Empire Conquest

Chapter 449 - 445: The Latecomer

Cunningham’s judgments and guesses were not wrong; however, he had severely overestimated Bai Zhizhan.

Of course, more accurately, he had overestimated the Eleventh Special Mixed Fleet.

On the morning of the 26th, when the Expeditionary Fleet dispatched the "Swordfish" for a reconnaissance mission, the Eleventh Special Mixed Fleet was still about 1500 kilometers to its northeast, traveling southwest at its fastest cruising speed of 18 knots. Even by evening, the distance from the Expeditionary Fleet exceeded 1000 kilometers.

It was not that the battleships weren’t fast; it was that there wasn’t enough fuel.

Short operation ranges had always been a flaw of Imperial warships.

Not just in the era of treaties, but even after, when setting performance standards for battleships, the first thing the Imperial Navy sacrificed was endurance.

Therefore, the Imperial Navy built a fleet of fast oilers.

According to the Imperial Navy’s general understanding, battleships did not need tens of thousands of nautical miles of endurance because no fleet would sail thousands of miles non-stop to engage the enemy in a decisive battle and then return alone to their home port without external support after the battle.

Since there would be stops during the voyage, and there would be support after the battle, excessively long endurance was not of great value.

If anything, a faster cruising speed had more practical value.

The key point was that, for the most part, even when heading to the battlefield, battleships mainly traveled at cruising speeds and rarely exceeded those speeds.

Only in battle was full speed necessary.

As such, Imperial warships generally had cruising speeds that were 2 knots faster than those of contemporary warships from the Western Powers, some even reaching 4 knots faster.

However, a higher cruising speed certainly meant reduced endurance.

But of course, there were exceptions.

To save fuel, after turning to a southwest direction on the 20th in the afternoon, the Eleventh Special Mixed Fleet reduced its speed to 18 knots.

This speed was already faster than that of the destroyers and the fleet oilers.

Fortunately, destroyers were small in tonnage and didn’t use much fuel, and fleet oilers had an endurance of 12000 nautical miles, so running out of fuel wasn’t an issue.

Additionally, they had spent most of a day traveling northwest.

When making this arrangement, Bai Zhizhan intended to deceive the Bulan Royal Navy, making the enemy believe that the Eleventh Special Mixed Fleet had bypassed Sumatra Island, entered the Andaman Sea from the Great Strait, and then turned back to blockade the Throat Strait to support and cover the Marine Corps attacking Lion Spring City.

Who would have thought, after entering the Fan Flame Ocean, they hadn’t encountered any vessels or aircraft from the Bulan Royal Navy at all.

In any case, much of that half-day was simply wasted.

After reaching the southwest of the Great Strait and bidding farewell to other sub-squads, the Eleventh Special Mixed Fleet headed to the southwest Fan Flame Ocean.

All this maneuvering amounted to several hundred more kilometers traveled.

Of course, even without this diversion, it wouldn’t reach the southwest Fan Flame Ocean until the evening of the 26th.

Because it was not possible to launch an attack with carrier-borne aircraft at night, arriving on the evening of the 26th and the morning of the 27th made no substantial difference.

The real key was that, on the 25th, they received reliable intelligence.

Upon receiving a telegram from the Navy Headquarters, which was actually a forwarded battle report from the Tiaoman Navy, Bai Zhizhan became furious, feeling that the Tiaoman Fleet’s commander lacked a grand strategy perspective.

Having "Prime Minister" purposefully expose its whereabouts was not only meant to confirm whether Commander Cunningham’s fleet had gone to the South Sunset Ocean but also to figure out the whereabouts of the Newland Fleet.

To confirm whether "Fenjin" was also in the South Sunset Ocean!

The latter was crucial.

On the 22nd, Zheng Jiangming had sent a piece of highly credible intelligence stating that accompanying the two Fast Battleships entering the Narrow Sea from the Xifan Canal was likely the "Royal Ark." After reaching the Jibu Fortress, the carrier hadn’t entered the harbor but went directly from the Aden Bay to the Mua Sea.

Indeed, if that was the case, there would be two "Radiant" class carriers operating in the south.

To speak of it, Bai Zhizhan really didn’t take these two carriers seriously.

Comparing air combat power, the two "Radiant" carriers were not even a match for the "Fenjin".

That was exactly why Bai Zhizhan hoped that the "Prime Minister" could draw out the "Fenjin", at least to confirm its presence in the South Sunset Ocean.

Unexpectedly, the "Prime Minister" had fled!

Although the remaining Tiaoman officers and soldiers, having seen the incoming reconnaissance aircraft, determined that Bulan Royal Navy’s carrier was nearby and timely sent out intelligence, they couldn’t spot the Newland Navy’s ship-borne aircraft and couldn’t indirectly confirm that the Newland Fleet was also nearby.

If the "Prime Minister" hadn’t fled south to the Falkland Islands and stayed in some bay, it would have been bombed. Even if the Newland Navy’s aircraft were disguised as Bulan’s, they could still make rough judgments based on the intensity of the bombing.

Additionally, the Bulan Royal Navy had not introduced Newland Navy’s torpedo attack aircraft.

That meant, if there were TBDs in the enemy aircraft, or the rumored prematurely commissioned TBFs, it would be possible to determine that the Newland Fleet was also nearby.

Regrettably, the Tiaoman Navy cared too much about that battleship.

With that, the trouble was all handed over to Bai Zhizhan.

On the evening of the 25th, Zhou Yongtao conducted a comprehensive analysis.

By the morning of the 26th at the earliest, or by the 27th at the latest, Commander Cunningham’s Bulan Fleet would enter the Fan Flame Ocean, and the Newland Fleet might be close behind.

What was uncertain was whether the Bulan Fleet would sail directly east or would quickly turn north.

If it sailed east, it might go to Northeast Fan Flame Ocean to engage in the battle occurring at Lion Spring City.

It could also be heading to Aus, but that wasn’t currently considered because only the Newland Fleet might go to Aus. The Newland Navy had no reason to let the "Fenjin" travel almost halfway around the globe, which led them to believe that the Newland Fleet wouldn’t be going to Aus for the time being.

Heading north, it meant to rendezvous with the "Royal Ark".

While making the analysis, Zhou Yongtao did not emphasize which scenario was more likely.

Really, it was impossible to emphasize.

The battle at Lion Spring City could be said to be nearly settled. Though the defenders were still fighting within the city, as the Empire’s main Army units landed, replacing the Marine Corps to push into the city and annihilate the stubborn Bulan troops, capturing the entire Lion Spring City was merely a matter of time.

According to the telegram from Lian Xusheng, they expected to capture Lion Spring City by early February.

Of course, the Army’s casualties would undoubtedly be substantial.

The key was an aggressive assault.

To achieve a quick victory, the Imperial High Command clearly hadn’t considered the casualties.

Tactically, Lian Xusheng didn’t seem to have thought of ways to minimize casualties either.

These factors forced Bai Zhizhan to believe that the internal struggle within the Empire had reached a fever pitch, necessitating a quick and significant victory for the Army.

Indeed, capturing Lion Spring City was surely imminent.

It was evident, even if Cunningham arrived with the fleet, it would be futile.

But the problem was, heading north to rendezvous with the "Royal Ark" also lacked substantial meaning.

If the "Fenjin" also came, then even without the "Royal Ark," Cunningham would have the capability to defeat the Eleventh Special Mixed Fleet.

Conversely, if the "Fenjin" hadn’t arrived, meeting with the "Royal Ark" wouldn’t alter the balance of forces.

In the end, the key wasn’t really the "Royal Ark"; it was the "Fenjin".

Thus, after entering the Fan Flame Ocean, where exactly would Cunningham go?