The moonlight on that night was so bright, and every hill, every house, and even every tree on the land was clearly visible. US Navy Colonel William Frederick Halsey stood quietly on the night battle bridge of the super-dreadnought "Mississippi", in a very serious mood. The surviving crew of the "Conway" destroyer has been rescued by US-Mexico ships, and only 87 survivors, which means that fifty-nine US Navy officers and soldiers died or disappeared. If it were during the war, it was fate that soldiers sprinkled blood on the battlefield, but the US fleet's trip was to quell the Mexican civil war. Without any provocative actions, how could the casualties of the officers and soldiers not make people angry?

Just as night fell, the ship received a clearly-coded radio notice from the US government. The White House accused the Mexican* armed forces of brutality in extremely severe terms, and called it "a separatist force that rebelled and usurped power under the name of a defender." The US government and military will spare no effort to support the Mexican government's force of rebellion and suppress the insurgency.

Immediately afterwards, the US fleet stationed at the mouth of the Almagrare River received a password telegram from the Admiralty Department, instructing them to launch artillery bombardment on the Mexican Christian Resistance Army in the middle and lower reaches of the Almagrare River after the Mexican government issued a power to request the US military to help suppress the rebellion. The Marines landed after dawn and joined the Mexican government forces to attack the Lapusca Fortress, and must level the military stronghold within two days.

From the Norfolk Naval Base to New Orleans to the estuary of Almagray, the name Lapusca Halsey has heard countless times, but has not heard or seen any military information related to it. It is tall or short, large or small, how many fortresses it has, and how many artillery it has been deployed. Halsey and his colleagues have no idea at all. Such an expedition made him feel both dissatisfied and worried. After all, the Christian Rebels in Mexico were not isolated rebels.

European allies have been secretly supporting them for a long time. Judging from the fact that the Paraguayan army can ravage Bolivia with less and more, German military equipment has significant technical advantages in actual combat. In addition, the German instructors' very rigorous work attitude, both Ireland during the war and Paraguay after the war have achieved amazing transformation in a short period of time. Isn't it because of this reason that the Mexican government forces have repeatedly suppressed the Christian Rebel Army grew stronger?

When Young Yi defeated Spain and then did not experience a large-scale war for another twenty years, the US top leaders' judgment on the situation in Mexico was inevitably suspicious of being ruthless and underestimated the enemy. Halsey didn't think it was at the beginning, but the sinking of the Conway left a series of question marks and exclamations in his heart: Is it safe to stay here with only a few light ships? Is it safe to send a few thousand Marines to land on the battlefield? Will the US fleet directly start a war against the Mexican Christ Rebel Army, which will provide excuses for the European allies to attack?

At this point, Halsey's various worries and doubts cannot change the situation. The order to prepare for combat has been issued. All the officers and soldiers of the fleet are ready to fight and vow to make the enemy pay their blood. The Mississippi and Iowa are both facing the coast on the starboard side, and 24 powerful 14-inch main guns are majestic and high in the muzzle. Although the seaplane sent to reconnaissance in the afternoon was unfortunately shot down by the opponent, the information provided by the Mexican government forces was enough to allow professional shooting commanders to calculate the shelling parameters. In order to schedule the projectile point, the fleet will also send seaplanes to try night reconnaissance.

In this quiet moment, about five kilometers away from the edge of the woods of Lapusca Fortress, the soldiers of the Mexican Christ Rebel Army had pushed the brand new "swordfish" to the takeoff position. Under its flat belly was a round guy, shaped like an oversized Mexican cigar. In the cockpit lined up in front and back, a dark-skinned and immature-faced young man sat in the back seat, but there was no one sitting in the front seat. Only a tall white young man wearing a handsome flying suit and holding a wrench to perform the final inspection of the fuel supply pipeline at the engine position.

After a while, a slight buzzing sound came from a distance. Although many people were looking around curiously, they could see that they were accustomed to this situation. Hearing this sound, the white young man quickly finished his work and handed the wrench to others, climbed onto the plane and sat in the cockpit like a knight on a horse. Unlike the previous battle and even the planes in the early 1920s, the aircraft manufactured in the late 1920s began to be powered on, but

To save weight, the "Swordfish" designed and manufactured at the same time did not have a battery or electric motor, and still used hand shaking as the only way to start. After receiving the signing of the white young man, two Mexican men, who were not tall, worked together to turn the shaking handle, and the faster they turned. The Irish "Freedom iii" engine made with Daimler technology made a coughing roar. Then, the roar suddenly became smoother, and a stream of gray-white blue smoke instantly filled the plane.

The alloy-like three-leaf propeller rotates rapidly, driving the clumsy-looking "swordfish" to glide on the grass. This naturally formed grass is definitely not as flat as a cement flight track or wooden flight deck. The plane jumps all the way during the taxiing, and the slender fuselage and wide wings tremble rhythmically. There is nothing to worry about. However, the heavy torpedo under the belly makes people pinch its head in the position of the wheel, and the tail reaches the middle of the fuselage. Whenever the aircraft jumps with a large amplitude, the tail of the torpedo almost touches the ground.

Fortunately, the plane left the ground without any danger and slowly rose into the cool breeze night sky. The previous buzzing sound became louder and closer. Two other dim aircraft appeared in the night sky as clear as a lake. Their appearance lines were like elegant "albatrosses", flying together one after another.

The three planes met in the air and flew eastward, that is, the Gulf of Mexico. People on the ground looked up and watched them gradually fade away. Suddenly, a strange whistle came from the sky, like a sharp whistle, but neither the steamer nor the locomotive could reach such a harsh level. The roar was fleeting, the ground suddenly trembled, and four huge fireballs rose one after another in the wilderness in the distance, and then an extremely loud explosion...

The smoke and clouds left by the previous round of explosion were still rising, and the harsh whistle sound of the previous one came again. Under the shock of the Mexicans, the same huge fireball rose in the fields slightly east, and the sound was deafening!

The shells shot from the Gulf of Mexico neither landed in the Lapusca Fortress nor hit villages or airports, but their terrible power was enough to shock the soldiers of the Mexican Christ Rebel Army. Even if they could hide in trenches, once such shells landed near, even the strongest fortress would be difficult to absorb the huge impact caused by the explosion.

As the massive shelling was underway, Major Anthony Gomez, a Spanish pilot who was flying the "Swordfish", and his partner, Dart Santos, the Mexican, and the two German pilots flying the "Albatross", were not only able to overlook the ground where the flames flashed and the smoke rose, but also could see the sea reflected by sparks and smoke. The shooting of the large-caliber naval guns was particularly eye-catching at night, and the position of the artillery exposed the accurate orientation and hull posture of the two American battleships. The brave bullfighters flew over the coastline with the rumbling cannons, lowering the altitude smoothly and slowly.

Two "albatrosses" followed closely behind and were ready to support them at any time.

At this time, Colonel Halsey, who moved to the Commander Tower, moved his left eyelid to the top of the commander tower, closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers. He could not hear anything except the sound of cannons in his ears.

"Sir, sir? sir!"

"Oh?" Halsey opened his eyes suddenly and saw the adjutant looking at him with a suspicious look on his face.

"Sir, the 'Detroit' sent a signal. Their catapult had some malfunction and the plane took off from the water. It seems that it would be later to provide a report on the shooting."

"I didn't have any expectations, so I'd just cancel the operation." Halsey's blurt out words implied multiple intentions. General Upperm, the commander of the team, was a naval general with high qualifications and reputation, but his ideas were rigid and his thinking was difficult to adapt to modern naval warfare. The officials of the Admiralty Department were all first-class players in politics, but they were not good at doing military affairs. Many young officers had long made suggestions that the United States should follow Germany and Ireland, carry water reconnaissance aircraft as much as possible on warships with conditions, and speed up the renewal of ship-based aircraft, and carry the latest and best radio equipment, etc.

But most suggestions were sank to the sea; when officials in the Admiralty were keen on building aircraft carriers and needed to intervene externally, they did not dispatch even an auxiliary aircraft carrier to come. The most direct consequence was that after they lost two seaplanes during the day, only three seaplanes were left in the entire dispatch detachment, which belonged to the Mississippi, Iowa and the light cruiser Detroit. The two battleships were responsible for shelling missions and were not suitable for ejection and receiving seaplanes, so they only planned to use the Curtis F6 water reconnaissance aircraft carried by the Detroit.

As early as the Battle of Jutland in 1914, the German Navy sent carrier-based aircraft to perform reconnaissance and attack missions at night. After the war, the British Navy attached special importance to night operations. The US Navy carried out night flight training step by step. The aviation force belonging to the two major fleets was first-class elite, but it was still limited to carrier-based aircraft carried by aircraft carriers. The water reconnaissance aircraft carried by combat ships have always been unattracted. In addition, the visual observation at night was indeed inefficient, and the pilots were not good at night operations in both technology and psychology.

The worst thing is that the watchmen on duty on various warships were attracted by the majestic shelling. No one noticed that a torpedo aircraft in dark paint was approaching quietly. Twenty-one years ago in the Spanish-American War, the emerging America beat the old Spanish Empire to the ground for tits. Since then, the United States' national strength has remained the world's first. Spain is deeply trapped in the trough of economic decline and social turmoil, and it has not improved until the past decade.
Chapter completed!