It was almost impossible to protect a transport ship that had little defense against the enemy's heavy battleships. After more than an hour of fierce fighting last night, four transport ships of the HZ-11 flotilla were sunk, two freighters had to be abandoned due to damage, and eight other ships were damaged by different journeys.

Thinking back to the scene a few hours ago, Rear Admiral Hawkins still has a lingering fear that if it weren't for the help of the American battleships USS Pennsylvania and USS California, the entire fleet would not know what had become of now. The 410-millimeter shells of German warships were like the claws of the devil, and only a high-explosive shell was needed to hit them directly, and the steamers made of steel plates would be torn apart like papier-mâché toys and then reduced to pieces.

Fortunately, the battleships "Revenge" and "Royal Oak" and two American battleships of the escort fleet fought hard and finally worked together to repel the attack of the German ships.

Now that the main forces of the home fleet have departed, it only takes a day and a half more for the whole fleet to join it, and by that time the fleet will be safe. Hawkins ordered the entire fleet to increase its speed to 12 knots, which was the maximum speed that these freighters could maintain, although these freighters using piston steam engines could run at high speeds of 16 knots or even 20 knots, but civilian ships were not warships after all, and they simply could not sail at maximum speed for a long time.

Two of the four Walrus water reconnaissance planes sent out from the battleship were shot down, which made Hawkins a little nervous, and judging by the reports before the pilots were shot down, the enemy should have aircraft carriers operating nearby. But strangely, the air attack he feared never happened.

Two German water reconnaissance aircraft circled around the entire flotilla several times before flying away. They were always out of range of the frigate's anti-aircraft guns, which made the British warships in the escort feel helpless. The whole atmosphere suddenly became tense, and it was obvious that this was sent from the enemy's battleship or cruiser, and the enemy would soon appear.

Hawkins felt he was in big trouble.

The "Revenge" class battleships, built during the First World War, were only modernized on a large scale at the end of the twenties, and the power system was not replaced, and they were able to run at a maximum speed of 23 knots. And the Germans' newest "super-battleship" must have a top speed of more than 30 knots, and he seemed powerless even if he wanted to catch up with his opponents.

The Germans had many more options than he could attack, retreat or defend, and his main task was to protect these merchant ships, which were powerless to defend against warships.

Time passed little by little in tension and torment, and never before had it been so long, and the uneasy feelings spread rapidly in the hearts of the crew of the transport fleet. Now, they had to pin their hopes on the four battleships that were on escort duty, and in the end the Germans chose to retreat in the artillery battle last night.

After death and huge losses in the last world war. Many of the British themselves had a strong sense of war weariness, and in fact in the last war, if the Americans had not finally helped the British, the British Empire might have ended up as a defeated country as the French.

Many did not understand the choice of the supreme authorities to get involved in the war, and when the British Empire was drawn into the war by the French in order to fulfil its obligations, about a third of the parliamentarians voted against the war resolution. It is only out of the ambition of wanting to control Europe again and pull Germany and Austria off the throne of Europe. The highest authorities still chose the mode of war.

Unfortunately, the course of the war was not what most people expected. France, which had held out for three years in the last major war, collapsed on all fronts in ten days, and in just one month, France surrendered. The Russians on the other side of Europe could not count on it at all, their armies were blocked in Ukraine, the lower Don River and the Caucasus, leaving only the British alone to resist the combined German and Austrian attacks.

Now that Britain's supplies are already very tight, Hawkins is worried about the situation of the people at home. Since the fall of Gibraltar. Voices against the war had already begun to emerge at home, and they were particularly piercing as the whole people struggled to resist a possible German invasion.

Just then, the ship's communications officer ran in. "Discover the German fleet, about 35 km to the northeast!" Now the visibility on the sea surface is not very good. It was impossible for the ship's radar and lookouts to detect targets that far away, and apparently these reports came from the same water reconnaissance planes that had been sent out earlier.

No one was surprised by this, and it would be puzzling if the Germans were to retreat.

Hawkins said in a calm tone as much as possible: "I think the Germans should be afraid of our strength, after all, we now have four battleships, but the Germans will never let us go willingly." ”

His guess was correct, but Admiral Lukins did not move because the reconnaissance plane reported that there might be American warships in the British convoy, which made him feel a little jealous, so he had to report to the Admiralty first and ask for instructions from home.

This accident did cause great trouble to the German Admiralty, and after an emergency cabinet meeting, the German side decided not to attack the American warship on its own initiative as much as possible, but in the event of an attack by the American ship, all restrictions were lifted and it could be sunk.

As for whether the Americans will use the attack on warships to make excuses, then in the face of such provocations, the Second Reich can also show weakness.

As time went on, the wind on the surface of the sea intensified, and the clouds in the sky became much lighter, but the waves increased significantly, and the wave height was almost 2 meters or more. At around 2:10 p.m., four German warships finally appeared on the surface of the sea about 30 kilometers away.

Rear Admiral Hawkins ordered the convoy to turn southeast, while he himself led the escort's capital ships forward to meet the enemy, blocking the enemy's fleet and convoy.

"How far are we from the main fleet of domestic reinforcements?"

"About 700 nautical miles, sir!"

"Well, we need support from London, and I suspect that enemy reinforcements are coming." Hawkins said, "The enemy may have aircraft carriers!" ”

At the same time as the telegram was fired, a new battle began again, and at a distance of 28 kilometers between the two sides, the German ships opened fire first, and the British and American battleships escorting the escort launched a counterattack.

The two Pennsylvania-class battleships of the U.S. Navy were built before World War I, armed with four triple 14-inch guns, with acceptable firepower but slightly weaker armor. The biggest weakness is that it has a speed of only 21 knots, which simply cannot keep up with the current speed of the main fleet.

So, the U.S. Navy sent them out to carry out important escort missions.

Under normal circumstances, American warships would only escort ships to Iceland and would not set foot in the war circle in Europe, but this time, because this batch of supplies is too important, it is related to whether Britain can continue to resist. Therefore, the U.S. Navy sent a convoy of six warships to carry out the entire escort operation.

This, of course, perhaps, was Roosevelt looking for an excuse for war.

Relatively speaking, the 410mm SKC/38 main guns equipped on the German Navy's "Deutschland" class battleships far surpassed the American and British battleships in terms of power and rate of fire, but the United States and Britain had four battleships and had an advantage in numbers. (To be continued......)