The Rise Of Australasia-Chapter 1270 - 933 Hunter and Prey_2

Chapter 1270: Chapter 933: Hunter and Prey_2

Chapter 1270 -933: Hunter and Prey_2

Soon, Kondo Niita and his team found their target.

It was a transport ship specifically responsible for shuttling troops back and forth, capable of transporting at least three to five thousand people each time.

Because the waters from Hiroshima to the Ryukyu Islands were patrolled by the Australasian Navy every day, and with Air Force reconnaissance aircraft continuously spreading across the area, there were no protective warships surrounding the transport ship.

However, a single transport ship was clearly not enough to satisfy the appetites of Kondo Niita and his colleagues.

After all, their goal was to attract the attention of the Australasian Navy’s main force, and sinking several official warships was necessary to provoke their notice.

Nevertheless, this transport ship was a good start, especially as it definitely had the necessary communication equipment onboard, perfectly suited to attract other Australasian warships to the area.

To avoid directly drawing the main force of the Australasian Navy, Kondo Niita decided to dispatch a single warship.

Due to the small size of their fleet, the task of sinking the transport ship fell to a light cruiser.

With a displacement of less than 4,000 tons, such a small warship attacking the enemy’s troop carrier should not attract main battleships of over 20,000 tons.

As long as the warships that came to support were not main battleships above twenty thousand tons, Kondo Niita’s fleet could easily handle them.

After all, he was in possession of a battlecruiser, with a displacement exceeding 20,000 tons, truly a main battleship in its own right.

Before long, the dispatched light cruiser appeared in the visual range of the Australasian troop carrier.

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The captain of the light cruiser was quite excited; successfully completing this mission would likely mean a promotion for him.

How could the captain of a light cruiser possibly appease his ambitions? As an ambitious navy officer, of course, commanding a main battleship was much more enticing.

The cruiser approached the transport ship slowly, which was per Kondo Niita’s instructions, to allow the troop carrier more time to report back to the mainland and attract more warships.

About a few minutes later, when the full view of the troop carrier was clear from the light cruiser, they chose to open fire.

Boom! Boom boom!

Although the firearms on the light cruiser were not of a large caliber, they were lethal enough for a troop carrier of this kind.

More importantly, to effectively transport troops, some of the weapons on the transport ship had been dismantled and hence stood no chance against the light cruiser.

After just over ten minutes, the troop carrier was struck by several shells, its cabins ruptured and took on water, eventually sinking into the ocean.

As the troop carrier slowly sank, a large number of soldiers chose to jump overboard. This scene was witnessed by the Island cruiser, who totally let down their guard and anticipated that the troop carrier would bring them more spoils of war.

The Island officers, immersed in the preliminary success of their plan, never even considered whether their actions would attract the Australasian Air Force first.

Would it attract the Air Force?

Of course not.

Even the troop transport was actually a decoy deliberately set up by the Australasian Navy. There indeed were soldiers on the transport, but they were disguised indigenous Kalimantan people.

Even the sailors manning the ship were mostly Filipinos.

The Island sub-fleet thought they were luring the main fleet of Australasia, but little did they know they had bitten the real decoy and were bringing a ferocious tiger into their home.

The distress message from the transport ship soon reached Kyushu Island and was relayed to the combat headquarters on the Ryukyu Islands.

If, under normal circumstances, before the navy set out, the air force would have already been deployed. After all, the speed of airplanes far exceeds that of warships, and even if the enemy deployed their main battleships, the planes could cope for a while.

But at this time, in order to put on a convincing act for the Islanders, Australasia did not dispatch any air force, and even the navy ships chosen were old, decrepit warships that had already been decommissioned ten years ago.

The main force of the Australasian Pacific Squadron would follow these warships, and once the Islanders sank these old, decrepit warships, the main battleships would keep sending out communication signals to remind the Islanders that it was time to get down to business.

The purpose of this was to minimize casualties among the Australasian Navy soldiers on the old warships. If the warships remained silent, the navy soldiers could briefly float on the sea’s surface.

As long as the rescue was timely, most of the navy soldiers could still be saved.

Both parties were acting according to plan, and their expressions were relaxed. Seeing that only a few medium and small Australasian warships had come to their aid and that their number was not great, Kondo Niita finally breathed a sigh of relief, and with a confident smile, he ordered the entire fleet to move out and sink these ships in a short time.

As long as they could eliminate these medium and small warships, they would surely attract the attention of the main fleet of the Australasian Pacific Squadron.

By then, the mission of their detachment would be essentially accomplished.

The battle proceeded more smoothly than expected, the Australasian Navy was indeed retaliating, but the problem was that these old, decrepit warships, due to long periods of decommissioning, were doing well to even get moving, let alone participate in such a naval battle.

However, this was also good news; at least the navy soldiers didn’t even have to pretend—the current situation was that they genuinely couldn’t beat the Island Royal Navy.

Meanwhile, after the exchange of fire between the two fleets, the Island Royal Navy had been maintaining the initiative. After sinking an Australasian cruiser first, the Island Royal Navy gained a complete advantage, driving back the Australasian Navy step by step.

Although the naval battle was somewhat easy, for people like Kondo Niita, they would not think there was anything amiss with the Australasians.

Especially since the enemy’s counterattack was fierce, the Islanders would only feel their combat power was much stronger, and with their heads clouded by the joy of victory, no one would consider any of the flaws in the situation.

This naval battle lasted for over two hours; of the three medium and small Australasian warships that came to assist, two had sunk, and one was severely damaged, obviously having lost its combat capability.

When the Islanders wanted to finish off the last cruiser in one go, the communication signal from the Pacific Squadron finally sounded.

Upon hearing the report from his subordinates, Kondo Niita’s face showed excitement. They had finally attracted the main force of the Australasian Navy, and their current mission was half completed.

“Continue to sink that cruiser, then all warships should return to Tokyo Bay at maximum speed,” Kondo Niita quickly ordered.

The best way to draw hatred was to sink all of the enemy’s warships without hesitation as the enemy’s main battleships were about to arrive.

In this way, as long as the soldiers of the Australasian Navy had a sense of honor, they would certainly not let go of Kondo Niita’s detachment.

Kondo Niita had exactly this plan in mind. As long as he could draw the ire of the main force of the Australasian Navy, he could smoothly attract these fleets near Tokyo Bay.

What followed would be a matter for naval high officials like Yamamoto Isoroku; at least as far as Kondo Niita was concerned, his detachment’s mission was already complete.

The response of the Island warships was swift, firing without hesitation at the severely damaged light cruiser.

In a matter of minutes, the light cruiser, which was heavily damaged and had lost power, was sunk on the sea’s surface.

Having achieved a significant victory, the Island fleet did not hesitate to quickly turn around and head towards Tokyo Bay.

Meanwhile, dozens of nautical miles away, the main force of the Australasian Pacific Squadron had gathered. On the radar display, they could clearly see the movements of that detachment of the Island fleet.

Seeing them all retreating towards Tokyo, Commander-in-Chief Jon Odell of the Pacific Squadron revealed a mysterious smile and instructed his messenger to convey his orders: “Leave a few small warships responsible for rescuing soldiers who fell into the sea, and the rest of the warships to maintain a certain distance and pursue this detachment of the Island Royal Navy.

I want to see what these Islanders are up to, and hope they can prepare a good show so as not to disappoint.”