us, they are even less able to accept heavy casualties.”

McGiffin is an expert on the Orient, but he is different from many so-called experts on the Orient. Those guys mostly study the history of the Orient and try to summarize the style and traditions of the Orient from historical experience, but McGiffin prefers to focus on the present.

He himself did not really want to fight this "last battle," and he believed that the Eastern Tang on the other side would certainly not want their fleet to suffer too many losses.

After all, they are still theoretically at war with the entire Allied Powers. With their former allies in Europe falling one after another, the situation facing this major Eastern power forces them to cherish their naval strength even more.

At the beginning, Magifini also tried to defeat the Tang army head-on. After all, although he opposed fighting this battle, he would definitely try his best to fight well once the battle started.

However, McGiffin realized something was wrong as soon as the battle began. Although he had emphasized to his soldiers before the battle that his side had a numerical and qualitative advantage, his expectations for the day's battle had already dropped when he saw the dreadnoughts that should have been under maintenance appear on the battle line.

Once the battle on the fast ships' side had concluded, Magifin, facing the main Tang fleet that had fully rejoined his high-speed ships, now only sought to maintain the current "score" until the end.

A decisive battle doesn't always have to be fought to the point of mutual destruction and attrition. This battle has essentially made it clear that without a large number of new and advanced high-speed warships to replenish its ranks, the Federal Navy cannot continue to support the Army and Marine Corps' ground operations, even if it commits all its forces.

As for the Tang army, they did not expect to fight a decisive battle like the Battle of Trafalgar. Their purpose was to create opportunities for the ground battlefield. Therefore, with both sides maintaining their northward course, they could probably maintain this tacit understanding until nightfall.

After a valiant struggle, McGiffin and the Federal Navy could claim to have destroyed three of the Tang army's main warships, which was enough to satisfy the Warring States—the fast fleet had been severely damaged, and with just a bunch of iron turtles, how much of a result could they expect to achieve? The initiative in the battle was in the hands of the enemy.

For the Tang army, they achieved a better exchange ratio in this great battle and drove the federal navy out of the Bashi Channel, which strongly supported the army's operations.

This outcome is acceptable to both navies, so who would find it unacceptable?

Federal Army/Federal Marine Corps: ? ? ?

Chapter 162 The Time for Liquidation!

"McGiffen is a despicable and shameful deserter! He abandoned the army's uniform, and he must take full responsibility for our defeat!"

—Pershing

"As Commander of the Pacific Fleet, General McGiffin must first and foremost be responsible for the safety of the most valuable asset of the Colombian Federation—the main force of the Pacific Fleet. In this battle, we lost a total of four capital ships, including two super-dreadnoughts. The Navy has given its all for this victory. We simply chose to retain as many trump cards as possible when faced with an impossible mission, to ensure that the interests already gained by the United States in this war are not lost."

The army's reckless southward advance and the resulting consequences should not be borne by the navy. If General McGiffin hadn't chosen to retreat north to Yingzhou to disengage from the battle and safely separate the main fleet from the Tang army, the army would never have been able to evacuate 45 men during the subsequent retreat from Sandakan.

—Spruance's memoir, *Fleet Commander*

Undoubtedly, after making all the necessary attempts, the Federation Navy was unwilling to risk a gamble with the Army. After all, the Federation could afford to lose hundreds of thousands of soldiers, but if the Federation Pacific Fleet suffered heavy losses at this time, the Federation might lose even the newly acquired Kingdom of Japan.

However, the resulting inter-service animosity between the Federal Navy and the Army, as well as the crisis caused by the breakdown of mutual trust between the two sides, will gradually erupt amidst a series of turbulent events in the future.