Munitions Empire
Chapter 1147: 1067 Bernard's Choice

Chapter 1147: 1067 Bernard’s Choice

The naming convention for warships in the Tang Empire is actually quite lazy and featureless. Typically, Tang Army warships are only named by their classification, followed by a sequence of numbers.

For instance, the battleships of the Great Tang Empire are named Dongwan 1 and Dongwan 2… It doesn’t sound very impressive, even carrying a strong cheap flavor.

The Beiyuan-class destroyers are the most produced type of destroyer by the Great Tang Empire, which, based on the Fletcher-class destroyers, increased the tonnage, improved the blue-water capabilities of the warship, and sacrificed a bit of speed.

From a practical standpoint, the Beiyuan-class is a scaled-up Fletcher, with a tonnage increased to 4500 tons, maintaining crew levels around 400, and without a significant increase in armament.

Therefore, this type of warship has its own characteristics in many aspects: it can conduct long-duration operations at sea, holds more anti-submarine ammunition, and is equipped with larger generators and more advanced radar systems.

To adapt to various sea conditions, the Beiyuan-class destroyers also adopted a more enclosed design for the bridge, which could make the working environment within it more comfortable.

Some captains prefer to open all the side doors and command the battle with the sea breeze blowing—that’s another matter altogether.

The Great Tang Empire produced a total of 100 Beiyuan-class destroyers, which, along with the Weigang-class destroyers and the Fengshun-class cruisers, formed the backbone of the Great Tang Empire Navy’s forces.

On the outskirts of the landing area of South Island, inside the bridge of the Beiyuan 035, the communications officer grabbed the telephone handset: “This is the command bridge! Understood.”

“Sound the battle alarm… Li He! Go to the captain’s quarters and request the captain to come to the bridge…” Having put down the phone, the duty communications officer was loudly issuing various commands: “All sailors to battle stations, send a telegram to the main fleet… We have sighted the Mirage Country fleet!”

“Marshal! We’ve received a telegram from the Beiyuan 035 destroyer, their radar has detected an enemy fleet moving south from the north… At present, they have confirmed the presence of three ships!” Shortly thereafter, the message was delivered to Bernard.

“From the north? This information doesn’t match what we got from the U-boats,” Bernard said as he placed the telegram on the command table, frowning at his subordinates.

Previously, a submarine unit had detected an enemy fleet, clearly approaching from the south. Now an enemy fleet had been spotted from the north as well, which was inconsistent with what had been anticipated.

“Could it be possible that the enemy is splitting their forces into two groups?” The Chief of Staff suggested his view.

Bernard nodded: “Possible. U-boats would not report false military intelligence; what they saw is what they saw… The destroyer fleet has indeed encountered the enemy as well… So, it’s very likely that there is another enemy fleet from the north.”

“Should we send the fleet to press on them?” The Staff Officer thought of a solution: “Verify the enemy’s strength and see if it indeed is their main fleet.”

“If so, the fleet could suffer heavy losses.” Despite having weapons like anti-ship missiles, using seven or eight destroyers to engage in battle with the enemy battleships and cruisers is still too risky.

“Let the fleet maintain radar detection contact with the enemy fleet! Let’s observe their movements.” Bernard weighed the pros and cons in his mind, deciding it was more convenient to use carrier-based aircraft for the task.

Regardless of whether the enemy’s fleet is the main force, and no matter how many warships there are, as long as the Great Tang Empire’s carrier-based aircraft press forward, the enemy is sure to suffer losses.

If the enemy’s fleet is not the main force, the Great Tang Empire would not suffer significant losses. If it is the main force, then the feedback from the carrier-based aircraft will be more specific and accurate than that of the destroyer fleet.

After all, carrier-based aircraft need to fly over the enemy fleet to drop bombs, so it would be clear at a glance how many there are and what type of warships they are, right?

“Commander! We have received a communication from the Air Force requesting our utmost support for the paratrooper operations… The 1st Airborne Division has already clashed with the enemy’s Armored Corps…” A communications officer delivered another telegram at this moment.

Now Bernard needed to make a choice: he and a commander named Nanyun Zhongyi, whom he did not know, faced similar issues.

The airborne troops are waiting for air support, the enemy navy’s whereabouts are unknown, and the landing troops are also in a tough fight with the enemy.

He needs to maintain pressure in the direction of the beachhead while guarding against the enemy’s main fleet that might come charging at any time for a decisive battle and also carve out forces to aid allies…

The bad news is that his fleet does not have many battleships, which means there are not that many “shielding tanks” at the forefront.

The good news is that the aircraft carrier in Bernard’s hands has many more aircraft carriers than Nanyun Zhongyi does, and his carrier-based aircraft are much more powerful.

“Order Dongwan 1 and 2, supporting the landing operation, to head south! Rendezvous with the 2nd Cruiser Squadron and stand by!” After some thought, Bernard decided to proceed with his own plan: “Carrier-based aircraft to head north with ordnance, let’s wipe out the enemy fleet coming down from the north first!”

As for the battle on land: “Have the paratrooper troops hold on for a while; reinforcements should arrive around 1 PM.”

“If the enemy fleet gets too close to the landing zone, use Styx Anti-ship Missiles to chase them away! Do not allow any enemy warship to get close to the landing area!” After giving the orders, Bernard turned to the liaison officer from the army: “Get General Feng Kezhi’s troops ashore as quickly as possible.”

On the bridge of Destroyer 035, the captain had arrived at his post and picked up his binoculars to look towards the oncoming enemy, but he saw no target.

They had been maintaining radar contact with the enemy warship, which was about 35 kilometers behind them, a safe distance since the enemy had no knowledge of their presence.

On the starboard side, another destroyer followed them, with the hull number 083—a relatively new warship equipped with only three cannons and no torpedoes, but it had two Styx Missile launchers installed midship.

The Great Tang Empire Navy’s destroyer squadrons are all mixed in this way, typically with one anti-air destroyer, two anti-ship destroyers, and several gun destroyers.

Destroyer 035, built earlier and not refitted, is a gun destroyer, responsible for outer perimeter patrols, chasing targets, and providing close-range fire support in regular missions.

Actually, Bei Yuan class destroyers are still comparatively new, as their gunnery systems are more advanced, and the tonnage of the ships is ample.

The truly small destroyers, early models with even outdated radar, are now supporting landing operations in shallow waters.

They despaired, loading ammunition into the main guns; those destroyers, mostly early experimental products of the Great Tang Empire, relying on the numerous and fierce firepower of the ship’s guns, were pouring their ammunition frenetically at the Mirage Country’s defenders.

“Message from command! Maintain radar contact, and if the enemy closes in on the red line area, authorization is given to use Styx Anti-ship Missiles!” said the officer sending the message aloud: “The carrier-based aircraft squadron has already been deployed; theoretically, we only need to watch the show.”

“Sounds pretty good,” the captain nodded: “Have the radar room keep a close watch on the targets! Don’t let them catch up with us.”

They didn’t actually have much of an advantage in terms of sailing speed—the Mirage Country Navy cruisers had a cruising speed not much different from the reduced speed Great Tang Empire Navy destroyers.

If not careful, those cruisers designed specifically to hunt down destroyers might indeed close the distance and subsequently engage in a gun battle.

But before that happens, the Great Tang Empire destroyers will launch anti-ship missiles: whether the Mirage Country Navy will be caught off-guard by these anti-ship missiles, only heaven knows.

“Understood!” After a salute at attention, the officer went to the radar room to convey the order. Meanwhile, on the other side of the sea, the Mirage Country Navy cruiser squadron moving southward, the Commander Shen Hai’ang put down his binoculars.

He had always had a feeling that his fleet was being watched: this intuition had been present since dawn and had made him feel very uncomfortable.

Initially, he thought a submarine was following them, but after he had his fleet accelerate, the submarine should have been left behind long ago, yet the feeling of being spied upon persisted.

To be cautious, he contacted Shengwu Zhong, hoping that the army could send planes to cover his fleet, but the aircraft promised by Shengwu Zhong had yet to appear.

The wary Shen Hai’ang sped up while waiting for the arrival of the Zero Fighters. He already knew that the Tang Army had some aircraft wreaking havoc over the landing zone, which had taken off from an unknown location, so he didn’t dare to enter the battlefield before the escort fighters arrived.

At the same moment, on the deck of the Great Tang Empire Navy aircraft carrier protected by layers of destroyer fleets, the Stuka Dive Bombers, loaded with torpedoes, began to spin their propellers.

The pilots were tasked with attacking the Mirage Country fleet to the north, endeavoring to eliminate this threat: 30 Stukas would carry out the mission under the protection of 15 Pirate Fighters, with 20 Stukas equipped with torpedoes and 10 with bombs.

They are just the first wave of attackers; another squadron of the same number of aircraft will take off 20 minutes later. Whether to continue the attacks depends on the damage suffered by the first wave of attackers and also on the actual scale of the Mirage Country Navy’s northern fleet.

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