After staring at the chart for a long time, Lieutenant General Codrington still couldn't imagine where those Ming fleets that broke into the Indian Ocean went?
Not Ceylon, not Male, not Chittagong, and not even the port of Chennai on the east coast of India... They don't want to block the Suins Canal in the Gulf of Aden, right?
At the end of the analysis, Lieutenant General Codrington actually came up with an answer that was closest to the truth!
But then he was frightened by his idea, because in the past two years, the United Kingdom and the Indian Empire had been preparing for war with all their strength, and all the old ships had been renovated and renovated in the factory. Therefore, the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet is in a period of low strength. Not only is the main fleet stationed in Mumbai insufficient, but the four squadrons stationed in Malacca, the Gulf of Aden, Chittagong, and Ceylon are also weak and simply not strong enough. To withstand the attack of such a huge main formation of the Ming Navy...
Once the Ming army occupied the Gulf of Aden, the shortcut from India to the British mainland would be controlled by the Ming navy. This is really detrimental to the Royal Indian Navy, which is far away from the British mainland!
Although the Ming Dynasty naval formation that broke into the Indian Ocean was much stronger than his own, Lieutenant General Codrington decided to take a chance... He did not have no chance of winning. Although his ship was not as good as his opponent, he Behind it is the Mumbai plant of Hindustan Shipyards.
Therefore, if his warships were damaged in the battle with Ming Dynasty, they could immediately return to Bombay for repairs. Once the Ming Dynasty's warships are damaged, they can only return to the Ming Dynasty Navy's Borneo Shipyard east of the Strait of Malacca for repairs.
Judging from the previous experience of the Jiyin Waterway Battle, it is not easy to sink a battleship or an armored ship, but it is relatively easy to damage them. So whoever has the better repair shop has an advantage.
Thinking of this, Lieutenant General Codrington seemed to have made a lot of determination. He turned around and asked the staff around him: "Where is Colonel Jervis's vanguard formation now?"
The so-called vanguard formation is a vanguard formation composed of three Blake-class fast armored cruisers with a fleet age of 6 and 7 years and three Surprise-class notification cruisers.
The mission of this formation is to conduct reconnaissance and search in front of the main fleet, and to cover the attack of the large formation or "grease the bottom of the ship"... This is a bit like the light cavalry on land, but without radar or aircraft In the era of , this was the only way to detect enemies.
Among the fleets of various naval powers, those who undertake this mission are usually fast armored cruisers coupled with a few fast cruisers that can serve as notification ships.
The so-called reporting ship is actually a "reporting ship".
Because wireless telegraphy was not yet popular these days - the ships of the Ming Dynasty were all equipped with wireless telegraphs. The British side was also said to have built a prototype of a radio station. This was also the reason why the Ming Dynasty began to sell radio stations with its ships. However, British radio stations have just begun to try mass production, but the output is very low and the quality of the products is unstable. Therefore, the Navy has not yet equipped a large number of radio stations, and only a few ships are trialling them. In the Indian fleet, there is not even a single ship equipped with a radio station.
Therefore, the Royal Indian Navy can only rely on fast and light cruisers and destroyers to serve as notification ships. It uses its own high speed to travel back and forth on the sea to communicate information.
And this efficiency is of course very impressive!
There are currently three Surprise-class notification ships in the vanguard formation that serves as the vanguard of the fleet. This kind of notification ship has a displacement of only 1,650 tons and a main engine power of up to 2,000 horsepower under natural ventilation conditions, allowing the ship to run up to 16 knots. speed, and under strong ventilation, the main engine power can reach 3,000 horsepower and can run up to 17 knots.
This speed... is far inferior to that of the Nandao-class passenger ships. You can imagine how fast technology has progressed in recent years!
"The flag signal was announced an hour ago. They have arrived near Goa."
Lieutenant General Codrington's eyes returned to the sea map. Although Goa was a colony of the Portuguese, due to the traditional friendship between Portugal and the British Empire - the two sides had been allies for hundreds of years, British warships and airships all used Goa. Amenities.
"Send a surprise class to Goa and first give orders to Colonel Jervis to lead the entire formation to the direction of the Gulf of Aden.
Then let the Surprise send a message to the airship base in Goa and ask them to send out airships to search the entire Arabian Sea... I have a hunch that the formation of the Ming Navy is somewhere in the Arabian Sea! "
"Yes, sir!"
...
Lieutenant General Codrington really guessed it right!
The Persian Gulf Fleet of the Ming Dynasty led by Zhuge Weidao was sailing cautiously in the Arabian Sea far away from the Indian coastline.
The reason why Zhuge Weidao was so careful was to go far around the Indian subcontinent. Of course it's because... I'm afraid.
The two Hero-class battleships that had previously escorted his large formation through the Strait of Malacca have now left the formation and left on their own - they were both battleships sold to the Rakshasa Kingdom, and Nicholas I had already "oiled" them.
Since they would immediately join the Rakshasa's Mediterranean fleet upon arrival in the Mediterranean, Ali Pasha, the loyal Ottoman ruler, decided to deny them passage through the canal.
Therefore, these two ships were able to sail around Black Africa.
After the two heroes left, there were only eight battleships left in Zhuge Weidao's large formation, and they were all quite old battleships.
So he had better stay away from the Indians... In order to ensure that his large formation would not directly hit the main force of the Royal Indian Navy in its home port in Mumbai, Zhuge Weidao also sent eight of his light armored ships to patrol the Indian mainland to take charge. Alert.
"Baozhi," Zhuge Weidao, who was a little restless on the bridge of the Tang Wang, suddenly called Guo Xiaobao's name, "Is there a telegram from Wei Guogong?"
The Wei Guogong is a 3,000-ton light armored cruiser and the flagship of the Persian Gulf Fleet's armored cruiser detachment. It is currently sailing close to the west coast of India, led by Chen Jian.
"Sir, the telegram was just sent half an hour ago." Guo Xiaobao replied with a smile, "They are almost arriving in Goa..."
Before he could finish his words, the fleet communications officer suddenly shouted: "Sir, Wei Guogong has an urgent call... Three Blake-class armored cruisers have been found! They are located off the coast of Goa!"
"Why did you find three Blakes? Those are large ships with a displacement of nearly 10,000 tons!"
"Sir," Guo Xiaobao said, "It is reported that the Royal Indian Navy only has three Blakes in total... They have a large displacement and should not be easily dispatched. I guess there must be the main force of the Royal Indian Navy nearby!
What should we do? Is it a war? Is it avoidance? "
"What should we do?" Zhuge Weidao was thinking, "There are only eight Prince-class ships left, and their strength seems to be a bit lacking! However, we can't avoid it now. When we meet on a narrow road, the brave one wins!"
"Admiral, we have not declared war yet... Theoretically, our fleet is still sailing on the high seas." Guo Xiaobao reminded, "The strength of the three Blakes is stronger than our eight Dukes!"
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"It doesn't matter. They probably don't know that the two heroes have left. So it's them who should be scared, not us." Zhuge Weidao seemed to have made a great determination, "My order is to remove the eight-level machine." Outside the galleons and all auxiliary ships, all turned towards us and headed for the sea off Goa!
Tell Chen Jian again that he must be determined to fire the first shot. If two armies of equal strength meet on a narrow road, the brave one will win... not to mention the advantage lies with me! "
"Yes, sir."
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