Nan Ming Sun Never Sets

Chapter 703 Denmark Strait

In winter, the North Sea is very windy and the waves are high, and it is even difficult for naval ships with relatively light tonnage and poor seaworthiness to sail safely in this sea area.

On the battleship Shanghai, Fleet Commander Galdan looked at the wind and rain outside the porthole, feeling a little stuffy.

Ding Quan, deputy commander of the fleet, understood Galdan's emotions: "In this kind of weather, if the carrier-based aircraft takes off, the chances of losing fighters in the storm may be several times higher than being shot down by the enemy."

Galdan said calmly: "It's not a serious problem. It's not that our fleet cannot fight without the aircraft carrier."

Ding Quan showed a bit of a smile: "Yes, the big deal is to continue to follow the path of giant ships and cannons, otherwise our Shanghai will be useless."

Even in strong winds and waves, this giant ship with a displacement of 58000 tons is still sailing quite smoothly at sea. The fleet led by Galdan consists of four battleships, four heavy cruisers, and there are seven destroyers and four submarines on the periphery. Be alert, the Atlantic Fleet has almost wiped out the Western Qing Navy in the Mediterranean Sea before. Although the Qing Army’s submarine force in the Mediterranean Sea has sunk the 7+ ton transport ships of the Ming Dynasty one after another, all more than 4 submarines have been sunk. Naval bases were also uprooted.

Now it is the turn of the Xiqing Navy on the North Sea and the Baltic Sea.Unlike the Xiqing fleet in the Mediterranean Sea, which is dominated by submarines, Xiqing's main surface ships are concentrated in this fleet.

Galdan said calmly: "According to Jin Yiwei's information, the main fleet of the Xiqing Navy has assembled near the Denmark Strait. On land, they lost quickly on the French side. It will soon be the turn of the Netherlands and Denmark. They will lose their natural barriers." , so the goal of the Xiqing Navy is to disrupt our possible landing operations and carry out operations to break diplomatic relations."

Ding Quan said: "It is reasonable to bring out the fleet to fight at this time. After all, the Western Qing army has been fighting for so long and has not even won a single victory. The Western Qing side definitely needs a weak victory as publicity. Boost their morale. So it’s okay for the navy to perform well at this time."

"Furthermore, at this time, they withdrew their navy to the depths of the Baltic Sea, so they will not have any chance to perform in the future. The Xiqing navy is much inferior to ours. If they can't fight bravely at this time, then they will only be defeated by us in the future." Completely crushed."

Ding Quan generally avoided using words like Tartar when facing this fleet commander who was born in the little prince of Moxi Mongolia.After all, the name Tatar was called Mongols in the former Ming Dynasty.Many remaining Manchurians and Mongols in the Ming Dynasty have changed their real Chinese names over the years. In fact, not to mention them, even those Filipinos, Champas, and Javanese also use Chinese names after naturalization.Ke Galdan has a special attachment to his own identity, adopting his Mongolian surname, Mongolian name, and even his descendants.

Da Ming did not have any objection to sticking to his own national identity, and Galdan himself also fulfilled his duties.Galdan was once confused about his status as a member of the Ming Navy, but now he can take it lightly.

"It doesn't matter where I was born, what language or culture I have, what kind of blood I have, as long as I stand under the flag of Ming Dynasty and wear the military uniform of Ming Dynasty, I am a soldier of Ming Dynasty, and I must defend the dignity and interests of Ming Dynasty. "Galdan said in his heart.

The wind and rain seem to have become a little bit bigger, and the combat formation of the Atlantic Fleet of the Ming Navy has also approached the Skagerrak Strait.

"Reporting to the commander, the radar of our formation 525 ship has detected the target, and the opponent is about 45 nautical miles away from me."

Galdan nodded, "Keep the formation and cut into the battlefield. The frigates should pay attention to strengthen the reconnaissance of enemy submarines in the sea area."

"Yes, Commander!"

Ding Quan saw the description of the enemy fleet and smiled: "I'm afraid this is almost the entire property of the Xiqing Navy. Two battleships, two battlecruisers, five heavy cruisers and four light cruisers, plus aboard their frigate."

Galdan was still more worried that the Qing army's submarines would take advantage of this time to fish in troubled waters and attack the capital ships of the Ming Navy. After all, using submarines to sneak attack was the most affordable and economical method, even if it was a change, it was worth it.

The heavy rain was torrential, the waves were churning, and the visibility on the water was relatively low. At this time, the entire Ming Dynasty Navy fleet had luxurious avionics equipment. In terms of semiconductor electronics industry, Ming Dynasty was completely ahead of the times. There is no concept at all. Daming has directly completed the technology tree of electron tubes and transistors. Now that integrated circuits are popularized, he has begun to explore radar materials such as gallium arsenide and the early version of phased arrays.

Of course, these things have not been on the ship, but at this time when Xiqing still doesn't quite understand the working principle of radar, the Ming Navy, which is equipped with radar from frigate to battleship, is still far superior to the Xiqing Navy in terms of detection capabilities.

"The leader of the enemy formation is not their Ukrainian-class battleship, but a heavy cruiser." Ding Quan came to this conclusion by cross-comparing radar data.

Galdan judged naturally: "It is to attract our firepower, wait for their battleships and battle cruisers to see the position of our capital ship, and then launch a full-scale bombardment."

Ding Quan smiled and said, "What a chicken thief."

Galdan said: "This naval battle is very likely to be the last large-scale naval battle involving giant ships and cannons in the history of world naval warfare. This era will be so short."

Ding Quan comforted Galdan and said, "Maybe it's not just the last naval battle with giant ships and cannons, but also the last naval battle. After Xiqing is wiped out, there will be no country in the world that is on the opposite side of Ming Dynasty." , Ming will rule the four seas and occupy all the land, and the so-called country will also be a vassal and protectorate of Ming."

Galdan did not laugh at Ding Quan's overly optimistic prediction. After all, this was something that no one expected. A country would rule the entire planet.

Knowing that today's sea battle will be the pinnacle of battle with giant ships and cannons, and it may also be the last sound, Galdan is determined to show the charm of battleships as a weapon.Perhaps in the future, Ming Dynasty will not build battleships mainly based on artillery, but he wants to make this battle a moving and magnificent page in the history of the Ming Dynasty Navy, which is worthy of being remembered and missed by countless people.

Huge steel warships and thick gun barrels, the romanticism characteristic of the industrial age, will reach its climax and end here, and their generation will also watch the arrival of a new era here.

(End of this chapter)