Rise of Australia

Chapter 934 Hunter and Prey

In order to bring the island nation's navies together as soon as possible, Australasia chose to ignore the possible mobilization of the island nation's navies and concentrate on dealing with the island nation's air force that emerged on its own initiative.

Although the island nation's Army Air Force deployed more than 400 aircraft on Kyushu, Honshu and Shikoku, less than half of these aircraft were newly produced, and the rest were outdated products.

They were meant to attract attention, so it was impossible to expect these planes to cause too many casualties to the Australasian Air Force.

The entire air battle lasted for more than three hours, and in the end, almost all of the island nation's aircraft were wiped out, with only a few aircraft that were originally hovering on the edge of the battlefield being able to escape by chance.

On the Australasia side, with the advantage in the number and quality of aircraft, it used less than 30 aircraft to destroy the island country's fleet of more than 400 aircraft.

Although the island government was also hurting from the loss of the aircraft, at least the sacrifice of more than 400 aircraft was not in vain. Most of the navy in the Hiroshima waters had successfully escaped from the strait between Honshu and Shikoku and were currently on their way to Tokyo.

This also means that Yamamoto Isoroku's first step plan has been successful, and the main warships of the island nation's combined fleet can finally be gathered together, which has greatly enhanced the strength of the combined fleet.

Now that the warships have gathered together, the next goal of the island nation's navy will certainly be to find a way to ensure the smooth progress of the planned naval battle.

The location of the naval battle was chosen in Tokyo Bay, which also represented the island nation's navy's determination to resist firmly and fight to the death.

More importantly, Tokyo Bay has the largest number of coastal defense artillery of any island country. If used well, it can also serve as a boost in naval battles.

There is also the topography of Tokyo Bay. Only the southernmost side faces the Atlantic Ocean, while the northwest and east sides are all land.

If a naval battle is launched in such terrain, the only outcomes are life or death. There is no third option.

In order to cooperate with the navy in this battle, the island government mobilized all the air forces that could be mobilized in the country and deployed more than 600 fighters and bombers at military airports outside Tokyo.

If the planes on the seven aircraft carriers are added, the number of aircraft that the island nation can mobilize in naval battles can barely exceed a thousand, which can be regarded as the last asset of the island nation in terms of aircraft.

Yamamoto Isoroku decided to launch the entire naval battle on August 8. Before that, he needed to lure the Australasian Navy to Tokyo Bay as much as possible to facilitate this naval battle.

If the Australasian Navy did not take any action, then Yamamoto Isoroku could only watch helplessly. After all, if he wanted to have a greater chance of winning, he had to rely on the coastal defense batteries in Tokyo Bay and a large number of aircraft in the suburbs.

If it was just the island nation's navy, it would be difficult to defeat the Australasian navy. What's more, if it continued to drag on, the Australasian navy would become stronger and stronger.

The current economic and industrial conditions of the island nation do not allow them to build a large number of main warships every year while maintaining an army of more than 400 million.

On August 8, a battlecruiser, three light cruisers and five submarines led by Rear Admiral Kondo Nitta set out from Tokyo Bay and entered the Pacific Ocean in search of targets.

The battlecruisers and light cruisers that make up this fleet are all fast ships, and their cruising speeds are among the fastest among all warships.

Submarines have the best concealment, so the purpose of forming such a fleet is obvious, which is to serve as bait to lure the main fleet of Australasia.

"General Kondo, where should we look for the main fleet of Australasia?" On the leading battlecruiser, Kondo Nitta's assistant, Tanaka Yuuin, the deputy commander of this small fleet, asked respectfully.

"Let's go to Kyushu Island first." Kondo Nitta pondered for a moment and ordered: "Even if the main force of the Australasians is not near Kyushu Island, Kyushu Island definitely has a large number of transport ships.

As long as we sink a few troop transports, we will definitely attract the attention of the Australasian Navy."

In this way, this small warship marched towards the vicinity of Kyushu Island to look for the troop transport ship that was transporting troops to Australasia.

Tokyo Bay is more than 800 kilometers away from Kyushu Island. According to the normal cruising speed of this small fleet, it will take nearly 20 hours to reach Kyushu Island.

Fortunately, they had 5 days to complete the task, and the time spent on the journey could be barely ignored.

After 20 hours of sailing, the fleet finally approached Kyushu Island. Kondo Nitta was not in a hurry to get the fleet close to Kyushu Island, but ordered the submarine to start diving and the fleet to disperse to find a suitable target to attack.

It is unrealistic to rely on such a small fleet to attack the main force of the Australasian Navy, even if the fleet is composed entirely of fast ships.
Therefore, they could only target the scattered patrol fleets or troop transports.

They still have the ability to fight with a small fleet. After all, no matter how powerful Australasia is, it is impossible to send all its main warships out for patrol.

If this is done, if a naval battle breaks out, the main warships will most likely miss the battle due to untimely support.

Soon, Kondo Nitta and his team found their target.

This is a transport ship specifically responsible for transporting troops back and forth, capable of transporting at least 3 to 5 people each time.

Because the waters from Hiroshima to the Ryukyu Islands are patrolled by Australasian warships every day, and the Air Force's reconnaissance planes are constantly scattered in this area, there are no protective warships around the transport ship.

However, a transport ship is obviously not enough to satisfy Kondo Nitta and others.

After all, their purpose is to attract the main force of the Australasian Navy. At the very least, they have to sink a few official warships to attract the attention of the Australasian Navy.

However, this transport ship has made a good start after all. Moreover, there must be corresponding communication equipment on the transport ship, which can be used to attract other Australasian warships.

In order to prevent the main force of the Australasian Navy from being attracted directly, Kondo Nitta decided to send a warship there.

Because the fleet was not large to begin with, the task of sinking the transport ship was given to a light cruiser.

The tonnage of a light cruiser is less than 4000 tons. Such a small warship going to deal with the enemy's troop transport ship should not attract main warships of more than 2 tons.

As long as the warships coming to support are not main warships of more than 20,000 tons, Kondo Nitta's fleet can easily deal with them.

After all, he owns a battlecruiser, the tonnage of which exceeds 1 tons, making it a true main warship.

Not long after, the dispatched light cruiser appeared in the field of vision of the Australasian troop transport ship.

The captain of the light cruiser was very excited. As long as he could successfully complete this mission, his rank should be able to be promoted one level. How could being the captain of a light cruiser be satisfying? As an ambitious naval officer, of course, becoming the captain of a main warship is more attractive.

The cruiser approached the transport ship very slowly, which was also Kondo Nitta's order. The purpose was to allow the transport ship more time to report to the country and then attract more warships.

About a few minutes later, when the light cruiser was able to clearly see the entire picture of the troop transport, the light cruiser chose to open fire.

boom! Boom boom!

Although the caliber of the artillery carried on the light cruiser is not large, it is deadly enough for this type of troop transport ship.

More importantly, in order to transport troops more effectively, some of the weapons on the transport ship had been dismantled, and there was simply no way to deal with this light cruiser.

Just over ten minutes later, the troop transport ship was hit by several bullets, and its cabin broke, allowing a large amount of water to enter, and then it sank into the ocean.

As the troop transport slowly sank, a large number of soldiers on board chose to jump into the water. This scene was also seen by the island country cruiser, who were completely relieved and looked forward to the troop transport ship bringing them more gains.

Immersed in the initial victory of the plan, the island officers did not think at all whether their actions would first attract the Australasian Air Force.

Will it attract the Air Force?

of course not.

Even this troop transport was a deliberate target set up by the Australasian Navy. There were indeed soldiers on the troop transport, but these soldiers were all disguised natives of Kalimantan.

Even most of the sailors who operated the troop transports were Filipinos.

The Island Fleet thought they were the bait to attract the Australasian main fleet, but little did they know that they had already bitten the real bait and were luring a tiger into their home.

The distress message sent by the troop transport ship quickly reached Kyushu Island and then to the combat command center in the Ryukyu Islands.

Under normal circumstances, the Air Force should have already been dispatched before the Navy. After all, the speed of aircraft is much faster than that of warships. Even if the opponent dispatches the main warships, the aircraft can still cope with it for a period of time.

But in order to put on a good show with the islanders, Australasia not only did not send any air force, but even the navy chose old and dilapidated warships that had been retired ten years ago.

The main force of the Australasian Pacific Fleet will follow behind these warships. After the islanders sink these old and broken warships, the main warships will continue to send communication signals to remind these islanders that it is time to get down to business.

The purpose of this is to minimize the casualties of Australasian Navy soldiers on old warships. If the warship is just silent, the navy soldiers can also float on the sea for a short time.

As long as the rescue is timely, most of the naval soldiers can be rescued.

Both sides acted according to the plan, and both looked relaxed. When Kondo Nitta saw that the only ships coming to support were small and medium-sized warships from Australasia, and the number was not large, he breathed a sigh of relief, smiled, and confidently ordered all the warships to go out and sink these warships in a short time.

As long as these small and medium-sized warships can be destroyed, it will definitely attract the attention of the main fleet of the Australasian Pacific Fleet.

By that time, the mission of their squadron would be basically completed.

The battle went unexpectedly smoothly, and the Australasian Navy was indeed fighting back, but the problem was that these old and broken warships had been retired for a long time, so it was good enough that they could be started at all, and it was even more difficult for them to participate in such a naval battle.

But this is also good news. At least the naval soldiers don’t have to act. The current situation is that they really cannot defeat the navy of the opposing island country.

On the other side, after the warships of the two sides exchanged fire, the Japanese navy had always taken the initiative. After sinking an Australasian cruiser first, the Japanese navy took a comprehensive advantage and beat the Australasian navy back step by step.

Although the naval battle was somewhat easy, for Kondo Nitta and others, they would not think that there was something wrong with the Australasians.

Especially when the opponent's counterattack is still fierce, the Japanese will only feel that their fighting power is stronger. After being overwhelmed by the joy of victory, no one will think about some of the loopholes.

This naval battle lasted for more than two hours. Two of the three small and medium-sized warships supporting the Australasia side sank and one was seriously damaged. The seriously damaged one had obviously lost its combat effectiveness.

When the islanders wanted to sink the last cruiser in one go, the communication signal from the Pacific Fleet finally sounded.

After hearing the report from his men, Kondo Nitta showed excitement on his face. They had finally attracted the main force of the Australasian Navy, and the current mission was half completed.

"Continue to sink that cruiser, and then all warships return to Tokyo Bay at maximum speed." Kondo Nitta ordered quickly.

The best way to attract hatred is to sink all the enemy's warships regardless of the consequences when the enemy's main warships are about to arrive.

In this way, as long as the soldiers of the Australasian Navy have a sense of honor, they will definitely not let Kondo Nitta's squadron go.

Kondo Nitta was planning exactly this. As long as he could draw the hatred of the main forces of the Australasian Navy, he could successfully attract these fleets to the vicinity of Tokyo Bay.

What happened next was the business of Yamamoto Isoroku and other high-ranking naval officers. At least for Kondo Nitta, the mission of his squadron had been accomplished.

The island nation's warships responded quickly and opened fire on the already seriously damaged light cruiser without any hesitation.

In just a few minutes, the severely damaged and powerless light cruiser sank into the sea.

The island nation's fleet, which had achieved significant results, did not hesitate at all and quickly turned around and headed towards Tokyo Bay.

A few dozen miles away, the main forces of the Australasian Pacific Fleet were all gathered here. On the radar signal display, the movements of the island nation's fleet could be clearly seen.

After seeing them all evacuate towards Tokyo, Pacific Fleet Commander-in-Chief Jon Odell showed a mysterious smile on his face and ordered the messenger to convey his order: "Leave a few small warships to rescue the soldiers who fell into the sea, and all the remaining warships will keep a certain distance to pursue this island nation's navy.

I want to see what the people of this archipelago want to do. I hope they can prepare some good programs and not let people down too much."

(End of this chapter)