At this time, the East China Government's overseas Chinese evacuation fleet had already lined up in battle formation, headed by two new battleships of the Ganjiang and Moxie, followed by three battleships of the same series, Weiyang, Boyang, and Feiyang, then the two armored cruisers Jinan and Tianjin, followed by the two large protective cruisers Qingzhou and Yizhou, then the five protective cruisers of the Third Cruiser Fleet, and finally the 10 destroyers of the 1st and 2nd Destroyer Detachments. Before the 2 destroyer detachment, a total of 26 warships were also built. By this time, the 16 transports had slowed down and avoided the battlefield.

The warships leading the two sides had already spotted each other at a distance of about 30 kilometers. At the same time, the fleets of both sides have increased their speed to more than 14 knots, and in half an hour at most, the two sides will enter the engagement distance.

Although the position of the Yueyang ship is relatively backward in the entire ship, the scanning range of the ship's radar can reach 45-50 kilometers, so the situation of the entire battlefield is still under the monitoring of the Yueyang radar. At this time, Wang Hailong ordered on the Yueyang ship and said, "The helicopter is in the air." ”

The warships invested by both sides of the naval battle are more than 25, and it is difficult to control such a large scene only by relying on the carrier-borne UAV, and it is necessary for the helicopter to take off to monitor the battle situation, plus a small number of UAVs to assist, the Z-20 carried by the Bijing Yueyang ship has a strong sea-scanning radar and an airborne computer, and has 2 pilots, and if necessary, it can also add 1-2 crew members, so as to facilitate the monitoring of the battle in the air, and transmit the detailed information parameters of the battlefield to the Yueyang ship, and the Yueyang ship is responsible for the command of the entire battle, because only the machine computer on the Yueyang ship can handle such a complex combat situation。

Although the helicopter fuel of the East China government is not much left, less than about 30 percent of the time it crosses, it cannot be saved at this time, and this time the Yueyang ship carries the amount of fuel that can allow the helicopter to take off five times and ensure that the stay time of each lift is not less than 3 hours. However, Wang Hailong insisted on taking off the helicopter until the last moment before the war, also to save aviation fuel.

After receiving Wang Hailong's order, Zhang Jizhou, head of the aviation group, immediately ordered Li Yangang and Liu Heyang, the pilots who were on duty in the helicopter hangar of the Yueyang warship, and Yu Wenfen, an air commander, to take off immediately, and then beckoned the ship's ground crew to push the helicopter out of the hangar.

At this time, of course, the helicopter is ready and full of fuel, but since the helicopter does not need to participate in the battle directly, it does not have a mounted ** and an on-board 6-barreled gun, and only a side door machine gun is installed, which can also reduce a lot of load.

Li Yangang and Liu Heyang sat in the cab, first opened the helicopter's self-test program, and after a minute the self-test ended, Li Yangang said: "The helicopter self-test is normal and normal, and the sand gull asks to take off." ”

Zhang Jizhou said in the command room of the ship: "Agree to take off." ”

Li Yangang immediately started the engine, and the screw propeller on the top of the helicopter quickly rotated, and then slowly rose from the helipad at the stern of the Yueyang ship.

Liu Heyang turned on the switches of the helicopter's various functions and said: "This time it has been converted from full manual to fully automatic, and I am really a little unaccustomed to it." ”

Li Yangang said: "Don't be so nervous, our task is not heavy this time, as long as we monitor the battlefield, we don't need to participate in the battle, and we are not responsible for commanding the battle." ”

Liu Heyang turned on the helicopter's radar and said: "It's because I don't participate in the war and don't command, it's not interesting, it's better to go and drive the screw brigade paddle plane, I heard that the two-seater screw oarplane has been put into service, it can carry air **, and it is equipped with a machine gun, but unfortunately it is not our turn." ”

It turned out that Li Yangang and Liu Heyang were now both members of the aviation group, serving as pilots of fixed-wing aircraft, and participated in the battles in the Northeast Theater and carried out reconnaissance missions with aircraft, but after the resumption of the war in the Far East, the helicopter pilots of the five modern warships all returned to the team and re-piloted helicopters to participate in the war.

At this time, Yu Wenfen also adjusted the interface of his display screen, and said: "I said that you two should not be tired, the battle in the Northeast Battlefield has been fought, and it is useless for the two of you to go, but there are still a few battles to fight here, this is one, when the British and French expeditionary forces arrive, there are still big battles to fight, you guys, you will be content." Looking at the point radar, I'm going to send the signal back. ”

After a short time, the helicopter rose to an altitude of 3,500 meters, and also changed to level flight, flying towards the middle point of the two fleets.

With this information transmitted by helicopters, it is now possible to see on the display screen that the two fleets, represented by diagrams, are constantly leaning on each other. At this time, the distance between the first ships of the two fleets had been reduced to within 15 kilometers, but the straight line formed by the two fleets was not completely parallel, and even arranged in a straight line, and formed a large angle, about 170 degrees, and the distance between the transverse was about 2,500 meters. However, as the fleets of both sides approached each other, they were constantly adjusting their own sailing routes.

Wang Hailong suddenly picked up the microphone and said: "Pay attention to the cadre, pay attention to the cadre, keep the current course, don't adjust, keep the current course, don't make adjustments." ”

Xia Ruichen, the captain of the Cadre, said: "Understood. ”

Wang Hailong nodded, and Chen Xiaojiang was a little puzzled: "Old Wang, what are you going to do?"

Wang Hailong said: "I'll know right away." ”

At this time, the distance between the two fleets was constantly narrowing, and soon entered within 10 kilometers, after adjustment, the fleets of the two sides were basically parallel, but the distance between the horizontal sides was still about 2,000 meters.

Wang Hailong's eyes were fixed on the number showing the distance between the two sides, and when this number was reduced to 9,000 meters, Wang Hailong picked up the microphone again and ordered: "Attention to the cadre, attention to the cadre, turn 90 degrees to the right, turn 90 degrees to the right, reload the bullet, prepare to shoot, and the range is 8 kilometers." ”

Xia Ruichen immediately said: "Understood." Then in the command room of the Cadre, he ordered: "Turn 90 degrees to the right, reload, prepare for firing, range 8 kilometers." ”

The steering crew of the Cadre General immediately turned the rudder and steered the warship to turn, and the soldiers on the turrets and gun emplacements also hurriedly lifted the shells from the ammunition depot, stuffed them into the gun chamber, and according to the firing range, loaded them, and then closed the bolts.

"The KPA Navy is now beginning to turn, isn't it a little earlier, lookouts, inform the distance. Owen put down his binoculars, looking a little surprised.

Not long, the lookout reported: the distance is 9200 meters.

Owen couldn't help frowning, turning at a distance of 9,000 meters and grabbing the "T" cross, it was indeed too early. In this era, the combat distance of warships is within 7,000 meters, although the British Navy has also practiced 8,000 meters, 9,000 meters, and even 10,000 meters of shooting in training, but in actual combat it still implements the principle of 7,000 meters of fire.

This is not the lack of performance of artillery, in this era more than 200 mm of ship guns can ensure an effective range of more than 10,000 meters, and the effective range of the battleship main gun, it can reach 15,000 meters, and the main reason for limiting the combat distance of warships is the observation and sighting equipment, and the observation and sighting equipment of this era is mainly optical equipment, to put it bluntly, it is a glass product, the error is very large, and on the warship can only rely on the level view, can not observe the landing point of the shell at a high point and correct the shooting parameters, so the engagement distance can only be controlled within 7,000 meters。 And the KPA's fleet began to turn at a distance of 9,000 meters, seizing the "T" cross, which was indeed too hasty from the point of view of naval warfare in this era.

However, now it is the turn of the Far East Fleet to choose, although the evacuation fleet turned too early, but after all, it grabbed the "T" cross-head, if the Far East Fleet does not turn, at least on the surface into a situation of being fully beaten, and within this distance, only the range of the artillery is enough, although the accuracy is not guaranteed, but the accuracy of the naval battle is not very reliable, in case the character of the evacuated overseas fleet bursts, how many shots will be missed?

If the Far Eastern Fleet also turns along with the evacuation fleet, it will undoubtedly be dragged by the nose of the evacuation fleet, and if it fights like this, it can only fight for character, and the British Navy's advantages of high training level and good quality of crew members will not be brought into play. Of course, it cannot be ruled out that this is the tactic of the evacuation fleet, since its own strength is insufficient, then it cannot use the conventional way of playing step by step, so it is better to go all over the front with a sword, and use some unconventional tactics to try to win in the chaos. Thinking of this, Owen immediately decided that the speed of the fleet would remain the same, and it would still move in a straight line, and it must not be dragged by the nose of the other party.

And at this moment, in Owen's mind, he also quickly calculated that now to enter the combat distance of the British warships, it is about 2,000 meters forward, and it takes about 4 minutes to complete this distance, but this time is enough for the KPA 2-3 warships to turn, that is, when the Far East Fleet begins to turn, it will face the attack of the opponent's 2-3 warships, and the opponent's first two battleships are equipped with 8 main guns, so it is actually necessary to face the attack of 4-5 warships.

Until that time. Although the Far Eastern Fleet was not faced with the same sinister situation as in the first stage of the Battle of Tsushima, when Japan and Russia were engaged in the war, the Japanese Combined Fleet performed a "great turn in front of the enemy" in front of the Russian Second Pacific Fleet, but there was not much difference. Because there were only four battleships in the Japanese Combined Fleet at that time, the Far Eastern Fleet did not necessarily adhere to the principle that it must enter within 7,000 meters before turning, but according to the battlefield situation.

So Owen ordered: "Keep the speed and course the same." At the same time, he ordered the front main guns of the flagship Asterisk to reload and prepare for firing, and as soon as the evacuation fleet opened fire, it immediately returned fire. Regardless of whether the fight is accurate or not, at least you can't just take a beating and not fight back.