The results of the first round of shelling were quickly reported, and the British cruiser disappeared from the radar screen just as the gunners were ready for the second round.

"Which ship hit?" After receiving the battle report, Chang Jianxin was also very surprised, he didn't expect that the first round of shelling would achieve results, even if it was only a light cruiser, but this could be regarded as a good start, for the somewhat superstitious Imperial Navy officers and soldiers, this must be a good sign.

"It seems that the 'Nanchang' hit, the lookout did not see the fire caused by the explosion on the ship's surface, and the shells should have been concentrated below the waterline of the battleship." The combat staff officer was also excited, "Luck is great, this is a good start, maybe, we can beat the British this time." ”

Chang Jianxin glared at the staff officer who was a little too excited. "Don't rejoice too early, the British cruiser must have sent a telegram, the British battleship is not far away, the fleet slows down to 18 knots, in addition, the interval is extended to 3000 yards, the order of engagement is sent, be sure to take out a few enemy battleships in the first few salvos, otherwise our disadvantage in strength will soon be exposed."

The combat staff officer immediately walked away, the battle had already begun, and he had nothing to do in normal times, but now he had to fully assist the fleet commander in directing the battle, and at this time he was already the most important commander in the fleet.

The arrangements for the engagements had long been decided, as it was not yet possible to determine the order of the British fleets, so the order of the engagements could only be determined. Considering the enemy's superiority in strength, the 3rd Task Force had to destroy two or three British battleships in the first few rounds of firefighting, at least to render them incapacitated, so as to be able to form a one-on-one situation in the following battles and avoid a certain battleship or several battleships being flanked by the enemy because of the inferiority of troops. This is the simplest principle of artillery warfare. The so-called two fists are hard to defeat with four palms, in the sea artillery battle. This is even more obvious, even if the "new provincial capital" has a huge performance advantage. However, in close artillery battles, the strength of troops is often more effective, especially when the fleet is unable to maneuver at high speed to get rid of the enemy and must engage in a frontal battle with the enemy, a few more guns and a few more warships will have a decisive impact on the entire combat site.

Chang Jiexin naturally understood this truth, and he had to keep the British home fleet out of the port of Puffmouth, therefore. He can't take advantage of his speed, and he can't easily withdraw from the fight. At that time, there is a high probability that the British fleet will rush directly and shorten the engagement distance to within 10,000 yards. When the time comes. Even 15-inch armor-piercing shells could pose a threat to the main armor of battleships of the "New Capital" class at this distance. If Satmoville was determined to break through, the engagement would have been shortened by almost a step, and within 5,000 yards, 15-inch high-speed light armor-piercing shells could directly penetrate the main armor of the "new provincial capital". At this time, if the disadvantage in strength is still obvious, then the third task force should not fight, and it is better to flee as soon as possible, after all, in this kind of battle similar to fighting bayonets, the difference in the performance of the battleship has little impact on the battle. What really determines the outcome is to see who has the most "bayonets" and who wields the "bayonet" fast!

"General!"

Chang Jiexin turned his head, he felt a little nervous, after all, the enemy had eight battleships with a total of 68 main guns, while he only had five battleships, and the number of main guns was only 45. But he did not show his fears, believing in the superiority of the "New Provincial Capital" class in long-range battles at night, as had been demonstrated by many naval battles before. He believed in the quality and ability of the officers and men of the fleet, and he had never felt afraid when he faced Kincaid in the Coral Sea!

"The news forwarded by the First Task Force is that the Sixth Task Force has been contacted."

"Got in touch?" Chang Zhixin was surprised, and at the same time, he was secretly happy in his heart, Gu Zhenyun was finally on the right path.

"It was Task Force 6 that took the initiative to contact Task Force 1, and now they are returning to the battlefield at full speed to support us as soon as possible." The communications staff officer sent the message to Chang Zhixin. (Fastest update: n).

Chang Jianxin walked quickly to the chart table. The nautical staff officer had already marked on the chart the location of Task Force VI and the specific parameters of the route. "They were probably able to arrive around five in the morning. But the problem is that now Task Force 6 does not know that we have turned, and if ......"

"I know, it seems that Gu Zhenyun's brain has also opened up." Chang Zhixin only thought for two seconds, "Immediately send a report to the Sixth Task Force, tell Gu Zhenyun about our specific location and what we are doing now, in addition, we don't need the Sixth Task Force to come to support, if Gu Zhenyun wants to make some gains in this battle, let him copy the British fleet from the south, and we will flank Samoville from two directions." Also, don't forget, tell Gu Zhenyun that the battle won't drag on for too long, and if he comes late, don't blame me for not leaving him a little benefit. ”

The communications staff officer and the navigation staff officer glanced at each other, and both of them laughed, and it seemed that the commander's mood had improved a lot.

After learning the news that the Sixth Task Force was coming, Chang Jianxin's mood was indeed much better. At the very least, for now, he can put aside the disadvantage in terms of troops. As long as Task Force 6 arrives, then he will have the advantage in numbers. But the current situation is still unsolvable. Chang Zhixin mentally calculated that Task Force 6 would arrive in four hours at the earliest, and if Summerville realized the danger and was determined to break through at all costs, then it would only take him two and a half hours to enter the port of Pontesmouth. In other words, the Third Task Force still has to hold on to this line of defense, and must not allow the British fleet to break through, at least to slow down the speed of the British fleet's breakthrough! Considering this problem, Chang Jianxin no longer felt relaxed, the problem is still extremely serious, and whether or not he can defeat the enemy depends on whether the main guns on the battleships of the Third Task Force are sharp and accurate enough!

In the next ten minutes of waiting, Chang Jianxin has remained silent, what the staff officers will do has been done, and the battleship command center on each battleship is also operational, after the battle starts, the captains of each battleship will be responsible for directing the battle, Chang Jianxin is only responsible for coordinating the actions within the fleet, not responsible for the specific combat command work. In addition, the British fleet was definitely approaching, but because the destroyers had not kept up for the time being, there was no way to use the alert battleships to find the enemy's whereabouts. Chang Jiexin was not worried that Satsummerville would slip away, unless Summerville was brave enough to pass through the Strait of Dover again and head north into the North Sea, otherwise, he would have to go to the port of Puffmouth as fast as possible, and after dawn, the bombers of Task Force 1 would make him completely desperate.

"This is the latest weather forecast report." The navigation staff officer was also basically idle at this time, "The weather will be bad tomorrow morning, and maybe the bombers on the aircraft carrier will not be able to dispatch." ”

Chang Zhixin frowned slightly, each task force has a weather forecast center, which is responsible for predicting the weather changes in the next two days. Due to the limitations of the technology at the time, it was impossible to accurately predict the changes in the weather. Especially in the Atlantic, first, the weather in the Atlantic Ocean changed more rapidly, and second, the Tang Imperial Navy lacked historical data on the weather changes on this side of the Atlantic. Therefore, it will be very difficult to accurately predict how the weather will change.

"Perhaps, Task Force 1 will have to retreat to the open sea, and Task Force 2 will remain in the waters south of the Bay of Biscay and still be able to send fighter jets to cover us. It's just ......," the nautical staff officer shook his head, "it's very likely that the bombers will not be useful, and whether or not we can take out Satmoville will depend on our performance." ”

"I didn't even think about letting Task Force 1 interfere in our battles, did I?" Chang Jianxin laughed, "Don't think about it so much, now that the Sixth Task Force is coming, as long as General Tan Renhao and General Hao Dongjue can provide us with air defense cover at dawn, then we can rest assured that we can boldly fight a decisive battle with Samoville." ”

The nautical staff nodded and said no more. Compared to the previous battles, except for the relatively unfamiliar environment and relatively unfamiliar opponents, the other conditions are good. At the very least, the British naval vessels could not be compared with the "Iowa" class in terms of performance. It is even less likely to be a "new provincial capital" opponent.

Suddenly, the phone in the hands of the communications staff officer rang. Everyone in the cabin looked over there, and the radar cabin on the battleship was not here at the headquarters, but was connected by a telephone line.

"General. The radar has found it, it's three ......" The communications staff officer hesitated for a moment, and at the same time covered the microphone with his hand, "No, it's five targets, and many more are emerging, and the British fleet is scattering." ”

"Scattered?" Chang Jianxin immediately looked at the operational staff officer. "Let the battleships enter the battle mode, the enemy is finally coming, it's time for the captains to show it!"

Command was immediately handed over to the captains of the battleships, at the same time that the "Nanning" discovered the British fleet in the southeast. The radars on the other four battleships also detected the British fleet. After Chang Zhixin delegated the operational command to the commanders of the battleships, the five battleships immediately entered the combat state, and the radar operators quickly assigned the target information detected by the radar to the gunners officers, and the gunners calculated the shelling parameters as quickly as possible, and then sent these shelling parameters to the officers of the main gun. According to the regulations, if conditions permit, it should also be up to the lookout to determine whether the target parameters determined by the radar detection are accurate, but now the conditions are insufficient, so each artillery squad can only rely on the target parameters provided by the two-coordinate radar to set the artillery bombardment parameters.

"General, let's go to the command center below!" The Marine officer walked into the command cabin at this time. Since the "refuge" was set up on the aircraft carrier, similar compartments were also set up on the battleship, but under normal circumstances, no one asked Chang Zhixin to hide in the "refuge", after all, the most heavily defended place on the battleship was the commander's bridge, which was the thickest armored place on the entire battleship.

"No, I'll stay here." Chang Jiexin hated the gloomy room, "You guys should stay here too." After the battle began, I would have left the Commander's Bridge if necessary, but now I had to stay here. ”

The Marine Corps officers did not argue with Chang Zhixin, and several of them remained in the command cabin, and there was a possibility of danger in the battle, so they had to be ready to use their bodies to protect the fleet commander at any time.

"General. Target distance 16. is continuing to get closer, when are we going to fire? ”

"Wait. Let's make sure that all the ships have locked on to their targets! Chang Jianxin pressed his hand on the combat staff officer, "Concentrate firepower on the three battleships in front, except for the 'Nanning' to deal with the No. 1 target alone, the others are all two to one, and they must kill a few of their battleships before the British approach!" ”

The order was given quickly, and in fact, this was the battle arrangement that Chang Zhixin had made before. According to Chang Jianxin's judgment, the range of the main guns on those British battleships was not enough, and the power of their armor-piercing shells was not very good. If two or three ships can be killed in a long-range engagement, then the outcome of the battle is almost certain. The question is, can you take out the enemy in a long-range engagement? Chang Jianxin had to shorten the shelling distance, 16 nautical miles is the limit range of the main gun armor-piercing projectile, at this range, the power of the armor-piercing projectile is not large, or even very low, and to ensure that it can penetrate the main armor on the British battleship, then the distance must be shortened a little, in addition, the accuracy of the shelling is also a problem, the biggest problem of long-distance shelling is the lack of accuracy.

"Report, the enemy fleet is 14 nautical miles away from us and is turning north!"

Chang Jianxin was stunned for a moment, and immediately understood that the radar on the British battleship had also detected them. "New course 30, speed 24, can't let the British get close to the coastline!"

The five battleships of the Third Task Force began to accelerate, and the maximum speed of the ships of the British fleet was almost 24 knots, and three of them could not reach this speed. Savourville wanted to flee for his life, which was definitely a good thing for Chang Jianxin, at least, it proved that Thermorville lacked confidence, and it also proved that the British fleet was not ready for battle, otherwise it would not have scattered in formation at the first opportunity. Perhaps, Samoville is not trying to flee for his life, he is just buying time so that the fleet can be transformed into a battle queue, so what Chang Jiexin has to do now is not to give the enemy this chance!

The distance between the two sides was still narrowing, and even the officers and men in the closed hull were already feeling nervous. The battle was imminent, and it was definitely not a quiet night for the tens of thousands of officers and soldiers on both sides.