Seven Seas Beacon Fire

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"Take stock of the losses."

After finally driving away the Federation destroyers and cruisers, Liu Duncheng frowned and gave the order. He said that although he had driven away the Federation ships, it was more likely that the enemy had run out of torpedoes and had retreated on their own initiative.

The entire decoy fleet now has three camouflage ships hit by torpedoes. These camouflage ships, converted from civilian vessels, may look as imposing and majestic as battleships from a distance, but their fundamental civilian nature cannot be changed. Despite their tonnage of around 20,000 tons, their resistance to torpedoes is likely to be inferior to some cruisers with a torpedo count of less than 10,000 tons.

The losses were quickly tallied up. The warships were unharmed; all four battleships and the escorting cruisers were undamaged. Only two cruisers suffered some damage in the artillery battle while driving away enemy destroyers and cruisers, but the situation was not serious.

However, the camouflage ships proved to be far too vulnerable during the torpedo strike. Although they had some secondary guns crammed onto them in addition to the fake main guns, these were mostly old-fashioned 88mm guns. Not only were they small in caliber, but their numbers were also limited. These 88mm guns were used to disguise 150mm secondary guns. When the Federation destroyers attacked these camouflage ships, although the camouflage ships and escort vessels tried their best to intercept them, they were easily breached.

Liu Duncheng wasn't distressed by the losses; what he feared was that his side would be exposed prematurely as a result.

Chapter 115 Win, win, win, then lose everything.

Liu Duncheng's worries did not come true. From sunset until the sun completely disappeared, the Federal Army's pursuit never stopped, which made Liu Duncheng, who was worried about being exposed, breathe a long sigh of relief.

Although even if the federal forces were to turn back immediately, it would be difficult to intercept the Surabaya Fleet in the South China Sea, after the defeat in the Battle of the Java Sea, Liu Duncheng was unwilling to leave any uncertainties that might affect victory to the enemy to decide.

Therefore, even at the risk of casualties and dangers, he was determined to continue luring the Federation forces for a while longer. The longer they held off the 38th Fleet, the safer the Surabaya Fleet would be.

He was well aware that the few disguised ships in his fleet were practically walking a tightrope under enemy fire in the current situation; they were truly dancing on the edge of a knife. These fragile civilian vessels could suffer heavy losses if they were not careful.

Although the loss of these camouflage ships would not affect the navy's combat effectiveness, operating these giant ships of more than 20,000 tons, while not requiring as many weapons operators and officers as a typical battleship, would still require at least a hundred people to maintain the propulsion system of a 20,000-ton cruise ship. In addition, each ship would have the necessary personnel responsible for managing supplies, operating the added light artillery, and ship handling personnel, making the number of people on one ship equivalent to more than half the personnel on a pre-dreadnought.

These vulnerable ships would sink quickly once damaged, and the officers and soldiers on these camouflaged ships had a lower chance of survival and were more likely to be killed than those on ordinary warships.

However, Liu Duncheng believed that these sacrifices were necessary. He was well aware of the cold-blooded choice he was making, ruthlessly using the lives of these soldiers as weights on the scales of victory. But he did not regret it, because he also considered himself a part of the weights on the scales.

Anyone can be sacrificed if necessary, including himself.

The fact that the Federation forces are still pursuing them so aggressively means that they haven't yet seen through their disguise, which is a good thing.

So, are Colombians really completely unaware of the problem?

At least for now, the captain of the USS Orlando, a Federal cruiser, has already sensed that something is amiss.

Before sunset, when the Federation forces passed by a capsized "Ming army capital ship," the light cruiser USS Orlando was tasked with retrieving the sailors who had fallen into the water around the sunken Ming army battleship. During the salvage operation, the experienced captain of the USS Orlando quickly discovered more than one suspicious point.

The first point of suspicion is that the Ming army's main warship, which is currently sinking, is claimed by the Ming officers and soldiers who were salvaged to be officers and soldiers from the Ming Royal Navy's battleship "Kaiyuan".

The officers and soldiers of the Federal Navy were very familiar with the Kaiyuan-class super-dreadnought, one of the two super-dreadnoughts currently in service with the Royal Navy of the Ming Dynasty, based on information that could be gathered from public sources. This super-dreadnought battleship, which was laid out in a flat manner and had a forward, central, and aft layout along the central axis, did not look as clumsy as the Ursus battleships, which also had a flat layout. In fact, from the side, its style was somewhat similar to the Garibaldi-class armored cruiser of the Syracuse Navy with an additional turret on the central mast.

The Garibaldi-class armored cruiser was a beautifully designed and high-performing armored cruiser. Although the Ming Dynasty Royal Navy's Kaiyuan-class had some shortcomings in their eyes, it was still significantly better than many other super-dreadnoughts in the world. At 2.4 tons, it had nine 330mm guns, a speed of 22 knots, and 300mm armor up to 4.5 meters high. The Federal Navy clearly regarded this opponent as superior to the Royal Victorian Navy's 343 battleships.

The Federation forces originally had a certain bias towards British warships, as evidenced by the design configurations of the Columbians that referenced the Royal Victorian Navy, as described in the Green Book (the history of Federation battleship design). However, in this world, the Federation forces happened to see a King George V-class battleship undergoing repairs in the port while cooperating with the Britons.

Of course, this King George V-class battleship is not the King George V-class from World War II. If the British could produce a KGV with 28 knots, 10 14-inch guns, and 374 mm of armor during World War I, then Churchill could be piloting the "Churchill" to review the troops in Berlin now.

This King George V-class battleship was the second super-dreadnought battleship of the British, equipped with 10 13.5-inch main guns. When the Colombians discovered that the thickest part of the armor belt of this battleship under repair was only nine feet high, they were unsure whether the British were too confident in the protective effect of their 9-inch upper armor, or whether the British had installed magnets in this area so that enemy shells would definitely hit this belt-like armor.

In short, compared to its many counterparts, the Kaiyuan enjoyed a relatively good reputation among the Colombians and was considered a capital ship that deserved serious attention. A crucial characteristic of this capital ship was its four shafts and four propellers. Prior to this, the Ming Royal Navy's battleships, perhaps due to closer technical exchanges with the Leitanian Navy, also favored a three-shaft, three-propeller configuration. It was only with the Kaiyuan that the Ming Royal Navy's capital ships began to commonly adopt a four-shaft, four-propeller configuration.

However, the sinking ship that the captain of the USS Orlando saw was quite strange—a three-shaft, twin-propeller ship.

As far as he knew, none of the main warships of the Ming Dynasty Royal Navy had adopted this layout.

In addition to the unusual propeller at the stern of the sunken ship, the sailors who were salvaged were also full of doubts—could a front-line main warship of the Ming Dynasty Royal Navy have a group of old sailors who looked to be at least forty or fifty years old?

Anyway, on the main battle ships of the Federal Navy, they should all be young men in their twenties, the prime age for military service. These men in their forties and fifties look like veterans who have been demobilized and re-enlisted. These veterans in the Federal Navy are basically those who drive escort ships or various auxiliary vessels.

After all, although these veterans have rich combat experience, time waits for no one. A 20-year-old can fire six shots per minute with a six-inch naval gun, but if you replace it with these 40- or 50-year-old old naval gunners, not to mention that the rate of fire may drop to three or four shots per minute, some of them may even strain their backs after firing for a while.

However, all the sailors who were pulled ashore insisted that they were officers and men from the Kaiyuan. The Union forces on the Orlando cruiser even resorted to some rather brutal methods to prove them wrong. But the old soldier, whose mouth was full of blood, spat a mouthful of blood-tinged phlegm onto their boots and still insisted, albeit incoherently, that he was an officer and man from the Kaiyuan battleship.

The cruiser Orlando reported the anomaly they had discovered to the battleship Pennsylvania, but the Pennsylvania still insisted on continuing the pursuit, seemingly ignoring the flagship's concerns.

Did General Benson really turn a blind eye to this?

Of course not. Admiral Benson had already sensed something was wrong at this point, or rather, he had some doubts from the beginning, but he was too eager to win, and the start after encountering this fleet was just too wonderful.

So he could only grit his teeth and keep chasing. At this point, the words of prudence and caution that Benson had advised himself before the battle had been thrown to the back of his mind. He was now like a gambler at a gambling table. He had no time to lead the fleet back, so he could only gamble that the fleet in front of him was the main force of the First Battleship Squadron of the Ming Dynasty Royal Navy.

At this moment, the fourth wave of destroyers' torpedo attacks once again achieved results. The destroyers reported that a large enemy surface ship had been hit by a torpedo in the darkness. The modern ship's speed was reduced sharply and it had fallen behind. However, the other enemy ships did not slow down, indicating that they had obviously abandoned this capital ship.

Meanwhile, the enemy warship that had fallen behind after being damaged by a torpedo attack was making a last-ditch effort, frantically firing at all the surrounding Federation warships. Two Federation cruisers were hit and damaged by the large-caliber shells fired by this warship.

Upon hearing that two of his cruisers had been damaged, Admiral Benson felt a surge of elation. He had already begun to suspect that he was pursuing a decoy fleet composed of camouflaged ships. Using other ships to disguise themselves as capital ships was not technically difficult, but no one had ever thought of actually doing it in naval warfare before. Benson was worried that he would become the fool who would go down in the annals of world war history.

Now it seems I can breathe a sigh of relief. These are camouflage ships, no matter how similar they look. The enemy can't just put real large-caliber heavy guns on a camouflage ship out of thin air. And when I was chasing them, the enemy's speed never dropped below 20 knots. This speed is obviously not something that the enemy's pre-dreadnoughts could achieve. Therefore, these camouflage ships are obviously not pre-dreadnoughts.

It seems that I was indeed chasing the main force of the enemy!

Overjoyed at surviving such a close call in his military career, Benson ordered the destroyers and cruisers to cease their attack on the ship. He planned to have the battleships of his 38th Fleet deal with the enemy and, incidentally, personally confirm the target.

Benson didn't have to wait long. When he saw the battleship, shrouded in searchlights and crawling at less than 10 knots on the sea surface, through his binoculars on the bridge of the USS Pennsylvania, the clear muzzle flashes from its large-caliber guns made him involuntarily grin.

Following the light from the searchlight, his binoculars gradually scanned the bow of the ship, taking in one of the targets he had been chasing all day. Ah, those classic triple turrets, that Chinese-style superstructure, that…

Wait a minute? A single-mounted turret mounted on the side?

Admiral Benson thought he was seeing things. He rubbed his eyes hard and looked through his binoculars again. Clearly, he wasn't hallucinating. The ship in front of him did indeed have a unique layout with two triple-mounted turrets on the centerline and two single-mounted turrets on each side of the hull. This was the earliest dreadnought of the Ming Dynasty Royal Navy! It was a product of design modifications during construction, upgrading it from a previous dreadnought to a dreadnought!

If Benson hadn't seen this ship here, he would have almost forgotten about it—this oldest type of dreadnought. It seems that, apart from following the main fleet in the first year of the war, it spent most of its time quietly staying in the Bohai Bay, supposedly guarding the capital, but in reality, it had retreated to the second line.

After all, these two ships were already somewhat outdated in terms of firepower and protection, and their top speed of barely 20 knots was somewhat of a hindrance compared to the later standard 21 knots of dreadnoughts.

Why is this ship here?!

Was this ship among the 12 capital ships that our reconnaissance forces reported passing through the Bashi Channel prior to this? Which type of battleship is it?

Regardless of which one it is, since this ship is here, does that mean that there is another one of those 12 ships that is also this thing?

Why did the Ming army use these two second-line ships to replace the first-line ships in the original first battleship squadron?

Benson's mind is currently filled with many, and very chaotic thoughts.

At this time, more "good news" arrived.

The cruisers ahead indicated that the Ming fleet they were pursuing had now broken up its formation and begun to flee in different directions.

Disbanding a fleet is typically a way for a fleet to preserve its strength if it is defeated. However, after the enemy disbanded its fleet, these Federation destroyers and cruisers fought hard to catch up with an enemy ship and hit its stern with a torpedo, leaving the big ship without power and drifting at sea.

This time, the destroyers and cruisers did not rush to finish off the ship with torpedoes. Instead, they bravely approached it as closely as possible, only to find that the ship did not have the dense firepower they had imagined. Moreover, under the moonlight, the "turrets" remained motionless. Finally, when they reached a distance of 6,000 meters and fired several more rounds of artillery fire, they were surprised to find that they had set the ship on fire.

The ship's surface was covered with a large amount of flammable material, especially the several massive turrets, which were burning like torches at that moment.

These turrets are made of wood.

Chapter 116 The Initiative Changes Hands (1)

Benson stared at the camouflaged ship ablaze before him, especially at the two wooden turrets at the stern that were crackling and burning like giant bonfires. He was so angry that he laughed.

Undoubtedly, he faced two possibilities.

The first possibility is that the Ming army had become so corrupt that they started using wood to build the turrets of their warships.

In fact, one of the main reasons why General Benson laughed in anger was that he knew that if people in the country felt it was necessary to save face, then it was not impossible for the news media to fabricate such reports.

This is no joke.

Or perhaps it's a tradition within the federal press.

This might seem unbelievable to many people who are unfamiliar with the Federation, but in fact, if you look for some Federation military training films from World War II—which you can find on Bilibili—you'll find films made by Colombians at that time that compare the superiority or inferiority of the Federation's own weapons and equipment with those of the enemy.

Military training films like these are all based on established positions, after all, they are meant to boost the confidence of new recruits going to the battlefield. So you can see Colombians arguing that their M919 Browning is superior to the MG42.

In fact, throughout this war, the United States never stopped slandering its opponents, making baseless accusations from various angles.

For example, they argue that the main gun caliber of the battleships equipped by the Ming Royal Navy is one size smaller than that of the Federation Army. They especially like to point out the 280mm guns on dreadnoughts, as if the Federation media were living in the 10s instead of the 30s, almost making people think that dreadnoughts with 280mm guns in this era have no right to breathe at sea.

After the Kingdom of Japan defected, this propaganda was pushed to an extreme. The United States found many so-called "Japanese people who knew the inside story of the Eastern Empire" and fabricated a series of rumors, most of which were arguments that belittled the enemy. Don't believe the claims made by some remotely farmed livestock companies on the Internet that Colombians would not belittle their opponents. Anyone who really knows about the Federation's propaganda during the war would not say such things.

In some propaganda, the Ming Dynasty Royal Navy was portrayed as a low-class sea pirate who liked to hang clothes on the main gun barrels of battleships. This kind of propaganda was very applicable to the vast majority of the Federation's citizens—few people thought about what it would look like to hang clothes on a gun barrel that was several meters above the deck and as thick as a telephone pole.

With such propaganda in place, if you insist that the Chinese Navy's newly repaired battleships are "short-weighted" and lack armor steel, so they can only use wood to repair the turrets, I believe some people will believe this argument.

Of course, in fact, all the officers and soldiers of the Federal Navy who witnessed this scene knew that there was only one possibility in the reality before them.

That means they were tricked from the very beginning, and thoroughly tricked at that.

The strategic deception began as soon as the enemy fleet crossed the Bashi Channel... No! It began even earlier, when the barriers around Leizhou Port were erected, when the enemy announced that the remaining main force of their navy was gathering in Leizhou Port, and even when their grandson went south...

At this point, no one dared to step forward and ask Benson what to do next, because anyone with a modicum of common sense knew that asking the question would only embarrass their superior.

Fortunately, Benson did not leave the other officers and soldiers of the Federation Navy to agonize and be troubled for too long. His usually straight back had become slightly hunched. Admiral Benson, who controlled the vast majority of the Federation Navy's naval power and commanded almost all of the Federation Navy's dreadnoughts and super-dreadnoughts that were currently in combat capability, had lost his previous sharpness and returned to his command post with an indescribable sense of frustration.

For a general like him who realizes during the course of a battle that he has lost the key to victory and that the entire battle is destined to slide helplessly toward defeat, he is just like the female character in some novels, anime, or movies with romantic elements. She has already lost the battle of love, but she is still forced to watch the male and female protagonists showing affection, and she can only comfort and escape by burning calories.

Admiral Benson's current appearance is perfect for creating a work like "There Are Too Many Loser Commanders".

"Take care of that battleship quickly, then we'll return to the waters off Dongdu immediately."

Benson issued the order somewhat dejectedly. Before the destroyer force could move forward after receiving the order, the battleship USS Washington broke away from the formation and moved ahead. This somewhat unauthorized action did not draw any reprimand or stop from the admiral himself. Perhaps Admiral Benson no longer cared about these "minor matters" in the fleet.

Facing the 30,000-ton displacement USS Washington, armed with eight 15-inch guns, the Ninghai battleship, which had already lost most of its mobility at sea, and its crew displayed dauntless courage. Under the command of the Ninghai's captain, the old ship's 280mm guns fired at the Washington with unprecedentedly high explosive charges. Normally, this 280mm 45-caliber naval gun could fire a 315-kilogram armor-piercing shell at a velocity of 820 MPs. For a large-caliber naval gun, such performance could only be considered mediocre.

However, with all the officers and men on board in a state of utter desperation, disregarding the possibility of the cannon exploding at any moment, they adopted the high-charge mode, which forcibly increased the muzzle velocity of the 315 kg armor-piercing projectile from 820 MPS to 900 MPS. Although the cannon barrel was extremely corroded under this firing mode, the barrel life was likely only thirty or forty rounds or less.

But who cares about these things now?

Unfortunately, the outcome of challenges in reality is not necessarily determined by human courage or will. With a 280mm caliber and the soft-capped armor-piercing shells of this era, even if the added propellant can give the shell a higher initial velocity, the strength of the shell itself has a threshold for armor-piercing capability. In fact, once the muzzle velocity of the gun is increased to 850 MPs, it is meaningless for this 280mm naval gun to increase the armor penetration depth.

Because the shells hit the 13.5-inch thick armor of the USS Washington, they shattered before penetrating.

Although the Ninghai battleship's final action may not have been particularly significant, the act of resistance itself is meaningful, and courage is always the greatest praise for humanity.

This ship, one of the oldest dreadnoughts in the Ming Dynasty Royal Navy, tragically faced a behemoth more than half its size and completed its entire service as a warship standing tall. For a warship, sinking on the high seas, especially after fighting to the last drop of its might, is by no means the worst outcome.

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For the two battleships, the USS Illinois and USS Kentucky, which were on the other side of Borneo, off the coast of East London, the situation was quite different.

In this Federation Navy, the USS Illinois and USS Kentucky are the third and fourth ships of the Wyoming-class battleships. The Federation Navy has built far more warships in this world than in the other world during the same period. After all, the Federation Navy faces much greater pressure at sea in this world than it did when facing the Yingzhou United Fleet in the other world.

Therefore, while only two Wyoming-class battleships were built in the other world, four were built in this world. To be fair, as the last dreadnought of the Federation Navy, the Wyoming-class battleship, despite being nicknamed "bomb truck" within the Federation Navy, was considered to be of average quality and relatively good in terms of firepower and protection compared to other ships in the world.

(After all, in this era, you can defeat many opponents simply by honestly ensuring that the main armor belt doesn't have any fancy, cost-cutting features.)

With the firepower of 12 305mm naval guns and six twin 12-inch turrets, the Wyoming-class battleships were not significantly different from the New York-class battleships in terms of hull design. However, the Federal Navy did not particularly like the Wyoming-class battleship design (otherwise it would not have been nicknamed the "bomb truck"). Nevertheless, due to the situation, the number built was still increased.

After all, both the Ming and the United States were aiming to bring their respective battleships into service as quickly as possible. As a result, the Ming built a lot of capital ships with 280mm guns, while the Federation built a lot of dreadnoughts with 12-inch guns.

For these two Federation battleships, they originally thought that holding the point here should be a relatively easy task, after all, these two ships could be described as having the monkeys reigning supreme in the absence of the tigers.

But the captains of these two battleships could never have imagined that as the sun was setting, they would witness the scene they least wanted to see in their lives—two large warships that looked as if they had been gilded appeared on the horizon under the glow of the setting sun.

The officers and soldiers on the two Federation battleships quickly identified the type of the two large warships that had suddenly appeared.

That was naturally the Haiqi-class battlecruiser of the Ming Dynasty's Royal Navy.

This type of battlecruiser was naturally very familiar to the officers and men aboard the two battleships.

This type of ship brought annihilation to the Colombian fast fleet in the Battle of the Sulu Sea. Since this ship was the result of technical exchanges with Leitania, it looks somewhat like the Leitania ship—somewhat similar to the Leitania High Seas Fleet's De Flinger.

The Derfflinger had earned a formidable reputation in Jutland, the mighty Jutland Iron Dog, while the Haiqi had also made a name for itself in the Battle of the Sulu Sea. Although the two Federation battleships were not invincible against the Haiqi, the Colombians only had slightly less powerful cannons, but they had advantages in firepower density, firepower projection, and armor protection. However, the presence of the two Ming battlecruisers here was a huge shock to the two Federation battleships in itself.

After all, this thing should be lying in the Surabaya port and continuing to be a homebody right now.

Of course, it's not that we can't fight, but since two ships have already appeared here, are there any other Ming warships following closely behind?

Therefore, the two Wyoming-class battleships of the Federal Navy abandoned the engagement and retreated northward. During this process of engaging the enemy battlecruiser, the USS Illinois received a telegram from its flagship, the USS Pennsylvania.

The contents of the telegram left the officers and men on the two battleships feeling utterly terrified.

The Surabaya Fleet has now escaped from the port, and more than a dozen main warships are returning to the mainland in a grand procession. In order for these ships to return safely, the Ming army also organized a strategic deception operation with a carefully crafted purpose.

For the Federation forces, the enemy has now achieved complete success, and the two battleships will not receive any commendable reinforcements in the short term. However, the enemy's main force is slowly but steadily advancing.

However, these two battleships could not retreat indefinitely. In fact, given their speed, maintaining the current state of retreating as the enemy advances was still dominated by the Ming army, since a 21-knot battleship could not outrun a 27-knot battlecruiser.

But there has to be an end to this retreat! The captains of these two battleships had not forgotten their mission: to cover the army on shore and protect the landing zone. They had no way to retreat to the end!

If it were just a matter of engaging the two enemy battlecruisers in front of them, the captains of the two Federation battleships would not be afraid. However, the problem is that they are now almost 100% certain that there is a large force behind these two Ming battleships!

Even if they could defeat these two battlecruisers, facing an opponent with a speed advantage and the ability to challenge the initiative, if the opponent felt they were at a disadvantage in the fight, they could simply widen the distance again and wait for the main fleet to arrive before devouring them in one fell swoop.

The captain of the USS Illinois even sent a light signal to the USS Kentucky: "What should we do now?"

Chapter 117 The Initiative Changes Hands (2)

The two federal battleships eventually turned back and left, while the two Ming battlecruisers maintained a speed of 20 knots to "politely escort" the two federal battleships out of the waters off Dongdu.