There was a detachment of armored cruisers in the Martinez fleet, with a total of 4 armored cruisers: the Crécy, the Aboukir, the Dionysian Priest, and the Hogg. The four warships are all of the Cressy class, with a displacement of 12,000 tons, a speed of 21 knots, two 233-mm guns for the main guns, 12 152 guns for the secondary guns, and three 76-mm rapid-fire guns.

Although the tonnage and speed of these 4 warships are good, and the caliber of the main guns is large enough, the number of main guns is only 2, which is obviously not enough, because Martinez knows that among the warships dispatched by the People's Army, there are 2 Chitu-class armored cruisers, and this type of warship is equipped with a total of 8 200 mm main guns, which is also such a warship, and the number of main guns is equal to its own armored cruiser detachment.

So Martinez decided to drain the detachment of protective cruisers in his fleet and fight in tandem with the detachment of armored cruisers. The protective cruiser detachment of the Martinez fleet also consisted of five warships, two of the Blake class: the Blake and Blenheim, and three Edgar-class: the Royal Arthur, the Grafton, and the Crescent.

The displacement of the Blake class is 9,150 tons, and the displacement of the Edgar class is 7,150 tons, although both types of warships are protective cruisers, but the main gun firepower is the same as that of the Cressy class, the same two 233mm guns, so the addition of 5 warships can greatly strengthen the firepower of the British fleet in battle.

However, the use of the same tonnage and firepower as the armored cruiser of the protective cruiser is also one of the unique characteristics of the British warship. Among the navies of these countries, there is a clear difference and operational orientation between the use of protective cruisers and armored cruisers; armored cruisers are auxiliary forces of battleships, competing for sea supremacy, and participating in the decisive battle of capital ships, which can be regarded as battleships with reduced armor and firepower, but still belong to the scope of capital ships; while protective cruisers are second-class warships, which are generally engaged in some miscellaneous work such as cruisers, escorts, and breaking diplomatic relations.

But in the British Navy, protective cruisers and armored cruisers are second-class warships, armored cruisers are actually equipped with side vertical armor when the protective cruisers, but the width and thickness of the side armor belt are not as good as the armored cruisers of other countries, if the Qingzhou-class protective cruisers in the People's Army Navy are in the British Navy, they will be counted as armored cruisers, and in the British Navy, the main combat missions of armored cruisers are similar to those of protective cruisers, and the only more is to deal with the protective cruisers of other countries' navies.

Of course, Britain's positioning of these two kinds of warships is also related to its own naval characteristics and the marine environment it is facing; because Britain has a huge number of battleships, the total number of battleships in service and under construction exceeds 50, which is more than the total number of battleships of the navies of the three countries ranked second to fourth, and it is precisely because of such a huge battleship group that Britain naturally does not need to use armored cruisers as capital ships, after all, there is still a considerable gap between armored cruisers and battleships.

In addition, Britain has a huge number of overseas interests, so the anti-breakage operation is one of the important tasks of the British Navy, and in the navies of other countries, the main force of breaking diplomatic relations is usually the protective cruiser, plus a small number of armored cruisers, so Britain's requirements for armored cruisers are that it is enough to be able to win the protective cruisers of other countries' navies, so there is no need to pile up firepower or thicken armor, and simplifying the armored cruiser is also conducive to reducing costs and getting more warships, after all, Britain has to use most of the funds to build battleships。

Moreover, Britain has a large number of overseas colonies, and needs to have a sufficient number of warships stationed in overseas colonies, but except for a few areas, most of Britain's colonies are very backward in culture, economy, and industry. Food, and let the soldiers have a more relaxed living space, conducive to long-term combat in the ocean, of course, the huge ship type, is also a great deterrent to the natives of the colony, so the British built protective cruisers tend to have a large tonnage, this time the Blake-class protective cruisers have a displacement of more than 9,000 tons.

This is not the largest protective cruiser built by the British, in the expeditionary fleet, there are 3 Crown-class protective cruisers with a displacement of 11,000 tons, and 2 Qiangsheng-class protective cruisers with a displacement of 14,200 tons, this tonnage has surpassed most battleships of this era, even in the People's Army Navy, there is only the more than 14,000 tons of warship that has just been listed.

However, Martinez believes that these 9 warships are enough, after all, there is a clear advantage in numbers, and this battle is not necessarily to defeat the opponent, just to test the strength of the opponent. Although when anchored in Singapore, Martinez also carefully studied the process of the naval battle of the Natuna Islands, and believed that the officers and men of the Far East Fleet would not lie, but he could not fully believe it in his heart, the range and hit rate of the People's Army Navy were higher than those of the British Navy, how could this be possible, this time it was just to see how many catties and taels the People's Army Navy had, of course, even if the British fleet was defeated, it should be able to retreat calmly, because the speed of the warships in the battle was more than 21 knots, and the battleship could rush to reinforcements at any time, even if it was finally sunk 1, 2 warships, the British fleet could also afford this loss.

The temporary commander of the armored cruiser detachment was Lieutenant Commander Cole, the captain of the Crecy, who, having received an order from Martinez, immediately led the fleet, accelerated away from the group, and headed forward.

After about an hour, both fleets were able to spot each other, and the distance between the two sides was reduced to less than 20 kilometers. Of course, the KPA fleet has always been well aware of the whereabouts of the British fleet, but now it is possible to see each other from the lookout of the fleet.

At this time, both fleets had also completed the final preparations before the battle, the deck was empty, all the combat personnel were in position, the armor of all kinds of artillery was removed, the shells were loaded, the observers on the lookout were also glued to the ranging instruments and kept an eye on the other party's warship, and below deck, the damage control personnel were also on standby, just waiting to enter the range and start the battle.

Of course, Luke did not expect the observers on the lookout to provide him with the enemy's movements and firing parameters, because at this time, above the fleet, a drone was already hovering and transmitting the image to Luke's tablet, and in the rear, the Kunming ship was also calculating the movement rate and amplitude of the enemy fleet according to the signals transmitted by the drone. However, the observers on the lookout continued to observe as usual and record parameters, mainly to gain experience.

But at this time, the British fleet began to change, the original British 9 warships were lined up in a straight column, and led by the flagship Crécy, but the second-ranked Aboukir surpassed the Crécy and became the leading warship, but did not change the flag, which shows that the British fleet did not change the flagship, but the flagship retreated from the usual leading position to the second place.

Moreover, although the Crécy retreated to second place, it was not completely behind the Aboukir, but slightly deviated to the right by about 3 or 40 meters, not only the Crécy, but also the seven warships that followed it, all of which were slightly 30-50 meters from the front ship to the right. The whole process of changing the formation was very fast, and in less than 20 minutes, the change of formation of all the warships was completed, and from the air overlooked, the British fleet also changed from a straight line to a diagonal staircase-like formation, and if you look from the front of the British fleet at this time, you can see the frontal bow of all nine warships of the British fleet.

Lu Kai looked at his tablet and saw the change of formation of the British fleet very clearly, although this new formation of the British fleet is very strange, neither horizontal nor vertical, but Lu Kai is a modern naval officer after all, and there are not so many rules and regulations in his mind, the so-called impermanence of soldiers, impermanence of water, only look at the actual situation of the battlefield and operations, the principle of the navy and army is the same. Therefore, it soon became clear that such a change in formation of the British Navy was completely aimed at the People's Army Navy.

The British Navy is seriously studying the naval battle of the Natuna Islands, and the KPA Navy has also repeatedly deduced the naval battle of the Natuna Islands during this period, mainly to deduce what means the British Navy has to deal with it, and the KPA Navy does not think that Britain will be indifferent to the outcome of the naval battle of the Natuna Islands, and will certainly seriously study the countermeasures, and perhaps some local methods will be studied. Compared with the natives, the traverser actually has no advantage in IQ, but he understands the general trend of historical development and has more information, so the wisdom of the natives must not be underestimated.

The Battle of the Natuna Islands showed that the greatest advantage of the KPA Navy was its long range, so that it could have an advantage when seizing the "T" prefix, and after the KPA fleet turned, the British fleet had to advance another 2-3000 meters before it could enter the range it was accustomed to and turn, and during this time, it took about 5-7 minutes, that is, during this time, the British fleet basically did not have any power to return fire except for the front main gun of the lead ship. This was very clear in the Battle of the Natuna Islands, when the Far Eastern Fleet was forced to turn to engage the KPA fleet in advance, but it turned out to be a bad choice, because the early turn was not the range that British warships were used to, and the Far Eastern Fleet was finally defeated, and it has to be said that it was decided at the moment of the early turn.

The biggest advantage of this formation is that all warships in the fleet have an angle of firing, so that the fleet's return fire will be greatly strengthened, even if it is not within the range that it is used to, but the increased firepower can also interfere with the enemy's shooting, shorten the distance for its own side, and gain time.

As for the replacement of the lead ship, it is the British version of the tactic of abandoning the car to protect the commander, because at the beginning of the battle, the first ship will be hit fiercely by the enemy, so replacing the flagship with a warship to attract the enemy's firepower is also a means of protecting the flagship.