"A battle must be fought around your own purpose, and only then will your actions not deviate. You have a main line in your battle plan. Analyzing the intentions of the other side is to allow yourself to clear the fog of war and see the core purpose of both sides. Only by doing these two things can your plan be operational. "———— Yang Yonglin

"Gentlemen, let us first make it clear that the mission of our trip this time is twofold, the first is to contain part of the US Navy's fleet as much as possible and create convenient conditions for Admiral Sevela to break through the line. And the second is to weaken the American fleet as much as possible. That is, our aim is not to sink how many transports or how many prisoners to capture. It's about destroying the Americans' warships, about telling the Americans that the Florida Strait is no longer safe. Yang Yonglin said solemnly.

"Look at the other party's actions again. There are no tricks in disbanding the transport fleet, just to reduce losses. But the whereabouts of this American fleet are interesting. Their speed should be around 16 knots, but now it seems that they are only 14 knots at the fastest, and they are not running with all their might, so what is the purpose of this? Yang Yonglin asked.

"To scare us? Prevent us from splitting up our forces to attack the fleeing transports? Hipper was a little unsure.

"In the northeast, if our intelligence is correct, the further we go northeast, the closer we get to the main force of the American fleet." Jericho said worriedly.

"What you say makes sense, but it's just speculation, and we need to verify it." Yang Yonglin paused and continued: "We might as well test it. The whole fleet increased to 18 knots. 1 hour later, the USS Cologne and the USS King left the formation to hunt the transports, and the remaining battleships accelerated the pursuit of the American fleet with the USS Manila as the flagship. Yang Yonglin said this plan that seems unbelievable to others!

"General Yang, I have to say, this is the worst plan I've ever seen!" Jericho said after taking a few deep breaths. "Using your most elite troops to attack the most worthless targets, it is difficult to have a worse plan in this world!"

"I agree to express my disappointment with the plan you specified." Siperl's face was a little ugly.

"Gentlemen, consider our purpose first, our first and foremost purpose is to weaken the opponent's fleet. And the prerequisite for this goal is that the Americans are willing to go to war with us! If the other side evacuates at full speed, it will take us about 4 to 5 hours to catch up. After speaking, Yang Yonglin pointed to the sun outside and continued: "But by then, it was already night. Everything we have done again will be in vain, and if we don't give the other side enough temptation, the other side will not choose to slow down the battle. We have to create a chance for them, one that in their opinion can hit us hard! ”

"What if the other party isn't fooled?" Jericho asked.

"We have to think from the other side's point of view. What the general on the other side did seemed to the army to be like a desertion. He must be under a lot of pressure right now! He needs to do something to clear his name! And when we put this opportunity in front of him, do you think he will give it up? And. After the two capital ships are separated from the formation, the speed of the remaining 4 warships will be able to increase to about 20 knots, which makes it impossible for the other side not to engage us! And the Cologne and the King will choose a suitable opportunity to kill back, and until then, we can completely keep in touch with the radio. Yang Yonglin said quite confidently.

"So, whether the other party takes the bait or not, this battle is settled? But is it a loss to start 4 ships and 5 ships? A Spanish second mate said with some concern. You should all know the truth. The damaged American warships can be repaired very well, but we will have a little more difficulty. ”…,

"That's how the Spaniards declined." Seepel said in his heart, and a hint of unscrupulous expression appeared on his face.

"This reminder is very meaningful, so, before the capital ship arrives, your task is to tow the opposing fleet to a speed that Cologne and the King can easily catch up, and take care of the two Dome cruisers behind, who are more vulnerable. Okay, is there anything else to ask? Yang Yonglin asked.

Subsequently, according to the established plan. The Cologne and the King left the formation one hour later and began to "pretend" to chase the American transports, which could be said to be a feint or some side business before the main fleet caught up with the American fleet. After the remaining 4 cruisers engage the American fleet, they will immediately abandon the pursuit and then flank the American fleet.

"Your Excellency General, the other side seems to have divided its troops!" Not long after Yang Yonglin's fleet was divided, this situation was accurately discovered by the lookout. "The two large warships may have gone to chase the merchant ships, and the two other four warships began to accelerate."

"Division?! Fleet acceleration? The most immediate reaction in Shelly's mind was that the other party was most likely going to fight with him! It is impossible to be afraid of such a fleet that is far more powerful than oneself in the open sea. So when considering the problem, Shelly subconsciously positioned the other party in the position of the attacker. So he judged that the most likely option for the other party was to group up faster warships so that they could catch up with him faster!

"The other side is pursued by 4 warships, and we are 5 warships. Mr. Commodore General, we can try to engage the other side with them. A staff officer whispered.

"Huh? Warring? "Look at the fleet in front of me, which has been greatly reduced. Shelly also felt a little moved in his heart, if he could eat or severely damage this fleet, then this would be the first victory for the US Navy since the start of the war, as for the failure to effectively cover the army transport ship? can be said by the Navy to be a lack of strength!

"Let's take a look first." Shelly glanced at the two giant ships that were still in sight, and pressed the idea of biting back deep into his heart. Those two improved Garibaldi battleships are always a shadow in his heart!

In this way, the four Spanish cruisers accelerated the pursuit, the American fleet accelerated the withdrawal, and Yang Yonglin commanded two armored cruisers to bully the naval transport ships that were basically powerless to fight back!

The first target to be caught up was a transport ship with a displacement of about 5000 tons. Judging by the draft, this should be a ship loaded with a large amount of armaments and supplies. Probably because of the load, the ship ran the slowest at most, about 10 knots at most, and when the ship was caught up by two giant ships, it also slowed down very interestingly and raised the white flag. The King was not even warned! After the other party transferred all the personnel to the dinghy, the personnel who boarded the transport ship opened the sea valve. Ten minutes later. The ship sank to the bottom of the sea.

In the face of the second catch-up target, Yang Yonglin is a little tricky. This is a troop carrier transporting US troops, and the nearly 1,000 US GIs on board are very difficult to handle. Sink directly, I'm afraid it's not good, people have already raised the white flag. It's definitely not okay to just kill it. But if it is transferred to its own ship, it is obviously even more impossible, not to mention whether it can control these nearly 1,000 American soldiers. Even if Americans don't play cats, they don't have so much to feed these people.

"Can you still suffocate the captives?" Yang Yonglin scolded in a low voice. Yang Yonglin, who was a little depressed, raised his head. Suddenly, they found that they were almost chasing to the coast of Cuba, and there was a town on the coast. After a moment of contemplation, a rather grotesque solution was born!

"Tell the Americans to throw all their weapons into the sea and destroy all the dinghys at once. Then send a few to supervise their implementation. Yang Yonglin said. Then let them run the boat aground on a shoal. Let's send another telegram and let the Spanish Army in Cuba deal with these unarmed American GIs trapped in the shallows. ”…,

Half an hour later. When Yang Yonglin finished dealing with these captives. A telegram shocked Yang Yonglin's heart. "The Americans finally can't take it anymore!" Yang Yonglin showed a hideous smile. Looking at the sky outside, it will probably take more than 2 hours to reach the night, and it will take more than 1 hour to rush over by yourself, that is to say, if the estimate is correct, the 2 battleships led by yourself can still catch up with today's battle!

And at this moment, Shelly finally couldn't help it, and the two large armored ships had disappeared, that is, the distance between the two sides was at least more than 20 kilometers. Even if the other party feels it in a straight line, it will take more than 1 hour, and although the 4 Spanish warships behind him are chasing, they can control the speed, for this kind of behavior, Shelly's understanding is that the other party does not want to fight easily, after all, for the weaker Spanish fleet, if the losses on both sides are the same, it is also the advantage of the US Navy. In a situation where it seems that the two sides are evenly matched. It's a little unwilling not to fight.

Thinking of this, Commodore Shelly decisively ordered the fleet to turn around and prepare to meet the enemy. 5 cruisers of the second rank began to draw an arc at sea in turn. 5 battleships rushed to the Spanish fleet in a standard single column. Shelly's flagship, the Newark, came first. The ship was armed with 12 6-inch guns and had a speed of 18 knots. Battleships with a displacement of 4083 tons took the lead. This was followed by the USS Baltimore, a battleship with considerable firepower compared to other American cruisers, armed with 4 8-inch 35L guns and 6 6-inch guns, with a displacement of 4,413 tons. Speed 19 knots. The USS Philadelphia and USS San Francisco came in third and fourth. The two ships were the same armament as the Newark, but faster. The last battleship was even worse, the 3,700-ton Charleston was armed with two 8-inch guns and six 6-inch guns, and had a speed of 18.9 knots.

"USS Newark, USS Baltimore, USS Philadelphia, attack USS Manila and USS Philadelphia. The USS San Francisco and USS Charleston attacked the USS Pluto and USS Fury. Shelly said after repeating the order of engagement.

At this time, Jericho, who was commanding four cruisers, looked at the five cruisers coming from afar with excitement on his face. The excitement of a battle made him a little unable to sit still, and in his eyes, the other party's choice was undoubtedly stupid. In terms of total tonnage, it is not advantageous to deal with, and the opponent is a dome cruiser, under the limitation of displacement, the thickness of the dome armor is only about 3 inches, and it is also a steel-faced iron armor, which is simply vulnerable to the 8-inch turret gun of the Guiyuan. Having experienced the First Sino-Japanese Naval Battle, he was very aware of the significance of the high-rate fire gun to naval warfare. The Americans will inevitably pay a huge price for this war because of their lack of actual combat experience!

The war has officially begun, let's give more support, the voting of the works and authors of the era has not increased for a long time——! rq