Shortly after the attack by the two submarines, the all-steel battleship USS Sconstar and the all-steel battleship USS Xhima of the Italian Navy fell behind from the remnants of the US-Italian fleet because of the drop in speed.

Commander of the US Navy's Asian Detachment, George? Dewey, seeing the Sconstar that had fallen behind, said with a wry smile: "The United States really shouldn't provoke that Far East military strongman Lin Daxin!" Forget it, all the responsibility for the defeat lies with me, flag the Scon Star, I allow the Scon Star to surrender to the enemy! ”

George? Henry Tell, the captain of the Indiana who sank next to Dewey, said: "Commander, if China knew the true situation of the fleet under the command of that Far Eastern military strongman, it should not blame Your Excellency the commander. ”

George? Dewey's mental state at this time was very bad, George, who was already in his 60s? Dewey looked even older, he shook his head and said: "I led 12 warships and more than 6,500 naval officers and sailors of the Asian Fleet of the US Navy to the Philippines, and now only the two all-steel battleships of the USS Illinois and the USS Labamawe have the hope of escaping back to the United States, and thousands of young men from the Navy died in the Bay of Manila, even if the government and Congress do not blame me, I myself have no face to continue to stay in the Navy." And someone has to be responsible, and if we can get back to America safely, I'll resign from the military and take my share of responsibility! ”

Henry Tall opened his mouth and didn't say anything more, the U.S. Navy's Asian detachment, which accounts for almost half of the main warships of the entire U.S. Navy, now has such heavy casualties, someone must stand up and take responsibility. George as the commander of the fleet? Dewey was the best candidate.

In fact, in Henritel's mind, the real responsibility for the heavy losses of the Asian detachment should be those high-level government officials in China who decided to join forces with Italy to expedition to the Philippines. And members of Parliament!

Soon after, the USS Sconne, which landed at the rear of the fleeing US-Italian Combined Fleet, received its new flagship, the USS Illinois. Dewey's flag that allowed the Sconsin to surrender to the enemy.

At this time, the Sconstar fell behind, and the warships pursued by the Northeast Navy hit most of its artillery fire, and the surrounding sea continued to set off columns of water, which made the entire Sconn Star American Navy officers and men tremble, and the officers and men on the ship raised the white flag to the captain of the Sconne. While the captain of the Sconstar was hesitating, he received a flag from the commander to allow him to surrender, which made the captain breathe a sigh of relief. The Sconne was immediately ordered to raise the white flag, the boiler was crushed to stop the ship, and the ship's guns were raised to the highest angle, indicating that it would not open fire again on the approaching opposing warship.

Also lagging behind the Italian Navy Kshma. The US Navy's USS Sconstar was seen raising the white flag. In the absence of an order from the commander of the Italian fleet, Robert, the Italian captain of the Khima, ordered the Khima to raise the white flag, stop the ship and extinguish the boilers, raise the ship's guns to the highest angle, and choose to surrender to the Northeast Navy.

Lin Daxin was very happy to see the enemy's two all-steel battleships raise the white flag, and immediately ordered the Second Fleet's Tianhu ironclad battleship and Tianbao ironclad battleship. Accept 2 enemy ships, the rest of the warships of the Northeast Navy. Continue the pursuit of the remnants of the combined U.S.-Italian fleet.

On the bridge of the Queen Margaret, the flagship of the Second Expeditionary Fleet of the Italian Navy, Captain Ram said to Commander Roberte: "Commander, the Khima has raised the white flag and surrendered!" ”

Commander Roberte frowned and said: "Forget it, the Khima is too seriously injured, and the speed of the ship has decreased, Yan zhòng, he can't escape at all, and if he surrenders, he can save the lives of some more Italian boys!" The problem now is that the enemy's warships are chasing after us, and we will not be able to escape from a few warships if we continue like this! ”

Ram hesitated for a moment and then said, "Commander, do you want to leave some warships behind to block the enemy's pursuers?" ”

Roberte really didn't want to enter Lin Daxin's prisoner of war camp again, so he listened to Ram's advice and decided to leave a few warships to block the pursuers, and exchange these warships for the escape of himself and other warships.

So Roberte ordered ruthlessly: "Let the four fast protection cruisers Umberto, Rickli, Chaona and Kuferla stay behind to block the pursuers behind, and tell them that for the sake of Italy, they must entangle the pursuing enemy ships for at least 20 minutes, and then they can choose to escape or surrender according to the situation!" ”

Robert also knew that letting four fast protection cruisers block dozens of warships of the Northeast Navy was a lot of bad luck, but in order to save the remaining all-steel battleships and large fast armored cruisers of the Italian Navy, and in order not to enter the prisoner of war camp again, he still issued this order that made him controversial after the war.

Ram, who was bent on escaping, heard Roberte's order, and immediately turned around and went to ask the bannermen to convey the order to the four fast protection cruisers.

After the four Italian Navy's fast protection cruisers received this death order, although the four Italian captains were extremely unwilling, the military order was difficult to do, so they had to turn their heads to meet the dozens of warships pursued by the Northeast Navy, but fortunately, the commander Roberte only let them hold on for 20 minutes, and they could choose to surrender or escape.

Lin Daxin frowned and saw the four Italian fast protection cruisers that turned the bow, and understood that the Italians were going to abandon the car to protect the commander, so he immediately ordered: "All fleets concentrate their firepower and solve these four Italian warships first." ”

"Boom-boom-boom-" Countless shells fell on the sea around four fast-protection cruisers of the same type with a displacement of only 2,800 tons. Soon the Umberto was hit directly by a 305 mm shell in the bow of the ship, blowing up the entire capital of the ship, and the sea water instantly poured into the hull of the Umberto, causing the stern of the Umberto to be warped out of the sea, and soon after the Umberto stood up and sank to the bottom of the sea.

Fewer than 20 of the 260 Italian sailors of the Umberto escaped, and most of the Italian officers and men who jumped into the sea were sucked to the bottom of the sea by the whirlpool created by the sinking of the warship. The Umberto became the ninth warship to be sunk by the Italian Navy's Second Expeditionary Fleet.

Soon after, the Rickly was hit by a series of 155-mm shells, which detonated hundreds of 152-mm shells in the ammunition compartment. The Rickly became the tenth warship to be sunk by the Second Italian Expeditionary Fleet.

Seeing the rapid sinking of the two sister ships of their own, the Chaona and the Kuferla did not care about any resistance for 20 minutes, turned around and fled at full speed. And the 2 protective cruisers did not flee in the direction of the main fleet, but in other directions.

The four fast protection cruisers of the Italian Navy did not delay the warships pursued by the Northeast Navy for much time, while the two small warships that escaped were also ignored at all, and the three fleets of the Northeast Navy continued to pursue the remnants of the combined US-Italian fleet.

Dozens of warships of the three fleets of the Northeast Navy pursued the fleeing American and Italian warships in front of them like hungry wolves, and soon after, the all-steel battleships Angelo and Sirio of the Italian Navy entered a lot of sea water because they were already injured. The speed was less than 16 knots, and it lagged behind a little bit.

Seeing the dozens of Northeast Navy warships approaching, the captain of the Angelo first ordered the white flag to be raised. Stop the ship and surrender. Not to be outdone, the Sirio saw that his companion had raised the white flag, and the boiler crushed the fire and stopped the Sirio. Chose to surrender to the Northeast Navy.

Lin Daxin saw 2 more all-steel battleships of the Italian Navy surrender. Immediately overjoyed, he ordered the ironclad battleships Aquila and Sirius of the Second Fleet to stop the pursuit and stay to receive two all-steel battleships of the Italian Navy.

Italy's all-steel battleships of this type are very eye-catching in naval battles, with strong firepower, fast speed, and not weak armor, and the city-class all-steel battleships of the Northeast Navy, which are almost on par with them. With these 2 ships, Lin Daxin has already captured 3 ships. Although they were all seriously injured, they did not hurt the keel or anything that affected the hull structure, and Lin Daxin believed that after pulling these injured all-steel battleships to the Dalian shipyard for repairs, he would get three all-steel battleships that were not inferior to the city class.

The other warships of the Northeast Navy continued to pursue under Lin Daxin's orders, and the last two all-steel battleships of the US Navy, the USS Illinois and the USS Labamawe, fell behind.

Although the two all-steel battleships did not suffer any serious injuries and maintained their maximum speed, their maximum speed was only 17 knots, and they were soon chased by several large fast armored cruisers of the Third Fleet, which had the fastest speed in the Northeast Navy, to a distance of less than 3,000 meters.

And a large number of battleships in the Northeast Navy with a speed of 18 knots are also getting closer and closer to the USS Illinois and USS Labamawee of the US Navy.

Captain Duncan of the USS Illinois was facing the commander of the U.S. Navy's Asian Fleet, George Brown, from inside the bridge. Dewey said in frustration: "Commander, relying on the speed of our Illinois and Rabamawi, we can't escape the pursuit of enemy ships at all, what should we do now?" ”

George? Dewey picked up the telescope and looked at the warships pursuing the Northeast Navy from the observation window in the bridge, then put down the binoculars, and said to Duncan and Henry Tell beside him with a wry smile: "Our U.S. Navy is really in the wrong place, with the wrong opponent, and chose the wrong battle!" It's time to put an end to this mistake, order the USS Illinois and USS Rabamawi to stop, raise the white flag, raise the guns to the highest angle, and surrender our U.S. Navy Asian Detachment to the fleet under Lin Daxin! ”

After hearing the commander's order, Duncan and Henry Tel smiled bitterly at each other, they also understood that relying on the speed of 2 warships with only 17 knots, sooner or later the warships of the Northeast Navy would have to catch up, and when the time came, with 2 American all-steel battleships, they would not be able to resist dozens of battleships and large fast armored cruisers at all, and it would be nothing more than surrender and sinking 2 ways.

The other U.S. Navy officers and sailors in the entire bridge were relieved when they heard the commander's order to surrender, and their faces showed relaxed expressions, at least their lives were spared.

Lin Daxin saw that the last two all-steel battleships of the US Navy raised the white flag, and the remaining warships of the Italian Navy that escaped were not slow, and it was basically impossible for his own battleship First and Second Fleets to catch up with them, and the fast Third Fleet had caught up, and it was not able to independently leave the 3 all-steel battleships and 4 large fast armored cruisers of the Italian Navy that had escaped.

So Lin Daxin ordered the three fleets to stop the pursuit, and happily asked the officers and men to accept the two all-steel battleships of the US Navy, and then all the warships of the entire Northeast Navy to return to the port of Manila.

Lin Daxin is very happy, with these 2 all-steel battleships, he has now captured 6 all-steel battleships, which is enough to make up for the losses of the Northeast Navy in the naval battle, and there is still a profit.

The warships of the three fleets of the Northeast Navy began to return with the captured warships, but Lin Daxin ordered the large fast armored cruiser Lichun of the Third Fleet of the Northeast Navy to break away from the entire fleet and use radar to follow the escaped warships of the Italian Navy from a distance. (To be continued......)