Behind the scenes, in the North Sea north of the Strait of Dover, a large fleet was advancing, which was none other than the home fleet of the British Navy. At the head of the eight warships was the Queen Elizabeth, and Sameville stood on the bridge overlooking the strait to the south, and Summerville's mood was completely different from Chang Zhixin, who was still a little undecided in the south at this time. He didn't doubt that the fleet of the Tang Empire would come to intercept it, he was just worried about how much of a role his eight warships could play in a naval battle.

After receiving the news that the Tang Empire expeditionary fleet had gone north, Symmyville led the home fleet to leave the port, at this time the British home fleet was not as strong as imagined, although there were still eight battleships, but Sameville knew very well that none of the eight battleships under his command was the opponent of the Tang Empire's "New Provincial Capital" class, and the battle with the German Navy's "Far East Fleet" not long ago made him realize the excellent performance of the "New Provincial Capital", and even the latest "avant-garde" class could not beat, and the "old ships" What else to hope for? If Satsumville knew that the "new provincial capital" sold by the Don Empire to Germany was still a simplified version, then he would not have even the slightest hope.

What saddened Samoville the most was the "avant-garde". Leaving aside the sunken "Challenge" for the time being, the other three "Avantgarde" class battleships could only crawl in the harbor, and it was difficult to sail alone, which also made Satmoville have to go out with an incomplete fleet, which was probably the last thing he wanted to see. At this time, the fleet under his command consisted of five "Queen Elizabeth" classes, two "Nelson" classes, and completely renovated two years earlier. The "Iron Duke" re-programmed into the battle sequence. These eight battleships were built during and after World War I, and their performance has long been outdated.

The oldest ship is the "Iron Duke", which is the lead ship of the "Iron Duke" class. Served before the outbreak of the First Global War, participated in the Battle of Jutland, and at that time the "Iron Duke" was the flagship of the commander of the British Home Fleet, Jericho, so it became famous. Subsequently, the ship followed the Combined Fleet on an expedition to the Pacific Ocean, and then in the South Sea. The Indian Ocean, as well as the South Atlantic, fought against the main fleet of the Tang Empire. Unlike its glorious combat experience, the "Iron Duke" at this time was already a veritable old ship, not only decades old, but also seriously backward in performance.

After the end of World War I. With the arrival of the "naval holiday", four "Iron Duke" class battleships have been decommissioned, or even directly dismantled, among which the "Iron Duke" was retired in 1929, and two years later, the British Navy changed it into a training ship, mainly used to train naval officers and soldiers. During this period. At the outbreak of World War II, the Iron Duke was bombed by the Luftwaffe and forced to run aground on a shoal to avoid sinking in the harbor. As the war grows bigger and more intense. The British Navy repaired the Iron Duke and made complete improvements to it during the overhaul, including replacing the previous 135-inch gun with a 14-inch gun. A more advanced ground sighting system was installed, and later a radar was added. After a comprehensive refinement, the "Iron Duke" could only barely meet the requirements of the British Navy in terms of performance.

In the years prior to this, the "Iron Duke" had remained in the British Home Fleet, and except for a few trips to intercept the German fleet, most of the time the ship was still used to train recruits, rarely participating in combat activities, and did not go to the Mediterranean, where the fighting was fierce, nor did it accompany Cunningham to the south. In fact, the "Iron Duke" could only be considered half a battleship, at least the state of the ship has not been very good, and its maximum speed of 21 knots has seriously lagged behind. If it weren't for the destruction of the expeditionary fleet. If the British Navy lacked battleships, I am afraid that the "Iron Duke" would not have been put into battle again.

The main force in the fleet were five battleships of the "Queen Elizabeth" class. All five battleships were also built during the First Global War, but the performance of the "Queen Elizabeth" class was relatively not lagging behind, and at the time of its completion, it was known for its speed. At that time, it was precisely because of the knowledge that the German Navy was building more advanced and powerful battleships, that the British Navy launched the development of the "Queen Elizabeth" class battleship, and replaced the universal 135-inch main gun with a 15-inch main gun, and at the same time, in order to reduce the weight of the superstructure, one less turret. In addition, the ship was the first battleship of the British Navy to be powered by an oil-fired boiler, and its speed reached 25 knots, and during the first global war, the battlecruiser was about the same speed, which can be regarded as the ancestor of the "fast battleship".

The "Queen Elizabeth" class battleships also participated in the "Battle of Jutland", and because of their speed, they were organized into a battleship detachment to support the battlecruiser detachment that served as the avant-garde, withstood the test of war, and almost all of them were wounded, among which the "war-weary" was heavily damaged by the concentrated attack of the German battleships because it did not keep up with the fleet in time. Subsequently, the "Queen Elizabeth" replaced the "Iron Duke" and became the flagship of the British Home Fleet, and participated in the subsequent expedition to the Pacific Pacific.

During the interwar period, the Queen Elizabeth class underwent several major overhauls and improvements, the most important of which was the second major overhaul before the outbreak of World War II. In addition to adding a seaplane hangar in the middle of the battleship and adding catapults, the elevation angle of the main gun was also increased to increase the range of the main gun. In addition, the horizontal armor was strengthened according to the increase in the elevation angle of the main gun, the increase in the angle of shell fall, and the threat of aerial bombardment, and the anti-aircraft fire of the battleship was strengthened. In addition, the "Queen Elizabeth", "War Wey", and "Warrior" had their boilers replaced and a new chimney was used. It is precisely because the renovation of the five battleships was carried out separately that the appearance after the transformation is completely different.

Relatively speaking, the two Nelson-class battleships were the "newest" battleships in the fleet, but they were not the most satisfactory ships in Summerville at this time. The Nelson-class battleships were built after the end of World War I and were the only "transitional" warships of the British Navy during the Second World War.

After the end of the First Global War, Britain had planned to build N3-class battleships, but with the advent of the Naval Arms Treaty, the British had to abandon this ambitious plan. According to the compromise agreement reached in the treaty, the United States and Japan could continue to build the unfinished battleships with 16-inch guns specified in the treaty, while the Tang Empire and Great Britain could build new battleships with main guns of no more than 16 inches within the total tonnage specified in the treaty, and were not subject to the 10-year ban on the construction of "Dignity" class battleships with only 360 mm guns, while the British Navy built the corresponding "Nelson" class. The first battleship of the British Navy to use 16-inch caliber guns.

Because of its serious experimental nature, the Nelson class did not perform very well, and its speed was not as fast as that of the Queen Elizabeth class, which proved to be the biggest mistake in design, so that the two battleships of this class took part in less combat operations in World War II and were not even sent to the Mediterranean. In addition, the design of all three main gun turrets in the bow direction had obvious flaws, and even the performance of its iconic 16-inch gun did not satisfy the British.

At that time, the biggest feature of the "Nelson" was that the three triple 16-inch caliber main guns were all set in the direction of the bow of the ship, which was mainly because of the limitation of the displacement of 35,000 tons, the designers had to try to deploy the most critical parts of the battleship, that is, the main gun ammunition compartment and the engine room, so as to reduce the area of the key protection area during the day. As a result, less landlord armor is used and displacement is saved. However, in actual use, the performance of the triple turret, as well as the original 16-inch gun with "high muzzle velocity light ammunition", was not ideal. The increase in the power of the main gun was quite limited, and the life and accuracy of the gun barrel were not even as good as the 15-inch main gun of the "Queen Elizabeth" level (which was the main reason why the "avant-garde" later switched back to the 15-inch main gun), and the reliability of the turret was seriously questioned. (Fastest update: n).

It was precisely because of so many problems that the two Nelson-class battleships remained in the British home fleet, except for several operations to encircle and suppress German warships. In the past few years in the Great War Field, there has been almost no decent performance. Because of its slow speed, Samoville did not even choose it as the flagship of the fleet! Perhaps, the only thing to be proud of is that the "Nelson" is named after the only British admiral Horatio Nelson who defeated the Tang Imperial Navy in a naval battle.

Apparently. On the surface, the lineup of eight battleships was large, and these eight battleships had been improved successively and had brilliant combat experience, but in fact, compared to the five "new provincial capitals" that were often recommended for new command at this time, the capital in Satsummerville's hands was much worse. If it does, I'm afraid that even if there are a few more battleships, Samoville may not be able to gain the upper hand.

What worried Satsumville the most was the speed of the eight battleships. The fastest of these is only 25 knots, and the slowest is 21 knots. In the last war, this speed was not slow, and in artillery battles, to ensure a high hit rate, the speed of the battleship had to be controlled below 18 knots. Sometimes it was even better to let the battleship sail at a speed of 12 knots. But. If you are not fast enough, you will not be able to seize a favorable position, let alone get rid of the enemy.

American "colleagues" sent a lot of information to Summerville, many of which were war reports that even the U.S. government had not made public in the country. Several decisive battles between battleships in the Pacific Theater have proven that speed has become one of the most important qualities along with firepower and protection. In the naval battle between the Third Task Force of the Tang Imperial Navy and the "B Fleet" of the US Navy, speed was the most critical factor, precisely because the Tang Imperial Fleet had the advantage of speed and ground.

In the end, the "B fleet" was defeated with inferior forces. Subsequently, in the "Battle of the Coral Sea". It was precisely because of the different speeds of several battleships that Kinkaid was broken by the opponents in the engagement, and he was not even able to organize an effective counterattack, and he was not able to get a chance from beginning to end.

Similarly, Samoville also knew that this time it was Chang Zhixin, the vice admiral of the Tang Empire who participated in the "Battle of the Coral Sea". Relatively speaking, Samoville did not attach much importance to Tan Renhao's opponent, and he still attached the most importance to the commander of the battleship fleet of the Tang Imperial Navy. There is one thing that Summerville will not forget, that is, Chang Zhixin also commanded the Third Task Force to defeat the Anglo-French joint expeditionary fleet in the South Atlantic, in fact, that Chang Zhixin only dealt with the French expeditionary fleet, and it was the bombers sent by Tan Renhao who killed Cunningham, but Summerville knew very well that an opponent who could command the warships to fight a decisive battle with the Anglo-French joint expeditionary fleet was absolutely terrible and could not be underestimated.

In addition, Satcosmoville also managed to find some information about the "New Provincial Capital" class battleship. Of course, the information he was able to find was quite limited, and his greatest knowledge of the "new provincial capital" class was the naval battle with the "Far Eastern Fleet". And Satsumville did not know one thing, that is, the five battleships of the "New Provincial Capital" class of the Third Task Force of the Tang Imperial Navy were much better and more advanced than the three "same class" battleships of the German "Far East Fleet". But even so, Summerville knew very well that even the most advanced "Avant-garde" class of the British Navy could not beat the opponent, and how could the few warships he commanded now have a better record?

The problem was obvious, and when he left Port Aberdeen, Summerville knew that if he could win this time, it would be God helping him. In other words, he did not think of coming back alive, defeat was certain, and for this veteran British admiral, who had fought alone, all he could decide was how to accept defeat, whether to surrender to the enemy in port, surrender the fleet, or become an immortal image of the British Navy at sea, this was the choice that Summerville had to make, a difficult choice!