Chapter 125, Pursuit Battle in the South Indian Ocean (Part 2)
May 1947, Southern Indian Ocean
The so-called Southern Indian Ocean refers to a large area of the Indian Ocean south of the equator, extending from Mozambique and Madagascar to the west, Australia to the east, the Maldives to the north, and Antarctica to the south. This is the deepest and most desolate body of water on earth. It has harsh natural conditions, frequent hurricanes and waves, unpredictable ocean currents and winds, and dense undersea volcanoes. There are not many islands that can serve as relay stations, and there are also very few available airports and ports in the surrounding area. It's hard to find a stop. Moreover, the ocean currents and winds here are unpredictable, and the submarine volcanoes are densely crisscrossed. Even experienced captains usually avoid this place. As a result, the South Indian Ocean has been invisibly covered with a mysterious veil, becoming the most desolate body of water on earth, known as the "alien ocean on earth".
However, starting in the last few months of last year, this most inhospitable body of water in the world began to gradually become slightly more lively. Because as the Red Wave swept through countries in East and Southeast Asia, millions of "exploiting classes" from various countries were forced to board ships and set out to sea, embarking on a long road to escape.
Since the Pacific Ocean has become an arena for sea and air battles between the United States and Japan, the eastward path across the Pacific has been blocked. Therefore, their refugee ships can go west, pass through Singapore and the Strait of Malacca, and then cross the Indian Ocean to seek freedom. World” - If it were in the past, cruise ships carrying passengers from various countries would usually try to travel along coastal routes as close to the Indian peninsula as possible. But to this day, the Indian Civil War is still raging, and the Middle East has become one of the main battlefields of the three wars. If foreign cruise ships and merchant ships rush over rashly, they may end up being forcibly requisitioned by all parties involved in the war.
Therefore, in the past year, most of the refugee ships sailing westward through the Strait of Malacca from East and Southeast Asia have not dared to take the offshore route along the Indian Peninsula and the Arabian coast. Instead, they have taken the ocean route across the southern Indian Ocean and directly to South Africa or Madagascar. Let the "land" of the southern Indian Ocean "Alien Ocean on the Planet" gradually began to gain some popularity... and the Japanese submarine force based in Western Australia also took the opportunity to launch a large-scale hunt in the southern Indian Ocean, while outmatching the escort destroyers of the US and British allies. Various fight scenes between hunters and prey are staged.
However, as Singapore fell and changed hands, the strange commotion caused by the war in the southern Indian Ocean also entered the final battle royale stage.
——Following the British escape fleet that rushed out of Singapore, several battleships of the Japanese Navy's combined fleet also entered the Indian Ocean...
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In the sunny and calm waters of South China, on the majestic ship "Ocean Oasis" with a displacement of 300,000 tons, Chief of Staff Kamizhongtoku, who is fully responsible for the Indian Ocean operations, is using radio remote control to command various ships in the Indian Ocean. , hunting down the British fleet escaping Singapore.
"...It seems...there are targets everywhere! But which one should be hit first?"
Looking at the satellite photos and aerial reconnaissance information, the enemy ships and ships in the southern Indian Ocean were running around like pepper noodles without forming any formation at all. Chief of Staff Kamizhongtoku couldn't help but feel a little dazed for a while.
——As the hunted prey, the Commander of the Eastern Fleet of the British Royal Navy, His Excellency Admiral Bruce Austin Fraser, is very clear that apart from the flagship HMS Reputation, there is only one combat ship left that he can really fight. The destroyer USS Vixen, the rest are supply ships, hospital ships, cruise ships, merchant ships, oil tankers, yachts, maintenance ships, minelayers, and even tugboats, sailboats and ferries, the whole thing is a super hodgepodge. If they are forcibly organized into a fleet, not only will they not have the minimum self-defense firepower, but the speed may be slowed down to less than six knots... Moreover, the sailors operating these ships are also newcomers of questionable quality. If a very large formation is formed, various collision accidents are likely to occur.
If Japanese warships or aircraft catch up, such a bloated and chaotic fleet will be a fat prey that can be knocked down with a single poke.
Therefore, Admiral Fraser had no delusions about escorting everyone to escape. From the beginning, he had the idea of trying to find a way to escape and try his luck. The number of ships that could escape was counted as a few - just sailed out As the Strait of Malacca entered the waters of the Bay of Bengal, the flagship battlecruiser HMS Reputation signaled "disband the formation and flee separately", and then rushed towards South Africa at full speed, even leaving the destroyer HMS Vixen behind.
As a result, the Singaporean escape fleet, which was originally very chaotic, was scattered in an instant - regardless of the speed and route choice, even the destination of each ship was hugely different. They are in completely different directions: some go to Calcutta, and some go to Ceylon (to store coal). Or there is too little fuel to sail directly to places too far away), some are going to Oman or Yemen, some are going to Somalia, some are going to Zanzibar, some are going to Madagascar, and there is actually no one on board the whole ship. People can use a sextant and get lost at sea...
Faced with such an enemy that dispersed at every turn, the rookie version of the Japanese naval fleet chasing them was also a little confused.
——The warships used by the Japanese Navy Combined Fleet in this pursuit battle in the South Indian Ocean are indeed good capital ships and cutting-edge ships, including four Yamato-class battleships. But the problem is that the sailors who operate these ships...are basically a group of inexperienced rookie girls.
There is no way. After losing more than one-third of its population, Japan's domestic labor gap has become so large that it has completely collapsed. However, it still has to continue the war. As a result, it has no choice but to recruit female soldiers on a large scale, whether it is the navy or the military. Army, everyone has a share.
Among them, in order to prevent one shortcoming from affecting the overall combat effectiveness of the entire fleet, the Navy directly organized the ships on which female sailors served into a special fleet, which is the so-called "Great Japanese Women's Fleet" under the "Blue Mermaid" flag. -Although the military flag is beautiful, its combat effectiveness is terrible.
Previously, this "women's fleet" was mainly responsible for simple tasks such as shore bombardment and merchant ship escort. In addition to sinking a few American and British submarines, it had very few achievements. However, the accident rate, stray rate and sinking rate were high. It's terrible... But no matter what, after more than a year of service, these "Daughters of the Sea" have finally gotten a little bit of training, and now it's time for them to try to fight some real naval battles.
Of course, if this group of women's soldiers were allowed to go straight to Hawaii and fight head-on with the U.S. Pacific Fleet, the chances of them never coming back would be quite high. So in order to give them practice in fighting monsters, the "Kill the Dog" mission of entering the Indian Ocean to pursue the British fleeing fleet was issued. In fact, if the entire battle was carried out completely according to the plan formulated by Chief of Staff Kamizhongtoku, this mission would be A pursuit battle in the South Indian Ocean should never have happened at all: he originally split the "Women's Fleet" into two, including the main fleet of four Yamato-class battleships, and entered the Malacca Sea from the front of the Java Sea. On the east side of the gorge, it slowly advanced towards Singapore; another special force, mainly cruisers and aircraft carriers, attacked several days in advance, entered the Indian Ocean through the Sunda Strait between Sumatra Island and Java Island, and circled around from the south. Arrive at the east side of the Strait of Malacca, then block the strait from the east and west, advance against each other, flank Singapore, and attack the British ships stationed in the Singapore Fortress in order to completely wipe out the opponent's effective strength.
However, the plan always failed to keep up with the changes - due to the girl sailor's lack of experience in ocean navigation, the Rangers responsible for the roundabouts had many accidents along the way, which resulted in their actions being too slow and unable to block the Strait of Malacca before the Royal Navy's Eastern Fleet fled. West exit. Then they encountered a storm in the southwest waters of Sumatra. All three aircraft carriers were severely damaged, and the flight decks collapsed... They are currently anchoring in Banda Aceh Port at the northern end of Sumatra Island to rest and stand by, while negotiating with the chief who rules the local area. , it will be impossible to fight in a short time.
As a result, with the aircraft carrier task force completely paralyzed, the "two-sided attack" in the combat plan became a "following and hunting", and the prey even had the foresight to escape separately... With these rookie girl sailors It’s hard to say whether he can catch up with his abilities!
If there were some troubles such as running aground on a rock or being lost and accidentally hit on the way, the scene would be even more ugly.
However, if you watch helplessly these almost unarmed British fleets escaping from Singapore, they have to escape completely, and you, who is sitting on a large number of elite ships, order to stay still in order to avoid accidents, Indulging the enemy who has become a dead dog, turning over and escaping calmly... Then it will not only be an ugly scene, but also that he, the supreme commander, is as timid as a mouse and is even suspected of being a collaborator!
Instead of doing this, it is better to let the women on the front line drive the ship freely! The best soldiers and generals in this world who can truly fight are all trained in blood and fire. If they can't even handle things like chasing refugee ships, do these women still have the dignity to continue to eat the navy's luxurious rations?
As for how many ships may be sunk... this can only be regarded as necessary tuition. Anyway, there are already more ships than people in the country right now...
"...Oh, there is really no other way, let's just think of it as military training! Anyway, the British don't have many ships left in the Indian Ocean." Chief of Staff Kamizhongtoku muttered so self-destructively, while picking up the writing brush and writing The order was issued to "disperse the pursuit of each ship, launch a single ship or small team to break up the engagement in the southern Indian Ocean, and pay attention to your own safety", and notified all frontline combat ships by radio...