Indian Ocean, waters off Goa.
The sunset is slanting, and the twilight is late.
On the undulating sea, two huge formations of more than 20 warships, more than 20,000 meters apart, were heading north along the Indian coastline at a speed of about 10 knots. The billowing smoke could be said to cover the sky and the sun. Such a magnificent scenery made the sailors on the decks of both formations fearful. Because the battleships on both sides have already pointed their main guns at each other.
A battleship formation battle was about to begin.
If we calculate the strength on paper, the formation closer to the Indian coastline and flying the red stripe and cross flag of the Royal Indian Navy is stronger. After all, they have 8 battleships and 2 9,000-ton large armored cruisers. Moreover, two of the warships are the "Indomitable" class that have just completed the upgrade. They are giant ships with 12 9.2-inch cannons!
The Ming Dynasty naval formation flying the sun and moon blue sea flag has only 8 battleships and no large armored cruisers. In terms of the number of 240 mm (9.2-inch) level guns, it is far less than the opponent. The Ming Dynasty's eight battleships only had a total of 32 240mm cannons, while the British's eight battleships and two armored cruisers had a total of 54 9.2-inch cannons.
54 to 32, of course the advantage lies with Great Britain!
However, the six-turret layout of the "Indomitable" class means that when it faces the enemy from the broadside, it can only invest a maximum of 8 cannons, and 4 of the cannons cannot be used effectively. In addition, the two Blake-class ships, which have a total of 6 9.2-inch cannons, each received a "break" in the previous battle. Although the main gun was still there, the Blake was hit by 5 rounds and the Blenheim was hit by 5 rounds. He shot 4 rounds, and now he goes into battle with injuries. There are still holes visible in the hulls of the two armored cruisers!
Among them, a large hole was blown out of Blake's bow, and hundreds of tons of seawater poured in. The bow sank a lot, the speed dropped by several knots, and the accuracy of artillery fire will also decrease due to the tilt of the hull.
The Blenheim had a large chimney broken, a steam engine damaged, and its speed dropped by five knots, but the rest was fine...
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If the two sides really fight, it's really hard to say who has a greater chance of winning. But "it's hard to tell" only during the day. If it's at night, then Zhuge Weidao's chances of winning will be great!
Because every warship over a thousand tons in the Ming Navy is equipped with a radio station, they can use the radio to communicate with each other when it gets dark without turning on lights, which makes command and organization much more convenient.
As for the British, they could only communicate with each other by light language after dark, and it was impossible for the flagship to organize effectively.
The organization fights the unorganized, and missing a dozen 240mm first-class cannons is not a problem at all.
However, there are disadvantages to being equipped with a radio station, especially a high-power radio station...that is, the situation of the Goa naval battle must be reported to the Ming Dynasty Navy Department and the Naval Staff Department, and they will also receive a joint release from the Navy Department and the Naval Staff Department. The command.
"Brother Shao'an, Brother Rui, and Brother Ziwen, tonight we will divide the entire formation into four. Two Prince-class ships, two Marquis-class ships, and one or two Guogong-class ships will form a night battle formation. You The three of them and this officer each lead a team... My requirements are not high, just one team can sink an enemy ship tonight! We have now sunk one of their ships and severely damaged two of their ships (actually (Zhongchuang), if we sink four more of their ships, that will be seven ships, and the vitality of this Indian fleet will be greatly damaged! From now on, not only will the Persian Gulf be ours, but the Arabian Sea will also be our territory!"
At this time, Zhuge Weidao was having a meeting in the luxurious conference room of the battleship Tang Wang with the fleet deputy admiral Li Chenghui, the fleet chief of staff Chen Jian and the captain of the battleship Lu Wang Bai Siyuan to arrange the night battle tonight. .
When he talked about how exciting it was, he even slapped the table with a "snap" sound, and the expression on his face lit up.
His heart is not dark, no matter what the ship is, just sink four more ships... sink four more ships, and the Arabian Sea should be named "Ming"!
Controlling the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea is the standard for future world hegemons!
But this time the task given to him by the Navy was just to control the Persian Gulf and then build a fleet in the Persian Gulf. It is not about defeating the Indian Grand Fleet and seizing control of the Arabian Sea. If he really had that intention, he would not have continued the hero ship deal with Rakshasa.
But the plan can’t keep up with the changes!
I originally thought that the Indian fleet would not stop the Ming Dynasty's ocean-going fleet from entering the Persian Gulf, but unexpectedly they came out in full force and even fought with the Ming Dynasty's Persian Gulf Fleet!
What does it mean? Did they also discover that there is oil in the Persian Gulf?
Zhuge Weidao, who "can pinch and calculate", doesn't know what the British think now? Anyway, we have already fought, so why don’t we just stop fighting and knock down the Indian fleet and seize control of the Arabian Sea?
Just when Zhuge Weidao was determined to have another big fight tonight, his chief staff officer Guo Xiaobao suddenly hurried in, holding the telegram he had just received in his hand.
"Admiral, the call back from the Admiralty and Naval Staff has arrived!"
Zhuge Weidao looked back and saw Guo Xiaobao frowning, as if something had happened.
"What's wrong?" Zhuge Weidao asked.
"Admiral," Guo Xiaobao handed the telegram to Zhuge Weidao. "The telegrams from the two headquarters (referring to the Navy Department and the Naval Staff Department) said that the world war has not yet broken out, and the British and Indian governments have not submitted any information to us. We have no intention of submitting an ultimatum."
"Oh," Zhuge Weidao smiled, "The war has broken out...it's just that some people don't know it yet, or it's not convenient to say it."
Zhuge Weidao actually said this casually, because he still doesn't know if the world war has started? I don’t even know what the world war in this timeline will look like?
The original home ground of World War I was Europe. France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and Austria-Hungary were all close neighbors. Of course, they fought whenever they wanted. Moreover, these countries have national mobilization systems that can mobilize large forces in a short period of time to launch attacks.
But now Ming Dynasty and Daying Dynasty are far apart! Although the two sides also have the need to compete for colonies (Australia, Oregon, Malacca, Dutch East Indies) and markets (India, Mexico, South America, Arabia), and the conflicts are difficult to reconcile - Britain and Germany were still relatives in history, Kaiser Wilhelm Even has the right to inherit the British throne (not very high, but not very low either). But now the battle between the Ming Dynasty and the Great Britain is two civilizations and two races competing for living space and the right to develop in the future.
How can this contradiction be reconciled?
Thinking of this, he reached out to take the copy of the telegram and read it word by word. After reading it for a while, he smiled and said: "Headquarters ordered us not to invade the territorial waters of the Indian Empire. If the Indian fleet withdraws to the territorial waters of India, we will not be allowed to do so." Pursuit. In addition, the headquarters reiterated that the mission of our fleet has not changed, and it is still to effectively control the Persian Gulf and act as a presence fleet."
"Admiral, let's go tonight..."
"Admiral, do you still want to fight?"
"Yeah, are we still fighting them at night?"
Li Chenghui, Chen Jian, and Bai Siyuan seemed to want to back down. After all, the three of them are soldiers of the Ming Dynasty - the soldiers of the new Ming Dynasty have always obeyed orders and obeyed the command. There is no such thing as disobeying orders and walking alone, and there is no such thing as being submissive. At least after King Wu Zhong's victory in the Northern Expedition, this kind of thing has never happened again. , it has been more than a hundred years now.
Even if the garrison officers on the border make some small moves and want to cause trouble, an order from above can be suppressed immediately.
Even Zhuge Weidao can defeat him with just a telegram from the Admiralty Department!
Zhuge Weidao smiled and said: "Now the military advisor must be negotiating with Lord Wei, the prime minister of the British Empire... The record we have achieved is the bargaining chip in the hands of the military advisor!" He paused and said again , "And the headquarters has not prohibited us from continuing to fight with the Indian fleet. If they do not withdraw to Indian territorial waters, it means that we must defeat them to prevent us from entering the Persian Gulf!"
In addition, we will win tonight’s night battle! And the winner is not blamed! "
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