On the evening of August 14, the north entrance of the Wangxi Canal.

After putting down the binoculars, Hal looked at the setting sun in the west.

The canal is just ahead, and the timing is very accurate.

After the staff officer came out to warn, Hal ordered to slow down so that the "Endeavour" could catch up.

The choice of "Leke" as the flagship is actually to give face to Spu.

The "Endeavour" has always been Sp's flagship, and he participated in 2 fleet battles with Sp, which can be regarded as Sp's personal car.

In the words of the Navy, Endeavor is more like Spu's woman.

Of course, for ordinary officers and men, the battleship is home, and it is the place where they cannot be separated.

According to unwritten rules, as long as Sp remained in the position of commander of the fleet, and there was no new flagship, the "Endeavour" remained his flagship. Other fleet commanders, unless they have a deep grudge against Sp, will avoid the "Endeavour" when choosing a flagship.

In addition, the "Lek" was originally commanded by Hal.

During the Battle of the Guia, the carrier was part of Howl's 16th Task Force, and eventually left the battlefield with Howl.

It didn't take long for the Endeavour to catch up.

According to the arrangement, in the afternoon, several cruisers went to Frye's side and were to follow the "Independence" under Frye's command through the Wangxi Canal.

For this reason, only 4 destroyers followed the 2 fleet carriers through the canal by lock No. 3.

This is also for anti-submarine, otherwise these 4 destroyers can be saved.

Of course, not submarines on the sunset side, but submarines on the Guia side.

On the side of the sunset, suppressed by the Royal Navy of Bran and the Navy of Newland, the submarines of the Navy's Terman Navy are much more honest than in the past. The range of activity has been reduced, concentrating on the route from the North Sunset to the Ice Ocean, and mainly dealing with the fleet bound for the Luosha Federation.

Of course, this has to do with the current situation of the war.

If anything, the submarines of the Liangxia Navy are more threatening.

Although before the outbreak of the war, the Liangxia Navy's submarine force was limited in scale, especially the lack of large submarines capable of fighting in the open ocean for a long time, and the Liangxia Navy did not pay much attention to submarine-related technology, but after the Hindan Empire entered the war, these problems did not exist.

There was early information that the Liangxia Empire not only provided the design drawings and construction technology of ocean-going submarines to the Liangxia Empire, but also assisted more than a dozen large ocean-going submarines, and sent experienced submarine officers and soldiers to the Liangxia Empire to help the Liangxia Navy master the tactics of breaking ocean-going diplomatic relations as soon as possible.

The point is, the shipbuilding industry of the Liangxia Empire was too strong.

After getting the design drawings, not to mention the regular naval shipyards, even private shipyards that mainly build cargo ships can build submarines.

According to the latest information, the Liangxia Navy has more than 150 ocean-going submarines, and it is growing at a rate of 10 to 15 per month.

Although this size and growth rate is not as large as that of the Nuland Navy, the threat of these submarines is enormous.

According to incomplete statistics, the number of cargo ships sunk by the Nuland Federation in the Guia Ocean is no less than 200,000 tons every month, and the maximum month is more than 500,000 tons.

Most of them are the results of the Liangxia submarine.

In fact, when the Nuland submarine was desperately destroying the shipping routes of the Liang Xia Empire, the Liang Xia submarine also frantically attacked the fleet of the Nuland Federation in the southwest and eastern sea.

Of course, if you really want to say it, almost all the submarines of the Liangxia Navy are foreign.

Either way, the Liangxia submarine is a huge threat.

The key is that after the defeat and surrender of the Sagi Empire, the Liangxia Navy was able to use the port on the north island of the Sagi Empire as a base to greatly shorten the sailing distance to the northeast and the Guia Ocean. Those ocean-going submarines with a range of more than 15,000 nautical miles tend to patrol the Guia and then head south to the south of the Wangxi Canal for a while to see if they can meet the fleet. On the way back, they first went to the southwest and the east, and attacked the fleets they encountered along the way. Unless they have run out of torpedoes and are unable to contact the raiding cruisers responsible for supplying them, they will either manage to return to Yanhai or go to South Zhuhai to join up with the submarine support ships that are in charge.

It can be seen that there are several Liangxia submarines waiting for the rabbit on the south side of the canal at any time.

It's just that anti-submarine is not a big problem.

As expected, there are now more than a dozen patrol aircraft operating opposite the Panamanian land narrow, and by tomorrow morning the number of anti-submarine patrol aircraft will double.

The point is that this high-intensity anti-submarine patrol has been going on for five days.

As for the reason, it is to cover the passage of the USS Independence aircraft carrier battle group led by Frye through the canal, and then there will be a convoy of transport ships to enter the Guia Ocean.

No submarine has ever been able to lurk so long below the surface unless it was prepared.

Soon, the fleet reached the entrance to the canal.

Relatively speaking, the Wangxi Canal is wider than the Xifan Canal, and the main channel can accommodate two aircraft carriers in parallel, but no captain will risk it in a hurry.

In addition, after the outbreak of the war, the Nuland army took over the canal, designating an area of 1,000 meters on both sides of the canal as a military exclusion zone that civilians were not allowed to enter.

To guard the canal, the garrison built watchtowers every 250 meters on both sides of the canal.

In order to enhance security, the dense forests on both sides of the river were also set on fire.

Don't say it's a human, not even a sparrow can't even think of flying over.

If you want to talk about danger, it is actually near the locks.

Although the main part of the No. 3 lock has been completed long ago, the commissioning and testing work has not yet been completed, and many workers still live on the construction site near the lock.

Even if arrangements were made in advance and work was suspended for two days in the name of testing, there was no guarantee that there were no spies among the workers.

If anything, there must be spies from the Liangxia Empire among the workers.

There is no way around it.

Most of the workers were recruited local residents, many of whom were Indians, and ethnically there was no significant difference between the Indians and the Orientals of the Liangxia Empire.

In addition, there were about 5 million immigrants from the Liangxia Empire in the Southern Lonely Continent.

It is precisely for this reason that the military and police have to be placed under martial law near the locks to shorten the passage time as much as possible.

Of course, the key is to look at Frye.

As expected, the "Independence" that passed through the No. 2 lock at the same time, as well as several "Baltimore"-class heavy cruisers that had just been built and were about to go to the west coast for acceptance tests and had not yet been delivered to the navy, would certainly be able to divert the Liangxia spies lurking in the canal zone.

As long as everything goes well, it only takes 4 hours at most, that is, 2 times of operation, and 2 fleet aircraft carriers and 4 destroyers can pass through lock No. 3 in 2 batches.

After that, it will be possible to leave the main channel of the canal at dawn tomorrow.

Perhaps, it will be smooth sailing.

The preparation was so well done that it was strange that it didn't go well!

After about two hours, the "Lek" came to the outside of lock No. 3 and then entered the lock under the push of four barges.

Hal remained on the cloister outside the Commander's Bridge.

When the locks began to fill with water, he couldn't help but be a little nervous.

Don't look at Hal's usual hot temper, giving people a very bold feeling, but after the Battle of the Northwest and Guia Seas, his temperament has changed dramatically.

It's not about being timid, it's about being more cautious.

After 11 o'clock in the evening, the "Leke" and two destroyers successfully passed through the No. 3 lock.

Geographically, it can be regarded as entering the Guia Ocean.