July 25, 1912, was destined to be an unusual day......

Before nightfall, the USS Ryukyu stopped pursuing the USS Mississippi and the destroyers Sanming and Zhuzhou continued to follow the American fleet, and the dilemma of damaging the rudder of the battleship USS Mississippi was soon reported by the USS Sanming, and almost at the same time, the survey officers had already plotted the area where the battleship USS Mississippi might be stranded on the chart...... It is a reef area 20 kilometers from the Guam Naval Base and less than 7 kilometers from the northernmost tip of Guam. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Considering that although the battleship Mississippi could not turn, its main guns and power still existed, Wu Hongyuan repeatedly ordered the two tracking destroyers not to close the distance and not to engage the American destroyers, unless the other side took the initiative to attack...... That probability now seems slim!

As the sun set, Wu Hongyuan met with Major Chen Jianghua, commander of the P104 submarine, who had just boarded the ship, on the USS Ryukyu; the P104 was subordinate to the Guam Naval Alert Force and was one of the six Seawolf III submarines under the jurisdiction of the Guam base.

When the P104 submarine barely surfaced, Wu Hongyuan was also surprised, the submarine commander was none other than Major Chen Jianghua, the fourth elder of the Nanyang veteran and vice admiral Chen Ying's family, as a son of a naval family, although Chen Ying did not give special care to this kid after he entered the service, but privately mentioned it to the base commander Wu Hongyuan.

As the patriarch of the Nanyang Navy, most of the Chen family joined the navy at an early stage, and one of his three elder brothers sacrificed two injured and retired, Chen Jianghua also inherited his father's character of not wanting to die, and finally entered the Guam garrison fleet, not the large fleet, in fact, Chen Ying still had some considerations, and the commander of the South China Theater, Lu Han, also had instructions, how could Wu Hongyuan not know this.

So as soon as they met, Wu Hongyuan asked Chen Jianghua, who was excited, "Xiaohua, who gave you the order to go to sea to patrol, I remember that I had already ordered the submarine force to guard the port before I set off?" ”

"The patrol order issued by Deputy Commander Lin, the reconnaissance plane detected that the US Navy has 2 large supply ships on the periphery, and only a few destroyers are protected, so let's come out and look for opportunities!" Chen Jianghua immediately handed over the telegram.

These words somewhat made Wu Hongyuan cry and laugh, this guy with the telegram must not have been directly issued by the base commander, most of the time it was an order to run out and wander around by himself, and then go back to ask for an order...... However, now is not the time to crack down on the combat enthusiasm of his subordinates, the P104 boat can only be regarded as a second-line unit of the navy, and it can seize the fighter plane and fight hard, which shows that Chen Jianghua has really done a good job.

However, in the close range of the opponent's destroyer attack, the P104 submarine has seen many water seepage in the dive, if it is not for his own timely protection, I am afraid that it will be reimbursed here, for this point, he naturally did not let go of the opportunity, and cut the goods ruthlessly, what should be praised or praised, and if it is criticized, it must be severely criticized.

Subsequently, considering that the P104 boat was seriously damaged and could not float on the surface to return to port, before nightfall, Wu Hongyuan ordered to be towed to the reef area and sink itself, and then immediately sent a telegram to the commander of the Guam base, and the news that the battleship Mississippi finally ran aground in the reef area was reported by the destroyer Zhuzhou at 7:04 p.m., and the two American destroyers did not leave, but cruising nervously near the grounding point of the Mississippi.

At the Guam Base Command, Lin Yongsheng learned before night that the US Grand Fleet, which was shelling outside the Guam Military Port, had suddenly disappeared en masse under the cover of night, and the Americans were very cautious when they retreated, and there were no suitable warships in the port to conduct reconnaissance, and in addition, it was difficult to carry out aerial reconnaissance as night approached, so he immediately informed Wu Hongyuan of the news, and at the same time reported to the Grand Fleet, which was more than 950 kilometers away from Guam, that day.

At 10:11 p.m. that night, Liuhetu, who was looking at the nautical charts on the Canton, received an urgent telegram from Lu Han, the theater command, informing him of the contact between the home fleet and the Royal Navy's fast fleet, and that two Chinese Navy destroyers departing from Colonia Island were on their way to escort a coal ship to Guam, and were intercepted by the British Navy in the waters 10.1 degrees east longitude and 141.2 degrees north latitude from Guam.

At the same time, Lu Han also informed Liuhetu of the arrival of the assembled home fleet at the port of Manila in Luzon, and that the home fleet would look for fighters in the direction of Guam within 24 hours after replenishing in Manila...... Liu Hetu naturally understood the purpose of the home fleet's attack, the home fleet was a defense force composed of a line of warships that were about to be decommissioned, He Rin attacked with such combat power, and if he really ran into the British Grand Fleet, it would be a bloody battle.

This is definitely not the original intention of the theater command, the time when the home fleet joins the naval battle is the key node of the campaign that it wants to fight for with all its might, and only by making full use of the strength at hand to cripple and defeat the British and American coalition forces can the home fleet play a decisive role at the last moment.

The news also brought some information that came as a surprise to him...... You must know that the location of 10 degrees east longitude and 141 degrees north latitude is 30 degrees south-west of Guam, about 250 kilometers away, and it is not strategic for the British to appear there, after all, the British are sailing west along 140 degrees north latitude, and initially formed a situation of attacking Guam on both sides with the US Grand Fleet, and at the same time, it is also an attempt to intercept the idea of aiding Guam.

Now, the British have oversailed westward, calculating that at least half a day ago, Lord Dieters' fast fleet should have sailed north, directly to rendezvous with the American Grand Fleet off the coast of Guam, rather than continuing westward to intercept a Chinese coal carrier that did not have much strategic value...... Could it be that the British and Americans are having an awkward quarrel? That doesn't make a lot of sense!

According to normal logic, the Grand Fleet should bypass Guam and first assist the defending forces to defeat the American Grand Fleet, and then go south to meet the British Grand Fleet, but just as he can't know why the British didn't go north now, when the Grand Fleet arrives on the battlefield after two days of rapid sailing, he can't accurately determine what kind of situation it will face.

After pondering for a moment, he pointed to the squadron icon plotted in the southeast of Guam, "Send a telegram to Tang Town, and ask them to hurry to the waters north of Guam, and be sure to launch an attack on the British Grand Fleet within a day, and hold the British for at least two days, so as to create an opportunity for the Grand Fleet to fight the American Grand Fleet!" ”

Chi Zhaoying, the chief of staff of the fleet on the side, was also lying next to the chart, holding the big teapot he loved in his hand, and knocked on the location of the American Grand Fleet, "The British have missed Guam to the west, if they turn to sail north, the probability that Tang Zhen will catch up with them is very low, why do you think that the British will turn around and sail north again?" ”

Liu Hetu smiled, "Lao Chi, by feeling!" I originally thought that there might be a big battle, but now that the British are doing, they are only tactical allies after all, and I feel ...... The British were also looking for an opportunity, and if the American fleet broke the Guam base, they would be eager to join it...... On the contrary, the British are watching from the periphery and letting the Americans gnaw the hard bones!"

Speaking of which, both of them looked at the battle report announcement from the Guam base on the table, the Guam Naval Base's strong defense force easily resisted the plan of the US Grand Fleet to try to storm the port, and more importantly, the Guam garrison fleet made full use of the advantage of the home battle and was constantly eating away at the strength of the Americans - the most important of which was the loss of American destroyers and reconnaissance aircraft!

For the fleet on the vast sea, the importance of tactical reconnaissance cannot be replaced by any other way, and this is even more true for the Chinese navy, which has become accustomed to conducting ocean-going operations.

In the dark night, Vice Admiral Eber, commander of the US Grand Fleet, was not idle, and he was extremely shocked by the disastrous defeat of the battleship USS Mississippi, and the short two-line telegram only informed him of the engagement of the USS Mississippi and the grounding of the beach in the middle of the mine, and the effect of the shelling of the port of Guam, after the release of the hot air balloon reconnaissance, also made him very dissatisfied, and the opponent's defense capability was not weakened at all.

As a senior admiral, he naturally understands the advantages and disadvantages of the duel between the fortress gun and the naval gun, if the fortress is fighting head-on, the shooting accuracy of the naval gun is simply not able to compete with the fortress gun that has been calibrated countless times in daily training, once the battleship enters the sea area that has been calibrated by the opponent's daily training, it is likely to encounter continuous hits, and the large-caliber fortress gun is also a terrifying deterrent for the battleship.

The fortress inevitably had tactical blind spots, and the fleet had greater flexibility, and he also had this intention on the supply ships Lawrence and Hull to supply the fleet, and the supply ships were organized into a regiment of marines, and then some of the fighters were drawn from each ship, enough to organize a 2,000-strong Marine Corps.

When will you invest in this most important team? Now it's a tricky question! The Chinese's garrison was much tighter than expected, and a garrison fleet with only 1 cruiser and 4 destroyers dared to challenge their own battleship formation, which caused damage to the battleship USS Mississippi.

So, after nightfall, he led the Grand Fleet northward to rendezvous with the USS Mississippi, and if possible, he hoped to put the ship back in sequence before daybreak, and at the same time he sent another telegram to Lord Dieters, asking the Confederate fleet to come to the aid of the attack on the fortress of Guam......

What Lieutenant General Abel did not expect was that the plan that night would be met with a strong challenge from the Chinese soldiers, and after this telegram was sent, it brought unexpected results! (To be continued.) )