My Italian: Chapter 646 Spey Fleet Part 1
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The blue sea water, the bright sunshine, and the cool southwest wind make it the most suitable coral sea for vacation. For the officers and men of the United Pacific Fleet who have been in the tropics for more than three months, this is too comfortable. Without the storm, and the scorching heat, the trip south felt like a vacation.
At this time, the fleet was sailing alone in the endless sea area, and there were no signs of its ships.
It is rare for officers and soldiers to relax, but for the fleet commander Earl Spey, there is no relaxation.
At this moment, he is on the flagship armored cruiser Scharnhorst, looking at the sea chart in front of him. On the table where the nautical chart is placed, there are also rulers, compass, compasses and other tools.
"Report, a telegram from the Pierre. They have passed through Mare Island and are about to enter the South Fiji Sea."
Spey immediately took out a pencil and marked its location on the chart. I saw a punctuation mark on the sea chart showing Mare Island, which belongs to the southernmost island of the Royal Islands. When he leads the fleet across the island, he will be closer to his goal.
That's right, the combined Pacific fleet led by Earl Spey is composed of warships from Germany, Italy and Austria in Southeast Asia and the Far East. The fleet consisted of the armored cruisers Scharnhorst, Gneiseno, light cruisers Nuremberg, Emden, Karlsruhe, Pierre (Italy), Rubel (Italy), Sorensen (Austrian), fast supply ship Torrio (Italian).
Three days before the outbreak of war, the fleet had been formed. From the perspective of the platoon, this fleet is worthy of the name of its Pacific Combined Fleet. But this is already a warship that the three countries of Germany, Italy and Austria can produce here, so if the name does not match the reality, the name does not match the reality.
After the formation of the fleet by the three countries, the task assigned to Commander Pace went to Italian East Africa, where it joined the Italian East African Fleet to contain the Allies' maritime power in the Indian Ocean.
Obviously, for the alliance camp, the colonies in Southeast Asia were originally intended to give up, so Lieutenant General Spey was asked to lead the warships to evacuate. (Ashamed of the people in Southeast Asia who support their rule)
However, Lieutenant General Spey did not intend to do this. He believed that retreating with the navy in this way would affect the hearts of the people in the colonies and would not be conducive to the return after victory in the future. So he intends to do something, and he must let Britain and France remember the painful things.
So he hid with the fleet that was converging before the battle.
That's right, just hiding. Spey hid next to an uninhabited desert island in the Indonesian Maluku Islands, far away from the route, for more than three months.
In the past three months or so, the fleet formed by Britain and France has been looking for this small fleet of the alliance camp all over the world. Britain and France understand very well that although the strength of this fleet is not strong, its position is too important. If the other party makes trouble in Southeast Asia, they will have a headache.
After waiting for more than three months, Lieutenant General Spey thought it was time. He wanted to take the fleet out to let the British know that their fleet would not just leave in such a dismal manner. And the target he chose was the Australian continent in the southern hemisphere.
Earl Spey set off from the Rugu Islands with his fleet. First, it goes east through the north of the Bismarck Islands, then goes southeast through the Nauru waters, and then enters the Fiji Sea. There are no ships on this road at all, only a few isolated islands appear in the vast sea, so there is no need to worry about whereabouts being leaked.
If Lieutenant General Spey is more courageous, he can also replenish supplies and fuel at the British and French supply bases. Don't think this is a joke. There are no high-power radio stations in the desolate Southwest Pacific, and news is often conveyed by ships. And this is basically a few months or even a year, and it is very normal for the news to lag behind.
Historically, the Emden was resupplied on Diego Garcia Island in the Indian Ocean, because the British army on the island did not know that war had broken out.
At this time, Australia and New Zealand were the pastures of the British. The vast land, sparse population and extremely suitable climate made Australia and New Zealand animal husbandry famous. In addition, Australia and New Zealand are also good places for British soldiers because of the large number of cowboys. Since the outbreak of the war, Australia and New Zealand have provided Britain with 80,000 troops, and the five Anzac divisions currently formed have arrived in Egypt.
If Spey is a famous general, when he spoke out his thoughts, the fleet officers were shocked, because no one thought of it. After careful analysis of the results, the success rate is still very high. The only point is to be taken by surprise, that's why the United Pacific Fleet set out from the Maluku Islands and made a large circle eastward. At this moment, they are still 2,400 kilometers away from Sydney, which is still a long way.
When Spey sailed south with the fleet, the atmosphere in the northern waters of the Maluku Islands was quite tense at this time. Warships and other ships were constantly patrolling the sea. Will be patrolled by it. Especially for uninhabited islands, people have to be sent to the island for inspection.
This unscrupulous behavior is obviously looking for something. As the ruler of the archipelago, the Dutch government seemed to be ignorant and allowed these ships to patrol here. It’s not that the Dutch don’t know, it’s that they don’t dare to care about it. The contest between the two camps, with the Dutch’s small stature, would cause injury and death if touched. What can we do? We can only pretend not to see it .
For example, it stops outside Morotai Port and is responsible for hunting down the huge Southeast Asian fleet of the Allied fleet.
The fleet has an overwhelming advantage over the Spey fleet. It has four former Dreadnought-class battleships, Duncan, Albemarle, Exmouth, and Russell, and six armored cruisers, Drake, The Cape of Good Hope, King Alfred, Leviathan, Monmouth, Exes, and more than a dozen other small and medium-sized warships.
If they caught this, Earl Spey would not be able to defeat him even if God came in person. As for making the British fleet so mobilized, it is because the Southeast Asia is a busy trade line for the United Kingdom. If it is attacked by Pace, then it will be called bad.
Now the British also have a headache besides the Spey fleet, and that is Italian East Africa. It is also a fatal location. Whether it is taking the Suez Canal or the Cape of Good Hope, Italian East Africa is a threat, and many warships of the British army are contained there. Otherwise, those Italian warships will do it suddenly from time to time, who can bear it?
It's not that I haven't thought about knocking down East Africa, but it's not easy. Italy has operated in East Africa for more than two decades and has built a considerable amount of fortifications. Moreover, the Italians are still in the two major ports. Massawa and Mogadishu are also equipped with four 305mm coastal defense guns, which is simply frantic to the extreme. So the Italians in East Africa look very uncomfortable, but they are not easy to deal with.
In line with the principle of picking up the soft persimmons, the British Navy intends to give priority to easier issues.
And the Spey fleet is an easy target to solve. As the fleet commander, Rear Admiral Craddock has been looking for his enemy for more than three months. As early as the outbreak of the war, the British navy discovered that the warships of the alliance camp in Southeast Asia were missing. At that time, it was thought that these warships were going to attack the waterway. At that time, the British Navy was very nervous and sent warships to continuously search for their whereabouts. As a result, the search lasted for three months, and there was no news from the other party, as if there were no such warships.
Some people say that these warships were submerged in a storm, and some people say that these warships should have escaped. Others say...
Whatever others may say, as far as Craddock is concerned, he does not believe the words, the enemy must still be there, but in hiding. Emperor Tian pays off, after unremitting efforts, there is finally news. Some people said that they had seen a fleet of warships here in more than three months, and pointed out that it was the warship led by Spey.
After getting the news, Major General Craddock immediately brought the fleet to search here. Not only that, he also came with three airships, vowing to find the alliance fleet hiding here.
"Report, there is news from UU Reading www.uukanshu.com."
A communications officer ran in with a telegram.
"what news."
Facing Major General Craddock's inquiry, the officer said immediately. "Just now the destroyer Stubborn Stone sent a message that they found traces of a large number of people living on an uninhabited island 20 nautical miles west of Obi Island. By examining the abandoned objects left behind, we can be sure that it is The Allied fleet that has been looking for, compared with other traces, they should have left seven to ten days ago."
Upon hearing this, Major General Craddock slammed on the table, angry that the opponent ran away early. "Immediately send a telegram to the surrounding cities and warships, telling them to be careful of a small fleet of the Allies."
At this moment, Major General Craddock wanted to know where the other party had gone. He stared at the hanging chart and thought about it.
Never mind why a major general, Craddock, brings so many warships, this is a fateful duel.
(end of this chapter)