Empire Conquest

Chapter 461 - 457: The Element of Luck

At this moment, aboard the "Peijing."

After receiving the message from the Attack Aircraft Group that the attack on the Newland Fleet had begun, and that there were not many fighters above the Newland Fleet, Bai Zhizhan finally breathed a sigh of relief quietly. However, he did not order the Fleet to lift the radio silence, but instead instructed them to prepare as quickly as possible to receive the returning ship-borne aircraft.

The entire operation had only one unforeseen element for Bai Zhizhan.

First to reveal their position, and moreover, sailing southward was actually the Bulan Fleet!

Last night, upon receiving the message that the Fleet’s oilers had been attacked, Bai Zhizhan immediately concluded that the Newland Fleet was in the area, and it was very likely they had already abandoned heading north and would soon head for Ao Country to join the Southwest East Ocean Fleet, continuing the battle with the Imperial Navy.

The reason was that heading north had lost its significance.

The Imperial Army had taken Lion Spring City, and the Bulan army could only retreat to Jibu Fortress. In the Mua Sea, there was simply no space for the carriers to fully engage. Since they might not even be able to hold Boss Bay after going all out, the Newland Navy would not continue to take risks in the Fan Flame Ocean.

Fundamentally, the key was the Imperial Army’s rapid capture of Lion Spring City.

Several months later, the Imperial Navy would shift its focus back to the East Ocean, so the Newland Navy had to send its main force to the East Ocean before that.

Moreover, the Newland Navy had to strive to create or obtain a favorable strategic environment for themselves.

If anything, it was just this: draw the Imperial Navy to the Southwest East Ocean as much as possible to avoid an early decisive battle with the Imperial Navy around the Howay Islands.

For this reason, full use had to be made of the first half of New Calendar 101.

In some sense, this was the last time window for the Newland Navy, and even the Newland Federation. If they missed this half-year, defeat was inevitable!

By the second half of the year, the Liangxia Navy would have 4 large carriers and 3 Fleet carriers, plus hopes of acquiring a large number of auxiliary carriers converted from fast cargo ships. If Boss Bay is successfully taken, the Liangxia Navy would mobilize heavy forces to attack the Howay Islands.

For this purpose, the Newland Navy had to strike first.

Clearly, the only option was to make a move in the Southwest East Ocean.

It was for this reason that Bai Zhizhan determined the Newland Fleet was in the south and sailing eastward.

The 11th Special Mixed Fleet moved southwest overnight, or rather, almost directly headed south.

However, the biggest problem was actually how to ensure the Newland Fleet was found around dawn.

Ship-borne reconnaissance aircraft were not omnipotent, particularly in inclement weather where, even if they could take off, they might not be able to locate the enemy fleet in time.

And if it was at night, then it was even more so.

Fortunately, Zhou Yongtao proposed a very bold idea.

Utilizing tactics employed in the Northwest East Ocean Battle, seaplanes were dispatched at night to land in the sea areas where the enemy fleet was most likely to appear and then wait for daylight.

The key was that 8 seaplanes carried by 2 Fast Battleships were all equipped with new voice radios.

Even when used at sea level, the working distance of these radios exceeded 150 kilometers.

Another key point was that, during past training, electronic officers had noted that if voice radios were used at sea level and the distance was too close, it was very difficult to intercept radio signals emitted by the radios, and even if they were intercepted, they would often be identified as battleships, not reconnaissance aircraft.

The reason was related to the working frequency.

Furthermore, radio listening stations generally operated in the medium and long-wave bands, which were not very sensitive to the signals from long-wave radios of key ships when working in the short-wave bands.

Leveraging this, Zhou Yongtao designed and deployed an extremely clever reconnaissance tactic.

The seaplanes would maintain a distance of 100 to 120 kilometers from each other after takeoff. If an enemy fleet were spotted at night, they would use voice radio to contact a nearby seaplane, which would then send a report to the fleet using long-wave radio. During the day, they would ascend for visual observation and judgment of the enemy fleet’s nature before reporting back to the fleet.

In simple terms, it meant they first had to maintain stealth.

As for the importance of maintaining stealth, that went without saying.

The 11th Special Mixed Fleet was fighting alone, and Bai Zhizhan felt that the Newland Fleet was to the south, while the Bulan Fleet was heading north towards the Mua Sea, so by the morning of the 28th, the 11th Special Mixed Fleet was very likely to find itself between these two enemy fleets, potentially facing a pincer attack.

According to Bai Zhizhan’s view, even if they could not locate the enemy fleet, they should not reveal their whereabouts.

If all else failed, they would turn to return at dusk.

After all, after the fleet’s oilers were attacked, getting fuel supplies became more difficult. If they didn’t return by the 29th, they might run out of fuel before rendezvousing with the supply convoy.

It was this deployment that allowed Bai Zhizhan to seize the opportunity.

Could it be called luck?

Although many believed that the 11th Special Mixed Fleet, in the Southwest Fan Flame Ocean Battle—also known as the Klozer Sea Battle—relied mainly on luck to simultaneously discover and attack two enemy fleets, fundamentally speaking, without Bai Zhizhan’s accurate judgement, Zhou Yongtao’s clever tactics, and the high quality exhibited by the fleet’s officers and soldiers in battle, such luck would not have been possible.

To put it another way, Lady Luck favors the prepared.

Of course, this battle indeed involved a significant element of luck.

At that time, four seaplanes dispatched by the "Flame Sea" were all sent to the south, and their north-to-south distribution spread over 400 kilometers.

Another four, those carried by the "Xu Sea," went northwest.

Just after 3 a.m., one of the seaplanes from the "Flame Sea" spotted the Bulan Fleet and contacted another nearby seaplane.

However, it was still not confirmed whether it was a specific fleet, or whether there was a carrier within the fleet.

To ascertain the composition of the enemy fleet, especially to determine the presence of a carrier, the seaplane pilots did something incredibly daring.

They shadowed the enemy fleet by taxiing on the water.

At night, seaplane pilots might be able to see the battleships, but the lookouts on the battleships might not be able to spot a seaplane some ten kilometers away.

Compared to battleships, seaplanes were just too small.

Another key point was that the battleship lookouts definitely wouldn’t expect an enemy seaplane to be near the sea surface.

It was only as dawn approached that the seaplane accelerated and ascended, and after visually spotting two Bulan carriers within the fleet, sent out a telegram.

Before this, just after 3 a.m., when the first report from the seaplane was received, Bai Zhizhan had already issued combat readiness orders.

Although it was uncertain whether they had discovered a fleet or just a few individually operating battleships, and the seaplane pilots had not seen a carrier, intuition told Bai Zhizhan that this was the enemy fleet they’d been searching for, and that there must be enemy carriers nearby.

It was because of this that, when the second report from the seaplane was received, the ship-borne aircraft immediately began to take off.

Additionally, they were too close.

To save time, Bai Zhizhan sent the early-rising anti-aircraft fighters to perform escort duty. After the attack aircraft group had taken off, the fighters that had been planned for escort duty were then sent up to patrol. It was a bit of hassle, but it saved about ten minutes.

At the time, the 11th Special Mixed Fleet was to the northwest of the Bulan Fleet, accurately speaking, about 40 degrees west-northwest, at a distance of less than 200 kilometers.