Before the series of explosions on the "Ohio," Chang Jiexin had already reached a new order for engagement, and at that time three other American battleships had already rushed out, forming a six-on-three situation, and it was impossible to continue with six battleships against one enemy ship. Therefore, it is often recommended that the new order battleship formations be converted to a two-on-one engagement order. "Nanning" and "Guangzhou" against 2 enemy ships, that is, "Montana", "Guiyang" and "Wuhan" against 3 enemy ships, that is, "Maine", "Nanchang" and "Nanjing" against 4 enemy ships, that is, "New Hampshire". At 6:36, after it was determined that the No. 1 enemy ship was completely finished, all six "new provincial capital" class ships shifted their guns. It was at this time that Chang Zhixin received a telegram.

"From Task Force 1." The communications staff officer handed the telegram to Chang Zhixin, "because of the sudden change in weather conditions, the arrival of the bombers will be delayed by at least half an hour, perhaps more than two hours." General Tan Renhao told us to entangle the enemy as much as possible, and if we couldn't beat it, we could choose to retreat. ”

"Retreat?" Chang Jianxin laughed, "Now that we are six to three, do we need to retreat?" Don't say anything about the weather changes, it's best if they don't come, let's pack up those new battleships alone, and see who else dares to say that our third task force is just a supporting role in the future! ”

At that time, Chang Jiexin did not think that the Americans' new battleships were very powerful, and he also had a numerical advantage, as evidenced by the end of the No. 1 enemy ship. The "new provincial capital" landlord gun can take out the enemy's new battleships, so is it necessary to worry about not being able to beat the opponent? However, Chang Jianxin will soon discover that he underestimated the super battleship that the Americans had spent years building.

Although the "Montana" class and the "Yamato" class have never appeared on the same battlefield, but judging by the comparison of the performance of the two types of warships. Except for the fact that the caliber of the main gun is a little larger and its maximum firing range is slightly longer, the "Montana" has a huge advantage in all other aspects. When the Imperial Navy designed the "new provincial capital", it was initially determined that the opponent was the "South Dakota" class battleships of the US Navy, and then it was modified to only determine that the goal was to defeat the "Iowa" class. to after the outbreak of war. After discovering that the "Yamato" of the Japanese Navy was more powerful than the information obtained before, the Imperial Navy also proposed the construction of the "Super Provincial Capital" class (this is just the name used by the author, at that time the new battleship only stayed in the design, and did not have an official name, according to the Imperial Navy's naming principle, if the new battleship was built. Presumably named after the marshal in the history of the Imperial Navy), but then the Navy had to make sure that it had enough aircraft carriers first. As a result, the construction of new battleships was forced to be terminated. And as aircraft carriers became the main force in naval warfare, battleships had little chance to perform, and no one ever proposed the construction of new battleships.

It was precisely because the battleships of the Imperial Navy did not encounter the Japanese "Yamato", and the construction of the "Montana" by the United States was delayed for several years, that the Imperial Navy always believed that the "new provincial capital" could cope with any opponent on the battlefield. Later, in order to improve the performance of the "new provincial capital" and also be regarded as a supplement to the abandonment of the construction of new battleships, the "new provincial capital" class battleships were improved on a large scale twice. And these two improvements are also quite thorough, and the performance of the battleship has been greatly improved. It can even be said that apart from some basic dimensional data, there is no difference from the battleships of the new first class in all other respects. For example, after the second refinement, the displacement of the "new provincial capital" class was increased by more than 10,000 tons, and almost all of them were used to strengthen the armor. The draft of the battleship was also two meters longer, and it was just within the navigation restrictions of the Panama Canal and the Suez Canal. In order to allow the battleship to maintain a maximum speed of 31 knots, the power system was completely replaced, and the ultra-high-pressure boiler, which had the largest output at that time, and a steam turbine with higher efficiency, were used. However, as a result, its maximum speed was reduced by one section, and could only reach 3 knots.

It has been completely improved. The performance of the "new provincial capital" has been greatly improved, and it has been proved in actual combat that its performance has surpassed that of the American "Iowa", which is much higher than the initial design index. In addition, with the application of radar, the artillery battle distance is rapidly expanded, and the significance of continuing to improve the protection and firepower of battleships is not significant, but the accuracy of artillery bombardment, as well as the armor-piercing ability of armor-piercing shells at long distances are more important, and these can be achieved by improving radar and using better heavy armor-piercing shells, without the need to make more improvements to battleships, let alone build larger battleships. Under these circumstances, the Imperial Navy did not even think of building a new type of battleship that could compete head-on with the "Montana".

Before the "Battle of San Diego", the Imperial Navy had always believed that the "New Provincial Capital" was the best battleship in the world at that time, and there were so many examples of actual combat to corroborate it, which was very convincing, and at the same time, it also made the officers and men of Chang Xinxin and the Third Task Force full of confidence in their warships. However, after the war, the "new provincial capital" was only recognized as the most balanced battleship during the war, and this "balance" itself had another meaning, and more often, it referred to the battleship's firepower, protection, speed, and some important features that appeared during the war, such as radar detection ability, artillery accuracy, long-range artillery fire ability, etc., the most perfect combination, rather than the best in all aspects. The "Battle of San Diego" finally proved this, and the "Montana" class did surpass the "new provincial capital" in some terms of performance, and not so much.

The "Nanning" and the "Guangzhou" were the first to shift targets, and the cooperation between the two battleships was quite tacit, and in the naval battle on the other side of the Atlantic, the two battleships cooperated very well. At 6:38 a.m., the "Guangzhou" was the first to rush out of the harbor, and the two US warships, which were turning to the left, opened fire, and then the main guns on the "Nanning" also roared. At that time, the captains of the two battleships, as well as Chang Jianxin, believed that they could defeat the second American battleship in five minutes. No one was nervous, and even some staff officers privately joked that the battle would end before 6:50, making it the shortest duel between battleships in the history of naval warfare!

"Guiyang" and "Wuhan", which were responsible for dealing with 3 enemy ships