As a soldier, Rear Admiral F. Severa naturally attaches great importance to his honor, but after experiencing the almost unimaginable huge armament of the battleship Sirius, it also completely stimulates his enthusiasm as a fleet commander, of course, hot-headed is obviously not a qualified general, and his very decisive decision made Liu Hetu see the possibility of success in his plan.

It was clear that the two sides had the same understanding of military strategy, so it was not long before Severa accepted the idea of Liuhetu, and he would proceed with the next step of the sea maneuver according to the agreed plan, completely abandoning the original plan to return to Santiago.

Standing in front of the chart on the west coast of the United States, Liu Hetu pointed to the nearby port of Havana, "General Sevila, since you have accepted my proposal, I hope you will also accept some reality...... Unless a large area is mined, it will be difficult for the port of Havana to hold out until the moment of your victory, and once the US mainland army enters Cuba, your country will also face a total rout on land, so ...... I'll build yì you go now! ”

Cervera was naturally aware of the difficulty of this trip, but he also realized that the prediction of the outcome of the battle was completely correct, and Spain could not engage in a large-scale war with this great power across the sea in Cuba, "I will lead my fleet to fulfill my promise to you, and at the same time, I will immediately send a messenger to report to the Governor of Santiago Villare......"

"General Severa, report to Governor Willel, I don't think it's necessary at all, it will only make your tactics more constrained...... Don't forget, we have already negotiated the specific tactics, and we will provide strategic support, not your land forces that can only move on the shore! Liu Hetu immediately interrupted this untimely plan.

He groaned for a moment. Sewell got up and shook hands with Liuhetu to say goodbye. Half an hour. The Battle Cruiser of the Xuanyuan left the battleship formation and followed the Spanish fleet far to the northwest, while Liuhetu received a second telegram from the Florida Strait!

"General, Hawkeye No. 1 sent a telegram that the American fleet confirmed that it was headed for the port of Havana, and that they had intercepted and detained a Spanish merchant ship in the middle of the strait!" Zheng Donghe read the telegram he had just received with some amusement.

"Oh ......" was also a little surprised by the swiftness and decisiveness of the Americans to provoke a war in the real sense, and had previously received information from the Intelligence Department and diplomatic channels in the United States. The U.S. is still vacillating between taking immediate military action and achieving diplomatic results with military threats, but now that the U.S. Navy has officially detained Spanish merchant ships instead of expelling them, it means that the war between the United States and Spain has officially begun.

"General, are we going to Havana now, or Santiago?" Zheng Donghe also leaned in front of the chart and pointed to the flag of the American fleet that was marked on the chart at hand.

"Havana, of course! I heard that the United States has gone all out this time and dispatched all its belongings. I'm going to have to go and see it, the Yankees are so NB coaxing. Let's go and inspect the goods! Liuhe Tuha laughed and reached out to the port of Havana, on the northwest side of Cuba.

At 1 p.m. on March 2, 1898, the Spanish unprotected gunboat Cole, which was patrolling outside the port of Havana, tremblingly observed the American warships rising on the sea level in the distance.

In just 20 minutes, the gunboat Cole observed 11 warships and an unknown number of merchant ships, and soon the Cole was able to see the Spanish flag on several merchant ships...... Without the help of the Americans at all, the port of Havana immediately fell into complete fear.

Of course, Havana is not without resistance, as the most important port in Cuba, the terrain here is inherently good, the entrance to the strait has a water depth of more than 15 meters and a width of 400-600 meters, and the port relies on the mountains to build 4 large batteries, the artillery fire is completely enough to cover the entire strait exit, the Spaniards have been operating for hundreds of years, the most recent refurbishment of the battery, has installed 10 250mm guns, enough to deal with the threat from the sea.

The news brought by the gunboat Cole also immediately aroused the anger of the Spaniards, and the commander of the Havana Army, Major General Kenfel, immediately ordered to enter combat readiness, and he personally led the garrison into the battery to prepare for an attack from the sea, and the six torpedo boats stationed in the harbor were also ordered to prepare for a night attack after nightfall.

However, Commodore Sampson, commander of the U.S. North Atlantic Fleet, apparently knew the defense of Havana well for a long time, and the U.S. battleship group boised a shot outside the harbor, and did not enter the range of the harbor battery, but began to faithfully carry out the task of blockading the port, and at 3 p.m., the battleship USS Texas 2nd and the battleship Massachusetts sailed to the west side of the port of Havana, and then began to bombard a part of the small pier on the west side of the port outside the range of the Spanish battery. The earth-shattering explosion sparked a sky-high fire that could be seen dozens of kilometers away.

However, the entire blockade process of the Americans lasted only one hour, and then, Commodore Sampson immediately gave the order to leave the port of Havana with the six Spanish merchant ships intercepted and detained that day, he naturally understood the difficulty of storming Havana, the condescending fixed position of the battery, it was very convenient to aim at the target at sea, and more importantly, before the annihilation of the Spanish fleet, he was not willing to take such a risk and let the battleship suffer losses.

At this moment, an exclamation came from the lookout on the flagship Iowa, and the battle alarm sounded immediately, and a moment later, two officers hurriedly ran into the command room, "Report, General Sampson, a fleet of ships has appeared in the northeast, and a ship has been observed flying the Spanish flag, probably the Spanish fleet!" ”

At this moment, the American fleet was facing northeast, and with the detained Spanish merchant ships currently mixed in the fleet, the entire fleet formed a queue with a length of more than 5,000 meters, and the other party suddenly appeared at this moment, obviously beyond Commodore Sampson's expectations. At least half an hour ago. The warships on the periphery did not notice any sign at all. The other party suddenly appeared at the back of his own fleet.

"Immediately order, turn according to the B queue, and a double line headed by Iowa and Massachusetts must be formed within half an hour!" Sampson gave the battle order almost without hesitation, and he had studied the strength of the Spanish fleet no less than dozens of times on paper, and although the intelligence work of the US Navy was not very good, the condition of the Spanish fleet was far worse than that of the United States.

He almost poured out of his nest in search of the Spanish fleet. Naturally, he is preparing to fight the tiger and kill in one fell swoop, and now that the opponent is about to appear in front of him, he will not let go of the opportunity, and with the formation of flying with both wings, it is enough to achieve the effect of siege in the Florida Strait of more than 100 kilometers...... Brigadier General Sampson looked sideways at the sun that was already setting westward in the distance, and perhaps, right now, the only thing he was worried about was this damn time!

The seized Spanish merchant ships were ordered to leave the middle of the channel and drop anchor, while the thick chimneys of the American warships began to spew black smoke violently. The boilermakers in the bilge desperately began to feed coal into the boiler, and closed the boiler room and began to blow in air with more horsepower. The sea north of Havana was suddenly filled with black fog, and the American warships quickly sailed to their respective turning points to keep up with the lead ship identified in the usual training.

However, Commodore Sampson, who ran to the cage lookout of the battleship Iowa a moment later, discovered an inexplicable problem: the fleet that was still at sea level at this moment had apparently also seen the huge American fleet, but it had no intention of maneuvering in a tactical formation at all, but had only deflected less than 30 degrees to the south, and seemed to have the intention of approaching the port of Havana.

"Give an order to the Massachusetts to let the right flank intercept the Spanish fleet and not let them storm the harbor!" Brigadier Sampson naturally won't give his opponent any chance, especially if he is fully capable of defeating him.

"According to the report, the target fleet consisted of a total of 7 merchant ships, 2 warships, 5 merchant ships flying the Spanish flag, 1 flying the German flag, 1 flying the British flag, and two were hidden in the north of the fleet, with obstructed vision, in order to see the flying flag...... But most likely, the Spanish fleet! Ten minutes later, the second round of reports had been delivered to Brigadier General Sampson, and at this moment, the distance between the two sides had quickly narrowed to about 10 kilometers.

Two Spanish battleships...... This news made Sampson a little surprised and a little strange, but at the moment of war, he obviously didn't have much time to think about these miscellaneous thoughts, in addition to the United States, the only warships active on the west coast were Spain, or the British and French escort warships passing by, and now it seems that it is almost certainly a Spanish warship!

The five battleships under the command of the battleship Massachusetts on the right flank had increased their speed the fastest because they wanted to intercept the opponent, and they had quickly inserted themselves near the entrance to the target and the port of Havana, and quickly pointed their guns at the flotilla in the distance, while the battleship Massachusetts had already issued an order to stop the ship for inspection.

The high gun muzzles obviously surprised the merchant ships heading towards the port, and the two merchant ships at the front had significantly slowed down, which was obviously a completely understandable move in the face of the black holes of the five battleships and armored ships......

Seeing that the opponent slowed down, the battleship Massachusetts immediately aimed at the two battleships that were behind the merchant fleet at the moment, and when the merchant fleet moved to the left, the two battleships also turned sharply to the right......

Damn, it turned out to be two battleships! This first impression surprised Sampson himself, who immediately realized that the Spaniards did not have battleships at all, and only then did he realize the red flag flying on the mast of the opposing side......

Chinese battleships! This sudden discovery of the fact made Sampson unbelievable no matter what! This also apparently stunned the right-wing American fleet, which was preparing to pounce on and tear at its opponents...... Fortunately, a moment later, the battleship Massachusetts in front of it put out a signal to intercept the Spanish merchant ships, but the other side obviously did not recognize the instructions of the Americans at all, but like the American battleships, the huge guns were held high. (To be continued......)