At 9 a.m. on April 5, the waters near the Bahamas Islands.
"Lieutenant General, telegram from the Americans."
On the Royal Oak, the flagship of the Caribbean Fleet of the British Royal Navy, Vice Admiral William Baga, who was enjoying a sumptuous French breakfast in the officers' mess, suddenly heard the voice of the communications officer.
I only saw this famous British naval admiral who led the Indian Malacca fleet in the "Battle of Malacca" and successfully held on until his own armored cruisers came to the rescue (although that battle failed, William Baga still had merit ) put down the knife and fork in his hand, slowly picked up a napkin and wiped his mouth, then picked up the coffee cup and took a sip, and then asked under the gaze of a group of Royal Navy officers who were having breakfast with him: "What did the Americans say?" ?Have they returned victoriously now?"
"They haven't been bombed yet!"
William Baga took a sip of coffee and said thoughtfully: "As expected, those planes taking off from small sampans couldn't stop the more advanced enemy fighters. Otherwise, the Americans would have boasted in the telegram. Confrontation, what else did they say?”
"They severely damaged the two Mexican heroes!"
"Is it just a serious injury?" William Baga raised his eyebrows.
"Yes, yes, just a heavy blow!"
William Baga frowned again: "Six United-class ships should be able to sink two Hero-class ships very quickly. If they can't, then they must be badly bombed by enemy aircraft!"
His analysis is well-founded. Although the Hero-class is an excellent battleship, it is also an object for all countries that can build battleships to imitate and surpass. And because it is a foreign trade ship, its various All data are public. The United States-level motherboard, the Victory-level, was developed for the Hero-level. Regardless of firepower or protection, it can overpower the Hero-level! Although the United States class purchased an unqualified steam engine and could only run at a speed of 18 knots without high pressure, the 6:2 advantage was still enough for them to achieve the result of sinking enemy battleships in a very short period of time.
If the Americans failed to achieve the result of sinking the Hero class, they were either blind and unable to fire cannons, or the battleships lacking air cover were paralyzed by enemy aircraft.
"Lieutenant General, they also said that they will fight to the end, and that if we arrive in time, victory will belong to the Anglo-Saxons."
William Baga nodded: "What a brave American. Well, pass my order, and all ships of the Caribbean Fleet will immediately raise the Royal Navy flag!"
"Lieutenant Admiral, you said raising the Royal Navy flag?"
A British Royal Navy lieutenant colonel who was having breakfast with William Baga quickly reminded: "But we are now being ordered to pretend to be the US Navy. If we want to join the battle, there is no need to raise the Royal Navy flag at all."
William Baga glanced at him and said with a smile: "Lieutenant Colonel, our mission is that if the U.S. Navy wins the surface ship battle, then we will join in to hunt down the remnants of the Mexico-Texas Combined Fleet! If the U.S. Navy The navy faces irreversible defeat, and we are just the Royal Navy passing by."
"But is the situation really that serious now?" Then the lieutenant colonel said, "Maybe the Americans can save it."
William Baga shook his head and said: "Saving is something God has to do, not something we have to do. We are soldiers, soldiers of the British Royal Navy. The duty of soldiers is to protect the interests of the country and win for the country. Victory. If we now participate in a battle that is about to be lost, then instead of bringing the glory of victory to the country, we will make it suffer the shame of failure. Moreover, our 4 Victory-class ships, 2 Indomitable-class ships and The six Cressy-class ships are very valuable assets and cannot be lost in vain. Until we have aircraft that can match the Ming Dynasty's advanced fighters, they should not be risked."
"I understand, Lieutenant General."
William Baga nodded and said to the communications officer: "Go call the Americans back and tell them that we are heading north at full speed and we will definitely arrive around 3 o'clock in the afternoon!"
"Yes, Lieutenant General."
"Damage control!"
"Piguo, Pipiu, pull up the leather tube quickly!"
"Move quickly, turn on the faucet!"
"Quickly, cool down the fort!"
"boom"
"God, paramedic!"
"Quickly put out the fire!"
When Major Johnson, the communications officer of the USS United States, came out of the telegraph room with a copy of the telegram, he heard a lot of noise. The naval battle is really going on! But William Baga guessed right. The Americans really bombed the enemy's planes quite miserably. Although not a single United States-class battleship was sunk, the six battleships had already suffered one or two waves of bombings, and each of them was hit. four to six 100 kilogram bombs.
An explosion of this level is neither too big nor too small. It is not fatal to the United States Army, which has strengthened the deck armor and the armor on the top of the turret. But after all, the United States-class has only such a small tonnage, and it is impossible to turn itself into a big iron lump, so it can only adopt the method of focused protection to protect the important places, but only the less important parts, only light armor protection. Therefore, several holes were blown out of each United States-class ship, and some even broke out in fires, burning fiercely. However, due to the relatively strong damage control of each ship, the situation is basically still under control.
At the same time, the two Hero-class ships that fought against the six United-class ships also suffered heavy damage. The bow turret of the Bolivar-class ship has been damaged, the barrels of the two 280mm cannons were blown crookedly, and other parts of the ship were also hit in many places. The situation of Agustín I is also quite bad. There were many fires in the superstructure. The bow of the ship was penetrated by 12-inch shells and a lot of water entered. Now it looks like it is sinking.
But Ming's shipbuilding technology is indeed very reliable. Although the two hero classes were beaten black and blue, they still maintained a certain degree of combat effectiveness and their speed did not slow down significantly.
Just as Johnson was walking up the stairs to the conning tower, another 280mm shell fired by the USS Agustin I hit the USS United States. This shell accidentally hit a ship on the starboard side of the USS United States. The gun cover of the 6-inch secondary battery not only directly exploded the latter, but also exploded several 6-inch shells, causing a series of explosions that left the starboard side of the United States littered with corpses.
Johnson, who was climbing the stairs, lost his balance and fell down a few steps. His knees were hit by the steel steps and he was in pain! However, he did not dare to delay at all. He gritted his teeth and stood up, continued to climb up, and finally entered the strongest and safest place on the ship - the command tower.
"Admiral, a telegram from Vice Admiral Baga. He said that his fleet is heading north at full speed and one of them will arrive as soon as possible."
Major Johnson was just halfway through what he said when he realized that the admiral in front of him was leaning out of the window of the command tower and looking out, as if he didn't hear his words at all, so he had no choice but to move forward. Just when he was about to say it again, he heard the admiral. The admiral spoke in a deep voice: "They're here again!"
"Who? Who's coming?"
"Planes! The Chinese planes are coming again. This is the third wave! It's less than an hour since the last wave of air strikes ended!" David Porter said, "This shows that their aircraft-carrying warships are not far away from us. How far. If the dilly-dallying British have arrived now, they may be able to find those aircraft-carrying ships to launch an attack."
"But they have to wait until 3 p.m."
"That means there are still 6 waves of air raids!" David Porter shook his head, "We can't hold on for that long. When the British arrive, it's time to collect our bodies! It seems that we can only rely on ourselves to pass on my Order: All fleets of the United States attack! Tell everyone: America will rise and fall with one blow!"
(End of chapter)
