For the European countries at this time, they had iron ore from Scandinavia in Northern Europe, coal from Germany and the British Isles, and grain from Poland, France and Italy. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 info But they lack oil supplies.

The largest oil producer in Europe is in the Baku region of the Caucasus. The oil produced here is sufficient to meet the wartime needs of almost all countries' armies. But the stupid Russians lost it at the beginning of the war.

The Russians saw only Kazan and the Volga with their eyes, but did not understand the importance of economic warfare. After the destruction of the oil fields, it makes no sense to even gather heavy troops to retake them.

At the moment the oil production of the whole of Europe is only the oil fields of the Romanians and the fields of the Germans. And after the Caucasus fell into the hands of the Ming Dynasty, the Romanian oil fields also fell into the threat of the Ming long-range bombers.

For mechanized warfare, the absence of oil means that all weapons are mere ornaments. European countries have had to tighten their control over the exploitation and use of oil resources, and at the same time increase imports from the United States.

But the Americans don't give oil for nothing, they have to collect money. Although everyone is fighting against the Ming Dynasty, the Americans are not members of the European Union.

And it's not quiet in the North Atlantic. Although Bermuda, Iceland and many Daming naval bases in the Caribbean Sea have been captured by the Americans. However, there are still fortresses of Gibraltar on the west coast of Africa, and the Azov and Madeira islands are still in the hands of the Ming navy. Submarine forces and large assault ships from these bases pose a great threat to the routes from North America to Europe. At the same time, it also restrained a large number of naval forces of various countries to escort the ship.

In this case, the armies of various countries, especially the naval warships that can be called oil tigers, are very cautious in every sortie. It's like this attack on the first reconnaissance fleet of the Ming Dynasty.

The intelligence system of the Ming Dynasty is very good, but the European countries are not bad. They have endured humiliation for so many years, and they have already studied Da Ming into the hair. The intelligence work against the Ming Dynasty was going very smoothly, especially for a large target such as the Mediterranean Fleet, which was a top priority.

As soon as the first reconnaissance fleet left the port, the Germans received information. After analysis, it was confirmed that their target must be the blockade fleet, which was circling around Malta every night. The Germans quickly made the decision to gather superior forces to lay siege to the 1st Reconnaissance Fleet.

At this time, the forces of the French in the combined European fleet were basically busy supporting the army against the Ming forces of Algeria and Morocco, and at the same time blockading the fortress of Gibraltar. The British had no interests in the Mediterranean, they were mainly here to play soy sauce, and their main task was to provide escort for the North Atlantic route, so the fleet sent to the Mediterranean was more just a show of presence. As for the Baltic Fleet of the Russians and the warships of other countries, then it is really soy sauce.

After the unification of Italy, their navy was also merged. Unfortunately, while Italy's terrain is inherently the dominant power in the Mediterranean, the largest of their navies after the integration of several countries is an old-fashioned heavy cruiser. Not to mention confronting the entire Mediterranean fleet, the First Reconnaissance Fleet alone was enough to send them all to the bottom of the sea. In this case, Malta's naval warfare relied mainly on the Germans.

At this time, the Bismarck-class sister ships, the main battleship of the Germans, were undergoing modification work on German soil for an experimental version of the radar. The Germans, who value science and technology, can't wait to bring this advanced technology to the battlefield as soon as possible. For this reason, they even installed the products in the laboratory directly on two of the most advanced warships in the German Navy at this time.

And the more advanced warships are all on the slipway at the moment, and the aircraft carriers cannot fight at night. The only ones the Germans were able to catch up with in the Mediterranean were two Scharnhorst-class. The other old warships, the Ruthjens, didn't have them with them at all. If you can't catch up, you will scare away the prey, and there is no point in it except for wasting oil.

In fact, the Germans had never fought a naval battle with the Ming Dynasty in history. However, the Ming Navy's undefeated prestige for hundreds of years has long been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and the German Navy is not sure whether it can retain the first reconnaissance fleet of the Ming Dynasty with only two Scharnhorst-class. In order not to waste this combat opportunity, the Germans chose to turn to the British for help.

After some urgent consultations, the British agreed to the Germans' request. They sent a direct telegram to the battlecruiser HMS Hood, which was cruising and training near the Tyrrhenian Sea, to immediately go south to Malta to join the battle. Because it was not from the port, this information did not circulate.

......

An excellent fleet commander should not only have excellent command ability and outstanding psychological qualities, but also need to have a variety of comprehensive skills in order to think about a problem in the most comprehensive way.

When the German heavy patrol on the opposite side used powerful artillery fire to shroud the Ming heavy patrol formation, which was multiple of itself, in a huge column of water, Chen Xuanning knew that the heavy patrol formation was bad.

The German heavy cruisers on the opposite side were clearly cutting-edge warships, as evidenced by their astonishingly dense rate of shelling and their approaching impact points. And the heavy patrol of the Ming Dynasty is too old.

“...... Keep attacking! After a moment of contemplation, Chen Xuanning raised his head and looked at the many officers in the bridge and gave his own decision. The battle cruiser continued to attack the German Scharnhorst-class, and waited until the Germans had finished dealing with the German patrol before turning around and dealing with the two eye-popping German heavy cruisers.

As the capital ship in pursuit of high speed and heavy artillery, although the Ming battle cruiser was only equipped with 380 mm caliber guns, it was extremely powerful, enough to penetrate the new German Scharnhorst class equipped with heavy armor.

After the distance between the two sides reached 13,000 kilometers, the armor was essentially useless. After all, the Scharnhorst class is not a capital ship like Bismarck, and the thickness of his armor is not at the level of a real capital ship. This makes them on the same level when the Ming War Patrol is bombarded, and everyone can penetrate each other.

As for the speed, it was originally the Ming Dynasty that the battle patrol was faster, but they have been in service for many years, and although they have undergone modern modifications, they are already old after all. The Scharnhorst-class of the Germans was slower due to their heavy armor, but everyone was similar.

In fact, the speed requirements for artillery operations are not high, and in order to maintain a stable firing platform, everyone is generally in the dozen knots. Higher speeds are actually used more often when escaping or pursuing.

In this way, the offensive and defensive forces of both sides are almost the same, and they are not equal in speed. When everything is more or less the same, it depends on luck and the crew's cooperation. Luck aside, in terms of crew cooperation, the Daming Battle Patrol, which has been in service for nearly 20 years, can be called the perfect run-in. The Scharnhorst class, which has only been in service for a few years, is much worse in this regard. This can be seen in the efficiency of the shelling on both sides.

After more than 20 minutes of fierce artillery fighting, the distance between the two sides was shortened from 18,000 to 12,000 kilometers. At this distance, both sides could theoretically penetrate each other's armor. Now it's up to who hits the most and who hits the fatal part.

Two Scharnhorst-class ships were hit by four large-caliber shells and more than a dozen secondary shells. Three of these 380-mm armor-piercing shells hit the Scharnhorst, and who made it the flagship of the head? And the German counterattack was not weak. The Qingchengshan, which also had the commander's flag in the head, was hit with two large-caliber shells and several secondary shells. In particular, the 203-mm secondary artillery shells were very ferocious, and almost swept away the superstructure on the Qingcheng Mountain. Among other things, the technology of the Germans' twin 203-mm guns was the pinnacle.

"Manage the damage, put out the fire, continue the shelling." Although the Germans' 203 mm secondary guns brought a lot of trouble to the Ming War Patrol, Chen Xuanning did not have the slightest intention of retreating. 203-mm shells could not sink the capital ship.

Each salvo between the two sides brought a special sound between a whistle and a whistle on the dark sea, a deadly sound that made countless sailors tremble.

When the battle patrols fought fiercely, two German heavy cruisers baptized four Ming heavy cruisers with a rain of bullets. Their ultra-high rate of fire was almost the same as the frequency of shelling of the four Ming heavy cruisers. The Ganzhou, which was first set on fire, was hit directly by its No. 3 main turret with a 203 mm armor-piercing projectile during the third salvo.

The sharp shells tore through the frontal armor of this turret as if it were a can. Under the effect of the time-delay fuse, the shell exploded after piercing two decks in a row, and the huge chemical reaction easily lifted the dozens of tons of turret into the sea. The soot, which consisted of particles that had not been fully burned, rushed straight into the air thirty or forty meters into the air.

The ensuing two rounds of fierce shelling made the Ganzhou, a warship that had been in service for many years and had aged in all aspects and could not keep up with the rhythm of the times, completely lose its combat effectiveness. The entire battleship burst into flames, becoming a huge pillar of fire on the dark sea. At least twenty 203-mm shells hit the Ganzhou.

A few minutes later, the barrel of the Ganzhou No. 3 main turret failed, and the high temperature burst the ammunition depot under the turret. The violent explosion completely destroyed this battleship with a standard displacement of more than 10,000 tons. The retour became 2-3.

The Germans then turned their attention to the Chengde, which was following the Ganzhou in order to avoid the sinking Ganzhou. Within minutes, shells rained down on all sides of the Chengde. The column of water stirred up by the shells almost engulfed the entire battleship. The fire flashed in the high column of water, which was the fire from the explosion of the Chengde being hit. The dense near-miss bombs also greatly tore the underwater armor of the Chengde, resulting in a large-scale flooding.

"Sir, a telegram has been sent from the Chengde, they are unable to continue the fight, and they request a retreat." The shouts of the communications staff officer made everyone in the bridge turn their eyes to Chen Xuanning.

"Permission to retreat." After a moment of silence, Chen Xuanning ordered the Chengde to withdraw from the battlefield.

At this point, the battle between the two heavy patrols turned into 2 to 2! (To be continued.) )