Five minutes ago, at 9:50, the bridge of the commander of the 1st Battle Patrol detachment "Prestige".

After receiving the call from the captain, Rear Admiral Gaunt immediately got up from his bed, and hurried over before he had time to put on his clothes.

After asking about the situation, Gaunt felt that the captain who had dreamed of climbing up was making a big fuss.

It's just that the second battle patrol detachment didn't honestly stay in the rear, ran to the front to fight the autumn wind, and met it by chance, do you need to make a fuss?

That's right, I received information a few days ago that the local fleet of the Liang Xia Empire is very likely to be dispatched in the near future, otherwise the combined fleet will not be out of the nest.

Again, more than two hours ago, an unidentified fleet appeared on the western side of the Watcher Strait.

But what does this mean?

The Watchman Strait was so wide, and there was only one channel through which the capital ships could pass safely, and the fast combat detachment under the personal command of Admiral Betty was just outside the exit of the channel, and even if the 21st detachment of the home fleet was killed, it would be attacked by the fast combat detachment.

The 21st squadron appeared in the open sea a few dozen kilometers northeast of the strait?

Obviously, that's absolutely impossible!

Besides, from the west came four battle cruisers, and the 21st detachment had six battle cruisers. Could it be that he has become a pretending to be the 2nd Battle Patrol Detachment, nicknamed the Guia Tiger, who has caused a lot of trouble for the Combined Fleet in the past two years or so, and He Yongxing, who is regarded as the number one threat, will leave a third of the main force and enter the Guia Ocean with four battle cruisers to fight the 1st Battle Patrol Detachment with six battle cruisers?

He Yongxing will make this low-level mistake of reversing priorities!?

If that's the case, even if you fall asleep, you have to wake up laughing!

Six against four, 44 main guns against 32 main guns, and the fast combat detachment is dozens of kilometers away, it is definitely a sure victory.

Not to mention the total annihilation of the 21st Fleet, as long as it can kill He Yongxing, it will be a first-class achievement!

It's just that Gaunt doesn't think he's so lucky.

More than two years ago, in the sea battle that changed the situation of the entire Western Continent, the Fifth Battleship Squadron led by Gaunt arrived in time, but because of some bad luck, it did not seize the opportunity to win in one fell swoop. Gaunt missed out on a great opportunity to put Betty on the rise.

If he was lucky, Gaunt would have taken the position of commander of the Guia Fleet, and it would not have been Betty's turn.

After asking about the situation, Gaunt reprimanded the captain for making a fuss, but turned a blind eye to several suspicious points.

For example, the opponent's route is on the right side of the 1st Battle Patrol detachment, not on the left. For example, the four warships approached at high speed and did not answer the telegram of inquiry sent by the "Prestige". Another example is that when the other party's leading ship uses light signals to communicate, it uses the international maritime code, instead of using it this year, and the military code is renewed every month.

The precious five minutes were wasted.

If he could get it back, Gaunt would be willing to trade five years of life for those five minutes.

In fact, even at the last moment, Gaunt did not wake up.

A minute earlier, after the lookout had observed that the opposing ship had a conning tower, Gaunt did not take the captain's advice and instead asked another group of lookouts on the rear mast to observe. Because it was blocked, the lookout on the rear mast did not report in time.

At this time, the speed of the "Prestige" was only ten knots!

It wasn't until half a minute earlier, after the opposing ship's sudden turn, that Gaunt listened to his advice and ordered the "Prestige" to be put into combat condition.

It's a pity that this order was not sent to the five battleships in the rear in time!

After the turn of the "Prestige", only the "Counterattack" followed by the turn.

Subsequently, the lookout observed the flash of the muzzle and concluded that the first two battleships of the opposing side were not of the "Golden Steel" class, but of the powerful "Beihe" class!

Quite simply, the tail main gun turrets of the two ships were adjacent to each other.

Looking at the world, except for the "Hude" just built by the Royal Navy of Bran, only the two "Beihe" class ships of the Liangxia Navy have this layout.

It is a pity that there are only a few tens of seconds left for Rear Admiral Gaunt and the dozens of officers and men on the bridge.

As it turns out, Gaunt is not the kind of general who is favored by Lady Luck.

Although it was more than ten kilometers away, the flames of the explosion and the fireballs rising from the enemy ships were still clearly visible, but looking through the binoculars, it felt like a model of a battleship had been placed far away, and a firecracker had been placed on it, and the explosion scene was not shocking.

"Holy!"

It wasn't until the smoke clouds rose in the air that Bai Zhizhan woke up.

The first salvo, and without a test launch, hitting the enemy ship, was too good luck to be true, and a little unbelievable.

Perhaps, it's not just luck.

"Beautiful!"

"Well done!"

"That's it, it!"

Li Mingbo and the other three reacted when the exploding fireball turned into a tumbling cloud of smoke, and then used words to show that they were all temperamental.

Fortunately, no one cares about the heartfelt words.

Li Mingbo took the lead in returning to normal, and grabbed the microphone as soon as he could, but then found out that Bai Zhizhan, who was in charge of ranging, had not completed the essential work.

"Aim at the point of explosion and set the target datum to zero."

Bai Zhizhan only nodded, his artillery professional assessment score was excellent, and distance measurement was the basic subject of the artillery major.

Soon, Bai Zhizhan measured the distance.

14.6 km.

When the distance is more than 10 kilometers, the accuracy of the portable rangefinder is only 0.1 kilometer, and the last digit is estimated, and the accuracy of the actual measurement is even worse.

Fortunately, the main rangefinder was not the portable rangefinder used by the lookout, but the twelve-meter main gun rangefinder mounted on the roof of the bridge.

"Report to the command, an explosion flash was observed, and the point of impact was near the bridge of the enemy ship......"

When Li Mingbo reported the situation, the leader ship of the enemy fleet was already surrounded by a column of water generated by the explosion of the shells.

To be precise, it's actually the view blocked.

Since no more flashes of explosion were seen, even if a shell hit an enemy ship, it would still be a dud and would not cause much damage to the enemy ship.

It's just that the battle has just begun.

Although it was shot first, the "Prestige" did not lose its combat effectiveness, and the more than 1,000 naval officers and sailors of the Bran Kingdom would never give up easily.

Counterattacks are ensuing!

"Brother Li!"

"See!" Li Mingbo didn't talk to Bai Zhizhan and grabbed the microphone again. "Report to the command, observe a flash from the muzzle of the enemy ship, half a salvo of the enemy's main guns."

Comparatively, the muzzle flash of the main gun is brighter, but shorter, and does not produce a noticeable cloud of smoke.

Because the turn was not completed, only the main guns of the two turrets in front of the "Prestige" were firing.

Li Mingbo stretched out four fingers and gestured a few times, signaling the enemy ship to fire four shells, and asked Bai Zhizhan and others to pay attention to the landing point of the shells.

As a rule, a half-salvo of the main gun is carried out only when the calibration is carried out.

However, the simultaneous firing of the four main guns in the bow of the enemy ship was less like a school fire and more like a hasty return fire after a sudden blow.

Perhaps the first shot had already knocked out the brains of the "Prestige".