Empire Conquest
Chapter 428 - 424: The Disappearing Carrier

Chapter 428: Chapter 424: The Disappearing Carrier

It was just a sneak attack on the Raleigh Fleet, that wasn’t much.

On the afternoon of January 5th, after returning to the front line headquarter and receiving the news, Bai Zhizhan immediately sent telegrams to Liu Changxun and Zheng Jiangming, asking them to issue a warning that the Bulan Royal Navy was very likely to sneak attack the Locke Fleet hidden in the colonial ports of the northern part of the Xuan Continent.

Despite the urgency, there was nothing they could do.

This was wartime, not peacetime.

Besides, the Locke Republic had already joined the Alliance Group and become an ally of the Bulan Kingdom, so the information released by the Empire would mostly be regarded as false intelligence meant to sow discord.

Actually, it didn’t take long.

In the afternoon of January 6th, the Navy headquarter sent a message, and Bai Zhizhan’s concerns had turned into reality.

Local time on the morning of the 6th, the Bulan Royal Navy’s Land Heart Sea Sub-fleet shelled Oran Port, destroying 3 Locke battleships in the harbor.

By the end of the battle, only one battlecruiser had escaped, breaking through under the cover of two destroyers.

As expected, that ship would escape back to the homeland.

Furthermore, the Kingdom of Raleigh had already declared war on the Bulan Kingdom around 2 hours before Bai Zhizhan received the telegram, in the morning of the 6th.

Shortly thereafter, the Kingdom of Raleigh signed a treaty of alliance with the Tiaoman Empire, becoming an official member of the Consortium Group.

Bai Zhizhan’s greatest doubt had not been resolved.

Although, by the evening of the 6th, the Navy headquarter sent the latest news, Tiaoman Air Force’s reconnaissance aircraft had spotted a fleet sailing westward in the western part of the Land Heart Sea, identified as the Land Heart Sea Sub-fleet that attacked Oran Port, but since January 5th, after the bombing of Taranto, the Tiaoman Air Force’s reconnaissance aircraft had not found the East Continent Heart Sea Sub-fleet nor had it spotted the Bulan Royal Navy’s carrier.

Also, there was no carrier in the West Continent Heart Sea Sub-fleet.

Herein lies the problem!

According to previous intelligence, all three of the Bulan Royal Navy’s carriers were in the Land Heart Sea Fleet, with two of them previously active in the western Land Heart Sea.

These two carriers did not participate in the battle against the Locke Fleet.

There’s sufficient reason to believe that a converted seaplane mother ship from a freighter assisted the West Continent Heart Sea Sub-fleet.

During the entire shelling operation, only a few Bulan Royal Navy’s seaplanes had flown over the port, reporting the bombardment’s impact points to the main battle ships outside the port.

Where had those two fleet carriers gone?

Furthermore, where did the East Continent Heart Sea Sub-fleet go after attacking Taranto?

After completing its mission, the West Continent Heart Sea Sub-fleet turned and headed back to the Nara Fortress, yet did the East Continent Heart Sea Sub-fleet not return to Alexandria Port?

By January 7th, there was still no news regarding the East Continent Heart Sea Sub-fleet.

At this point, Bai Zhizhan had basically concluded that the East Continent Heart Sea Sub-fleet had not returned to Alexandria Port and had likely entered the Narrow Sea through the Xifan Canal.

Indeed, if this were the case, the two carriers from the West Continent Heart Sea Sub-fleet might have already been integrated into the East Continent Heart Sea Sub-fleet.

That is to say, the Bulan Royal Navy had deployed three fleet carriers.

However, that’s not surprising.

To perform in the harsher weather conditions of the North Sunset Ocean, Bulan carriers were particularly focused on sailing performance, all using enclosed hangars.

As a result, Bulan carriers had significantly low aircraft carrying capacity, usually only half that of an empire’s carrier of the same tonnage.

Actually, this also had a lot to do with the dominant position of the Bulan Royal Navy in the North Sunset Ocean.

To put it more clearly, after forming an alliance with the Newland Federation, in the entirety of the North Sunset Ocean, the Bulan Royal Navy couldn’t find a truly worthy opponent.

The Tiaoman Navy?

Had the Tiaoman Empire not lost the last great war, or had participated in the Seba Conference as a non-defeated nation like the Liangxia Empire, then there would still be something to discuss.

Unfortunately, reality was not as such.

As a defeated nation, the Tiaoman Empire had lost not just the second-strongest fleet in the western hemisphere over the twenty years following the war but also the foundational conditions for naval development.

Even after the outbreak of the Great Depression, when the Tiaoman Empire started to rebuild its navy, ten years of effort yielded only 3 armored cruisers, 2 large cruisers, 2 unfinished battleships, and an insufficient number of submarines.

To say it was powerful would be an overstatement; it hardly qualified as competent.

Speaking of which, none of the Royal Bulan Navy’s opponents possessed a carrier!

Why should they reduce navigational performance just to accommodate a few more ship-borne aircraft?

With few aircraft, using 3 fleet carriers to challenge the Empire’s 2 fleet carriers in the Imperial Sea was entirely normal.

If the battle occurred deep in the ocean, without relying on shore-based air force, the 3 fleet carriers of the Royal Bulan Navy might still not match the Tenth Special Mixed Fleet.

Of course, the ship-borne aircraft also needed consideration.

If equipped with the Royal Bulan Navy’s aircraft, they were practically heading to their demise!

Similarly, because it lacked challengers, not just the navy, but even the air force was unremarkable in the entire West Continent, except for the Tiaoman Empire.

The key point was, the Royal Bulan Navy never considered the Tiaoman Air Force as an enemy.

It was actually the Royal Bulan Air Force that engaged with the Tiaoman Air Force.

The result was that the Royal Bulan Navy’s ship-borne aircraft were also very poor, with its main torpedo attack aircraft being an outdated biplane.

To contest the Liangxia Fleet, even without aiming for victory, but merely to navigate the Fan Flame Ocean, they needed better-performing aircraft.

This also might have been the main reason why the 2 fleet carriers of West Continent Heart Sea Sub-fleet did not go to Oran.

Those two fleet carriers went to be fitted with new ship-borne aircraft!

Perhaps, it included the "Sea Fire" fighter modified from the "Spitfire," as well as attack aircraft and bombers provided by the Newland Navy.

Since they were only carrying aircraft and not considering combat, combined with the fine climate of Land Heart Sea, they could fully utilize the spacious flight decks.

An extra 50% ship-borne aircraft on each carrier was not a difficult task.

In summary, the Bulan Fleet, centered around 3 fleet carriers, was very likely already in the Narrow Sea and would reach the eastern waters of the Fan Flame Ocean within ten days.

Only then would they begin their assault on Lion Spring City!

Clearly, the timing was very cleverly calculated.

But the question is, where did the Royal Bulan Navy get the courage?

Don’t forget that several days ago, led by the battleship "Prime Minister," the Tiaoman Fleet entered the North Sunset Ocean, hugging the Kingdom of Viking’s coastline under the cover of dense fog.

As a result, the Newland Federation delayed sending transport fleets to the Luosha Federation.

Crucially, it also threatened the maritime trade routes with the Kingdom of Bulan, causing several transport fleets in the western regions of the North Sunset Ocean to turn back.

It’s conservatively estimated that the Kingdom of Bulan suffered losses exceeding one billion pounds, roughly the amount of three months of imports.

If maritime transport does not return to normal soon, the strategic bombing against the Tiaoman Empire will have to be suspended, starting possibly as early as the second quarter, but no later than the third quarter.

Looking even further, it could impact the overall strategy.

The reason is simple: large-scale strategic bombing reduced the industrial capacity of the Tiaoman Empire by thirty percent, significantly weakening its war capabilities, severely damaging the morale of its military and civilians, indirectly weakening the combat power of the Tiaoman military, and thereby aiding the Luosha Federation.

To continue the strategic bombing, they must ensure that the routes in the North Sunset Ocean remain unobstructed.

The Domestic Fleet of the Royal Bulan Navy has yet to locate the Tiaoman Fleet.

At this time, insisting on deploying to the Fan Flame Ocean, did the Royal Bulan Navy really have full confidence in eliminating the battleship "Prime Minister"?

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