Empire Conquest

Chapter 511 - 507: The Carrier Appears

Li Mingbo couldn’t understand where Bai Zhizhan’s good appetite came from.

The telegram was sent from the Navy headquarters, and it was urgent.

The content was only one item: At local time last night, a transport convoy that was en route from Colombo to Lion Spring City was ambushed south of the Bengal Bay.

A total of 22 ships, including 6 escort destroyers, were sunk, with only the few cargo ships at the rear of the convoy managing to turn around in time and miraculously escape.

Four of the escort destroyers sent out distress signals before sinking, claiming they were under bombardment from heavy artillery 20 kilometers away.

The Bulan Royal Navy’s Fan Flame Ocean sub-fleet had already retreated back to Jibu Fortress, and even if they left port, they primarily patrolled the Aden Bay and the Narrow Sea.

It had to be Newland battleships that launched the attack.

To be able to fire from 20 kilometers away and sink destroyers, there had to be at least several heavy cruisers equipped with gunnery radar.

Without a doubt, it was a Newland Navy commerce raiding fleet!

If anything, this wasn’t surprising.

In the Fan Flame Ocean, the Empire’s ships primarily operated in the North Fan Flame Ocean’s Mua Sea and Bengal Bay, and there were quite a few military bases along the way to deploy patrol aircraft for anti-submarine tasks. The Imperial Navy even dispatched battleships to escort the convoys, so the Newland submarines’ successes weren’t that great.

By contrast, the Imperial Navy’s Special Mixed Fleet was always operating around the Mua Sea, rarely returning to the Bengal Bay.

After taking possession of Sri Lanka, the Sixth Bureau issued a warning to be vigilant of the enemy’s commerce raiding fleet and it was best to arrange for cruisers to perform escort duties.

If that was not feasible, cruisers should at least be used as the flagships of the escort fleets.

Mainly because the destroyers performing escort duties often focused on anti-submarine tasks, with their primary weapons being deep water bombs and not equipped with many naval guns; some didn’t even have torpedo launchers installed, hence, facing commerce cruisers, they were definitely at a disadvantage and often could only rely on speed to escape.

In addition, almost all escorting in the Fan Flame Ocean was done by old destroyers over 20 years of age, some of which had even participated in the last Global War.

However, the Sixth Bureau’s warning did not attract the attention of the Imperial Navy.

Compared to anti-submarine escorts in the Fan Flame Ocean, the Imperial Navy had a heavier workload in the West East Ocean and, for the time being, had no spare cruisers available.

Newly built cruisers were all assigned to the Special Mixed Fleet, while the old cruisers were working with the Landing Fleet and Support Fleet.

Clearly, it was a Newland Navy commerce raiding fleet.

The key was that the main force of this fleet might not necessarily be commerce cruisers; it could possibly be genuine battleships, maybe even fast battleships!

That’s why the Navy headquarters sent out the telegram immediately.

The telegram also mentioned that the shore-based air force stationed in Lion Spring City and Sri Lanka had already deployed and would definitely find the enemy ships that attacked the transport convoy after daylight.

Of course, if there were new findings, immediate notification would follow.

Li Mingbo dared not delay for an instant and immediately sent the Communication Advisor to find Bai Zhizhan.

Unexpectedly, Bai Zhizhan was in no hurry.

After finishing breakfast, he came to the Command Bridge.

Then, he asked Li Mingbo to gather the main staff, which actually meant notifying Zhou Yongtao and including key officers such as Shen Pu.

While Li Mingbo went to prepare for the meeting, Bai Zhizhan reviewed the previous night’s combat reports.

Bai Zhizhan was not ignoring the importance; rather, there was no way to treat it as such.

The telegram from the Navy headquarters only mentioned that the transport convoy was attacked and 22 ships were sunk, providing no further details.

Even if it was the Newland Navy’s commerce raiding fleet, it was impossible to conclude there were main battle ships present, let alone carriers.

Moreover, the battle around Transfer Island was raging on, the Newland Navy desperately trying to create trouble for the Imperial Navy, forcing the Imperial Navy to divide its forces to relieve the pressure on Transfer Island’s defenders, or to gain time for the Newland Navy to strengthen the island’s defense preparations.

In summary, the intelligence was valuable, but it didn’t clarify much.

After senior staff and key military officers had arrived, Bai Zhizhan simply requested heightened defensive preparation and did not call for any adjustments to combat operations.

However, it was just a matter of a few hours.

By the afternoon, or more accurately nearing evening, the Navy headquarters sent the latest news.

That morning, a long-range reconnaissance aircraft that took off from Lion Spring City was intercepted by Newland fighters in the southwest of Sumatra Island, approximately 1000 kilometers from Jakarta, and was shot down while sending a telegram. A few hours later, another reconnaissance aircraft in the nearby sea was intercepted by Newland fighters and also shot down while sending a telegram, but it provided more detailed information.

The attackers were F4F ship-borne fighters!

The incident occurred over 1500 kilometers from the Aus continent; therefore, those ship-borne fighters certainly didn’t come from Aus, but from a nearby carrier!

However, neither of the two reconnaissance aircraft spotted the Newland carrier.

As for which type of carrier, it was even more unknown.

The key issue was that other patrol and reconnaissance aircraft were too far away and would not arrive for several hours, so it was uncertain if they could find the Newland Fleet.

According to the judgment of the Navy headquarters, it might be an escort aircraft carrier.

In the North Sunset Ocean, the Newland Navy has more than 20 escort aircraft carriers.

Additionally, there are more than 10 escort aircraft carriers in the Southwest East Ocean.

According to intelligence provided by the Sixth Bureau, not only did the Newland Federation convert fast cargo ships into escort aircraft carriers but also built a number of high-speed escort carriers specifically for escorting fast transport convoys. With their sufficiently high speeds, these escort carriers could be considered miniature versions of small carriers.

In fact, on many occasions, fast escort carriers are treated as small carriers in use.

In the Southwest East Ocean, the Newland Navy has consistently been using escort carriers to transport combat aircraft to the numerous islands, strengthening its military presence.

It wouldn’t be strange to allocate a few escort carriers to the Fan Flame Ocean to provide air cover for the commerce raiding fleet and to dispatch reconnaissance aircraft in search of transport convoys.

Of course, within the commerce raiding fleet, there would definitely be battleships equipped with radar, capable of timely detecting approaching patrol and reconnaissance aircraft.

It was also specifically mentioned in the telegram.

The Navy headquarters had already made deployments to send the Joint Fleet to Bengal Bay.

If there was a Newland Navy commerce raiding fleet there, then during the next encounter, the three fast battleships of the Joint Fleet would undoubtedly strike them hard.

As for the carriers, there was clearly no need to worry.

The aircraft-carrying capacity of escort carriers was very weak, far from comparable to the carriers of the Fleet, not even matching that of small carriers, typically able to carry only fighters.

Even the fast escort carriers struggled to operate the larger-sized ship-borne aircraft.

Even if they could carry bombers and torpedo bombers, they were limited by their sortie capacity, rendering their tactical value quite limited.

During anti-submarine escort missions, they were certainly sufficient.

But involving escort carriers in fleet battles was stretching their capabilities.

In fact, this was a key reason why the Newland Navy never involved escort carriers in decisive fleet battles.

With a speed of less than 20 knots, escort carriers had a hard time keeping up with fleet operations and thus found it difficult to play an active role in decisive fleet battles.

That was precisely what Bai Zhizhan was concerned about.

After receiving this telegram, Bai Zhizhan took the rest to the officers’ mess.

It was said to be going for dinner, but in reality, it was a meeting.

By this time, it was only then that Bai Zhizhan appeared a bit anxious.