Empire Conquest

Chapter 519 - 515: Hesitating

At last, the Navy headquarters also sent a telegram.

The Grand Secretary had already agreed in principle, after the operation to attack Transfer Island had ended, to provide Tiaoman Navy with two "Xu Sea" class ships as permanent aid, and through the Ter Republic, to send a batch of engineering technicians to the Tiaoman Empire to help the Tiaoman Navy build another two vessels of the same class Fast Battleships. After opening up the maritime shipping routes, they would also consider helping the Tiaoman Navy build carrier fleets through technological assistance.

Clearly, this was to stabilize the Tiaoman Empire.

According to the previous battle reports, even if the "Prime Minister" had returned to Lion Spring City, it was very difficult to repair it, and it might stay in the dock until the war ended, or if the maritime shipping routes were opened up, they would try to send it back to the Tiaoman Empire for the Tiaoman shipyards to repair.

In any case, it was a troublesome matter, and there should be no hope placed on the "Prime Minister."

As mentioned earlier, the Empire’s Navy definitely would not repair this battleship.

With no matching parts available, plus differences in industrial standards, the difficulty of repair outweighed rebuilding.

Moreover, the Empire’s Navy truly wasn’t lacking Fast Battleships.

Even with the loss of combat capabilities of two "North River" class vessels, the Empire’s Navy still had eight Fast Battleships available, while only seven carriers needed protection. When the Large Cruisers were completed and entered service, Fast Battleships would no longer be needed to provide anti-aircraft protection for carriers. Furthermore, the third type, that is, the first model of post-Treaty type Fast Battleships following "Nanzhu Sea," had already been approved for construction.

Whether in terms of quality or quantity, the Empire’s Navy’s Fast Battleships far surpassed those of Newland Navy.

Giving two "Xu Sea" class ships to the Tiaoman Navy would not cause any severe impact on the combat effectiveness of the Empire’s Navy.

In fact, these two battleships had not participated in the battle to seize Transfer Island, and had always been in the rear, doing nothing significant.

To put it into perspective, the four "Nanzhu Sea" class ships in the support fleet were also mostly inactive, spending most of their time patrolling northeast of Transfer Island.

In summary, the Imperial Authority had made its utmost efforts to stabilize the Tiaoman Empire.

Clearly, this situation could not be maintained indefinitely.

The topic of discussion quickly turned to the practical issues.

Would it be possible to seize Transfer Island by the end of August, which means using just over one more month?

Not to mention other staff members, even the always-optimistic Lian Xusheng and several Marine Corps generals thought it was virtually impossible.

At this point, the battle on Transfer Island had already turned into a siege.

To put it bluntly, every step forward came at a significant cost.

The key issue was that facing the underground defense works constructed by Newland Army, the Imperial Marine Corps lacked suitable weapons that could accelerate the pace of the attack.

Moreover, the Newland Army continued to transport personnel and materials to Transfer Island during the night using fast boats, destroyers, and patrol aircraft.

Though the supplies provided were not abundant, they greatly boosted the morale of the defending officers and soldiers.

In the words of a Marine Corps general, without support from the rear, the morale of the officers and soldiers defending Transfer Island would have collapsed long ago.

Previously on Sai Island, the Newland Army had retreated rapidly after their support was cut off.

Although the support fleet had made arrangements for cruisers and destroyers to move to the east of Transfer Island at night to intercept Newland Navy vessels, the effectiveness was minimal, and they had suffered great losses, with three Light Cruisers and six Destroyers sunk during night battles.

To put it into context, it was actually a matter of insufficient forces.

Of course, it also had much to do with the Special Mixed Fleet being unable to fight at night and concerns that the Fast Battleships might be attacked by enemy ships during night battles.

However, the real reason was actually on those islands to the east.

It was at this time that Zhou Yongtao once again proposed the suggestion that Bai Zhizhan had previously rejected.

Yes, that was to launch a surprise attack on Treasure Harbor!

Although the vessels and patrol aircraft going to Transfer Island at night almost all came from several small islands to the east, no one could deny that Treasure Harbor was the key to defending Transfer Island. Without support from Treasure Harbor, the Newland forces on those small islands to the east of Transfer Island weren’t worth fearing.

Disabling Treasure Harbor would make seizing Transfer Island a piece of cake!

But is it that easy to launch a surprise attack on Treasure Harbor?

With just four carriers, even large ones, it would require at least two waves of air strikes to temporarily disable Treasure Harbor.

To completely disable Treasure Harbor, three or even four waves of air strikes would be necessary.

The key is to achieve the element of surprise in the campaign.

If a forceful attack were launched, at least four more large carriers would be needed.

Moreover, Newland Navy has certainly strengthened its defenses.

Not to mention, in early July, Newland Navy received intelligence from the Sixth Bureau and pulled out all large battleships stationed in Treasure Harbor.

So, what’s the point in attacking Treasure Harbor surreptitiously?

Because the Howay Islands are a must-defend territory with no room for compromise, the Newland navy would inevitably establish other military bases on the eastern part of the islands after Treasure Harbor was incapacitated.

Importantly, the islands in the eastern part are large enough and have plenty of space for building ports and airfields.

Of course, they could also deploy sufficient combat troops and stock enough combat supplies.

According to information provided by the Sixth Bureau, just the Newland Army Air Force has deployed 3,000 combat planes in the Howay Islands, most of them on the eastern islands.

Including the Navy’s shore-based air force, there are definitely more than 5,000 combat planes on the Howay Islands.

Even if Treasure Harbor were disabled, it wouldn’t necessarily cripple the Newland Navy’s combat capabilities.

Moreover, Yotun Port is located south of Treasure Harbor, where hundreds of warships can be stationed.

However, Bai Zhizhan did not immediately dismiss Zhou Yongtao’s proposal.

Though a sneak attack on Treasure Harbor might not be of great practical value, it could divert the enemy’s attention and force them to divide their forces.

Additionally, isn’t the tight defense of Transfer Island by Newland forces meant to protect Treasure Harbor?

Not to mention, the heavy bombers stationed on Transfer Island can fly directly to Treasure Harbor, so after capturing Transfer Island, the Imperial Army could conduct strategic bombing on Newland forces in the eastern islands, significantly reducing the difficulty of attacking and occupying the Howay Islands.

The key question is whether the Newland Authority could be convinced that the Imperial Navy would directly attack Treasure Harbor.

Realizing this point, Bai Zhizhan allowed the discussion to continue, asking the staff to debate the feasibility of a surprise attack that would disable Treasure Harbor.

The first thing to establish was actually the risk.

Unfortunately, it was this very issue that directly vetoed the proposal.

No matter what method was employed, as soon as the Newland forces entered a state of combat readiness, the Special Mixed Fleet would be detected from 1500 kilometers away.

Not to mention having only four large carriers, even with eight or twelve, a surprise attack would be extremely difficult.

To put it simply, attacking Treasure Harbor would definitely be a viscous battle without the possibility of any shortcuts.

Yet Bai Zhizhan did not make an immediate decision.

The reason was simple; he had never considered attacking Treasure Harbor but was just discussing the situation.

If the Newland Navy concluded that the Imperial Fleet would attack Treasure Harbor, would they use heavy forces to defend the port?

It was impossible to rule out this possibility.

From another perspective, forcing Liangxia Navy to attack Treasure Harbor would be the only way for Newland Navy to turn defeat into victory without a fleet of carriers.