Australian Storm 1876

  Chapter 891 Seattle Naval Battle Inventory

   The spacious and bright commander's tower of the battleship "Samarinda"

Crown Prince Major General Li Siyuan nailed his feet tightly to the floor and looked at the front with a dignified expression. About 8 kilometers in front of the right side, there were two big U.S. navy fish that fled all the way. The coal carrier ran wild, and "Samarinda" had been chasing for more than three hours.

The two big fish are the USS Louisiana, a Connecticut-class battleship of the U.S. Navy's Great White Fleet, and the USS Tennessee, a 14,000-ton armored cruiser of the same class as the Montana. to two years of new ships.

The battleship "Louisiana" has a displacement of 16,000 tons, 16,500 horsepower and a speed of 18 knots. It is equipped with two twin-mounted 305mm main guns, four twin-mounted 203mm secondary turrets, 12 178mm single-barrel guns, and naval artillery firepower. very violent.

   Its 8 203mm secondary main guns are no longer stacked on the main guns, but placed on the sides of the ship. The hull is further enlarged and looks like a sturdy fat man. .

During the Roosevelt administration, six ships were started in one go, namely the flagship "Connecticut", "Louisiana", "Vermont", "Kansas", "Minnesota" and "New Hampshire", all of which were in the Great White Fleet. middle.

The sea battle in Seattle, which started at 3 o’clock in the night, has lasted for 14 hours. In the vast sea area with a radius of hundreds of nautical miles, the Imperial Fleet implemented the wolf group siege and annihilation tactics of “dispersion to dispersion, and single ship to single ship” to destroy the fleet. Casting a wide net, great results have been achieved.

Radio waves shuttle in the air, constantly sending new enemy information, reporting moving coordinate points and headings, as long as the small fleet of U.S. Navy ships that are fleeing is discovered by cruisers or destroyers cruising on the sea, they will immediately call battleships by radio to strike. Formation, followed by the inevitable fate of destruction.

  According to the summary of the radio notification information received by the Samarinda, the deadline is 5:00 pm;

The Imperial Task Force sank 5 enemy battleships, damaged and captured 1, sank 6 enemy cruisers, captured 2, sank several enemy auxiliary ships, and captured 21 (including coal carriers and hospital ships) ), two of its own battleships were slightly wounded, and one cruiser was seriously wounded.

   If you add the two big fish in front of you, the 13 battleships of the Great White Fleet of the U.S. Navy have already lost more than half, and they are sure to achieve a brilliant victory.

   The U.S. Navy is too cunning. If the T101 boats tracked all the way and reported the enemy's latest movements in time, the U.S. Navy's Great White Fleet would have succeeded in its trickery and escaped most of the main fleet at a small price.

   This is a bit like catching fish with a net. When the fish swarms blow up, if you don’t change formations in time, you can only catch two or three big fish and small fish.

   Major General Li Siyuan knew in his heart that it would be dark in half an hour.

   Those fish that slip through the net that have not been caught will be difficult to catch. With the cover of the night, the remnants of the Great White Fleet have a great chance of escaping and entering the depths of the Pacific Ocean.

   After a night

  The area of ​​the ocean to be searched has risen sharply from a few hundred kilometers in a radius to tens of thousands of kilometers. Unless it hits the Universiade, the golden time for the search has passed.

   For the slippery fish of the Great White Fleet, the dangerous period is not over.

  After abandoning the slow coal carriers and supply ships, how long can these main ships escape into the depths of the ocean with their own coal bunker storage?

   After making a big circle at sea, the voyage can last to Central America at best, and then supplies must be carried out. Can it be possible to run to Argentina in one breath?

  It must be admitted that it is a myth.

After understanding the combat intention of the Great White Fleet, the Imperial Fleet will definitely make corresponding adjustments, breaking it into pieces and casting a large net, as long as it is firmly fixed on the ports along the way, and intercepts all the coal carriers and supply ships along the way. Cargo ship, then don't be afraid of him flying into the sky.

   The long voyage of the Great White Fleet back to the east coast is doomed to be miserable.

The strength of the "Sanmarinda" fleet is not strong. The main force is the "Sanmarinda" battleship and the "White Tiger" heavy cruiser, as well as the three cruisers "Huayue", "Mingyue" and "Banyue". "Rafale", "Howling", "Shanfeng", "Ghost Wind" 4 destroyers, a total of 9 ships, closely tracked the two big fish ahead.

   "Sir, the nearby "Victoria" strike formation has just sent a position report. According to estimates, it is still two and a half hours away from us, so it is impossible to arrive in time."

   "Well, it seems that they can't catch up with this big meal, so don't blame us for enjoying it alone, and order the destroyer fleet to launch a torpedo attack to delay the enemy ship."

"Yes, sir."

   The communications staff officer saluted seriously, turned around and went to the telegraph room to issue an order. Major General Li Siyuan nodded slightly and raised his telescope to observe carefully.

  The enemy ship was running wildly, and the tail battery fired round after round of large-caliber artillery shells from time to time, landing in the surrounding waters of the chasing fleet, blasting high water columns, trying to do a dying struggle.

   The nearest shell was only more than 500 yards away from Major General Li Siyuan's "Samarinda". This was a very dangerous distance, and the officers on the battleship turned pale.

   They are not worried about their own safety, but they are afraid that if something goes wrong with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, it will really be worthless.

  Li Siyuan was extremely calm from the beginning to the end, and he did not order the artillery to return fire.

  In this high-speed chase, the bow of the ship is pitched violently. Soldiers must grab the fixed objects around them to stand firm. Artillery fire is equivalent to wasting artillery shells. Even the well-trained gunners of the main battleships of the Ocean Empire are not accurate enough, let alone the rookies of the US military?

   on the sea

The 4 destroyers that received the order moved forward at high speed, dashed forward to face the side firepower of the opponent's fierce fire, and suddenly turned sharply after passing a few kilometers of the enemy ship, aligning the bow of the ship with the route ahead, like a dragon swinging its tail. 6 torpedoes.

  Each "Cold Wind" destroyer is equipped with two triple-mounted torpedo tubes at the bow, which cannot be reloaded, and can launch 6 torpedoes at one time to attack.

  Because the 6 torpedoes were fired in a sharp turn, the six torpedoes jumped into the dark blue waves in a fan shape, and drew six clear white torpedo tracks on the sea, which represented the traces of death.

  The 4 destroyers fired 24 torpedoes, forming a criss-crossing death zone on the sea in a blink of an eye. The USS Louisiana and the cruiser Tennessee immediately turned violently to the left to avoid the track covered by torpedoes.

at this time

A 203mm artillery shell on the battleship "Louisiana" hit the commander tower of the destroyer "Shanfeng" without death. After a loud "bang", a huge orange fire group enveloped the "Shanfeng". On the upper part of the destroyer, the 3,200-ton destroyer "Shankaze" was hit abruptly, and the speed slowed down visibly to the naked eye.

   After the explosion, a large hole was torn in the armored commander tower of the destroyer "Shankaze", causing heavy casualties.

   Major General Li Siyuan narrowed his eyes dangerously upon seeing this scene;

The battleship "Louisiana" made a sharp turn at high speed. This kind of artillery bombardment can also succeed. It can only be blamed for the bad luck of the "Shanfeng". "Come for revenge!

   "Left rudder 30 degrees, slow down, prepare for shelling."

The battleship "Samarinda" led the heavy cruiser "White Tiger", and the three general-purpose cruisers "Flower Moon", "Mingyue" and "Banyue" drew a beautiful curved track, and turned left at the same time as the enemy ship. Turning sideways, forming a "two" shape with the same direction, side to side, they shelled each other violently almost in no particular order.

The distance between the two sides is 8.3 kilometers at this time, and they are in the stage of rapid decay of inertial speed. The first round of shelling of each other was completely empty, but in the second round of shelling, it can be clearly seen that the Samarinda formation artillery shot down densely. , the high water column that exploded at the nearest impact point was already within 350 yards.

Both the 3rd and 4th rounds hit near misses. In the 5th round of shelling, two 305mm armor-piercing rounds fired by the battleship Samarinda and one 305mm armor-piercing round fired by the "White Tiger" hit at the same time. The huge hull of the "Louisiana" battleship, and several 254mm high-explosive rounds were hit at the same time. went.

  The seventh round of artillery bombardment continued to fall on the battleship "Louisiana", destroying its superstructure in pieces, which was horrific.

under these circumstances

   The battleship "Louisiana" has been severely damaged, completely lost its power, and can only barely float on the sea to survive.

The muzzles of the ship formation's black holes turned to the "Tennessee" armored cruiser, ready to conduct a focused fire attack. Who knew that the "Tennessee" armored cruiser obediently raised the white flag, and turned the muzzle back to the centerline direction, indicating gave up resistance and surrendered.

   I have to say that the commander of the "Tennessee" armored cruiser is very thief, and he has no head and iron to go down.

   Presumably they also learned of the ferocity of the Ocean Empire Navy in the previous internal radio communication, and they have long since lost the will to resist.

Previously, at around 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the battleship formations of the USS Missouri and USS Minnesota were under siege. sinking.

   Seeing the enemy ship sank, the besieged Royal Navy of the Ocean Empire did not actively rescue it. Instead, it slowly gathered up the surrendering military auxiliary ships and let the American officers and soldiers jumping in the icy waters struggle to death.

   After more than an hour, the American coal carrier "Little Rock" was arranged for rescue.

   In the bitterly cold sea water in November, the human body will lose temperature seriously after falling into the water for 15 minutes. What is the concept of more than an hour?

   All officers and soldiers on the two battleships were killed, and no one survived. The "Little Rock" coal carrier salvaged 733 bodies, most of which were drowned.

  The lessons of the past are at hand, and it is no wonder that the armored cruiser "Tennessee" chose to surrender wisely, rather than go to a dead end.

The battleship "Louisiana" was stubbornly floating on the sea in the raging flames. Until about 7:00 pm, the cruiser "Mingyue" was ordered to end its painful struggle and launched two torpedoes at a distance of 800 meters, with two dull sounds. After the explosion, the battleship "Louisiana" once again triggered a more violent explosion of the ammunition depot. The huge fireball generated by the explosion rose to a height of 150 meters, reflecting half of the sky.

  The cruiser "Mingyue" was too close, and the side of the hull was hit by a piece of armor the size of half a small table. Two sailors who operated the secondary artillery died on the spot, and one sailor was seriously injured.

   At this point, the Seattle Naval Battle came to an end.

The entire naval battle lasted 16 hours, with a total of 12 large and small sporadic naval battles. The Royal Ocean Empire sank 6 battleships of the Great White Fleet, severely damaged and captured the battleship "Vermont", sank 6 enemy cruisers, and captured 3 ships. Sunk several enemy auxiliary ships, captured 21 (including coal carriers and hospital ships), and achieved a complete victory again.

   In this battle, the Great White Fleet of the U.S. Navy lost seven battleships, 4,860 naval officers and men were killed, 722 were wounded, and 1,465 were captured.

   Two battleships of the Royal Ocean Empire Royal Navy were slightly wounded, one cruiser was seriously wounded, and one destroyer was seriously wounded, with 56 killed and 113 wounded.

  The end of the Seattle Naval Battle on November 9, 1908 was only the end of the first phase of the Pacific Naval Battle, and the second phase of the "East Pacific Chase" began.

  From November 10th to December 23rd, it lasted 43 days, from Seattle in the north to Buenos Aires in Argentina in the south, with a battlefield as far as tens of thousands of kilometers, which is rare in history.

  The Royal Navy of the Ocean Empire was divided into two parts, and part of it was organized into an expeditionary strike fleet and then quickly went south, chasing the fish that slipped through the net of the Great White Fleet, and vowed to eliminate the bandits.

  The other part formed an **** formation and began to cover the Royal Army's landing in North America, which opened the prelude to the vigorous North American War.

On November 27, the Ocean Empire expedition strike formation blocked the battleship "Kansas", which was running out of fuel, in the remote port of Hemet, north of Los Angeles. Part of the officers and soldiers, the "Kansas" battleship was completely captured.

   Port Hemet is a small remote port not far from the US-Mexico border. The battleship "Kansas" was able to hide here, and it really did its best.

On December 6, the U.S. battleship "Rhode Island" was resupplied at the port of Panama. When it was about to slip away at night, the 1st Squadron "Queensland" and "Tasmania" of the expeditionary strike formation, The three battleships of the "Beilun" were blocked outside the port, and a fierce night battle broke out.

That night, three powerful battleships besieged the US battleship "Rhode Island". They successively shot seven 356mm large-caliber artillery shells, two 305mm artillery shells, and more than 20 152mm artillery shells, which tragically sank into Central America. At the bottom of the sea, only 17 people of the whole ship were rescued, and the remaining 877 people were all killed.

  December 11

The 2nd Detachment of the Ocean Empire Expedition Strike Formation was informed of the resupply of the remaining ships of the Great White Fleet in the port of Iquique, which is owned by Chile, but they arrived at the same time, but it was empty. This only included 3 battleships, a total of 11 ships. The formation has left and fled back into the vast Pacific Ocean.

  The Ocean Empire was extremely angry about this, and issued a blatant threat of war to Chile.

  December 12

  The Royal Army of the Ocean Empire officially landed on Eugene Beach, opening the prelude to the land war.

   (end of this chapter)