It was not until the night of the 15th that Bai Zhizhan received the latest news.

The main force of the Royal Navy's home fleet has returned to its home port, which is Sparka Bay, but the two newest fast battleships have not returned.

Where did those two battleships go?

There is enough reason to believe that the "George V" and the "Prince of Wales" were not injured in the battle on the 10th, that is, the Royal Navy of Bran did not make adjustments, and the shipyards of the Kingdom of Bran that were able to provide services for the capital ships did not make preparations for the repair of the warships.

After reading the telegram, Bai Zhizhan immediately asked Zhou Yongtao to call back to the naval headquarters, urging Zheng Jiangming to contact the navy as soon as possible.

That's two fast battleships!

The "George V" class is the worst treaty-type fast battleship, that is, in order to obtain a high enough speed, but also in order to achieve the best of both worlds between firepower intensity and firepower density, and in order to reduce the construction cost, too many compromises have been made, and in the end it is nondescript.

The most representative is the 10 14-inch main guns arranged according to 4+2+4.

With a 14-inch gun is to drive in reverse.

The 2 "Nelson" class ships built before were 16-inch main guns, and the main force of the last war, the "Queen Isa" class, were both 15-inch.

Crucially, the Royal Navy did not have a capital ship equipped with 14-inch naval guns before this.

On the contrary, the Nuland Navy and the Narrow-Minded Navy used 14 inches as a standard caliber and used them on dozens of capital ships before 16-inch naval guns became the mainstream.

It can be said unceremoniously that no matter how good the other performance of the "George V" class is, just these 10 14-inch guns have reduced it to a second-rate battleship.

In the same era, the battleships of the treaty type built by other powers were above the "George V" class in terms of firepower!

It's just that the "George V" class is a real fast battleship, and the fastest speed of 29 knots is not slower than other fast battleships.

Crucially, before the completion of the "George V", the aircraft carrier was already on the stage of war.

As a result, the Royal Navy had the shipyard install as many anti-aircraft guns as possible on these battleships before the official reception.

According to credible information, HMS George V was armed with 32 40mm and 65 20mm anti-aircraft guns, while HMS Prince of Wales had 48 40mm and 70 20mm anti-aircraft guns, and each ship had eight twin 5.5-inch secondary guns.

This firepower configuration, even compared with the "Asahimi" class of the Imperial Navy, is not too bad.

If anything, the position of the "George V" class is to be by the side of the aircraft carrier, acting as the bodyguard of the aircraft carrier.

As early as a few months ago, Bai Zhizhan reminded Wang Kaiyuan and Zheng Jiangming to keep an eye on the "George V" class battleships.

At that time, there was intelligence that the Nuland Navy proposed to the Royal Navy of Bran to exchange three "Kola" class ships for two upcoming "George V" class and "Hood" to be returned after the "North Carolina" class was put into service, so as to solve the problem of not having fast battleships to escort the aircraft carrier.

Unfortunately, the Royal Navy did not agree, citing the imminent completion of the Prime Minister and the threat posed by the two Scharnhorst-class ships.

After that, all the "George V" classes built were in the home fleet.

In addition, the Royal Navy of Bran has successively modified several other fast capital ships, all of which are mainly focused on enhancing anti-aircraft firepower.

Even if the "Hud" has been sunk, there are still two "Prestige" class battlecruisers capable of escorting the aircraft carrier.

Subsequently, a telegram was sent from the command of the Navy.

According to the relevant information provided by the Navy, it is possible that the "George V" and the "Prince of Wales" have already headed south and are still pursuing the "Prime Minister".

The reason is also very simple, only these 2 fast battleships can catch up with the "Prime Minister".

After the naval battle on 10 January, the Royal Navy of Bran would conclude that the Prime Minister would be heading for the South Sunset. In fact, there is no need to guess at all, the previous 3 armored cruisers just went to Nanxi to fall into the ocean, and then slipped into the Fanyan Ocean, and escaped to the Liangxia Empire before being caught up by the Bran fleet.

In this way, it is not surprising that the Royal Navy of Bran sent 2 fast battleships to pursue it south.

The Raleigh Navy has already been beaten up, and it will definitely not dare to provoke the Lu Xinhai Fleet in the short term.

As for the Locke fleet, only the "Strasbourg" escaped back to the mainland, and when entering the port of Toulon, the captain ordered the destruction of key equipment, including the main guns and boilers, so that the ship was completely incapacitated and completely useless for the Romanian navy.

The two large cruisers of the Manman Navy returned to the mainland.

Even if these two warships are still capable of fighting, and their combat effectiveness is extremely strong, they will need to be maintained, and they will not be able to go out again until 3 months at the earliest.

In the short term, in the North Sunset Ocean and the Luxin Sea, the Royal Navy of Bran has nothing to worry about.

In the callback, the Rimman Navy also mentioned a point.

The "Prime Minister" used a luck-based cannonball to kill the largest tonnage capital ship of the Bran Royal Navy in an instant, which was equivalent to a resounding slap in the face to the Bran Royal Navy, whether it was to maintain a centuries-old reputation or to revive morale, the Bran Royal Navy would not give up.

The most ideal way to save face is to sink the "Prime Minister".

If anything, this is also closely related to the political fate of the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Bran, Chur.

More than half a year ago, after the three armored cruisers of the Manman Navy went on a killing spree on the sunset ocean, they were chased and intercepted by the Royal Navy of Bran and fled to the Liangxia Empire. What's more, these three armored cruisers hid for three months near a deserted island in the Southern Fanyan Ocean.

Although this happened before Chur moved into the prime minister's palace, and the impeachment of the former prime minister was also related to this, the three armored cruisers of the Horman Navy did not arrive in the Liangxia Empire until Chur became prime minister, and Chull vowed at that time that no matter how long he had to wait, he would sink the three Honman warships.

Until now, the three "Homman"-class armored cruisers have been active in the Yanhai Sea to train the officers and men of the fleet for the Navy.

If the old trick of the "Prime Minister" is repeated, Chull will have to move out of the Prime Minister's Office.

Chull originally made his fortune from the Admiralty, and before becoming Prime Minister, the highest position was the Minister of the Navy!

It was precisely in this way that the navy concluded that the two fast battleships were still pursuing the "Prime Minister".

These inferences are all plausible, but they are all inferences, and the Manman Navy has not provided evidence.

Bai Zhizhan is still worried, but he can't help it.

In the early morning of the 16th, after explaining to Du Kang, Bai Zhizhan took Zhou Yongtao and other staff officers of the fleet headquarters and left the front command on a patrol plane.

Although on the night of the 15th, Lian Xusheng postponed the attack on Shiquan City for 3 days according to the bombing situation, Bai Zhizhan still had to return to the task force as planned to ensure that when Lian Xusheng made adjustments again, he could lead the 11th task force to participate in the battle.

In any case, Lian Xusheng is the commander-in-chief, and Bai Zhizhan has to listen to his orders.

Before leaving the front-line command, Bai Zhizhan also specifically told Du Kang.

Whatever happens, patrols in the Andaman Sea must not be reduced, at least once a day to ensure that bomber patrols are arranged.

If you find something, you have to report it immediately.

In terms of time, if Cunningham had been on his way and had not been delayed on the way, he would have been able to reach the Andaman Sea by January 15.