Seven Seas Beacon Fire

The other battleships in the navy are in no better condition than the Russian Second Pacific Fleet, which in another timeline traversed almost half the globe, setting sail from the Baltic Sea to the Tsushima Strait. The fate of the Tsarist Russian Second Pacific Fleet is clearly stated in history textbooks.

"That's right, Your Highness. Although the navy is gradually getting back on track and several main battleships in Cam Ranh Bay have returned to the mainland for major repairs, let alone next month, even the month after next, I'm afraid we won't be able to produce six main battleships in the same condition as the Ding and Zhen ships they are in now."

Upon hearing this, Li Che waved his hand repeatedly: "I don't mean I need six capital ships of the same level as Ding and Zhen. As long as they are dreadnoughts, that will do."

"Any dreadnought will do?" Lin Dongsheng thought for a moment and then shook his head: "But even if we relax the standards, it won't work. Dreadnoughts either suffered greater damage in the Java Sea battle or their maintenance is not as good as that of super-dreadnoughts. The fleet has used up all its limited maintenance resources on the super-dreadnoughts during its time in Cam Ranh Bay. Even if we were to select ships in relatively better condition from among the dreadnoughts, they would still need more time for maintenance. We simply can't gather enough ships for next month."

"Commander Lin, are you referring to the Haiting or Haichang class?" Li Che asked.

Now that Li Che has gained a deeper understanding of the current navy, he is naturally very familiar with the performance of these two dreadnoughts.

The Haiting-class was the most numerous dreadnought built by the Ming Dynasty Royal Navy to date, with a total of eight ships built in two batches. It was also the most satisfactory capital ship of the Ming Dynasty Royal Navy before the era of super-dreadnoughts. It was equipped with 12 280mm 50-caliber main guns. However, unlike the Nassau-class ships of the Leitanian Navy, which had six twin-mounted turrets arranged in a hexagonal diamond pattern on the hull, the later Haiting-class ships used four triple-mounted 280mm main guns.

The four turrets are arranged in a negative-back configuration with two forward and two aft, almost identical to the Habsburg Union Force-class battleships. However, in terms of tonnage, the normal displacement can reach 22,900 tons, and the full load displacement can reach 24,500 tons. The waterline side armor is 300 mm thick, with 70 mm of domed armor inside. The turret and gun mount armor is 330 mm thick, and the conning tower armor is 300 mm thick.

With a smaller cannon caliber, the Sea Thunder's tonnage is significantly larger than that of the United Force. This extra tonnage is naturally used for armor and hull. In particular, although the TDS Sea Thunder does not use the cutting-edge design of the era, such as the five-layer air-liquid compartment, it is still much stronger than the United Force, which is destroyed by a single torpedo.

In addition, another major dreadnought was the Haichang-class, which was the first ship designed and built by the Ming Dynasty Royal Navy as a dreadnought from the beginning. It was once very famous on the international stage. The Ming Dynasty only commissioned four of these ships, but also sold four to other countries. The Iberian Navy, the Onfaros Navy, and the Argentine Navy were all loyal users of this warship.

The ship's design was quite unremarkable, with four twin-mounted 280mm 50-caliber main guns arranged along the centerline. The hull side armor was 4.45 meters high with 280mm armor, and the turret mounts and conning tower armor were also 280mm. In terms of speed, it was the same as the Hai Ting, with a maximum speed of 22 knots under normal conditions.

This appears to be a rather unremarkable dreadnought, but its normal displacement is only 15,500 tons, and its full-load displacement is only 17,000 tons. In terms of tonnage, it is only slightly larger than the Iberia-class battleship in another timeline, and even smaller than the South Carolina-class, the first dreadnought of the United States of Colombia Navy.

The reason why this warship achieved such good export results is not only because its performance was indeed excellent among early dreadnoughts, but also, more importantly, because the export price of this warship was only £160 million.

£1.6 million? What more could you ask for? Look at how much the prices of warships sold by the British at the same time have risen. Even the Royal Navy's own purchase price for the British Royal Navy Dreadnought was more than £100,000 higher than that figure.

It can be said that if the power of the 280mm naval guns hadn't become somewhat inadequate in the later stages of the war, the performance of these ships, especially their armor protection, would have been better than many super-dreadnoughts that were nominally equipped with 12-inch main armor but actually had most of their protection provided by 9-inch superarmor.

However... these dreadnoughts, which are also quite excellent, are still not his target tonight.

He wanted a ship that could be put to use next month.

Major General Lin Dongsheng answered Li Che's question decisively: "Of course, not those two... Wait a minute, Your Highness, are you referring to those two ships?"

Attentive readers may have noticed that when the "Haichang" was mentioned earlier, it was said that this ship was the first ship in the Ming Dynasty to be built according to the standards of a dreadnought from the very beginning. So if that's the case, there must be dreadnoughts in the navy that were not originally designed and built as dreadnoughts.

"That's right, I'm talking about our navy's two oldest dreadnoughts. Although these two ships are now 15 years old, I think these two veterans are not yet of retirement age. Now is still their time to shine on the battlefield."

Yes, that's right. Just like a veteran table tennis player can shine in Los Angeles, how could a dreadnought that has only been in service for a little over a decade be considered old enough to retire?

"You don't actually want those two old ships to actually carry out front-line combat missions, do you?" Major General Li Dongsheng asked again to confirm. It's no wonder he seemed a bit long-winded on this kind of question, mainly because the world's first batch of dreadnoughts no longer undertake any front-line combat missions.

what?

You mean Gangut of Ursus? Dante of Syracuse? Courbet of Gaul?

Firstly, these second-tier naval powers have limited fleet size and a limited number of warships, so they naturally don't have the right to be picky. Secondly, these countries were already lagging behind when they started developing dreadnoughts. The first dreadnoughts they started building were basically second or third generation dreadnoughts compared to those of first-tier naval powers.

What are the true first-generation dreadnoughts in the world? The British Dreadnought, this veteran didn't even participate in the Battle of Jutland and is now basically in semi-retirement in the Royal Navy of Victoria; the two South Carolina-class ships of the United States Navy of Colombia, these things were brought in to prepare for bombing the coast, the Colombian Navy never intended to use these two ships in conjunction with other capital ships of the Third Fleet.

Apart from the Leitanian Navy, which faces the greatest pressure in the North Sea, which is as large as a bathtub, truly first-class naval powers would not entrust important combat missions to these old ships.

After all, these old dreadnoughts were designed with more experimental than combat purposes from the very beginning. The two "Pinghai" class battleships of the Ming Dynasty Royal Navy were originally designed as a pre-dreadnought. At that time, they were intended to be a pre-dreadnought with top-level second-class main guns, like the Lord Nelson class of the Royal Navy of Victoria, the Danton class of the Gallic Navy, or the Satsuma class of the IJN in another timeline.

The only difference is that, because the Ming Dynasty Royal Navy did not have 305mm-class naval guns at the time, in order to make up for the difference in main gun caliber, this pre-dreadnought was built with a triple-gun turret.

However, during the construction process, news came that the Royal Navy's battleship HMS Dreadnought had been completed. The Royal Navy of the Ming Dynasty keenly caught this news and quickly realized the significance of this epoch-making warship in future naval battles.

Therefore, the two Pinghai-class battleships under construction underwent extensive modifications, the most important of which was replacing the four twin-mounted 240mm secondary main guns with four single-mounted 280mm main guns. This gave the 1.7-ton battleship two triple-mounted 280mm main guns and four single-mounted 280mm main guns, allowing for a maximum of eight guns to be deployed in a single salvo.

This appears to be a fully-fledged dreadnought, but as a modified dreadnought developed during the deck-washing era, the "Pinghai" suffers from numerous inherent shortcomings. For example, its main side armor belt is only 245mm thick; after the replacement of the secondary main guns with single-mounted 280mm turrets, only four 120mm guns remain as secondary armament, resulting in low firepower density. Furthermore, the armor of these four single-mounted turrets is only 210mm thick, and the propulsion system is still a reciprocating triple-expansion steam engine, barely reaching a maximum speed of 20 knots…

Pinghai: Fighting the main force of the United States of Colombia's Third Fleet? Me?

P.S.: Sorry, I got a mental block while writing last night and fell asleep. I was probably too tired. I'm making up for yesterday's writing now, but this won't affect today's update.

Chapter 89 Attacking Where the Enemy Must Rescue (2)

"My ideas were refined by several of my advisors on the way here. If we want to force the United States of Colombia to make peace, we must make them understand that they cannot win this war, whether on land or at sea. At Yuanshan, we at most made them understand that trying to extend their reach to the mainland was a mistake. Now we must make them understand that they cannot continue to do whatever they want at sea either."

In Leizhou Port, Li Che met with several senior officers from the Navy's High Seas Fleet. This might sound confusing to some who are not very familiar with the navy, but you just need to understand that although naval enthusiasts and some war historians often use "High Seas Fleet" to refer to the Leitanian Navy, "Grand Fleet" to refer to the Royal Victoria Navy, and "Joint Fleet" to refer to the former Yingzhou Navy, the former and the latter are not equivalent.

The reason these officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty's Royal Navy are gathered here today is that His Highness the Crown Prince has begun to "peddle" a new battle plan.

To be honest, a month ago, most people in the navy thought that this prince was just a tool used by Prince Jin to control the navy. Although there were some rumors at the time that the prince had even proposed a battle plan, to these "experts," it was as ridiculous as a Chinese football fan saying he wanted to teach the national team how to qualify for the World Cup.

This wasn't because they had any prejudice against the grandson; it was simply because such professional matters were like mountains to climb for those outside the field. Even the many naval officers who had graduated from military academies wouldn't dare say they could come up with a "brilliant" battle plan, let alone ordinary people.

Even if the grandson was rumored to be exceptionally intelligent, in such a highly specialized field, he was just an ordinary person... which is indeed the case normally.

But, as we all know, the rest of the story is history.

Great victory in Wonsan.

Although Li Che's role in this victory was not publicized much, this was also Li Che's request when publicizing this great victory. He said that the glory of this victory belonged to the commanders and soldiers who fought on the front line, to the staff team that formulated the entire attack plan in detail, and to the vast number of soldiers and civilians, from the railway transportation department to ordinary dockworkers, who made silent contributions to the entire operation.

If this entire street scene were a wish-fulfillment story, its only purpose would probably be to write down "Battle Spirit, Level Three".

As a time traveler, his role is to judge which path leads to success based on the battle examples and experiences in another world, and then lead everyone onto that path. As for the hardships and credits he has to endure afterward, he dares not claim them all for himself.

Moreover... he no longer needs to mention his role too much in public propaganda. Even if the propaganda department mentions his name, how could those high-ranking naval officers not have heard of him? How could their impression of him not change?

That's enough for him going forward.

For example, right now, when these senior officers of the front-line naval fleets are sitting together and listening attentively to the operational plans they have proposed, the contempt in their eyes has disappeared.

Although one victory is not enough to prove everything, no one can deny Li Che's ability to fight against the navy now, and no one can arbitrarily point fingers at Li Che.

The core idea of ​​Li Che's proposed battle plan was only one thing—to find a way to rescue the fleet that was besieged in the port of Surabaya.

To demonstrate to the United States of Colombia at sea that they are difficult to defeat, the most important thing now is to rely on some asymmetric advantages. On paper, the biggest advantage of the Ming Royal Navy over the current United States Navy is that it has more high-speed capital ships. However, this advantage has not been utilized for more than a year because these high-speed capital ships have been trapped in Surabaya Port and are all damaged and cannot be properly repaired.

The existence of a fleet cannot help a nation achieve final victory. Moreover, while a fleet might theoretically be able to deploy at any time, a fleet passively surrounded in Surabaya Port naturally has no such possibility.

If the fleet in Surabaya harbor can be rescued, then the initiative in the entire Western Pacific will completely change hands after the damaged warships of the Ming Royal Navy are restored to their original condition.

Everyone is well aware of this. The core of this operation plan is very simple and clear, but it is extremely difficult to complete because it is almost like putting an elephant in a refrigerator. Theoretically, it can be solved in three steps: open the refrigerator, put the elephant in, and close the refrigerator.

But in fact, everyone knows where the problem lies.

How do we put the elephant in?

The same question applies to the besieged fleet: how do you get the fleet in Surabaya harbor, which is surrounded by the United States of Colombia, to escape?

It should be noted that most of the fleet in Surabaya harbor was damaged. Even though as much repair work had been done in Surabaya harbor, because there was no large dry dock in Surabaya, all repair work could only be carried out without going into the canal. Anyone who knows a little about ships knows that it is simply impossible to repair a warship that has been severely damaged in naval battle in this way.

Therefore, although the fleet in Surabaya Harbor is mainly composed of battlecruisers, most of them are estimated to be able to run at around 18 knots at this time. Even this number is just an estimate, because since being trapped in the harbor, these warships have not been able to find a sea area to test their engines, even after undergoing emergency repairs as much as possible.

What does 18 knots mean? It's the speed of the pre-dreadnought era. At sea, you'd be mocked by the United States of Colombia for being too slow. Trying to escape at that speed would probably result in being caught up by those North American beauties halfway there, and then getting punched in the chest with their 14-inch little fists.

"The most important question is how we can get the main force of the United States of Colombia's navy deployed around Surabaya," a naval captain said. "Unlike the large fleet in the North Sea, which used a long-range blockade against the Leitania High Seas Fleet, the United States of Colombia is using a near-shore blockade against our warships in Surabaya port."

“Yes, although the near-shore blockade is a relatively old blockade tactic, it is particularly effective against our fleet in Surabaya Port.” Li Che said, “The fleet actually entered Surabaya Port without any prior notice, in a way that was like cutting off its tail to escape. Surabaya Port had not previously been given much consideration for undertaking important naval port functions—for example, it lacked torpedo boats and minesweepers.”

This allows our enemies to feel relatively at ease, because they know they will not be ambushed by torpedoes. To some extent, the enemy's defeat at Yuanshan was also due to this kind of ingrained thinking. Although they felt they had made the necessary arrangements, they did not actually pay enough attention to the possibility of being attacked by torpedoes.

"Is Your Highness planning to launch a large-scale torpedo offensive in the south as well?" Based on the situation in Yuanshan, some people naturally wondered if the Crown Prince was going to come to the south to repeat the same trick.

After listening, Li Che shook his head repeatedly: "War requires surprise to win. I don't think that repeating the methods we've already used will be very effective in the next operation. However, our opportunity will soon be delivered to our doorstep by the United States of Colombia."

After he finished speaking, he turned around and tapped a place name on the huge map hanging behind him with his baton.

Dongdu.

“Our opponents have just suffered a humiliating defeat, and they need a victory now, which is also a political one.”

Chapter 90 Attacking Where the Enemy Must Rescue (3)

"As everyone knows, after the Battle of the Java Sea, our navy's main force was divided into two parts. Although General Deng's First Battlecruiser Squadron and Second Battleship Squadron opened a way for the fleet to survive with the sacrifice of General Deng himself and the Zhiyuan, they were still pursued by the combined fleet of Colombia and Victoria during the retreat."

Although our forces successfully sank the last two battlecruisers of the Colombian Navy during this process, we not only lost the Haiqi-class battlecruiser Hai Chou and the Haiting-class battlecruiser Hai Jia, but also the Haichang-class battlecruisers Hai Chang and Hai Zhe. Of the four Weiyuan-class battlecruisers (with eight 280mm guns) of the Second Battlecruiser Squadron that came out to meet us in Surabaya, one, Yu Yuan, was also lost. The other surviving warships have been blockaded in Surabaya since they withdrew into the port.

The Chinese Navy lost more than just three battlecruisers and three battleships in the Battle of the Java Sea. The seven surviving battlecruisers and five battleships remain stranded in Surabaya Port. The only operational main battleships in the Chinese Navy are the 12 battleships of the First Battleship Flotilla, which were temporarily returned to Cam Ranh Bay due to the Ningyuan's turret explosion, and the two oldest Pinghai-class battleships still on the mainland. Apart from these, the Chinese Navy has no other dreadnought-class or larger main battleships available for deployment.

At this point, the officers present all looked heartbroken. If the fleet had not been divided into two parts, with the 26 main warships still under the control of the Ming Royal Navy, even if they had lost the Battle of the Java Sea, they would not be in such a passive position against the United States Navy on the high seas.

"The main force of the Colombian Navy that we are now facing—the Colombian Navy's Third Fleet—is currently divided into two fleets, namely the 38th Fleet and the 39th Fleet. The 38th Fleet mainly operates in the waters north of Yanping, with its main port of call being Manila, while the 39th Fleet mainly operates in the waters south of Yanping, with its main port of call being Makassar. One of the important tasks of the 39th Fleet is to monitor Surabaya Port and blockade its entry into the port, while the 38th Fleet is responsible for providing support for the enemy's offensive in the north of Yanping. The key for both us and the enemy lies in the movements of the enemy's 38th and 39th Fleets."

These were mostly "known intelligence" that everyone present already knew. Li Che only got to the point at the very end—Dongdu.

“If everyone carefully reviews the United States of Colombia’s strategic direction and all its military operations over the past year, they will find that the United States of Colombia was not prepared when it suddenly defected in Yingzhou. It was like a nouveau riche who had money but did not know where to spend it. So the enemy even did something like attacking Luzon and Yanping on one side and then starting to attack the Silla Peninsula on the other.

Especially before our army achieved the great victory at Pyongyang-Wonsan, the United States of Colombia was even simultaneously planning two campaigns: to seize the entire Silla Peninsula and to capture Dongdu. "As Li Che said this, he waved his hand, and Zhu Miaoyun, who was standing next to him, immediately stepped forward and handed him some developed photos. After taking the photos, Li Che used a magnet to stick them to the blackboard on the wall behind him.

After handing over the photo, Zhu Miaoyun stepped aside. The princess of the Ming Dynasty was behaving like an adjutant at this moment. However, the princess didn't seem to mind playing this kind of role, and even seemed to be enjoying it.

In fact, Zhu Miaoyun is quite enjoying herself now. The reason why today's battle meeting went so smoothly and no troublemakers have emerged so far is largely because there really is a princess of the Ming Dynasty here.

Of course, another possibility is that Li Che has a grandfather who is currently overturning the table in Yingtian Prefecture.

A few days ago, Li Che specifically sought out Zhu Miaoyun, flattered her, and then quickly got straight to the point: he wanted Zhu Miaoyun to be there to "back him up."

For Zhu Miaoyun, being able to personally experience such a high-level military conference in this capacity felt like playing a live-action murder mystery game. Perhaps attending too many such meetings would become tiresome, but right now she genuinely found it quite interesting.

After showing all the developed photos, Li Che had the rest distributed.

"One of our biggest advantages is that even when our enemies invaded Yanping, the people still provided us with tremendous support, especially on the intelligence front. In this war, our intelligence department performed poorly in many aspects, but in Yanping, our intelligence was always very accurate. This is not because our intelligence personnel in Yanping were of higher quality than those in other places, but because we received the support of the vast majority of the people here."

To Zhu Miaoyun, Li Che's tone at this moment didn't sound like that of a grandson of the emperor at all; it sounded more like that of a political commissar!

"Everyone can take a good look at these photos. Our enemy has stockpiled a large amount of supplies. As we all know, the enemy's two previous large-scale attacks on Dongdu, the capital of Yanping, both failed. Obviously, the enemy is preparing to make a comeback this time. One of the important reasons why the enemy failed to take Dongdu in the previous two attacks was that Dongdu is the largest urban cluster in Southeast Asia. It is a metropolis with a permanent population of over 100 million. The forest of reinforced concrete has a very strong resistance capability, and our enemy has not prepared sufficient firepower."

This time, our victory on the Silla Peninsula not only dispelled our enemies' confusion about the strategic direction, but also made the choice for them regarding whether to focus their main efforts on the north or the south.

On the other hand, we have also driven our enemy to the brink of defeat. We desperately need victory now, and our enemy needs victory just as much. The Colombian Federation's entry into this world war is like that of an investor. Victory on the battlefield can most directly boost the "war stock," and our enemy has not received such good news for a long time.

Our enemies are constantly lowering their standards for ending this war. Initially, they certainly wanted to completely defeat and dismember us, but that idea has now vanished.

Our enemies still want to gain more control over the edge of the World Island, and for them, whether they can take Dongdu is related to whether they can swallow Yanping.

At this moment, they are under pressure from the highest levels of the domestic government, from the domestic population, and even from other Western countries. Therefore, our enemy is now preparing to take Dongdu at all costs. After the overall situation on the Silla Peninsula has been settled, our enemy is transporting supplies originally prepared for military operations on the Silla Peninsula southward. Obviously, these supplies are intended for the Dongdu campaign. I think everyone can understand from this information that the third Dongdu campaign is now imminent.

"Your Highness," someone raised their hand and asked, "What does all this have to do with the enemy's 38th and 39th Fleets? Although part of the enemy's 38th Fleet's role is to assist the army's operations, the main task of the entire Third Fleet is to fight us. The Dongdu Campaign should be the main task of the enemy's army and marines. Shouldn't our focus be on the 39th Fleet next to Surabaya Port?"

“No battlefield is isolated; they are interconnected and have a synergistic effect.” Li Che glanced at the many officers sitting there: “I think many of you must have been greatly inspired by the Battle of Wonsan, right?”

Faced with Li Che's question, many of the officers present nodded in agreement. Such a battle, which was destined to become a classic and even groundbreaking example, was being studied not only by them and by the United States of Colombia, but by the entire world, much like David defeating the giant.

Moreover, from any perspective, launching another torpedo night against the enemy outside Surabaya Port doesn't seem like a bad idea.

After all, the two sides here are actually in a rather "retro" standoff.

The tactic of shore blockade was something the Royal Navy used during the age of sail. With the advent of steam-powered ironclad warships and the widespread use of torpedoes and mines, the cost of implementing shore blockades became increasingly high for major navies.

Especially after the 10th century, with the advent of thermal torpedoes, the cost of conducting shore blockades became even higher. Based on this, Admiral Jellicoe, commander of the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet, developed long-range blockade tactics, which were quite successful throughout World War I.

“Successful examples don’t mean we can blindly copy them.” Li Che shook his head. Before he could refute, other officers had already spoken up.

“It is impossible to replicate the victory at Wonsan outside Surabaya Port. On the one hand, we no longer have the ability to assemble so many torpedo boats in this direction. On the other hand, many torpedo boats need to refuel en route from Vladivostok to Wonsan. If we depart from Cam Ranh Bay, then the distance is too far.”

“That’s right.” Li Che nodded, then snapped his fingers. This time, Zhu Miaoyun handed over another photograph, but this time it was a huge printed one. When the photograph was hung up, the naval officers attending the meeting were all filled with questions, because the photo seemed to depict a fleet sailing at sea. The photographer had taken the picture from the side and front, perfectly capturing the aesthetic beauty of the modern cannons.

But what does this painting have to do with today's military conference?

"Has anyone noticed something strange about this photo?" Li Che asked, but after asking around twice, no one could answer.

"Now I'll make it a little easier for you. Can you tell how many battleships are in this picture?"

"How many battleships are there?" Someone stood up, someone took out their glasses from their glasses case, and everyone studied the photo for a long time. Li Che himself announced the answer—"There is only one battleship in the picture."

One?

But the ships in the background of this photo look like main battleships. How could there only be one battleship in this picture?

"You are all veterans in the navy, and I believe you all know that it is not easy to identify the specific type of a ship at sea." As he spoke, Li Che couldn't help but think of the "Nowaki's Experience" that he had read in another world.

This lucky yet unlucky destroyer was spotted by the main Colombian naval force during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. At the time, many warships made judgments about the ship's type. Some thought it was a light cruiser (which was a fairly reliable guess), others thought it was a heavy cruiser, and a few even mistakenly identified this 2000-ton destroyer as a battleship.

Nowaki: What the hell have I done to deserve this?

This basically shows how difficult it is to clearly identify a target at sea. If a destroyer can be mistaken for a battleship, then it is even more normal to mistake another large ship for a battleship.

Li Che's battle plan was actually quite simple: under the cover of several real battleships, he would deploy several "disguised battleships" made from civilian ships.

These disguised battleships had no real weapons; their only purpose was to mislead the United States of Colombia into misjudging the true nature of the capital ships appearing before them.

"...Imagine, from the perspective of the United States of Colombia's Navy, that we suddenly discover a fleet of '12 capital ships' heading north. If you were the commanders of the United States of Colombia's Navy, what decision would you make? Would you simply send the 38th Fleet to engage this unpredictable fleet?" Li Che shook his head as he finished speaking.

"Without overwhelming numerical superiority, our enemies will not easily seek to fight us..."

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at the same time