Chapter 908: The fleets of the two sides are facing each other

At about 10 a.m. on August 16, 1914, in the Strait of Hormuz, which connects the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, two unusually large fleets met, one of which was the Union of Nations European Fleet, which had already been much slimmer, and the other was the main force of the First, Second, Third and Fourth Fleets of the Imperial Chinese Navy. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

The 17 Emperor-class aircraft carriers and 4 mythic-class aircraft carriers of the 4 main fleets of the Imperial Chinese Navy are not here, but the 7 provincial-level super dreadnought battleships, 12 Huanghe-class super battleships, 6 Emperor-class super dreadnought battleships, 6 Admiral-class super dreadnought battleships, 12 gem-class battlecruisers, 4 Chitu-class battlecruisers, 8 Feng-class dreadnought battleships and 4 Dragon-class dreadnought battleships of the 4 main fleets are all here.

After a round of air strikes by 1,440 carrier-based aircraft groups of the First Fleet and the Second Fleet of the Imperial Chinese Navy, Sun Xitao, the commander-in-chief of this naval battle, learned of the approximate results and the loss data of carrier-based aircraft, and decided to stop continuing to launch air strikes against the European Combined Fleet of the League of Nations.

First of all, the anti-aircraft firepower of the warships of the navies of the European Combined Fleet of the League of Nations was indeed not weak as Sun Xitao expected, and 105 lightning fighters, 98 Thunderbolt dive bombers, and 103 Thunder torpedo bombers were directly destroyed in the attack, and then on the way back and when landing on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier, dozens more carrier-based aircraft were lost.

Sun Xitao is not distressed by the loss of carrier-based aircraft, but the loss of those carrier-based aircraft pilots makes Sun Xitao feel distressed enough, and it is not a simple matter to train a qualified carrier-based aircraft pilot, it will take at least several years, and the cost is very high.

This decisive battle at sea with the European Combined Fleet of the League of Nations is very important, if necessary, it is that all the carrier-based aircraft pilots of several main fleets have been sacrificed, and Sun Xitao will not hesitate at all, but according to the current losses of the European Combined Fleet of the League of Nations, Sun Xitao is afraid that the navies of the European Combined Fleet of the League of Nations will not be able to bear such huge losses and will flee directly, then this decisive battle at sea will not be perfect, Sun Xitao is full of energy, Prepare to inflict heavy damage and even total annihilation of this coalition of Nations European fleet!

Therefore, after the air raids of the 1,440 carrier-based aircraft groups of the First Fleet and the Second Fleet ended, Sun Xitao did not continue to send carrier-based aircraft groups to continue to carry out air raids on the European Combined Fleet of the League of Nations, but ordered the 21 aircraft carriers of the First Fleet, the Second Fleet, the Third Fleet, and the Fourth Fleet to stay in place, and the other warships of the four fleets to advance in the direction of the European Combined Fleet of the League of Nations, preparing a huge fleet dominated by 31 super dreadnought battleships, 16 battle cruisers, and 12 dreadnought battleships. The main purpose of a head-to-head confrontation with the European Combined Fleet of the League of Nations is to entangle the United European Fleet of the League of Nations.

The 21 aircraft carriers of the four fleets are protected by the Second Task Force and the Third Task Force Carrier, and as long as the European Combined Fleet of the League of Nations is entangled, the carrier-based aircraft of the aircraft carriers can continue to launch air strikes, and if necessary, the Second Task Force and the Third Task Force will attack again.

There are not many airborne airborne missiles left in the carrier-based aircraft of the two task force squadrons, but the medium-range ship-to-ship missiles on the dozens of warships of the two task force aircraft carrier squadrons have only consumed a little more than one-third, and if necessary, they can also give more surprises to the European Combined Fleet of the League of Nations.

Inside the bridge of the British Navy's Queen Elizabeth-class superbattleship HMS Elizabeth, the commander-in-chief of the United European Fleet of the League of Nations, British Admiral John Brown, was in charge of the British Navy. Seeing that there was still a distance of more than 30,000 meters from the main fleet of the Imperial Chinese Navy, Jericho immediately ordered: "Order the German Navy and the Russian Navy to form a right column and attack the main fleet of the Imperial Chinese Navy from the right!" Order the Austro-Hungarian Navy, the Italian Navy, the Ottoman Turkish Navy, and the Spanish Navy to form a left column and attack the main fleet of the Royal Navy of the Chinese Empire from the left! We, the Royal Navy of the British Empire, and the French Navy formed a middle column, directly facing the main fleet of the Royal Navy of the Chinese Empire! The main fleet of the Imperial Chinese Navy has less than 60 capital warships here, and our European Combined Fleet of the League of Nations has every chance to turn defeat into victory! ”

Next to the captain of the Queen Elizabeth Mark? Miligan poured cold water on it again: "Commander, the aircraft carriers of the Royal Navy of the Chinese Empire did not show up, if the Royal Navy of the Chinese Empire dispatched a large number of carrier-based aircraft to take the opportunity to launch an air attack when the battleships of the enemy and us faced off, then it would be a problem for our European Combined Fleet of the League of Nations." ”

John? Jericho waved his hand and said: "At this time, it is already ready to be launched, so that the navies of various countries are ready to guard against the air attack of the carrier-based aircraft of the Royal Navy of the Chinese Empire at any time, as long as we can defeat these battleships and battlecruisers of the Royal Navy of the Chinese Empire on the opposite side as soon as possible, the victory will belong to our European Combined Fleet of the League of Nations!" ”

Mark? Milligan smiled bitterly and did not continue to speak, since the entire United European Fleet of the League of Nations has arrived here, it is useless to say anything, you can only fight hard, hoping that the final winner will belong to the United European Fleet of the League of Nations.

In the bridge of the Yellow River-class super battleship of the Yellow River of the First Fleet of the Royal Navy of the Chinese Empire, Sun Xitao, Vice Minister of National Defense, who had been transferred here, saw that the European Combined Fleet of the League of Nations on the opposite side was divided into three routes: left, center, and right, and immediately said to Jiang Chen, commander of the First Fleet: "Order the Third Fleet to meet the left road, order the Fourth Fleet to meet the right road, and the First Fleet and the Second Fleet to meet the middle road, and inform the aircraft carriers of the four fleets that the attack aircraft group can now start to take off." ”

Jiang Chen exhaled and said, "Although we are already sure of victory, the upcoming battleship duel still makes people feel a little nervous!" Lao Sun, you shouldn't be on the front line in person, you should stay on the aircraft carrier Emperor Wu of Han, if you have an accident, it will have a very big impact on our naval battle! ”

Sun Xitao said with a smile: "It does make people a little nervous, but we haven't seen any scene for so many years, this decisive battle at sea with the European Combined Fleet of the League of Nations is very important, if I don't go to the front line, I don't feel steady!" Even if I am glorious, all 4 of you fleet commanders have the ability and qualifications to continue to command this naval battle, and there will be no chaos! ”

The British Navy and the French Navy combined 58 super dreadnought battleships, battlecruisers, and dreadnought battleships, and fired the first round of main gun salvos at the main warships of the First and Second Fleets of the Imperial Chinese Navy at a distance of about 20,000 meters.

The main guns of the main battleships of the British Navy and the French Navy had not yet fallen, and the 12 Yellow River-class super battleships, 8 Jewel-class battlecruisers, and 8 Phoenix-class dreadnought battleships of the First and Second Fleets of the Royal Chinese Navy also launched the first round of main gun salvos at the main battleships of the British Navy and the French Navy, and the confrontation between the battleships of the two fleets officially began.

"Boom-" sound, the Yellow River-class super battleship Zhujiang was in the enemy's first round of main gun salvo, very unlucky to be hit by a 381 mm shell, a three-row 45 times the caliber 406 mm main gun suddenly dumb fire, but also ignited a fire, fortunately the fire was controlled, did not cause greater losses, but the main gun fire of the Pearl River super dreadnought battleship, just after the start of the battle only three-quarters left.

In addition, in the first round of main gun salvo, the Feng-class dreadnought battleship Fenglin was also hit by a 343-mm shell, but the injury was not serious and did not affect the combat effectiveness.

The British Navy and the French Navy were not easy, and it could even be said that they were even more unlucky, in the first round of the main artillery bombardment between the two sides, the British Navy's Neptune-rated dreadnought battleship Fantian was pierced by a 406 mm waterline armor, and after the explosion in the body of the Fantian, a number of boilers were detonated, and then it didn't take long for the Fantian dreadnought battleship to disappear into the sea.

The French Navy's Dunkirk-class battlecruiser Strasbourg was hit by 1 shell in the first round of main artillery bombardment between the two sides, although it did not sink directly, but it ignited a fire, and finally the fire was not controlled, detonating the ammunition compartment of the Strasbourg battlecruiser, and the Strasbourg battlecruiser quickly sank into the sea in a series of explosions.

After 10 rounds of bombardment, the 38 main warships of the German Navy and the Russian Navy formed a right column, and 7 provincial super dreadnought battleships, 4 jewel-class battlecruisers and 4 dragon-class dreadnought battleships of the Third Fleet of the Royal Chinese Navy also launched a main gun bombardment.

Immediately afterwards, the 31 main warships of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, the Italian Navy, the Ottoman Turkish Navy, and the Spanish Navy formed the left column, and the 6 Emperor-class super dreadnought battleships, 6 Admiral-class super dreadnought battleships and 4 Chitu-class battlecruisers of the Fourth Fleet of the Imperial Chinese Navy also began a duel between the main guns.

All 290 submarines of the navies of the European Combined Fleet of the League of Nations took advantage of the opportunity of the main warships of the two sides to bombard each other's main guns and launched an attack on the main warships of the Royal Navy of the Chinese Empire on three lines from under the sea.

Although the four main fleets of the Royal Navy of the Chinese Empire add up to only 64 submarines, these submarines are much stronger than the German submarines with the best performance in the European Combined Fleet of the League of Nations, so a tragic hunting show was staged on the sea, as many as 290 submarines of European countries could not break through the defense line of 64 submarines of the Chinese Empire, and attacked the main warships of the Royal Navy of the Chinese Empire, but suffered heavy losses, and the submarines were torpedoed by the Chinese Empire. Sinking into the pitch black sea.

In addition to the main battleships, the warships of other types of the European Combined Fleet of the League of Nations also took advantage of the confrontation between the main warships of the two sides to launch a decisive charge against the battle line of the Imperial Chinese Navy, in the hope of helping their own main warships and disrupting the battle line formed by the main warships of the Royal Navy of the Chinese Empire on the left, center and right.

In addition to the main warships, the four main fleets of the Imperial Chinese Navy are equipped with the same types of warships on the sea, all of which have 12 large fast armored cruisers, 12 medium armored cruisers, 24 fast protection cruisers, 24 destroyers and 36 torpedo boats, but these warships are much smaller in number than the warships of the same type in the European Combined Fleet of the entire League of Nations.

It may not be easy to let these warships intercept the thousands of warships of the League of Nations European Combined Fleet that have launched a decisive charge, but at this time, there is a black pressure in the sky, and the carrier-based aircraft of the Royal Navy of the Chinese Empire can help intercept it.

These carrier-based planes all took off from 21 aircraft carriers of the four main fleets of the Imperial Chinese Navy, and in order to maintain continuous air strikes, the carrier-based planes of the 21 aircraft carriers did not all sorts out at once, but this wave of carrier-based aircraft also exceeded 1,000.

When thousands of carrier-based aircraft of the Imperial Chinese Navy arrived in the area of engagement, according to the order of the commander-in-chief Sun Xitao, some of them intercepted the enemy warships that launched a decisive charge, and some directly attacked the enemy's main warships.

The Belgian Navy's large fast armored cruiser Antwerp did not launch a decisive charge against the main warships of the Imperial Chinese Navy, and the Antwerp was the flagship of the Belgian Navy at this time, and the Belgian Navy fleet commander Ngolo? Rear Admiral Kante is on top of the Antwerp at this time, and he can't let the flagship also launch a decisive charge!

To be on the safe side, Ngolo? Kanter ordered the Antwerp to hide behind the capital warships of the British Navy and the French Navy, at least more than 2,000 meters away from the battle line formed by the capital warships of the two countries.

It stands to reason that this distance should be very safe, but unfortunately sometimes people are unlucky, drinking cold water and stuffing their teeth, 1 missed 381 mm shell, all at once fell on the top of the Antwerp, directly the Antwerp with a full load displacement of only 8400 tons was blown in two, and quickly disappeared into the sea.

And the commander of the Belgian naval fleet, Ngolo? Rear Admiral Kanter eventually sank to the bottom of the sea with the Antwerp, becoming the first naval commander of the League of Nations Combined European Fleet to die at the national level. (To be continued.) )