Just when the U.S. Navy was preparing for the most decisive battle, the Spanish Navy was also preparing, to be honest, except for the two battleships, the damage to the other four battleships was relatively serious, especially the Princess Maria and the Okendo, the part below the waterline was more seriously damaged, and there was a lot of water, which directly affected the speed, but in this case, the battleship could only carry out the most basic repairs, one was that there was no time, and the other was that there was no suitable dry dock.

Therefore, in order to restore combat effectiveness as soon as possible, Yang Yonglin ordered to repair the weapons part of the battleship first, after all, the next stage of the battle is mainly carried out outside the port of Santiago, the Spanish Navy has no way to retreat, and the significance of the speed is not too great, and the final battle will be a dead-to-the death, a never-ending battle, until the opponent is completely defeated.

And just when the fleet was being repaired and refurbished, Yang Yonglin and commanders at all levels also began to carry out the most difficult planning around the upcoming decisive battle! Although the Spanish fleet sank a number of American cruisers in the previous stage of the battle, which greatly reduced the opponent's ability to counter lightning strikes, the Americans could still put together about 5 cruisers, plus the battleship's own artillery, which still had a strong lethality for these torpedo boats.

"In the next phase of the battle, the battle will be divided into two parts, the first part is still the fleet artillery battle, in this stage we need to maintain the engagement distance, focus on attrition, and attack the opponent's secondary artillery as much as possible. At the same time, if conditions permit, it can be considered that a group of two ships can carry out a short-term concentrated fire strike on a certain poorly protected warship, forcing the other side to withdraw from the battle or slow down. Yang Yonglin said.

"If after this stage of the battle, the number of accompanying cruisers of the opposing side is reduced to 2-3 units. In addition, if the auxiliary artillery group of the opponent's battleship has been damaged, we can arrange for torpedo boats to participate in the battle in due course, and in order to cooperate with this lightning strike, our fleet will speed up at the appropriate time, and carry out overtaking, seize the T-shaped crosshead to suppress the American fleet and disrupt its course. Facilitate lightning strikes. That's the general idea, let's add it. After Yang Yonglin finished speaking, he glanced at the officers present.

"First of all, we need to place a notification ship near San Diego and set up an observation post on the shore. so that early warning can be given. Secondly. We need to set up minefields to keep the port of Santiago safe. Sevela said.

"The minefield should be set up, but not too far away, we can place the minefield inward. We need to keep the U.S. fleet able to land the batteries in San Diego, otherwise it will be more difficult for the U.S. fleet to abandon the assault and instead carry out offensive minelaying. And the battery can more or less consume the US Navy. "Scheer's meaning is very clear, use all the forces available to fight the opponent, if you win, then the damage caused by the destruction of the fort is not enough, if you lose, even if the fort remains, it is useless.

So far, though. Yang Yonglin's layout has been implemented step by step, but the Spanish fleet is still in crisis, if this battle is not won, then the heavily damaged port of Santiago will be difficult to provide protection and maintenance for the fleet, in this case. Even if the Spanish fleet could still retain a certain combat strength, there would be only two outcomes, one was to fight to the death and be completely dragged to death by the American fleet, which could be constantly repaired, or the other was to be forced to withdraw and admit defeat.

"I guess this about the possible formation arrangement of the other side. The Indiana and the Marseilles were dealt a serious blow, and the other side could not complete the complete repair in a short time, so the Indiana ship III and the Iowa would probably be in first and second place, in which case I would suggest that the torpedo boats attack the two ships that were not in good condition. Scheer said. …,

"In addition, it is not suitable for all the lightning strikers to stay in the port, it is recommended to divide them into two assault groups, so that they will not be crowded when leaving the port, and at the same time they can disperse the opponent's attack firepower, and I personally think that it is really impossible to concentrate 15 thunder strikers on two warships." Cai Tinggan, who is also from Beiyang but has not shown up, said that when he was in the Beiyang Fleet, he was in charge of torpedo boats, but in the First Sino-Japanese Naval War, torpedo boats did not play any role, so they were relatively low-key, but with the development of new torpedoes and the service of new mine strike ships, he was also sent by Xu Jie to Spain to assist Yang Yonglin.

"The rest is some refinement work, and if necessary, the capital ship can also cooperate with the lightning strike tactical drill. Remember, we only get one chance. If we lose, we will only be defeated! Yang Yonglin said.

As time passed, the preparations of the fleets of the two sides were also in full swing, and the American fleet finally drew up the formation of the last World War I fleet, and the three Indiana-class battleships and the battleship Iowa naturally participated, but considering that the original flagship Indiana was seriously damaged, the new battleship Iowa became the new flagship.

The USS New York and two Columbia-class first-class cruisers and the USS Charleston formed the Second Fleet, which was still under the command of Magifin, while the other second-class cruiser and a third-class protection cruiser were not ready for combat because of schedule and personnel problems. Because of the insufficient number of capital ships, the USS New York and the Columbia-class also had to defend against an armored cruiser similar to the PISA type and the USS Manila, and this pressure was obviously very high.

In addition to these warships, the remaining three 4,000-ton shallow water heavy gunboats of the U.S. Navy will also appear. The three shallow-water heavy gunboats, numbered BM2, BM3 and BM5, were armed with four 10-inch 30L guns. The main armor belt is up to 9 inches thick, the turret armor is 11.5 inches, and the turret armor is 7.5 inches. When it first entered service, it was good to have 12 knots, and now it can have 10 knots. But anyway, there are still 12 10-inch guns on these 3 battleships, right? At this existential juncture, these three cruisers were also pulled into the battlefield to attack the batteries and wear down the opposing fleet.

And just after the U.S. fleet completed the most rearly reorganized campaign, the Spanish fleet also completed the most remediated and reorganized the campaign. The entire fleet was to be separated from the grouping, unified into a single column, commanded by Sevela and Yang Yonglin, with the flagship being the España, Scheer's King in third place, and Jericho on board the Okundo, in fifth place in the battle column. In the event of an engagement, the entire fleet is divided into three small formations so that it can concentrate superior firepower on the opponent within a certain range and time. As for the lightning strike formation, it was divided into five groups with three ships, and before the start of the battle, they were distributed in the harbor and nearby harbors to conceal themselves, and then launched an attack according to the order.

Thank you for the reward from the book friend Pine Forest Pony~~~. Anyway, yesterday's new chapter subscription was not enough for 300——! Can you give some help? It's not easy for the author to code words.,Especially the Spring Festival code words~~~.。 (To be continued.) If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendation and monthly passes, and your support is my biggest motivation. )……，