Australian Storm 1876

   Chapter 266

  After a fierce and short naval battle, the burning brig sank into the sea, extinguishing the last fire, and the sea in the night was calm again.

  Two high-speed cruise ships are driving one after the other on the sparkling sea. They are sea hunters who guard their homes and warriors of triumph, but it is not time to relax.

  In the driving building of "Bar-headed Goose"

  The instrument on the operation console was shining with a faint light, which could only outline the outline of the officers and operators in the driving building. The others were hidden in the darkness, and only the excitement that could not be hidden came.

   "Captain, we have killed another brig. It is the second cargo ship that broke through this month. I don't know what these Dutch people think. Do you really think we can't block a lucky bay?"

   "Hahaha... they came to die, we couldn't ask for it."

   "That's right! We will charge as much as we come. We have a better appetite for Mores than the Squadron!"

  Excited voices came from the officers. They had forgotten the hard work of patrolling at sea for several days. In order to block the Lucky Bay, they had been patrolling at sea for 16 consecutive days. During this period, they returned to the port to supply them once, which was only a mere 4 hours.

  All the officers and soldiers went ashore to take a bath and then immediately returned to the ship. Maybe someone took the opportunity to go to the brothel to steal their mouths, but the time was really in a hurry.

  As a high-speed frigate of less than 1,000 tons, it sacrificed protection and seaworthiness for high speed, not to mention the narrow habitability is simply anti-human. The long-term cruising is a test of the will of the officers and soldiers.

Geng Baogui was proud of his brothers and said with a smile in the darkness; "Guys, I am proud of your performance. Here I want to announce the good news that the 4 new warships to be built at the Hongshan Shipyard are coming soon. Joining our squadron, the time is just these few days. Our battleship team has grown further and has the ability to completely control Lucky Bay in our hands. We can’t relax in this aspect."

   "Wow, great, I can finally catch my breath with the support of brother warships."

   "Who can say no, my body smells bad."

   "Hahahaha...to each other."

Hearing the laughter of the officers in his ears, Geng Guibao's stern expression looking towards the sea ahead did not let up. The Dutchman's continuous entry through the barrier sounded the alarm in his heart, which shows that some of the opponent's dogs are jumping the wall in a hurry.

  In this case, it is necessary to prevent the Dutch from organizing large formations to land, which will defy the current good situation.

  Before April 1

Due to the blockade of the Royal Dutch Fleet, two batches of reinforcements and a large amount of weapons and ammunition were continuously sent to the Moresby area on a large scale, which caused heavy losses to the third regiment and armed militia of the front line garrison, and successively lost the three beam positions and the second road. Liang's position was forced to retreat to the current leader's position, and the situation was precarious.

  Geng precious still remember how critical the situation was at that time. Almost the entire Moresby area was mobilized to prepare for scorched-earth warfare. They wanted to fight against the enemy and defend their homes to the death.

  This put tremendous pressure on the ship detachment in Port Moresby. The young officers of the fleet were preparing to launch a decisive assault several times, but they were all pressed down firmly by Geng Baogui.

He knows that these three precious warships in his hand have obvious advantages and disadvantages as well. They opened up the defense loopholes of the enemy fleet in high-speed assault operations at sea. Using Miss Australia's fierce firepower can play a miraculous effect. The blockade is bound to die ugly.

  On April 1, the Queensland United Fleet suddenly landed and occupied Samarinda, and the Dutch task force was forced to return to the Surabaya Port on Java Island to guard the mainland. This gave the Moresby Squadron a chance to become a serf and sing.

  To this day, Lucky Bay has been blocked for more than half a month.

  There will be 4 new ships joining in the near future. In this blank period of power transfer, I am especially vigilant. He seriously considered future orders;

"Notify the friendly ships to expand the patrol range, from the originally planned 20 nautical miles to 50 nautical miles in the 90-degree fan-shaped area in the southwest. The patrol speed is 12 knots and the interval is three nautical miles. Be wary of any small formations trying to break through the barrier, and ensure that no enemy is missed. Ship."

  Naval formations use semaphores during the day and lights at night.

  The flashing light signal will be transmitted out, and the friendly ship will reply the light signal immediately; the command will be executed immediately when the command is received.

  The two ships on the night-shrouded sea opened a distance and searched for the distant sea...

  Southwest of Shangri-La Island

  According to this, on the sea about two days away, a mixed formation of eight ships traveled on the sea, with an average speed of about 11 knots.

Among them are 6 full-loaded three-masted galleons, which have certain self-defense capabilities, and another 1,150-ton steam ironclad ship "Lüpef" and a heavily armed second-level sailing battleship "Netherlands Giant" escorted with 20 doors. Artillery, more than 1,300 tons of ammunition and 1,200 reinforcements, are heading in the direction of Moresby.

  This is a small landing formation dispatched by Batavia. The purpose is to send reinforcements to the island and to send reinforcements to support the Dutch landing forces to hold on.

  After the defeat of the second Malacca naval battle

  The Dutch colonists quickly traced the source of the leak to the wired long-distance telegraph bureau in Banda Aceh. Therefore, strict measures were taken to block the transmission and reception of the telegraph bureau, and the transmission of all non-Governor’s and the military’s telegram information was strictly prohibited.

  At the same time, Samarinda in Borneo was blocked, so that it could not receive any telegram information from the island of Java to prevent military information leakage.

This caused great difficulties for the Batavia Intelligence Station to transmit information. Therefore, the head of the Intelligence Station, Mr. Qing Song, and the joint fleet in Samarinda agreed that the joint fleet would send a warship to wander off the coast of Madura Island. There is important information to dispatch fishing boats to sea for handover.

  Sabaya Port is the second largest city on the island of Java. It is located at the northeast corner of the island of Java, at the "L"-shaped intersection of the Madura Strait and the Surabaya Strait. It faces Madura Island and its geographical location is extremely important.

  But it is precisely this geographical location that determines that the Dutch cannot block the fleet information. The reason is very simple.

Surabaya Port is located at the "L"-shaped intersection of the Madura Strait and the Surabaya Strait. To the north, it passes through the Madura Strait which is dozens of kilometers long. The narrowest part of the strait is only 3 to 4 kilometers, and the widest place is 8-9. Kilometers can be seen clearly when standing on a high place with the naked eye, and there is no way to hide it.

  If you go east, you have to pass through the Surabaya Strait. The sea surface of the Surabaya Strait is wide, 55 kilometers at its widest point and more than 20 kilometers at its narrowest point. The problem is that there are a series of small islands in the strait, and the navigable channels are easy to monitor.

  The fleet has just received a report from the Surabaya Strait Observatory;

  Two days ago, the steamship "Lüpef" and the sailing battleship "Netherlands Giant" left the port of Surabaya one after another, and their whereabouts are unknown.

   After careful investigation by the Black Guard Intelligence Station, it was found that in the past few days, the three-masted galleons in major ports such as Surabaya Port and Batavia Port have shown obvious signs of decline, and the number is about 5-8.

  Fleet commander where to judge based on this;

  The Dutch are not dead, trying to continue to organize the fleet to send reinforcements to the Moresby Theater, the possibility is as high as 60%.

  Although the "Seven Provinces" and more than ten sailing warships are anchored in Surabaya Port, this may be a trick played by the Dutch to confuse the Queensland United Fleet.

Not to be missed.

  He Fang made a decisive decision to attack, and it was a big deal for nothing. It was impossible to catch the Dutch fleet on the vast sea, but near Lucky Bay, he would definitely be able to catch it.

  With the successive launching of new warships, there are very few opportunities for the Dutch fleet. They are likely to risk organizing landing formations to pass through the barriers. After all, it is much less difficult to deal with the three frigates in the Moresby area.

   Entering the sea area of ​​7 to 8 kilometers near Lucky Bay is the world of Dutch shore artillery. If you only want to break through, there is still a great chance of success.

  Where is it secretly speculating;

  If what is expected is not bad, the Queensland Fleet would have made a lot of money by catching the "Lupperf" and the sailing battleship "Netherlands Giant".

  Destroy the current second and third strongest battleships of the Royal Dutch Task Force, the "Seven Provinces" is just a toothless tiger and no longer poses any threat.

  Samarinda Port, Borneo

  The sirens sounded through the harbor, and a large number of crew members boarded the warships. The thick chimneys of the warships in the harbor were full of black smoke.

  Led by the four ships of albatross, flamingos, pelicans, and herons, it led four seagull-type frigates to set sail in the dark. After exiting the narrow channel, they immediately began to accelerate and headed northeast at high speed.

  The bright moonlight on the sea

  The flickering navigation lights of the warship formation were extremely dazzling, and they lined up in a straight line far away, galloping toward the northeast, and the goal was directed at Lucky Bay.

  (End of this chapter)