Chapter 728 - 728: This Guy Is a Genius

"General, there are some things you may not be aware of," said Vice Admiral Gai Platt cautiously. He didn't agree with Charles's fleet structure but spoke in a tactful tone. "We usually group ships of the same class together. It's easier to coordinate firing solutions when their main guns are identical."

There was a clear logic to this.

When ships of the same class fought together, if one ship landed a straddle on the target, the others could quickly adjust their fire based on that ship's firing data. In practice, this often led to concentrated volleys that could sink a target with devastating speed.

(Image above: Straddling a target, also known as "bracketing"—when shells fall just before and after the enemy, it indicates accurate firing data. A common British tactic during this period was to line up ships in a row and fire broadsides sequentially, ten seconds apart. The ship with the best results would relay the data to the rest of the fleet.)

Gai Platt assumed that Charles—being from the army—might not understand this naval principle, and that's why he was suggesting mixing ship classes.

But Charles replied calmly, without haste:

"You're right, Admiral. But grouping identical ships together also makes it easier for the enemy to hit them. That's clearly disadvantageous to forces with more, but smaller, ships. Wouldn't you agree?"

Gai Platt paused.

So Charles wasn't ignorant—he understood, and was intentionally doing the opposite.

Thinking it over, the admiral realized Charles might be right.

Most of Charles's destroyers had small displacement and light guns. If they grouped up in front of enemy battleships, they'd present a perfect concentrated target. A single enemy broadside could hit several ships.

Moreover, to successfully torpedo a battleship, destroyers needed to attack from multiple angles, not all from the same direction.

In that case, sharing gunnery data was pointless—distances between the ships would be too great.

As Gai Platt pondered this, Wells raised a question: "But why not pair ships of the same class together? Wouldn't two destroyers or two light cruisers work better for coordination and command?"

Before Charles could answer, Gai Platt jumped in: "Because we're using torpedoes to attack enemy battleships, Mr. Wells. A mixed formation is better suited for that."

"What?" Wells was still confused.

He had a bit of a perfectionist streak—he preferred the neatness of matching pairs. Why mix a large ship and a small one?

Gai Platt pulled out a coffee cup and some matches to illustrate on the table:

"Here's an enemy battleship. These are our destroyers. If they're all the same class, the enemy's rangefinders will easily get an accurate fix on their distance."

"But if the ships are different in size, it complicates the calculation significantly."

(Images above: WWI mechanical rangefinders—split-image or stereoscopic—both relied on the principle of parallax: merging offset images into one to determine distance. The error margin was about 10%, meaning a 1 km+ error over 10 km of distance.)

Wells, a shipbuilder with technical knowledge but little combat experience, suddenly understood.

"So, by mixing different ship types, we reduce the enemy's hit rate?"

"Yes, essentially," Gai Platt nodded—then glanced at Charles.

If Charles had anticipated all of this in advance, then it was nothing short of terrifying.

Could he really be a genius? Not just in land warfare, but naval warfare too?

Impossible.

Naval combat required specialized knowledge—an understanding of equipment and systems. Charles had never served in the navy.

So how did he devise this strategy?

A coincidence?

Before he could dwell on it, Charles calmly took the lead again:

"There's more to mixed formations than that, Admiral."

"As I said before, our naval tactics rely on a kind of guerrilla warfare."

He looked over at Wells. "I believe you've already discussed this concept with the admiral?"

This referred to an earlier conversation Charles had with Wells at the Brest shipyard, where he laid out a doctrine:

Use speed to stay outside enemy battleship range, pick off enemy destroyers first, then swarm isolated battleships.

Gai Platt nodded, realization dawning on his face. "So the light cruiser, with its superior firepower compared to destroyers, ensures we win those skirmishes?"

The Tenryū-class light cruiser, for example, had four 140mm guns—not comparable to battleships, of course, but far superior to the typical 100mm guns of destroyers.

Charles nodded, summarizing:

"This is asymmetric warfare at sea, gentlemen."

"We use speed to maintain initiative, destroyer cannons to suppress enemy destroyers, and torpedoes to attack enemy cruisers and battleships."

"On top of that, our light cruisers can carry large communication and reconnaissance systems, enhancing coordination between groups."

Gai Platt was nodding enthusiastically. "And most importantly, we have aircraft support."

"Yes," Charles said, pleased that the admiral was following. "So, I assume you now know how to begin training our navy?"

"Absolutely, General," Gai Platt replied.

Inwardly, he was stunned.

This guy really is a genius. Even in naval tactics.

Charles felt confident in many areas, but he knew that naval-air coordination would be the most difficult challenge.

At this point, radios were not yet commonly installed on aircraft. Even when they were, reliability was low and signals often failed.

That meant communication had to rely on flag signals or flares—and successful coordination depended largely on instinct and familiarity.

Still, for now, it wasn't an unsolvable problem.

Worst-case scenario: just have the pilots bomb the largest enemy ships they could see. That would be good enough.

Thank you for the support, friends. If you want to read more chapters in advance, go to my Patreon.

Read 30 Chapters In Advance: patreon.com/Franklin1