Great time travel

Chapter 125, South Indian Ocean Pursuit

South Indian Ocean, May [-]

The so-called southern Indian Ocean refers to a large sea area south of the equator in the Indian Ocean, extending to Mozambique and Madagascar in the west, Australia in the east, Maldives in the north, and Antarctica in the south.This is the deepest and most desolate water area on earth, with harsh natural conditions, frequent hurricanes and violent waves, unpredictable ocean currents and winds, and densely covered submarine volcanoes. There are not many islands that can be used as relay stations, and there are very few airports and ports available around. Hard to find stops.Moreover, the ocean currents and winds here are unpredictable, and the submarine volcanoes are densely distributed. Even experienced captains usually avoid this place.As a result, the southern Indian Ocean has been covered with a veil of mystery invisibly, and it has become the most desolate waters on the earth, known as "the alien ocean on the earth".

However, since the last few months of last year, this piece of the world's most inhospitable waters has gradually become a little more lively.Because as the red wave swept across East and Southeast Asian countries, millions of "exploiting classes" from various countries were forced to board ships and embark on a long journey of escape.

Since the Pacific Ocean has become the arena of the sea and air battle between the United States and Japan, the eastward route across the Pacific Ocean has been blocked, so their refugee ships can only go westward, pass through the Straits of Singapore and Malacca, and then cross the Indian Ocean to go to "freedom" World”——in the past, cruise ships carrying passengers from various countries would usually try to follow the offshore routes as close as possible to the Indian peninsula.But to this day, the Indian Civil War is still in full swing, and the Middle East has become one of the main battlefields of the Third World War.If foreign cruise ships and merchant ships approach rashly, their fate is likely to be forcibly requisitioned by all parties involved in the war.

Therefore, in recent years, most of the refugee ships traveling westward through the Strait of Malacca from East Asia and Southeast Asia did not dare to take the offshore routes along the Indian Peninsula and the Arabian coast, but took the ocean routes across the southern Indian Ocean to South Africa or Madagascar. The "alien ocean on Earth" in the southern Indian Ocean gradually began to gain some popularity... and the Japanese submarine force based in Western Australia also took the opportunity to hunt and kill in the southern Indian Ocean. Escorting destroyers battled wits and courage, and staged various fighting scenes between hunters and prey.

However, with the fall of Singapore and changing hands, the strange turmoil caused by the war in the southern Indian Ocean has also entered the stage of the final battle royale.

——Following the escaped British convoy rushing out of Singapore, several battleships of the combined fleet of the Japanese Navy also entered the Indian Ocean...

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In the sunny and calm South China Sea, on the huge ship "Ocean Oasis" with a displacement of 30 tons, Chief of Staff Shen Shigetoku, who is fully in charge of the Indian Ocean battle, is commanding the ships in the Indian Ocean by radio remote control. Hunt down the British fleet escaping from Singapore.

"...It looks...it seems that there are targets everywhere! But which one should I hit first?"

Looking at the satellite photos and aerial reconnaissance information, the enemy ships and ships in the southern Indian Ocean are running around like pepper noodles, and there is no formation at all. Chief of Staff Shen Shigetoku couldn't help feeling a little dazed for a while.

——As the hunted prey, Admiral Bruce Austin Fraser, Commander of the Royal Navy's Eastern Fleet, knows very well that apart from the flagship HMS Renown, there is only one combat ship left. One destroyer, the Hellcat, and the rest are supply ships, hospital ships, cruise ships, merchant ships, tankers, yachts, maintenance ships, minelayers, and even tugboats, sailboats, and ferries, the whole thing is a super hodgepodge.If they are forcibly formed into a fleet, not only will they not have the minimum self-defense firepower, but the speed may be slowed down to less than six knots... Moreover, the sailors manipulating these ships are also newcomers with dubious qualities. If a large-scale formation is formed, various collision accidents are likely to occur.

If Japanese warships or planes catch up, such a bloated and chaotic ship group will simply be a fat prey that will fall down with a poke.

Therefore, Admiral Fraser had no delusion at all to escort everyone to escape. From the very beginning, he had the idea of ​​trying his luck by trying his own way, and the number of ships that could escape counted as a few——just sailed out In the Strait of Malacca, entering the Bay of Bengal, the flagship battlecruiser Prestige issued a signal to "disband the formation and flee separately", and then rushed towards South Africa at full speed on its own, leaving even the destroyer Shrew behind.

As a result, the already chaotic Singaporean escape fleet dispersed in an instant—not to mention the speed of the voyage and the choice of route, and even the destination of each ship is hugely different, it can be called Contradictions: some go to Calcutta, some go to Ceylon (there is too little coal or oil in storage to sail directly to far places), some go to Oman or Yemen, some go to Somalia, some go to Zanzibar , Some went to Madagascar, and there was no one on and off the ship who could use a sextant and got lost at sea...

In the face of such an enemy who would be scattered at every turn, the rookie version of the Japanese navy fleet chasing after them was also a little confused.

——The warships that the combined fleet of the Japanese Navy invested in this pursuit battle in the southern Indian Ocean are indeed good capital ships and cutting-edge ships, even including four Yamato-class battleships.But the problem is that the sailors who operate these ships... are basically a group of inexperienced rookie girls.

No way, after losing more than one-third of the population, Japan's domestic labor force gap has reached the point of total collapse, but it has to continue the war. As a result, it has no choice but to recruit female soldiers on a large scale, whether it is the navy or Army, all have a share.

Among them, in order to avoid a short board affecting the overall combat effectiveness of the entire large fleet, the navy directly organized the ships served by female sailors into an ad hoc fleet, which is the so-called "Great Japanese Women's Fleet" under the flag of "Blue Mermaid"— —Although the military flag is beautiful, its combat effectiveness is appalling.

Previously, this "women's fleet" was mainly responsible for some simple tasks such as shore bombardment and merchant ship escort. Apart from sinking a few American and British submarines, it had few records before and after, but the accident rate, loss rate and battle sinking rate were high. It's scary... But no matter what, after more than a year of service, these "Daughters of the Sea" have finally trained a little bit decently, and it's time for them to try to actually fight a few naval battles.

Of course, if these women's soldiers are allowed to go straight to Hawaii and confront the US Pacific Fleet head-on, the chances of never returning will be quite high.So in order to practice fighting mobs for them, this mission of "killing dogs" to enter the Indian Ocean to chase the British fleeing fleet was issued-in fact, if the entire battle was carried out according to the plan formulated by Chief of Staff Shen Zhongde, The pursuit battle in the southern Indian Ocean should never have happened: he originally divided the "Women's Fleet" into two, including the main fleet of four Yamato-class battleships, entering the east side of the Strait of Malacca from the front of the Java Sea, and slowly approaching Singapore; A special task force consisting mainly of cruisers and aircraft carriers will attack a few days in advance, enter the Indian Ocean through the Sunda Strait between Sumatra and Java Island, circle from the south to the east side of the Strait of Malacca, and then block the strait from the east and west. Go forward, attack Singapore, and attack the British ships stationed in the fortress of Singapore, in order to wipe out the opponent's vital forces.

However, the plan is always unable to keep up with the changes - due to the lack of experience of the girl sailors in ocean voyages, the special forces in charge of going round and round have frequent accidents along the way, resulting in too slow action, unable to block the Strait of Malacca before the British Royal Navy's Eastern Fleet fled. West exit.Then there was another storm in the southwestern waters of Sumatra Island. All three aircraft carriers were severely damaged, and the flight decks collapsed... Now they are collectively anchored in Banda Aceh Port at the northern tip of Sumatra Island and are on standby. At the same time, they are negotiating with the chiefs who rule the area , it is impossible to play in a short time.

In this way, with the complete paralysis of the aircraft carrier ranger, the "two-sided attack" in the combat plan has become "stalking and hunting", and the prey has the foresight to separate and escape... With this group of rookie girl sailors It's hard to say whether he can catch up with his skills!
In case there are some troubles such as hitting a rock and being stranded on the way, or getting lost and hitting by mistake, the scene will be even uglier.

However, if you watched these almost unarmed British fleets fleeing from Singapore, all of them had to escape, and I, who was sitting on a large number of elite ships, ordered to stand still in order to avoid accidents, Indulging the enemy bandit Xianyu, who has become a dead dog, turned over and fled calmly...Then the next step is not just a problem of ugly scenes, but that he, the supreme commander, is as cowardly as a mouse, and even suspected of collaborating with the enemy!

Instead of this, let the women on the front line drive the ships freely!The elite soldiers who can really fight in this world are all tempered by blood and fire. If they can't even do things like chasing refugee ships, do these women still have the face to continue to eat the luxury rations of the navy?

As for the possibility of sinking a few ships... this can only be regarded as a necessary tuition fee.Anyway, there are already more ships than manpower in China...

"...Well, there is really no other way, let's just treat it as military training! Anyway, the British don't have a few ships left in the Indian Ocean."

Chief of Staff Shen Shigetoku muttered in such a self-defeating manner, he picked up a brush and wrote down the order "All ships should scatter to pursue, launch a single-ship or small-unit battle in the southern Indian Ocean, pay attention to your own safety", and radioed to all the frontlines warships...