The confrontation between China and the United States in the Florida Strait quickly generated a diplomatic storm, which directly led to the impasse in the negotiations between China, Britain and the United States in Washington. Knox demanded that the Panama Canal be added to the agenda, and the Chinese ambassador to the United States, Huang Zunxian, directly and affirmatively rejected the Americans' idea.

"The construction of the Panama Canal has cost China a lot of money, and China will work with Colombia to protect the rights and interests of the canal until the long-term benefits are not compensated!" Huang Zunxian naturally knew the intention of the Americans, that is, the right of navigation of the canal, which was not a problem in the first place, but for more than a year, China has been intermittently controlling the canal under the pretext of canal maintenance, and European ships have had to detour Cape Horn in many cases.

And this is the powerful card in China's hand, so the Chinese side is very strong to propose that Britain and the United States must guarantee China's navigation rights in the Atlantic in exchange for the navigation rights of the canal, which is obviously incompatible with the original intention of the two countries to try to prevent Chinese goods from entering the allies...... The sudden outbreak of naval confrontation at this time greatly reduced the possibility of success in the continuation of the negotiations.

On the morning of May 29, five days after the confrontation, China, the United States, and Britain signed a brief diplomatic communiqué in Washington, in which the three sides briefly expounded their respective interests, but it was clear that nothing could be achieved, and the only thing that could be called an outcome was a short remark at the end of the communiqué -- the three sides would continue negotiations at a later time after consultations.

At noon on 3 June, two Chinese cargo ships sailing from Port-au-Prince, Haiti, to Barcelona, Spain, were unexpectedly intercepted by two US destroyers on the outskirts of the Caicostal Islands, and the US ships even fired their guns to deter them from a distance of 1,000 meters. And then. The commander of the American fleet, Major Saul, cited the ban of Britain and the United States on the supply of military supplies to the European theater of operations. Request to board a Chinese merchant ship for inspection.

The Chinese merchant ships were obviously not armed except for the light weapons used to deal with pirates, and naturally they could not refuse the request of the Americans to be equipped with naval guns, but the development of events changed rapidly, and after several American servicemen found a batch of medicines and medical supplies on board, they immediately announced the detention of two Chinese merchant ships on suspicion of transporting war materials.

Although the Chinese captain explained to the Americans that the destination of the cargo was not the European theater, but neutral Spain, two teeth were knocked out with a fist from two stout Americans. Two Chinese merchant ships then sailed to the British Virgin Islands in nearby waters under the watchful eye of American warships, and the Americans apparently attempted to detain the Chinese ships in British ports......

This situation was also seen by another large Chinese cruise ship passing through the same sea area that day, and the Chinese crew on the cruise ship immediately reported the news to the nearest Port-au-Prince via the ship's radio.

The first detachment of the Atlantic Fleet, which had just been transferred to Port-au-Prince, had just changed its guards, and because it had just changed its guards, in addition to the fleet's flagship Sirius, only six destroyers were responsible for patrolling the surrounding waters, which made Wu Tiexin, commander of the detachment, immediately go crazy, and he originally planned to familiarize himself with local defense first. I waited for the other two battleships to come before starting training, but I didn't expect to encounter the Americans to make trouble as soon as they arrived.

"The closest cruising battleship to the Vel Islands was there. There is no such thing as a fast runner! Standing in front of the chart, Wu Tiexin frowned and asked the staff officer behind him loudly, the Atlantic Fleet has always been not the main force in the Chinese naval sequence, after all, the center of gravity of the fleet earlier was the Pacific Ocean, which is the vital point of interest of the Chinese Navy, of course, with the outbreak of the European war, the importance of the Panama Canal has become unprecedentedly important.

Therefore, the Atlantic Fleet will receive extra attention, earlier the commander of the fleet Tang Qingshan complained all day long that Beijing did not allocate new warships, and all the fleet could get were warships that had been in service for more than ten years.

The staff officer next to him immediately clicked a few times on the chart and plotted a few options, "General, the C107 submarine is near 21.22 east longitude, the Cangzhou is at 22.27 east longitude and 69.33 north latitude, and the naval supply ship Saigon should also be nearby, but it is on a special mission...... I suggest that the Cangzhou handle this matter, and the C107 can also rush to help! ”

C107…… Wu Tiexin frowned, as an early submarine model of the Chinese Navy, the C-class hybrid submarine is the world's first generation of submarines with a range of more than 800 nautical miles, so it was sent to overseas bases around the world to assist in various reconnaissance missions, however, although the C-class submarine has a small advantage in range, but in terms of speed, because it still needs to float and use diesel engine charging, the underwater speed is only 9 knots, and the speed is only 17 knots when it is on the surface!

This is simply not able to complete the task of intercepting the American destroyer, not to mention, the confrontation between the submarine and the destroyer, it is clear that there is nothing cheap to take advantage of, so he immediately made a decision to let the Cangzhou destroyer rush to help, and at the same time ordered the Saigon supply ship to rush to the accident area, camera action, this is also the only thing he can do at present, at the same time, he immediately ordered the detachment to enter combat readiness, and the flagship Sirius battle patrol is on standby.

Later, the large Chinese destroyer Cangzhou, which was cruising nearby, immediately followed after learning of it, and thanks to the accurate information provided by the nearby Chinese ships and the economic speed of the Chinese merchant ships at 12 knots, the Cangzhou destroyer finally blocked the path of the American warship at a speed of nearly 39 knots at 4 p.m. 15 nautical miles north of the British Vile Islands.

Seeing the Chinese flag rising in the billowing black smoke on the sea level, excited cheers came from the two seized Chinese merchant ships, and in the vast sea, the navy is always the greatest support of the Chinese people, and the two merchant ships immediately cooperated with the warship to slow down, completely bothering to continue to obey the orders of the American destroyers behind them.

"A Chinese warship!" The news immediately shocked the Americans, and Major Will obviously did not expect this to happen, and he couldn't wait to rush to the destroyer lookout, and from the high-powered telescope, the Chinese warships on the sea level in the distance were unhurriedly issuing flags.

"This is the Chinese Navy, please leave the Chinese ships immediately!"

"This is the Chinese Navy, please leave the Chinese ships immediately!"

Soul ...... Major Will angrily rushed into the command tower, on the chart, the British Vale Islands were already close at hand, and even standing on the lookout, you could see the lighthouse standing high in the harbor! However, the Chinese have completely intercepted the direction in which the flotilla is heading!

"Major, the enemy ship has been observed, it may be a large Chinese Tianshan-class destroyer!" The gunnery officer on the side couldn't wait to warn him, you know, the only recognized sea power in this era is China and Britain, because the navies of these two countries are the rising power after a series of wars, and the manufacture of warships can naturally become a naval power, but only continuous victory can become a naval power!

China's control of the vast Pacific Ocean on the west coast of the United States is not new, although the U.S. Navy began to pay attention to the construction of sea power on the West Coast after the first Cuban crisis, which greatly strengthened the power of the U.S. Navy on the West Coast, and the United Steel shipyard on the West Coast became an important builder of the U.S. Navy in one fell swoop.

In that fierce naval confrontation in the Florida Strait, China's powerful fast fleet swept through the newly grown U.S. Navy with a stunning advantage, almost completely crippling the U.S. Navy...... Fortunately, in that crisis, the United States lost far more warships than the navy, otherwise it would have been several times more difficult to rebuild the navy.

And the U.S. Navy has learned a crucial lesson from that defeat - it must work together to build a strong navy! In the nearly 20 years since the Cuban crisis, the U.S. Navy can be described as a Chinese idiom, from the stupid battleship USS Maine to the sea trials run by former President Theodore? Roosevelt's nomination of the 28,000-ton Florida dreadnought represents the call of the United States to wash away its former shame.

The reason why Major Weir dared to seize Chinese merchant ships at such a moment was naturally not a special order from the top, but a strong attitude that the US-British Combined Fleet Command had already acquiesced to, and the two huge industrial countries, which together owned half of the world's number of battleships, naturally joined forces not to deal with the German Navy, which was suppressed by the British Empire.

"Send a telegram to the Pat immediately that our British allies have a fleet in the harbor, and let them meet us immediately!" Major Will is naturally not the kind of straw bale officer, and he is naturally clear about the intention of shooting the officer's report to him, and the two US destroyers under his jurisdiction are the latest Weeks-class destroyers in the US Navy.

The destroyers built by the US Navy before the war were mainly Paulding-class and Elwin-class destroyers in service in the Asian Fleet, and the Paulding-class destroyers with a small displacement were only 742 tons, and the speed was less than 30 knots, and the Elwin-class destroyers were the first American destroyers to break 1,000 tons.

This was the birth of this type of destroyer, which once set a record for a large number of destroyers, with a displacement of 1,250 tons, with four Foster heavy oil boilers to drive twin-shaft propellers, a full 25,000 horsepower, so that the battleship can easily run at a high speed of 35 knots, and has 4-inch main guns, 4 3-inch secondary guns and 3 21-inch torpedo tubes.

These powerful armaments, which can be called subversive in the US Navy, in the eyes of Major Weir, cannot be relied on by him to resist the Chinese warships that are rapidly approaching in the distance, because this type of Chinese Tianshan-class destroyer has a formidable nickname in the navies of various countries in this era - destroyer killer. (To be continued.) )