bullyxtreme Chapter 186 John's Empire's New Far East Strategy
Chapter 186 John's Empire's New Far East Strategy
Although Governor Fulton knew that the Renaissance Army's submarines were powerful, he did not take them too seriously.
In his eyes, neither submarines nor aircraft carriers are as good as battleships that engage in fair and square naval gun battles.
In addition, when they were selecting warships this time, they deliberately chose those with stronger anti-submarine combat capabilities, and even added a Repulse battlecruiser as the flagship to demonstrate the strength of the John Empire Navy.
Faced with an anti-submarine formation of this size, the Fuxing Army's submarines could only flee even if they encountered one.
The worst outcome is to return empty-handed.
After all, Java Sea and Qionghai Sea are not big, but they are not small either.
Finding one or two submarines in such a large sea area is as difficult as looking for a needle in a haystack.
The best outcome would naturally be to sink the Renaissance Army submarine that was harassing ships passing through the Singapore-Malaysia Strait, and at the same time teach the Renaissance Army a lesson, washing away the shame they had brought to the John Empire in the concession incident.
But I never expected the result to be like this.
Ten ships, including the Repulse, were destroyed.
This brief telegram describes the entire process of the battle.
"We were ambushed by the Renaissance Army's submarines and our fleet was unable to find them. When I sent this telegram, it meant that our fleet was almost completely annihilated.
We request the Governor-General to dispatch all possible forces to rescue our soldiers who have fallen into the water.
A final request from Xavi."
When Sir Fulton saw the contents of the telegram, he trembled all over like sieving chaff, and there was still an expression of disbelief in his eyes.
“Keep contacting them, you must contact them, it’s impossible.
It is certainly not true that a few submarines nearly destroyed our fleet."
Sir Fulton then threw the telegram in his hand away and yelled at the staff officer who came to deliver the telegram.
This blow was too great for him.
In addition to the huge losses, how could he accept that the Restoration Army Navy destroyed such a powerful fleet with just a few submarines?
How can he explain this to his country and the public?
Submarines and anti-submarine ships are actually like cat and mouse, especially the small and responsive anti-submarine destroyers.
When a submarine is discovered by an anti-submarine destroyer, it is basically in danger of death.
However, the Fuxing Army's submarines turned against Tiangang. Not only did they actively ambush such a powerful anti-submarine formation, they also wiped out the anti-submarine formation without any chance of fighting back.
This result is hard for anyone to accept.
"Your Excellency, Governor, we also found it hard to believe when we received this secret message, so we have been contacting every ship.
At that time, we contacted the Hawkins heavy cruiser, but they only sent half of the message and then we lost contact..."
The officer didn't continue speaking; his meaning was already clear.
Why did the heavy cruiser Hawkins lose contact halfway through sending the message? It must be because it had sunk.
Although the staff officers found it difficult to accept the content of the telegram, it was indeed the truth.
All ten ships of the Far East anti-submarine fleet were destroyed.
"Immediately contact the merchant ships in the nearby waters, no matter which country they are from, to rescue our soldiers here. Go."
The staff officer's words also calmed Sir Fulton down a little.
Then he remembered Harvey's request in the telegram and waved weakly to the staff officer.
When the office door was closed, the lights went out and the entire room was shrouded in darkness, without a trace of light or shadow.
After daybreak, a 5000-ton merchant ship from the Netherlands was the first to receive a clear telegram from the Governor's Office of the Straits Settlements.
At this moment, the Dutch merchant ship was closest to the battle area, less than 50 kilometers away.
"Captain, is this really a telegram from the Colonial Governor's Office?"
But when the crew saw the contents of the telegram, they were full of confusion.
The captain said with a serious expression, “I don’t think anyone would play such a joke on us.
Since the telegram was sent from the Governor's Palace, I think we must go over and take a look, and it would be best if we could rescue a few sailors who fell into the water."
After a while, the Dutch merchant ship changed its course and headed in another direction.
The telegram did not say that this was a war zone, it just said that one of their sailors fell into the water in this area and asked them to rescue him.
Otherwise, this Dutch merchant ship would not have dared to just run over like that.
However, the Colonial Governor's Office also calculated that the Restoration Army would not indiscriminately attack merchant ships of other countries at this time.
A distance of 50 kilometers took a lot of time for a merchant ship with a speed of only 8 knots.
When they arrived at this sea area, they began to search for targets on the sea.
Half an hour later, someone discovered a large amount of debris floating on the sea in the distance, as well as a layer of black oil, which was extremely conspicuous.
"Captain, I found them at 14 o'clock."
At this time, John's sailors, who had spent the night floating on the sea relying on these debris, also discovered the merchant ship coming towards them. Each of them looked excited and waved the conspicuous objects in their hands.
However, when the Dutch merchant ship approached, the captain and crew also saw clearly what these debris were.
"My God, their ship sank. What on earth is going on?"
The captain's pupils flickered as he looked at the oil and debris in shock.
"Save them all first!"
These sailors who had been floating on the sea all night were the sailors on the heavy cruiser Hawkins.
There were more than 700 people on the heavy cruiser, and only more than of them survived by chance.
After they were rescued, the crew of the Dutch merchant ship also understood what had happened.
All the crew members were stunned and shocked.
Such a powerful Far East fleet was completely wiped out by the submarines of the Restoration Army.
If it hadn't come from the sailors' mouths, they would definitely have thought it was a joke.
As more and more merchant ships received telegrams to rescue the sailors who fell into the water, the news began to spread at an extremely fast speed.
The colonial governor had no intention of hiding it.
Because the destruction of such a large fleet cannot be covered up.
But they won't take the initiative to publicize it.
It was not until two days later that the world learned that the Far East anti-submarine fleet had been completely wiped out.
During this period, many media reporters rushed to the Governor's House in Temasek to verify the details and get the detailed process of the war.
But the entire Governor's Office remained silent on this.
Therefore, the outside world does not know the process of this naval battle.
Only one result is known.
All ten ships of the Far East anti-submarine fleet that went to search for the Fuxing Army submarine were wiped out, including the Repulse battlecruiser, one of the main ships.
But the sensation caused by this result was huge.
Although the outside world was unaware of this, the top leaders of the John Empire were aware of it.
And they received a long secret telegram on the same day.
In this secret telegram, the top leaders of John's Empire also learned the entire process of this war.
"My Lord, Lord of the Admiralty, shouldn't you explain this to us?
Ten ships of the Far East Fleet were sunk by the Restoration Army submarines, which will make our entire empire a laughing stock to the world."
Prime Minister Carlson looked at the silent Secretary of the Navy Madison and asked in a bad tone.
This incident was too big and the losses were too great. When the news reached the country, it caused a huge stir.
Now, tens of thousands of people have gathered on the street outside the Prime Minister's Office to demand an explanation.
So now someone must be brought forward to bear the public's anger.
And Secretary of the Navy Madison was the most suitable candidate.
After all, he is the highest leader of the navy.
Madison knew his fate when he called this emergency cabinet meeting.
So when facing Prime Minister Carlson's questioning, his expression did not change much.
"I will announce my resignation tomorrow."
Seeing how understanding he was, Carlson nodded and said, "You understand best.
But I still want to hear why things have developed to this point? Ten ships, in fact, can't defeat the Renaissance Army's submarines?
Are all of the Restoration Army's submarines super battleships?"
Madison's eyes flickered at this time, and then he said in a low voice: "I have learned the whole process of this naval battle.
Our warships did nothing wrong in this war, it's just that the Fusion Army's submarines were too strange.
Not only can our sonar not detect their movements, but they also have a torpedo with tracking capabilities.
I have questioned the relevant technical experts and they said that this type of torpedo is tracked by the huge noise made by the ship.
Moreover, this type of torpedo has a long range and a high speed.
The Renaissance Army’s submarines are different from Hans’ submarines. They can launch torpedoes from a long distance and carry out long-range sniping on our ships.
In addition, it was night and the sea was pitch black, so our warships did not pay attention and had no way to respond, so they could only passively take the beating.
This is the real reason why the Far East anti-submarine fleet sank."
Prime Minister Carlson and a number of cabinet ministers understood what was going on after Madison's brief description.
To put it bluntly, the Renaissance Army relied on this new type of tracking torpedo to catch them off guard.
"So what solutions do our technical experts have?"
"They are working on a way to crack it, so it shouldn't take too long."
This cabinet meeting lasted more than three hours.
Within these three hours, several things were determined at the cabinet meeting.
The first thing was the resignation of Navy Secretary Madison, who took responsibility for the Far East anti-submarine fleet incident.
The second thing is to form a new Far East Fleet and strengthen its anti-submarine combat capabilities.
This time all ships will be equipped with new sonar.
The third thing is to increase research on sonar and anti-submarine weapons.
Develop more advanced sonar and research long-distance anti-submarine weapons.
The fourth thing is to increase technical assistance to the Fuso Navy and support the Fuso Empire in dealing with the Restoration Army.
To deal with the threat of the Restoration Army with all one's strength is also the new Far East strategy of the John Empire.
As the incident escalated, the news that the Far East anti-submarine fleet was completely wiped out became increasingly powerful.
Especially with the promotion of these major foreign media, more and more people know about this incident, and the sensation it caused is getting bigger and bigger.