The Rise Of Australasia

After successfully attracting the attention of Australasian Pacific Squadron's main force, the Island Nation fleet finally activated their communication systems and radar.

This was done not only to facilitate exchanges between warships but also to provide their movement information to the Australasian Navy warships in the rear.

If fishing was the objective, then only catching something would count as a success; the Air Force alone didn't complete the mission, which is why Kondo Niita kept monitoring the Australasian fleet's movements on the radar.

Due to differences in radar technology, the Island Nation's radar couldn't clearly display the number of the Australasian fleet. But the radar did detect a huge fleet some dozens of nautical miles behind, slowly heading in their direction.

"Calculate the enemy's speed and ensure our safety as much as possible," Kondo Niita instructed while looking at the slowly moving green dots on the radar screen.

More than ten minutes later, the calculation of both parties' navigation speeds was finally completed. The radar indicated that the Australasian fleet was traveling at about 23 knots, which was evidently slower than the Island Nation fleet's speed of 25 knots.

This also meant that Kondo Niita's fleet was very safe for the time being.

Upon confirming his own safety, Kondo Niita hurriedly sent a telegram to Isoroku Yamamoto in Tokyo Bay, reminding the United Fleet to make emergency preparations.

To win this naval battle, Isoroku Yamamoto had divided the United Fleet into three parts. The first part was the division fleet led by Kondo Niita, tasked with attracting the main force of the Australasian Navy to Tokyo Bay.

The second part consisted of some of the naval main force in Tokyo Bay, whose task was to contain the arriving Australasian fleet within Tokyo Bay, ensuring the Shore Defense Turrets on the coast could exert their full power.

The third part was the main force of the United Fleet led by Isoroku Yamamoto himself, which would navigate to the southeast of Tokyo Bay and, after confirming the entire Australasian Navy entered Tokyo Bay, would stealthily move to their rear and together with the other two fleets complete the encirclement of the Australasian Navy.

As long as the passage from the southern part of Tokyo Bay to the Pacific Ocean could be blocked, Tokyo Bay would become a completely closed-off nearshore zone, which was exactly the guillotine Isoroku Yamamoto had premeditated for the Australasian Navy.

While the Island Nation United Fleet rushed to prepare, the main force of the Australasian Pacific Squadron, dozens of nautical miles behind Kondo Niita's fleet, was also moving mightily towards Tokyo Bay.

Though unsure of what the Islanders were scheming, for safety's sake, following the directive of Chief of Staff Malong, an aircraft carrier and a battleship had been transferred from the Indian Ocean Fleet to the Pacific Squadron to strengthen the number of principal warships in the Pacific Squadron.

Simultaneously, the Australasian deployment of the Air Force was expanded on both Ryukyu Islands and Iwo Jima. Currently, both locations have at least 2000 airplanes available, and with the naval aircraft, the number of airplanes that could be deployed in a naval battle had already exceeded 3000.

With an absolute advantage in both the number of principal warships and airplanes, Commander-in-Chief of Pacific Squadron Jon Odell was brimming with confidence.

Even knowing that there was something off about the Islanders' actions, Jon Odell still chose to follow the Islanders' plan.

After all, supporting him was the Pacific Squadron's main force, and over 2000 airplanes could also arrive within three hours.

As both sides chased each other, after over ten hours of navigation, they finally neared the Tokyo Bay area.

Kondo Niita understood that merely fleeing would obviously not be enough to lure the Australasian Navy into Tokyo Bay. To achieve their combat objective, some sacrifice was inevitably unavoidable.

As they approached Tokyo Bay, two light cruisers in the fleet gradually slowed down, waiting for the Australasian fleet to draw closer.

They would serve as bait to entice the Australasian Navy into Tokyo Bay, ensuring the success of this operation.

In the chase between the two fleets, the Australasian Navy and the Islanders' warships were drawing ever closer. Half an hour later, Jon Odell naturally also spotted the two light cruisers at the rear of the Island Nation fleet.

"Fire! Sink them!" Without much hesitation, Jon Odell issued the order.

Upon hearing the order, warships of the Australasian fleet quickly changed direction, and the ship guns fired in unison, their assault ferocious.

Boom! Boom!

Facing bombardment from a multitude of main force warships, the two light cruisers had no ability to strike back. However, the Islanders clearly didn't intend to be mere targets, as they returned fire while leisurely retreating towards Tokyo Bay.

Seeing the movement of the Island Nation's warships, Jon Odell understood that the Islanders must have prepared something in Tokyo Bay. Otherwise, they wouldn't have lured the Australasian Navy into Tokyo Bay so blatantly.

"The enemy might have placed mines in Tokyo Bay. Deploy some submarines to lead the way; I want to see what other tricks these Islanders have up their sleeves," Jon Odell ordered.

If the Islanders had laid mines, it certainly would be a strategy that hurts the enemy a thousand and oneself eight hundred.

After all, this is Tokyo Bay, the maritime area where the Island Nation's capital is located. If mines were used to block off this water area, it would not only affect the Australasian warships but also impact many of the Island Nation's civilian vessels.

The good news was that, along the way, no warships encountered any mines. This meant that the Islanders had at least not lost all their humanity, and this naval battle was likely to still focus mainly on warship engagements.