Australian Storm 1876

   Chapter 879 Enemy Attack

   After suffering a big loss, the U.S. naval fleet learned to be smart, and used a mix of battleships and cruisers to cover the entire fleet tightly. After licking the wound, it slowly approached the direction of Hawaii Island.

   It didn't arrive at the waters near Hawaii Island until dusk, which was more than 5 hours later than the scheduled time.

   In the meantime, Brigadier General He Jiaben led the fleet to try again several times.

   The opponent's defense is tight, and there is no chance to take advantage of it, and the force in his hand does not dare to rashly press it. He can only harass it from a distance, and does not dare to get too close, and always maintain a safe distance of 15 kilometers away.

   Major General Schroeder had nothing to do with such a dog skin plaster.

He simply dispatched the battleship "Kirshag" and the battleship "Kentucky" to lead a small fleet to confront it. He himself led the "Alabama", "Illinois", "Nebraska" and A total of four battleships "Maine", along the outer edge of the coast, began to focus fire on the battery on the west side of the island of Hawaii.

The battery on the west side of Hawaii Island is equipped with two 305mm shore guns, 4 203mm shore guns, and 10 152mm shore guns. The officers and soldiers of the battery are not afraid to shoot at the enemy. Half the sky glowed red.

   in battle

   The shore artillery damaged the battleship "Maine", and it was caught in a sea of ​​fire.

  16 305mm naval guns dealt with two 305mm shore guns. The final result is self-evident. The US naval formation finally pulled out the west battery at the cost of a slight injury to a battleship.

   early morning

   A battalion of more than 300 US officers and soldiers forcibly landed and occupied the west side fort, and raised the Stars and Stripes on the fort, symbolizing the partial success of the landing operation.

   This day was exhausted, and the US fleet did not attack continuously at night, but used the precious battle gaps to make repairs so that they could fight again tomorrow.

The Pearl Harbor cruiser fleet, which was always on the outskirts, took advantage of the cover of the night to send two small teams of destroyers to harass the enemy. They fired a few rounds of artillery every one or two hours, and then used high-speed interspersed escape and disappeared in the endless night. .

  This night, no one had a good rest.

   The next morning

The sky just turned white, that is, around 6:00 in the morning, the U.S. battle fleets "Alabama", "Illinois", "Nebraska", "Kilsarge" and "Kentucky" "The battleship, a total of 5 battleships began shelling the southern battery along the outer periphery of the bay, leaving only the "Maine" battleship, which was slightly injured, led a group of cruisers to guard against sneak attacks.

  The attack was smoother after dawn, and the resistance of the southern fort was not resolute. After an hour and a half, it was occupied by the forcibly landed U.S. Army, thus eliminating the greatest threat to the defenders of Hawaii Harbor, and the beautiful bay opened the door to the invaders.

   A number of freighters swarmed in, and the heavily damaged "St. Louis" protected cruiser also staggered into the port. At this moment, its side of the ship was submerged in the water, and it had no choice but to run aground in the bay to avoid the tragic fate of sinking.

   After dawn

  Accurate casualty statistics were also released, and Rear Admiral Schroeder looked at the numbers in his hands with blood dripping from his heart.

The army suffered 867 casualties and 116 missing, most of which were losses of troop transports. Only one person was killed and 17 injured in the attack on the two forts. The dead soldier fell while climbing and broke his neck. The missing soldiers are estimated to have sunk to the bottom of the sea along with the ships carrying the soldiers!

   Fortunately, the rescue was timely, otherwise the loss would have been even greater.

   A troop carrier and two freighters sank, 62 crew members were killed and injured, 26 of them were injured, and the rest were rescued.

  The cruiser "St. Louis" was seriously injured, the cruiser "Milwaukee" was slightly injured, and the battleship "Maine" was slightly injured. 327 officers and soldiers were killed, 455 were injured, and 17 were missing.

   The biggest result of the battle was that thousands of large-caliber artillery and ammunition were used to conquer two fortresses, killing more than 230 enemy people, and all the rest fled.

   on the pier

A large number of American soldiers landed, and the pier was in a mess. The officers were shouting for their soldiers. The soldiers were running around like flies without heads. , Meimei enjoys smoking a cigarette.

   This situation did not improve a little until the sun rose high, and sporadic gunshots were heard in the city not far away. The leading troops sent by the US military were intercepted and forced to stop and wait for the follow-up troops to come up.

  Some US soldiers armed with guns rushed into nearby houses to beat the residents, robbed property, and even chased the women with a strange smile.

Rear Admiral Schroeder stood on the side of the ship with gloomy eyes. The battleship "Maine" was hit by a 305mm armor-piercing projectile. The secondary guns were beaten to a state of scrap metal.

   Fortunately, the damage to the hull was not large, but the casualties were not small. The moment when the command tower was hit, the shock caused a total of 17 people killed and injured. A secondary battery was reimbursed, and 7 people were killed.

  The huge vibration ruptured the high-pressure steam pipe near the secondary gun, and the hot high-pressure steam was ejected, causing dozens of casualties again. Due to insufficient steam pressure, the battleship Maine lost three knots of speed and could only reach a maximum of 15 knots.

The most unfortunate thing is that the captain, deputy captain, helmsman and navigator of the ship were all killed in action. The rest of the injuries were of varying severity. The four officers were seriously injured and unconscious. The least injured were deaf in both ears. Obviously unable to complete the following combat missions.

  Major Admiral Schroeder could only transfer the commanding officer of the cruiser "St. Louis" to deal with it, and the cruiser could only give up temporarily until he was freed up.

  The harbour is busy at the moment

Some of the 38 cargo ships were unloading, some were anchored in the harbour, and warships were wandering outside the harbour, vigilantly searching the sea to prevent sneak attacks by the Pearl Harbor cruiser.

Although this **** mission cannot be said to be successful, it basically achieved its purpose. Major General Schroeder believes that he has done well and has nothing to blame. As for the unfortunate troop carrier that was hit and sank, one can only blame luck not good.

   God testifies;

   Who can believe that a heavy cruiser that rushes out at a high speed of 20 knots per hour, and the shells fired on the undulating sea, can hit a troop carrier 14.5 kilometers away?

The two small teams of ships flanked by the enemy fired a total of nearly 200 rounds of shells while driving at high speed, and only this one shot nearly missed, resulting in serious damage, but it was still a troop transport ship, that one Can blame bad luck, hit this disaster!

   Now that the last ferocious scissor kill of the Pearl Harbor cruiser is being reviewed, Major General Schroeder deeply admires it, but can only shrug his shoulders to express his regret.

  This is like on a basketball court, although the defense is very tight, but the super players rely on their extraordinary ability to pull out the gap in high-speed dribbling breakthroughs, make emergency stops...step back jump shots...

   "Shh" the net fluttered

  Hollow into the basket

   The opponent's extraordinary ability created a gap of less than 10 minutes, and he had already stabbed the chrysanthemum of the US fleet. At this moment, Major General Schroeder just wanted to sing;

   In addition, Rear Admiral Schroeder would like to ask the naval design department of Citi, what the **** are 14 152mm artillery pieces on a protected cruiser with a displacement of nearly 10,000 tons?

   The heavy cruiser "Suzaku" with the same displacement is equipped with 3 twin-mounted 305mm artillery pieces and 16 152mm artillery pieces. The firepower of both sides is not at the same level at all.

   In the fleet of Major General Schroeder, there is a 3189-ton displacement "Atlanta" protected cruiser, equipped with 2 203mm main guns and 6 152mm secondary guns, what the **** is this?

   This really cannot be blamed for Rear Admiral Schroeder's questioning of the soul, but the fact that the design of Citi's ships is completely out of the way, relying on wealth and willfulness, and many levels of cruisers and battleships only build one or two ships, purely experimental.

  The construction of large batches of battleships and cruisers of the same specification has only taken place in the past two or three years, resulting in unnecessary waste of time and resources, spending a lot of money, and the fleet has not obtained verified and combat-effective ships.

   For example, the "Kiersarge" class battleship, this class of battleships built two ships, the "Kirsarge" and the "Kentucky".

The "Kirsarge" is Citi's only battleship that is not named after a state. It is named after a sailing ship of the same name that served in the Union Army in the Civil War. However, her sister ship "Kentucky" restores the traditional State naming convention.

   Citizens had a big brain when they designed this class of ships, stacking the double-barreled 203mm secondary turret on the 330mm main turret and rotating with the main turret.

The advantage is that it saves weight, the disadvantage is that the 203mm secondary gun cannot rotate freely, and the two sides have different ballistics, different ranges, and affect each other during shelling. This novel design has caused a lot of controversy, and the cost is the Citi Navy. .

These two battleships are now in Rear Admiral Schroeder's fleet. There are a total of 9 cruisers in 5 classes, ranging from 2,100 tons to 9,760 tons in displacement. Rear Admiral Schroeder is too lazy to complain, that is what he is currently facing. predicament.

   Actually, Citi Admiralty is even more of a headache.

   The Citizenship Navy does not lack cruisers. The total number of active cruisers has reached 47, but most of the cruisers with large tonnage and strong combat effectiveness are in the Atlantic Fleet, and have not conducted a global voyage with the Great White Fleet.

   In the Pacific Fleet, active cruisers are generally old, old, broken and small.

   With the arrival of the Great White Fleet, San Francisco has gathered 19 of the 22 battleships currently in service by Citi, and 16 of the 18 new battleships built after 1900, bringing together high-end combat power. Battleships of the cruiser class are severely lacking.

   This is all because of President Roosevelt's great success, dividing the naval power into two parts.

   The consequences of this situation were extremely serious, judging by the predicament that Rear Admiral Schroeder faced; he had no suitable force on hand to deal with the Pearl Harbor cruiser.

It is generally understood that cruisers are the most suitable for dealing with cruisers. Unfortunately, the three "St. Louis"-class protected cruisers with a displacement of nearly 10,000 tons are all carrying 152 mm small guns. Half way there.

  There are also cruisers equipped with cannons. The 3189-ton displacement "Atlanta" is a protective cruiser, equipped with 2 203mm main guns and 6 152mm guns, but such a small bean will be exploded in front of the opponent's heavy cruiser in minutes.

   And the US battleship's speed of 18 knots is too slow to keep up with the "Suzaku" heavy cruiser with a maximum speed of 22 knots.

  Major General Schroeder had no way to deal with the Pearl Harbor cruise fleet, and could only temporarily consolidate the occupation of Hawaii Island. The **** mission was barely completed. The rest was to block the Pearl Harbor mission, and then cover the army troops to land on Oahu by boat.

   He has sent a fast cruiser to Oahu to scout for a suitable landing site.

Oahu is a hard nail. The terrain of Pearl Harbor is surrounded by mountains. It is like a chicken's paw sticking in. Only a narrow and long entrance can be entered. The inner harbor area is large and deep, and it is divided into several places. The fjords are extremely secretive.

  The defenders built solid fortresses on the mountain peaks on both sides, more than 20 large-caliber shore guns, and even six 356mm large-caliber shore guns, which were capable of tearing apart the solid defenses of battleships.

   Such a strong coastal defense, no navy dares to test it with an expensive battle fleet, not even the rich and powerful Citi.

   The best way is to find landing spots elsewhere on Oahu, use the army to land on boats, and capture the entire island of Oahu from the flanks and rear flanks. This is the task of the army, and the Citizenship Navy is only responsible for blocking the port.

   After confirming that the Pearl Harbor cruiser fleet will return to the port to supply supplies, Schroeder will lead the fleet to block the entrance to Pearl Harbor in order to limit the enemy.

   "What time is it, Lieutenant."

   "Report sir, there are 7 minutes left at 8:30."

   "Well, it's good weather again today!"

"Yes, sir."

  Major General Schroeder took out his pipe, and the lieutenant next to him winked out a match and lit it, took a breath of Meimei's thick smoke, and said with satisfaction, "Thank you lieutenant, you are a great boy."

   At this moment, a shrill battle siren suddenly came from the ships on the sea, breaking the tranquility of the morning.

  The confidential officer rushed out of the telegraph room with a panicked expression. He had forgotten the military salute. He hurriedly handed the telegram in his hand to Major General Schroeder and said, "Report, sir, that the guard ship ahead found that the enemy fleet was attacking."

   "Watts?"

  Admiral Schroeder put the pipe in his mouth, then took the telegram and glanced at it. He was immediately stunned and the pipe fell from his mouth.

  The telegram says;

   It was discovered that the enemy's large fleet led by 4 battleships, with about 30 cruiser-level large and medium-sized ships, was rushing aggressively, 23 kilometers away from Hawaii Island.

   Seeing this telegram, Major General Schroeder felt like he was falling into an ice cellar. He looked blankly at the many freighters moored in the port of Hawaii, and then looked at the battleships that were anchored outside the port, and he understood in an instant.

   Finished the bird, hit the plan.

   "Enemy attack..."

   With a heart-wrenching cry, Major General Schroeder quickly ran to the command tower, shouting as he ran; "Everyone is urgently prepared for battle, pull anchor and set sail, ready to fight..."

   (end of this chapter)