Although in the winter of Republic 307, the Imperial Navy was equipped with more than 380 destroyers and frigates compared to the combined European naval fleet, but they were mainly scattered across four waters: the Indian Ocean, the African Sea, the North Atlantic Sea, and South American Seas.

At present, the more than 80 destroyers of the Indian Ocean Fleet and the Abysian Navy, which is an ally, are basically idle, and the enemy's submarine forces rarely penetrate deep into the waters of the Indian Ocean, which are closely guarded by the Tang Imperial Navy. The North Atlantic Fleet, the South African Fleet, and the South American Fleet together have a total of more than 230 destroyers, but it is obviously inadequate to guard against the activities of submarines of the European Navy from such a large area as the Atlantic.

To this end, the Imperial Navy urgently built and replenished a number of "Xiaocheng" class frigates with a displacement of about 1,000 tons, but the number of light ships was far from meeting the operational needs.

Although the Imperial Navy transferred most of the destroyer detachment to the North Atlantic Fleet, in addition to normal maintenance and overhaul, Admiral Tang Jinchao had more than 60 destroyers in his hands that could be used on a daily basis. There was no way, the North Atlantic Fleet could only shoehorn the "Little Town" class frigates that carried out coastal patrol missions into the escort team, which barely kept the safety of the sea transportation line from North America to Iceland.

When the damaged battleships "Huashan" and "Xing'anling" returned to the mainland shipyard for repairs, and the two "Kunlunshan" and two "Congling" class battleships were assigned to the 7th Air Fleet based in Port-au-Prince, Admiral Tang Jinchao had at his disposal only two "Kyushu" class aircraft carriers, three converted aircraft carriers, two "Green Ridge" class battleships, and four "Anxi" class heavy cruisers, as well as two old "Yunling" class battleships that originally belonged to the Eastern Fleet.

Rear Admiral Lin Taiquan's original flagship, the Songshan, was assessed by the Navy's Technical Committee and found that it was no longer worth salvage and repair, so it was simply reinforced on the beach in Vopna Bay, Iceland, and used as a shore defense battery, and has now been removed from the Navy's ship establishment.

According to the order of the High Command, the Imperial Navy must end the Icelandic campaign before the fall arrives, and according to the latest battle plan, the Atlantic Fleet and the North Atlantic Fleet will once again join forces.

In the drizzle, Admiral Tang Jinchao boarded the "Altai Mountains" under the watchful eyes of the generals at the Xinyuzhou base, and his commander's flag and admiral's flag were immediately raised on the mast of the battleship.

From the map, the fjords of Northern Europe seem to be narrow, but in fact, in this water, dozens of large and medium-sized surface ships of the Imperial Navy are currently gathered, and there is also a large transport fleet of more than thirty ships. With so many ships gathered at the anchorage of the new Yuzhou port, it didn't seem crowded at all.

Camouflaged anti-aircraft artillery groups are deployed on almost every hilltop on both sides of the fjord, as well as two land-based field airfields for the navy and two air forces, plus the sizable new Yuzhou airfield, which is heavily defended by the air force, and the seemingly calm appearance of the new Yuzhou fjord is just an illusion.

Shortly after Admiral Tang Jinchao boarded the ship, Vice Admiral Li Xilan's flag was also raised on the aircraft carrier "Jizhou" to the north of the battle fleet. The vice admiral is a member of the Tang Dynasty and is currently the commander of the 5th Air Fleet of the Imperial Navy.

Vice Admiral Lin Taiquan is currently the commander of the 2nd Fleet, which includes two old battleships, the "Hengshan" and "Taishan", two heavy cruisers of the "Anxi" class, "Xiaye" and "Dihua", two "Zhoucheng"-class air defense cruisers "Jiangzhou" and "Yuzhou", and the light cruiser "Zezhou" of the 12th Destroyer Fleet and its eight destroyers.

Generally speaking, the 5th Battlefleet, which consisted mainly of the "Altai Mountains" and the "Ural Mountains", as the main escort force of the air fleet, would basically act together, while the 2nd Fleet under General Lin Taiquan made many more sorties than the battlefleet.

Now that this huge blue-gray fleet was ready for sortie, the naval base at New Yuzhou Harbor (Norfolk) was filled with fuel, ammunition, and various supplies, so that the waterline was very low. Shortly after the flag was raised on the aircraft carrier "Jizhou", a signal flag was raised on the signal mast of the battleship "Altai Mountain", and the order that the fleets were waiting for was issued - "All ships set sail as planned!" ”

The 24th destroyer flotilla first left the New Yuzhou Bay.

Standing on the bridge of the "Jiaxingzuo", Ling Kaiyu noticed that although the weather conditions were very bad, there were still several double-engine "Egret" anti-submarine patrol planes hovering in the gloomy sky above their heads. These aircraft are equipped with radar detection equipment and are able to detect submarines that have surfaced from a great distance.

The defense of the North American coast is jointly undertaken by the Naval Coast Guard Command and the Air Force's 5th Military Region, and in order to ensure the safety of the naval fleet, the Coast Guard frigates, patrol gunboats, and speedboats patrol almost day and night to search for and clear European submarines operating close to the coast.

By noon, this huge fleet and convoy had passed through the New Yuzhou Peninsula and sailed outside the New Yuzhou Bay (Delaware Bay) into the blue-black coastal waters of the Atlantic. Before the fleet formed a circular anti-aircraft and anti-submarine formation, the destroyers quickly dispersed and conducted an anti-submarine search.

The atmosphere on every warship in the destroyer fleet was very tense, and all the crew members were on alert, especially the anti-submarine warfare positions were all deployed and ready to fight at any time.

Although the Datang Navy gradually controlled the situation in this area, there were still two European fleets in the rebel area, in addition, there were a large number of combat aircraft.

In the northern part of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, submarines from a part of European countries are also active.

In order to avoid enemy submarines that might be tracking the fleet's movements, the entire fleet sailed northeast at a speed of fifteen knots after entering the Atlantic, making two major turns. With a light rain in the sky and dark clouds covering the entire sea, the fleet continued safely on the ocean far from the coast, taking advantage of the fact that the reconnaissance planes deployed by the European coalition forces in rebel-controlled areas could not make long-range flights.

So far, no traces of enemy submarines have been found, and no unfamiliar radio signals have been heard, suggesting that enemy submarines should not have sent the fleet and reported the situation to their bases.

In the evening, the fleet had safely passed through the danger zone and began to move towards Iceland, the destination of the operation!

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