Once the war zone is covered by a storm, the situation will be even more chaotic, and chaos is exactly what the other side needs.

Ma Shengyu knew very well that his old warships and large patrol ships were overly heavy on firepower, and their mobility and protection capabilities were low. In order to make full use of our strong points and avoid our weaknesses and give full play to our superiority in firepower, it is necessary to maintain a tight formation, form a number of closely intertwined firepower lines at medium distances, drive the enemy fleet into our army's fire net with appropriate tactical maneuvers and light force surprise attacks, and make it lose its ability to counterattack in the shortest possible time, so that it is possible to win a final victory. On the contrary, if the formation of the whole team is chaotic and the enemy's heavy forces fall into a mid-to-close melee, the opponent will be able to give full play to its advantages in maneuver and protection, and destroy our ships individually-

What are the tasks of the main forces?

Knock back the enemy fleet, or, annihilate.

Ma Shengyu's understanding of the connotation of the mission is that the purpose of the operation is to inflict certain losses on the enemy fleet so that it will not be able to effectively threaten the landing operations of China's South China Sea Front in the Philippines and Vietnam for at least half a month. To accomplish this, at least two-thirds of the enemy fleet's battleships and mounted cruisers must be slandered, specifically, by making 6 to 7 of the enemy's 10 battleships, and 7 to 8 of all 11 battlecruisers and mounted cruisers, eat at least one torpedo or 3 to 5 large-caliber shells per ship.

According to the preliminary battle reports of the participating units, Ma Shengyu judged that before the main force encountered the enemy, at least 3 battleships and 5 to 6 battle cruisers and mounted patrols had been sunk or abandoned by the opposing side, another 2 to 3 battleships and 2 to 3 mounted patrols were wounded or seriously damaged, and 2 battleships were damaged by submarines just after sailing out of Singapore Harbor, and have now been docked for repairs.

That is, even if the main forces do not participate in the war, the purpose of the operation has already been achieved.

Is it necessary, then, to continue the decisive battle at the risk of serious losses to the fleet?

Of course, the honor of completely annihilating the enemy's combined fleet and reproducing the glory of the naval battle in the South China Sea 10 years ago is still extremely tempting for a fleet commander.

How to choose?

It may be worth it to trade these old goods for the destruction of the enemy's combined fleet - provided that the officers and men above can survive, and the large number of new warships in the dockyards of the three East Asian countries will need these skilled officers and men.

In Ma Shengyu's view, the more than 20,000 generals in the fleet are much more valuable than the outdated warships under their feet.

The top priority is to put the formation of the two columns in order! Don't let the enemy take advantage of the chaos and fight an uncontrollable melee in the storm! Even if it is possible to let go of the main forces of the enemy fleet - at all costs!

Ma Shengyu quickly made up his mind.

Under the guidance of the command flag raised by the "Ruixiang", the ships of the avant-garde column and the main column moved away from the destroyer groups of both sides in the melee and regrouped on the north side of Kabaruyan Island. The planes and airship units in the sky were long gone—the tempest was the natural enemy of these flying monsters.

As the rain clouds in the southwest approached, the smoke on the battlefield and the smoke screen released by the enemy were swept by the wind, and for a while, most of the vision of the avant-garde and the main column was covered, and Ma Shengyu ordered: "Use all means to order the light patrol and lightning strike teams to return to the team as soon as possible." ”

After a while, the wind gradually increased, the smoke of gunpowder dissipated, the black clouds approached, and the curtain swept the sky, like a swarthy iron pot, and the entire sky was inverted little by little......

The waves on the sea are long with the wind, wave after wave, and the steel giant ship swayed in it, and from time to time a wave swooped down on the bow of the ship, bursting out of the sky and breaking jade, rinsing the angular behemoth turret.

The rain was pouring down, but Ma Shengyu stood still on the terrace, he needed to see, he needed to see the large and small shadows of the ship in front and back, left and right, and the light signals from above from time to time - at least this would make him feel more at ease.

Is the decisive battle over?

Putting on the raincoat sent by the adjutant, Ma Shengyu traced the possible routes of the other party in the chart embedded in his mind.

Judging from the opponent's desperate move of releasing light forces to cover the main force, it is obvious that it realizes that its main force has suffered too heavy losses and is no longer able to fight a decisive battle with our main force, and that fleeing back to Singapore Harbor with all its might will be the only choice for the other side in the future.

Based on this premise, the enemy fleet is most likely to take a direct route to Singapore after bypassing Kabaruyan Island and breaking out of Lingayan Bay.

In this way, if our army ambushes the lightning attack troops on this route as soon as possible, it will still have the opportunity to give the other side a "romantic torpedo night" after dark, which can provide double and sufficient cover for our lightning strike troops in the heavy rain and dark night.

As for the main battle at night, because it was also difficult to control the process, it was very likely to fall into a melee and suffer heavy losses, but Ma Shengyu did not consider it.

At this time, the damage caused by the various cruiser lightning strike teams in the battle just now was reported: the "Tiggo" of the 2nd Patrol Brigade of the Korean Light Patrol Brigade and the "Selective Capture" of the 3rd Light Patrol Brigade of the Japanese Army were sunk, and 2 other light cruisers were injured and 3 were slightly injured. A total of 3 destroyers of each lightning strike team were sunk and many were damaged.

"The damage is still under control." Ma Shengyu thought, and immediately ordered the 1st and 2nd teams of the Chinese Army to drive at full speed to the front of the estimated enemy route, preparing to find an opportunity to launch a lightning strike against the enemy after nightfall.

Is that okay? Won't you feel sorry? The honor of the total annihilation of the enemy fleet, was it just abandoned?

The raindrops of beans crackled on the raincoat, wiping away the rain all over his face, and Ma Shengyu firmly believed that his choice was correct.

Bernie, a dozen nautical miles away, seemed to have no choice.

In the fierce battle just now, the light and medium-sized forces of the four-nation combined fleet, other than the capital ships, suffered heavy losses: the armored cruiser "Monmouth" (9,800 tons), the protective cruisers "Newcastle" (4,800 tons), "Fordwood" (2,600 tons), "Forisset" (2,600 tons), and "Loneba" (4,200 tons), as well as seven destroyers, were sunk, and more than 10 ships were damaged in battle. As for the U.S. ships that slipped away early, Bernie didn't bother to care whether they lived or died.

Decisive battle?

That was already a dream.

On the port side, the promontory at the end of the Bansylan Peninsula loomed, the island of Kabaruyan was far behind, and the bow of the "Malaya" was turning to the southwest.

It's been more than an hour since contact with the enemy fleet was lost, the sky was getting darker, and night was approaching - the fleet was out of danger?

Looking at the rough seas in front of him, Bernie's greatest fear now was that the four-hole ship under his feet, as well as the other heavily damaged ships, would have died in the wind and waves—if so, he would rather let them sink in glory under the enemy's fire.

Fears still happened, and shortly after nightfall, the "Nelson", which had eaten a large-caliber torpedo during the day, sent a light signal: "This ship is seriously flooded and cannot keep up with the formation." ”

It turned out that in order to get rid of the East Asian fleet as soon as possible, Bernie's main formation had been sailing at the maximum formation speed of 17 knots for several hours, and the "Nelson", whose hull structure was backward, could not withstand it, and the cabin was constantly flooded, and it fell far behind the formation.

Bernie had no choice but to leave four destroyers to accompany the "Nelson", and the rest of the ships kept moving at the same speed.

Two hours later, the starboard side of the "Nelson" hit two torpedoes and sank to the bottom of the sea within a quarter of an hour. The accompanying destroyers engaged in a fierce battle with the Chinese lightning strike troops who came to sneak attack, and the "Lubides" was sunk, and the remaining three ships were wounded and fled.

It was the worst battle in the South China Sea that day.