Xie Zhaokun clasped his hands in front of his chest, "Yes, those aircraft carriers are the core of the Navy's combat operations in the future, but like the current situation, battleships still have certain advantages." ”

"The problem is that a battle at sea cannot be solved by just a few days of bad weather, and the final result is a competition of strength between the two sides. I used to think that luck was quite important in naval battles, but later I realized that in the face of absolute strength, all luck no longer exists. You can sink a few of our capital ships, but if there is a big difference in strength, none of these will be useful for the final result. I now fully understand what the Emperor has always emphasized that the outcome of the naval battle was actually decided on the slipways of both sides. Our shipbuilding capacity is more than twice that of West Francia, and in a war we can drag them to death by just fighting for attrition. Chen Shiying looked at the sea in the distance, "So, before this war began, the West Francians had already lost, and now they are just struggling." ”

At about 10 p.m. on March 19, 307, the main force of the West Francian Home Fleet under the command of Admiral Alain Kubert sailed into the waters near the Woppner Bay in a snowstorm. The West Francian fleet consisted of the "Dunkirk", "Ocean", "King Louis III", "Prince of Lorraine", "Danton", "Concedo", and the battleship "Vigno", as well as four heavy cruisers of the county class.

It is worth mentioning that the radars equipped with the warships of the two sides are almost the same in terms of performance.

"Sir, the destroyer 'Jingzhou' has sent back a report that a large formation of surface ships has been spotted in the southeast sea, numbering about 20 ships, and they may want to break through to Wopu Zhaona Bay! After listening to dinner, Admiral Chen Shiying stayed in the operational command room of the "Qilian Mountain" and paid close attention to the information about the West Frankish fleet.

The Imperial Navy sent six submarine forces in Icelandic waters, and more than thirty submarines were used to monitor the movements of the West Frankish fleet. However, due to the weather, the submarine forces sent back only two reports on the movements of the West Frankish fleet.

After hearing the report from the radar room, Chen Shiying walked to the large nautical chart, and at this time, the red symbol representing the position of the enemy ship had reached a position less than 20 nautical miles from Cape Codreux. "The battleship detachment immediately went into combat mode!' The Jingzhou' and 'Gaoyangguan' continued to stop outside Cape Codlu to monitor the movements of the West Frankish fleet with radar! ”

As the battle alarm sounded, the officers and sailors on the warship jumped out of their beds as fast as they could, and rushed to their respective combat positions. The labyrinthine passages of the battleship immediately resounded with the sound of chaotic footsteps and the shouts of officers, and after a few minutes, the empty corridors with flashing red sirens were still echoing.

On the deck of a warship. The huge main turret slowly turned, and the muzzle of the guns was pointed in unison in the direction of the starboard side to spot the enemy ship. Six Imperial battleships and two heavy cruisers of the "Admiral Hippel" class lined up in a column and sailed at cruising speed in the bay near the western shore.

As the distance between the target ship and the target ship was getting closer, the commander of the destroyer's ground radar on the alert mission made a judgment based on the size and shape of the echo on the screen: the West Frankish fleet consisted of eleven large ships and ten small ships!

Chen Shiying ordered the two guarded destroyers to begin withdrawing, and with the help of the land cover of Cape Codlu, they retreated to the bottom of the bay.

The two West Francian destroyers "Tatar" and "Bedouin", which served as the avant-garde, first bypassed Cape Kodlu and appeared under the noses of the main fleet of the Reich. Surprisingly, the two West Frankish destroyers focused their attention on the two Imperial destroyers that were retreating south, but did not find the main force of the Imperial fleet sailing close to the western shore of the bay 20 kilometers away. Both West Francian destroyers were equipped with radar and sonar, but the sonars were not yet able to detect ships sailing up to 15 kilometers away, and the radar officers on the West Francian destroyers mistook the Imperial fleet for a common island in the Icelandic fjords.

"Starboard 37, enemy ship 2 found!"

"Target azimuth 37, distance 22000!" Almost at the same time as the report was made in the radar room, the firing command room also reported the data on target firing.

"Don't alarm them, we're targeting the big fish behind!" Chen Shiying said that after quickly judging the situation, Chen Shiying issued an order to load armor-piercing bullets and asked the signal soldiers to convey this order to the "Huashan" located in the rear through light signals.

The eight Imperial warships were still on their original course, maintaining their speed at 18 knots, and all their guns were locked in the direction in which the West Frankish destroyers had just been discovered at Cape Kodlu.

By this time, the main force of the West Francian fleet under the command of Alain Kupert had sailed to a position less than 10 nautical miles from Cape Codlu. From the destroyer "Tatars" sent back a report that two small warships of the Tang State had been found in the Vupna Fjord, and that there appeared to be several other transport ships at the fishing port of Vupna, and that an unknown number of cruisers and destroyers were escorting them.

"Where is the main force of the Imperial fleet?" Admiral Kubott asked.

"I don't know, sir!" The Communications Officer shook his head, they were in the southeast of Iceland, near Vatnajökull in the area of Mira Bay. ”

"I think they should still be in the southeast of Iceland, because of the weather, we missed each other's positions." Rear Admiral George Patkin, Chief of Staff of the Fleet, said, "The Empire should know something about our whereabouts." ”

Standing in the operations command room on the upper part of the bridge protected by heavy armor of the "Dunkirk", looking at the snowflakes and the dark sea, the fleet commander Alain. Admiral Kubert's brow furrowed, and the endless flying of snow seemed to shroud the sea in a fog, making it impossible to see the way forward.

What will be the outcome of this naval battle? Is it optimistic or pessimistic, or both?

"The fleet enters Vopuna Bay and prepares to attack the Imperial convoy and escort fleet in the bay!" After a moment of silence, Kupert made up his mind. Attacking a small convoy of Imperial convoys would not change the course of the war, but the Empire's sea yoke had been suffocating West Francia for months, and their land forces were sweeping through the Byzantine and Great Eclipse coalitions in the Middle East and North Africa, winning victory after victory. Whether it is the Prime Minister and the wartime cabinet, or the naval officers, in fact, they are now desperate to turn the situation around with this important victory!

The result of sinking the Imperial destroyer fleet would at least boost the morale of West Francia, which was currently declining.

"Now we need a win so badly!" Kubert's last sentence significantly accentuated the tone.