Seven Seas Beacon Fire

Then, it all came to an end.

"What are you doing?!" Upon seeing this, the Pinghai quickly sent out flag signals to inquire.

"We have been attacked by a Colombian submarine and are currently conducting anti-submarine operations." A destroyer of the Yanping Navy responded with such flag signals while continuing to load depth charges onto the launcher and drop them into the sea.

The marshal emphasized this: beware of submarines!

Chapter 201 Naval Battle Concludes

The USS Oklahoma ultimately lost its last chance to escape when it was less than 40 nautical miles from Huaiqingfu, which is Manila Port.

The battleship was first chased and slowed down by three battlecruisers. Then the three battlecruisers broke away from the battle and headed north. They were replaced by three battleships, whose further attacks jammed the No. 3 turret of the USS Oklahoma.

Especially those two dreadnoughts with only 280mm guns. Under normal circumstances, even if the USS Oklahoma were to fight two dreadnoughts with 280mm guns, it wouldn't be in such a sorry state as it is today. However, with a Dingyuan-class battleship also on the line, the USS Oklahoma had to put in its best effort to fight it. As a result, the two dreadnoughts could fire at it like target practice with almost no interference.

The deck-washing tactics of the pre-dreadnought era are no longer applicable in most situations today. However, when the guns of these two dreadnoughts destroyed more than half of the five-inch secondary guns positioned outside the armored box of the USS Oklahoma, the destroyers, which had been waiting around like sharks, rushed up and launched a torpedo attack.

Having lost most of its secondary gun firepower, the USS Oklahoma had no way to use its secondary guns to drive these destroyers away before they could launch torpedoes. In fact, the Federation Navy's preference for the high rate of fire of its five-inch secondary guns meant that even if the secondary gun firepower of Federation Navy battleships had not been significantly weakened, the effective range of its anti-torpedo firepower was insufficient to drive away torpedo ships at a safe distance.

Despite the exceptional skill of the crew of the USS Oklahoma, a battleship with a heavily damaged hull, and despite its best efforts to maneuver and evade, a 550mm torpedo still struck its stern.

The 250-kilogram warhead destroyed all the steering gears on the USS Oklahoma, and three of its four propellers were blown up. The ship began to spin uncontrollably at sea. At this point, everyone on board knew that their final moment had arrived.

At this point, if the enemy rushes in—whether using destroyers for a torpedo salvo or battleships for a cannon blast—they can destroy the battleship quite thoroughly.

However, Vice Admiral Zangwell, in the conning tower of the USS Oklahoma, looked with a hint of doubt at the three battleships and destroyers that had previously besieged them, which were now withdrawing from the battlefield and heading north, just like the battlecruisers before them.

Vice Admiral Zangwell knew that the enemy was most likely pursuing the three main battleships of the Federation Navy that were retreating north. He didn't know if the three battleships could escape the clutches of these devils, but he was curious as to why these guys had let his ship go.

Do you feel that once you've lost your motivation, you're already a dead ship, so there's no point in wasting time on yourself?

Perhaps the enemy was thinking of first hunting down their own forces, and then turning back to tow their damaged battleship back and capture it intact?

Lieutenant General Zangwell speculated on many possibilities until he saw the two giant ships that had initially prompted him to make all the decisions he made today heading towards him.

It was only at this point that he suddenly understood many things.

These two battleships obviously had speeds similar to those of the Dingyuan-class battleships. At first, such speeds would indeed prevent them from keeping up with their battlecruisers in pursuit, but they should not fall behind later on.

However, before this, neither the USS Nevada's decision to stay behind to cover the retreat (actually forced to do so after its engine was damaged) nor the series of attacks the USS Oklahoma had suffered since then had seen the presence of these two of the most powerful battleships in the hands of the enemy they were facing today.

He couldn't help but recall that not long after he arrived in Yingzhou, he had obtained a Chinese historical novel from a Yingzhou person. According to that person, "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" contained Eastern military philosophy and was a must-read masterpiece.

After finishing the English version of the book, he did develop a strong interest in it. Although he didn't speak Chinese, he asked a man from Yingzhou who was fluent in both Chinese and English to read the book to him. At that moment, he suddenly realized that the legendary Han Dynasty prime minister in the book seemed to have used a similar trick to play tricks on his cross-dressing enemy.

Do these two enemy battleships really have combat capabilities?

If Zangwell were to ask this question in front of Ritchie, our protagonist's answer would be—if so.

To use an imperfect analogy, are the Arjun tanks driven by the Balat people a threat? If you were driving a Type 99A, then it certainly wouldn't be much of a threat. In fact, if you were an elite Wittmann, you might even be able to flank and steal it in a Tiger. But even if you were driving a STRV122B, would you dare let the Balat people's tanks use you as target practice?

The Longyuan-class battleship is now equivalent to a ship whose crew and the ship are very inexperienced, but it has basically everything that a warship should have. Yang Yuchen wanted to take this opportunity to let these two newborn little dragons see blood.

As the 420mm naval guns began to roar, the equipment testing of the two Longyuan-class battleships was carried out under circumstances that were probably unprecedented and would never be repeated. Testing them directly on enemy warships in actual combat was truly a first in the history of naval warfare.

The armor-piercing shells fired by the Tang army's current 420mm naval guns weigh 1085 kg, and the 45-caliber barrel can accelerate the shells to a speed of 800 mps before firing them out of the barrel.

The 420mm armor-piercing shells currently used on the two Longyuan-class battleships are relatively conservative in performance. The Federation Navy's future new generation of battleships and battlecruisers will adopt the 16-inch (406mm) Mark II naval gun, with a shell weight of 1016 kg, a muzzle velocity of 808 mps, and a barrel life of up to 200 rounds.

It can be said that, apart from having a relatively obvious advantage over the Victorian 16-inch naval guns (which fired 928 kg shells), its advantage over the Colombian 16-inch naval guns is not so significant.

Now they are going to use the Colombian armor to test whether the power of their new naval guns and the accompanying shells can meet the needs of future warfare.

However, the first round of firing was quite off target. For the "direct descendants" of the Ming Dynasty Royal Navy, which always attached great importance to artillery, the various types of main warships of the Tang Dynasty Royal Navy were also known for their superior artillery. It was indeed rare for a ship like the Longyuan to fail to hit the target even after several rounds of firing.

The performance of the entire ship and its crew confirmed the correctness of Yang Yuchen's decision not to let the two ships participate in the battle directly. If the greenhorns on these two ships were to actually be in combat, they would probably be causing chaos from start to finish.

However, even a greenhorn can still conduct artillery tests on a warship that has lost most of its maneuverability.

With the tenth round of shelling finally hitting its mark, a 420mm armor-piercing shell easily penetrated the side armor of the USS Nevada. After penetrating most of the hull, it exploded in the boiler room on the other side. This shell directly destroyed the remaining power of the USS Oklahoma, bringing the warship, which had been spinning at sea, to a complete stop.

Fixed targets are obviously easier to hit than moving targets. As the shells falling around him became denser and more accurate, how could Zangwell not understand what the enemy was planning?

They were going to use the USS Oklahoma as a target for training!

No honorable officer would accept such an insulting act. At this point, the USS Oklahoma still had some main guns capable of returning fire, but Vice Admiral Zangwell did not want to humiliate himself. Before more shells hit, he ordered the sea valves to be opened, allowing the USS Oklahoma to leave this world with its last bit of dignity.

Yang Yuchen watched the sinking USS Oklahoma, shook his head and sighed, "It's not interesting." He then led the two Longyuan-class battleships to turn back at sea. These two battleships had played a crucial supporting role in this operation, and the few hits they had just achieved proved one thing.

That is, the 420mm naval gun could indeed pose a deadly threat to the most heavily armored battleships of the previous era.

The operation has been largely successful so far. The main question for them now is how much more they can achieve.

-------------------------------------

In fact, the remaining engagements were rather uneventful, with the Tang battlecruisers successfully catching up with another Federal Navy dreadnought, the USS Kentucky.

It can be said that the USS Kentucky was lucky, because the ship held out until another Union naval escort group arrived to reinforce it and drove away three Tang battlecruisers. Shortly after Vice Admiral Zangwell gave the order to disperse and break out, another S-04 escort group of five battleships began to rush south at the maximum speed they could reach, which finally allowed them to catch up and rescue the ship.

However, the USS Kentucky was also unfortunate, because the friendly forces' attempt to rescue the ship at the checkpoint was ultimately unsuccessful. The Kentucky was severely damaged, with at least four shells hitting the engine room. The ship's top speed was now less than 9 knots. According to the intelligence from the Colombian side, there were 5 to 6 enemy battleships following behind these three battlecruisers, and two of them were extremely terrifying monsters equipped with 420mm guns.

If the USS Kentucky were to be brought back, the entire fleet could be overtaken by the Tang Dynasty battleship squadron led by the two Longyuan-class battleships. Therefore, the Columbians ultimately chose to torpedo the USS Kentucky after abandoning it. When the remaining Federation battleships and the S-04 convoy, whose original transport mission had been terminated, returned to Yingzhou, the Second Battle of the Bashi Channel finally came to an end.

The Colombians' losses this time were not only due to their battleships being outnumbered 3-0 again, nor were they only due to the loss of two very valuable standard battleships, nor were they only due to the complete collapse of their strategy of hoping to regain control of the sea and take the initiative by relying on the size of their fleet after receiving the Leitanian reparations and restoring their combat capability. The most important thing was that the Colombians suffered too many casualties in this naval battle, and the news could not be suppressed at all.

As transport ships, some in a state of constant fear and others bearing the marks of gunpowder and damage, continued to stumble into the port over the next few days, and as Federation soldiers, under immense pressure and prone to speaking recklessly upon meeting people, boarded the docks of Yingzhou, people were finally able to glimpse a part of the true state of things.

On the Royal Navy cruiser HMS Emerald, also in Yingzhou, an officer put down his camera. Not far in front of him, another lucky ship successfully arrived at Yingzhou's port. As soon as the gangplank was lowered, a group of army soldiers dressed in white shorts, "indecent," left the transport ship as if escaping a haunted house. For them, the past few days had been a journey from heaven to hell and back again.

He had taken many photos over the past few days, including federal naval ships damaged in battle and transport ships unloading soldiers at the docks. Whether from the warships or from the soldiers who were being evacuated from the battlefield in such a disheveled state as if they were slaves, even from an almost outsider's perspective, a complete military disaster was not far off for the Colombians.

"Have you heard? The Colombians are starting to censor news in Taiwan."

The Royal Victorian Navy officers and sailors aboard the Emerald began to discuss their Commonwealth nephew with great enthusiasm: "I heard that now all transoceanic telegrams need to be reviewed, and all ships leaving Yingzhou are checked to see if they are carrying any film or similar items. Do you think we won't be stopped and checked by the Colombians too?"

"Dare the Colombians intercept our Royal Navy?"

"In any case, isn't it a bit too late to impose news control now? After such a defeat, no amount of suppression can cover it up, right?"

"Who knows? Maybe they're just trying to shut up their own people?"

Chapter 202 Each Has Its Own Reading Comprehension (1) Admiral-class Battlecruiser

"The Colombians have suffered another defeat?" David Beatty was not at all surprised when he saw the message sent back by the Royal Victoria Navy's Far East Fleet.

how to say?

Does this fit the stereotype of the Federal Navy?

As a senior admiral of the Royal Victorian Navy who had fought alongside the Federal Navy's Atlantic Fleet, David Beatty was well aware that the Federal Navy's combat quality was indeed somewhat questionable in the early stages of the war. If the Victorian and Letanian navies were considered world-class in terms of naval quality at the time, then the Royal Ming Navy could be considered a 1.5-rate navy, the Gallic, Syracuse, and Ursus navies could be considered second-rate, and the naval officers and soldiers of the South American countries were third-rate. The Federal Navy was only slightly better than the South Colombian Navy in terms of its superior matching mechanism.

However, with the tempering and accumulation of experience in the war, at least in the later stages of the European war, when the Federal Atlantic Fleet withdrew to the country and was transferred to the East, in his eyes, the quality of the officers and soldiers of the Federal Navy had basically reached the same level as that of the Syracuse Navy, which was actually quite good.

This is similar to the internet meme of "roasted goose" in the 21st century, but industry insiders are actually well aware that, looking at the world, what netizens consider to be a weak goose or a weakling is actually a high ground of global martial arts prowess.

Regardless of the limitations of BTG, and regardless of whether the Aerospace Force can afford a large number of precision-guided weapons, at least the rookie can really assemble more than 100 BTGs. The Aerospace Force is truly the air force with the most extensive combat experience in beyond-visual-range air combat in the world. Moreover, before the outbreak of special military operations, the Russians had already given a sound beating to the NATO air force, which had been stunned by counterinsurgency operations, in a military exercise with NATO.

It was quite puzzling for Betty, who had a relatively good understanding of the Federation Navy's strength, that an armed force like this was now suffering setbacks one after another.

He didn't understand. Although the Federal Navy did face the real debuff of a long and arduous expedition, the problem was that when the Victorians withdrew from the war in the East, they left the Federal Navy with a very favorable situation. How could the entire Borneo become the graveyard of the Colombians in just one year?

Do you think it was a mistake for us to withdraw in the first place?

Sitting on the sofa at the other end of David Betty's study, Winston Leonard looked relaxed as he enjoyed Darjeeling tea. Betty couldn't help but marvel at how such a handsome and elegant young nobleman could have degenerated so quickly into middle age.

"Isn't that right? It seems that the Eastern Empire will be the only one among the Allies that will not be defeated."

“Yes, that’s why we had to withdraw in the first place.” Leonard scratched his head. “After my reputation was ruined because of the Ottomans, I realized one thing: even a continental country like the Ottomans was difficult for us to conquer, let alone that huge empire in the East.”

Leonard seemed completely unconcerned about his past: "We honored our agreement with the Colombians and helped them defeat the Ming Dynasty's Royal Navy in a direct confrontation. What does that have to do with the Tang Dynasty not being defeated now? The Ming Dynasty is gone. Wasn't everything we did back then precisely to prevent the Colombians from ending up in this situation?"

Although Leonard has often made surprising statements in the past, upon closer examination, what he said today is quite reasonable, and it's not something someone like him would say.

Indeed, the Victorian Empire's decision to withdraw from the Battle of the Java Sea after its victory was not merely about maintaining a balance between the two major powers in the Pacific, but also about preventing a quagmire of war. After the initial setbacks in Afghanistan and South Africa, the Victorian Empire had developed a deep-seated fear of continental powers.

Initially, the Victorian Empire chose to bully the Ottomans simply because they thought this "sick man of West Asia" didn't qualify as a continental country. However, they never expected that the Ottomans would teach the Victorians a lesson with their actions. Now, facing an even larger Eastern empire, the Victorian Empire's caution now seems entirely justified—you can't say that a medical check-up was a waste of money just because you paid for it and no problems were found.

Moreover, the current situation is that the physical examination has indeed revealed a problem.

Will the Colombians continue fighting?

“I think you are more knowledgeable in this area than I am,” Leonard said to David Beatty’s question. “Perhaps you should consult Sir Fisher? I remember the Columbians still have many battleships on the shipyard.”

David Beatty shook his head: "The Colombians have warships on their shipyards, and the Tang Dynasty also has warships on its shipyards. Moreover, it is foreseeable that after the Federation Navy's new batch of 16-inch battleships and battlecruisers enter service, it will probably be unable to reverse the Tang Empire's advantage in fast warships. The Tang Empire has also begun to build new battlecruisers equipped with 420mm naval guns... What I mean is that the problem at both ends of the Pacific is no longer a simple matter of naval technology and equipment."

"Is it that the Navy doesn't want this war to continue?" Leonard bluntly stated: "Initially, many people in our government did intend for the two countries on both sides of the Pacific to weaken each other, but now it seems more like the Colosseum in ancient Rome. No matter which side wins this war, we will face a terrifying monster armed to the teeth that has emerged from the Colosseum."

After a moment of silence, Betty nodded. After all, Leonard had come to visit her home today, and there was nothing to be embarrassed to admit in a private conversation between the two of them—the Royal Navy was indeed the one in the Victorian Empire most eager to facilitate peace talks between the two countries.

毕竟现在哥伦比亚联邦能够观察到的建造进度并不算太低（超过20%）的南达科他级战列舰的数量似乎就已经有6~8条了，而新锐的列克星敦级战列巡洋舰的数量似乎也有4~6条，如果算上那些疑似在今年铺下的新龙骨，联邦可能同时在建造20条主力舰。

What a terrifying number.

On the other side of the Pacific, although the Tang Empire was not building as many warships as the Colombians, it was very likely that the Tang Empire was also building 12 to 15 capital ships at the same time, including those with keels already laid.

The ships built on the shipyards of these two countries are either behemoths equipped with 16-inch guns or Titans equipped with 420mm heavy guns. If they are allowed to continue this war, how will the Royal Navy position itself in the future?

After exhausting themselves fighting this world war, should they continue to engage in an arms race with these two hot-headed madmen?

So, if I have an arms race before I take down Letania, and an arms race after I take down Letania, then what the hell did I do to Letania for nothing?

"The Tang Empire's newest Longyuan-class battleships seem to have played a very crucial role in this naval battle. The Colombian escort fleet lost its will to fight after seeing the two Longyuan-class battleships. In the ensuing pursuit, the two Longyuan-class battleships sank a Nevada-class battleship with almost no damage."

David Beatty silently read the contents of the telegram in his hand. This telegram was also from intelligence gathered by the British Far East Fleet. Of course, the contents described in the telegram differed from the actual situation. However, although the contents differed, the results were relatively accurate. Therefore, the Royal Navy of Victoria had to further increase its assessment of the Longyuan-class battleships.

The Victorians themselves were well aware that among all the capital ships in the Royal Navy's fleet, the only ones that could barely compete with the Nevada-class battleships in terms of main armor protection were the Revenge-class battleships and the Renown-class battlecruisers. The former had a 330mm main armor belt with sufficient height, while the latter had a 305mm armor belt with a 12-degree slope.

However, apart from the main armor belt, both of these battleships were inferior to the Nevada-class in terms of protection, since the standard battleships of the Columbian had 18-inch thick turret frontal armor.

Although Longyuan did indeed penetrate Nevada's armor, in the Victorians' minds, the battle wasn't a casual, target-shooting finisher by Longyuan, but a fierce, head-on clash. The fact that the Tang Empire's newest battleship could easily destroy Nevada meant that none of the battleships in the Victorian Royal Navy, whether Queen Elizabeth or in a revenge scenario, were safe from this behemoth.

"That's why the Royal Navy is increasingly eager to mediate the war between the two countries. After all, if a ceasefire could be achieved between the Tang Empire and the Federation, then those behemoths that pose a threat to the Royal Navy could be sunk on the shipyard."

Leonard's words made Betty feel somewhat ashamed. When did the Victorian Empire ever need to use such roundabout methods to ensure the Royal Navy's dominant position?

In the past, the Victorian Empire would have chosen to confront them head-on. When the Ursus were building the 10,000-ton armored cruiser HMS Rurik at the end of the 9th century, the Victorian Empire chose to build the 14,000-ton Prosperous-class first-class cruiser. When the Leitanians launched a shipbuilding race, the Victorian Royal Navy started construction on eight capital ships in one year.

And now... they've actually started using underhanded tactics.

It's like how the signature techniques of the former world number one table tennis player were either "overpowering topspin," "general's sword draw," or "penhold backhand topspin," but what is the signature technique of the current world number one player? The world number one serve?

What does "遮" mean?

"Yes, whether it's the South Dakota-class battleships that the Colombians will be using in the future, or the Longyuan-class battleships that the Ming Empire has already been using, these behemoths have had a huge impact on our traditional battleships. Fortunately, the Royal Navy will still have the world's most powerful vanguard fleet now and in the future."

When Betty mentioned the Vanguard Fleet, she could finally stand up straight, which could be said to be the most proud naval force of the Victorian Empire.

His gaze involuntarily fell upon another newspaper on the table. This newspaper published an article about the HMS Hood, the lead ship of the Admiral-class battlecruisers, and its sister ship, the HMS Anson, which had not participated in any major naval battles during the World War, but had recently survived the Prime Minister's axe of naval spending cuts.

These are the newest and most advanced battlecruisers acquired by the Royal Navy of Victoria. If the heavily armored Renown-class battlecruisers built by the Royal Navy of Victoria in this timeline still had many wartime emergency characteristics, then these two Admiral-class battlecruisers are the Royal Navy of Victoria's "target ships" for this stage.

At first glance, these two battlecruisers look almost identical to the Hood-class battlecruisers from another timeline. However, a closer look reveals that this type of Admiral-class battlecruiser has three twin 15-inch turrets at the stern, bringing the total number of the 15-inch main guns, a family heirloom of the British Navy, to 10.

It can be said that this ship was developed from the Renown-class battlecruiser with a slightly longer hull. Compared to the HMS Hood, which was initially designed with nine-inch armor in another world and hastily added armor after the outbreak of the Battle of Jutland, and adopted many conservative solutions for the sake of wartime stability, this Admiral-class battlecruiser can truly be called the "Amagi" of the Royal Victorian Navy.

From the outset, the side armor was designed with a 12-inch, 15-degree angle. Although the armor thickness was the same, the effective protection capability was also improved because the angle of inclination was three degrees higher than that of the Renown-class battleships.

More importantly, the Renown-class battlecruisers built during the war, like HMS Hood in another world, prioritized reliability and stability above all else. As a result, they were extremely conservative in their choice of propulsion system, with a power-to-weight ratio of only 25. This conservative propulsion, coupled with the Royal Navy's requirement for a high speed of over 31 knots, forced the Renown-class battlecruisers to have an enormous engine room, which could only accommodate three twin-mounted gun turrets.

In this world, the Admiral-class battlecruisers, with the high-performance, heavily armored Renown-class battlecruisers ahead of them, could have their designs refined more effectively. The most significant improvement was the use of a new generation of boilers to significantly shorten the length of the engine room while maintaining power comparable to the Renown-class battlecruisers. This increased the power output to over 31 tons, allowing for a smaller engine room to accommodate power comparable to the Renown-class. The extra space could then be used to add two twin 15-inch gun turrets.

The Royal Navy originally planned to order four of these ideal battlecruisers, but only two were approved for construction, which was a result of the Prime Minister's special favor.

Chapter 203 Each Has Its Own Reading Comprehension (2) Lexington's Dilemma

If possible, the Royal Navy would naturally want to maintain its absolute naval superiority over the past 100 years in all aspects. However, after this world war, the Royal Navy has become much more sober and no longer has such immature ideas.

Or rather, the Royal Navy may have been among the first in the Victorian Empire to gradually accept that it was no longer the most powerful nation in the world.

With the Victorian Empire having lost its overwhelming national power, the Royal Navy would need to take other approaches if it wanted to retain its position as the world's number one navy.

The strategy adopted by the Royal Navy of Victoria was to organize naval treaties to limit further military expansion, while at the level of specific naval tactics, the Royal Navy's strategy was to maintain itself as the world's most powerful vanguard fleet.

Within the Royal Navy of Victoria, some officers have put forward the theory of "delaying the decisive battle," which is based on the experience of many naval battles that took place during this World War.

Because of the enormous cost of building a navy, countries tend to use their naval forces more cautiously. Therefore, when the navies of two countries clash, capable countries will try to establish a vanguard fleet, much like the vanguard in an army, to provide reconnaissance, cover and other services for the main fleet behind, in order to prevent their main fleet from colliding with the enemy fleet under unfavorable circumstances.

Therefore, in many cases, if one side's vanguard fleet suffers a major defeat in a battle between the two sides' vanguard fleets, the losing side will tend to simply give up the main battle. After all, as any casual gamer knows, without vision, recklessly engaging in a battle can easily result in total annihilation.

Therefore, in naval battles, the side that loses the vanguard battle may even tend to give up the battle directly, just like in a roguelike game, where if you don't get the buff you want at the beginning, you end the battle and wait for the next round to start over.

Therefore, the Royal Navy of Victoria was determined to build the world's strongest vanguard fleet. After all, the vanguard fleet is relatively smaller than the main fleet of the navy. By focusing on building the vanguard fleet, the whole situation can be leveraged with less money.