At the west entrance of the strait, on the battleship "Daimun".

Ten minutes ago, at about half past one, the telecommunications officer delivered the latest battle report, and the four "second high" class ships of the Fifth Cruiser Squadron had all been sunk.

Although shocked, Takano did not show it.

The encounter with the home fleet of the Liang Xia Navy here did not surprise Takano. Because it was expected for a long time, it was strange that it didn't happen.

On the contrary, Takano was not only surprised by the battle reports sent by Takaji and Takeo one after another, but also 10,000 disbelief.

After the start of the war, the "Hisato" was the first to suffer heavy damage, and the "Imuro" was immediately set on fire by the enemy ships, and even the telecommunications center was destroyed, but the subsequent telegram from the "Fusang" claimed that four enemy ships had been severely damaged, and at least one of them was incapacitated.

And that's not all.

To make Takano even more incredible, Takeo first reported firing torpedoes at enemy ships at a distance of 10 kilometers to provide cover for the second main team, and then sent a telegram claiming to have hit four enemy ships, and visually judged that at least one of them had sunk after a large explosion.

Interestingly, both Takaji and Takeo claimed to have sunk the enemy's lead ship, the flagship.

Is there still two flagships for the home fleet?

After that, that is, at the beginning, the telecommunications officer sent the latest news, and the light cruisers that had gone ahead had been visually confirmed, and the "Yuhei" of the Fifth Cruiser Squadron had fired a signal flare indicating self-sinking, and the other three ships had disappeared from the sea, and they were preliminarily determined to be all sunk.

Luckily, the second main team survived.

In the southwestern direction, fierce battles were still going on, but the 10th Cruiser Squadron was engaged with the light patrol detachments of the Liang Xia Navy.

The four "Nagara" class ships did not take advantage, but they did not back down.

Before the 2nd Main Squadron withdrew, the 10th Cruiser Squadron had to keep an eye on the enemy ships on that side, prevent the enemy ships from approaching, and then launch a torpedo attack.

Even if the heavy torpedoes of the Liang Xia Navy were not as anti-sky as the "spear", they would definitely be able to sink the battleship.

"Commander!"

When Kuroshima reminded him, Takano had already seen the four warships in front of him that looked like they were about to sink and were coming towards him.

That's right, that's the four battleships of the second main force.

Although the state is extremely bad, they are still there, and none of them have sunk.

It's just that Gao Ye can't be happy at all.

After the disengagement, or rather the defeat of the Fifth Cruiser Detachment, no further news was received of anything related to the Home Fleet.

The second main force withdrew, but no one knew where the four enemy ships with sharp guns were!

Don't forget, it was the "Longxing" class battleship, which was known as the "strongest pre-treaty type".

Although after its completion, in addition to strengthening the anti-aircraft firepower as always, the "Longxing" class did not make other modifications, but its combat effectiveness was already very strong. With a maximum speed of 26 knots, eight 400-mm guns and a 400-mm thick main armor belt, it was no worse than a treaty-type battleship of the "Damin" class. Even now, the "Longxing" class is a very formidable opponent.

In addition, the "Gate" class copied the classic design of the "Longxing" class in many ways, and it is not wrong to say that it is a copy of the "Longxing" class.

If Takaji and Takeo were lying, and the home fleet had not suffered heavy losses, they would certainly not have taken the initiative to evacuate.

Takano was obviously a little weak, but he didn't show it.

At 1:55 a.m., the four battleships of the second main squadron passed in turn on the right side of the "Gate".

The lead "Imuro" was extremely badly damaged. The hull had almost sunk beneath the surface, and the rear of the tall tower, the telecommunications center, had completely disappeared. The huge gap left behind was like being bitten by a giant beast.

Of the six main gun turrets, two have been completely paralyzed, two have been thrown off the roof, and the remaining two are certainly not able to fire.

The bow of the ship has been blown off, and the remains of several officers and men are still hanging in the fracture.

The auxiliary bridge in the back had disappeared entirely, and the fallen rear mast pressed against the two main gun turrets in the middle, smashing through the horizontal deck.

It's a miracle that the battleship didn't sink!

On the open-air corridor outside the commander's bridge, there were more than a dozen officers and soldiers of the battle team headquarters, led by Takaji.

This guy was not killed by a shell during the battle.

At most, he was slightly injured, no arms or legs were missing, and his life was not in danger, so he couldn't be sure that the gauze on his arms was temporarily wrapped.

The "Fusang", which followed behind, was about the same, and the hull sank almost completely under the surface of the sea. The second chimney, located in the middle of the hull, had collapsed, pressing down on the turret of the fourth main gun in the back. Near the waterline of the hull on the right side of the aft bridge, there were three holes that were clearly left by large-caliber armor-piercing shells.

If you want to say, the luckiest thing about the "Fusang" is that the main bridge in front of it was not shot.

The situation with the "Yamasei" is slightly better.

In addition to the destruction of the two main gun turrets in front, the ship only suffered a few shots on the right side of the hull above the waterline, which led to the ingress of thousands of tons of water.

The damage to the "Hisato" is barely passable if you only look at it from the outside.

In addition to the upper part of the tower mast being blown away, the most serious wound suffered by the "Higo" was actually the No. 1 main gun turret that was also blown away.

From here, all the parts above the waterline of the hull are gone.

In order to trim, that is, to counteract the trim caused by severe water ingress in the bow, the acting captain of the "Hisato" had already ordered the aft compartment of the hull to be filled with water.

As a result, the flooding of the "Higo" was also very serious.

Of course, it is also possible that during the battle, in order to avoid the detonation, the main gun ammunition depot was filled with water.

Judging by the damage to the bow of the ship, it must have been a shell stored in the No. 1 main gun turret, or the propellant exploded, throwing the entire turret away.

These four warships did not sink in battle, and they were able to sail on their own power, and "miracles" are not enough to describe it.

Could it be that Amaterasu had already woken up, opened his eyes, and began to care for the people he had created with his own hands?

It's just emotional, Gao Ye didn't take it seriously.

The four battleships were traveling at less than ten knots, and it looked like they could drop anchor at any moment.

At this speed, it will take at least three hours to return to the Guia Ocean from the Watchmen Channel. If anything goes wrong, I'm afraid it will be delayed until after dawn.

Will the home fleet give a few hours for the second main team to calmly withdraw to the Guia?

Although in theory, Takano could have imagined that the home fleet might not pursue it for the purpose of preserving its strength, but he didn't dare to take risks, or he couldn't do nothing when he had already entered Asahikai and knew that the second main team had been heavily damaged.

Besides, even if Gui Boyong was not competitive, he would not let go of the four battleships that were already dying.

If Takano returns with the first main force now, even if he successfully returns to Sagi mainland and continues to serve as the commander of the permanent fleet, or even becomes the commander-in-chief of the navy, he will lose the support of most of the officers and men, and thus lose the number one capital to gain a foothold in the Sagi Navy.

Takano never thought about going back alive.

Don't forget, he has already asked Minoru Tian to bring back the last letter.

He came here to realize the value of being a soldier of the narrow navy!