The tide of battle took another turn on 10 January.

When the communications staff officer sent the telegram, Bai Zhizhan was discussing with Zhou Yongtao whether the fleet's combat operations needed to be entered in advance, and the risks he would bear.

After reading the message, Bai Zhizhan immediately asked Zhou Yongtao to gather the staff officers of the headquarters.

Yesterday evening, the Horman fleet, which had broken through into the North Sunset Ocean, was discovered by an armed merchant ship about 500 kilometers northeast of Iceland.

Not bad luck, but the inevitable result. In order to find the "Prime Minister", the Royal Navy of Bran sent all the armed merchant ships that could be dispatched.

At that time, there were about 30 armed merchant ships in the North Sunset Ocean.

If anything, this is also the last time that an armed merchant ship will show its existential value.

In escort operations mainly based on anti-submarine convoys, the main force is to escort aircraft carriers, and the armed merchant ships that once accompanied the fleet to gallop across the ocean are no longer useful.

Although a 280-millimeter shell fired by the "Gneisenau" hit accurately and directly blew up the ship's ammunition depot after more than 10 minutes, more than 10 minutes was enough time for the lookout to recognize the battleship and send a telegram to find the "Prime Minister".

A few hours later, a patrol plane taking off from Iceland spotted the Terman fleet heading west.

In fact, not all of the fleet, except for the "Prime Minister", there are only 2 destroyers and 2 fast oil tankers. Two large cruisers, one destroyer, and one fast oil tanker parted ways with the "Prime Minister" in the evening, revealing their whereabouts, and were sailing eastward at this time.

To put it bluntly, 2 large cruisers were preparing to return to the mainland of Euman.

Because the whereabouts have been exposed, the "Prime Minister" will end the operation of breaking diplomatic relations on the North Sunset Ocean and go to the South Sunset Ocean according to the backup plan.

The key is to avoid the Royal Navy's home fleet of Bran.

Three days earlier, the home fleet had already left the North Sea and entered the North Sunset Ocean.

Although there is no information on the home fleet for the time being, according to the speculation of the Yamaman Navy, the home fleet is likely to be on standby near the Shetland Islands.

In this way, the "Prime Minister" cannot go directly south.

To avoid the home fleet, you have to take the Danish Strait to the west of Iceland.

This was also a key reason for the return of two large cruisers.

It's not that large cruisers aren't fast enough, but that there is not enough fuel.

The Prime Minister had to sail at full speed in order to pass through the Danish Strait before the arrival of the home fleet, which would have required a significant amount of additional fuel. If you bring 2 large cruisers, then the fuel carried by 3 fast tankers is not enough to support the fleet to enter the Fanyan Ocean or the Guia Ocean.

Have 2 large cruisers return to sea and deceive the Royal Navy of Bran if necessary.

All in all, yesterday evening, the "Prime Minister" sprinted at full speed towards the Danish Strait.

Unfortunately, the luck was just too bad.

If it had not been discovered by the patrol plane, the Prime Minister would have been able to break out of the Danish Strait a day later, on the night of the 10th.

Entering the open Icelandic basin, the Prime Minister was able to use its speed to escape the pursuing home fleet.

As for whether there is a chance to enter the Fanyan Ocean or the Guia Ocean after arriving at Nanxi Luoyang, and whether or not it can reach the Liangxia Empire, that is another matter.

It's just that now, the "Prime Minister" may not be able to break through smoothly.

According to the information sent by the naval command, the Navy, in general, determined that the home fleet had entered the North Sunset Ocean and was near the Faroe Islands.

The basis was a telegram from a submarine.

If this was the case, the battlecruisers and fast battleships of the home fleet were able to reach the south side of the Danish Channel on the afternoon of the 10th. Even the slower, older battleships were able to arrive on the night of the 10th. If the home fleet has an aircraft carrier, even if it is a small aircraft carrier, the carrier-based aircraft on board will have a great chance of finding the "Prime Minister" still in the Danish Strait during the day on the 10th.

According to this calculation, the battle will start as soon as the afternoon of the 10th.

If it is bombed, the "Prime Minister" will inevitably be more than lucky.

Even if it is not sunk, as long as it is damaged and cannot sail at full speed, it will be caught up by the fast capital ships of the home fleet and then sunk.

Even if the battle was fought at night, there was not much chance of victory.

The home fleet had at least 3 fast capital ships, at least 1 of which was a fast battleship, but the "Prime Minister" fought alone.

As the saying goes, a tiger can't fight a pack of wolves.

No matter how good the "Prime Minister" can play, it will not be able to face 3 opponents of the same level at the same time.

It was almost noon, and the command of the Navy sent an update.

The suspicions made by the Navy, which had been confirmed, had found the submarine of the Home Fleet, and after hiding for several hours avoiding the anti-submarine destroyers, sent a telegram to the surface of the sea, claiming that it had found the Home Fleet, at least three fast capital ships that were sailing at full speed.

This report is completely consistent with another piece of information.

The three fast capital ships in the home fleet were: the battlecruiser "Hood", and the fast battleships "George V" and "Prince of Wales".

As for the 2 "Prestige" class battlecruisers, there is already intelligence to prove that all of them went to the Lu Xinhai Fleet and also participated in the battle of shelling the Locke fleet. The "Counterattack" had already returned to Telok Fortress a few days earlier, hoisted the flag of the commander of the detachment, and is now the flagship of the Western Continent Xinhai Detachment. The "Prestige" never appeared, and it is likely that it had been incorporated into the expeditionary fleet under the command of Cunningham.

This deployment is aimed at the "Prime Minister".

In order to deal with the largest displacement battleship ever built and commissioned, the Royal Navy of Bran incorporated the most capable capital ships into the home fleet. In addition to the 3 fast capital ships, there were 2 Nelson-class battleships armed with 16-inch guns.

It's a pity that the speed of the "Nelson" class is so slow that even the "Queen Isa" class can't compare.

However, the Navy's Navy's adjustments have also been made.

Yesterday evening, after the "Prime Minister" was exposed again, the command of the Navy's command telegraphed the two large cruisers of the "Scharnhorst" class to turn.

In accordance with the new order, two large cruisers were to accompany the "Prime Minister" in its breakthrough.

To be precise, after covering the "Prime Minister" rushing out of the Danish Strait, it turned back to the sea.

The reason is also very simple, the "Prime Minister" is lonely, and if it encounters the home fleet, it will definitely be more than lucky.

With the assistance of 2 large cruisers, the hope of breaking through was much greater.

If anything, the 280-mm guns of 2 large cruisers were also not ornaments, at least a huge threat to battlecruisers with weak armor protection.

Just a few months ago, the two ships joined forces to take out a fleet aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy of Bran.

In order for the two large cruisers to catch up and join the "Prime Minister" at noon on the 10th, the "Prime Minister" was required to reduce the speed to 22 knots.

In other words, the "Prime Minister" will have to sail in the Danish Strait by 3 hours.

As a result, the Chancellor's departure from the Danish Channel will be postponed from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Because January is the shortest month for daylight in the Northern Hemisphere at high latitudes, it was almost dark around 4 p.m.

It was precisely because of this that the Manman Navy felt that a three-hour delay would not be a big deal.

Rushing out of the Danish Strait in the evening, there was a night to break through the encirclement of the home fleet, and by the time it was dawn again, it had sailed several hundred kilometers south.

Just, will it be so smooth?