Numerically, the first patrol detachment of the expeditionary fleet still had three ships intact and three seriously damaged, and the second squadron had two intact and one seriously damaged, and seven of these warships had the ability to bombard.

There were nine battleships in the battleship group on the other side, all intact. The torpedo boat group had fourteen torpedo boats, and the other ten in the group defended against the submarines that had appeared before, and Natal decided that the speed of the submarines could not keep up with the speed of the fleet, so he withdrew six torpedo boats, leaving only four on the periphery to be on guard and search.

Then, the most disgusting scene of this naval battle appeared, the two battleships of the Chinese army suddenly released a large amount of smoke and turned the rudder to the right in an attempt to get out of the battlefield. During the naval battle, the Taishan and Huashan, which were advancing at a speed of ten knots, suddenly increased to fifteen knots and fled to the northwest where there were no expeditionary fleet warships.

Natal was disgusted, all the officers and men of the expeditionary fleet were disgusted, after sinking and injuring their own six ships, the main ships of the Chinese fleet shamelessly fled from the battlefield, sure enough, it was an oriental heretic, and there was no chivalry on the battlefield! My Second Combat Brigade has not yet rushed over, and when the time comes, it will be the rhythm of the total annihilation of the Chinese Navy, but I didn't expect the Chinese Army to take advantage of it and leave.

Twenty torpedo boats were desperately catching up, and now was the best time to close the distance and release the torpedoes with the speed of the torpedo boats. It's just that the maximum speed of the torpedo boat is only twenty-five knots, and the Taishan and Huashan can easily reach this speed. Natal did not order the other warships to chase after him, and the Chinese fleet was intact and had the advantage of speed, but if it pursued rashly, it would be beaten back because of the confusion of the formation, and the gains outweighed the losses.

The battlefield was in shambles, many officers and men who had fallen into the water needed to be saved, the heavily damaged ships needed to be temporarily repaired and the fire was extinguished, and the battle plan needed to be reformulated. Feeling that he had recognized the combat effectiveness of the Chinese army, Natal ordered the fleet to return to Cam Ranh Bay, where there was a certain ability to repair warships, and the battle plan that had been made before needed to be revised.

The most discouraging thing was that the 2nd Combat Brigade arrived on the battlefield fifteen minutes after the battle here. If it had been earlier, perhaps the Chinese army would have been completely surrounded. The cruiser detachment of the 2nd Brigade dragged down the speed of the fleet, and those old cruisers had not yet dissipated their residual warmth, which first brought a negative effect.

The battered patrol was incapacitated, and the battleship Solemnis, which had not yet sunk, had no room for recovery, and the battle was not over at this time. It was very difficult to tow these wounded warships. Natal was hesitant to tow it back to Cam Ranh Bay, after all, a distance of several hundred nautical miles, if it was attacked again along the way, it would drag down the other warships. If it really didn't work, he had to sink it, which was better than being captured by the Chinese army.

At this time, the sky suddenly became overcast, a large cloud drifted in the distance, and the wind and waves on the sea gradually increased, and this place will soon become a thunderstorm area, and it is necessary to make a decision as soon as possible. The mission of sinking was carried out by seven torpedo boats of the 2nd Brigade. They will launch torpedoes at close range, sinking battleships that are too battered to move.

More than 5,000 meters away from here, the Hangzhou rose to periscope depth, Jiao Shaoxin took one last look at the expeditionary fleet, and reluctantly ordered to leave this sea area. From firing torpedoes after getting closer, to dodging the search of the opposing cruisers and torpedo boats from afar, to watching the battle from a distance after the battle began, Jiao Shaoxin did not find the right time to attack -- there were several torpedo boats cruising around the perimeter all the time during the battle.

Thirty-five minutes later, the submarine group assembled in the predetermined sea area. And return to the submarine mother ship, which is more than a hundred nautical miles away, where the submarines will receive fuel supplies. Pick up a new order.

At 11:20 a.m., 20 torpedo boats had pursued the Chinese army for more than 40 nautical miles, but there was no trace of the enemy warships in front of them. The commander of the torpedo boat detachment, Colonel Hull, consulted Natal and was given the order to abandon the pursuit and return to Cam Ranh Bay to join the fleet.

The expeditionary fleet temporarily abandoned the attack, but Lü Hai did not give up. Today's big retreat is for tomorrow's better attack, not to mention that it is not yet noon, and today's time is early. The two capital ships consumed seven rounds of ammunition, and the artillery and officers and men had just played out their state, so it was a pity to stop the battle like this.

Look at the weather, there is a heavy rain and no small wind and waves in the northeast. Lu Hai led the fleet around in a large circle, preparing to insert the chrysanthemum position of the expeditionary fleet from the thunderstorm area in the northeast, and quietly approached under the cover of wind and waves, and launched another surprise attack. Before entering the thunderstorm area, the expeditionary fleet was always within the radar scanning range, and the distance between the Chinese fleet and the expeditionary fleet did not exceed the radar range.

At 11:50 a.m., the battleship detachment of the Chinese Pacific Fleet joined up with the cruiser detachment and entered the thunderstorm area. Lu Hai was not as blind and deaf as the expeditionary fleet, so he sent a reconnaissance detachment to find the expeditionary fleet in advance and follow it out of sight.

At about one o'clock in the afternoon, the reconnaissance detachment passed through the thunderstorm zone and spotted traces of the expeditionary fleet on the radar screen. The Chinese fleet used the advantage of speed to make up for the distance gap between the two sides, and after a circle, it caught up with the expeditionary fleet again, and according to its sailing route, Lu Hai deduced that the destination of the expeditionary fleet was Cam Ranh Bay. It seems that the previous battle has greatly damaged its vitality, and it must not shrink into the harbor because of the loss of a few warships, the Chinese army does not have so much time to spend on the sea.

"Captain, Commander Lu Hai's order requires us to go to the vicinity of Cam Ranh Bay to ambush, and if the expeditionary fleet enters the port, look for an opportunity to attack ourselves according to the situation." After leaving the submarine mother ship, Jiao Shaoxin led the Hangzhou to the south again, and fifteen minutes later the submarine received an order from its superiors.

In Cam Ranh Bay, Jiao Shaoxin immediately demarcated the route, calculated the distance and the consumption of the submarine, and it seemed that the fuel was enough, and the endurance of two thousand nautical miles could go back and forth. Jiao Shaoxin immediately ordered the Hangzhou to change its course, this is another arduous task, sailing in the tropics needs to endure the scorching heat in the submarine, the submariners are no more glamorous than other naval officers and men, after a month of fighting, people are not like people, ghosts are not like ghosts, it is too normal.

After receiving the information from the reconnaissance detachment, Lu Hai ordered the fleet to increase its speed to 25 knots, and the battleships cut through the waves, and after 35 minutes, they drilled out of the thunderstorm area, and the officers and men of the navy immediately cleaned the deck, wiped the barrels and breeches of the guns, and overhauled the radar to ensure that everything was normal at the beginning of the battle.

At this time, the distance between the fleet and the expeditionary fleet was about fifty nautical miles, and Lu Hai calculated that if the expeditionary fleet sailed at a speed of fifteen knots, it would take about five hours to catch up, and it was a little more than six o'clock in the afternoon, and it was not yet dark, but there was not much time to use for battle. It looks like it needs to keep track of the time for another night.

Battles at sea are sometimes so boring, in the age of sail, two warships meet and catch up as far as the eye can see, sometimes it takes days, but when the battle breaks out, it can end in a short time.

At the end of the battle on 16 July, after nightfall, Natal conveyed to London the news of today's naval battle, and the loss of three battleships and six mounted cruisers almost caused Natal to resign in a telegram. Since his own appointment as commander, the losses of the fleet have exceeded the total number of warships of the German Navy, and the British cannot afford such a rate of loss. Particularly distressing was the death of Lieutenant Admiral Jack, commander of the patrol detachment, and Lieutenant Commander Betty, captain of the County Antrim, and other generals.

In the combat report written by Natal that night, he took all the responsibility on himself, but at the same time objectively described the course of the naval battle and the gap between the British Navy and the Chinese Navy in terms of equipment.

In Natal's view, the British Navy had two advantages, one was the numerical superiority of warships, because of this, the Chinese Navy did not dare to engage itself head-on, and once the battleship group approached, the Chinese army would retreat. The second is the advantage of armored cruisers, the Chinese cruisers have no resistance in the face of their own patrols, and can only rely on speed to escape.

The disadvantage of the expeditionary fleet or the British Navy is also very prominent, that is, none of the warships can kill the Chinese warships relatively accurately from 10,000 meters away, while the two super warships can fire comfortably from 10,000 meters away, and when their own warships approach, they use the advantage of speed to open the distance. In addition, the cruisers and destroyers of the Chinese army had a good speed advantage, and Natal suspected that the armor of those cruisers was not as thick as that of his own yachts, so he obtained super high speeds, and because of this, those cruisers were not equipped with large-caliber guns and could not compete with his own patrols.

The Chinese navy took a strange path, but it didn't matter, Natal drew up a new battle plan based on his own strengths and weaknesses, and when he returned to Cam Ranh Bay and rested briefly, the new battle plan was about to be implemented. A temporary rest was necessary, the condition of the battleship was still very good, but the mental state of the officers and sailors needed to be adjusted, and the repeated blows made these lads a little sluggish. (To be continued.) )