The sun was shining brightly on the blue sea, and a fleet was sailing at noon. From the flags flying on the ship, it could be seen that this was an Australian transport fleet.
The fleet has eleven ships, mainly carrying various blankets, leather and some food and other supplies. They just left the port from Sydney early this morning, and they are preparing to go north to the Indonesian Islands and then to Calcutta.
Today's Australia is basically based on a farm economy and is not yet a country sitting on mines, so it mainly relies on animal husbandry.
And with a land of more than 8 million people, every Australian family with less than 5 million people is a large farmer, and their life should not be too prosperous.
Of course, the advent of war allowed Australians to show their loyalty to Britain, and thousands of Australians were conscripted into the army and went to the battlefield.
Of course, the Australian Navy is also being drafted, but the ones being drafted are mainly more advanced ones. For small warships like the Agile, which were in service in the 1990s, they can only be retained for escort missions.
For Captain Philip of the USS Agility, the escort mission is too mundane, but for the sailors of the USS Agility who have only joined the army for a few months, it is great to be able to participate in the escort mission. The risk is not high, and they can get
It is the perfect task to exercise without getting tired.
But soon, neither Captain Philip, who was eager for meritorious service, nor the rookie sailor who had only been in the army for a few months cared about this.
"A plume of smoke was found in the east, and a ship was coming."
As for Captain Philip, after discovering the enemy ship, he issued several orders in succession. "Immediately sent a telegram to the fleet. An enemy fleet was found to the southeast of us. We suspected that the enemy fleet was a German and Italian ship that had been hiding before."
Fleet, let them disband now
The formation fled immediately. Another telegram was sent to Sydney, telling them that the Fourth Transport Fleet was attacked by the German and Italian fleets at longitude 152.75162 north latitude -33.14726. At the same time, the battleships were ordered to turn and we sailed north."
As a reconnaissance cruiser, the Pierre is not very powerful in terms of firepower, but it is quite excellent in speed and reconnaissance. Its top speed of 29 knots is much higher than that of ordinary cruisers. In addition, the ship is equipped with an optical system more than 3 meters long.
Detection instruments, which are optical instruments equipped on warships of more than 10,000 tons, can allow the Pierre to detect opponents earlier and understand the situation earlier.
"Order all ships to attack and sink all merchant ships."
The lookout loudly reported his new discovery.
Soon Spey, who was more than ten nautical miles behind him, called back and ordered him to monitor the fleet and they would arrive soon. It was obvious that Spey did not intend to continue hiding and wanted to capture this Australian fleet.
Transport fleet.
On the transport fleet side, looking at the smoke column in the east, no ship could be seen for a long time, which made the crew of the Agile feel strange.
Before the Agile could get a closer look, the lookout quickly reported the new situation.
"Okay, I get it."
Regarding this radio wave, Pace knew without thinking that the other party must be reporting his location and specific situation, and he didn't care about it.
At this time, Lieutenant General Spey, who had just arrived, rushed towards the fleet with his warships.
But now its main force has been mobilized long ago, and the remaining ones are warships such as the Agility that can only be used for second-line tasks such as escort. These warships can still block the attack of his Pacific Fleet, even if Nelson is resurrected, he cannot do it.
.
That's right, after Captain Philip reported the situation and the fleet disbanded and everyone ran for their lives, he planned to turn the ship around and escape.
After receiving the order, the Pierre began to follow the still confused fleet from a distance.
Because he has been to Sydney, he also has a good understanding of Sydney's coastal defense situation. The largest caliber of its current coastal defense facilities are two 240mm coastal defense guns. However, these two guns are the artillery of retired warships in the last century, which pose no threat to him.
Large. As for other such as 152mm and 127mm coastal defense guns, let alone them.
Therefore, in front of such professional maritime reconnaissance ships, the traces of ships such as the Agile cannot be hidden.
Looking at the merchant ships fleeing in all directions, Lieutenant General Spey did not waste much time. He did not intend to capture these merchant ships, but planned to sink them all directly.
"Report, radio waves have just been discovered near us, the content is unknown."
Although attacking the enemy upon sight is a fine tradition of the British Navy, this does not mean that it should act recklessly. At least for now, adopting this tradition would mean suicide. As for the Royal Australian Navy, which was only established recently, it certainly knows how to adapt.
"Turn around, let's go over and see what's going on."
"Is there a power failure?"
"Sometimes, the smoke column becomes more intense. It seems like a fleet of ships is converging."
"How about we go over there and take a look at the situation."
"How come we encountered a warship here and couldn't notify it by telegram? Could it be..."
"What's wrong with this ship?"
At this moment, the lookout who finally saw the ship clearly shouted in surprise.
At this moment, Captain Philip still felt that the situation was very strange, but soon his professional knowledge made him think of a chilling possibility, and at this moment his whole face became unhappy.
To the east of where the crew of the Agile reported, the lookout on the Pierre, the vanguard of the Spey fleet, was also reporting his findings.
Don't blame the crew of the Agility for not thinking that this might be an enemy, because this was so unexpected. Who would have thought that an enemy would appear near the east coast of Australia, let alone these crew members, even the ship Phillip who hated not being able to go to the battlefield
Never thought of it.
"It's a warship. These ships are warships."
"Send a telegram to the fleet and inform us of the situation here."
Of course, if the main force of the Australian Navy is in Sydney, then Lieutenant-Admiral Spey is looking for a dead end. Before the war, the Australian Navy had a strong strength of one battle cruiser, one battleship, five cruisers and more than ten other ships.
After hearing this, Captain Philip raised his telescope to observe. At this time, including him, the entire crew of the Agile had not yet realized the danger.
It is unclear whether Sydney received Agile's telegram, but the Pace fleet was definitely the first to receive it.
"Report, a fleet has been discovered in the west. Through the observation through the telescope, it is a transport fleet. There should be one or two escort warships."
"What fleet?"
At this moment, the lookout hand who clearly saw the flag on the other side's battleship also let out a trembling scream. "This is the enemy. They are German and Italian battleships. They are rushing towards us!"
At this moment, the lookout's screams caused chaos among the people on the ship. They were just recruits who had only been in the army for a few months. It was normal for them to not know what to do when faced with an unexpected situation.
He knew that even if Sydney received the news, it would not pose much threat to him.
After all, there is no reason to block the opponent's entire fleet with hundreds of tons of Agility, other than to risk death. It only takes a few minutes for the opponent to send the Agility back to the west.
Fortunately, the first mate, boatswain and other officers of the Agility have served for many years and know how to appease these newcomers.
Following Captain Philip's order, the Agility turned away from the escorting fleet and rushed to the east.
As for the result, there is no need to think about it. How could a merchant ship running for more than ten knots escape the pursuit of a warship of more than twenty knots? Therefore, within the next two hours, each transport ship of the Fourth Transport Fleet was sunk one after another.
As for the Agility, which turned around and ran away as soon as the situation turned bad, it actually escaped. The reason is very simple. It couldn't outrun the tiger, but it could outrun its teammates. By the time the tiger took care of its teammates, it would have disappeared long ago.
Although they will be in big trouble later, at least their lives are saved now.
After taking care of the transport fleet, the Pace fleet rushed to Sydney.
