Chapter 2711 Clues
To be honest, although camouflaged cruisers and armed merchant ships were not uncommon during the war, there were even more than one battle between armed merchant ships during the war, and there were many cases of armed merchant ships killing destroyers, but those were all between Britain and Germany. Two big countries, but in a poor country like Japan, armed cruisers with such firepower are really rare. After all, national power is limited.
"It seems that the supplies of this fleet are more important, otherwise the Japanese would not arrange such a guy." Little Fletcher said. Destroyers and gunboats are more designed to deal with individual submarines. If it is a wolf pack, even if they are all floating on the water for artillery battles, the Japanese escort destroyer and two gunboats cannot beat it, so the Japanese arranged this An armed merchant ship with powerful firepower, but no matter what, this time, this armed merchant ship encountered a new American armored cruiser!
Little Fletcher's main gun fired again. Thick flames spurted out from the 10-inch muzzle, and shells weighing more than 200 kilograms roared into the distance. When the heavy artillery sounded, everything was determined. , in the third round of semi-volley, a 10-inch shell accurately hit the target's bow. Half of the bow was blown into pieces by the huge explosive force, as if it was beheaded! One minute later, the American warship scored another hit. A 10-inch high-explosive bomb flew into the gun gallery on the side of the armed merchant ship, and then triggered a series of explosions that almost destroyed one deck of the ship! It has to be said that although the armament is very good, it is only modified from a merchant ship after all, and there are huge loopholes in aspects such as ammunition transportation and fire prevention.
So, everything that was left was very simple. After the San Francisco armored cruiser took out the thorn, the rest of the battle was easy and enjoyable. The group of American destroyers took less than 30 minutes in total. Time cleared all the Japanese ships. When the Americans left, there were only a pile of debris and floating corpses on the sea, as well as sharks that came after smelling the smell of blood!
"Today is a good day, we are victorious!" Little Fletcher wrote in his diary.
Not a single ship escaped, not a single living person was missed, and not even a single telegram was sent. Theoretically speaking, little Fletcher completed the sweep mission very well this time. But what to say about certain things? It doesn't mean that if you are flawless on the battlefield, your intelligence will not be exposed! And that's it this time! The sudden exposure of this transport fleet aroused high alert among the Japanese!
"Is there no news about the WT15 transport fleet yet?" In the west of Tarakan Island, where the Japanese island of Kalimantan borders Sarawak, there is an intelligence center and aviation headquarters belonging to the Japanese Navy. The former British Captain Halls of the Royal Navy is based here. At first, he originally belonged to the Royal Naval Air Force, and his main research directions were aviation anti-submarine and sea attack. One of the merchant ships in the transport fleet numbered WT15 was carrying weapons and ammunition transported from the Japanese mainland to the island of New Guinea, so it attracted much attention.
For this important fleet, the Japanese Navy has implemented a regular reporting system. Every three hours, the fleet will issue a scheduled number to report that it is safe.
But this time, the scheduled time has passed, and the next reporting time is almost here, but there is still no news! What is even more worrying is that the radio station called the WT15 transport fleet many times but received no reply. Various frequency bands were tried!
"Something's happened," Colonel Halls said in his mind. There are 9 boats in total. Three of the ships can contact him. If he encounters an American submarine and is attacked, then one ship will be sunk. Then other ships can also send out signals. There is no reason why they have not responded until now, and the call signs they sent are like being lost in the sea. So even though he didn't want to believe it, Colonel Halls could only vaguely come to one conclusion, that is, the entire fleet was destroyed!
"How is it possible? There is an escort destroyer, two gunboats, and a large armed merchant ship equipped with at least 6 or more 100MM cannons. Even if they are ambushed by wolves, it is impossible to kill them all. Moreover, it is still daytime, wolves They prefer to operate at night. If the entire fleet can be destroyed in one fell swoop and cannot even send out a distress signal, then this fleet will be too terrifying." Colonel Halls said while touching his chin. He flipped through other information irritably. At this moment, a piece of information about the discovery of a large American fleet near the Talao Islands caught his attention.
"If the target of this fleet is not the Philippines or New Guinea, but enters the Sulawesi Sea, then something is right." Colonel Halls suddenly thought of a possibility that is closest to the truth! That is, the US fleet has arrived in the Sulawesi Sea and is ready to find a target and take a bite!
"But the target will definitely not be the merchant navy." Colonel Halls said with certainty after closing the document. As a quasi-senior officer of the Royal Navy, he naturally knows what a "huge" fleet is. We also know what the lower limit is for using this kind of power to achieve the goal. If the goal is too low, it will be a waste. This is what anti-aircraft guns mean to kill mosquitoes!
"So where will the target be? As for sending a fleet of such a size across such a long distance to launch a risky expedition?" Colonel Halls thought while scanning the charts on the wall. , the most serious, his eyes stopped at a place called Talagan Island!
"Oil! Yes, it must be oil! Only oil fields and oil refining facilities are the most valuable. It can even be said that the most valuable thing in the entire Kalimantan Island is the oil fields! Especially the coastal oil fields with obvious location advantages!" Colonel Halls I feel like I have found the key to the problem!
"The American target is Taragon Island and the oil fields above it!" The colonel walked to the chart in a few steps and began to calculate the possible location of the American fleet!
"If nothing else happens, the WT15 transport fleet should be at this position now." The colonel drew a red circle with a pencil on the chart as a mark. "If we assume that this fleet has just been sunk, then the location of the US fleet should also be here. And refer to the location of the previous seaplane attack on the Talao Islands..." After a moment, Colonel Halls threw the pencil away On the table. Because he discovered an unexplainable problem!
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