Early the next morning after the British Navy and the Japanese Navy escort fleet were attacked by the two submarines of the Tohoku Navy, the Bayonet and the Sharp Knife of the Tohoku Navy, the commander of the Japanese Navy's Combined Fleet, Togo Heihachiro, came to the bridge of the all-steel battleship Prince George, the flagship of the British Navy's Eastern Fleet, and said to Bridget, the commander of the Eastern Fleet, with a sigh: "Alas—Admiral Bridget, I really didn't expect the Northeast Navy to send submarines to attack us at night, and our Japanese Navy Combined Fleet suffered very heavy losses, Even the transport ships have lost a lot. ≤ ≤ ≤ Xiao ≤ said, "

Bridget's face was very unsightly, "This is a declaration of war on our British Royal Navy, and our British Royal Navy must teach the rampant Northeast Navy a hard lesson this time!" ”

Last night's submarine attack, so that the British Navy's Eastern Fleet suffered a lot of losses, the monarch-class all-steel battleship Royal Oak was the first warship to be attacked, the Bayonet's two 533 mm steam gas torpedoes hit the right side of the Royal Oak waterline armor, the 457 mm waterline armor did not block the blow of the two 533 mm torpedoes, two holes of about 3 meters appeared under the water surface on the right side of the Royal Oak.

Under the command of its captain, the Royal Oak quickly closed the watered cabin, so that the sea water did not continue to pour into the ship, so that the Royal Oak would not sink, but the Royal Oak did not go alone, and soon after, the Bayonet's two 533mm steam gas torpedoes hit the waterline armor on the left side of the Royal Oak, blowing up two holes of about 3 meters, this time the closed cabin was no longer effective, and finally the Royal Oak disappeared into the sea at more than 2 o'clock in the morning.

In addition, 1 old man-class all-steel battleship England, was hit by 2 533-mm steam gas torpedoes from the submarine Bayonet. Although the British officers and sailors on the warship tried their best to save the ship, in the end the all-steel battleship England was too badly injured. sank into the sea.

In addition, 1 large fast armored cruiser and 1 fast protection cruiser of the British Navy were also sunk, and the Bayonet and Sharp Knife were not interested in the relatively small warships such as the fast protection cruiser at all. The fast protection cruiser was unlucky enough to be hit by 1 torpedo that missed.

The British Navy's Eastern Fleet suffered more casualties, the Sovereign-class all-steel battleships Lamiy and Dreadnought were damaged, the Majesty-class all-steel battleship Hannibal was damaged, and the Old Man-class all-steel battleship Revenge was damaged.

Moreover, the injuries of these 4 all-steel battleships were not light, they were all blown open by 1 or 2 large holes by the armor of the torpedo under the water, although the cabin that entered the water was closed, so that the warship did not sink, but the speed of the 4 all-steel battleships decreased a lot.

Another 1 large fast armored cruiser of the British Navy was also torpedoed and seriously damaged. The speed of the voyage has also dropped a lot.

Compared to the losses of the British Navy's Eastern Fleet, the losses of the Japanese Navy's Combined Fleet were less, but the Japanese transports sank quite a few ships.

The all-steel battleship Furutaka of the Combined Fleet had almost the same fate as the HMS Royal Oak of the British Navy, and at the beginning of the attack, it was hit by two 533mm steam gas torpedoes from the submarine USS Sharp Knife, opening two large holes in the Furutaka. Although the Japanese naval officers and sailors of the Furutaka tried their best to rescue and seal the flooded cabin, all their efforts were rendered useless because of the two 533 mm steam gas torpedoes fired at the Furutaka by the Sharp Knife submarine.

It was particularly unfortunate that a 533-mm steam gas torpedo was directly hit through a large hole that had just been blown up. All at once, the hatch that sealed the incoming cabin was blown open, and finally the all-steel battleship Furutaka disappeared into the sea at half past two in the morning.

The combined fleet of the Japanese Navy also had the Kumano-class all-steel battleship Mikuma with a displacement of 14,974 tons, and the Kongo-class all-steel battleship Fuso, with a displacement of 16,000 tons, which were seriously damaged by a submarine torpedo.

Although the all-steel battleships of the combined fleet of the Japanese Navy sank 1 and 2 were seriously damaged. The British Navy's Eastern Fleet's all-steel battleships were seriously damaged by 2 sunk and 4 seriously damaged, plus the losses of other warships of the British Navy, the Japanese Navy's combined fleet suffered much less losses. However, the Japanese transport ships loaded with army officers and ammunition and supplies could lose a lot of money, which is also the Bayonet and Sharp Knife in addition to targeting the big guys of the navies of the two countries. It is a relationship that aims at the hull of Japan's relatively large transport ships.

Early in the morning of the 22nd, a report on the damage of the transport ship was delivered to the commander of the Combined Fleet of the Japanese Navy, Heihachiro Togo. Togo Heihachiro's heart couldn't help but tremble, the loss was really not small, a total of 8 transport ships were sunk, all of which were relatively large transport ships.

There was 1 transport ship carrying 1 1 of the newly formed separate heavy artillery brigade of 20 152-mm howitzers and 30 127-mm howitzers, as a result of which they are now sinking into the sea along with the transport ship.

One transport ship carrying 100 field and mountain guns of a caliber of 75 mm, and one transport ship carrying weapons and ammunition also sank into the sea.

In addition, the damage report stated that 4,250 people were missing in the replenishment corps, 1,828 in the 34th Division, 852 in the artillery and 247 in the crew of the transport ship.

Heihachiro Togo read the damage report before taking the lifeboat on the flagship Fuji and came to the bridge of the Prince George, the flagship of the British Navy's Eastern Fleet.

Togo Heihachiro heard Bridget, the commander of the Eastern Fleet, say that he would teach the Northeast Navy a hard lesson, and a trace of surprise secretly rose in his heart, originally the British and Japan signed an agreement, just to help the Japanese transport fleet to escort, will not help the Japanese Navy to take the initiative to attack the Northeast Navy, now the submarine of the Northeast Navy has sunk several warships of the British, and seriously injured several ships, seeing that Bridget's appearance is really hot, so can the British Navy be completely dragged into the water?

Togo Heihachiro's eyes rolled, and he said indignantly: "Admiral Bridget, the Northeast Navy is completely contemptuous of your British Empire, we should teach the Northeast Navy a hard lesson!" ”

Bridges nodded and said: "Yes, I have a hunch that our landing at the Wild Boar River Wharf in the Far Eastern Province this time is very likely to encounter the Northeast Navy, and I must make the Northeast Navy regret their ignorant actions and avenge the sunken officers and warships of our British Navy!" ”

Heihachiro Togo continued: "Admiral Bridget, if the Northeast Navy does not dare to engage us head-on, I think that the escort fleet united by our two countries should go to the waters near Vladivostok, find the Northeast Navy, and clean up this group of rampant guys!" ”

Bridget frowned, did not answer immediately, but glanced at Togo Heihachiro thoughtfully, Bridget knew that Togo Heihachiro said this, he wanted to drag Britain deeper into this war between Japan and Lin Daxin, but now that the British Navy has suffered such severe losses, it is basically possible to officially declare war with Lin Daxin, so Bridget paused and said very simply: "Okay!" Admiral Togo, if we don't encounter the Northeast Navy in the waters near the pier of the Wild Boar River, let's go around Vladivostok. ”

It should be mentioned here that after Heihachiro Togo was promoted to the Combined Fleet of the Japanese Navy, he was promoted to the rank of Admiral of the Japanese Navy by Emperor Meiji.

Higashigo Heihachiro was overjoyed when he heard this: "Great, on behalf of the Combined Fleet of the Japanese Navy, I am honored to fight side by side with the great British Navy, and we will definitely make the Northeast Navy pay an unexpected price for yesterday's attack." ”

Bridget nodded and then said: "Now our Eastern Fleet has 4 all-steel battleships and 1 large fast armored cruiser that are not lightly injured, how many warships of your Japanese Navy are seriously injured?" ”

Heihachiro Togo replied: "There are 2 all-steel battleships that were seriously damaged. ”

Bridget said in a consultative tone: "Admiral Togo, these two main warships of our two navies that have been seriously damaged, should you let them return to Japan first, after all, we are likely to have a naval battle with the Northeast Navy." ”

Heihachiro Togo hesitated for a moment and said, "Admiral Bridget, if the main warships of our two navies that were seriously damaged were to withdraw to Japan alone, would they be attacked by submarines on the way?" In that case, several seriously injured warships are likely to be sunk. ”

Bridget continued: "Then we can send a part of the protective cruisers to escort the seriously damaged main warships of the two navies back to Japan first." ”

Heihachiro Togo shrugged his shoulders and said: "Admiral Bridget, the number of protective cruisers in the escort fleet of our two navies is a little insufficient, we don't know where the submarine of the Northeast Navy will be, if we have a large-scale naval battle with the Northeast Navy, the submarine of the Northeast Navy is there, we must have enough protective cruisers to protect our main warship from being attacked by submarines." And the main warships of our 2 navies that were seriously injured were only affected by some speed, and the firepower above had no effect at all, if we had a naval battle with the Northeast Navy, these injured main warships would also play a certain role, Admiral Bridget, what do you think? ”

Bridget thought about it and thought that what Heihachiro Togo said was also reasonable, so the main warships of the two navies that were seriously injured did not return to Japan, and continued to follow the escort fleet to the west, fortunately, these warships loaded with a lot of seawater, the speed drop was not so bad, and the British Navy Monarchy-class all-steel battleship Lamiyi, which had the strictest drop in speed, It is only from the maximum speed of 18 knots to 14.5 knots, and it can still keep up with the speed of the escort fleet, after all, the escort fleet also needs to consider those transport ships, most of which only have a maximum speed of about 10 knots or 11 knots. (To be continued......)