Empire Conquest

Chapter 490 - 486 Departure

A week later, on the pre-dawn of June 22, under the leadership of the "Pu," the twenty-first Special Mixed Fleet left the anchorage at Liuhuang Island.

Almost at the same time, the twenty-second Special Mixed Fleet, led by the "Min," set sail from the northern Liuhuang Island anchorage.

The commander of the twenty-second Special Mixed Fleet was Wei Jun, who had been promoted after the Spring Festival and was now a Navy Brigadier General, but he was only acting as the temporary fleet commander for the time being.

Previously, Wei Jun had participated in the battle to take Lion Spring City and also led the fleet to rendezvous with the "Prime Minister."

Although Li Mingbo had seniority and seemed a more suitable candidate for the commander of the twenty-second Special Mixed Fleet, when Navy Headquarter made the arrangement, he tactfully declined, stating that he wasn’t the type of leader who excelled in making decisions and was more suited to be a staff officer; in reality, he wanted to continue to partner with Bai Zhizhan.

As for Li Jie, his position was within the Landing Fleet.

Of course, Bai Zhizhan’s current position was as the Acting Commander of the Second Fleet, and Li Mingbo was the Fleet Chief of Staff.

A few days earlier, Li Mingbo had taken a flight back to the Empire to attend his promotion ceremony to Major General.

Although it was different from the past, as it wasn’t supervised by the Imperial Chief Minister but by the Navy Commander-in-chief—since there were simply too many newly promoted officers for the Grand Secretary to handle—being promoted to Navy Major General signified that Li Mingbo’s contributions to the Imperial Navy had been recognized by the Imperial Authority, signaling a smoother career path ahead. After all, over 80 percent of brigadiers would never have the opportunity to be promoted to major general.

In the Imperial Navy, the rank of brigadier general was more like an honorary title.

Even in peacetime, as long as one maintained service until retirement, nearly nine out of ten would receive this symbolic honor upon returning home.

The key issue was that the allowances and treatment for a brigadier general were not much higher than those of a colonel.

Of course, this also meant that only those with true capabilities, or who had made significant contributions to the Imperial Navy, had the chance to be promoted to major general.

Not to mention others, both Wei Jun and Li Jie had not been promoted and were still brigadier generals.

Choosing to depart from the anchorage at dawn was partly for secrecy, but it was also due to habit.

The anchorage was situated in the deep waters northwest of Liuhuang Island, and shortly after setting sail, the "Pu" entered the deep-water channel and began to accelerate.

Li Mingbo came out just as Bai Zhizhan was gazing at the "Lu" behind him.

"I just received the news that Wei Jun’s fleet has also left the anchorage."

Bai Zhizhan simply nodded, without responding.

Everything was proceeding according to plan; there was nothing to worry about.

"The supper is ready, it includes sweet dumplings, shall I send some over?"

"No need, you go ahead, I will come by later."

"Okay then, I’ll head to the dining area first."

After Li Mingbo left, Bai Zhizhan looked aft again.

In the rear, aside from the "Lu," there was a brand-new warship.

Strictly speaking, that was not just a warship.

It was the Imperial Navy’s first dedicated flagship: the "Qinling."

Long before the outbreak of the war, the Imperial Navy, based on the issues reflected during fleet exercises, decided to build warships specifically for command tasks—dedicated flagships. Unfortunately, due to budget constraints, the design and construction of flagships remained merely a beautiful wish.

It wasn’t until the war broke out that the flagship project officially got underway.

After the initial stage of the war and several naval battles with the Saiyi navy, the Imperial Navy realized the value of having a flagship and elevated its importance.

The main reason being, there was just too little space on the fleet carriers.

If the flagship were a carrier, the staff of the Fleet Headquarter would have to be limited to no more than 40 people, leaving many positions unable to reach their regular staffing levels. For instance, in the communication department, due to being one-third short of staff, they could only manage two shifts, which often overwhelmed the servicemen during high-intensity combat.

If a Battleship acted as the flagship, the personnel of the Fleet Headquarter could be increased to 70.

On the "Longjiang" class, it could even be expanded to 100.

By comparison, naval warfare centered around a carrier fleet demands more from the Fleet Headquarter, and there is a much greater volume of information that needs to be processed promptly.

Although on a large carrier, this problem is somewhat mitigated, and the Fleet Headquarters could be expanded to 60 people, it still falls short compared to Battleships. And relative to the heavy responsibilities they bear, 60 servicemen are still too few to ensure that everyone is in an ideal operating condition.

With a flagship, this problem ceases to exist.

Of course, besides the issue of insufficient staff, when carriers and Battleships serve as flagships, there are also problems with hardware facilities.

The most prominent is the communication equipment used for commanding operations.

Even in wartime, communication equipment is prohibitively expensive.

Obviously, the Imperial Navy cannot afford to construct all large warships to the flagship standard; it often chooses only a few to serve as flagships. For example, out of the first batch of four "province" class ships, only the "Pu" and "Min" are designated as flagships—the others are not.

The resulting problem is that if the flagship suffers heavy damage, the Fleet Headquarter may cease to function.

In addition, even the large warships designed to the flagship standard have many flaws.

For example, on the "Pu,", there are only four long-wave radio sets, which can only coordinate with four friendly forces at most—certainly not enough for high-intensity combat.

What’s more crucial is that after several battles, the enemy would have picked up the signal characteristics of the "Pu"’s long-wave radio.

Subsequently, once its transmissions are intercepted by the enemy, they could determine its location and infer the whereabouts of the associated Special Mixed Fleet.

Clearly, frequently replacing a large carrier’s long-wave radio is simply not feasible.

Not to mention anything else, just returning to port would consume a significant amount of time.

With a flagship, this problem ceases to exist.

Of course, this is also one of the main specifications that the Imperial Navy has for a dedicated flagship.

Simply put, it means being able to accommodate a fully staffed Fleet Headquarter, being equipped with sufficient communication apparatus, and being capable of more effectively commanding the operations of the fleet.

As the scale of war has expanded, the requirements for a flagship have also increased.

Mainly, it should be capable not only of directing naval operations but also of commanding campaign-level operations, including the coordination of Landing Fleets, transport convoys, and Landing Forces, and even possess cross-service command capabilities, acting as a mobile sea command center.

These requirements are not low by any means.

Thus, a very serious problem arises.

The budget is exceeded!

If we’re to pinpoint the issue, it lies with the Imperial Navy.

During planning, or more accurately during the cost accounting phase, the Navy’s auditors seriously underestimated the manufacturing costs of the electronic equipment, as well as the flagship’s demand for radios, wireless monitoring devices, radars, etc., resulting in a calculated cost far less than the actual building cost.

From another perspective, it’s actually the Navy setting the tactical specifications for the flagships too high.

Initially, the Imperial Navy always wanted to keep the cost of a dedicated flagship at the level of a Heavy Cruiser, providing one for each Special Mixed Fleet in the future, thus relieving carriers and Fast Battleships from the burdensome command tasks and providing the Fleet Headquarter with a better working environment.

Clearly, this was pure fantasy.

The reason is plain: the sheer number of communication devices means the cost of building a dedicated flagship remains prohibitively high, utterly impossible to be kept at a Heavy Cruiser’s level.

This also led directly to the Imperial Navy’s first type of dedicated flagship nearly failing to materialize at the design stage!