Empire Conquest

Chapter 528 - 524: A Thorough Plan

On the morning of August 15th, just after 8 o’clock, in the waters northeast of the Samoa Islands in the Southwest East Ocean, aboard the "Wasp."

Since it was in the southern hemisphere, dawn was only just breaking.

When Spur arrived at the command bridge, Tanimoto was arranging the morning’s patrol mission.

Although they were still thousands of kilometers away from Transfer Island and even further from the islands controlled by the Liangxia Navy, the threat of Liangxia submarines was ever-present, and they didn’t dare let their guard down.

After returning to the Southwest East Ocean, every few days they would encounter suspicious targets suspected to be Liangxia submarines.

Naturally, this usually involved spotting objects resembling periscopes, or patches of oil, and some trash dumped into the ocean from submarines.

Just two days ago, the escorting destroyer even fished out a plastic bag of packaged food, originating from the Liangxia Empire, complete with the mark of the Liangxia Navy submarine force.

It was precisely because of this situation that they had no choice but to travel with the transport convoy, while two small carriers blended in with the fleet, even the ship-borne aircraft were swapped for older batches of SBDs and F4Fs.

Because the Special Mixed Fleet was present, no other escort battleships were arranged.

Like the previous days, Spur was very energetic, seemingly having slept comfortably the night before.

Over the past few days, Spur had been quite excited.

The reason was straightforward; the situation was developing exactly as he had anticipated.

Although initially, when he first received the reconnaissance report from the first submarine, learning that the Liangxia Special Mixed Fleet had left Transfer Island and was speeding westward, Spur remained skeptical. However, over the following few days, successive reports came in from submarines.

Among them, the discovery on August 7th was crucial.

A submarine operating in the Flame Sea discovered the Liangxia Special Mixed Fleet, and at dusk, while the submarine was to the east, the Liangxia Special Mixed Fleet to the west, utilized the opportunity gained from the sunset a few minutes earlier, that submarine took several extremely vital photos with its periscope camera.

Three days later, a seaplane delivered the photos taken by the submarine back to Aus.

They indeed showed the Liangxia Navy’s carriers, and from the shape of the island structure, it could be discerned that it was the "Province" class large carrier that had shown its might at Transfer Island.

At this point, it was finallly confirmed that the Liangxia Special Mixed Fleet was heading for the Fan Flame Ocean.

In fact, on August 9th, one day before obtaining the submarine’s photographs, another submarine lurking east of Lion Spring City also spotted this fleet.

Although this submarine did not get the opportunity to take photographs, it discerned through hydroacoustic analysis that there were definitely carriers and battleships within the Liangxia Special Mixed Fleet.

On the night of August 10th, Spur finally confirmed his combat plan and sent out the telegram.

According to the plan, Hal would lead the Special Mixed Fleet centered around two fleet carriers back to the East Ocean at full speed, heading for the waters east of the Howay Islands, striving to arrive before August 21st to await an opportunity, to be precise, accurate intelligence, to act as the main force in the counteroffensive.

At the same time, the Special Mixed Fleet under Spur’s command would return from the Southwest East Ocean, veer east off the coast of the Samoa Islands and head directly towards Transfer Island.

As for the "Independent" combat group under Frey’s command, it would act as a feint, headed north to the home port on the west coast after passing through the Wangxi Canal.

If all went well, by around August 20th, Frey’s Special Mixed Fleet would arrive at the home port on the west coast.

At that time, after receiving precise information, the Liangxia Fleet near Transfer Island would inevitably relax its vigilance and resume providing support for ground troops.

One day later, the Special Mixed Fleet under Spur’s command would reach the sea about 500 kilometers south of Transfer Island, and Hal’s Special Mixed Fleet would be on the east side of the island.

The crux lay here.

In the first plan, or rather the main plan, Spur would act as the vanguard and first send out ship-borne aircraft to attack the Liangxia Fleet near Transfer Island.

The main tasks were twofold: One was to confirm the size of the Liangxia Fleet and the number of principal battleships, and the second was to attract the attention of the Liangxia Fleet.

After locating the Liangxia carriers, Hal’s Special Mixed Fleet would then strike.

However, there was a premise: that near Transfer Island, in addition to the support fleet, there was another Special Mixed Fleet possessing two large carriers.

If this premise wasn’t established, Spur and Hal would have launched their attacks simultaneously.

In fact, this was also Spur’s biggest concern.

Up to this point, all the reports sent back by the submarines mentioned only one Special Mixed Fleet, at most noting the simultaneous sighting of two large carriers.

Although the submarines operated separately, and two Special Mixed Fleets would certainly not gather together, thus theoretically the chances of one submarine discovering two Special Mixed Fleets at the same time were almost zero, Spur always felt the Liangxia Navy wouldn’t dispatch both Special Mixed Fleets to the Fan Flame Ocean.

The key point was, there was no need for it.

The 11th Special Mixed Fleet had always been in the Fan Flame Ocean, with all three fleet carriers in relatively ideal conditions. Even for a strong assault on Jibu Fortress, it would only be necessary to send one additional Special Mixed Fleet. Strategically speaking, the Liangxia Navy should also leave one Special Mixed Fleet to defend the East Ocean.

If that was indeed the case, there would be two large carriers and four small carriers near Transfer Island.

This was precisely why Spur decided to launch surprise attacks from two different directions.

In fact, he had even prepared himself for the possibility of self-sacrifice.

If it ultimately came down to a fierce battle, the best outcome they could hope to achieve might be to annihilate the Liangxia Fleet at the cost of sacrificing two small carriers.

However, Tanimoto always felt Spur was worrying unnecessarily.

For so many days, all intelligence had confirmed that the Liangxia Navy had dispatched two Special Mixed Fleets to the Fan Flame Ocean, and the leader was very likely Bai Zhizhan.

There were no Liangxia Navy Special Mixed Fleets near Transfer Island.

Not to mention anything else, the Land Air Force and Sea Air long-range reconnaissance and patrol aircraft had already thoroughly searched the area within 1500 kilometers of Transfer Island.

If there was a Liangxia Special Mixed Fleet near Transfer Island, it would have been discovered long ago.

Hiding in the distance?

Was there any need for that?

If the distance from Transfer Island was more than 1500 kilometers, then ship-borne aircraft would not be able to provide cover when the Landing Fleet was attacked.

Of course, not to mention counterattacking the Newland Fleet.

The key point was, even if there was a Liangxia Special Mixed Fleet over there, it would surely be to the south or southwest of Transfer Island, primarily guarding against the 31st Special Mixed Fleet commanded by Spur.

Didn’t that just coincide with the battle plan devised by Spur?

Even if the worst came to pass, the 51st Special Mixed Fleet commanded by Hal would surely achieve a decisive victory and shatter the Liangxia Navy’s dream of capturing Transfer Island.

That’s exactly why Tanimoto always felt there was no need for Spur to worry.

While the Liangxia Navy deployed troops to the Fan Flame Ocean and even advanced into the Land Heart Sea, the Newland Navy would take the opportunity to recapture Transfer Island and restore their defensive line in the direction of the Mid-East Ocean.

Perhaps several months later, the two sides would engage in a fierce battle over the Southwest East Ocean.

If there was anything to worry about, it was actually maintaining concealment.

According to Tanimoto’s analysis, since the Liangxia Navy had withdrawn the Special Mixed Fleet from Transfer Island, they must have prepared for a full retreat from the island.

They hadn’t withdrawn yet, only because they were making their last efforts.

After all, having invested so much manpower and incurred such heavy losses, to give up directly would not be easy to accept.

If they discovered the Newland Fleet advancing at full speed, the Liangxia Navy would retreat their Landing Fleet and support vessels at the first opportunity.

Clearly, one should not underestimate those four small carriers.

If things did not go well, there was a real risk of capsizing in the gutter.