Chapter 29: A Stalemate
Cam Ranh Bay is a natural deep-water harbor in southeastern Vietnam, but because the port was too large, the French did not build it as a military port, and Cam Ranh Bay has always been used for commercial purposes. The Russian fleet of over 50 warships suddenly gathered here after an unimaginable long voyage, making Cam Ranh Bay more exposed with its originally imperfect port facilities. The Russian fleet set sail from the Baltic Sea, passing through the North Sea, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and the South China Sea, traveling over 18,000 nautical miles. Because the Suez Canal was controlled by the British, the Russian fleet could not pass through it and had to go around the Cape of Good Hope, taking more than eight months to arrive here. The entire crew was exhausted, and the ships were covered with all kinds of marine life. If they did not thoroughly rest and maintain their ships, the combat effectiveness of the fleet would probably not be able to reach even half of its capacity. However, since Cam Ranh Bay did not have more maintenance facilities, the Russians had no choice but to let the crew rest for two weeks. On May 23rd, the entire fleet slowly sailed out of the French port, passing through the Taiwan Strait and heading towards their destination, Vladivostok, also known as Haishenwei.
Liu Yubian has been closely monitoring the Russian fleet, and the Japanese have not relaxed their vigilance. Due to the Russians' global tour, this time the formation of the fleet was basically without any secrets, and the British-controlled ports along the way would occasionally report the Russians' movements to the Japanese in a timely manner.
The Japanese were also uneasy about the arrival of the Russian fleet. After all, the Russian Navy was much stronger than the Japanese Combined Fleet in terms of both quantity and quality. The Russians had six battleships, while the Japanese had only two; the Russians had 12 cruisers, while the Japanese had 21, but nearly half of these were old vessels that could not even enter the main fleet during the First Sino-Japanese War. Compared to the Russian ships, which were all new and state-of-the-art, the Japanese ships had no advantages other than numerical superiority. However, the Russians had traveled a long distance and their journey was arduous and prolonged; they had not yet undergone regular maintenance and repairs, so it was difficult to assess how much fighting strength they still possessed. The Japanese, on the other hand, were at home and could afford to wait for the enemy to tire themselves out; according to British intelligence reports, they had already conducted many targeted exercises in preparation for the battle. Therefore, the outcome of the battle was still uncertain.
Others may not know, but Liu Ye understands that although it was through his own unsuccessful butterfly-like struggles, the current situation suggests that history is likely to repeat itself. Since his previous efforts were not enough, after years of endurance, this time Liu Ye is prepared to flap his wings with all his might, regardless of whether he can change history or not, first scatter these two powerful enemies around him, so they won't come back to bother him in a few years.
Because he knew that the Japanese and Russian fleets would probably engage in battle in a certain sea area, Liu Fei sent out nearly 50 "Shark-class" submarines from Taiwan's two submarine squadrons, as well as 40 improved "Tuna-class" submarines that had not been replaced. These submarines were divided into three groups, with two groups heading directly to the Tsushima Strait between northern Japan and Korea, where they lay in wait for the enemy fleets to engage each other. The remaining group followed far behind the Russian fleet, quietly making their way to the expected battle zone.
Liu's plan this time was to ambush the Taiwanese Navy's nearly 100 submarines in the waters where Japan and Russia were at war, and after the Japanese and Russian fleets exchanged fire, to launch torpedo sneak attacks on both fleets according to the situation, with the ultimate goal of sinking all the warships of both sides. If this goal could not be achieved, it was also necessary to sink as many main combat ships of both sides as possible.
To achieve this goal, the staff of the Taiwan Ministry of National Defense Navy and submarine commanders jointly planned a more detailed and practical combat plan called "Tiger Shark Action". In this plan, Taiwan's three submarine groups would adopt a pre-ambush and follow-up approach to gradually determine the accurate location of both sides' engagement. Through radio communication, each submarine group's intelligence would be synchronized, and then take advantage of the chaos of battle to selectively launch torpedo attacks on designated target ships. This selectivity meant choosing to attack the side with the upper hand, making the naval battle between the two sides nearly evenly matched, thereby prolonging the time for Taiwan's submarines to launch sneak attacks and inflict maximum losses on the Japanese-Russian fleet. Finally, a unified attack would be launched to try to annihilate dozens of main force ships and remaining auxiliary vessels from both sides.
However, the execution of this plan is very difficult. It's not that Taiwan doesn't have enough submarines or that their attack power is weak. The current "Shark-class" submarine has not only strengthened its range and speed but also upgraded its main attack weapon - torpedoes to the more powerful 533mm "Type III" torpedo. This heavy-duty torpedo, weighing over 700kg, has nearly 200kg of explosive in its warhead alone. Due to the adoption of a more advanced magnetic explosion, its power is many times higher than the original collision explosion.
Although the magnetic explosion has basically the same explosive force as the collision explosion, the collision-type explosion is triggered only after the torpedo collides with the ship's hull. As a result, part of the torpedo's explosive force is transmitted and dispersed along the hull, causing the explosion to create a large hole in the hull. For battleships with larger tonnage, if the torpedo does not hit a vital area and damage control measures are taken in time, one or two torpedoes may not be enough to cause the ship to lose its combat effectiveness or sink.
In contrast, magnetic exploders detonate the torpedo's explosive charge without actually touching the ship's hull, relying on the ship's own magnetic field. As a result, there is still a layer of seawater between the torpedo and the ship's hull, which has a high density and low compressibility. This layer of seawater will be compressed by the explosion and pushed towards the ship's hull, causing the area of the hull near the explosion to be lifted upwards while other areas are pulled downwards by the ship's own weight. This causes the entire hull to deform, potentially leading to a catastrophic failure of the keel, resulting in loss of propulsion or flooding.
Even if the ship does not sink immediately, it will no longer be seaworthy and will require extensive repairs. In modern times, even with advanced technology, repairing a high-tonnage ship's deformed or broken keel is extremely difficult, if not impossible, and may require scrapping the ship or leaving it to sink.
Since the difficulty is not in the submarine's attack power, where is the difficulty? The difficulty lies in the ever-changing battlefield. With nearly 100 ships from both Japan and Russia mixed together, it is almost impossible to control the battlefield without being detected. Especially since the Japanese Navy has been ambushed three times before, even if they can't confirm that it was a submarine ambush, even the most foolish navy should have learned something useful from these experiences. This makes it even harder to control the situation.
Even if heaven favors, without being discovered by both sides, Taiwan's submarine sneak attack, it is very difficult to eliminate so many ships from both sides, because the Japanese combined fleet can be said to have come out in full force, not only did they join several decades-old wooden steam gunboats into the fleet, but also mixed in dozens of torpedo boats, these small-bodied, fast-speeded semi-torpedo speedboats, once discovered abnormal, will definitely disperse and escape from the battlefield, even chasing is impossible.
In addition, the two sides are not in a fixed sea area, punching and kicking each other, but rather fighting while moving. Once one side decides to retreat, the situation becomes difficult to control. Taiwanese submarines not only need to attack high-speed moving targets, but also prevent being discovered by other warships patrolling around and being hit or rammed.
To prevent the failure of the first plan, the staff and submarine commanders also developed another plan, which was to send a portion of submarines to the sea area where the two sides were fighting for a surprise attack. The remaining submarines were divided into two parts, one lurking near Port Arthur and the other near Sasebo military port. Whether it was the Japanese combined fleet or the Russian fleet, they would have to return home after the battle. These submarines would ambush these tired and slack fleets at their doorstep.
The second plan looks reasonable, but infiltrating the enemy's naval port and ambushing their fleet is also a highly technically difficult task. After weighing the pros and cons, Liu Fei still approved the first combat plan, because whether or not to annihilate both sides' fleets, at least in the open sea, the room for maneuver of his submarine force would be much larger than going to the enemy's port. If discovered or surrounded, relying on the speed and diving depth of the "Shark-class" or "Tuna-class" improved submarines, they should be able to safely escape the combat zone, so their own losses will not be too great.
