After more than three hours of fierce fighting

The battleship "New Hampshire," the flagship of the Atlantic Fleet, was given special attention by artillery fire, and 17 rounds of 356-mm and 305-mm large-caliber shells were hit successively.

The tall command tower was hit by three large-caliber shells, twisted into charred rags, and Lieutenant General Ben Adelaide was killed instantly. The engine room at the rear of the hull was blown open and completely lost power, and after being filled with a large amount of seawater, it rolled badly, and it sank on the surface of the sea.

The surviving officers and soldiers jumped into the water to survive, and it was only a matter of time before they sank.

The old battleship "Indiana" sank, the battleship "Iowa", the battleship "Mississippi" sank, and the battleship "Missouri" sank......

February 3, 1909, around 8:00 a.m

In addition to the sunken and badly damaged ships, the remaining ships of the Atlantic Fleet began to flee without thinking, and the Royal Navy cruisers launched a large-scale pursuit naval battle to destroy the enemy.

One by one, the main fleet sailed into the bay, moored down in order, and began a long rest, and the battle that belonged to them was temporarily over.

The remnants of the American troops on the shore, under the threat of large-caliber naval guns, wisely chose to surrender.

Resistance has no meaning other than to increase casualties.

After approaching, the cruiser "Night Moon" fired four torpedoes in a row, two of which missed and two hit, ending the life of the battleship "New Hampshire," the flagship of the Atlantic Fleet, and causing it to sink to the bottom of the Drake Strait at a depth of more than 1,000 meters.

At this point, eight of the nine battleships of the Atlantic Fleet surrendered, and all the warships of the US Navy fleet were lost, leaving only the two battleships that had not yet been commissioned at the Hampton anchorage.

The U.S. Atlantic Fleet and the Pacific Fleet were destroyed one after another, with all casualties, and the U.S. Navy didn't even have enough manpower to operate these two large capital warships, let alone combat effectiveness.

As for the 13 cutting-edge battleships under construction, we can only pray that the army units will send people to open them, and anyway, of the total strength of the US Navy's 77,000 troops, nearly 40,000 have either died, surrendered, or been captured, and most of them are combat personnel of the main ship force.

The remaining more than 30,000 people, the vast majority of whom are logistics and maintenance personnel of various naval bases on the west coast, guards and management personnel of naval bases, warehouses and naval stations, and there are not even 1,500 people belonging to the second- and third-line naval units.

During the period of great expansion of the Great White Fleet and after 1909, in order to arm the Atlantic Fleet, the cadets who did not graduate from the Naval Academy of the United States and the instructors who had served for many years went to the front-line combat posts, completely emptying the naval heritage accumulated for many years, and now most of them are buried in the icy Pacific Ocean or the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

The battleship that surrendered was the fifth "Minnesota" of the 16,000-ton "Connecticut" class battleship, which was hit by two large-caliber shells, one of which blew up the bow and the other hit the main armor belt on the side side.

In addition, of the remaining nine large cruisers of the US Navy, four were sunk in battle, one was sunk by itself with no hope of escaping, and two of the ones that were fleeing obediently raised their white flags and surrendered.

So far, 9 of the 13 large cruisers of the Atlantic Fleet have been sunk, 2 have surrendered, and 2 are still on the run.

The two large armored cruisers that surrendered were the 14,500-ton "West Virginia" and "Colorado" armored cruisers that originally followed the Mississippi out for a circle.

These two ships were originally at the end of the battle line of the US Atlantic Fleet, and the distance between the warships in the battle line should be between 800 and 1,000 meters, but these two ships were pulled 2.5 kilometers away, almost out of formation, and naturally escaped the ferocious blow.

At the time of surrender, the whole ship was intact and shiny, and the 621 officers and men of the whole ship had no other casualties except for a few who slipped and were injured, and the two ships were more than 1,240 people, all of whom were obediently taken prisoner.

Of the remaining 10 or so small and medium-sized cruisers of the Atlantic Fleet, 5 were sunk, 3 were captured, and the remaining 3 were on the run.

Several broken ships anchored in the bay were also captured and became trophies of the Royal Navy's expeditionary strike formation.

In this battle, 47 mine-strike destroyers were sunk, in addition to 7 self-sank, and more than 40 escaped and are being pursued.

The Royal Navy's expeditionary strike formation is very vigilant and will never allow mine-strike destroyers equipped with gas torpedoes to approach and will not accept surrender; those who want to surrender must empty the torpedoes, turn off the main engine, and all the officers and men of the ship must stand on the deck and surrender with their heads in their hands, otherwise they will all be sunk.

It was precisely under such harsh conditions that not a single mine-strike destroyer surrendered, either forced to sink itself or flee with his life, and never surrendered anyway.

Vice Admiral Li Jie also didn't look down on these little wrecked ships, this thing was like a big moving bomb, it exploded wherever it went, and once the torpedo exploded, it would blow his own warship to pieces, it was too dangerous to give it to him.

The fleet's armed sailors organized themselves and took over the small port city of Ushuaia, the southernmost port in the world, as well as the warehouse complex set up by the American Atlantic Fleet, thousands of wooden houses, a 30,000-ton shipyard under construction, and a half-built fortress.

What made Lieutenant General Li Jie and His Royal Highness Major General Li Siyuan happy was ...... Although the fort has not been built, the Mi people have already shipped 8 brand-new 305 mm shore guns, 8 281 mm shore guns, 16 203 mm shore guns and 24 152 mm rapid-fire guns, and thousands of tons of shells have been prepared.

In addition, there is a complete set of large-scale shipyard equipment, which is for the 30,000-ton dock to make a supporting capacity, trying to make Tierra del Fuego have the logistical support capacity of a large naval base, and rushing to build it day and night at any cost, hoping to build Tierra del Fuego into a solid front-line position.

Due to the rush of time, the strategic attempt fell without implementation, and countless important military and civilian supplies all fell into the hands of the Royal Navy, which simply laughed out of the big teeth.

In the port of Ushuaia

There is a large cargo ship fleet from the United States, loaded with 80,000 tons of cement, 50,000 tons of various steel, building materials, plates, pipes, and a large number of quilts, food, daily necessities, leather shoes, gloves, and even chewing gum, which looks like a long-term station.

Now that all of this is in the possession of the Royal Navy, Vice Admiral Lee Kit no longer wants to transfer Tierra del Fuego to the Army, and he plans to send a report to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to sign it, and transfer 8,000 recruits from the new recruits being trained to the island to take over the entire property.

Houses, docks, shipyards, fortresses, and docks continue to be repaired, anyway, the ready-made workers of the United States have now become prisoners, and there are still a large number of US Navy prisoners in their hands, so continue to build.

The supplies are all ready-made, everything for food and drink is available, and the weapons are also ready-made, and as long as the new recruits come over, they can take over the facilities on the island, and gradually build a large comprehensive naval base with the ability to support the combat of a large fleet.

"Your Highness, do you think my idea is feasible?" Lieutenant General Li Jie asked with a humble expression.

Major General Li Siyuan chuckled when he heard this, nodded and replied; "Yes, the country was originally preparing to take Tierra del Fuego, so it has been putting pressure on Chile to make trouble about their supply of the three battleships of the Great White Fleet, and this matter is not over.

I guess;

The Emperor may want to take all of the Aysin region in northern Chile and the island of Tierra del Fuego, which belongs to Chile, and add the part of Tierra del Fuego, which belongs to Argentina, to form our complete South American territory.

What is important is not the size of the land, but the position of the two-ocean passage between the Strait of Magellan and the Drake Strait, which is an important purpose of our war.

In addition, we have occupied Panama and taken over the canal project that is being built by the Chinese people, and my father also wants to keep it in his hands, and build it as an imperial territory, and have already begun to clean up and resettle.

Coupled with the occupation zone in North America, we can form three key points, one south, one middle and one north, fully control the core points of North and South America, and fully control the Pacific trade routes, and then exert strong influence on the countries bordering the Pacific and include them in the circle of imperial friends.

My father's large-scale strategic planning was the foundation of a century-old power, and Tierra del Fuego was an important part of it, and the Admiralty should be able to apply for it, but I am afraid that it would face strong opposition from the War Department.

I don't want to get involved too much, so you have to be mentally prepared for that. ”

"Thank you, Your Highness, for your doubts, I understand." After Lieutenant General Li Jie gave a deep salute, his expression became more and more respectful, and he hesitated and asked; "Dare to ask Your Highness, when will the expeditionary strike formation march to the east coast of the United States?"

"Huh...... It's not your task, it's not my task, honorable Marquis of Dingyuan, it should be after the award, right? Congratulations, Mr. Admiral! Major General Li Siyuan chuckled, but the news made Lieutenant General Li Jie ecstatic.

He will be awarded the title of Marquis of Dingyuan for his military exploits, and will be promoted to admiral, becoming one of the first great nobles of the empire, which is the most generous reward for Lieutenant General Li Jie, who is nearly 60 years old, family glory, and retirement with the country.

After the victory of this large-scale war, a large number of high-ranking nobles will emerge, such as General He Fang, who is in command, General Li Xuanzhu, who led the army to dominate the North American battlefield, Lieutenant General Duan Qirui, and Admiral Zhu Qingxi, who is about to carry out the strike mission on the east coast of the United States, etc., will all be promoted to knighthood for their merits.

War is a feast for soldiers, so imperial soldiers will be belligerent, and they will be happy when they hear about war.

Lieutenant General Li Jie understood the meaning of His Highness's words, he had already made immortal achievements, and the rest could not be fought for anymore, and the benefits should be left for others to share.

Sit in a row, and divide the fruit is the king.

Everyone is really happy, and if you are too lonely, you will really die, even if it is a top noble.