The Rise of the Empire
Chapter 2572: Exposed
"God, look at the surface of the sea. What is that? How come there are white traces?" In Lieutenant Totti's telescope, he could vaguely see several long white lines appearing on the surface of the sea. This kind of thing is certainly not a natural phenomenon, after all, who has seen a very neat row of white lines? This is not normal!
"Captain Hellmann, can you come and see?" Lieutenant Totti woke up the German navy observer who was resting nearby. This is the ace watchman of the German High Seas Fleet. He once served on the flagship of the High Seas Fleet, and later retired due to war injuries. Now, because the Americans are paying a high salary of at least $500 a month, this buddy Have come to the far Pacific Ocean.
"White wake?" Captain Heilmann was awakened suddenly, and then he immediately ran to the telescope and adjusted the optical lens skillfully.
"It's a battleship! A high-speed battleship! Their speed is at least 18 knots! An early warning signal is sent to the headquarters immediately!" In less than a minute, Captain Hellmann determined the ship type and speed of the unknown fleet in the distance!
Doesn't it feel very chatty? Does it feel weird? In fact, it is quite normal. At night, many warships are found not because of the warship itself, but because of the wake of the ship when sailing! Especially when a large warship is sailing at high speed, the wake is even longer than the length of the warship itself. Imagine that under the black night, you stand on a high place and look into the distance. Suddenly, a white mark of more than 200 meters long appears on the sea. , And not one, but a few, can this be inconspicuous? And this time the Japanese fleet chose to walk close to the coast, so I'm sorry, the whereabouts of others in the mountain house was discovered by the US army in the first time!
(This is not made up by the author. In fact, in the 2nd night battle, the fleet control speed and the reduction of the wake are all necessary operations. In the famous battle of Sanchuan Junyi in the battle of Savo Island, Sanchuan specialized Order the fleet to slow down and reduce the trail!)
As for why the speed and ship type of the fleet can be judged, it is really knowledgeable. After all, Captain Hellmann has seen it hundreds of times in the war! The wake width of different warships is different, and the length of the wake is also different for the same warship at different speeds. These are all experiences, which can only be understood! Sometimes it's just by feeling!
"Are the ten targets all battleships?" Lieutenant Totti asked.
"At least they are warships of more than 10,000 tons! Just write it like this." Hellman said anxiously.
"You should know how much disturbance this telegram would cause if it were sent." Lieutenant Totti still had some doubts about Heilmann's statement. He really didn't expect such a thing to come out tonight!
"I'm responsible." Hellman said anxiously. "As a soldier, you must take responsibility at critical moments. This is our duty and honor." At Heilman's insistence, Lieutenant Totti sent a warning telegram 5 minutes later, but this telegram was not For Benson, it was first to the nearby Sixth Battleship Unit and then forwarded to Benson by the commander of the unit!
Is it surprising? In fact, it is normal. The U.S. Navy has at least 30 destroyers and patrol boats responsible for maritime security every night. There are no fewer than 40 observation posts to perform sea-to-land security. There are hundreds of false alarms every night. If it were all given to Benson, then Benson would need a company staff member just to process the information. Do you find it difficult to understand? In fact, there is nothing difficult to understand. After all, whales or reefs that are active at sea may be mistaken for submarines. Coupled with a high mental state, various visions are also normal. Therefore, the general principle for solving this solution is to first give it to your immediate superior instead of directly giving it to the superlative!
So, a few minutes later, this early warning telegram was delivered to Colonel Lacey, the temporary commander of the Sixth Battleship Squadron. And just less than 10 minutes apart, a patrol boat also sent out an early warning telegram, and when two telegrams with the same content were sent at the same time, Colonel Lacey couldn't wait to take it lightly!
"Command! All warships immediately enter a state of alert! Accompanied by the destroyer squadron immediately move to the northwest! At the same time, we are ready to contact Admiral Benson, that is, we have discovered the suspected main force of the Japanese fleet! The entire fleet is immediately ready to pick up!" Lacey The colonel’s disposal was also very quick and effective. All the warships quickly left their original positions and moved eastward in order to increase the distance. According to intelligence, the opponent had at least 5 capital ships. In this way, Colonel Lacey It can be concluded that this is definitely not something you can deal with! Therefore, his first reaction was to protect himself and delay time!
"In addition, to send a telegram to the army, the Japanese fleet chose to take a route close to the sea. I hope that the army's artillery can release flares toward the target." The colonel then added an order. However, it is a pity that at this moment, the butcher knife of the Japanese fleet was about to stick to his neck!
Although the Americans had the advantage of first-hand intelligence, with the help of the British and by radio sideways, when an American destroyer hidden in the night sent a report to Colonel Lacey, the Japanese fleet also realized it The location has been exposed!
"We are exposed." A British radio officer put down his headset and said. "It is located less than 3 kilometers away from us. It uses the rapid transmission method. The transmission time is short, but it is enough to send out an alarm. I cannot determine its precise location~lightnovelpub.net~ Send a destroyer to kill the voyeur?" A Japanese officer said nervously.
"No need! Kill the U.S. fleet in front of you!" The other lieutenant in the mountain house let out a sigh of relief. Now, the problem needs to be solved with gunfire! "Order the fleet to speed up, give up radio silence and light control, the destroyer force will move forward quickly, find the precise position of the US fleet, and then mark the main fleet!" And with the assault of the destroyer force, the seaplanes on the main ships of the Japanese Navy also They all flew out one after another. At this time, the time between the two sides was less than 8 minutes!
"The Japanese fleet has accelerated! Immediately signal the coastal artillery to use flares to expose the position of the Japanese fleet!" At this time, Captain Hellmann and his observation post were still faithfully fulfilling their duties, constantly following them. The position of the Japanese navy fleet was accurately marked on the grid map, and then this information was passed to the army’s artillery positions!
As a result, before the Japanese fleet's rangefinder was locked to the US Navy, the flares fired by the US shore artillery had already landed near the leading Japanese fleet!
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