Chapter 823: Queens of the Indian Ocean

And just as the Bavarian Army launched a limited offensive, in the remote Indian Ocean, a massive siege and annihilation also kicked off. The prince’s intelligence was not wrong, and the British really couldn’t tolerate Su Xiong's fleet in the inland waters of the British Empire. After some discussions, the British Empire decided to send their most powerful squadron into the Indian Ocean to encircle and suppress these two warships full of blood donations by the Allied soldiers!

In India’s Mumbai Port, the entire port was almost emptied. The largest military and civilian port in India is now just for the suspension of 10 ships! 4 fast battleships and 6 light cruisers! With the help of the guide ship, the huge Queen Elizabeth-class battleships entered the port through the tortuous waterway in turn, headed by the flagship of General Evan Thomas, Queen Elizabeth, followed by War exhaustion, Barrem, and Malaya.

The Fifth Battleship Squadron, the pride of the British Royal Navy, in order to allow this fleet to go south smoothly, the Secretary of the Navy Churchill and Sir Fisher had to fight with Jericho. Jericho was very dissatisfied with the dispatch of this fleet to the Indian Ocean and the German fast battleship to hide and seek.

"The German warships are very fast. According to the information we have collected, these two warships are very likely to be battlecruisers. The top speed of the Queen Elizabeth-class battleships is less than 25 knots. There is no speed advantage in ocean pursuits, since Sir Fisher admires battlecruisers so much and tries to solve all problems with high speed and strong firepower, so let Betty go."

In order to prevent the German High Seas Fleet from "escape". Jericho is ready to fight a fleet decisive battle at any time. At this time, a fleet is transferred to the remote Indian Ocean. When it is not known when it will come back, Jericho is naturally unwilling!

After all, Churchill was a civil servant. His understanding of the navy is certainly not as good as Fisher and Jericho, who are promoted from the fleet step by step. He also asked Fisher if he could make Betty’s "perfect cat" "Go around.

As the father of battlecruisers, Fisher naturally knew the level of these goods in his hands. These battleships were actually designed to deal with cruisers. To be fair, the two battleships of the Suxiong Fleet can eliminate the Japanese battleships. Although Satsuma Aki and his like are fearless, they are not inferior to the Dreadnought-class battleships of the Great Fleet from the perspective of defense, so Fisher is right. These two battleships are positioned as queens of the small artillery version. What is used against cruisers is naturally impossible to use against fast battleships.

And the most important thing in Fisher’s view is that the Betty fleet has to deal with the German battlecruisers. From the base point of view, it is not a big problem that the battleship fleet of the large fleet is less than 4, but there are only 10 battlecruisers in total, and 4 less. If it is a ship, it will be very passive. After all, in the British intelligence, Germany has 5 war cruisers. After missing the most powerful battle cruisers, Fisher believed that the British fleet in the North Sea would fall into an "asymmetric passive".

"If we use battlecruiser formations, then in the North Sea, we will have no way to restrict Hipper's first reconnaissance unit." When Fisher said this, no matter how unwilling Jericho was, Churchill would Can only request the fifth fast battleship formation to attack.

When Rear Admiral Thomas brought the fleet to the Gulf of Aden, he understood why the Royal Admiralty Department was so anxious to kill Su Xiong as soon as possible! "This was once one of the busiest seas in the world. Every day, hundreds of various merchant ships carrying hundreds of thousands of tons or even millions of tons of cargo pass through here in and out of the Red Sea, from India, through the Red Sea into the Mediterranean and then to the Mediterranean. The British transportation line is not too much to be called the lifeline of the British Empire, but now, my fleet has been sailing in the Gulf of Aden for nearly a day, and the ships encountered can be counted with one hand! Among them, the ships belonging to the Allied Powers are even more. Only 3 ships!"

"A British ship ran into us and he raised a greeting semaphore to us. The crew cheered for our arrival. We responded enthusiastically to them, but when they asked how long it would take us to kill those annoying When I was a German pirate, I couldn’t answer. Maybe it’s a week, maybe a month, or even longer. It’s not easy to catch two fast battleships armed to the teeth on the vast ocean." Thomas wrote in his diary.

And when the British fleet arrived in Mumbai, he realized how much influence the two warships had on the British Empire! After looking at the relevant records provided by the Port of Mumbai, he found that almost 80% of the neutral country ships are not transporting supplies for the Allied countries, and the ship insurance premium has directly increased by more than three times! The entire shipping volume has dropped by nearly 90%! Because there are not only 2 battleships in this sea area, but also an unknown number of camouflaged assault ships, the damage caused by these assault fleets is even greater than that of battleships!

(Historically, it is said that in September 1914, due to the Emden attack on the ship, the volume of maritime traffic in the Indian Ocean dropped to a normal level~www.wuxiaspot.com~The information comes from "The Fearless Sea")

The British navy distributed in the Indian Ocean did not have no efforts. Old-fashioned dreadnoughts and armored cruisers bravely assumed the task of covering the fleet. However, this was of no use. The British found that the two German fast battleships Can quickly find these transport fleets, and then use the terrifying main artillery to fix the **** fleet within half an hour, and then slaughter those transport ships with the camouflage assault ships. After throwing away 2 former fearless and 2 armored cruisers and several auxiliary cruisers, the only thing the British navy in India can do is mine mine!

Yes, you read that right, it's Bray! And it was mine in his own port! Because just before the mine was laid, the two battleships rushed into the vicinity of Mumbai Port and bombed indiscriminately. Fortunately, the Germans did not seem to have many shells, so the damage caused was limited, but even so, when Thomas came to Mumbai When he was in the port, he could still see the shipping and machinery buildings turned into ruins in the distance, and the half chimneys exposed to the sea not far from his berth. Looking at the shadows under the water, Thomas can judge that this is a big ship with a displacement of at least 8,000 tons and a length of more than 160 meters!

"If the Port of Mumbai is not big enough, I am afraid we will not be able to get your fleet here." Major General Cook who was in charge of the reception said bitterly.

"Let's talk about the current situation. We must kill these guys as soon as possible, not only because of the crimes they committed, but also we cannot stay in the Indian Ocean for a long time." Thomas said.

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