The loud, continuous explosions in the main escort fleet behind attracted the attention of the light cruiser formations and transports in front. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

The captain of the light cruiser formation ordered the transport fleet to stop advancing, and the escort formation patrolled all around to protect the safety of the transport fleet; He immediately sent a telegram to the commander of the escort fleet, asking about what had happened and asking for instructions on the next course of action.

When the commander of the fleet saw the telegram from the light cruiser in front, he immediately replied, asking for increased patrols to protect the convoy.

No sooner had the light cruiser received a reply from the fleet commander than the order had been arranged, when a shrill siren sounded throughout the ship, and the staff officers reported that the observers had spotted a large number of enemy ships approaching in this direction.

Without giving an order, the captain of the light cruiser immediately reported the discovery of a large number of enemy ships to the fleet commander.

The fleet commander gritted his teeth when he received the telegram, and there was no indication on his face, and now he could understand MacDonald's feelings.

The enemy is obviously prepared, that is, he wants to completely annihilate his own fleet, it seems that his fleet has encountered the same situation as the Dutch fleet, it is difficult to escape the fate of annihilation, hoping to leave some seeds of hope for the British Empire, and at the same time hope that someone can pass on today's news, the fleet commander issued an order for three intact light cruisers, escorts and destroyers to escort MacDonald and his staff team away and withdraw to Rangoon or Calcutta; The convoy broke through on all sides, or surrendered outright; The wounded battleships, light cruisers and all torpedo boats were all ready for battle, hoping to buy some time for these evacuated battleships.

Since the first wave of torpedo attacks has been completed, the warships of the Lanfang Kingdom are about to appear, taking advantage of this short time, the fleet commander wrote down the attack briefly, and immediately sent a telegram to the First Sea Minister and the Governor of India, hoping that the fleet of the British Empire should always pay attention to the other party's torpedoes when facing the Lanfang Navy in the future, although I don't know how to launch the torpedoes, but these torpedo attacks are particularly sharp and can damage our battleships.

At this time, the strict discipline and high quality of the Royal Navy of the British Empire came, no one questioned it, all the orders were carried out, there was no joy in what was left, and there was no sadness in what was left, as if it were a normal order.

The warships that were called upon immediately immediately increased their pressure, increased their speed, quickly left the fleet, formed a new formation, and headed for Rangoon.

The warships that were asked to stay behind began to adjust their direction, hoping to face the enemy's warships with a T-shaped prefix, and make other pre-battle preparations.

At this time, the Lanfang fleet came from the southeast, and the speed of the fleet was very fast, maintaining a speed of 20 knots, and it drove along the right side of the British fleet, cutting off the possibility of the British fleet escaping to the west. Lan Fang's fleet came from the southeast, so the British ships that escaped did not dare to escape from the southeast, so they could only flee in the north or northeast.

The No. 1 battleship of the Lanfang fleet began to fire at a distance of 12,000 meters, 10 flames in a row erupted from the gun's muzzle, and the shells flew towards the British warship in the distance with a deafening whistling sound. The British light cruisers were like little children next to giants in front of them, not of a class at all; Being able to fire at such a long distance, the error is not large, which shows that the quality of the main gun is very high, and the level of the gunner is not low; Moreover, the speed of the warship is still so fast, it is estimated to be more than twice the speed of the cargo ship; Now there is no way to escape, simply do not escape, especially the merchant ship transporting baggage, the owner of the ship directly ordered someone to raise the white flag, the owner of the merchant ship transporting soldiers is still discussing with the British officers and soldiers on board whether to raise the white flag, but if the white flag is not raised, it will definitely be sunk, and there is no possibility of escape.

For the officers and men of the British warships, the honor of the Royal Navy of the British Empire did not allow them to surrender, and they would rather die in battle than have the possibility of surrendering.

Li Yunhai, commander of the battleship fleet of the Lanfang Kingdom, ordered the captains of the ships to be the enemy, and they must be resolutely killed as long as they do not raise the white flag and surrender.

The first round of test firing of the battleship confirmed that the light cruiser was within range, but with bad luck it did not hit, and the captain ordered to continue firing the guns until they were sunk. The longest range of the battleship main gun of the Lanfang Kingdom is 15,000 meters, while the main gun of the British light cruiser is only 152mm, and the range is not as long as the battleship of the Lanfang Kingdom, so it is only passively beaten, and it is useless to return fire. The second round of shelling of the No. 1 battleship of the Lanfang Kingdom still did not hit the British light cruiser, but the nearest shell was only 100 meters away from the light cruiser, and it seemed that victory was in sight. The other 2 battleships had modest successes, sinking 1 destroyer and 1 escort respectively, much to the anger of the captain of battleship No. 1.

The captain of the British light cruiser thought to himself that if this was the case, he would be sunk by the other side before he could open his cannons, and he would die anyway, and he would have to fire a few cannons before he could do so, so whether he could hit the other side or not, he asked the battery to open fire, trying to make a dying struggle.

"Captain, we are too far away from the other side, and the range of our main guns is not so far, we can't hit the other side."

"I know I can't hit the other side, I just want to interfere with the opponent's artillery, you just carry out the order."

"Yes, Captain" The artillery on the light cruiser began to prepare to fire shells at the Lanfang fleet.

Obviously, good luck is not always there, just after firing the shells, two of the shells fired by the third round of the battleship Lanfang No. 1 hit the light cruiser, one shell hit the turret position, and the "bang" exploded, the smoke and dust were all over, and the shrapnel splashed, and the unprotected turret was directly blown up and changed shape, and the artillery was all shot by the splashing shrapnel, and another shell, "bang" hit the chimney, and the chimney collapsed, causing the two boilers to lose their work, and the speed of the light cruiser plummeted, A cruiser without speed was a live target in front of a battleship. And the shells fired by the light cruiser exploded on the sea surface several kilometers away from the Lanfang battleship, only stirring up a few jets of water, and even the fur of the battleship of the Lanfang Kingdom could not be injured.

If you can't hit the other party, you can only be beaten passively, which makes the captain of the light cruiser, John Hegel, depressed to death, in the past, he bullied the warships of other countries like this, and now it is his turn to enjoy this treatment, there is a saying in Chinese that best describes John Hegel at this time, and sooner or later he will have to pay it back.

In the fourth round of firing of the battleship Lanfang No. 1, a shell hit the side waterline of the light cruiser, only a loud "bang" was heard, the cruiser's armor was torn open like paper paste and a large hole of several square meters, the shell exploded in the ship's cabin, and the interior was blown up in a mess, the entire light cruiser was almost blown into two, the sea water quickly poured into the cabin, the cruiser sank at a speed visible to the naked eye, and John Hegel had to order to abandon the ship.

At this time, Li Yunhai waved a flag to all the merchant ships, asking them to surrender quickly, otherwise they would be sent to the sea to feed the sharks.

Seeing that the Lanfang Navy is so strong in combat effectiveness, all the merchant ships have raised white flags, even the army officers on these merchant ships are not easy to say anything else, such a fleet, if they do not surrender, they will definitely send the people on these merchant ships to the sea to feed the fish.

For the British Navy that fell into the water, Li Zhaoshui and the others did not consider saving it for the time being, and the fleet did not slow down, but continued to move forward, rushing towards the direction of the British battleship.

For the British merchant ships that have surrendered, leave 1 Lanfang-class destroyer and 5 Dolphin-class Type 1 torpedo boats to monitor, and raise flags to let the cargo ships behind move forward and meet the cargo ships in front, otherwise they are easy to be injured by mistake.

At this time, Li Zhaoshui and Li Yunhai received a telegram from the submarine formation that 3 light cruisers, 6 frigates, and 8 destroyers had fled in the direction of Yangon, and the submarines could not catch up, so they reported to the commander of the battleship fleet.

Li Yunhai immediately made a decision and sent 3 Lanfang-class battlecruisers, 6 Shengli-class torpedo boats, and 6 Lanfang-class destroyers to chase the fleeing British Navy and annihilate them.