Although some messages were received from the Navy Command one after another, it was not until the evening that the final battle report was received.

All three armored cruisers of the "Zoman" class were sunk, the "Prime Minister" was heavily damaged, and two "Beihe" class ships were also damaged.

At the last moment, it was the three "Hiroman" class ships that took the initiative to slow down and block the Nuland cruiser and destroyer that were catching up, and were attacked by heavy torpedoes one after another, and finally because the damage was too serious, they were sunk by bombs and torpedoes dropped by enemy planes when they could not sail quickly.

With the help of this opportunity, 3 fast battleships were able to get rid of the pursuing enemy ships.

The "Prime Minister" was a little slower, and when it retreated, it was still providing cover for 3 armored cruisers, so it was under the heavy care of enemy aircraft, and was hit by at least 5 aviation armor-piercing shells and 4 aviation torpedoes. Fortunately, the 500-pound bombs used by enemy planes were unfortunate.

Before dawn, the two "North River" class ships were subjected to several shells in an artillery battle with two "North Carolina" class, and the first round of air strikes launched by the Nuland fleet focused on dealing with these two fast battleships with exceptionally strong anti-aircraft firepower, causing the damage of the two ships to become more serious.

As a result, when the commander led the retreat, the two "Beihe" class ships took the lead in turning away from the battle.

Crucially, the speed of the 2 ships is the fastest.

Even with some damage, the speed of the two "North Rivers" class can reach 29 knots, which is slightly faster than the "Prime Minister" and surpasses the three armored cruisers.

It's just that 3 battleships were able to escape, and it was not only the credit of 3 armored cruisers.

While the three armored cruisers were fighting to hold back the pursuing enemy ships, a group of bombers from Lion Springs arrived, followed by a group of planes from Sri Lanka.

Although the two bomber groups were intercepted during the assault and were scattered by air defense fighters, they were not able to pose a threat to the Nuland fleet, and they did not even approach the Nuland aircraft carrier, but the arrival of the bomber group must have made the commander of the Nuland fleet feel the tremendous pressure.

In addition, in the hours before the bomber group arrived, the three fast battleships had already galloped north for more than 200 kilometers.

If the pursuit continues, another wave of attacks in the afternoon will have to be delayed for at least 2 hours.

In this way, it will be possible to enter the combat range of shore-based fighters before retreating.

If you don't get it right, you might be bombed in the afternoon.

With the aviation combat capability of two small aircraft carriers, after launching three waves of strikes in a row, it may not be possible to organize enough fighters to carry out air defense operations.

The key is that the Imperial Navy's twin-engine medium bombers can use aviation torpedoes to carry out anti-ship missions, and their combat effectiveness should not be underestimated.

This was learned from the Narrow Navy.

Although there was no way out, if there were enough aircraft carriers, the Imperial Navy would not rely on shore-based aviation, but in actual combat, twin-engine bombers showed strong tactical flexibility, and sometimes even served as long-range fighters, which was highly valued by the Navy.

Shortly after the bombers arrived, long-range fighters, also from Lion Springs, had already arrived near the Combined Fleet, driving out the Nuland fleet's reconnaissance aircraft.

It was so that at noon the Nuland fleet turned out of the battle.

At this point, the fierce battle was declared over.

It's just that the situation is not optimistic at all.

According to the commander's report, by the end of the battle, the ship had more than 5,500 tons of water, and the holes in the hull had not been plugged, and the watertight compartment inside was not perfect enough to sail to Sri Lanka.

Crucially, there is only one boiler left in the ship.

There is only one diesel generator left to drive the pump, and only two pumps can be driven.

If the amount of water is not controlled, that is, the pumping rate is lower than the rate of water intake, causing the last boiler and turbine to stop working because of the water ingress, the only way to consider abandoning the battleship is to let the destroyer sink it if necessary.

The reason is also very simple, there may be a Nuland submarine nearby.

The point is, it's too far away from Sri Lanka and Lion Springs.

Patrol aircraft are able to fly over, but they cannot guarantee uninterrupted patrols, and the search range is very limited, and the cover they can provide is very limited.

Even if the "Prime Minister" is preserved, it will be difficult to repair.

This battleship was built by the Empire, not to mention the craftsmanship, but the standards used, which are very different from the existence of the Imperial Navy.

Of course, the Imperial Navy did not have spare parts for the Prime Minister at all, and a lot of large-mass or large-sized equipment could only be transported by sea.

To put it simply, the Reich's shipyards may not be able to repair the battleship.

If you need to use any equipment that you need to customize, or if you want to overhaul your ship with Imperial parts, the cost of repairs can be prohibitive.

Of course, it also takes a lot of time.

All things considered, it is better to rebuild a fast battleship.

2 ships of the "Nord River" class are not at risk of sinking for the time being.

The two battleships would definitely have to return to the shipyard, and maybe stay in the dock for a few months, which meant that they would not be able to go out to sea to fight for a long time to come.

In fact, the difficulty of repairing the "North River" class is also very huge.

The reason is that many of the equipment on the "North River" class have been discontinued, and they can only be customized by manufacturers, and it is also a trouble to purchase supporting spare parts.

In fact, this is also the key to the Imperial Navy's reluctance to send the "Northern Rivers" class to charge.

Relatively speaking, because a total of 6 ships of the "Longxing" class were built, and all of them are still in service, the Imperial Navy also has a batch of vulnerable parts in reserve, which are easier to maintain. It is precisely because of this that throughout the war, the performance of 6 ships of the "Longxing" class was very active.

After this battle, the Combined Fleet has temporarily "ceased to exist".

In addition, there must be 2 small aircraft carriers in the Nuland fleet.

According to war reports, the Nuland fleet launched two bombings, committing less than 70 carrier-based aircraft, in addition to about 40 fighter jets in anti-aircraft operations.

A total of more than 100 aircraft, which is about the maximum capacity of two small aircraft carriers.

The key is that in the fleet attacking the United Fleet, there are TBF "Avenger" torpedo attack aircraft, and the number of sorties exceeds 20.

TBF is a bit too large for an escort aircraft carrier with a flight deck that is not long enough and does not have catapults.

In the North Sunset, the Nuland Navy escort aircraft carrier is still carrying the old TBD, mainly because there is no way to operate the TBF smoothly.

To say, even for small aircraft carriers, it is more difficult to operate TBF.

It can be seen that if you can carry TBF and let TBF carry torpedoes to attack, it can only be a small aircraft carrier, and it will definitely not be an escort aircraft carrier.

Most importantly, the interval between the 2 waves of attacks is less than 2 hours.

With such a fast sortie, it must be a small aircraft carrier with catapults.

Taken together, it is completely certain that this fleet is from Treasure Harbor, and the commander is most likely Sp.

In fact, this also explains the reason why on the Transit Island, where the Imperial Marines have successfully landed, but the Nuland Navy has not sent a fleet over.

When Bai Zhizhan led the fleet to attack the transit island, Sp took the fleet to Fanyan Ocean!