After hearing the footsteps, Summerville quickly adjusted his mind and turned around. Unlike the traditional admirals, Summerville was not an idealist, he did not think about the good times after the victory, he was a serious realist, otherwise he would not have fought the French fleet anchored in the harbor in the Mediterranean.

"General, just received a telegram that Admiral Hutte's aircraft carrier detachment has entered the Irish Sea, and we will pass through the Strait this evening." The staff officer stood about two paces away from Samoville, "Plus, in five minutes, the fleet will make one last course adjustment, and in about half an hour, we'll be in the minefield." ”

"I will take over the command in two minutes, first contact the other warships, and sail according to the determined new formation method." Summerville straightened the hat on his head, and then let out a long sigh of relief.

After the staff officer left, Summerville glanced at the battleships in the flanks and rear. In order to avoid exposing the fleet, the fleet did not use radio stations, and even the light signals were regulated. In the darkness of the night, the outlines of the battleships were blurred, and every ten seconds or so, a flash of light appeared on the masts of the battleships to determine the position of each battleship and whether it was on the correct course. By this time, the fleet had begun to accelerate, and Summerville clearly felt the vibration under his feet a little stronger. There will be no peace in the Strait, and whether the Strait of Dover will pass safely is perhaps known only to God.

Returning to the bridge of the commandant, Sarmoville quickly walked to his post.

"The commander takes over the command!" The nautical staff officer voluntarily relinquished command.

"The commander takes over the command!" The signal corps quickly spread the news to the captain of the navigation bridge above.

"Confirm the current course, speed." Summerville's expression was resolute, "Do the last internal inspection of the formation, confirm the position and speed of each battleship, and after entering the minefield, all battleships must keep a sufficient distance. Sound the alarm. It's time for us to act. ”

The piercing sirens sounded, and the officers and men on the battleship quickly entered their posts. Unbeknownst to most of the officers and men, they were about to enter a sea full of dangers. And these are all of their own making.

After the defeat of France, in order to ensure the security of the British mainland, the British Navy used all kinds of forces at its disposal, including submarines, minelayers, temporary conscription fishing boats, and even used air force bombers, and deployed tens of thousands of various mines in the narrowest area of the Strait of Dover to prevent the German army from crossing the channel. Break into the British mainland. This was an effective defensive barrier, and even if the German navy had achieved sea supremacy, it would have to take into account the threat of these mines when crossing the strait, and a mine filled with hundreds of pounds of explosives could blow up a battleship, not to mention the fragile landing ships and transports. But now. These mines, however, have become an obstacle in Samoville.

"New course." Sarmoville nodded to the nautical staff, "195 degrees, speed 16 knots, now start counting the time!" ”

"Start counting time!" The nautical staff officer immediately pressed the stopwatch in his hand, while his assistant traced the route of the fleet on a high-gauge chart.

At the time of laying mines. The British Navy did not block all the passages, leaving a narrow safe passageway. Of course, this waterway does not run east-west, but north-south. At the beginning, when the British Navy laid mines in the strait, it thought that one day its warships would pass through the strait, therefore. This "safe" passage was left just as the mines were laid. In fact, this is just a channel that does not exceed 800 chains at its widest point. What's even more troublesome is that many mines were laid a few years ago, especially those anchor mines, which are likely to have deviated from their original location and drifted to other places with the current, and no one knows whether this channel is safe or not. Because before Satsumville, there had never been a British admiral who commanded a huge fleet through this passage! (Fastest update: n).

"General, five minutes!"

"New course, 270 degrees, speed 14 knots, calculate time!" Samoville was also a little nervous.

"Speed 14 knots, start calculating time."

The route chart is provided by other departments, and even if the chart is accurate enough, the question is, will the route of a large fleet be accurate enough? Maybe cruisers, destroyers are a little better, but huge battleships are inherently bulky and inflexible, and if the course deviates a little, then they will hit mines. What's worse is that at night, it is impossible to see the situation on the sea surface clearly, and it is impossible to identify whether there are mines on the channel, and only when the mines explode, will you know that the battleship has hit the mines.

"Three minutes to prepare!"

Summerville glanced at his watch, "Keep up the speed and turn to the 220-degree course in three minutes." ”

The nautical staff officer immediately marked a new route on the chart, and at this time everyone's mood was a little nervous, and those staff officers who did not have a task did not even dare to go out of the atmosphere, and they all paid nervous attention to Summerville and the nautical staff officer.

"You command!" Summerville nodded to the seafaring staff, then walked over to the porthole and looked at the ships that followed.

"The nautical staff officer takes over the command!" The signal corps quickly delivered the order.

The fleet "crawled" on the surface of the sea like a huge serpent, and the other warships followed the ass of the "Queen Elizabeth" cautiously forward. Satsumville forced himself to calm down, now that the fleet had entered a minefield, and the channel was so narrow that the battleship could not turn now, he had no way to retreat, but to the end in one go. And not that he was worried not about those anchor mines, but about magnetic mines. This is the British Navy. Or a major invention of the Americans, which detonates a mine by sensing the magnetic field emitted by the battleship, so that even if the battleship does not hit the mine, it is very likely to be hit!

There are many other things that worry Satsummerville, such as whether the Germans have also laid mines in the channel? Although there is no intelligence to confirm this, as long as Germany wants to hit the British mainland, it will try to control the Strait of Dover, and if its own fleet cannot use the channel of the channel, let alone allow the British navy to use this channel, then it is very likely that the German navy has laid mines in the channel. And where are the mines laid by the Germans? That's what Samoville doesn't know.

What Samoville was most certain of all was that the Germans would let them pass through the strait unharmed, and it was not the mines that were hidden under the surface of the sea that really blocked the strait, but the German shore artillery located in the eastern part of the strait, near Calais. At its narrowest point, the strait is just over 30 kilometers, and the heavy artillery deployed on the coastline is enough to block the entire strait. In addition, the Germans must have set up a large number of observation posts and radar bases along the coastline, and if the Germans wanted to stop them from moving south, Sarmoville would have to pass through this narrow channel under artillery fire. At this time, Satsummerville could only miss the promise given to him by the Minister of the Admiralty that the Germans would not cause him trouble, and would even help them secretly!

It was this promise from the Lord of the Admiralty that made Satmoville decide to venture through the Strait of Dover. Samoville was not a shrewd politician, otherwise he would not have been able to forcibly bombard the French warships in the harbor on the premise that a peaceful settlement was possible, leading to a huge rift between Britain and France, the two traditional allies. Therefore, Satmoville did not know why the feuding Germans would let him through the Strait of Dover, could it be that after defeating the main fleet of the Don Empire, would it be good for Germany? Didn't the Germans want to defeat the British? These questions have made Samoville a little worried.

Ever since Germany completed its reunification under the leadership of Prime Minister Bismarck, Britain has regarded it as its greatest competitor, even ahead of the Tang Empire. In the same way, Germany has always regarded Britain as its greatest rival, its biggest competitor for German reunification. To put it bluntly, the aims of Britain and Germany are completely different, and the relationship between the two countries is not a competitive one, but a confrontational one.

Britain has never wanted to unify Europe, because British politicians know that a unified Europe will never be the turn of the British island country to be the master. Even at the height of Britain's power, when the British navy controlled almost all of European waters. Britain's basic strategy was not to unify Europe, but to divide the continent and exploit the prevailing contradictions between the continent's great powers to achieve Britain's interests. Like what. After France conquered almost all of Europe under the leadership of Emperor Napoleon, Britain was the main force in the anti-French bloc, and has always supported Russia and other countries against France. Immediately after the rise of Germany, Britain allied with France, Russia, Italy and other countries to encircle and suppress Germany from all sides. Obviously, the basic strategy of Britain was completely different from that of Germany, and the goal of the Germans was to unify Europe under the Iron Cross. And not to take advantage of the direct confrontation between the great powers of Europe!

The thought of these things gives Samoville a bit of a headache. Although the British Navy has produced many politicians in history, such as the current British Prime Minister who was the British Admiralty during the First World War, Summerville was not a politician and he did not care about politics. One thing Samoville is clear, and that is. If he entered the Irish Sea with the aircraft carrier detachment commanded by Hutte and attacked the Tang fleet from the other side of the English Channel, the chances of victory were almost zero, because all five task forces of the Tang Imperial Navy were concentrated in the Bay of Biscay, and any one of them could annihilate the British home fleet in good weather during the day. Other words. Samoville had no choice but to win, he had to take the risk of entering from a direction that the enemy could not have imagined, and deliver a surprise blow to finally crush the enemy and win. And this direction is the Strait of Dover! (Fastest update: n).

"Heading 164, speed 16, turn in ten minutes!" The navigation staff officer's voice was very low, "Immediately contact the 'Warrior' behind, their course has deviated twice, turn around as soon as possible." ”

Summerville glanced back, he did not interfere with the work of the nautical staff. There was never a shortage of good sailors in the British Navy. As early as the age of sailing, Britain was known for producing experienced sailors. Then. The British Navy recruited sailors directly from the merchant fleet. At the time of the battle against Napoleon, the British Navy did not have enough superiority in battleships. French designers were able to design better ships, but the French did not have enough sailors to use them, so Napoleon almost conquered the entire European continent and was not able to set foot on the island of Great Britain!

It was Germany that surpassed Britain in the real quality of officers and men. In the whole of Europe, the quality of the officers and men of the German Navy is absolutely second to none, and it is not even worse than that of the officers and men of the Tang Imperial Navy. This was the only thing that made Satsumville envious of the German admirals. In the past few years of fighting, Satsumville has repeatedly learned the combat effectiveness of the German Navy officers and men in battle, and the most admirable thing for him is the gunners of the German Navy!

Thinking about it, Summerville thought crookedly again. In the tense atmosphere, he couldn't concentrate on the next fight, and the only thing he could do was to relax himself as soon as possible. The fleet has not yet passed through the dangerous seas, and all the more, until now he does not know where the opponent is, and even less what the opponent is doing. If it were not for the continued radio silence to avoid exposing the fleet, Satsumville would have wanted to send a telegram back to inquire about the reconnaissance aircraft on the shore, and if the enemy's whereabouts could not be determined, how could they fight? In addition, if the enemy is already far away, he will first enter the port of Petsmouth and wait for the next opportunity, but if the enemy is in the strait, then tonight, he will have to fight the expeditionary fleet of the Tang Imperial Navy.

"General, in 20 minutes, we'll be out of the minefield."

"One last turn?" Summerville turned.

The nautical staff nodded, the channel through the strait was not a straight line, but a broken line, which needed to be turned several times, so that the enemy would not be able to pass through the minefield by luck.

"Let's arrange for a reconnaissance warship." Summerville glanced at his watch, it was almost eleven o'clock.

Soon, the fleet made the last turn and took the course out of the dangerous sea. At this time, Satsumville was also relieved, the battle plan had already been drawn up, and before receiving more information, he had to send reconnaissance and alert warships to make sure that there was no enemy fleet moving in the southern part of the strait. At least, so far, the fleet has passed through the minefield safely, but the real danger is not those mines, but the elusive main fleet of the Tang Empire!