U.S. Navy Asian Squadron Commander George? Dewey, along with Henry Tell, the captain of the Indiana, rode in a lifeboat rowed by more than 20 U.S. Navy soldiers and boarded the U.S. Navy's all-steel battleship Illinois. &. {23} {wx}.2 After the two people got on the warship, they were immediately taken into the bridge by the captain of the Illinois, Duncan, the expression on the captain's face was gloomy, and his voice was a little helpless. Dewey said: "Commander, we have no way to win this naval battle!" There are only 4 warships left in the Asian detachment of our US Navy, and the situation in the Italian Navy is also very bad! On the contrary, our opponents have not lost much, and now they have completely the advantage, and if we continue to fight, it may be ...... It could have been worse. Commander, can we consider retreating! ”

Henrytel, who had lost his own warship, also said in frustration: "Commander, it's really time to retreat, the enemy is too strong, and the losses of our American fleet are too heavy!" And I think the Italians are also about to lose their hold, they have already lost 6 all-steel battleships. ”

George? Dewey made up his mind on the lifeboat that he had to retreat immediately, and hearing the words of the two captains strengthened his idea of retreating. Now that the Indiana has sunk again, if you don't retreat, maybe the remaining 4 warships in your fleet may not be able to be saved, so George? Dewey nodded and said in a hoarse voice: "Our U.S. Navy has done its best in this naval battle, and sent a flag to the commander of the Italian fleet, Roberte, telling him that our U.S. Navy is ready to retreat!" It's a decision that can't be changed, I'm going to take the rest of the American lads home! Other than that. Ask them if the Italian fleet was retreating with us? ”

Hearing that the commander agreed to retreat made Duncan, the captain of the USS Illinois, breathe a sigh of relief, such a tragic naval battle had already made the captain of the US Navy. I was scared and wanted to get out of the hellish part of Manila Bay.

And Duncan's idea is basically the idea of all the officers and men of the US Navy who are left with 4 US ** ships, the US Navy has no intention of fighting, and just wants to escape quickly and return to the United States directly, and to hell with the Philippines!

So Duncan said with relief: "Commander, I'll arrange someone immediately." Sending a flag to the commander of the Italian fleet, Roberte, believing that the Italians should agree to retreat together. ”

In the bridge above the flagship of the Second Expeditionary Fleet of the Italian Navy, the Queen Margaret. Commander Roberte had a very bad face, the naval battle had just been going on for more than 2 hours, and his own Italian fleet had already lost 6 all-steel battleships and 2 large fast armored cruisers, and the remaining 6 all-steel battleships and 4 large fast armored cruisers. Each is wounded, too. Among them, several all-steel battleships Angelo, Sirio and Khima were seriously wounded, and according to the current situation of naval warfare, if the battle continued, these three all-steel battleships were also more than lucky.

His ally, the Asian detachment of the US Navy, was even more miserable, even the flagship was sunk, I don't know that the commander of the US fleet, George? Dewey, how's it going? Did you escape from the sunken flagship?

On the other hand, the enemy's fleet of Lin Daxin. Although many warships were sunk, the damage was much smaller than that of the combined U.S.-Italian fleet. Now on the battlefield in the Gulf of Manila, Lin Daxin's fleet has achieved obvious advantages, and there are elusive submarines to distract the energy of the Italian fleet, and now the four Elba-class fast protection cruisers are still dropping depth charges into the sea around several of Italy's main warships!

What's even worse is that the ironclad battleship formation under Lin Daxin's command has repelled the warships intercepted by its own side, successfully cut crosswise, and can continue to penetrate the back of the Italian fleet at any time, forming a two-sided attack on the Italian fleet.

In this way, although Roberte is reluctant to admit it in his heart, the fact is that the US-Italian combined fleet has been defeated in this naval battle, and there is no chance to turn the record around, and if the battle continues, the result of waiting for the US-Italian combined fleet will only be the total annihilation.

Reason told Roberte that he must retreat at this time, but Roberte came to wash away his shame, and he did not want to flee by himself, not only did he not wash away his shame, but also added an even greater shame to himself.

At this time, Ram, the captain of the Queen Margaret, walked quickly to Roberte's side and said: "Commander, the American Illinois sent a flag, the commander of the American fleet, George? Dewey had moved to the USS Illinois. ”

Robail nodded and said, "I was still worried about that George just now?" Dewey was worried, and now that he had moved to the Illinois, I was relieved! ”

Ram paused for a moment and then said, "That George? Mr. Dewey sent a flag saying that their American fleet was ready to retreat! I hope that our Italian fleet will retreat with them and get out of here. Commander, the current situation in the naval battle is already very unfavorable for us, plus the Americans have no intention of fighting and are ready to retreat, shouldn't our Italian fleet also retreat? ”

Roberte was silent for a moment, and then said helplessly: "Ram, what do you have to say?" ”

As soon as Ram heard this, he immediately knew that the commander Roberte already had the idea of retreating in his heart, and Ram himself had long felt tormented every moment in such a tragic naval battle, and he had long wanted to leave this hellish sea, so he immediately said: "Your Excellency, I also think that our fleet must retreat, and now the situation is very unfavorable to us, if we continue to fight like this, not only will we not be able to achieve victory, but the essence of our entire Italian Navy will be consumed here!" ”

Roberte was still a little unwilling to say: "We Italy almost bankrupted to build such a powerful fleet, just to find revenge on the navy under Lin Daxin, we have suffered such a big loss now, can we just flee in disgrace?" ”

Ram immediately persuaded: "Commander, just because these warships were built with the money that we in Italy went bankrupt, it is all the more important to let them return to Italy, instead of sinking them all here!" Commander. Think again! ”

Roberte let out a long sigh and said, "Forget it! Never mind! Originally, this expedition to the Philippines was to seek revenge on Lin Daxin, a military strongman in the Far East, but he didn't expect his fleet strength to develop so rapidly in recent years. I can't just wash away my shame and consume the essence of the entire Italian Navy here! Ram, tell the ships, prepare to retreat, and at the same time contact the Americans, and our 2 fleets leave this damn place together! ”

Ram was relieved to hear that Roberte had finally relented and agreed to retreat. However, he glanced outside the bridge and asked, "Admiral, what about the officers and men on those lifeboats at sea?" ”

Roberte paused for a moment and said, "The enemy won't give us time to pick up the people in the lifeboat onto the warship." Wait until after the war to find a way to redeem them from that greedy Lin Daxin! Now the most important thing is to get the rest of our Italian warships out of here! ”

Ram nodded and said, "General, how do we arrange our specific retreat plan?" ”

Now that he had decided to flee, Roberte said decisively: "Order all warships to turn around to the left, and then each ship will open up at full speed to distance itself from the enemy's fleet." We retreated south in the direction of Tarakan Island. It was already blocked by the formation of ironclad battleships cross-cut by the enemy. Now we can only retreat north, then bypass Luzon, find a way to replenish food and fresh water, and then we will withdraw to Europe and return to Italy! ”

On the flagship of the First Fleet of the Northeast Navy, Sun Xitao said to Lin Daxin: "Marshal, although we have sunk five warships now, the situation on the entire battlefield has been completely controlled by our Northeast Navy. I don't think the United States and Italy will hold out for long, and the final victory is not far off. ”

Lin Daxin nodded and said, "The naval battle has been fought until now. The battle is basically decided, and the next thing is to see how long the Italian and American fleets can hold out and when to escape? ”

Not long after Lin Daxin's words fell, the remnants of the Second Expeditionary Fleet of the Italian Navy and the remnants of the Asian Fleet of the US Navy began to turn around to the left.

As soon as Lin Daxin saw that his voice fell, the two fleets of Italy and the United States couldn't hold on, and it seemed that they were going to escape, but it was not so easy to escape.

Lin Daxin sneered and then shouted loudly: "Order the warships of the First Fleet and the Third Fleet to turn around to the left and pursue the remnants of the US-Italy Combined Fleet, and order the Second Fleet to continue to maintain a cross-cut formation to pursue the US-Italy Combined Fleet, and not let the US-Italy Combined Fleet escape from the direction of the Second Fleet!" In addition, let the Xuande and Zaide stay, pick up the officers and men on our lifeboats to the warship, and pick up the American and Italian lifeboats on the sea and then arrest them all, these prisoners of war are an important weight in my post-war negotiations with the United States and Italy! ”

Because the Xuande and Zaide had a lot of seawater in the ship's body, their speed had dropped a little, which was not conducive to the pursuit of the US-Italian combined fleet, so Lin Daxin asked them to rescue the officers and men of the Northeast Navy on the sea and accept naval prisoners of war from the United States and Italy.

Subsequently, the three fleets of the Northeast Navy began to pursue the remnants of the US-Italian combined fleet from two directions, while the remnants of the Italian and American warships began to flee desperately.

Shortly after the pursuit began, on the way to escape from the Italian Navy and the US Navy, suddenly on the sea surface 1,500 meters away from them, 12 white waves quickly shot at the remnants of the fleets of the two countries.

It turned out that the submarines Bayonet and Sharp Knife under the surface of the sea, in order to avoid the depth charges dropped by the four fast protection cruisers of the Italian Navy, stayed away from the battle line of the United States and Italy Combined Fleet, and continued to look for opportunities to carry out torpedo attacks on the bottom of the sea. It was also the unfortunate luck of the remaining warships of the US-Italian combined fleet, and the escape route was exactly the direction in which the two submarines were hiding.

It was impossible not to send a gift to the door, so Zhang Bin, the captain of the Bayonet, and Li Dong, the captain of the Jiandao, discussed on the radio, and decided to launch a round of torpedo attacks on the fleeing US-Italian combined fleet, so the two submarines sneaked to a suitable position and launched a torpedo attack at a distance of 1,500 meters from the remaining warships of the US-Italian joint fleet, each submarine fired six 533-mm steam gas torpedoes, and then the two submarines withdrew sneakily without checking the results of the battle, although the enemy ships may not have time to come over and drop depth charges, but it is also possible to shell this area with naval guns, and it is better to take thirty-six counts as the upper count.

Of the 12 fired at the fleeing US-Italian combined fleet, 3 of them were hit by rapid-fire guns on the US ** ship and the Italian warship, 4 were dodged, and only 5 torpedoes hit the warship.

One of the torpedoes hit the all-steel battleship Khima, which was already seriously damaged, and the waterline armor below the surface of the Khima exploded a large hole of about 4 meters, and seawater poured into the hull of Khima.

The Khima was attacked by a submarine at the beginning of the war, and its speed dropped to 15 knots, and after the damage management crew of the Khima closed part of the cabin that had entered the water, the Khima had tilted 10 degrees, and in order to prevent it from rolling, it had to inject seawater into the other side, and after the Khima kept its balance, the speed had dropped to less than 11 knots.

One torpedo hit the Italian Navy's all-steel battleship Giangcaro, directly opening a large hole of nearly 5 meters in the hull under the surface of the Jaccarlo, and after the Jaccaro closed the inlet compartment and injected seawater into the other side, the speed of the Jaccaro dropped to 14 knots.

There were not many American ** ships left, and 4 remained, but unfortunately 3 torpedoes were hit.

The only remaining fast protection cruiser of the US Navy, the USS Baltimore, was hit by a torpedo that penetrated the 80 mm waterline armor, and the torpedo exploded inside the Baltimore, detonating a nearby ammunition compartment, causing dozens of 203 mm shells to detonate, the Baltimore did not last long, and sank into the sea, with less than 100 of the 450 US Navy officers and sailors on it, and the rest sank to the bottom of the sea with the warship.

The USS Baltimore Rapid Protection Cruiser became the ninth warship to be sunk by the Asian Division.

The remaining 2 torpedoes both hit the U.S. Navy's All-Steel Battleship Scona, blowing up 2 large openings in the underwater armor of the Sconstar, although it did not directly sink the Sconne, but after the Sconstar closed the watered cabin and poured water into the other side to maintain balance, the Sconstar carried at least 3,000 tons of seawater, and the speed dropped to only 8 knots. (To be continued......)