"That's the end of it?" Looking at the wounded battleship and listening to the sound of shelling from time to time in the distance, Shelley knew that the Philadelphia class had been removed, the Third Fleet had been heavily damaged, and the superiority of the US Navy was gradually being weakened. It was only then that he truly understood what a valuable resource Majifen's experience was. A sense of failure crept through its heart.

Of the remaining three battleships, the Newark was not too bad, except that a few fires were fired on the bridge and a few guns were lost. The Charleston was largely uncared for, and the entire battleship was nothing more than a 6-inch shell hitting the stern, except that the 12-pounder gun had made a few cuts in the side of the ship. The Baltimore, the most powerful in the fleet, suffered a heavier blow, in addition to the slowdown caused by the destruction of the flue, the bow of the ship was hit by an eight-inch shell, and a hole was opened at the waterline, which directly led to a further decrease in the speed of the Baltimore!

But fortunately, it is almost dark, and in an hour at most, the fleet can escape from the battlefield under the cover of night, as for his fate after the battle, Shelly didn't think much about it, his own command mistakes led to huge losses in the fleet, which cannot be changed. "Leave it to fate!" At this time, Shelly hopes that he can be really cowardly at first, so that at least his fleet is still there!

"Have you really forsaken your people, O God?" At this moment, a desperate voice once again stimulated Shelly's already somewhat relaxed nerves! Just in front of the left side of his fleet, two huge figures gradually became clear! Because of the lack of light and backlight. The American fleet did not detect these two behemoths in time. When the two giant ships rushed towards the U.S. fleet at a high speed of 18 knots, Shelly knew that their time might have come!

After taking a few big breaths, Shelly struggled to suppress his despair, knowing that he couldn't collapse at this point, at least not until the fleet was destroyed or fled. Otherwise. The Third Fleet will be the first U.S. fleet in history to be wiped out! This shame cannot be borne by the United States! And he Shelly doesn't want to be a sinner in the United States!

"Order the USS Baltimore to be responsible for holding off the opposing side, and the USS Newark and USS Charleston withdraw from the battlefield!" Moments later, Shelly gave the second order to abandon the friendly forces!

"Your Excellency, General. You will go to court-martials because of your orders! A voice startled Shelly.

"Mr. Major, the rest of my life is destined to be spent in prison and disgrace, and I don't care if I go to court-martial." Shelly said slowly. "I'm more concerned now about bringing back as many U.S. Navy lads as possible." Looking at the 30-year-old major in front of him, Shelly said slowly, his failure was enough to shoot, and in this case, he didn't care about adding one more line to his trial book!

And at this moment, facing this American fleet, which was already a remnant, Yang Yonglin did not show how happy he was. The U.S. fleet has already lost 2 cruisers, and soon this mantis arm will come to stop its own battleships to make that number 3! The victory in the battle is beyond doubt. But the point is what to do next! Is it to continue looking for the American fleet to fight or to look for an opportunity to return to San Diego?

Judging from the principle of prudence, Yang Yonglin has done well enough to cripple an American fleet. won a 0-3 record, but such a record is far from enough in Yang Yonglin's opinion! Even so, the Americans could concentrate 1 dozen cruisers and 4 battleships to fight the Spaniards! And after this war, I'm afraid the U.S. fleet will definitely not play any more division of forces, right? And if we don't take this opportunity to consume the US fleet more, then this war will still be more likely for the US side to win! …,

Although I think so. But before obtaining the specific situation of the Jericho fleet, Yang Yonglin did not dare to pursue rashly, if in this war, the Jericho fleet suffered huge losses, then Yang Yonglin also had to give up the attempt to continue fighting! Just when he was in a dilemma, the King and the Baltimore had already exchanged fire!

"I have great admiration for the courage of this American captain. But if we can only meet such an opponent in this battle, it will be too boring! Scheer said to himself, but boring is boring, the results in hand still have to be wanted, although it is a little smaller, but it is better than nothing!

"Everyone saves ammo, and we may have to go to a bigger feast! In comparison, our annihilation of the USS Baltimore is just an appetizer! Yang Yonglin said with a smile.

"That's great, I can't wait!" Scheer rubbed his palms excitedly and said, Scheer is an absolutely bold general by nature, in his eyes, the essence of naval warfare is to constantly search for opponents, look for opportunities, and then fight. The kind of fast-paced combat that makes it impossible for the other side to adapt is the highest level of naval warfare, just like the Nelson of the Far East who led three Guiyuan-class ships across the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea in the early days of the Sino-Japanese War to sweep the huge Japanese Combined Fleet. This is the real naval battle!

If what happened to the Baltimore just now was like a knight being shot by a dense barrage of crossbow arrows. Then the current Baltimore is no longer facing crossbow arrows, but flying war hammers and sharp axes! Every salvo of the main guns of the Kings and Cologne terrified the American crew of the Baltimore, and they were in such a good situation that a single shot, whether it was a 10-inch gun or an 11-inch gun, could end the battered battleship!

The Baltimore cautiously maneuvered around the two massive battleships, changing course from time to time while spotting an opportunity to return fire with its own 8-inch 35L gun. At this point, it didn't expect to do much damage to the other party, but only hoped that it would be able to delay for a while before being sunk. But the battleship had already been damaged after all, and the speed of only 16 knots and the staggering evasion seemed ridiculous to the other side. The final trial did not drag on for long. A 10-inch shell fired from the USS Cologne accurately hit the stern of the Baltimore! In the huge explosion, the whole battleship shook violently, and the stern seemed to be deeply pressed down by an invisible hand, and then a bright yellow flame rose up, which looked extremely conspicuous in the reflection of the setting sun.

The shell made a huge opening directly in the stern. A large amount of sea water poured in from the breach, and the Baltimore was like a hyena with a broken foot, with no maneuverability to speak of. "We tried to buy time for the evacuation of Admiral Shelly's fleet with our last meager firepower, and we knew that the Baltimore was dead, but we didn't expect this last moment to come back so quickly!" A veteran wrote this in a later combat report.

Just 3 minutes after the first large-caliber shell hit, the King also made the first hit against a US Navy battleship. If the Cologne's 10-inch gun was a sharp cavalry lance piercing the stern of the Baltimore, then the King's 11-inch bomb was a heavy hammer, and this high-explosive shell weighing 262KG easily smashed into the 8-inch patio gun in the bow of the Baltimore ship. The exploding shells directly detonated the propellant and shells in the terrace, and a huge shock wave instantly swept across the entire forecastle. Not only was the entire gun gallery blown away, but even the bridge at the rear made a tooth-sore sound from the huge impact. And that's not the worst, a stream of flames went down the supply channel directly into the Baltimore's ammunition depot, and after a few seconds of explosion, an even more powerful explosion directly blew the Baltimore's bow to pieces, and the entire battleship sank forward sharply, and most of the hull went below sea level. …,

"The Baltimore is finished." Sippel said with satisfaction. "What do we do next?"

"Wait for Jericho's debriefing, and then we'll decide." Look at the sky that was already dark, and the Shelly fleet looming in the distance. Yang Yonglin ordered.

An hour later, while the soldiers of the King were eating, the searchlight column from a distance directly told Yang Yonglin that Jericho had returned, and that the Spanish Second Fleet had finally regrouped. "They don't look like they've lost much." Sippel said, pointing to the Manila, which was at the head of the team.

"We'll decide when Jericho comes over." Yang Yonglin said.

Half an hour later, as Jericho sat down in the King's officers' quarters, the three of them began to plan for the next battle. "My fleet doesn't suffer much damage, the ammunition can still support a battle, and as for your ships, it always feels like it's no different from this morning." Jericho joked.

"That's right, we just passed by the Baltimore, and the ship sank, and we didn't do anything." Siperl is also in a good mood, after all, everyone is happy to win.

"What do we do next? Do you want to find an opportunity to return to the Port of San Diego through the Windward Channel, or do you want to stay in the area for a while? Jericho said.

"What about your opinion? Mr. Jericho. Yang Yonglin didn't answer, but asked rhetorically.

"We can continue the search for a while and wipe out the remaining two ships of that fleet." Jericho thought for a moment and said.

"Two battleships left? No, our goal is not these miscellaneous fish, I think we can go and look for the American cruiser formation of the first rank. Sippel said.

"This is a bit risky, the other side has 5 first-class cruisers, two of which are more than 8,000 tons, and if there is a war, the victorious side will also suffer heavy losses." Jericho said with a frown.

"Although we won, we did not inflict heavy losses on the American fleet after all! Three cruisers of the second rank was not a big loss for the United States. And now that the U.S. Navy is in a state of division of forces, there are not many opportunities like this. If we can't catch it this time, it will probably be a hard-fought battle next time. Yang Yonglin said.

"I support General Yang's opinion." Sippel said. "Okay, the two of you, two to one." Jericho said a little depressed.

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