Empire Conquest

Chapter 541 - 537: The Threat of the Open Sea

Regarding anti-submarine escort operations, the Newland Navy and Bulan Royal Navy had long mastered the ropes.

The key, in fact, was the escort aircraft carriers.

In anti-submarine warfare focused on escort carriers as the core strength, the goal was not to sink submarines, but to drive them away, preventing them from getting close to the convoy.

Here, they mainly relied on carrier-based patrol aircraft.

Typically, escort carriers would extend the anti-submarine search range to over 300 kilometers during the day, and even up to 500 kilometers ahead of the convoy’s course, in an effort to increase patrol density, especially in the 60-degree maritime area on both sides of the course ahead, deterring nearby submarines from daring to approach by day.

Come nightfall, even if submarines chased at full speed on the surface, they might not be able to catch up with the transport convoy.

Let’s not forget, submarines were not known for their speed and would struggle to close the distance with the convoy by night.

Moreover, before deciding to launch an attack, submarine commanders would certainly take into account the exit strategy post-attack, typically scheduling the attack around dawn, leaving 6 hours, or at least 4 hours, for withdrawal to ensure departure from the combat zone before daylight.

Unable to catch up with the convoy meant no opportunity to launch an attack.

It was precisely for this reason that escort carriers had always been the pivotal force in escort anti-submarine operations.

Under normal circumstances, each transport convoy contained 2 to 4 escort carriers. The exact number depended mainly on the convoy’s size. A convoy of fewer than 30 vessels generally only required 2 escort carriers, while a convoy exceeding 50 vessels needed at least 4.

It wasn’t that the more ships there were, the larger the area that needed coverage, but rather the larger the size of the convoy, the greater the risk of submarine ambush, necessitating an increased intensity in anti-submarine search efforts.

In the first half of the year, the mass commissioning of escort carriers significantly curbed Tiaoman’s submarines.

Especially in the second quarter, the probability of convoy attacks decreased by 60%, losses were cut by 70%, and they sank over 20 Tiaoman submarines.

Unfortunately, this good fortune was short-lived.

It wasn’t that Tiaoman’s submarines had become more formidable, or that they had devised tactics to counter escort carriers, but rather that the Newland Navy had dispatched a large number of escort carriers to the Southwest East Ocean.

As it happens, this was related to the Southwest Fan Flame Ocean Battle.

At that time, including Rofuss, the Newland higher-ups were extremely disappointed with Bulan Kingdom, and even without breaking off ties completely, they no longer regarded Bulan Kingdom as an indispensable ally.

In fact, in the aftermath of the sea battle, the Newland authorities had essentially given up on Bulan Kingdom, feeling it hardly mattered whether they had that ally or not.

Against this backdrop, the Newland Navy increased its commitment in the Southwest East Ocean direction.

Under the circumstances at the time, as long as they could lure or force the Liangxia Empire to advance into the Southwest East Ocean and attack Aus, even if the Bulan Kingdom had capitulated, the Newland Federation would be able to hold out, at least to negotiate with the Consortium Group in a stable battle situation after a prolonged war of attrition.

Indeed, this was the best possible outcome they could strive for after the Southwest Fan Flame Ocean Battle.

For this reason, two-thirds of the escort carriers that had been on escort missions in the North Fan Flame Ocean were dispatched to the Southwest East Ocean.

These escort carriers were not only responsible for covering convoys heading to Aus, but also served as transport vessels for aircraft, ferrying combat planes to island bases in the Southwest East Ocean.

It was thanks to these escort carriers that the Newland Navy was able to rapidly strengthen its defensive deployment in the Southwest East Ocean.

Of course, this was also related to the Liangxia Navy’s commerce-raiding operations.

As mentioned earlier, Liangxia’s submarine fleet had been developed and mainly operated in the commerce-raiding role in the Southwest East Ocean.

To date, hundreds of Liangxia submarines had been active in the direction of the Southwest East Ocean.

Of course, at most only one-third, perhaps only one-quarter, were on war patrols at any given time, with the actual deployment of submarines being around 30.

Nevertheless, it was still an underestimated threat.

Despite the fact that the shipping losses in the Southwest East Ocean were not too significant, thanks to the island bases near the sea lanes and the long-range patrol aircraft stationed on them, in addition to the predominance of fast transport vessels, the numerous Liangxia submarines continued to exert immense pressure on anti-submarine escort operations.

Of course, the only solution for the Newland Navy was to increase anti-submarine efforts.

In the Northeast East Ocean and west of the Wangxi Canal, there were also submarine threats, and it was necessary to arrange battleships to provide convoy escort protection.

In particular, near the sea lanes from the west coast of Newland to Treasure Harbor, there were always several Liangxia submarines.

Although these submarines mainly targeted passing vessels, they certainly did not show mercy to isolated transport ships.

Not to mention ships, even warships would fall victim.

Just last month, a Light Cruiser that had been damaged in battle at Transfer Island was ambushed by a Liangxia submarine en route back to the west coast of Newland and was struck by a torpedo and sunk.

After the Liangxia Navy attacked Transfer Island, the number of Liangxia submarines active in the Northeast East Ocean notably increased.

Clearly, even if the long-range patrol aircraft stationed on both ends of the sea lanes, that is, the west coast of Newland and the Howay Islands, could provide some cover for the convoys, it was not to say that battleships could be spared from escort duties, as patrol aircraft struggled to deal with submarines quietly approaching the convoys at night.

The key issue was that in the Northeast East Ocean, there was also the threat of Commerce cruisers.

Even after increasing investment, the losses did not decrease.

In the past six months, the Newland Federation lost nearly 500 merchant ships in the East Ocean, most of which were tens of thousands of tons ships built en masse after the outbreak of the war.

Although the unit loss was much less than that in the Sunset Ocean, the shipping lanes in the East Ocean were longer, and the absolute loss exceeded that of the North Sunset Ocean.

The Newland Navy shifted its focus to the East Ocean not entirely out of caprice but out of necessity.

To use Nizi’s words, if the investment in the East Ocean was not increased, by mid-year, the Newland Navy would have likely lost control over the Southwest East Ocean.

Without timely delivered weapons, equipment, and combat materials, especially engineering materials, it would have been impossible to build so many defense fortifications on Transfer Island, and thus impossible to withstand the assault of the Liangxia Army. Once Transfer Island fell, an attack on Treasure Harbor was inevitable.

Under the premise that the East Ocean took priority, there was no way to reduce anti-submarine investments there.

As a result, there was no question of strengthening anti-submarine forces in the North Sunset Ocean.

Moreover, the performance of the Bulan Royal Navy was a true eye-opener.

Similarly, after the Southwest Fan Flame Ocean Battle, the activity intensity of the Bulan Royal Navy’s Domestic Fleet decreased drastically, and its blockade and control over the North Sea became a mere display.

Otherwise, the Tiaoman submarines disguised as ships from other countries would not be able to brazenly enter the North Sunset Ocean in broad daylight.

The Bulan Royal Navy’s excuse was that it was unable to provide air cover for naval vessels operating at sea.

While this was an excuse, it was very far-fetched.

At the very least, near the Bulan mainland, shore-based air forces could provide protection for the fleet, and thus several major waterways could be blocked.

To some extent, for the Tiaoman submarines’ rampage in the North Sunset Ocean, the Bulan Royal Navy must bear the primary responsibility.

To put it bluntly, this was related to the conflicts of interest within the Consortium Group.

The direct result of this was that the construction of the two types of ten-thousand-ton transport ships, nicknamed "Freedom Ship" and "Victory Ship," had to be accelerated.

By expanding the build rate to compensate for shipping losses!