"Your Excellency, the main force of the Japanese is coming to us!"

The movements of the main force of the Japanese fleet could not be concealed from the observation post on the Hood, and the communications officer quickly reported the situation to Admiral Barkes. Barcs was not confident that he could use four capital ships against the nine capital ships of the Japanese, but he did not want to flee in disgrace, in fact, due to the slow speed of the Rodney and the two Iron Dukes, it was not so easy for the British fleet to escape.

"What about the Chinese? Where are their six Cantonese-class? ”

"Admiral, the Chinese may have deviated from course, they seem to be in our southeast!" The communications officer picked up a telegram he had just received, glanced at it, and replied aloud.

"Damn! These idiots! Barkes gritted his teeth and cursed, wishing to capture and shoot the commander of the main Chinese fleet. Hurry up and give them electricity and get them to move closer to us! ”

"Admiral, are we going to turn southeast? In this way, we can meet the Chinese faster. "The chief of staff of the Far Eastern Fleet reminded.

Baques thought that this was indeed the case, now the speed of the capital ship formation of the Far East Fleet can always run more than 23 knots, the Chinese's 6 Guangdong-class ships can run at a high speed of 32 knots, if the two go head-on, it can be close to 55 nautical miles in an hour, and at most the two sides can meet in an hour and a half. As a result, he immediately ordered the destroyer formation and the light cruiser formation to charge the Akagi in order to cover the reformation of the main force of the fleet to turn to the southeast. At the same time, he also ordered the aircraft carrier Brave, a transport ship, and an oil tanker, which were hiding in the rain curtain north of the battlefield, to retreat to the port of Keelung in Taiwan under the cover of destroyers.

July 3, 1932 at 9:05 a.m. The light cruiser Grain Goddess raised the Z-flag, and three light cruisers and eight destroyers began an all-Soviet assault on the Japanese battlecruiser and heavy cruiser formations in a near-suicidal attack. I saw eleven small warships lunging towards me. Eisuke Yamamoto immediately understood the idea of the British fleet. While ordering his own light cruisers to rush up to block the other side, he ordered the heavy cruisers that were following the Akagi to rush to the Hood desperately, leaving the 31-knot, 31-knot, Big Mac (the previous damage had been repaired) on the battlefield anyway.

Almost instantly, the sea was in chaos, and the British ** ships flying the Z flag desperately assaulted, firing torpedoes one by one, and the Japanese heavy cruisers also approached the Hood as if they were playing with their lives. Constantly bombarding the opponent's thick steel armor with their 200mm or 203mm guns.

With a loud bang, a 380mm shell from the Hood hit the deadly Gaku, the second ship of the Eagle-class heavy cruiser. Suddenly following in the footsteps of the Ancient Eagle, after a huge fire, it completely disappeared into the sea.

On the other side, a 140mm shell fired by the Akagi's secondary gun also hit the aging light cruiser Grain Goddess. A large hole was made in its bow. Immediately began to sink into the water. Immediately after, several Japanese light cruisers fired 140mm shells hit the grain goddess, turning the light cruiser into a sea of fire, and in desperation, the warship with the LinkedIn light cruiser and destroyer charge had to lower the Z-flag and hoist the signal flag that the ship was seriously injured and withdrew from the battle. However, the other British ** ships that followed it fully did not flinch, charged against the falling shells like raindrops, and finally fired the last wave of torpedoes at a distance of less than 5,000 meters from the Akagi. before releasing the smoke to retreat.

"Torpedo! There are 6 torpedoes on the starboard side at a distance of 1000 meters! The communications officer of the Akagi put down the phone and shouted.

"Dodge! Dodge ......"

The huge hull constantly shuts and writhes. The explosion opened a large hole several meters wide in the stern of the Akagi, and thousands of tons of seawater rushed in, although it did not cause fatal damage to the battlecruiser with the world's strongest firepower, but it was enough for it to go to the naval shipyard in Wujun Port for several months after this battle!

At this time, the battlecruiser Hood also broke free from the entanglement of several Japanese heavy cruisers, turned the bow and joined the three British battleships behind it, and then fled in a southeasterly direction.

Eisuke Yamamoto was also anxious, he had already guessed that the main force of the British Far East Fleet was going to join forces with the six Chinese battle cruisers, and once they succeeded, the shape on the battlefield would probably be turned around immediately! So he immediately ordered the Akagi to follow the opponent and turn the rudder closely, and ordered the two ships Kaga and Tosa to move closer to the Akagi at full speed. This close-quarters encounter suddenly turned into a pursuit. Although the British capital ship formation was the first to complete the rudder turn, the speed of the Rodney was only 23.5 knots, and the top speed of the two modernized Iron Duke-class ships was only 24.5 knots. However, Japan's two Kaga-class ships can run at a speed of 26.5 knots, and even the Akagi, which was damaged and slowed down, can maintain a speed of more than 25 knots. Therefore, it was only a matter of time before three Japanese capital ships caught up with four British capital ships.

As for the remaining six old Japanese battleships, they seemed to be cumbersome in this battle, and now they can only slowly follow behind the three Japanese cutting-edge capital ships, slowly pursuing. However, considering their thin armor and 305mm caliber "small power" main guns, it is estimated that they will not play a role in catching up with the British capital ships.

"Boom, boom, boom......"

As the distance between the two sides got closer and closer, the 410mm giant shells fired by the Japanese capital ships kept falling near the British ship formation!

The main gun layout of the three Japanese capital ships was the same, with five twin 410mm armored batteries. The first three and the last two. Therefore, in this pursuit battle, a total of 18 410mm naval guns can exert their power. On the other hand, the British side was a bit miserable, the most powerful Rodney had no main guns in the stern, the Hood had two twin 16-inch turrets in the stern, and the two Iron Duke-class ships had two twin 13.5-inch turrets in the stern. There were no more than four 16-inch guns and eight 13.5-inch guns.

Just when the distance between the two sides was getting closer and closer, the landing point of the 410mm shells fired by the Japanese battleships was getting closer and closer to the four British capital ships. Just when everyone thought that the main forces of the British Far East Fleet would soon have no way to escape. The radio station of the battlecruiser Akagi suddenly received an urgent telegram from the aircraft carrier Soryu!

"The aircraft carrier formation encountered a formation of Chinese battle cruisers about 120 nautical miles southeast of Okinawa!"

……

9:35 a.m. Flagship of the Japanese aircraft carrier fleet. USS Soryu.

Standing on the island, the commander of the battle team, Nagano Xiushen, held a telescope and stared at the formation of Chinese battle cruisers looming in the rain 20,000 meters away. Deep down I was filled with despair and regret. Why can't the aircraft carrier fleet be driven a little further north? Maybe then it wouldn't have been discovered by the Chinese battlecruisers. Why don't you ask Chief Yamamoto for an old battleship? That would at least have enough time to escape, right?

"20,000 meters!"

The captain's shout interrupted Nagano's self-cultivation thoughts, if it was calm, this distance would already be the distance of the main ship's artillery battle. But now in this kind of weather, it is estimated that the other side will close the distance to within 15,000 meters before firing.

Nagano Shushen gritted his teeth and began to give orders: "Let the Aituo and Kaohsiung (named after the Kaohsiung Mountains in Japan) lead the light cruisers up to resist it, and the destroyer escort aircraft carrier ships retreat to the northeast." Save your strength in order to avenge the Kaohsiung and Aituo ships in the future! ”

He glanced at the Chinese battlecruisers in the distance, and a series of numbers came to his mind, three triple 280mm turrets. With a full load displacement of more than 30,000 tons, waterline armor up to 250mm thick, a speed of up to 33 knots, and a number of up to 6 ships. None of them can be dealt with by two 13,400-ton Kaohsiung-class heavy cruisers. However, in order to keep the more valuable aircraft carrier. Only two heavy cruisers, which had just been completed for a few months, were sacrificed.

Yongye's choice of self-cultivation is undoubtedly correct, although the speed of the Canglong class in this time and space is not as fast as the Canglong class in history, but it is also the same as the Guangdong class, as high as 33 knots. As long as the two ships of Aituo and Kaohsiung try their best to block each other, the four Canglong-class aircraft carriers can complete the turn, and then retreat all the way to the northeast, and at the same time escape can also divert the six battle cruisers of the Chinese army, lest they join the main force of the British Far East Fleet. But this has historically served as the chief of the Navy's Command Department. Nagano Xiushen, who single-handedly pushed the war between Japan and the United States, ignored the Nanhui-class destroyers owned by the Chinese Navy with a speed of up to 38.5 knots.

Just when two Kaohsiung-class heavy cruisers and three Tenryu-class light cruisers broke away from the Japanese aircraft carrier squadron formation and formed a column to charge the Chinese army battle cruiser squadron. Vice Admiral Bo Fuping, commander of the battlecruiser formation of the main fleet of the Chinese Navy, was faced with a dilemma. Is it to rescue the British, who are being chased by the main force of the Japanese fleet, or to hunt down the Japanese aircraft carrier that was hit by itself?

Bo Fu stood calmly in front of the chart table, his eyes wandering between the two fleet symbols on the chart platform, the color of choice on his slightly gloomy face wandering.

Saving the British Far East Fleet can certainly strengthen the Sino-British alliance, but now that the British have been beaten by the Japanese, can they still knock out their teeth and swallow them in their stomachs? And the Japanese attack on the British Far East Fleet was probably not impulsive, right? The ten** was still part of Trotsky's world revolutionary layout, and Britain had no choice.

The Japanese aircraft carrier and the Chinese aircraft carrier, but the 10:3 advantage, once they have a fighter comparable to the J-2B, the Japanese aircraft carrier will become the largest in the Chinese Navy in the next few years!

"Marshalling!"

Bo Fuping was determined to speak quickly, and the six Cantonese-class battle cruisers were organized into the first battle team, which were first used to deal with the five Japanese cruisers that came to die. Ten Nanhui-class destroyers serving as escorts form the second battle group, and this destroyer with 70,000 horsepower propulsion has a maximum speed of 38.5 knots, which is 5.5 knots faster than the 33 knots of the Canglong-class aircraft carrier, and can pull nearly 10,000 meters per hour, even if you don't take into account the time wasted by the Japanese fleet's turn, it only takes an hour and a half to launch torpedoes at the opponent!

"Commander, the 10 Nanhui-class destroyers broke away from the Chinese army's main position and accelerated towards us, at least ...... 38 knots! ”

Hear this. Cold sweat was already oozing from Nagano's bare head, and after sending out five light and heavy cruisers, there were now only eight 1,000-ton light destroyers guarding around the four Soryu-class aircraft carriers. It is not at all an opponent of the ten Nanhui class. Moreover, the firepower configuration of the Canglong-class aircraft carrier itself is too weak, and there are no large-caliber guns of more than 200mm at all, so they cannot be used for artillery battles at all!

At this moment, for the first time in Nagano Shushen's mind, the thought of losing the war if he couldn't do it appeared in his mind.

"At 18,000 meters, the Nanhui-class destroyer is approaching again!"

"Turn, retreat...... Let the destroyer detachment fend off! The aircraft carrier retreated at full speed towards Okinawa! Then go to the base on Okinawa and ask them to send destroyers to meet us. ”

There are no destroyer escorts. Nagano Shushu didn't dare to take a lone aircraft carrier to wander around the Pacific Ocean, and it would be terrible if he encountered a few Chinese submarines, and the only way was to go to Okinawa for shelter first.

Meanwhile. Six Chinese battlecruisers have begun to turn in order to fight for T-shaped positions. And the five Japanese light and heavy cruisers did not dare to let the six battle cruisers, whose firepower did not know how many times surpass them, grab the T-position. Otherwise, 54 280mm naval guns would work together, or in less than ten minutes, all five Japanese cruisers would have to be turned into a pile of scrap metal sunk to the bottom of the sea. So they had to follow suit.

9:42 a.m. The first confrontation between the Chinese and Japanese armies in World War II in this time and space finally began.

At this time. The storm that had been howling for several hours was about to pass, and the wind and waves at sea were much calmer. Moreover, the design idea of small boats carrying cannons also caused the main guns of the Guangdong-class battlecruisers to have extremely high shooting accuracy, and at the same time, the Chinese gunners, who had been strictly trained by the British advisers for 10 years, also played a very high level. After just two salvos, a fire ball rose on the heavy cruiser Kaohsiung with an empty displacement of up to 13,400 tons.

The Kaohsiung was hit by the Chinese battlecruiser Guangxi, and a 280mm armor-piercing projectile fired from the ship's bow No. 1 turret hit the Kaohsiung's main armor belt, and the thickest 127mm armor steel plate was almost the same as the papier-mâché paste, and was pierced by a single blow. The shells exploded in the Kaohsiung's amidships' boiler room, and six oil-fired boilers were reimbursed effortlessly. It also caused a fire inside the Kaohsiung, which immediately caused the heavy cruiser to lose half of its power. The speed also dropped to less than 12 knots.

Just a minute later, another 280mm shell hit the Kaohsiung with black smoke, this time it was the No. 2 turret in the bow of the Kaohsiung, the 25mm armor steel plate was a joke in front of the 280mm giant shell, the No. 2 turret was blown away in its entirety, I don't know where it went? Even with it, a large hole was blown out in the Kaohsiung's gun mount, causing another fire. In order to avoid the fire from affecting the ammunition depot, the captain of the Kaohsiung had to order the ammunition depot to be filled with water to maintain balance.

After another two minutes, the heavy cruiser, which was tortured by 54 280mm cannons, finally ushered in "relief". A 280mm shell fired by the Fujian battlecruiser pierced through the No. 3 turret of the Kaohsiung from the top, and then penetrated the fireproof hatch of the ammunition depot, exploded in the ammunition depot under the turret, and detonated more than 200 203mm shells inside, directly sinking the heavy cruiser in two, and only 3 minutes later, all 900 officers and men of the ship were swallowed by the sea, and no one survived!

After solving the Kaohsiung, the six Chinese battle cruisers aimed their guns at the Kaohsiung's sister ship, the Aituo, and the 54 280mm naval guns continued to exert their maximum power in salvos, and the Aituo soon ushered in its own end, with a cannonball each in the bow turret and between the two chimneys in the amidships. The force of the explosion destroyed all two of the Alto's steam turbines, and caused a raging fire in the bow, and the heavy cruiser, which had lost power, was unable to prevent the fire from spreading to the ammunition depot, and only three minutes later, the ship sank into the sea after a juliè explosion, and none of the officers and men of the ship survived.

After losing two heavy cruisers in succession, the three Tenryu-class light cruisers were also completely desperate, so they had to launch a suicide assault on the Chinese battle patrol formation, hoping to inflict some losses on the opponent with torpedoes. However, it was quickly blown to pieces by the powerful fire of 6 battlecruisers!

Just when 5 Japanese cruisers were desperately blocking the bullet holes. Another vicious battle took place between Chinese and Japanese destroyers. Eight Japanese kamikaze-class destroyers desperately resisted 10 Chinese Nanhui-class destroyers. Although the tonnage of the kamikaze-class is half that of the Nanhui class, the speed and protection are inferior to those of the opponent. However, after all, the ratio of strength and weakness is not too great, relying on the desperate dispatch, repeatedly charging and firing torpedoes at the Chinese destroyer formation, and actually does not have the slightest advantage in the scene. The power of the Nanhui-class 127mm naval guns is also a little smaller, although it repeatedly hits the opponent, but it is difficult to cause a fatal blow. Just when the two sides were deadlocked, the Chinese battlecruisers, which had already ended the battle, rushed to help, and in the face of this behemoth, which was more than 20 times its own tonnage, the eight Japanese kamikaze-class destroyers held out for less than 10 minutes before all of them sank. However, the heroic performance of the Japanese cruisers and destroyers still bought the four Japanese aircraft carriers 30 minutes to escape. By this time, the distance between them and the Chinese fleet had widened to more than 27 nautical miles, and it was impossible to pursue them.

At this moment, to the southwest of the Chinese fleet, there was billowing smoke that rushed into the sky. That's the main forces of the British Far East Fleet and the main ships of the Japanese Combined Fleet!