Australian Storm 1876

   Chapter 902 was beaten by surprise

   The "goodwill reminder" (representation letter) from the UK went around and got it back because no one picked it up.

   Ocean Empire Royal Navy Expeditionary Strike Fleet said;

  In the affairs of the Ministry of War, the Navy should not be involved, please contact the relevant aspects of the Ministry of War directly.

   went ashore to find army units, they said;

   did not receive authorization to contact foreign parties, please submit it through legitimate diplomatic channels, and ... do not interfere with ongoing military operations.

   Under the fine taste, is there a feeling of suffocation slowly rising?

"Hehehe... No wonder the Americans call them ocean imperialists, this way of doing things..." Captain Pete chuckled twice, just about to say that he was a good student of the British Empire, and looked at the observation ship from nearby. The French and German who were negotiating closed their mouths in time, took the negotiating letter from the young officer and threw it on the table, and said, "The equipment of the Eisen Telegraph Office is broken, it seems that we can only wait until there is a chance. Go to San Diego and get the message out."

   "Your Excellency, Germany hopes that Britain will be in step with Germany on this issue," the German representative demanded.

"Sorry, we can only express regret and can't take any further action until London has made a formal statement." Major General Sherman played a fancy push, which actually amounted to saying nothing, what Neither did.

   "What about the French side?"

   "Obviously this approach is inappropriate. The problem is that as a military observation group, we have no right to interfere, we can only report according to procedures and wait for Paris's instructions."

"Then report it according to the procedure, don't bother them." Major General Sherman finally made a final decision, and then said with great interest; "Gentlemen, on this beautiful summer night full of sunshine and pleasant weather, it is to hold a stern reception. It's a good time, diplomatic matters will give government officials a headache, and we should enjoy a high quality of life."

   "That sounds like a generous invitation?"

   "Then your answer..."

   "Why not?" The French representative laughed happily.

  The German representative was full of black lines, hesitantly nodded, and said with a serious attitude; "Thank you, Your Excellency, for your invitation. I would like to know the time, place, and the invited people. Are they wearing formal attire?"

  "???" Major General Hillman stared blankly at the German representative, and continued to be speechless...

  The report must be reported. As for when it will be reported, we will talk about it.

   violated the sovereignty of a third-rate country like Chile, and the world powers have done a lot of similar things. The most recent one was the Bosnian crisis. The Austria-Hungary Empire directly occupied two provinces of the Ottoman Empire, which caused a lot of uproar.

   How similar is the Russo-Japanese War that occurred in the three northeastern provinces in 1905?

The reason why    speaks out is just that the powers want to get some benefits, maybe it is an exchange of interests, or something else, such as supporting their own position in the Bosnian crisis, or sharing a little benefit in Central America.

   Really expect them to stand up and do justice, so let's wash and sleep.

  The deck reception planned by Rear Admiral Sherman was never held, because in the evening, the ships belonging to the Royal Navy Expeditionary Strike Fleet ignited their anchors and prepared for the voyage.

  The observation ships of Britain, France and Germany will naturally accompany them. No one wants to miss this once-in-a-lifetime drama. This may be the largest naval battle of large ships and artillery in history, which is enough to be remembered in the history books.

   As for tipping off the Americans, that doesn't exist.

  The observation ship strictly enforces the radio silence rule, otherwise the Royal Navy's expeditionary strike fleet is not good-natured, and it will definitely be regarded as a hostile action and tough measures will be taken.

  Four days later

   February 3, 1909

  The southern port town of Tierra del Fuego, Ushuaia

   Ushuaia is located on the southern coast of Tierra del Fuego, with the Andes Mountains to the north and the Drake Passage, the widest and most dangerous in the world, to the south. Bypassing Tierra del Fuego to the north is the Strait of Magellan, an important location where the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean meet.

It is the southernmost city in the world with a population of about 4,300 people. In the local indigenous tribe, Yamana, Ushuaia means "the deep westward bay" and "beautiful bay". Peninsula 1000 km.

  February is the most beautiful season in Ushuaia.

  The towering snow-capped mountains that belong to the Chilean side are endless in the distance. The clear bay and the emerald green hilltops complement each other, forming a natural picture of snow-capped mountains, deep valleys, bays and beautiful towns, which is very beautiful.

  The sunshine in February is as long as 20 hours a day. The sun does not set until 23:30, and it rises to the sea at 4:00 in the morning. The lake and mountains are beautifully set off.

The   Beagle Channel forms a huge open bay here. The main force of the US Atlantic Fleet is stationed here. The number of officers and soldiers is as high as 21,200, far exceeding the total population of the small town.

In order to solve the huge contradiction between population and living, the Americans built thousands of wooden houses, several large warehouses and a medium-sized ship repair shop here, built dozens of bridges and more than 100 buildings in just 5 months. km long road.

And on the peninsula opposite the bay, Daxing Civil Engineering is excavating a 30,000-ton dock. After fighting day and night, it has already begun to take shape. It excavated a huge deep sink with a length of more than 230 meters and a width of more than 40 meters. It was poured with reinforced concrete. 3.8 m thick bottom plate.

  The huge gates shipped from the United States, as well as electrical equipment and related control equipment piled up in several warehouses. There are also several reinforced concrete fortresses under construction. It seems that they are making long-term plans to build this place into a large naval base and a front line against the invasion of the Ocean Empire Navy.

   3:00 am

  The sky and the earth were still shrouded in darkness, but there were a few bright lights in the extreme distance, and there was a faint sound of cannons. Such anomalies were immediately caught by the observation post at a high place, and the alarm sounded immediately.

   "Wu ah wu ah..." The sound of the alarm broke the tranquility of the night and instantly awakened this small port town at the southernmost tip of the world.

The Atlantic Fleet moored in the port also sounded a shrill siren. The electric siren was obviously louder than the hand-operated siren. The warships moored in the Ushuaia Bay soon turned on their lights and rushed out. The officers in the cabin shouted, and the sailors hurried to their positions.

"what happened…"

   Admiral Ben A-Dreid, commander of the Atlantic Fleet, strode out while wearing his clothes, walking towards the direction of the flagship conning tower, while looking at the darkness in the distance.

   "Report, sir, the situation is still unclear. It should be that the guard post on the top of the mountain detected the enemy's situation and sounded the alarm, but there was no wireless telegram from the outpost patrol ships we arranged. The specific situation is still being verified."

   "No news from the patrol boat?" Lieutenant General Ben Adelaide asked suspiciously.

   "Yes, sir, the telegraph confidential room is on duty 24 hours a day. The fleet has deployed 6 patrol boats, and the sea area with a radius of 2 to 300 kilometers is under strict guard."

   "That's weird, go and see."

   Lieutenant General Ben-Adelaide took a few steps forward and was about to open the hatch of the conning tower when he suddenly heard Jianli's whistle from the masthead lookout and pointed his finger in a certain direction ahead.

   He turned his head to look, and suddenly felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar, and his face suddenly turned pale.

   At the end of the dark sky, several bright lights continued to flicker…

Lieutenant General Ben-Adelaide saw at a glance that it was a flare shot by a ship. It was quickly extinguished under the strong wind of level 10. This is a clear warning signal. more than kilometers.

  The flares used on ships are all large, fired from artillery, and one shot can illuminate half of the sky for more than ten minutes (under normal circumstances). It can last for two or three minutes in windy weather.

   This is obviously the afterglow of the flare blocked by the curved surface of the earth. It is roughly estimated that it is more than 40 kilometers. This is an extremely dangerous distance, which is equivalent to being touched under the nose of the enemy.

   The ignition and startup of a ship is a very complicated process, especially for a new type of steam turbine. It takes two hours to start normally. By then, I am afraid that bombs will fall on the head.

"Enemy attack, everyone set fire to anchor and prepare to fight." In anxiety, Lieutenant General Ben Adelaide roared loudly, his voice broke; "Everyone who can move will go to the engine room to help, hurry up... The steam turbine started for me."

   After hearing the order, all the crew on the flagship "New Hampshire" immediately took action and ran to the stern engine room quickly, including all the secondary battery crew who had no combat mission, rushed to the rear, and urgently started the steam turbine main engine.

"New Hampshire" was the sixth of the Connecticut-class battleships, with a displacement of 17,700 tons and 28 boilers.

To start the ignition, 28 boilers need to be fed with coal and heavy oil is poured to support the combustion. Hundreds of gate valves must be controlled to control a large amount of high-pressure steam, so that the two-story-high steam turbine can be slowly rotated. More than a dozen electric motors must be started to succeed. The ignition operation, which pushes the propeller driven by the shafting, is a rather complicated process.

The battleships lined up in the bay were busy igniting their anchors, and the "West Virginia", the "Colorado" armored cruiser, and the "Charleston" protected cruiser, which were on duty, formed a small ship under the leadership of the "Mississippi" battleship. The formation quickly moved forward to meet the enemy, in order to gain time for the main fleet as much as possible.

   In the tense and busy time, more than half an hour has passed, the sky has gradually brightened, and the end of the sky is white with fish belly.

   In Ushuaia Bay

The ships that successfully started the steam engine slowly drove out of the bay one by one. Smoke billowed from the tall chimneys of the ships. Hundreds of shirtless men in the engine room were sweating like rain with shovels to send coal into the boilers. Other sailors shouted loudly. Going around, going around to open the pipeline valve, busy in a ball.

   After helping the steam engine to start in an emergency, the sailors in other battle positions did not have time to wipe the sweat from their heads, so they devoted themselves to the intense pre-war preparations, transporting ammunition, starting the motor to debug the artillery…

   The rumble of gunfire on the sea in the distance

The formation led by the battleship "Mississippi" had already fought with the enemy. The bright muzzle flames flashed when the main guns were fired, which intensively cut through the gray sky in the early morning. Very intense.

  Suddenly, there was an earth-shattering loud noise in the distance, and a huge fire group shone half of the sky red.

This is the large-scale protected cruiser "Charleston" with a displacement of 9,700 tons. It was hit continuously. It exploded and burned into a huge torch on the sea, and the flames were raging. Then came a series of louder explosions. The protected cruiser Charleston was blown up from it. It broke into two pieces and slowly submerged into the icy sea water.

  The flagship "New Hampshire" has sailed out of the bay after a successful emergency start.

   Lieutenant General Ben-Adelaide stood in the commander tower, looking carefully with the binoculars in his blue-faced hands, and the extreme anxiety in his expression could not be concealed.

   It has been more than an hour since the alarm was issued. Less than half of the ships in the bay have successfully activated their main engines, and the enemy has already attacked the door. This puts the Atlantic Fleet in the dilemma of investing troops one by one, and the situation is too bad to be bad.

  The terrible thing is that the radio communication is full of noise. It is impossible to command the battle, communicate with the communication, or receive any information through this high-tech means, and it has become a complete display.

   Lieutenant General Ben-Adelaide wondered why this happened?

   He guessed that it must be the enemy's ghost. It may be the reason why the warning ship in front could not send back the warning signal, but now he has no time to pay attention.

  The Atlantic Fleet was beaten for a while, and now it is extremely passive.

   (end of this chapter)