Seven Seas Beacon Fire

Unfortunately, there are no "what ifs" in this world. After realizing that something was wrong, the two armored cruisers that were on the vanguard immediately turned around while sending out telegrams. Several federal warships that were tracking the Ming fleet reported that the enemy's speed had dropped to 15 knots.

Steam turbines are not as easy to accelerate as diesel or gas turbines. If he could directly block the main Ming fleet, even if they immediately started to turn around, or even if they could perform a high-level maneuver like the Leitanian High Seas Fleet, where all ships of the entire fleet simultaneously made a 180-degree turn, he was confident that he could catch up with them before they could increase their speed.

Although the speed of the new generation of super-dreadnought battleships in the Ming fleet is 23 knots, the speed of the Ming dreadnoughts is 21-22 knots, which is almost the same as the standard battleships of the Federation. Unless the Ming army is willing to abandon those dreadnoughts, once they are caught up with by their own side, they will have no choice but to fight.

But now, with those two damned armored cruisers tipping them off, the enemy has plenty of time to adjust their course and increase their speed. It's almost dark, and Benson can't continue a marathon race with the Ming fleet all night. Besides, it's easier to lose targets at night, and as the side with the superior forces, Benson is unwilling to engage in night battles.

The battle at Yuanshan left a deep shadow on him.

"Order the pursuing destroyers and cruisers to rush up and launch torpedoes immediately! Don't worry about casualties! We must entangle the Ming army no matter what."

Benson, with a cold face, issued this ruthless order. On the bridge of the USS Pennsylvania, the other officers and men were dumbfounded when they heard the order, because it was no different from sending the officers and men on the Union destroyers and cruisers that were following the Ming fleet and constantly scouting and reporting their movements to their deaths.

After all, there are probably no more than 10 Federation destroyers and cruisers following behind the Ming fleet. If such a small force were to directly attack the Ming fleet, even without considering the enemy's escort forces, the secondary guns of the enemy battleships would be enough to overwhelm these destroyers and cruisers.

During the Ming Dynasty's dreadnought era, most dreadnoughts could concentrate 12-16 120mm secondary guns on one side. By the time of the super-dreadnought era, 12 150mm secondary guns were standard. In addition to these medium-caliber rapid-fire guns, there were also 88mm anti-torpedo guns squeezed in wherever possible. With more than 100 120mm or 150mm rapid-fire guns, plus more than 100 88mm anti-torpedo guns, it would probably only be possible to reach a distance where torpedoes could be launched under such dense firepower.

Of course, everyone knows that the commander did not expect them to actually achieve any results when he issued such an order. He simply hoped that they would buy time and slow down the Ming fleet. As long as they launched an attack and fired torpedoes, the Ming fleet would have to evade and change course.

If the sacrifice of these light ships can enable the Federation's 38th Fleet to catch up with the Ming Fleet, then it will all be worthwhile. After all, the Federation Navy already has more than 200 destroyers of 1,000 tons or less. If we include those older destroyers of less than 1,000 tons, the Federation Navy has more than 300 destroyers, a number that ranks first in the world. So what if we lose more than 10?

Colombians have plenty of destroyers! The fastest record during wartime was completing the construction of a destroyer in 70 days.

At the same time, Benson ordered the destroyer squadrons that were operating with the 38th Fleet to rush up and entangle the enemy. He wanted to send all the destroyers he had on hand. He didn't care about the casualties of these destroyers. He just wanted the Ming army in front of him!

Not long after the order was given, the battleship USS Pennsylvania received a calm response from the destroyer squadron. Most of the officers and men on these Colombian destroyers were from good families in the Union Army. Many of their fathers had either served in the Navy or were Union sailors. These Union officers and men were well aware of how important the naval battle they were currently fighting would be for the United States.

Therefore, when the order was issued, no one questioned whether it was too cruel; the destroyers and cruisers simply carried it out calmly.

Benson, aboard the battleship USS Pennsylvania, was also enduring the agonizing inner turmoil. He knew very well that his orders violated the normal order of engagement. Usually, when destroyers were deployed in naval battles, they should have been deployed after the main fleets of both sides had engaged in combat, allowing the heavy guns of the battleships to inflict damage on the enemy and weaken their firepower and projectile output before the destroyer force could then attack the enemy's capital ships, whose firepower density had been greatly reduced.

But now...

May God bless them.

After the order was issued, the 38th Fleet silently continued its pursuit. Everyone was waiting for the time that the valiant destroyers could buy. How long could they slow down the Ming fleet? No one dared to hope that the destroyers could achieve any results. They only hoped that the casualties on these destroyers could be minimized.

These naval officers and soldiers are not like those bigwigs in Washington. The big shots in Washington won't value the lives of ordinary soldiers on the front lines, but your comrades genuinely want you to come home.

Suddenly, a communications soldier who was receiving a telegram jumped up excitedly. The movement was so sudden that he pulled the wire connecting his headset to the transmitter off his head.

"We've destroyed two enemy battleships! The attack continues! The enemy never expected us to launch a sudden attack with destroyers! They've suffered heavy losses!"

What what what?

This sudden battle report stunned everyone aboard the battleship USS Pennsylvania in Cambridge.

Two battleships were destroyed?

With just that few destroyers?

how can that be possible? !

Admiral Benson rushed forward and snatched the telegram. The telegram clearly stated in black and white that they had destroyed two battleships. Moreover, the wording was very precise. It did not say that the two battleships were hit by torpedoes, but that when they sent the telegram, they had already seen the two battleships listing severely and about to capsize. At sea, they were definitely beyond saving.

Looking at the telegram, General Benson felt as if he were dreaming.

They destroyed two Ming warships so easily?

Chapter 113 "Devastating" (3)

Benson is now wondering if he's dreaming, because this start is just too fantastical.

A fleet of less than 100 destroyers and cruisers launched an attack on the enemy fleet and ended up destroying two battleships.

Is the new 21-inch heavy torpedo really that powerful?

Benson knew very well how vulnerable such a small force would be to attack a battleship formation under normal circumstances, especially against the firepower of enemy escort ships and the battleship fleet itself. If even one-third of these ships could break through the enemy escort formation's interception, that would be a stroke of luck. And if even one ship out of that one-third could brave the ferocious firepower of the battleship's main and secondary guns and advance to the distance where it could launch torpedoes, that would be a blessing from God.

After all, the largest destroyers these days are only a little over a thousand tons. In the 21st century, the 13,000-ton Type 055 destroyer is considered a large destroyer. But in the early 20th century, a ship with a displacement of 1300 tons would be considered a large destroyer. A destroyer of this size would be in serious trouble even if it took a 150mm shell. It's as fragile as an egg. In such an extremely unfavorable situation, it would be good if one or two ships could launch torpedoes. Torpedoes, since their invention in the 19th century, have remained the most powerful anti-ship weapon in the hands of navies even into the 21st century.

Neither the shells from battleship main guns nor the anti-ship missiles of later times could match the destructive power of contemporary heavy torpedoes. After all, water is significantly more difficult to compress and more efficient at transmitting force than air.

However, such a powerful weapon has never become the navy's primary means of attack. The biggest problem is that torpedoes are too slow compared to shells and missiles, and there are too many variables in the time between launch and impact.

If the enemy battleships evade properly, it's quite normal for our destroyers to miss all the torpedoes they launch.

But all these common sense notions seem to have been shattered by the brave young men of the Federal Navy today, which greatly excites Admiral Benson.

After all, I had been defeated by these little things before, and now I can use their methods against them. This feeling is just too good to pass up.

This also made Admiral Benson turn his attention to the destroyers he had just deployed. These destroyers were divided into two groups. One group rushed towards the Ming army's armored cruiser formation that was turning around in front of the Federation Navy fleet, while the other group prepared to bypass the two armored cruisers at high speed and engage the main force of the Ming army fleet while the friendly forces were engaged.

Benson's gaze was fixed on the destroyers rushing towards the two Ming Dynasty armored cruisers. The two last-generation armored cruisers did not carry many guards; only a large and a small light cruiser followed them. The large one had a displacement of 5500 tons, and the small one had a displacement of only 3500 tons. Neither of the light cruisers was known for its heavy firepower; the former had only seven 150mm main guns, while the latter had only eight 120mm guns.

However, this was enough to demonstrate the absolute superiority of destroyers of that era in terms of artillery shells.

Compared to battleships, destroyers and cruisers of this tonnage are more sensitive to differences in caliber. In another world, the IJN evaluated the shell capabilities of its destroyers, and what surprised everyone was that the famous Akizuki-class destroyers were equipped with four twin-mounted 100mm BP guns. Many people thought this would be a huge boost to the fleet's firepower, since although the caliber was reduced from 127mm, there were two more guns and the rate of fire was relatively faster.

They're the winner no matter how they measure the number of shots!

However, the IJN believes that this thing's gunnery capabilities are on par with the Matsu-class destroyers, which, as hastily built ships in the later stages of the war, were only equipped with three 127mm guns.

At this moment, the Ming army not only had two light cruisers that could be called destroyer killers, but also two last-generation armored cruisers. In addition to the three twin-mounted 240mm turrets that had some of the style of the dreadnought era, their secondary gun firepower had a strong pre-dreadnought feel – a total of 24 guns on both sides, 12 150mm secondary guns on each side. Ignoring the angle of fire control and range, this was almost equivalent to carrying a 12-gun 10,000-ton light cruiser like Cleveland on its side.

Under Benson's watchful gaze, a destroyer squadron of six bravely launched a torpedo attack, only to melt away under the enemy's firepower. Only the last two destroyers managed to launch torpedoes, but even if the enemy simply ignored them, the torpedoes launched at such extreme distances might not hit. The enemy's armored cruiser merely deviated a few compass points, keeping itself at a safe distance from the torpedoes.

Benson was not surprised by this result. It was obvious that even if six destroyers were to attack two armored cruisers and two light cruisers in the open sea where the sun had not yet set, the sunlight was good, and the weather was clear, it would be no different from sending these destroyers to their deaths.

To achieve success in torpedo attacks under such circumstances, one could either deploy an excessive number of torpedo ships, as the Ming army did at Wonsan, to overwhelm the anti-torpedo firepower with a saturation attack, or launch an attack at night, as the Ming army did at Wonsan, using the poor visibility at night as a shield.

This demonstrates that the torpedo attack launched by the military at Wonsan has become a template for light torpedo boat operations in navies worldwide, proving through practical actions and fruitful results under what circumstances to deploy torpedo boats.

Even if the ideal conditions mentioned above are not met, at least one should have substantial firepower support from one's own large surface ships.

Right before my eyes, the defeat of a destroyer squadron had already proven this point, but how did those guys achieve their results on the other side, beyond my sight?

Although he still had some doubts, the atmosphere on the bridge of the USS Pennsylvania was already somewhat frenzied. The Union Navy had never before achieved such rapid results entirely on its own, and at such a low cost.

The fact that the torpedo attack on the two armored cruiser formation had not yielded the desired results did not dampen their enthusiasm, because in the eyes of many Federation Navy officers, it was simply a matter of rolling the dice and not getting the number they wanted.

These federal naval officers seemed to view launching torpedo attacks at sea as a gamble involving dice. They probably thought that the success was due to rolling a pair of leopards, while the previous failure was due to rolling a one-to-one. They believed that as long as the game continued, even if they didn't roll a leopard, they would eventually roll a big number.

More importantly, the telegrams seemed to confirm all of this.

Half an hour later, Benson received another telegram. This telegram was still sent by the destroyers that had been tracking the Ming forces. They had just launched their second attack and had successfully hit a torpedo, destroying a Ming battleship.

At this moment, not only Benson, but even the chief of staff who had been extremely excited just moments before, felt something was amiss. On their side, the destroyer squadron was suffering heavy losses, while on the other side, with only a few ships, they were able to wreak havoc.

Moreover, a single torpedo destroyed a Ming Dynasty battleship... This isn't to say that such a possibility is entirely unfounded, but according to the information available to the Federal Navy, Ming Dynasty battleships have always had good underwater protection. Although the specific anti-torpedo structures are unknown, the Federal Navy is certain that the Ming Dynasty had close exchanges with the Leitanian High Seas Fleet on many technical details of warships before the outbreak of war. The Leitanian High Seas Fleet's warships have withstood the test of torpedoes and mines more than once in this war, although the Federal Navy's new 21-inch heavy torpedoes may be slightly more powerful than the torpedoes and mines that the Leitanian High Seas Fleet had previously encountered.

But that would only cause more water to enter, how could it sink so quickly?

With these questions in mind, Admiral Benson continued to command the fleet in pursuit. No matter how bad things were, as long as the large-caliber guns of the Federation Navy fleet's main force were aimed at the target, everything would be alright!

During the pursuit, they encountered two huge oil slicks on the sea surface. It was clear that the original owners of these two oil slicks had now sunk to the bottom of the sea. Among the oil slicks floating on the sea surface, some things that once belonged to the two giant ships could still be seen.

Clearly, the results reported by the destroyers earlier were not exaggerated; they should have indeed taken down several large ships. Moreover, the destroyer squadrons that Benson subsequently dispatched did achieve the desired effect, forcing the Ming fleet to take a zigzag course, which naturally reduced the speed of the Ming fleet, giving Benson, who was only carrying a bunch of heavy tanks, a chance to catch up with the enemy.

But as the distance between the two fleets drew closer, Benson’s unease grew stronger. It was a simple intuition on his part, and he didn’t know why he felt this way. Was it because everything had gone too smoothly today?

Soon, the Ming fleet, which was still zigzagging, gradually slowed down. When the sun was almost completely setting, Benson finally got the opportunity to make his cannons and torpedoes effective after leading his fleet in a pursuit that lasted almost a whole day.

Moreover, as dusk fell, Benson determined that the fleet he was pursuing had been reduced to just ten large surface ships—under the fire of the 38th Fleet, the surviving enemy surface ships began to break up their formation at sea and flee in all directions.

In the last half hour before darkness completely fell, the "capital ships" of the Federation's 38th Fleet truly experienced what it meant to cut through everything.

The last few ships were subjected to overwhelming fire from the Federation battleships. Since these civilian vessels disguised as ships had no armor, when the Federation chose to retaliate with heavy artillery, the Ming's modified civilian ships performed exceptionally well. Many of the armor-piercing shells fired by the Federation over-penetrated after hitting these civilian modified ships. The large-caliber armor-piercing shells, which were originally intended to penetrate the thick armor and explode inside the enemy warships, now passed directly through the disguised ships and fell into the sea.

This scene was reminiscent of the Battle of Leyte Gulf in another world, where Kurita Takeo's First Flying Fleet's large surface ships besieged the Taffy III escort carrier group. At that time, Kurita Takeo's First Flying Fleet mistook the three escort carriers of the Taffy III for the three fleet carriers of the Federation Forces, while the Federation Forces completely regarded several disguised ships as capital ships. Therefore, after the shells passed through, in the eyes of many Federation officers, the significance of this objective became—the enemy indeed had well-protected battleships in the formation!

This is a confirmed fact, even if it's a reverse confirmation.

Amidst the euphoria of this overwhelming victory, even Admiral Benson, who had initially remained cautious, became somewhat excited. After all, many Federation ships felt like they were in the game War Thunder, successfully bypassing a top-tier defense with a Type 99A frigate. Although there was a pile of fries right in front of them, the Type 99A's rate of fire of 7.1 seconds meant that they could see the fries but couldn't actually eat them.

How can you not be anxious?

However, just as the Union Army was gradually getting into the illusion that "I am on my way to the top," the last telegram received before the sun completely set kicked General Benson back down to earth from his feverish heights—no, it should be said that he was sent straight into hell.

The telegram was sent by the 39th Fleet. After the hurricane passed, the ships of the 39th Fleet, disregarding their injuries, did what was possible to deal with damage such as masts. The remaining fleet immediately set off to blockade Surabaya Port.

After all, the Ming fleet had been staying obediently in the port of Surabaya, but two ships had escaped. The 39th Fleet was determined to make amends. They couldn't control the two ships that had escaped for the time being, but they couldn't let the remaining ships escape so easily.

Furthermore, the 39th Fleet was also preparing to draw on the Ming army's experience at Yuanshan Port. They learned from their enemy and organized a group of light ships and torpedo boats to launch a night attack on Surabaya Port.

However, when the 39th Fleet arrived outside Surabaya Harbor, they sensed something was amiss. They dispatched a torpedo boat to investigate, and surprisingly, the small torpedo boat easily entered the harbor…

Chapter 114 Half Win, Half Lose

The deserted port of Surabaya brought extreme panic to the federal army.

It's hard to describe which expression was more interesting: the one on Admiral Benson's face when the 39th Fleet reported that Surabaya Harbor was empty, or the expression on Admiral Sprague's face in another world, during the Battle of Samar, when he learned that the main force of the Combined Fleet battleships, including the Yamato, was heading towards them.

For the current Federal Navy, the panic stems from the unknown, especially since things that were once known have now become unknown.

As the most important combat force of the entire Federal Navy in the Asia-Pacific region, the Third Fleet, which currently concentrates almost all of the Federal Navy's dreadnoughts and super-dreadnoughts, owes its composure and strategic advantage after the Battle of the Java Sea to the blockade of the Surabaya Fleet.

This blockade rendered the Sishui Fleet merely a force on paper to the Ming Dynasty, allowing the Federal Navy to effectively suppress the Ming Royal Navy with a numerical advantage of twice that of its own for a long period of time.

Before the Federation Army launched its offensive against Dongdu, or more precisely, when they were planning the offensive, the intelligence the Federation Army possessed indicated that the Third Fleet, divided into the 38th and 39th Fleets, could act like a pincer, tightly binding all large-scale Ming Army operations in the Western Pacific from the north and south. The Federation Army's confidence lay in the fact that they could divide their forces as they pleased, or combine them as they pleased, and that the initiative was in their hands no matter what.

This is precisely why Benson was able to remain so calm when he learned that the remaining main force of the Ming army had passed through the Bashi Channel. Under normal circumstances, no matter what kind of commotion the Ming fleet caused at sea, in the long run, the Federal Army could calmly allocate the forces of the 38th and 39th Fleets. If the Ming army intended to attack from the northern route under the responsibility of the 38th Fleet, then some forces could be drawn from the 39th Fleet to supplement the 38th Fleet, ensuring that the 38th Fleet had a numerical advantage over the Ming army. Meanwhile, the 39th Fleet could calmly use relatively fewer forces to block the Surabaya Fleet in the port, which was facing a group of wounded soldiers huddled in the port.

After all, facing a fleet that was half "wounded" and had to slowly sail out of the port's channels, the 39th Fleet, responsible for guarding Surabaya, could naturally form a battle line outside the port to meet the enemy. The T-advantage, which was rare in ordinary naval battles, was easy for them to take advantage of, just like the Royal Victorian Navy's advantage over the Gallic Navy in Operation Catapult. As a battlecruiser that had not undergone any major modifications since the end of World War I, the fact that the Dede-chan was able to get many kills in this naval battle was largely due to the advantage brought by this formation.

However, the advantage that the Federal Navy had relied on most in the past has now vanished. Facing the port of Surabaya, which has now become an airport, the remaining warships of the 39th Fleet can no longer suppress half of the main warships of the Ming Royal Navy with ease, just as they used to.

The Federal Navy still doesn't quite understand why the Ming army had the audacity to sail out of the harbor and break their blockade in the face of a hurricane—could battleships and battlecruisers, half of which were riddled with old wounds and most of which hadn't been fully repaired, really withstand such raging waves?

But now it's too late to think about why the Ming army dared to operate in such weather, nor is it time to consider who should bear the responsibility—for the Federal Navy, the situation is already very clear: the enemy has planned this diversionary tactic. They even risked using their remaining capital ships to pass through the Bashi Channel to lure away the Third Fleet. Benson understands why the enemy tried to return through the Bashi Channel this morning—from a safety perspective, it would have been safer for them to enter the East China Sea and return to their homeland via a more northerly route.

The purpose was to lure away their 38th Fleet! By drawing their 38th Fleet away from the South China Sea, and having them chase the bait thrown out by the Ming army through the Bashi Channel, the fleet that rushed out from Surabaya Port under the cover of the hurricane could safely return to its home port. Otherwise, if this fleet were to encounter the 38th Fleet's interception in the South China Sea, its current condition would be extremely precarious.

After the Ming army's "prisoners" trapped in the Sishui Port successfully "escaped," the Federal Navy's only option now is to eliminate the fleet used as bait as possible before the Ming Royal Navy's warships return home for repairs and regain their combat effectiveness. Only in this way can the Federal Navy maintain a sufficient numerical advantage over the Ming Royal Navy in the future.

It seems that the Ming army has won half the battle. The fleet that escaped from the port of Surabaya was obviously too late for the 39th Fleet to pursue, and it was also inconvenient for them to pursue in terms of manpower. This fleet is almost certain to return to the mainland. However, the 38th Fleet has successfully torn a piece of flesh from the decoy fleet that the Ming army had deployed.

Benson couldn't help but admire the audacity of his opponents. They actually dared to use so many capital ships as bait. No, it couldn't really be called bait anymore, because the Ming army must have known that they would never have been able to move their 38th Fleet away from the South China Sea if they weren't so willing to invest so much.

He has already achieved several victories, but in his opinion, this is far from enough. Although it is about to get dark, Benson has made up his mind to keep the fleet in check as much as possible, and even if it means going into night battle, he will try his best to destroy the fleet.

"Commander, I think we should return to the sea off the East Capital immediately."

On the bridge of the battleship USS Pennsylvania, Lieutenant Commander Ernest King suddenly made a suggestion that seemed to have been abandoned halfway through.

His words drew the attention of the other officers around him. Everyone was well aware of the current situation. Giving up the pursuit of the enemy at this point, even though the result of destroying three enemy capital ships was not bad, would lead to a situation in the long run where the remaining enemy capital ships were allowed to return successfully. In the future, the enemy's total number of naval capital ships, or more precisely, the total number of usable naval capital ships, would be roughly equivalent to that of the Federation Navy.

Although the Federal Navy will be able to acquire more new warships than its counterpart in the future, those large ships on the slipway will have to wait until next year to achieve combat readiness and gradually enter service in large numbers, which means the war will continue to be delayed.

Moreover, although the Ming emperor was so enraged after the Battle of the Java Sea that he suspended the construction of the navy's main warships.

However, the Ming army still has a number of capital ships under construction. Although the number is smaller than that of the federal army, they will be able to replenish their forces in the future.

Especially given that the current provisional government, led by the Prince of Jin's residence and the Datong faction, is significantly more efficient in governing than the previous Ming court and the previous provisional government.

If we can completely annihilate this Ming fleet now, then even if the Sishui fleet escapes back to China, the Federal Army can still maintain a 50% numerical advantage in the future. So why should we retreat now?

"Sir, we only have two ships off the coast of Dongdu! Only two dreadnoughts!" Lieutenant Colonel Ernest King voiced his greatest concern: "Although we know that the fleet in Surabaya Port is mainly focused on returning to the home port for rest as quickly as possible, and we also know that many of the ships in that fleet are damaged, and these damages may have been aggravated during the hurricane."

However, the forces we left in the waters off Dongdu were rather weak. Even if they only sent out a few battleships in relatively good condition, they could force away the two battleships we left behind, and then they could bombard our attacking forces at sea with impunity.

The enemy battleships' main guns have a range of over 20 kilometers. You can use a compass to draw a circle on a map at a 20-kilometer scale to see how many troops we have within that circle, especially our newly deployed marines…”

After Ernest King finished speaking, many people on the bridge of the USS Pennsylvania changed their expressions. Most of them had only been considering the issue from the navy's perspective and had almost overlooked the great battle that was currently taking place in the East.

Compared to the defending troops, who were either based in sturdy reinforced concrete buildings or crouching in the city's sewer pipes a few meters underground, even the navy's large-caliber heavy artillery was not as effective at killing the defending troops.

However, the army's offensive forces are different. They don't have such fortifications. More importantly, in order to open a breakthrough point during an attack, they often need to concentrate their forces in one place. These densely deployed forces are not only vulnerable to heavy artillery bombardment at the level of battleship main guns, but even the main guns of light cruisers or destroyers are enough to cause them devastating damage.

After all, even on the 21st-century Russian-Ukrainian battlefield, this six-inch cannon could still defeat the world's best-protected third-generation tank—Sri Lanka's SRTV122—in the Northwest. Not to mention these days, people rely on their parents' two legs to get around, and their "protective armor" can't even defend against mosquitoes.

Everyone turned their attention to General Benson. At this point, he was the only one who could make the decision and was qualified to do so. If they chose to continue the pursuit, it would mean putting the lives of the Army and Marine Corps units on the enemy's extreme conservatism in order to ensure their safety and not choose to attack Dongdu.

However, if they choose to return now, it would mean releasing the Ming fleet back into the wild. Before a new batch of capital ships are fully commissioned, the balance of naval power between the Ming and the United States in the Western Pacific will be forced to be rebalanced within the next year or so.

Clearly, none of this is what Benson wants to see, and for him, there is no choice in this problem.

Regardless of whether the army and marines around Dongdu would suffer heavy losses, that was not directly related to him as the naval commander. He was not responsible for those soldiers. Moreover, even if tens of thousands of soldiers were killed or wounded, they could be quickly replenished by increasing mobilization. However, if the balance of power between the main naval ships was lost at this moment, then the problem would be much bigger.

"Send the remaining warships of the 39th Fleet to protect the landing site."

Benson issued an order that sounded like a perfunctory response or an attempt to shirk responsibility. It was obvious to everyone that the 39th Fleet had fallen far behind the enemy's Surabaya Fleet, with a gap of hundreds of nautical miles between them. If the enemy's Surabaya Fleet was really going to bombard the Federal forces around Dongdu, then by the time the 39th Fleet arrived, all it could probably do was provide the wounded soldiers on land with floating operating rooms.

But no one has pointed this out yet. Everyone tacitly agrees to abandon those ordinary soldiers rolling in the mud on land, or rather, those officers and soldiers of the Army and Marine Corps. In the eyes of most of the operations staff of the Navy, which is a first-class organization, they are nothing more than a bunch of waste materials.