Chapter 1195 - Interception

"We sailed east in the South China Sea. The Feiyun navigated from the front, followed by the flagship Nongchao, the collier Haifeng in the middle, and finally the Daishuang commanded by me. The ships formed a single column. The gunboat I commanded was the rear ship. Shortly after exiting the port and turning east, the flagship ordered tacking against the wind to conserve fuel. This greatly reduced speed, but the plan was to reserve fuel for the search and combat phases—time was sufficient. En route, every morning at 0800 hours, the four ships communicated with each other via radio and reported to the Lingao main station. We conducted several coaling operations at sea—perilous situations abounded. Before reaching the Balintang Channel, we made sudden course changes several times; presumably Feiyun's radar detected passing ships. But we never saw any ships directly. Only at the Balintang Channel did we spot several small islands of the Babuyan group. We passed through the Balintang Channel, rounded Luzon from the north, and the dark blue Philippine Sea unfolded before our eyes."
— Memoirs of Lü Yang (Internal Distribution) Volume I

Guided by Feiyun's radar, the formation maintained a distance of approximately twenty nautical miles from Luzon Island and began turning south. Along the way, winds were predominantly southeasterly below force 4, making sailing quite strenuous. Fortunately, ample time had been reserved. On July 13th, the formation rounded Catanduanes Island from the east. Far on the horizon, the "world's most perfect cone"—Mayon Volcano on Luzon—stood silhouetted in the west; faint traces of volcanic ash seemed present among the few cirrus clouds in the blue sky. Continuing south, they reached the predetermined interception point the next day.

"San Bernardino Strait reached. But the coast here is full of coral reefs; we'd better stay safe and far from shore."

"Let's deploy search formation tomorrow morning. Today we'll land and briefly survey Samar Island."

The formation anchored not far from Samar Island. Lin Chuanqing, ever cautious, ordered the formation to stand by in a bay of a small island on the other side. Although Feiyun's weather radar showed all quiet, typhoons generated and developed extremely fast; for steamships, evasion was difficult once one was encountered.

Small boats were lowered from the ships. The special ops team went ashore for a day of investigation, finding no Spanish strongholds—only glimpsing some local fishing villages from afar. But the mosquitoes were numerous and terrifying. Before sunset, the special ops team withdrew to the ships. Legazpi City under Mayon Volcano wouldn't be built for a few more years, and the transmigrators were temporarily too lazy to survey it anyway.

Sailors caught some fresh seafood by the shore, so the Elders held a simple BBQ gathering aboard Feiyun.

"This is where the kill-stealing King Nowaki got beaten into parts, right? Coward Kurita and Bull Halsey—how great it would be to have a BB gun duel here."

"How about we sponsor a few countries here later, specifically for an ironclad arms race? Steam, iron armor plus heavy guns, lining up here to blast each other—magnificent!"

"We'll just watch from airships in the sky? Quite like Celestial Dragons. Probably won't happen until the day we die."

The Elders chatted and laughed on Feiyun's deck while drinking Qian Shuiting's private stash of California wine.

"Battleship tech level is high. Don't know if we can ever reach that..."

"Personally I'm fond of that pile of weird ironclads from the late nineteenth century—bloated hulls, short thick guns, strange masts... so industrially beautiful. In comparison, post-Dreadnoughts were all cut from one mold, inevitably boring."

On the morning of July 15th, the formation deployed into search configuration sailing east. The Type 854 modification was at the northernmost end, barely visible from Luzon, while Feiyun held the southernmost position. Ships were spaced five nautical miles apart, spreading into a fifteen-nautical-mile-long Northwest-Southeast search line. A simple radio message was sent to Lingao: "Formation has deployed search at predetermined interception point."

Upon receiving the report, Chen Haiyang said to Fu Sansi: "The voyage was quite smooth, better than expected. Not bad for a first open ocean voyage."

"Not encountering anyone along the way wasn't easy. If only completing the mission could be this smooth too."

The interception point was indeed not a busy shipping lane; no merchant ships passed for several days. Even when signals appeared on radar, they were merely small local fishing boats. Although some suggested "kill one every five steps, leave no trace for a thousand miles," the leadership thought it too troublesome and meaningless.

"What can these Malay paupers possibly have? Not even worth the coal and bullets we'd consume." Lin Chuanqing stroked his beard.

At dawn on July 18th, Feiyun's radar detected a signal twenty-five nautical miles to the east, moving slowly westward. Feiyun immediately telegraphed to summon the entire formation. The distance was still great; when combat started, walkie-talkies would prove more real-time.

All ships increased boiler power to maximum, converging first. Half an hour later, as ships entered walkie-talkie range, Zhou Weisen impatiently grabbed the walkie-talkie requesting Nongchao to lower a boat to pick him up. Feiyun was too distinctive for this timeline, with low freeboard unsuitable for combat. It could only perform surveillance from afar.

After convergence, Nongchao took the lead with Daishuang in rear, heading toward the silver ship in single column. Only Feiyun—with Zhou Weisen leaving a few people behind—and Haifeng remained in place, maintaining radar monitoring of positions. Simultaneously, Feiyun telegraphed Lingao: "Suspicious target discovered, fleet closing to engage. Wind Southeast, light breeze, wave height one meter."

Over an hour later, the target finally appeared in the telescopes of anxious commanders on Nongchao's bridge. As if rising from underwater, three masts gradually grew tall above the horizon, followed by the spanker mast, bowsprit, and the towering forecastle and poop of a Spanish galleon. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief—they had run all this way and finally caught her!

This vessel's size was truly significant. Lin Chuanqing estimated displacement over 1000 tons—only such a large ship could undertake the heavy responsibility of crossing the Pacific to transport Royal funds from New Spain to Manila. Judging from her draft, she was fully loaded.

He noticed the Castilian royal standard flying from the mast. Correct—this was a Royal galleon. The Manila Galleon they had sought so tenaciously.

"Raise flags! Prepare for battle!" Lin Chuanqing issued the order with visible excitement. His command was immediately transmitted to Daishuang via walkie-talkie. Both ships simultaneously hoisted the "Prepare for Battle" signal flag.

"Fleet attention—pivot on flagship, turn right in sequence!"

"All fleet attention—turn left simultaneously!"

After completing the maneuvers, the two ships deployed into line abreast, closing head-on toward the Spanish galleon.

"Even if this ship originally had 80 durability, now she's got at most 60 left—saves us a round of HE shells," Lü Yang muttered to himself. Through his telescope, the ship's condition appeared rather miserable; rigging was damaged in many places—she had evidently encountered a storm. This also explained why she sailed alone instead of in formation with another galleon. She had clearly spotted the oncoming fleet and sensed danger. She was attempting to turn left into the wind; obviously, she knew she couldn't escape even with the wind at her back, but the turn was very slow and labored.

"Looks like her rudder is damaged. You can't run—just wait to have your 'T' crossed."

Next, the fleet turned right again into column formation proceeding east, continuing to cut toward the galleon's bow. When the distance closed to an estimated 2000 meters, Lin Chuanqing ordered: "Distance 2000 meters—load HE, each gun fire one round."

The 130mm guns mounted on the deck terrace fired almost simultaneously, but the shells all fell short, with scatter everywhere. Everyone on the bridge shook their heads.

"This fire control equipment is simply trash; it'll anger Papa Fei to death," Zhou Weisen cursed.

"Not hitting might actually be good," Lin Chuanqing shook his head. "If we manage a lucky direct hit on the magazine, we came for nothing."

Thinking of this, Zhou Weisen broke into a cold sweat. It felt exactly like hitting a rat in a china shop.

"Close further!" Lin Chuanqing issued the next order. At this range they could only learn from Nelson; fortunately, the Spaniards' effective range would only be shorter and less accurate.

"1000 meters—load HE! Fleet volley!" This time accuracy was much better; the galleon was instantly shrouded in water columns. Because of her slow turn and long distance, Spanish broadside guns couldn't fire at all, reduced to a sitting duck.

"Fire for effect! Load HE—careful not to hit the waterline!" Lin Chuanqing noticed some trajectories were low and hurriedly added the caution. The formation continued east, crossing the galleon's bow. Water columns rose frequently near the galleon, but hits weren't clear. Even in telescopes, commanders could only mutter "some smoke—one hit, maybe?" However, one lucky shot showed obvious effect to everyone: the main topmast suddenly trembled, then fell backward with rigging, smashing onto the deck before drooping over the starboard side.

"Damn, that's miserable. The ship is paralyzed—but probably ruined." Zhou Weisen couldn't help cursing softly. "Which gunner aimed so true, sniping the mast."

After crossing the bow, the formation turned left, sailing parallel but opposite to the galleon, continuing to shell. Broadsides now faced each other; the opponent's gun deck finally started speaking while taking hits itself, but its return fire posed no threat whatsoever. After one shot, suddenly a ball of fire erupted from a gun position, blooming into thick smoke.

"Bad—looks like Spanish gunpowder caught fire."

(End of Chapter)