On this issue, the Chief of the General Staff of the Navy, Marshal Xia Ting, and Senior Admiral Chen Shiying have the same opinion, after replenishing these warships, the new Atlantic Fleet will have twelve battleships and ten aircraft carriers, which will become incomparably powerful. According to the predetermined plan, this huge imperial fleet would not shy away from the enemy's aerial reconnaissance, enter the waters of the South Atlantic from the waterways between the islands of the Caribbean, go to West Africa, and induce the combined European fleet to take the initiative as much as possible to engage in a decisive naval battle with them at the weakest moment.

Vice Admiral Chang Zhensheng, commander of the Air Fleet, became the commander of the North Atlantic Fleet, and Ling Wencha was promoted to the rank of rear admiral, becoming the commander of the 7th Battlefleet that protected the Air Fleet.

There is information that European coalition forces have secretly landed on New Deer Island (Puerto Rico) and have begun construction of an airfield on the island. The order of the Supreme High Command was to take the initiative of the navy and never allow the enemy to build an airfield there, otherwise even the Gulf of Mexico, which had always been stable, would be threatened by enemy bombers.

On 13 July, after the fleet sailed out of Port-au-Prince, Ling Wencha led the 7th Battleship Detachment, consisting of the battleships "Xing'anling" and "Sayanling" and the air defense cruisers "Jiangzhou" and "Anzhou", from the main force of the fleet and began to turn eastward to the North Atlantic to attack the enemy's sea transportation lines, while Vice Admiral Chang Zhensheng led the main force of the fleet to continue sailing southeast to prevent the enemy's landing operation on Xinludao and the construction of an airfield on the island.

As the commander of the fleet, Ling Wencha sat on the "Xing'anling" and commanded this detachment to act together.

Ling Wencha and the captain of the ship, Colonel Zeng Chusheng, stood side by side in front of the porthole, the weather outside was very clear, the warm sun shone on the sea, the distance between the warship and the main fleet was getting farther and farther, after sending each other the light signal of "good luck", the two fleets separated, and their figures soon disappeared into the depths of the vast sea.

In the early hours of July 17, the 7th Battleship Detachment was already sailing about 430 nautical miles east of the Azores.

As soon as the sky was bright, Ling Wencha got up early today, and after a little washing, he hurriedly boarded the bridge.

Colonel Zeng Chusheng, the captain of the "Xing'anling", was already standing on the bridge where he was accustomed to standing, he was of mixed Asian and European descent, tall and had dark brown hair, which was relatively rare in the Tang fleet, which was mostly black-haired. He looked at the "Jiangzhou" sailing ahead, and the radar antenna on the bridge of the cruiser was spinning at the moment.

Because the tube components are so susceptible to heat up, the radio radar equipment on warships now needs to be turned off every three hours to cool them down. So the radars on these two warships can only be turned on in turn every three hours.

"What's the situation today? Captain! Ling Wencha saw Zeng Chusheng wearing a formal uniform outside, so he asked.

"No, but my instincts are that something is going to happen today, General." Zeng Chusheng turned his gaze to Ling Wencha.

"Of course it's possible, we're now sailing along the busiest route between Europe and the Americas." Ling Wencha smiled, he took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, "Your intuition is just a high-probability event, do you want one?" ”

"No, I prefer to smoke cigars." Zeng Chusheng shook his head, "I'm afraid that the Europeans have raised their vigilance now, and they must know that we have entered the North Atlantic." ”

"That's nothing, as long as their ship stays in port, our purpose has been achieved." Ling Wencha took out the lighter, turned around to cover the wind, and then lit the cigarette, "I guess they didn't expect that we would be so bold, okay, let's go to breakfast together?" ”

Zeng Chusheng nodded, and the two of them got down from the bridge together and entered the officer's cafeteria under the bridge.

The two sat down at a dining table.

"Sir, what do you want?" An orderly approached.

"Well, a fried steak, a boiled egg and a steamed dumpling, plus a glass of milk." Ling Wencha turned his head and said to the orderly.

"Hehe, General, your appetite is still so good." Zeng Chusheng said with a smile, "A fish sandwich, and another cup of coffee, thank you." ”

"Yes, sir!" The orderly replied neatly.

"Chu Sheng, how can you eat so little, it is very likely that you will have to work today." Ling Wencha leaned back in his chair, "If nothing else...... That's what you just said. ”

……

"Left rudder 35, speed 20!"

Zeng Chusheng's face flushed a little after giving the order.

He's excited.

Just now, the "Jiangzhou" stopped an oil tanker, but it was a neutral Swedish steamer. After asking all the staff to swear not to reveal their whereabouts, Ling Wencha ordered the non-belligerent oil tanker to be released. However, the Danish captain of the ship took the initiative to tell the Tang people that they were followed by two West Francian cargo ships—they came out of Georgetown Harbor together, but the Swedish tanker was about two knots faster than the West Francian freighter.

That is, the two "prey" are now less than forty nautical miles away from them.

Zeng Chusheng, who heard the news, was of course excited, and in fact everyone cheered up, as if they were about to start a battle. In fact, it was completely unnecessary, and it was certainly a non-dangerous operation.

It's almost the same now as it was before a cat caught a mouse.

More than ten seconds after the order was given, the bow of the "Xing'anling" began to deflect in a northwesterly direction, and a tremor could be felt in the huge hull, which was a manifestation of the sudden acceleration of the steam turbine. In front of them, the "Jiangzhou" was more agile than this battleship, and these 10,000-ton anti-aircraft light cruisers looked even more beautiful in appearance: its slender hull length was almost the same as that of the "Xing'anling", but the architecture above the deck was much simpler, and the four triple 130 mm high-level dual-purpose main turrets were not as powerful as some of the European navy's light cruisers of the same class, but they were more balanced and had strong air defense.

The "Xing'anling" also quickly completed its turn, and its acceleration was much slower than that of the "Jiangzhou", and the distance between the two warships was widened a little, about 2.5 nautical miles apart. On the foredeck of the battleship, the waterproof and dustproof caps that usually fit on the muzzles of the guns have been removed, and the muzzles of the five 330 mm forward guns have also been raised slightly upwards, pointing majestically straight ahead. When the two large and thick turrets are rotated left and right as they are adjusted before the battle, it will give people a feeling of blood boiling before the battle.

After accelerating, the battleship split the water, and the waves on both sides of the bow were several times higher than usual.

……