ps: Eritrea is still an Italian colony, not included in the German East Africa concept. It has been changed, please pay attention.

Just as Germany and Italy celebrated their impending victory, the Japanese fleet was also celebrating the extremely abundant supplies and ships. When the First Guerrilla Detachment arrived at the beach and saw the transport ships abandoned by British and American troops on the beach, they were so happy that they couldn't even close their mouths.

After using artillery fire to clear the British and American officers and soldiers on the shore, the fleet immediately put down the Marines and sailors to receive the ships. For this Indian Ocean strategy, the Joint Fleet led a total of 2 Marines, but they did not take special transport ships but were scattered on various warships. The first guerrilla detachment had a total of more than one troop of troops.

Rescuing stranded ships is a technical job, but the Japanese Navy, which has been dealing with ships and oceans for many years, has some solutions. The Marines and sailors climbed onto the transport ships quickly, first clearing the bodies on the deck, and abandoning the bodies of the British and American soldiers on the beach without hesitation. As for the expected possible firefighting, the British and American soldiers had basically not happened. The slightly injured British and American soldiers had been helped away by their companions, and after such a long period of trouble in the afternoon, they were basically finished. Even though several seriously injured people struggled and did not die, they died one by one in the face of the overwhelming force of the Japanese army.

The second step is to evaluate the degree of stranding by experienced metros and officers. The transport ship was in a low tide when the beach was rushing to the afternoon, and it was stranded far from the coast. If it was stranded at high tide, it was difficult to rescue it. It was much easier to strand at low tide. The metros estimated that the water depth of 2.5-3 meters can be increased by about 2.5-3 meters when the tide reached its highest level. Ships with poor draft can be freed by themselves by buoyancy. Especially several transport ships of major transport personnel. Because the carrying capacity has disappeared, the draft level has been greatly reduced, and they can even be rescued without waiting for the highest point. So this group was included in the earliest rescue targets.

As for those ships that are stranded deep and cannot withdraw completely by their own power during high tides, it will be a little more troublesome, and other ships have to be towed. After evaluation by the navigator of each ship, he believed that at least 80% of the ships needed to be towed, and was about to report that those ships were relatively easy to towed. Takeo Takagi was impatient to issue an order: "Don't worry about other things, those two giant tankers must be made for me. Tankers that can accompany this fleet to move quickly are good things."

The navigator rolled his eyes and said helplessly: "Sir, I'm just about to report this to you. These two tankers are very heavy and have a deep draft. The destroyer or cruiser may not be able to drag."

The two tankers that Takagi took the time to remember are both of the American Cimarron class. One is called the Salamonie.ao-26 and the other is called the Chemung (ao-30). Neosho (ao-23) sunk in the Battle of the Coral Sea is of the same class. Its displacement is as high as 25,000 tons when fully loaded with fuel, and its draft is more than 9 meters.

“How much oil is there in it?”

"The gasoline, diesel and aviation gasoline silos are all full for tanks, aircraft and vehicles, and nearly half of the heavy oil silos are still close to two-thirds of the total."

"If they can't do it, let the King Kong class come." Takeo Takagi waved his hand heroically, "That's it. We have 4 King Kong class, exactly 2 tow 1 tanker, so hurry up and set up the situation, and move quickly."

As soon as this was said, not only the navigator and even a group of staff were stunned: the miscellaneous work of towing ships has always been done by the traversed ships. Not to mention battleships, even cruisers will not end up. Today, for these two tankers, the commander was actually preparing to use the King Kong class, and it seems that he was trying too.

"But sir, what if..."

The Chief of Staff also reminded him: "Would you like to ask Chief Horikito for instructions first?"

"There are not so many, but I can't ask for instructions. If there is a big problem, I will just cut the stomach." Takeo Takagi is very bachelor. Of course, he knows the risks of towing: the warship must first take the risk of driving into shallow water. If the timing is not well controlled, an accident will even fall into it. Moreover, the large amount of stress and load generated during towing can easily damage the towing ship. Considering that the King Kong class is an old ship that is 30 years old, this risk is even greater.

The normal way to rescue stranded tankers is much more complicated than towing directly: first, you need to send a shallow water barge to approach the tanker, then use the pipeline to evacuate the fuel inside, reduce the tanker's component and draft depth, and then tow it. If this is not safe, you need to add additional buoyancy to it - this series of actions can be completed within a week, which is considered efficient. Takeo Takagi actually planned to get the tanker out tonight, which is not very difficult.

But since the words were said to this point, the people below could only bite the bullet and execute them. After saluting the Navigation Chief, he quickly prepared to make arrangements.

"Wait..." Takeo Takagi stopped him again.

The navigator looked at him in confusion. He thought Takagi wanted to change his mind, but he didn't expect that a sentence followed: "Except for rescuing the ships that could escape on their own during the high tide, all other work will be suspended. We will concentrate on dealing with the tanker. We will first replenish oil for the cruiser and destroyer. After replenishing, we will open the valve and release oil into the sea to reduce the weight."

"How much is this...reduced?"

Takeo Takagi thought about it carefully and said with a painful face: "I plan to reduce 2,000 tons of heavy oil each." After all, heavy oil is the least valuable.

After the supply pipeline was erected, the destroyers first rushed forward, and then the light and heavy cruisers rushed to replenish supplies. As we walked from the Indian Ocean, the destroyers' oil had long disappeared. They could only hold on to the oil from the battleships and cruisers in the middle. The cost of the two days ago, coupled with the high-speed sprint that did not count for losses today, the fuel consumption was extremely large, so Takeo Takagi saw that the tanker was extremely precious.

After each ship recharged approximately 3,000 tons of heavy oil, a large amount of black heavy oil was discharged directly into the sea, and the draft and portion of the tanker began to be reduced, and they would discharge until the tow was successful.

The thick steel cables were mounted, and each tanker had two, one connected to the tanker and the other one connected to several King Kong-class ships. There was an angle of about 15 degrees between the two ships. This was carefully calculated, which could not only give full play to the power of the towing without easily forming a collision. Everyone was very nervous, and it was the first time to use a battleship to carry out the towing mission - not to mention that new sailors have not seen such a rare scene in recent years, and even the veteran Zo-class officers who have been living in the navy for more than 20 years have seen it. After careful calculations, the navigators selected the highest tide at 3:47 am to carry out the action.

As time passed by minute by minute, the sea water slowly began to rise, and ships gradually escaped from the stranding with their own power. However, the entire guerrilla detachment's eyes were focused on the tanker, and batches of flares illuminated the coast as if it were daylight. Although Takeo Takagi seemed to be sitting calmly in the position where he often sat in the commander's tower, his white face and clenched fists had already betrayed his inner tension and anxiety.

In order to minimize the weight, only the smallest personnel were left on the tanker, and all the infrequently used accessories were thrown into the sea by the sailors. As time approached the critical moment, the tanker main engine was fully operated, making a low and surging sound. The hull had swayed slightly under the push of the waves, but these alone seemed not enough to escape from the shallows.

“Countdown, 10, 9, 8…”

"Time is here!"

"Two cars back one!"

"Yes! Two cars retreated!" The sailor skillfully pushed the car clock to the designated position, and the cabin immediately executed the vehicle instructions, and drove the host to retreat.

At the same time, the King Kong-level horsepower had already been adjusted to the maximum, making a huge roar, pulling the thick steel cable straight.

With the buoyancy of the rising tide, the power of the tanker itself, plus the pulling power of the two King Kong-class towed ships of up to 270,000 main engines, a circle of cruisers in the distance, amid the cheers of the officers and soldiers on the destroyer, the huge body of the tanker finally began to move slowly, and then slowly moved towards the deep sea, gradually retreating from the beach, and regaining freedom.

"It's successful!"

"Quick, turn off the oil drain valve."

"Sir, it's done." The Chief of Staff, who was paying attention to the whole process on the deck, swept into the commander's tower like a wind.

Takeo Takagi walked out of the commander's tower with his sweaty body and barely smiled at everyone: "Everyone has done a good job, now hurry up and cheer for the warship."

"Yes, sir."

Everyone admires Takagi Takeo with great admiration. The courageous Chief Hori Teiki is too far away and can only look up to him. Chief Takagi is also very courageous!

With the spirit of hard work, the First Guerrilla Detachment, including the oil tanker, was rescued by 9 transport ships overnight. However, these ships accounted for one-seventh of the total stranded fleet, and many ships were still trapped in the shallows, especially those transport ships filled with tanks, armored vehicles, trucks, howitzers and other materials. The Marines' eyes were straight and they couldn't even move their steps. These mighty and majestic tanks are much stronger than the bean chariots. Not only the army needs tanks, but also the Marines!

Takeo Takagi looked at the numerous transport ships and said with emotion: "You have to call the commander to send more ships and soldiers, otherwise there will be no time at all."

"Sir, the First Guerrilla Detachment sent a telegram." Kuro Renyi reported to Hori Teiki excitedly, "After a night of hard work, they rescued nine ships, including two oil tankers, and there were at least 25,000 tons of various types of oil. The detachment is now replenishing oil. If there is no special instructions today, they will continue to rescue the other stranded ships, requesting the mobile fleet to send aircraft to cover it to prevent possible damage from the British army, and at the same time requesting to send more ships to strengthen rescue forces."

"Have you got two fast large tankers?" Hori Teiki slapped his handrail and stood up. He was more happy than Kuraku. He took the telegram and read it carefully three times, with a satisfied smile on his lips, "Good job! I should give Takagi the first grade! The next combat plan...I already have it."
Chapter completed!