Without those auxiliary cruisers, the American fleet would not be able to gain the initiative at all, even if its overall strength is stronger than that of its opponent, but the opponent has a speed advantage and can catch up with the opponent's warships, not to mention that it has beaten the Spanish fleet, I am afraid that it will not even be able to delay time! And although the 4 battleships are powerful, the speed is really low. I'm afraid that by the time these 4 battleships arrive, the cruisers in front will have already been beaten to scum!

Although it was theoretically possible to force the opponent to appear by attacking San Diego, Majifen believed that if the opponent was Yang Yonglin, he would definitely appear when the American fleet was exhausted, at least when the battleship's main guns were almost exhausted. Some people may have to ask, why can't the American fleet reserve more shells for the main guns. This comes from the background of Indiana-level construction.

When the Navy decided to build a battleship of this class, the Navy of course intended to build it into a real battleship, with enough thick armor, dense artillery, and a decent speed, which would be a new milestone for the US Navy. But Congress is not going to meet the needs of the Navy in this way, they want a warship like a near-shore ironclad. In their eyes, the budget is much more important than the warship, and then the navy quarrels with the members of Congress over the budget for the construction of the ship. Against this background, the Indiana-class battleship was born!

I have to admire the strength of the Americans, a battleship with a head of more than 10,000 tons, actually stuffed 4 14-inch guns, 8 8-inch guns and a bunch of secondary guns! The height of the main armor belt is not high, but it can reach a thickness of 16 inches! And it can run more than 16 knots. Of course, such a demanding design was realized. But all kinds of problems have arisen! Because the main gun position is too low, it is difficult to guarantee combat effectiveness in high sea conditions, and in the case of heavy loads, the main armor belt is basically all in the water, and this is the result of saving weight in all aspects! Among them was the reduction of shells for the main gun. The Indiana had only 60 rounds of ammunition for its main guns, compared to 80 for British ships of the same class. And in Xu Jie's plane, Japan's Fuji and other battleships have 100 rounds of ammunition!

Therefore, the conditions in all aspects limit the US fleet, and the biggest problem is not whether it can pile up the opponent to death. It's about how to keep your opponents! After all, neither the battleship nor the auxiliary cruiser has enough speed, and the battleship with enough speed has no combat effectiveness!

"We can't defeat our opponents in a normal naval battle. Our only chance is how to ambush our opponents and come up with attractive enough bait. Then lure the other side forward, and then we can quickly divide the other team's fleet, and then annihilate a part of it. Then regain the advantage. At this time, both General Simpson and Roosevelt attached great importance to Magiffen, almost all of Magiffen's predictions have been proven by facts, for pragmatic Americans, the truth is greater than everything, even if Magiffen is just a colonel, even if Magiffen's words are hard to hear, but both Simpson and Roosevelt can only rely on this person with good experience and level!

"What bait can we come up with that deserves the attention of the other side? Other cruisers? Or Admiral Simpson's battleship group? Shelly asked, a little amused. If the navy was able to get rid of the shackles of politics as soon as possible to fight, then the former Second Fleet was indeed a good bait. But now it's too late! With the loss of Brooklyn and the Olympia, the Second Fleet has been completely broken!

"It's true that we don't have a lot of chips in our hands, but that doesn't mean we don't have any." Majifen pondered for a moment and said. "If you're Spanish, what is your ultimate goal?" Magiffen asked rhetorically.

"Destroy the fleet of the United States of America, and then force the United States to withdraw from the war." Shelly replied. …,

"And what about the final mission of the United States of America?" Magiffen continued.

"That, of course, is the occupation of Cuba. In my opinion, as long as the navy can send a large number of land forces, then we will win, after all, Cuba is too far from the Spanish mainland. Shelly said after a moment of contemplation.

"You mean to say, with a large number of army transport ships as bait? Lure the Spanish fleet to attack, and then engage in a decisive battle with it? Simpson, who had been silent, said.

"The Army will not agree. Because of the time when the convoy was attacked, the relationship between the two sides was already very tense, and in this case, the army would not cooperate with us at all, and once the war was engaged, we could not guarantee the safety of the army convoy at all, and once there were heavy casualties, the accusations of the army and the pressure from the government were secondary, and I am afraid that the people would have a feeling of war weariness, and at that time, we would have to consider an armistice. Roosevelt objected.

"Naturally, we can't use thousands of army forces as bait, but we can disguise auxiliary cruisers as army transport ships, and if the Spanish fleet wants to attack the transport ships, it must use the vast majority of the main force to drag the US Navy battleships, and then discharge the second-class cruisers to attack the transport fleet, so that with the remaining cruisers, we have a great chance of being able to take out a few weak ships in the Spanish fleet! We don't want to win, we just want to regain the initiative! Magiffen explained.

"That's an idea, but if the other party finds out that the situation has changed and decides to evacuate, is there anything we can do?" Shelly's eyes lit up, but then they dimmed, after all, it was one thing to deceive the other party, and it was another thing to keep the other party! As far as the speed of these warships is concerned, people can't stop them if they want to run!

"Don't forget, we also have 3 10,000-ton high-speed auxiliary cruisers. After improving and adding armor and artillery, you can't beat the opponent's Santiago class, but it's still no problem to drag! And the Spanish fleet, after a long period of sailing and engagement, is bound to drop in speed, and this is a great opportunity for us! Simpson said with a smile.

"You can't rely on these auxiliary cruisers alone, the Columbia-class must increase their firepower, and our current cruisers are facing a lack of firepower, the most powerful Brooklyn has sunk, and the third-placed Olympia has also sunk. The only ones to rely on were New York and the two Columbia-class Dome cruisers. What's more, the potential for improvement of these two Columbia-class warships is still very high. Magiffen added.

"The navy has come up with a plan, and the Columbia-class is equipped with a single-mounted 8-inch gun at the end of the range. The 4-inch guns on the side chord were all replaced with 5-inch guns. And increase the number to 12, of course, this time may be longer, we are just planning to do this, what the actual situation is, it depends on the time of the war. Simpson pouted.

"Why can't you replace it with a 6-inch gun?" Although Majifen knew that it was very troublesome to replace such a large gun, it was necessary to replace it with a 5-inch gun. The improvement is really limited.

"The space for civilian ships is very large, and a large number of 6-inch guns have been used to improve auxiliary cruisers, and the plan to improve Colombia has just been proposed. Both in terms of time and in terms of the difficulty of improvement. It was obviously not appropriate to remove part of the guns mounted on the auxiliary cruisers and use them on the Columbia, and more importantly, there were some kinds of ammunition and kits for the 6-inch guns. The ammunition feeding system needs to be improved as a whole, so the technicians still tend to install 5-inch guns. Simpson said with a little embarrassment, the same cannon would definitely be better on a well-protected cruiser than on an auxiliary ship, but now it's really too late!

"Then now it's a matter of formation, how to reasonably organize a fleet? Does Colonel Magifin have his own ideas? Admiral Simpson changed the subject. …,

"A formation of 4 battleships and 2 Columbia-class cruisers was used to contain the opponent's main fleet, and the formation of the USS New York and two 4,000-ton second-class cruisers simultaneously cooperated with auxiliary cruisers to attack the opponent's second-class cruiser formation. All the remaining third-class protected cruisers were ready to support the two main battle groups at any time and waited for an opportunity to release torpedoes. As he spoke, he took out a document that had been written and handed it to everyone present.

Magiffin's formulation of such a formation was well thought out, and if the Spanish fleet had incorporated 2 battleships and 4 mounted cruisers into the main fleet, then 4 battleships alone would certainly not be enough. It is not enough to add 2 protective cruisers, but with the support of third-class cruisers, there is not much problem with self-protection in a short period of time, it is really not possible, and it is even possible to pull up two 10,000-ton auxiliary cruisers and beat the side drum. And on his own side, he can easily eat the opponent's three second-class cruisers with 1 mounted cruiser and 2 second-class cruisers with a large number of auxiliary cruisers! Then go to support the main fleet.

Another scenario was a balanced grouping of the Spanish fleet. 2 battleships 2 mounted patrol group, the remaining battleship group. In this case, the support group was selected to support the New York and other ships, and after severely damaging the fleet that attacked the "transport ships", it would go to besiege the other one, and in Magiffen's vision, the US Navy would initially have an absolute advantage in firepower. 8 auxiliary cruisers will provide sidechord fire of no less than 40 to 50 6-inch guns! (3 10,000-ton auxiliary cruisers and 5 6000-ton auxiliary cruisers, as for the smaller, Majifen did not count) Such dense firepower is enough to paralyze the opponent's weak ships in a short time. Even two ships will never dare to enter the fire net easily!

After Magiffen carefully analyzed his tactical application, both Admiral Simpson and Roosevelt were very satisfied with this plan. In their opinion, the concentrated American fleet, coupled with enough auxiliary cruisers, will have an overwhelming advantage in firepower! If the other side withdraws, then it is equivalent to the Spanish fleet giving up three weak ships, and the Spanish fleet, which has only 6 capital ships left, will be unable to compete with the US Navy, and if the other side does not retreat and chooses to rescue the weak ships, then it is equivalent to choosing to engage the US Navy, which has an absolute advantage in firepower, even if the other side is well protected, it is estimated that the bridge and other non-protected areas will be hit by the shells of the 6-inch rapid-fire guns, right?

"Colonel Majifen, I have to admit that you are more suitable than me to command the fleet to fight, if this battle can be won, then I think you may be only one step away from the dream of being a general!" Simpson praised.

"Your Excellency General Xie Luxie's compliment, but we must prepare as soon as possible, once the Spanish fleet is ready, then the difficulty of our operation will increase. Once the opponent's speed can be restored to a high level, then the whole plan is likely to fail. Ma Jifen said with some concern that there is a fatal loophole in this plan, that is, if the other side discovers the attempt and withdraws at high speed before or at the beginning of the engagement, the operation of the US fleet may be in vain!

Thanks to the book friend Strait old man for his reward, as well as the book friend rain leakage, OYB's monthly ticket support, the decisive battle is about to kick off, everyone help~~~. (Your support is my biggest motivation.) )