Chapter 406: Everything you look at is military medals
In a Russian proverb, the Russo-Japanese War has just begun to bloom, and it is still early to bear fruit.
Despite the successive defeats of the Russian army, St. Petersburg still firmly believed that the Russian Empire would win the war.
Through the Trans-Siberian Railway, 20,000 Russian troops arrive in the Far East every month. This huge war machine of the Russian Empire has just started. The temporary setback will not affect the enthusiasm of St. Petersburg.
Although the Pacific Fleet is in trouble, the Russian Empire still has two fleets in the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea. Of the five "Borodino" class battleships built by the St. Petersburg Shipyard, 2 have already been commissioned, and 2 more are in service. It has entered the outfitting stage. Once the outfitting is completed, the Baltic Fleet and Black Sea Fleet will go to the Far East for support.
This doesn't even count the Siberian fleet.
Before the end of the year, the Siberian Fleet will also have two heavy cruisers in service.
Coupled with the completed "Bear" and "Tiger", the Siberian Fleet will also have a considerable strike force.
In order to allow the officers and soldiers of the Siberian Fleet to take over the "Bear" and "Tiger" as soon as possible, on June 25, Peter led the fleet from Xana and secretly returned to Vladivostok.
This is a journey full of dangers. Xana is more than 4,000 kilometers away from Vladivostok, and supplies must be carried out along the way to successfully reach Vladivostok.
According to international law, warships from belligerent countries are not allowed to enter the ports of neutral countries to resupply.
After the Russo-Japanese War broke out, the United States and the Qing Empire chose neutrality, so the Siberian Fleet could not enter the ports of the Philippines and the Qing Empire and had to find another way.
This problem is actually not difficult. Just prepare a supply ship in advance to replenish it on the way. The key is coal and water.
After solving this problem, the Siberian Fleet still has to pass through the Tsushima Strait.
The Pacific Fleet was unable to retreat and surrendered control of the sea. If the cruisers of the Siberian Fleet encountered Japanese battleships while passing through the Tsushima Strait, they would almost die.
Peter was bold and careful, and made adequate preparations before departure. After the fleet left the port, it did not go directly to Vladivostok, but first went south and circled the sea off Kuching. Two heavy cruisers and six light cruisers appeared in sequence. , then turned around and headed north.
Kuching is still under British control.
Although Britain did not participate in the war, Peter firmly believed that the British would inform the Japanese of the situation.
On the 29th, the fleet received its last supply in the East China Sea.
At 10 a.m. on the 30th, a plane taking off from Niucun confirmed that the battleships of the Japanese Combined Fleet were in the waters off Port Arthur and were assisting the Japanese Third Army in shelling Port Arthur.
Not missing the opportunity, Peter ordered the fleet to advance at full speed.
While passing through the Tsushima Strait, the fleet encountered two Japanese destroyers on a mission.
Peter was not polite and immediately ordered the fleet to fire and attack the Japanese destroyers.
The tonnage of Japanese destroyers is too small. They are actually torpedo boats, with a general tonnage of no more than 500 tons.
The small tonnage is not a problem. The key point is that the Japanese destroyers are slow and cannot run as fast as the heavy cruisers of nearly 10,000 tons. This is very frustrating.
The cruisers of the Siberian Fleet were equipped with new rapid-fire guns, which were fast-firing and powerful. The two Japanese destroyers were unable to resist, so they were swarmed by the light cruisers and sunk in a group fight.
This cannot be blamed on the Japanese for being careless.
The Pacific Fleet is blockaded in Port Arthur, and the main force of the Siberian Fleet is far away in East India. Three days ago, the British just confirmed that the Siberian Fleet went to Coconut City from north to south.
Who would have thought that the Siberian fleet would suddenly appear in the Tsushima Strait!
That’s right.
After Peter returned to Vladivostok, he immediately organized the sailors, took over the "Bear" and "Tiger", and made the "Bear" the flagship of the Siberian Fleet.
Objectively speaking, the "Borodino" class battleship is quite good, and has reached the mainstream European level as a whole.
But what Peter is most looking forward to is the all-heavy artillery battleship that is under intensive construction.
The first all-heavy artillery battleship has been launched and the power system is being installed.
The second ship will not be launched until next month, and if it is put into service, it will not be until August next year at the earliest.
Togo Heihachiro also did not expect that the main force of the Siberian fleet would dare to risk crossing the Tsushima Strait and return to Vladivostok.
On July 15, Togo Heihachiro led the main force of the combined fleet north to Vladivostok and tried to launch an attack on Vladivostok.
Togo Heihachiro knew that the Vladivostok Shipyard was building a full-heavy artillery battleship.
Although no one can confirm now whether the all-heavy artillery battleship is as powerful as George claimed.
But no one can deny that the paper data of the all-heavy artillery battleship is indeed the strongest in history.
The twin 330 mm 40 times caliber main gun is also powered by electricity.
Recently there are rumors that the Amur military is developing a triple-mounted naval gun.
Togo Heihachiro wanted to see what the Russians were doing.
Since the Kirov airship carried out the bombing mission against Nagasaki, the use of airships for surveillance and reconnaissance has become the norm in Vladivostok.
Shortly after the combined fleet passed through the Tsushima Strait, it was discovered by an airship performing a reconnaissance mission.
Then, another reconnaissance plane roared over.
Japan does not even have airships, let alone reconnaissance aircraft.
When Togo Heihachiro was studying in the UK, he did see airships. However, airships at that time were relatively primitive and could not be controlled at all. They had to be pulled by ropes to prevent them from floating away, similar to hot air balloons.
The Amur reconnaissance plane was very bold. It roared past in front of Dongxiang's flagship "Mikasa". Through the telescope, Dongxiang could even see the raised middle finger of the Amur pilot.
Dongxiang can only be glad that the Amur aircraft has no attack capability - later generations reviewed the Russo-Japanese War and said that the Russian imperial commanders were self-contained, dogmatic, did not dare to take the initiative, and had no spirit of adventure.
The commanders on the Japanese side are actually similar.
The reason why the combined fleet had the advantage was that it relied on sneak attacks from the beginning to destroy the two most powerful battleships of the Pacific Fleet, so Dongxiang dared to show off his power.
The "Petropavlovsk" hitting a mine is not necessarily Japan's credit, because the Combined Fleet and the Pacific Fleet both mined mines outside Port Arthur. It is not clear yet, and it was sunk." "Petropavlovsk" mines were planted by the Japanese or by the Pacific Fleet themselves.
After Makarov took office, Dongxiang implemented tactics to lure the enemy many times, hoping to lure the main force of the Pacific Fleet out of Port Arthur and encircle and annihilate it.
If Makarov is not fooled, even if he leads the team out of the port, he will not jump into Dongxiang's ambush.
If Makarov hadn't died accidentally, I don't know how the war would have ended.
The actual performance of the Japanese combined fleet is actually not good.
In May this year, after the second blockade operation of the Combined Fleet ended, the Combined Fleet encountered thick fog when it returned and accidentally broke into the minefield deployed by the Pacific Fleet.
At 22:50 p.m., the battleship "Hasuse" hit a mine and exploded first. Other ships put down their sampans to rescue the crew and risked their lives to get closer to the "Hasuse".
Soon the battleship "Yashima" hit two mines in succession on the mine line of the "Hasuse". A large amount of seawater poured in. The two battleships ignited fire at the same time, and the Japanese army was in chaos.
In the chaos, the "Yoshino", which had shown great power in the Sino-Japanese War of 1884-88, panicked and was blocked by the armored cruiser "Kasuga" and sank. Only 99 of the 413 crew members were rescued.
So don’t say the Pacific Fleet is bad.
The combined fleet is not much better.
For Vladivostok, Dongxiang did the same. They still sent a cruise fleet to lure the enemy, hoping to lure the main force of the Siberian fleet out of the Vladivostok military port.
"The train gun is ready and ready to fire at any time!"
Alexander, the coastal defense commander of Vladivostok Military Port, was murderous.
Dongxiang was very cautious and parked the main force of the combined fleet 10 nautical miles away from the Vladivostok military port, thinking that it was beyond the attack range of the Vladivostok train guns.
George laid an ambush when he announced the performance of the Vladivostok train gun. Now that the gun is fired, it can hit the combined fleet.
The key is the hit rate. If the Japanese warships are not concentrated, the range of the Vladivostok train gun is exposed, which is not worth the loss.
"The fleet is ready and can attack at any time!"
Peter reported to George on the "Bear" that the Siberian Fleet could easily deal with Japanese cruisers even if it did not dispatch battleships.
Japanese cruisers have a lower displacement, and the cruisers ordered from the UK have a displacement between 3700-4900.
Japan’s homemade cruiser has a displacement of about 3,000 tons.
The light cruiser of the Siberian Fleet has a displacement of 5,000 tons, a 4-door 203, and a maximum speed of 27 knots. Both speed and firepower are much higher than the Japanese cruisers.
George has focused all his energy on light cruisers in the past two years. Although there are only 2 heavy cruisers, including the Aceh Fleet, the number of light cruisers has reached 10, which is only 4 less than the light cruisers of the United Fleet.
The 2,400-ton "Chiyoda" and the 2,700-ton "Suma" of the Combined Fleet should be destroyers according to the standards of the Siberian Fleet.
Who can a cruiser with a main gun caliber of only 120mm hit?
Hitting the Siberian light patrol is an itch.
Battleships and cruisers are not George’s trump card.
George's trump card is submarines.
On the surface, the warships of the Siberian Fleet are all in the Vladivostok military port.
But in fact, the submarines of the Siberian Fleet are approaching the main force of the Japanese Combined Fleet.
Don’t you like to play torpedo attacks?
Okay, let's have some fun.
"The cruiser fleet attacked and drove away the Japanese cruiser fleet -"
George did not order the cannon to be fired. The train cannon was prepared for the battleships of the combined fleet.
However, the Vladivostok Fort not only has train guns, but also 168 other coastal defense guns of various calibers.
This number is so auspicious.
At 12:15 noon, the outpost fort located on the east side of Vladivostok fired first, kicking off the naval battle of Vladivostok.
The Japanese cruiser then fired back. The Vladivostok fort had a geographical advantage, and soon a 203 shell hit the Japanese cruiser "Naniwa".
The Siberian light cruiser made a random attack and fired violently at the Japanese cruiser.
The Japanese cruisers fought and retreated.
Tongxiang sent the "Kasuga" and "Nisjin", which were urgently purchased after the war broke out, to respond and cover the light patrol's retreat.
In the chaos, submarine No. 104 of the Siberian Fleet quietly approached the United Fleet.
Captain Daniel looked around and saw a large area of gold, all of which were military medals.
(End of this chapter)