Death is inevitable, and all Fisher can do now is let those officers and men in the navy who are of relatively little value die. Comparatively speaking, the officers and men who served on the old ships were younger, and they were more receptive to new ideas and tactics, which was the basis for the revival of the Royal Navy, while most of the senior officers and men on the new ships were already rigid in their thinking, and they were generally affected by the bad atmosphere of the previous (aristocratic fan), and if some of them had to die, Fisher would rather let them die.

Of course, such a dark idea cannot be spoken, and although Fisher is not good at getting along with people, he is not a brain-dead. Although William White vaguely guessed Fisher's thoughts, he was actually equally dissatisfied with the current situation of the Navy, and the two were sworn friends, so naturally they would not dismantle the stage.

And the Marquis of Salisbury lacked enough understanding of Fisher, and he was still a layman, so he naturally nodded his head again and again, not knowing that he was fooled enough by others, and a layman leading an insider, which is one of the two most likely problems

"Of the eight Sovereign-class battleships, the Hood was a specially designed experimental model, which was not very seaworthy, and could only be excluded from the sequence of the expeditionary fleet; Seven ships are not an even number, which affects the coordination of the formation, and one more can be removed. The Monarch is the oldest ship and has a certain symbolic meaning, so let's leave it on the mainland. In this way, there are still two new battleships in the country, plus a lot of old ironclad, and two Majestic-class battleships that can be completed and put into service in three months at most, which is enough to ensure the security of the homeland. These suggestions were approved by the Marquis of Salisbury, but these six battleships alone were obviously not enough, although Fisher said that the Royal Navy would not have much chance of winning anyway, but the Marquis of Salisbury still hoped for a miracle.

"The cruiser is definitely needed, although the speed of the Sovereign class is not slow, but it is far from the Haitian class. From the point of view of speed, the design speed of more than 22 knots of medium cruisers is the most suitable, but the battle of Jianghua Bay has fully exposed their ability to resist strikes too weak, not suitable for participating in the main decisive battle, even if the Haitian-class patrol is injured and defeated, they are not qualified for the heavy task of pursuit, unless the injury is so serious that they don't even have the ability to counterattack, but in that case, the slower warships should be able to catch up, and there is no need to take them. Moreover, medium cruisers have a limited load and a serious lack of endurance, which is also a disadvantage in ocean-going operations. Therefore I suggest that only large cruisers, the Blakes and Edgar classes, be sent out", Fisher spoke with the air of an expert, and the Marquis of Salisbury, though he did not understand very well, unconsciously developed trust in him.

Soon, six Sovereign-class battleships + two Blake-class large protective cruisers + four Edgar-class large protective cruisers were identified. According to common sense, the expeditionary fleet must also be equipped with supply ships, minelayers and other auxiliary ships, and it also needs to bring enough land forces to achieve the basic purpose of the expedition - to force the new Chinese regime to submit, but Fisher does not approve of bringing these "burdens" with it

"The auxiliary ships are much slower than the Sovereign-class battleships, and if you take them with you, it will take too much time on the road, and the expeditionary force must arrive as soon as possible, and there is a great conflict between the two. Moreover, whether the first battle of the expeditionary fleet took place in the Arabian Sea or in the Bay of Bengal, it was certainly a pure naval battle, and the minesweepers were not necessary, but would become a burden in the naval battle, as were the other auxiliary ships and the transported land forces. Therefore, I think that the two can be separated from each other, and the main fleet will definitely need to go to Bombay for repairs and repairs after the initial battle, and that amount of time will be enough time for the auxiliary fleet to be dragged behind to converge. And if the main fleet is unfortunately defeated, the auxiliary fleet will have to avoid difficulties, which is far better than following the main fleet to finish it together. Fisher's words made the Marquis of Salisbury frown, but the aristocratic demeanor prompted him to calm down and listen to Fisher's words before asking questions.

As soon as Fisher's words fell, the Marquis of Salisbury immediately asked, "John, you just said that the first battle of the expeditionary force will be in the Arabian Sea or the Bay of Bengal?" How dare the Chinese fleet run so far? What's more, the Strait of Malacca is in our hands, even if they have the guts, they won't be able to get through! ”

"Why don't the Chinese dare? Before the arrival of our expeditionary force, they were invincible at sea, and it would be foolish not to take advantage of such an advantage. Moreover, the new Chinese government dared to take the initiative to declare war on the Empire, and it did so in a manner akin to a sneak attack, without fear of provoking our British Empire. What is the point of continuing to attack our other colonies compared to this? Anyway, it's already offended enough, and it's not so bad. "If I were China's Minister of the Navy, I would definitely order the fleet to continue the offensive, first going south to capture Singapore, controlling the entire sea area of Southeast Asia in my own hands, and then taking advantage of the future of our Grand Fleet, go west out of the Strait of Malacca, and directly attack Bombay, if we can take Bombay before our expeditionary force arrives, and then defeat our Grand Fleet from afar, the empire will lose all of Asia!" ”

"Singapore has strong fortresses, and it's not so easy to take." The Marquis of Salisbury refuted it without waiting for Fisher to finish speaking, but his gaffe revealed the panic in his heart.

Hearing this, Fisher replied mockingly, "The Singapore Fortress is indeed very strong, but please note that this 'strongness' is measured by the standards before the Battle of Ganghwa Bay, and the existing fortress guns in Singapore are still old-fashioned cannons, and it often takes a few minutes to fire a shell in actual combat, while the 9.2-inch main gun of the Haitian-class patrol has even fired a terrifying rate of fire of more than 4 rounds a minute in the Battle of Ganghwa Bay, which is too big." Moreover, our shells are still loaded with black powder, and the power is completely incomparable with the three-base high explosives of the Chinese, and the gap in firepower is even greater. As I said before, the timing of the Chinese's choice is very good, just stuck at this point in time before our technological breakthrough, you know, this affects not only ships, but also fortresses! (To be continued.) )