The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 942: Chapter 702: The Great Naval Battle_2

Of course, the entire Atlantic Fleet was never going to be mobilized. Given the naval strength of both parties, the strength of the Pacific United Fleet alone had already exceeded that of the United States Pacific Fleet.

For this reason, only a fraction of the Atlantic United Fleet would be dispatched to assist the Pacific United Fleet in combat, ensuring that they could defeat the United States Pacific Fleet with overwhelming superiority.

The appearance of the United States Pacific Fleet in South America had made its objective quite clear, which was to head to the Atlantic and rendezvous with the United States Atlantic Fleet.

The Allied Army would naturally not give the Americans such an opportunity. The fraction of the fleet that was dispatched to encircle and suppress in South America was composed entirely of strategic cruisers, forming a swift fleet that set off from the Panama Canal. Catching up with the Americans within half a month was no problem at all.

After all, the Americans were moving in secret, which meant that their Navy was destined not to advance at full speed.

Furthermore, most of the Pacific Fleet was involved in this operation, meaning the American fleet’s progress would definitely not be swift, and resupplying would take even longer.

On September 11th, the quickly advancing Pacific United Fleet finally located the trail of the United States Pacific Fleet.

However, the fleet did not act rashly and instead first sent out carrier-based planes from their aircraft carriers to probe the reality of the United States Navy and to look for opportunities to weaken the United States Pacific Fleet in advance.

Australasia currently had quite a number of aircraft carriers, and the total number of planes gathered was more than a hundred.

This included not only reconnaissance and fighter aircraft but also bombers that posed a great threat to the main battleships.

However, jet planes definitely would not be used in this operation, as these planes represented the trump card of the Australasian Military and were not suitable to be displayed in such a small-scale military operation.

Even so, the planes that Australasia brought out could be considered world-class.

At least compared to the American planes, they had the advantage in both quantity and combat capability.

Not long after Australasian planes took off, the United States Pacific Fleet had already sensed that something was off.

But with the enemy’s long-distance reconnaissance, the Pacific Fleet had no way to respond and could only send planes from their own Aircraft carriers to attempt to drive them off.

Soon, the Americans realized the gap between themselves and Australasia in terms of planes.

Realizing that his movements had been exposed, the Commander-in-Chief of the United States Pacific Fleet did not dare to be careless. He even ordered all planes from an Aircraft carrier to take off, with the intent of driving off the Australasian reconnaissance aircraft.

But over twenty American planes stood no chance against an equal number of planes from the Australasia Army and were quickly shot down, with several falling victim. The rest did not dare to engage head-on and could only desperately dodge bullets.

Unfortunately, the most critical aspects of planes are agility and speed, and in both these aspects, the American planes were comprehensively outpaced.

Although the American pilots did their utmost in maneuvering, they only managed to persist for a minute or two more before ultimately crashing into the ocean with a trail of black smoke.

Seeing almost all of their own planes annihilated, the face of the Commander of the United States Pacific Fleet turned grim instantly, and he relayed his order to retreat through his messengers.

Where to retreat? Naturally, to the Southern Drake Passage.

Staying in the Pacific was no longer realistic because the fleet had no reliable supply points, and resupplying was the time when they were most likely to be surrounded and attacked by the enemy.

Instead of staying in the Pacific and awaiting death, it was better to strive to break through the Drake Passage, at least to get the main force of the Pacific Fleet to the Atlantic.

After all, although the Drake Passage is called a strait, it is indeed an extremely wide body of water.

Between the southernmost part of South America and the northernmost part of Antarctica, there was a separation of thousands of kilometers. The Commander of the United States Pacific Fleet did not believe that the Allied Army could completely blockade the Drake Passage; there would definitely be gaps in the defense.

Although resupplying along the way was still an issue, it was clear the United States Pacific Fleet had no room left to retreat.

If necessary, they could forcibly resupply from urban cities in South America along the way—at least, that was what the United States fleet commander thought.

Unfortunately for this American fleet, before it could sail too far, the buzzing sound of aircraft once again filled the skies.

This time, it was not Australasian reconnaissance aircraft that came but well-armed fighter aircraft and bombers.

The fighter aircraft were responsible for escorting the bombers, with about ten bombers that looked quite massive, being the main weapon of this attack.

Upon sighting the enemy aircraft, the Commander of the United States fleet immediately ordered the fleet’s anti-aircraft weapons to target the enemy.

However, the reliability of anti-aircraft weapons at that time was questionable, and hitting high-altitude, high-speed aircraft was very difficult, to the point of hopelessness.

The only real resistance against aircraft was other aircraft, but most of the United States fleet’s planes were already severely damaged, and what was left was clearly no match for the enemy’s aircraft.

To ensure the success of this bombing operation, the Pacific United Fleet also took action.

As the planes were deployed, the fleet also advanced a certain distance, with both parties almost entering each other’s range.

The United States fleet quickly took note of this development. A messenger, with a tense expression, reported to the United States fleet commander, “Your Excellency, the enemy is about to enter our range!”

Watching the bombers draw closer in the sky and using his telescope to see the outline of the enemy fleet, now almost in view, the commander of the United States fleet found himself in a dilemma.