Chapter 703 Naval War

Compared with the Australasian army's overwhelming attack, the French seemed a little restless.

But for France, it was accompanied by another country that did not gain much at the moment, and that was the British Empire that precipitated the war against the United States.

One hundred thousand troops sent by the British have now arrived in Canada, and most of them have participated in the Battle of Augusta and the Battle of New York.

Because most of the elite American troops are gathered here, the British army's advance is very slow, which can even be described as a turtle speed.

The Canadian army had reached Augusta half a month ago. Now that the British army has taken over the defense line, the front line is still in Augusta and has advanced less than two kilometers.

This may seem unbelievable, but it is indeed the main theme of this war.

Although the combat effectiveness of the American army is not strong, as long as the war enters the trench warfare of continuous consumption, the slightest combat effectiveness advantage of the British army will disappear.

What competes in trench warfare is not the combat effectiveness of the army, but the number of heavy firepower weapons and ammunition reserves equipped by the army.

Of course, there is one more thing to add, and that is the number of people who are often lost quickly in trench warfare.

The British army led part of the coalition army and fought a continuous war of attrition with the American army. The combined death toll on both sides exceeded 30,000.

If the number of wounded in the offensive and defensive battles is included, the total number of casualties on both sides has exceeded 100,000, which is already more than the previous regular number of U.S. Army.

However, the medical technology of various countries is no longer so backward, and penicillin from Australasia is also selling well in Europe and the United States.

As long as they are not seriously injured, after simple medical treatment, there is no problem for lightly injured soldiers to return to the battlefield.

Seriously injured soldiers will be transferred to important cities in Canada for medical treatment, and they will return to the battlefield when they are fully recovered.

Although the British attack has temporarily reached a stalemate, neither Britain nor other countries have any intention of further increasing their troops.

After all, less than half of the 800,000 soldiers of the combined army are currently on the battlefield, and the remaining half are either still on the way or have not set off at all.

In addition to the three countries of Britain, France and Australia that can quickly assemble their troops, the only countries that can rush to the battlefield early are relatively close countries such as Canada and Mexico.

As for the remaining European countries, I am not criticizing them, but their war mobilization is really several levels behind that of the great powers.

Although the army's offensive stalled, the British navy was very active. Compared with the army, the navy does not require long-term mobilization and preparation. If there are sufficient personnel, it can set off at any time by replenishing supplies.

This caused most of the Union Navy to gather in the Atlantic Ocean. The British led the Union Navy to frantically track the whereabouts of the U.S. Navy in the Atlantic Ocean.

As long as we can have a decisive battle with the U.S. Navy and quickly eliminate the main force of the U.S. Navy, half of the war will have been won.

As for the United States relying solely on its army to delay the attack of the coalition forces, this is almost impossible.

After all, the domestic economic crisis in the United States is also quite serious. Although the coalition army cannot delay it for too long, it does not mean that the Americans can withstand the consumption of a long war.

Although the combined army is at a logistical disadvantage, if it really enters the attrition stage, the combined power of multiple countries cannot be underestimated.

Compared with the attitude of the United Navy in seeking a decisive battle, the U.S. Navy appears to be more obscene.

Under the order of the commander of the U.S. Navy, the Atlantic Navy huddled in the port and even recalled all patrol fleets, with the intention of giving up the entire Atlantic Ocean to the coalition forces.

Although this avoided a decisive battle between the main naval forces of both sides, it also exposed the east coast of the United States to bombing and threats from the combined navy.

This is not over yet. After the news that Australasia did not find the Pacific Fleet on the west coast of the United States reached the British side, the British decisively strengthened patrols in the Panama Canal and the Drake Strait to prevent the Americans from quietly gathering all the fleets. stand up.

No, the long patrol soon paid off.

More than a month after the war broke out, on January 1, the coalition forces finally received the whereabouts of the U.S. Pacific Fleet.

The Pacific Fleet is indeed not on the west coast of the United States. They have even quietly arrived in South America.

But the problem is that the current navy does not have nuclear power. Before the fuel is exhausted, it must dock to replenish fuel and supplies.

Especially after the Panama Canal was blocked, the U.S. Pacific Fleet needed to circumnavigate the entire South America if it wanted to go to the Atlantic Ocean, which also meant that they needed to replenish supplies at least three to four times.

However, the relations between the countries in South America and the United States are not very good, and it is basically impossible for the US fleet to quietly replenish supplies.

When the U.S. military was quietly replenishing supplies in Ecuador, South America, intelligence personnel here also noticed the U.S. warships and successfully reported it to the Supreme Staff of the Allied Forces.

At the same time, the Ecuadorian government also reported the news to Spain, and the Spanish government also reported the news to the coalition forces.

With the two pieces of news confirming each other, the Pacific Combined Fleet led by Australasia and the Atlantic Combined Fleet led by the United Kingdom quickly rushed to the area to encircle the U.S. Pacific Fleet.

Of course, the Atlantic Fleet is destined to be unable to take full action. Judging from the naval strength of both sides, the strength of the Pacific Combined Fleet alone has exceeded that of the United States Pacific Fleet.

Because of this, the Atlantic Combined Fleet will only send one squadron to assist the Pacific Combined Fleet in combat, ensuring that it can defeat the U.S. Pacific Fleet with a crushing advantage.

The purpose of the U.S. Pacific Fleet appearing in South America is quite obvious, which is to head to the Atlantic Ocean to join the U.S. Atlantic Fleet.

The coalition army will naturally not give the Americans such an opportunity. The squadrons heading to South America for encirclement and suppression were all fast fleets composed of strategic cruisers. Starting from the Panama Canal, there was no problem in catching up with the Americans within half a month.

After all, the Americans were operating in secret, which also meant that their navy was destined to be unable to advance at full speed.

Coupled with the fact that most of the Pacific Fleet is involved in this operation, the U.S. fleet will not move too fast, and it will take longer to replenish supplies.

The advanced Pacific Combined Fleet finally found traces of the U.S. Pacific Fleet.

However, the fleet did not act recklessly. Instead, it first used carrier-based aircraft on the aircraft carrier to explore the reality of the U.S. Navy, and also looked for opportunities to weaken the strength of the U.S. Pacific Fleet in advance. ₆₉ₛₕᵤₓ.cₒₘ

Australasia currently has a large number of aircraft carriers, and the combined number of aircraft has exceeded hundreds.

Among them are not only reconnaissance aircraft and fighter jets, but also bombers that pose a great threat to the main battleships.

However, this operation will definitely not use jet aircraft. This type of aircraft is currently the trump card of the Australasian military and is not suitable for display in such a small-scale military operation.

Even so, the aircraft produced by Australasia can be considered world-class.

At least compared to American aircraft, they still have advantages in quantity and combat effectiveness.

Shortly after the Australasian aircraft were dispatched, the U.S. Pacific Fleet actually realized that something was wrong.

However, the enemy's long-distance reconnaissance of the Pacific Fleet had no choice but to send aircraft from its own aircraft carrier to drive them away.

Soon, the Americans realized the gap between them and Australasia in terms of aircraft.

Realizing that his whereabouts had been exposed, the commander-in-chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet did not dare to be careless. He even ordered all aircraft on an aircraft carrier to dispatch. This was to drive away the reconnaissance aircraft from Australasia.

However, more than 20 American aircraft were unable to resist in front of the same number of Australasian army aircraft, and several were quickly shot down. The remaining ones did not dare to confront them head-on, and could only desperately dodge bullets.

But unfortunately, the most important thing about an airplane is flexibility and speed. American airplanes lag behind in these two aspects.

Although the American pilots tried their best to operate, they only managed to hold on for an extra minute or two, and finally crashed into the ocean with a burst of black smoke.

Seeing that almost all the planes on his side were wiped out, the commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet suddenly turned gloomy and conveyed his order to retreat to the messenger.

new

Where to retreat? Naturally, we evacuated to the south to the Drake Passage.

It is no longer realistic to continue to stay in the Pacific, because the fleet has no reliable supply points and is most likely to be surrounded and flanked by the enemy every time it replenishes supplies.

Rather than staying in the Pacific and waiting for death, it is better to attack the Drake Strait with all its strength and at least let the main force of the Pacific Fleet head to the Atlantic.

After all, although the Drake Passage is called a strait, it is actually a very wide ocean.

The southernmost part of South America and the northernmost part of Antarctica are separated by thousands of kilometers. The commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet does not believe that the coalition forces can completely blockade the Drake Strait. There will definitely be gaps in defense.

Although replenishing supplies along the way is still a problem, it is obvious that the U.S. Pacific Fleet has no retreat.

The worst case scenario is that they forcibly replenish supplies from South American cities on the way, or so the commander of the U.S. fleet thought.

But unfortunately, before the American fleet sailed too far, there was an obvious buzzing sound in the sky again.

What came this time was not an Australasian reconnaissance plane, but fighters and bombers with sufficient weapons and ammunition.

Fighters are responsible for escorting the bombers, and the dozen or so huge-looking bombers are the main weapons of this attack.

When seeing the enemy aircraft, the U.S. Fleet Commander immediately ordered the anti-aircraft weapons in the fleet to target the enemy.

However, current air defense weapons are not very reliable. It is very difficult or even hopeless to hit an aircraft flying at high altitude and high speed.

The only thing that can really resist aircraft is aircraft, but currently most of the aircraft in the US fleet have been lost, and the remaining ones are obviously no match for enemy aircraft.

In order to make this bombing operation go smoothly, the Pacific Combined Fleet did not take action.

At the same time as the aircraft was dispatched, the fleet also moved forward for a certain distance, and both sides were almost within range of the other side.

The U.S. fleet soon discovered this, and the messenger nervously reported to the U.S. fleet commander: "Your Excellency, the enemy is about to enter our range!"

Looking at the bombers getting closer and closer in the sky, and then using the telescope to look at the enemy fleet that was almost visible in outline, the commander of the U.S. fleet was also in a dilemma.

It was obvious that the enemy wanted to expose him from both sides and expose his flaws in a hurry.

But he didn't have any good solution. After most of the aircraft were damaged, the only thing that could restrain the enemy aircraft was the anti-aircraft weapons on the warships.

To better protect against enemy aircraft, the fleet became more dispersed and focused on attacking enemy aircraft with anti-aircraft weapons.

Spread out to reduce the probability of enemy bombers hitting. After all, warships can be big or small, so it is really not easy for high-speed aircraft to aim.

As long as the bombs do not fall on important locations on the warship, the threat to the warship is not that high.

Making warships more dispersed increases the probability of bombs falling into the sea.

But the problem is that if the fleet is dispersed, it will definitely be at a disadvantage in naval warfare.

The enemy fleet is also close at hand, and a formation that is too dispersed will not have an advantage in a naval battle.

Especially if the enemy's warships are in a battle formation, the more dispersed fleet on your side will easily be at a disadvantage.

So, should we deal with the enemy's fleet or the aircraft overhead?

After careful consideration, the commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet decided to focus his attention on the enemy's fleet.

After all, the United States also has aircraft, and facts have proven that current aircraft are not that high a threat to warships.

Unless you are unlucky and the bomb falls on the deck and falls in front of the naval soldiers, otherwise, the damage caused by the aircraft to the warship is not fatal.

But the enemy fleet is different.

Americans also have certain intelligence. The Pacific Fleet in front of us is a combination of the Australasian Fleet and the British Indian Ocean Fleet. The total tonnage of warships and the number of capital ships exceed that of the U.S. Pacific Fleet.

If we are at a disadvantage from the beginning in a naval battle, this naval battle is doomed to fail.

As for the planes overhead, send a certain number of manpower to use anti-aircraft weapons to drive them away, and don't let the enemy planes get too close to the warships.

The commander of the U.S. Fleet thought so, and his order was also issued in the same way.

Under the commander's order, the U.S. Pacific Fleet quickly took action and set up a naval battle formation, waiting for the enemy fleet to approach.

With the naval superiority, the navy is not afraid of the decisive battle in Australasia.

More importantly, according to the news, the battlecruiser fleet dispatched by the Atlantic Combined Fleet is not far from the battlefield.

Now even if a large-scale naval battle breaks out with the U.S. Pacific Fleet, the advantage lies entirely with Australasia, so there is nothing to worry about.

The navies of both sides were getting into battle formations, but the aircraft had already started their own operations.

Although the distance between the two navies is several kilometers, for the aircraft, this is the distance of changing lanes in the blink of an eye.

After the bombers approached the U.S. fleet, they immediately dropped a large number of bombs, naturally on the deck and command tower of the U.S. fleet.

The flagship of the U.S. Fleet Commander has naturally become the main target of attack by bombers.

As the U.S. Fleet Commander expected, most of the bombs did not hit the decks and facilities of the warship, but fell into the ocean not far from the warship.

But the Australasian air force was clearly well trained, and several bombs fell on the deck of a battleship.

boom! Boom boom!

As the bomb exploded, it directly ignited the gun emplacement on one side of the battleship.

The series of explosions directly affected the entire deck, and almost no one in the U.S. Navy on the deck of the battleship survived.

That's not even the most important thing. The explosion directly made a big hole on one side of the deck. The steel deck was directly deformed, and there was a crack in the hull. Seawater was continuously pouring into the battleship along the crack, causing the battleship to tilt down quickly.

"Damn, a battleship is so silent?" The commander of the U.S. fleet watched all this, but there was no way to remedy it at this time.

Such a serious injury could only be towed to the shipyard for repairs, but the situation at this time was certainly impossible for the battleship to be carried to the shipyard.

It can only be said that the captain of this battleship was indeed too dark-faced, and the explosion of the bomb could have affected the fort.

For a battleship, the two most dangerous places are the turret and the magazine. There are a large number of artillery shells in these two places. If they are unfortunately ignited by enemy artillery shells and bombs, the resulting serial bombing will be a fatal blow to the warships.

The fact that the battleship was seriously injured in an instant was not the most serious thing. Because above the head of the US fleet, there are several bombers looking for targets.

Although not every bomber can accomplish its goals, having such a guy hovering overhead is a big blow to the morale of the soldiers of the U.S. Navy.

The good news is that this round of bombing ended quickly, and the main U.S. warships only lost that one battleship.

The remaining one light cruiser and one destroyer were bombed and sunk, but this was considered a blessing in misfortune for the main force of the fleet.

However, the U.S. Fleet Commander did not breathe a sigh of relief, because the real naval battle had just begun.

Compared with the threat of aircraft in the sky, if they cannot deal with the enemy's navy on the opposite side, their Pacific Fleet may only end up being captured.

As for all warships being sunk, this is simply impossible to happen.

After all, no one is a fool. When he is mostly injured, he will definitely think of running away.

call!

Exhaling, the commander of the U.S. fleet set his sights on the enemy fleet in the distance, and asked the messenger to pass his order to all American soldiers: "Soldiers, defeat the enemy in front of you!

Either we successfully reach the Atlantic Ocean, or we can only die in this ocean. For the sake of America, and for the sake of all your families, kill them! "

This is a big chapter of 5,000 words. Please vote for me and support me!