In the early morning of 17 February, a tick-tock telegram sent an urgent telegram to the Military and Political Department in Beijing.

"General, General Xu of the Pacific Fleet sent an urgent telegram that a subtropical cyclone storm has occurred in the South Pacific, and the 13th Fleet has been out of the radio coverage area and has lost contact for 48 hours!"

Lu Han replied lightly on the other end of the phone, "Staff Officer Ouyang, immediately contact the Intelligence Department, notify the intelligence officers in the direction of the Strait of Magellan and Cape Horn, collect information on the ships heading south, immediately reply to General Xu Shoushan, and immediately send a search fleet!" ”

20 minutes later, Lu Han appeared at the Prime Minister's residence, Qin Kai, who had just been lying down, immediately appeared in the living room wearing a cotton coat, holding Xu Shoushan's telegram, he didn't have to eat, the climate in the South Taiping is impermanent, and it is not news to him, as far as he knows, the strongest storm surge at sea often occurs at Cape Horn on Tierra del Fuego.

However, he obviously had full confidence in the three battlecruisers that condensed the highest achievements of China's heavy industry in this era, and even the Xuanyuan battlecruiser, which was the first to be launched, had a displacement of 12,500 tons and a huge power of 32,000 horsepower, which was enough to ensure safety.

"Gengtang, although I am also worried, I fully trust Liu Hetu and their experience...... Immediately contact the British Minister Bauer, who has a shipyard in Argentina, and ask them for possible repairs...... Inform Shen Shouchang and ask him to note Argentina to provide the necessary repair support for the 13 fleet! ”

"Good!" Lu Han nodded in response and muttered for a few seconds. Or put forward his Jianyì. "Prime Minister. I have set up two Han-class battleships that are undergoing ocean-going sea trials north of Hawaii to support the Pacific Fleet to ensure the effectiveness of our military involvement in Cuba! ”

"No way!" Qin Kai immediately vetoed this plan, the Han-class battleship has not yet reached the real sense of the dreadnought on paper, but it has fully inherited the various characteristics of the dreadnought in concept, if it is revealed in front of the world, it will directly detonate a new round of competition, and this will make the pre-dreadnought competition in Europe in full swing end ahead of schedule, this is not a situation that he wants to see.

Huge waves, storms. The bow of the "Sky Wolf" battlecruiser on stilts also had to rise and fall under the great power of nature, the huge main turret had long been firmly wrapped in gun clothing, but still had to accept the continuous watering of the sea, on the tall foremast lookout, although the captain Tie Ling was wearing a raincoat, it was useless in such a storm.

Although he was soaked and bitterly cold, he obviously had no intention of leaving his post at all, and since the previous afternoon, when the fleet rushed into this storm zone in the vast South Pacific without hesitation, the entire battleship had completely entered a state of first-class combat readiness. And as an officer at the watchtower, he naturally wants to bring good news to everyone.

But. This damn sea area has been completely caught in the control of a storm, and the gray sky has lasted for more than two whole days, except for the dark clouds, torrential rain, and the huge sea breeze that is enough to blow people away, he looks around, and he can't see any source of light at all, and the temperature is also dropping rapidly, especially when he is soaked all over the body at this moment!

"Captain, look at the location of the two compass points in the southeast, the white island!"

The sound of the report from the side made him immediately raise his telescope in the direction that Sergeant Wang Tian was pointing to, and the heavy rain obstructed his vision, but with the flash of lightning splitting the sky, he still clearly saw a faintly visible island on the left side of the battleship's course...... A small island covered in snow.

"Report, the temperature on the terrace is close to 0 degrees, and the lookout has found an icy island!"

"Report, the Xuanyuan sent a telegram that they have 2 boilers damaged and are being repaired, and the cruising speed has been reduced by 0.5 knots!"

"Report! Turbine No. 1 has been running continuously for 8 hours and must be shut down for maintenance immediately! ”

“……”

"Control the course! Turbine No. 1 shut down! ”

"Order, complete engine maintenance in 30 minutes!" Standing in front of the chart, Liu Hetu, who paid attention to the direction of the fleet, loudly interrupted the second officer's order, the storm covered almost the entire sea area above the latitude of the South Tianping Ocean, a full two days of sailing, the fleet experienced almost all the exercises of the sea voyage, and as the symbol of the national heavy industry, the Sky Wolf-class battleship showed excellent seaworthiness.

In a storm with winds of more than 100 kilometers on the sea, he can still maintain a steady voyage, but as the captain of the ship, he naturally knows the importance of power to this 17,000-ton behemoth, which is the key to keeping the fleet out of the harsh seas...... In a storm, the potential danger is always the most terrifying!

"Captain, the observatory should be at the end of the Patagonian ice field off the east coast of Chile, and we will soon be able to enter the western entrance to the Strait of Magellan!" Zheng Donghe, a staff officer who was nervously surveying and mapping, suddenly raised his head and reported loudly, "General, are we going to enter the Strait of Magellan, or are we going to continue south, taking Cape Horn into the Atlantic Ocean?" ”

Zheng Donghe's report is naturally a judgment made in view of the current harsh climate, and in the original plan, the closer Strait of Magellan is naturally the undoubted answer, this winding channel composed of a chain of broken islands at the southern tip of South America, with a total length of less than 500 kilometers, and an additional 700 kilometers to go around Cape Horn! It would be almost a day's voyage!

However, now that the entire South Pacific is shrouded in storms with speeds of more than 100 kilometers per hour, it is obviously dangerous to enter the relatively narrow strait, especially since the 13th Fleet is the maiden voyage, and all the sea conditions here are just paper information provided by the Admiralty.

Staring at the deep V-shaped rough passage of the Strait of Magellan on the chart, at least five of which have obvious intersecting channels, it definitely takes a great deal of courage and self-confidence to enter a new and uncertain strait in bad weather, especially after stormy weather with low visibility.

Three battle cruisers representing the Chinese Navy's fastest maritime response force in this era broke the waves in the South Pacific Ocean at a speed of 18 knots, and the new communication technology represented by radio made the inter-fleet organization more and more orderly, and at 2 o'clock in the afternoon of the 15th, when the Liuhe map was deciding whether to enter the strait under the complicated climate, an unexpected situation made him have to make up his mind immediately.

"Report, General, Rear Admiral Mao Zhiqi, the captain of the Tiankui, sent a light signal, the battleship was struck by lightning, the radio transmitter was damaged, and the flagship will be followed!" The communications officer ran out of the telegraph room, bringing an emergency.

The Tiankui battlecruiser was radio-damaged, and in such bad weather, rushing to repair it must also be an extremely dangerous job, and when it will be restored, it is obvious that it will be reported to the flagship in an uncertain situation, and Liu Hetu immediately made a decision, "Immediately order, follow the flagship, and prepare to enter the Strait of Magellan!" ”

Even in the face of many difficulties, the time savings that can be achieved through the Strait of Magellan will provide vital time for the fleet to regain its combat readiness......

At 5:15 p.m., when the 13th Fleet accurately located the Flo Island at the mouth of the bay on the west side of the Strait of Magellan, the lookout post came with exciting news, and the lookout observed a clear sky to the southwest, which indicated that the fleet had entered the brink of storm surge.

The Strait of Magellan was the only strait that ran through the South American continent in this era, but it was a natural strait formed between a large number of broken islands at the southernmost tip of South America.

The ensuing darkness made navigation more difficult, and he was even more worried that although the Strait of Magellan was not busy at all, and even somewhat desolate, at this time, he had to consider whether there would be an accident in the dark...... When night fell, although the sky was better, it was far from the point of a clear starry sky, and under the dark night, Liu Hetu thought twice and had to order the searchlight on the top of the bridge to be turned on, and at the same time reduce the speed of the ship to less than 8 knots!

Rushing out of the storm surge, Liu Hetu couldn't talk about any joy at all, and the rapid sailing of the past three days brought a damage management report on his desk at the moment......

Of the 24 boilers on the Xuanyuan Battle Patrol, 5 have been found to be faulty, two of which must be shut down for maintenance immediately, and the area at the tail of the bilge is waterlogged and is being fully cleaned.

The battle cruiser Tiankui, the front main mast was struck by lightning, 1 officer and 2 soldiers were seriously injured, and more than one motor on the battleship was damaged, the radio equipment failed, and it was being urgently repaired.

However, the flagship Sirius battle cruise, after such a fierce sea cruise, is still in good condition, the only problem is that even with the design of the high freeboard, in this storm, it is still inevitable that the whole ship is permeable and strict, and the effect of the steam-powered drainage system on the battleship is not good! These design issues have been carefully recorded in the logbook and will be fed back to the major naval shipyards.

These are just the more serious problems in the whole fleet, as for some of the regular facilities on the battleship were also damaged by different ways in the storm, at this moment the officers are taking the soldiers and sailors to renovate overnight, and it is estimated that order on the surface of the battleship will be restored after dawn...... Liu Hetu took a pencil and carefully sketched the plan on the record book in front of him, considering the specific deployment of the next step.

"Report! General, a small flotilla is approaching ahead! (To be continued......)