Seven Seas Beacon Fire

At this moment, looking at the whole world, the most advanced South Dakota-class battleships and Lexington-class battlecruisers of the Federal Navy equipped with 16-inch guns have just been launched and are currently being fitted out.

The Royal Navy's upcoming Admiral-class battlecruisers are nothing more than 10-gun versions of the Renown, still equipped with 15-inch guns. Apart from increasing firepower density and projection, they have no improvement in armor protection or speed.

The Leithani High Seas Fleet's ambitious L20 program was abandoned as soon as the keel was laid. It's uncertain when the essence of German technology will be revived...

In this world, there is currently no capital ship that can compare with the Longyuan.

"When I put on my naval uniform and boarded a warship at the age of 17, it was during the tenth year of the Hongxian era... I was looking forward to Marshal Yang Wenli joining the navy at that time."

At that time, I boarded the first warship, a wooden cruiser called Zhengyang, an unprotected cruiser of over 1700 tons with a single gun strafe, about the size of a destroyer today. After leaving port, if we encountered even slightly rough seas, I would vomit up everything I had eaten the night before.

Yang Yuchen gazed at the sea ahead, his thoughts beginning to reminisce about the past: "Back then, I really wanted to serve on an ironclad warship. The navy was struggling back then. The prime minister focused his main efforts on building railways and factories. The navy's annual budget was limited. The court told us that the navy had to be patient, because the navy's technology was advancing too fast back then. Warships on the shipyard might become obsolete before they were even launched. Nobody was willing to spend too much money on the navy at that time."

Although looking back, my decision was correct, I couldn't have thought that far ahead when I was young. I just loved big ships, I just loved big guns. I served on all sorts of different warships and in all sorts of positions, including auxiliary cruisers, gunboats, protected cruisers, and torpedo cruisers. Finally, when I was 27, I had the opportunity to board what was then the largest and most powerful first-class ironclad warship in our navy. Do you know which ship I'm talking about?

"Is it the first generation of Dingyuan?" Ling Xiao asked tentatively.

"Yes, it was built by us based on the British first-class ironclad ship HMS Frischvanf. It was also the first ironclad ship built by our navy with a displacement of over 10,000 tons. It was equipped with 350mm breech-loading guns with a caliber of 25. Although it was not as good as the 16-inch (406mm) muzzle-loading guns used by the British at that time, we all believed that our Dingyuan was the best ironclad ship in the world at that time. It was the first time that our navy truly possessed the best capital ship in the world."

Yang Yuchen sighed, “It’s a pity that the first generation of Dingyuan ships didn’t even stay on the throne of the world’s number one for a year. The British quickly started building larger and stronger ironclad ships. Even the first-class armored battleships of the Syracuse at that time, although they were unconventional in design, did surpass our Dingyuan in tonnage and firepower. It’s just that most of us didn’t realize this at the time.”

At the end of the last century, our South China Sea Fleet had a local conflict with the Gallic Navy. The Gallic people taught us a lesson with their rapid-fire cannons. If it weren't for the army defeating the French army on the ground, we might have even lost Cam Ranh Bay. Although we won the war with the Gallic people, it was a disgrace to our navy.

From then on, our navy began its vigorous development in recent years. The British started building the 'Kingdom' and ushered in the pre-dreadnought era. We built the 'Sea Guard' and followed closely behind. The Syracuse's 'Garibaldi' class armored cruisers sold well, so we bought two and copied them ourselves... From the pre-dreadnought era to the dreadnought era, we have followed the trend of the world's naval development and never fallen behind. However, in the past years, we have always played the role of a follower. Following is never wrong, but a follower is never the first.

Although Emperor Yongning was fond of grandstanding (this is also censored...), there is one thing I think he was right about: our navy must indeed have the determination to forge paths that others have not yet trod. I know that many people have already reached a conclusion about Emperor Yongning, and I also know that everyone has many complaints about his insistence on installing 420mm naval guns in our navy, which interfered with the normal iteration of naval equipment...”

Clearly, the marshal had gotten quite carried away with his talk, but when he started mentioning Emperor Yongning, many people on the bridge looked at him with the expression of—Marshal, are you really going to bring this up? If you are, don't say anything good about him, there are Imperial Guards on board! This is a topic that cannot be touched!

But clearly, Yang Yuchen doesn't care about any of that now. He's old and has reached a point where he can do whatever he wants: "But in my opinion, Emperor Yongning is like Emperor Yang of Sui. He brought this upon himself. But as for our Longyuan and the Grand Canal that Yang Guang built, it's hard to say which is better or worse for future generations. In any case, now that we've built these two giant ships, the navy can build whatever kind of warships it wants in the future."

After a moment of silence, Ling Xiao said in a half-joking tone, "It's a pity that our two dragons are just two baby dragons sucking on pacifiers. This time at sea, they won't have the chance to truly show their claws and dragon teeth on the battlefield."

"Haha, that's a good analogy. These two dragons we have now are like two baby dragons still suckling on pacifiers, not yet out of their swaddling clothes." Yang Yuchen turned around: "I know that now that you've boarded this giant ship and seen such a magnificent vessel and massive cannons, you must all be itching to get started. I know that more than one of you is thinking about the future, like a general in the field who may disobey orders from the emperor, and hone your skills through actual combat on the battlefield... Surely some of you are thinking that way?"

More than one person felt guilty and avoided the marshal's gaze.

“Young people, you are the future of the navy, and the future will ultimately be yours. In military academy, you must have heard more than once that the navy is a branch of the military that can lose a war in an afternoon. And the ship beneath our feet comes from the hard-earned money of the entire nation, so…” Yang Yuchen withdrew his sharp gaze, leaving the people in Cambridge with his back turned, and slowly turned back to look at the distant sea: “Before thinking about how to win, think about how you might lose. On the battlefield, no one is a protagonist favored by heaven.”

Chapter 193 Killing someone also requires destroying their spirit (1)

"Where have all those damned Easterners gone...?"

Lieutenant General Zangwell, holding a cup of strong coffee, stared at the somewhat lifeless sea in front of him, his eyes gleaming with dark circles.

The weather wasn't particularly good today. Although there were no strong winds, waves, fog, or torrential rain, there were thick cumulonimbus clouds in the sky, as if an invisible hand had been pressing down on the sky. The low pressure of nature seemed to affect people's moods as well—at least for the Zangwell generals.

Since setting out, Lieutenant General Zangwell has not had a good night's sleep. To be precise, he has slept for less than three hours in total over the past two days.

This doesn't mean that Lieutenant General Zangwell was so busy that he had no time to sleep; he simply had trouble sleeping.

The reason he couldn't sleep was simple: everything had gone far too smoothly since the start of the trip...

This might sound contradictory—wouldn't it be great if everything went smoothly? But sometimes, humans are just perverse; if the things they're worried about don't happen, they become restless and uneasy.

"Sir, we are not far from Sandakan. Why don't you go inside the cabin and rest?"

While it's not uncommon for high-ranking commanders to go without sleep for days and nights during wartime, Lieutenant General Zangwell seemed to have not gotten proper rest before setting off, as the bloodshot eyes looked rather alarming, causing others to worry about his health.

“It’s not too late to rest once we enter the port.” Lieutenant General Zangwell shook his head. “Since we set sail, hasn’t any ship in the entire convoy spotted any enemy vessels?”

The captain of the USS Oklahoma shook his head: "You already asked this question this morning. I checked the logbook, and from the moment we set sail until now, apart from encountering what appeared to be a periscope of an enemy submarine when we first departed, no other ship has reported sightings of enemy vessels, nor have we been attacked. Everything has gone very smoothly, and the weather must have been a great help to us."

“But this is very abnormal.” Lieutenant General Zangwell shook his head. “We are just in a cloudy day, without heavy fog or rain, and the visibility at sea is not too bad. Meanwhile, our enemy has been launching a series of high-intensity attacks on us with various commerce raiding ships. But this time, we haven’t even seen a shadow of the enemy since we left port. Do you really think this is normal?”

The captain of the USS Oklahoma paused, seemingly deep in thought, before shaking his head. "Sir," he said, "I don't see anything wrong with this. Since we started using capital ships to escort convoys, the enemy's first two attacks against us by their armored and light cruisers for commerce raiding failed. Last time they even used two battlecruisers, but we didn't give them any chance."

From the words of the captain of the USS Oklahoma, it is clear that he considered it normal not to have encountered the enemy, because the enemy had already given up.

Although the convoy was apparently spotted by enemy submarines when it left port, the enemy submarines must have also noticed the abundant escort force of the B-3 transport convoy. Putting aside the destroyers and cruisers, there were five battleships alone, three of which were super-dreadnoughts.

Such an escort force would be difficult for the Tang Dynasty Royal Navy, whose warships also needed repair and maintenance after the war. Even if they sent out all their main forces at the moment, they might not be able to take it down. If they relied solely on the ships that were conducting commerce raiding operations at sea, they would be even less able to defeat it.

"When did you ever think that our opponent was an army that would back down?" Lieutenant General Zangwell glared at the captain of the battleship USS Oklahoma. "Last time, their attack on our S-4 transport convoy, although blocked by our escort forces and not within effective attack range, they still used their main guns to fire high-explosive shells at the transport convoy protected by our escort ships at maximum firing range, trying to gamble on their luck. They have an extremely high desire to attack, and I don't think they will give up so easily."

The captain of the USS Oklahoma shut his mouth. He certainly didn't need to argue with his superior on this issue. Anyway, they were about to reach Sandakan. This time, at least the first half of the journey had been extremely smooth sailing. He believed that God would also grant them the same good luck on the return trip.

At that moment, the two destroyers sailing alongside the USS Oklahoma suddenly accelerated and turned west. The actions of these two destroyers quickly attracted the attention of everyone in Cambridge, and more than one person immediately took out their binoculars to see what was going on.

The captain of the USS Oklahoma, a battleship with considerable experience in escorting ships, confidently asserted even before the two destroyers relayed their reports: "These two little guys must have spotted the enemy submarine. Gentlemen, please maintain some decorum; it's just a submarine."

"It seems these Easterners are planning to launch an attack using submarines this time? Then there must be many submarines active around Sandakan and the port area."

“There has always been a lot of submarine activity outside Sandakan Port.”

“There’s more now than before,”

..........

When the officers and men aboard the USS Oklahoma Cambridge discuss submarines now, they are no longer as excited as when they first discovered them. Although these things are somewhat creepy, like scorpions, for a battleship, being hit hard by a scorpion's tail hook could easily send it crashing to its death.

However, the battleships in the entire formation are now well protected. These battleships are basically sailing in tandem with the outermost transport ships of the convoy, while cruisers and destroyers that have set up a perimeter around them are on the outermost edge.

Although thermal torpedoes of this era represent a significant advancement compared to those of the late 9th century with an effective range of only a few hundred meters, in reality, most torpedoes still have a range of only a few kilometers. The main torpedoes currently equipped on the submarines of the Tang Dynasty Royal Navy are actually bayonet torpedoes with a range of about 5 kilometers.

They need to get close enough to launch torpedoes. The risks involved are huge. After all, submarines, in some ways, have even more stringent requirements than space stations. A leaky space station can still be used, but a leaky submarine means everyone will perish together.

Lieutenant General Zangwell also witnessed those destroyers rushing out from Cambridge. He didn't know if they had spotted the periscope or heard something with their water, but he could see that after the two destroyers chased for several kilometers, they started dropping depth charges frantically in the sea area on my side.

However, like most anti-submarine operations of this era, using depth charges to destroy a contract is like drawing cards in a gacha game. You throw 10-pull after 10 into the water, and there's no guaranteed reward. So, you often end up throwing a bunch of resources in and getting nothing at all.

These two destroyers didn't seem to have made any significant gains today, but for the entire fleet, being able to detect the submarine in time and drive it away is already a success.

But... has the Tang army really abandoned all other means of attacking them besides submarines this time?

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P.S.: I'm so sleepy, today's post is a bit short.

Chapter 194 Killing someone also requires destroying their spirit (2)

"The Colombian transport fleet has entered the port."

Yang Yuchen put down the telegram in his hand. It was a telegram sent back by a Tang Dynasty submarine outside Sandakan Port. For the Colombian troops trapped on the island, the various supplies carried on this transport ship must have been a lifesaver for the Colombian officers and soldiers on the island.

Initially, Yang Yuchen did indeed intend to intercept the transport convoy en route. His goal was not only to sink or capture most of the transport ships at sea, thus turning the Colombian army's eagerly awaited supplies into nothing, but more importantly, to target the Colombian escort fleet. The fundamental purpose of this operation was to let the Colombian army know that even if they deployed their main warships for escort, their transport lines were still not safe.

However, it is clear that the original plan can no longer be implemented. This is not because the Tang army's formation encountered any accidents on the way, causing them to miss the scheduled time. In fact, it is purely because Yang Yuchen changed his purpose.

He wanted to lower the Colombian army's guard.

Yang Yuchen believed that the Colombian military was definitely prepared for an attack this time. After all, the reconnaissance intelligence sent back by the submarine showed that three of the five main warships in the Colombian escort fleet were super-dreadnoughts, two of which were the famous Iron Turtle standard battleships of the Federal Navy.

Although these two standard battleships were the earliest Nevada-class battleships built, and were weaker than the newest standard battleships in terms of tonnage and firepower, the foundation of the standard battleships was too good. In terms of protection, the Nevada-class battleships were no different from the newest Colorado-class battleships currently in service with the Federal Navy. In terms of firepower, although they had two fewer 14-inch guns than the successor Pennsylvania-class and Tennessee-class battleships, these impacts were not significant in terms of overall combat effectiveness.

In other words, from the perspective of being an adversary, the Nevada-class battleships were considered to be on the same level as other standard battleships in the eyes of the Tang army.

就像4号G型相对于4号H型，T34/76-1941相对于T34/76-1943，M4A1 76W相对于M4A3 76W这些二战当中的坦克型号演进一样，性能有没有提升？当然有提升，但是有什么根本的区别吗？实际上也没有，在高一些级别的军官眼里就是同一个类型的东西。

After the Battle of the Bashi Channel, among the capital ships of the Federal Navy that did not need to be returned to the shipyard for repairs, these two earliest standard battleships were the most powerful. This time, the Colombians assigned both of these battleships to a convoy escort fleet, which shows that they were well prepared.

Although he currently has an absolute advantage in terms of manpower compared to the Colombian escort fleet, this advantage is only on paper. If we exclude the two "Milk Dragons", of the other seven ships in the entire fleet, only two are super-dreadnoughts, while the other five are dreadnoughts.

Among these five dreadnoughts, one of them is the oldest, which was modified from blueprints during the construction of a quasi-dreadnought. Moreover, one of the two super-dreadnoughts and two of the five dreadnoughts are battlecruisers. In terms of the ability to fight to the death, the seven capital ships in the Tang army do not have a significant advantage over the Colombian escort fleet.

As for the two Dragon Abysses... Although theoretically these two Dragon Abysses have an overwhelming advantage, Yang Yuchen is currently one of the most opposed officers in the Navy to the theory of weapons above all else. This is because Yang Yuchen, as a military observer, once witnessed the Spanish-American War between the Federation and Iberia. He personally saw how the Iberian Navy had degenerated to such an extent during this war.

In the naval battle between the Federal Navy and the Iberian Navy, although the Iberian fleet was at a disadvantage in terms of tonnage compared to the Federal Navy, the Iberian Navy also had a number of warships with good performance. Whether it was the Queen Theresa-class armored cruisers or the Garibaldi-class armored cruisers purchased from Syracuse, they could all be considered first-class warships at the time.

In particular, the Garibaldi-class armored cruisers of the Syracuse Navy achieved the firepower and protection of other countries' 10,000-ton-class armored cruisers at a displacement of 7000 tons, while also having a speed of 20 knots. Apart from the fact that the sailors had to endure some hardship in terms of accommodation and that the height of some secondary gun positions was relatively low, it can almost be called the model of armored cruisers, and even the most advanced armored cruiser design in the world at that time. Even the Tang Dynasty ordered two from the Syracuse Navy and purchased the complete set of blueprints.

However, the Garibaldi, the best armored cruiser in the Iberian Navy, was only hit by a few five-inch shells and about a dozen three-inch shells in this naval battle. Then, this best armored cruiser in the Iberian Navy panicked and chose to run aground to escape. Such a performance left the multinational naval observers who were watching the naval battle speechless.

Such a small amount of shells is like a tickle to a 7000-ton armored cruiser, especially one with six-inch-level hardened armor on its entire side. To put it bluntly, if you brought over a World War II Tiger or KV tank and bombarded these tanks with these shells, these heavy tanks from World War II might be able to withstand it.

From then on, Yang Yuchen firmly believed that the human factor was more important than the equipment factor. The quality of equipment raised the upper limit of an army, but no matter when or where, the human factor determined the lower limit of an army.

Therefore, he didn't even consider the two "milk dragons" in the battle lineup, even though theoretically these two ships would definitely be effective if they were deployed in battle.

After all, what's that saying again?

When you can clearly see the face of the person on the other side, there is no shelling that you can't hit!

The two Longyuan-class battleships, with their 305mm side armor sloped at 15° and internal 110mm (the first two ships had 110mm, and later batches increased to 130mm) dome armor, were truly a wall of lament for this era. At worst, at a distance of less than 1 meters, as long as the 420mm naval guns didn't explode, they could easily smash the enemy's head.

However, in actual combat, the threats faced by warships at sea are not limited to shells fired by enemy capital ships. Inconspicuous destroyers and cruisers may cause large ships several times their size to capsize in the melee, not to mention the potential threats that may exist underwater.

Therefore, Yang Yuchen decided to take a more cautious approach.

In some respects, Yang Yuchen and McGiffin are similar people. They both insist that when the navy makes decisions, it should first consider the navy itself. As for other things, such as support for the army and cover for the marines, these should all be based on the premise that the navy has enough strength to win the fleet battle.

To put it bluntly, if we need to help our sister companies, we'll pay interest if there's interest, but if there's no interest, there's nothing we can do. The principal is absolutely not to be touched.

Yang Yuchen knew that the arrival of this Colombian supply shipment would undoubtedly create greater obstacles for the ground forces' offensive. However, he was well aware that the primary objective of his operation was not to inflict significant damage on the Federal Navy's transport convoy, but rather to severely cripple or even annihilate the Federal Navy's escort fleet.

If the Colombian escort fleet is eliminated this time, the Royal Navy of the Tang Dynasty will be able to ravage the Federal Navy's transport lines for a considerable period of time to come.

Therefore, Yang Yuchen ultimately chose to slow down. He believed in the principle of "one effort, then decline, then exhaustion," so he chose to let the Colombian fleet enter the port and then launch an attack when they left the port and embarked on their return journey.

He believed that if the commander of the opposing federal naval escort fleet had been conscientious, he would have repeatedly emphasized the dangers they might face on the way here. However, the Ming fleet never appeared, which meant that no matter how much their commander instructed them, it was as if their superiors were constantly repeating the story of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" to the soldiers.

When they embark on their return journey, the success of this phase will inevitably lower the entire fleet's vigilance to the minimum. Yang Yuchen's plan is to pounce on them immediately after they leave Sandakan.

That's right, he plans to deal with the Colombian transport fleet and escort convoy in the waters surrounding northern Borneo.

Of course, there were other personal motives involved. He wanted to show the Federal Army soldiers who were still on shore and hadn't boarded the ship that the "ark" they had placed their hopes on taking them home might not be heading towards home, but could be heading straight to hell.

"The Colombians will need a few more days to load and unload their supplies. I think we'll have to wait until next week to launch our attack." Ling Xiao flipped through the nautical calendar, then checked the weather forecast received from the shore via radio: "The weather should clear up next week, and visibility will be quite good, which is good for us..."

Ling Xiao initially wanted to suggest that the weather might not be suitable for them to ambush the Colombians, since the better the weather, the farther away they could go, and if the Colombians discovered the attack early and made preparations...

"This is good news for us." Yang Yuchen turned around and asked, like a teacher quizzing a student, "What is the key to our operation this time?"

Putting aside other aspects, Ling Xiao is indeed very intelligent in terms of personal ability. He immediately realized: "The key to our operation this time is our two battleships."

"Yes, so the better the weather, the clearer the Colombians can see, and the clearer their vision, the easier it is for us to move around."

Ling Xiao nodded, then seemed to remember something: "Marshal, there is something I think I should ask you about."

"what's up?"

"The Colombian transport ships are entering port carrying supplies, so in our original plan, no matter how many Colombian transport ships we destroyed, it wouldn't be too much of a problem. But now these transport ships are all returning fully loaded with people. So when we launch our attack, should we attack these Colombian transport ships directly, or should we warn them first and make them stop? And if they don't comply...?"

Were there civilians on board?

“No,” Ling said with a smile, “but according to our intelligence network in Yingzhou, these ships are carrying unarmed…”

"How do you define 'armed'? Because they're not carrying rifles right now?" Yang Yuchen stared at Ling Xiao: "We're not carrying guns either, so why are you asking such a question?"

In Yang Yuchen's memory, Ling Xiao was a cunning officer who was good at currying favor with the Crown Prince. He was certainly capable, but he was a bit sly. He didn't seem like the kind of person who would show kindness on the battlefield.

"Here's the thing, Marshal, what should we do if those Colombian transport ships surrender to us?" Ling Xiao asked seriously, "If a large number of Colombian officers and soldiers fall into the water during the fighting, should we provide basic humanitarian assistance?"

"If they surrender, capture the transport ship. As for whether to provide humanitarian aid to the Colombian soldiers who fell into the water... that's up to the frontline captains to decide based on the specific circumstances." Yang Yuchen stared at him: "Any other questions?"

"It's like this, Marshal... Our fleet for this operation doesn't just consist of warships from our Great Tang Dynasty. Some of our escort vessels are from the Yanping Navy. These colleagues from the Yanping Navy......"

Ling Xiao didn't finish his sentence, but his meaning was crystal clear: the Colombians and these comrades had an irreconcilable blood feud. If everything went smoothly and they successfully defeated the Colombian military escort fleet, then these transport ships carrying Colombian soldiers would be no different from dumplings in a pot on the winter solstice.

These Yanping naval personnel's relatives may have died on shore at the hands of the Colombian army. With such hatred in their hearts, how will they treat those Colombian transport ships that are completely powerless to fight back at sea?

Although Yang Yuchen held a firm stance of sweeping away the Colombian troops who refused to surrender, his values ​​prevented him from making the decision to continue attacking surrendered enemy forces. Whether or not to rescue enemy soldiers who had fallen into the water was one thing, but attacking enemy transport ships that were about to surrender was naturally neither appropriate nor possible.

However, there are indeed some variables in the current formation.

Will those soldiers of the Yanping Navy continue to fire when they face Colombian military transport ships flying white flags?

Let's hope the enemy doesn't raise a white flag, which would only give our colleagues in Yanping a boost in attack speed.

Chapter 195 God! What is that? (1)

When Major General Rilis McNair was carried onto the warship on a stretcher, although he appeared to be asleep, he could clearly hear the sarcastic remarks of the officers and soldiers waiting to board the ship who were being stopped by the military police at the dock.

"Look at him, this is the cleanest gentleman I've ever seen lying on a stretcher!"

"Becoming a general makes you different from us."

"Tuck your tail between your legs and run!"

Major General McNair knew what the soldiers' taunts stemmed from—because the transport ships docked in the harbor allowed these soldiers to board on their own. In order to save space and transport as many people as possible, these soldiers even had to take off their equipment, discard all their weapons, backpacks and personal belongings before boarding, and were then described as being packed up and transported away "like the slave traders of yesteryear".

In this situation, if a stretcher were to be transported, it would mean that 3 to 4 soldiers would not have the opportunity to board the ship. Therefore, the entire B-series fleet would only carry healthy soldiers, or at most lightly injured soldiers who could walk on their own.