Speed 6 knots!

This was the average speed of the Second Pacific Fleet after the meeting of the Third Pacific Fleet, and after the departure of this huge fleet from French Guiana, it sailed south at a speed of six knots, and it took them half a month to reach the 40th parallel of the south latitude and continue to sail south. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

During these fifteen days, they were completely invisible to the land, during which they even carried out a replenishment of coal at sea. Thankfully, apart from a few occasional gusty winds, the weather was calm, with occasional light rain, but on tropical days, the sea returned to its usual calm.

The night is changeable, sometimes quiet and bright, sometimes dark and hazy, and when the stars and moon shine, it is very beautiful.

The Second Pacific Fleet was heading south, and many in the fleet were so depressed that some even jumped overboard. And in addition to the psychological stress caused by long voyages, what is more important is that the long voyages have brought the warship to the brink, and every day it is either on one ship or in another, either the machine, the boiler, or the steering wheel fails. In such a situation, the ship's accident would leave the battle, or use only one machine to move slowly, and the destroyer towed by the transport ship would often break free from the towline, and these minor accidents would of course affect the fleet's progress, so that the average speed of the fleet could maintain one hundred and forty nautical miles per day and night, which was already the limit.

In the past, the fleet has always coaled in ports, but now, because Brazil has refused the fleet's request to enter the port, the 2nd Pacific Fleet has to refuel on the high seas, loading coal every four or five days, after the flagship gives a signal in the morning. The ships stopped the machines. Because the sea is deep. So they did not dare to drop anchor, and then the warships laid down their larger rowing boats and steamboats, and the coal ships also lowered their barges, which were specially made for the purpose of loading coal, and each warship sent a hundred men to a coal ship, and they put the coal in their pockets in the hold of the coal ship, and then loaded the coal bags onto the motorboats.

When replenishing coal on the high seas, the Dnieper, Lyon, and Kuban had enough coal to store because of the large holds. He took on the task of guarding the patrol and signaling the flagship from the horizon at all times.

Replenishing coal on the high seas is like loading coal in a harbor, everyone including the officers has to take turns to work, and the method of loading coal is also very primitive, some people put coal in their pockets in the hold of the coal ship, and some people carry the coal bags to the boat, and then transport them to their respective warships, and then use a crane to lift the coal bags to the ship, and the people pour them into the cabin. Every hour, each warship reports the coal loading to the flagship. And the invisible competition is also unfolding at the same time, and in the process, the officers covered in coal dust are shouting loudly.

"Boys, work hard, we can't fall behind others......"

In the midst of this shouting, the sailors in broken shoes were single-mindedly working, and when they left their homeland, they were all well-dressed sailors, but now they were completely ragged stevedores, the shouts of the sailors and the clatter of cranes, breaking through the dark clouds that hung over the ships, and the motorboats towing dinghys and barges constantly honked their whistles, and hurried from the coal ships to the battleships and back.

This work was carried out from sunrise to sunset, and only when it was time to eat would it be rested for a while, until the "Suvorov" gave the signal that the loading was over, and the fleet hoisted the motorboats and rowboats, and the coal ships also pulled the barges up, and then the ships formed a busy line, and the fleet began to sail again.

Again, when the fleet resumed sailing again, on the calm sea more than a dozen nautical miles away, on the control tower of a semi-submersible submarine, Ding Futao observed the fleet with a telescope, and for the past half a month, they had been tracking the fleet while maintaining radio silence.

When he noticed that the Second Pacific Fleet was resuming sailing, he immediately ordered the submarine to leave the observation area in order to expose himself, and at the same time he said to Ma Guogong beside him.

"Perhaps, the navies of the whole world will find it strange how a large fleet can make such a long voyage without a fixed coal supply station?"

The reason for this doubt is entirely because of the tracking of the past, he witnessed how the Russian sailors worked hard to "dump coal" on the ****** under the scorching sun.

"Actually, the reason is very simple, Rogerst Winsky and his staff did not invent anything new, they just used the physical strength and muscles of trained soldiers!"

In order to be able to carry out ocean-going voyages, the Northeast Navy, which also has no fixed coal supply stations and overseas military bases, has made another choice -- replacing coal with heavy oil.

"If I were the commander, I would order the fleet to enter the Pacific Ocean and attack them after they have finished replenishing coal!"

Ding Futao said casually that his experience in the fleet made him very aware that replenishing coal was a physical task, and it was even more difficult on the sea, and if they attacked them when they were exhausted after replenishing coal, then they would not have enough energy to fight a naval battle.

"It's a pity, this can only be thought about, after all, ......"

After a slight pause, Ma Guozheng said with a smile.

"The Argentines can't give us a port for us to use, it's the Chileans ......"

That's sneaky use too! It would be a great uproar to let those people know that there was a huge fleet moored in their bay.

Suddenly, his words stopped, he felt a slight coolness on his face, reached out and touched it, and then looked towards the night sky, suddenly, Ma Guo's expression looked a little surprised.

"Snow? How can there be snow? ”

Snow!

The sudden news suddenly spread on the "Orilo", and the sailors who were still tired heard the word. At first, I couldn't believe it. And then suddenly. Everyone rushed to the deck.

"It's snowing!"

Simonov could hardly believe his ears when he heard the sudden news, and like everyone else, he was almost dragged his legs to the deck, and when the cold snowflakes fell on his face, he immediately swept away his exhaustion.

"Snow!"

"Look, it's snow!"

"It's really snow!"

"What a beautiful snow ......"

Although the snowflake was not large, even though it was only a light snow, these sailors still endured the tropical sun during the day. But I was stunned by this sudden snow, how did this snow fall?

But at this time, no one will go to find the reason, on the contrary, they even laughed on the deck, as if to cheer for this good weather, of course, for them this is exactly the good weather they dreamed of, the Russians are more suitable for the cold than the heat.

Almost every sailor let out a heartfelt laugh. They laughed, chasing the snowflakes. This kind of snow is not worth mentioning in Russia, but here, it is like a treasure for every sailor, and even some sailors will taste the snowflake with their tongues to discern how it differs from Russian snow?

Just when the captains were also in a relaxed mood because of the snow, the lookout suddenly found a behemoth - an iceberg!

"Iceberg!"

Suddenly, at this moment, a scream came from the top of the mast, and everyone was stunned when they looked in the direction of their fingers—it was a huge iceberg, floating on the sea like a huge island, and the snow was blowing from the iceberg, and it was the snow blown by the sea breeze, not from the sky.

Because of the distance, the fleet did not adjust its course, and when it sailed over the iceberg, when the snowflakes disappeared, every sailor's face showed a look of disappointment, how could this be? Why not real snow?

The disappointment of the sailors spread in the fleet, and the sudden loss made each of them feel complicated, and similarly, the mood of the sailors also directly reached the ears of Roger Stevensky, not to mention ordinary sailors, even his mood was also extremely lost, originally he thought that the "good weather" was coming, and the sailors could recuperate, but he never thought that it was just empty joy, how about it?

In the face of the disappointed sailors, Rogerstvinsky knew very well that emotions were brewing in the fleet, and he had to come up with a solution, and he had to give the sailors a break in advance, so that they could continue on future voyages.

Sometimes, people have to make some choices, and after returning to the cabin again, Rogerstinski once again lies in front of the chart, his eyes fixed on the chart, looking for a suitable place to rest, and although the Brazilians refused their request to enter the port, it does not mean that the Argentines will refuse as well.

Of course, of course they will refuse, but he only needs a few days, only a few days to recuperate, so that the soldiers can recuperate, but where is the most suitable place?

"Will Britain agree to the Chinese attacking the Falkland Islands?"

This thought was only fleeting, because according to the information he had obtained, the Chinese fleet was still on guard for the Pacific Fleet in the Viceroyalty of Nikolai, and even if they sailed out of the port now, they might not be able to come here, and even if they came here, what could they do?

It's just an expedition like himself, and in that case, maybe he still has a chance to win this naval battle. Of course, it was the best policy for Roger Stevensky to avoid naval battles with the Chinese in every possible way, and because of this, after looking at the charts, he finally chose a suitable anchorage.

"What? The Russians entered the port of Deseaddo? ”

To be precise, they were heading towards the port of Deseado, and when he received this information, Li Weizhong's eyes suddenly widened, he never thought that the Russians would actually do this, why did they sail to that small port?

"They're here to recuperate!"

Han Che said in an extremely calm tone.

"The temperature there is now no more than 5 degrees Celsius, which can be said to be the most pleasant weather,"

If there is anything Han Che learned during the two round-the-world voyages, it is that he memorized almost every port on the route, and ten years of preparation for war against Russia made him remember that in South America, there are those ports and bays where the Grand Fleet can be berthed.

"Puerto de Seado is a small port, and if I'm not mistaken, it's even ......"

"But there is the Deceado River!"

Han Che said as he spread out a nautical chart, and after finding the location of Port Deceaddo on the chart, he pointed to the nautical chart and said.

"You see, the Deseado River forms a bay at the mouth of the sea, which is ten nautical miles deep, more than one nautical mile wide at its widest, and has an average depth of about 10 meters, and there is no problem at all in mooring the Grand Fleet here, and more importantly, the Argentines did not have batteries here......"

This is the most important thing, the Russian fleet enters the bay with almost no "resistance", which means that they can easily enter the bay and trim it up in the bay.

"Perhaps the Argentines would be angry at their intrusion, but it is an immutable fact that they have incurred, Your Excellency, when they are not in a position to expel them from the Gulf, what will the Argentines do? They had only one choice, which was to lodge a diplomatic protest and then argue with the Russian Foreign Ministry, just like Spain at the beginning, the diplomat's quarrel did not take ten days and half a month, and there was no result at all, and at that time, the Russian fleet was almost completely rested, and if they wanted to, they could even stay there for a month, and at the end, the Russian Foreign Ministry would agree to the withdrawal of the fleet, which would give Argentina a step, but the Russians got everything they needed-"

"They had a break there!"

Akiyama Mayuki's tone was very calm, as if he had expected all this, but he did not expect that the Russians would choose Deceado, originally he preferred the port of Santa Cruz further south, which is also the mouth of the river, and it was more suitable for the fleet to anchor than the port of Deseado, because the river bay was protected by mountains.

"In this case, we will inevitably have to fight a recharged Second Pacific Fleet!"

Li Weizhong nodded first, and then pondered for a moment and said.

"However, it doesn't seem to have any impact on our plans!"

Yes, and it doesn't have much effect, as long as they don't pass through the Strait of Magellan,

"It's not completely without impact!"

Han Che smiled and pointed to the southern end of the map.

"Their forcible intrusion will only lead to one result: the Chileans are afraid that they will send warships into the Strait of Magellan, if this is the case, the Russians will have no choice but to use the Drake Passage, except Cape Horn!" (To be continued.) )