Empire Conquest

Chapter 508 - 504: Discovery of the Submarine

Although there were some setbacks and significant losses, the overall situation of the attack on Transfer Island had been within expectations.

Indeed, it could even be considered smooth.

This was exactly what Bai Zhizhan was most concerned about.

From June 28 to July 3, for a whole five days, the largest battleships deployed by the Newland Navy were two heavy cruisers!

Where had those two small carriers gone, along with those two fast battleships that had already left Newland’s West Coast ports?

Moreover, at least six heavy cruisers were unaccounted for!

These battleships were enough to form a large-scale special mixed fleet.

Although their aerial combat capabilities were somewhat lacking, other aspects were strong, especially their night combat abilities, which exceeded those of the 21st Special Mixed Fleet.

As long as they had the opportunity, this fleet could definitely deal a heavy blow to the 21st Special Mixed Fleet.

Moreover, it was now the 22nd Special Mixed Fleet that was heading to the front.

Of course, this was why Bai Zhizhan decided to swap with the 22nd Special Mixed Fleet before the landing operation commenced.

Speaking of commanding night gun battles, among the Empire Navy, there were three who were most famous, one of whom was the Acting Commander of the 22nd Special Mixed Fleet.

Early in the war, Wei Jun had taken four "Wuzhou"-class to Two-car Strait to intercept the Saiyi Fleet and challenge the Saiyi Navy’s Battleships at night!

According to Bai Zhizhan’s speculation, if the Newland Navy were to retaliate, they would make full use of the cover of night.

If it were during the day, the Newland Navy’s chances of winning were almost zero.

Only at night did they stand a chance of heavily damaging their opponent while preserving their main battleships.

This was exactly why Bai Zhizhan decided to delay the start of the landing operation by three days.

In these three days, the 21st Special Mixed Fleet would be able to complete ammunition and fuel replenishment and also replenish the ship-borne aircraft lost in combat.

Having anticipated combat losses early on, they arranged for supply ships to carry dozens of spare aircraft.

Mainly due to being too far from the rear—exceeding the maximum flight distance of the ship-borne aircraft—they could only assemble spare parts at the front line to replenish losses.

However, Bai Zhizhan had arranged this primarily to see the reaction of the Newland Navy.

With the Empire Navy’s aggressive advance and achieving a surprising breakthrough in the campaign, the Newland Navy might not be able to react in time and perhaps had not yet recovered from the shock.

Most importantly, before the landing fleet arrived, the Newland Navy might assume it was a feint.

In conclusion, the Newland Navy would need some time to prepare and confirm the true intentions of the Liangxia Navy.

The replenishment operations began on the morning of July 4.

Since the battleships and cruisers needed to replenish their ammunition and the carriers needed more ship-borne aircraft, the entire replenishment operation would take at least 48 hours.

If the weather were bad, it might be delayed by several more hours.

The key issue was the complicated ammunition replenishment.

The Empire Navy had always prioritized combat supplies, but until now, no method had been found to improve the efficiency of ammunition replenishment.

The only solution was to anchor the battleships and use cranes on the lighters to transfer ammunition from the supply ships to the battleships.

Not to mention safety issues, the efficiency of the operation alone was frighteningly low.

Even if everything went smoothly, replenishing a battleship with 150 tons of ammunition would require an entire day!

Typically, since not everything could go smoothly, various problems always arose, so replenishing ammunition for a battleship often took two days.

In addition, there was the issue of security.

Due to the lack of effective anti-submarine measures, or rather because submarines are notoriously difficult to defend against, it was vital to continuously change the anchoring positions when carrying out combat resupply.

Per the regulations of the Imperial Navy, the anchoring time in each area of the sea must not exceed 12 hours, and the distance between two anchoring positions must not be less than 20 nautical miles.

That is the reason why, in actual combat, it is imperative to avoid conducting ammunition resupply on the battlefield.

If possible, it would be best to return to port or to an anchorage with anti-submarine net protection.

In the previous few campaigns, the Imperial Navy had set up anchorages not far from the battlefield, or had captured a port to resolve the supply issues, so that battleships would not run out of ammunition and have to take risks by anchoring in open waters. For example, they captured Ata Island to the north during the attack on Sai Island, acquired Songkhla from the Damman Kingdom during the attack on Lion Spring City, and Saigon in the South Toe area.

This time, however, it was obviously not possible.

It must be said that the Navy had made preparations.

According to the plan, after the commencement of landing operations, an anchorage would be established near the landing site for the landing ships and transport vessels to moor, providing a safe anchoring area for the battleships and supply ships to support the ammunition resupply for the battleships on the front lines.

However, now an ammunition resupply had to be carried out in advance.

Indeed, it was very troublesome, but there was no other choice.

Considering the fierce battle that would follow, Bai Zhizhan dared not be careless even for a moment.

It was during this period, specifically on July 6, that a telegram from the Navy headquarter was received—a piece of intelligence that had not yet been confirmed.

On the night of July 5, a submarine operating near the Gilbert Islands had detected a fleet.

Crucially, the captain reported that through the periscope, he had spotted a carrier!

Unfortunately, the encounter took place at night.

Of course, it was only at night that the submarine dared surface to use its periscope.

If it were during the day, they definitely wouldn’t dare do so.

As a result, the feasibility of this report was highly questionable.

Even the captain who dispatched the report felt it might not necessarily have been a carrier but perhaps just a fast cargo ship in a fast transport fleet.

Between the mainland of Newland to Aus, there were many fast transport fleets.

Primarily, there was a massive amount of military material that needed to be transported, and ordinary fleets, apart from being easy targets for submarine ambushes, were also inefficient.

To expedite transport, the Newland Federation specifically formed fast transport fleets.

Under normal circumstances, a fast fleet could achieve 20 knots, about 10 knots faster than ordinary fleets, reducing the operational cycle time by more than 40%.

Crucially, fast transport fleets could rely on their speed to decrease the likelihood of submarine attacks.

Actually, unless there was particularly good luck, a submarine lurking near the navigation route basically had no opportunity to open fire on a fast fleet.

Although fast fleet transport cost much more, when the losses were accounted for, the overall expenses were somewhat cheaper.

Not to mention, just by reducing two-thirds of escort battleships, considerable savings could be achieved.

If the contributions of escort battleships in other directions were counted, then the overall efficiency of forming fast transport fleets far surpassed ordinary fleets.

Indeed, it was after achieving success to the southwest in East Ocean that the Newland Federation increased the order for fast cargo ships, planning to also form fast fleets in North Sunset Ocean.

This report managed to capture the attention of the Navy headquarter and was forwarded to Bai Zhizhan mainly for one reason.

The telegram mentioned that among that fleet there were main battle ships far exceeding the tonnage of fast vessels, and the captain even suspected they might be fast battleships.

The reasoning was sufficient, as fast battleships have distinctive characteristic noise that other vessels cannot mimic.

If there truly were two fast battleships, it would definitely be the main battle fleet of the Newland Navy, and it was very likely to include two small carriers.

But the question remained, why would the Newland Navy send carriers and fast battleships to the southwest East Ocean?