Chapter 153: Sorrowful Thoughts

After listening to his words, Chen Jin also scratched his head a little! Although nearly two months have passed since the Huo Jiajun completely occupied Sumatra and Java Islands, as well as the surrounding islands! However, even after using a large number of indigenous people, the construction of the naval bases on these two islands was not completed before the start of the Huo Jiajun's war against the Dutch and Portuguese! Therefore, even if the power of the black powder used on the Dutch warships is limited, the damage to the Seahawk No. 1 battleship is not too great under the protection of the new armor, and it does not affect navigation and operations! However, if it wants to be repaired, it needs to run thousands of nautical miles, and it is only possible to reach the nearest New Taipei City (Batavia)! Even with the high speed of the Seahawk-class cruisers, it will be difficult to do it without six days! But after six days, I am afraid that the Netherlands, The Portuguese escort fleets have long been wiped out under the sharp artillery fire of their own ambush fleets!

At that time, their idea of participating in this important naval battle that will determine the final ownership of the Nanyang Islands will all come to naught! However, if the warships are not repaired! According to the naval regulations of the Huo Jiajun, damaged warships are not allowed to participate in the naval battle! This is a military order that cannot be violated!

Thinking of this, Chen Jin couldn't help but turn his joy at defeating the enemy ship and achieving major results into a long sigh!

Looking at his sad face, Chen Changshan patted him on the shoulder in understanding, he understood how much his old classmate loved the navy, and at the same time, he was looking forward to leading the Sea Eagle No. 1 to participate in this sea battle that was rare for decades! If you really miss this three-way battleship that is close to 100 ships, which can be called the largest naval decisive battle in the 19th century after the Battle of Trafalgar between Britain and France, and it is also the world's largest ironclad naval battle since the invention and construction of armored ships, Chen Jin, as a navy, will definitely regret it for life!

"Okay, don't think about it! There must be a road before the car reaches the mountain, and the boat will naturally go straight to the bridge! When the time comes, we will definitely think of a solution!"

After listening to his words, Chen Jin muttered in a low voice: "I hope so!"

This sea war at sea, in which thirteen ironclad ships clashed, came to an end! The eight Sea Hawk-class warships of the Huo Jiajun defeated the sea coachman of the former Holland Kingdom by virtue of the superior ability of their own warships and their own strict training in peacetime! At this time, while the soldiers of the Huo Jiajun were smiling at the face of their achievements, they also sighed that although the weapons and equipment and speed of the Dutch ironclad ships were not very good, their protective capability was definitely the top among the ironclad ships of the same class in the world! Although the superstructure and personnel were seriously damaged under the wanton bombardment of the 130mm naval guns, the boiler room and engine room protected by thick wrought iron armor really had nothing to do! The watertight compartment was also very complete and did not affect the sea navigation!

However, compared with the more than 3,500 tons of Jewel and Grand Duke, the situation of the Prince and the Oranch is somewhat serious! One of their bilges is flooded, their speed is seriously damaged, and one of the superstructures is almost burned to the ground, and the eyes of the personnel are lost! However, in order to hurry up as much as possible to participate in the decisive battle later, the five battleships of the Huo Jiajun Sea Eagle No. 1 to the Sea Eagle No. 5 began to hang these four Dutch captured battleships behind their frigates with cables, and dragged them forward at a speed of fifteen knots to rendezvous with the Turquoise ironclad cruiser that had already sailed for Padang!

The reason why they were in such a hurry was because the combined fleets of the Netherlands and Portugal would enter the ambush circle set up by their naval fleet on Ngano Island in less than four days! Therefore, as they did not want to miss this naval battle, they had to hurry with all their might, hand over the spoils of war to the naval station in Padang as soon as possible, replenish the coal and ammunition, and after changing the barrels, they should hurry up and go to the battlefield! No navy man in the Huojia army was willing to miss this war! If it weren't for Huo Shan's own age and his mother not allowing him to take a step out of the island of Taiwan, I'm afraid he would have been unable to resist following the battleship to watch this sea battle that is destined to go down in history!

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The night passed quickly, and the smoke after the fierce exchange of fire between the two fleets also dissipated in the endless sea under the strong sea breeze!

Sean is the lookout on the British ironclad cruiser Neptune! Although, now they are just tracking and observing the war between the Chinese and the Dutch and Portugal as if they were conducting ocean-going training! There is no danger, and Britain is not ready to intervene in this war, so his task is easy these days!

Instead, he took his toothpaste and toothbrush, opened the hatch, and came to the deck of the Neptune ironclad!

Because of the tropics, it was not very cold in the Indian Ocean in the morning! But because it was not yet six o'clock, it was quiet both the huge convoy in the distance and the British, French, and German warships following them! There was no noise except the sound of the waves crashing against the warships!

Sean stretched his waist comfortably, to be honest, the rest compartment for the soldiers on the navy battleship is too cramped now! It makes Sean, who has just joined the Royal Navy less than a year old, very uncomfortable! He always feels that his body and mind are bound by the bed that can't even stretch his legs! Therefore, he wakes up the earliest every morning! Today is no exception!

At this time, the sun had not yet risen in the east, there was still some mist on the sea, and the visibility was not too high! However, Shaun, who got up early every day, had already adapted to this kind of weather! So, he squeezed the toothpaste very quickly, took a breath and rinsed his mouth, and put the toothbrush with the toothpaste into his mouth!

But before he could brush it a few times, he was stunned by the three behemoths that came out of the mist in the distance, and he didn't even feel that the toothbrush had fallen to the ground!

"Captain, we have confirmed that the fleet ahead is the combined fleet of the expeditionary forces of the Netherlands and Portugal!" said Captain Chen Feishen with joy.

Because Blake, commander of the expeditionary forces of the two countries, was worried about the safety of the five Dutch pursuing warships! The speed of the combined fleet dropped a lot, and it only sailed a distance of more than 30 nautical miles in one day! It did not deviate too much from the position of the combined fleet of the two countries given by Chen Jin! It took six hours for the Seahawk VII and Seahawk VIII to find their traces, but because it was dark at night, they could not determine the identity of the fleet ahead, until the dawn of the day, they drove forward for a while, through the thin fog, and saw the warships flying the flags of Britain, France and Germany not far away, and finally determined that they had not found the wrong target!

"Well, since their identities have been confirmed, then we can just follow them! In addition, you go down and make arrangements, except for some soldiers who are left on duty in key positions such as the engine room and boiler room, and all the remaining officers and soldiers go down to rest!" Yue Zhongqi breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, and commanded calmly!

The soldiers of the Seahawk No. 7 battleship, after a long journey, participated in a fierce battle at sea, and in addition to the fact that they had pursued the combined fleets of the two countries overnight last night, they had not been rested until now! No matter whether they were physically tired! Therefore, after confirming the identity of the fleet ahead, Yue Zhongqi immediately gave the order for all the officers and men of the ship to rest!

Looking at the tired look on his face, Chen Fei couldn't help but say with concern: "Captain, why don't you go down and rest for a while!"

"Hehe, no need! You haven't had much rest along the way, go down quickly! I'll hold on for a while, and soon Lao Xiao will come to take over my shift!" Yue Zhongqi said with a smile on his face.

"Alright then, Captain!Then I'll go down first!" he knew his captain's temper, and he was absolutely a good one, so he didn't insist on it anymore!

"Hmm!