Chapter 139 Speed 22 knots

Watching you chase me back, gradually disappearing into the place where the sky and water meet, the three countries of Britain, Germany and France who stayed in place were a little difficult, they stood but each country only had one warship, and they couldn't chase it in five directions like the Dutch!

Whether it was Henrik who wanted to see the ironclad duel, or Tirpitz who wanted to further verify whether there was really a mysterious communication between the Chinese People's Army naval warships, or even the French, who originally thought that the Dutch would definitely win the naval battle, they all had to give up their thoughts of watching the battle and stayed behind the combined fleet of the Netherlands and Portugal, waiting for the final outcome of the war with some anxiety!

Standing on the Cambridge of the ironclad ship of the Seven Provinces Alliance, Blake watched the five Dutch warships disappear into the distance, and couldn't help but take a deep breath, trying to calm down his anxious and uneasy mood!

As time went on, the distance between the five Dutch warships became farther and farther apart! If you look down from the sky at this time, you will find that the warships of the two sides are like open palms, and the two sides that are only ten nautical miles away from each other are like the first two sections of each finger, while the combined fleets of the Netherlands, Portugal, and the huge fleets of Britain, France, and Germany that remain in place are like palms, and the whole scene looks extremely vivid!

Looking at the KPA Navy battleship numbered HY001 that was always ten nautical miles away from him in front of him, Munch's heart became more and more uneasy, but he had already chased out such a long distance, and if he wanted to give up, he was a little unwilling! In this contradictory psychology, he did not find that the closest warship of his own was already fifty nautical miles away!

Putting down the binoculars in his hand, Chen Jin looked at the Jewel ironclad that had always followed him, and smiled faintly, with a hint of mockery between the corners of his mouth!

"It's time for a good show!" Chen Jinshen muttered excitedly.

"Commander, the speed of the enemy's battleship has suddenly increased, and now it has reached 18 knots, and it is still speeding up!19 knots, 20 knots, 21 knots, 22 knots, my God, is it all stuffed with boilers?"

Listening to his words, the captain's room, which was originally a little busy and noisy, fell into an eerie silence, but soon everyone began to involuntarily rummage through the monoculars that were originally placed beside them!

At this time, Munch's god sè was difficult to describe with surprise, from his pale face and open lips, it can be seen that the Seahawk No. 1 in a few minutes, in terms of speed, can be said to have changed dramatically, what a blow it gave him! In fact, it is no wonder that he is like this, you must know that at this time, almost all the most advanced warships are in Europe, in the United Kingdom, but the fastest one among them is only 18 knots! And now this enemy warship, which is gradually disappearing into the distance, according to his visual speed, has reached at least 22 knots, or even higher!

At this time, everyone on the Jewel, from the crew to the officers, was stunned by this battleship that was speeding away from them more and more, and it was not until a while that it gradually recovered!

"Not good!" Looking at the enemy warship heading straight east, Munch couldn't help but change his face and exclaimed.

"Captain Montriley, how far is the distance between us and the Grand Duke now?" Munch asked nervously, ignoring his gaffe, grabbing the captain of the Jewel beside him.

Being able to be the captain of the 3,500-ton ironclad battleship Jewel, Mendri was not a fool, he already felt the seriousness of the matter from the direction in which the extremely fast battleship left and the panicked look on Rear Admiral Munch's face!

"Commander, now we can no longer see the Grand Duke in our sight, and according to its speed and course, the distance between us should now be more than fifty nautical miles!"

"That means even if we get there as fast as we can, it will take half an hour, right?" Munch asked, almost to himself.

"I'm afraid so, Commander!" replied Mundley in a heavy tone.

"It's over!" Munch looked ahead with lost eyes, and his body fell limply on the chair behind him!

Although the tonnage of the Jewel and the Grand Duke reached 3,500 tons, and the wrought iron armor at the waterline exceeded 280 mm thick! It was very difficult to sink with the two 130 mm naval guns on the KPA Navy warships! However, if we dealt with ironclad ships with a tonnage of just over 2,000 tons, such as the Turquoise, Prince and Oranch, there would be no problem at all! Moreover, the enemy was likely to concentrate all five warships and deal with one of his own warships by virtue of his speed superiority! The consequences of five to one, Mendeli no longer dared to imagine!

Moreover, at this time, he finally understood why the enemy ships were scattered so far in the first place, and retreated in five different directions, and even each battleship always remained with them, ten nautical miles away, if they were about to leave, but they always fled with all their might!

Because they had already paid attention from the beginning, taking full advantage of the speed advantage of their own warships, and inducing them to have an advantage in the tonnage of the battleships and the caliber of their guns, the Dutch, who thought that they could easily defeat them, kept dividing their forces, and finally gathered the battleships to break them down!

At this time, after Mundley came to his senses, he finally understood Munch's current mood, because he had ordered the fleet to divide its forces to pursue the enemy's warships, and if the five battleships pursued by the Dutch this time suffered heavy losses because of this! More than half of the responsibility for the defeat should be recorded on Munch, who made a mistake in command!

"Now is not the time for the Commander to feel sorry for himself, and now our task is to hurry up and rendezvous every warship, and try to minimize our losses!" said Mundley, standing beside Munch.

Listening to his words, Munch's pale blue pupils gradually recovered some of his brilliance, and he turned his head to look at the captain of the Jewel wearing a white sè naval uniform, Munch nodded slowly, and said in a somewhat gloomy tone: "Captain, I authorize you to command the war below! I'm afraid I'm already a guilty person now!"

"Commander!!" said Mundley, whose expression changed, and he couldn't help but shout a little anxiously.

Waving his hand to interrupt his words, Munch, who was sitting in the chair, closed his eyes a little tiredly, and now he was really hit by a series of tactical actions of the five warships of the Huo family's army! Imagine that because of his wrong command, the pursuit fleet fell into the trap gradually set by the enemy step by step, and caused the ironclad ships as the main force to suffer heavy losses, which in turn might affect the landing operation of the joint expeditionary force of the Netherlands and Portugal, or even fail! His heart hurt like a knife!

All the officers and soldiers in the captain's room, including the chief navigator, the gunner, and the combat staff officer, involuntarily stopped what they were doing and quietly looked at them who were constantly communicating!

Although they were limited by their own knowledge and position, they could not understand the terrible situation in which their own fleet was now located! However, they also understood that the battleship that suddenly sailed towards the east like a sharp sword just now was probably the main reason for the commander and captain to lose their coolness!

Looking at the middle-aged man who seemed to have aged a lot all of a sudden, curled up in a chair, Meng Deli knew that the previous heroic and confident Major General Munch, who dared to face the challenge, would never come back!

"Hans, order the boiler room to be pressurized and ventilated, and the jewel to the highest speed, and we'll follow the damned battleship and sail east!" said Mundley, suddenly with a look of rage.

Although pressurized ventilation can increase the speed of the battleship to the greatest extent! However, at sea with high humidity and high salinity, it is very easy to cause wear and tear on the steam engine and the main shaft, and the life of the battleship is also greatly affected! Therefore, if it does not encounter something particularly important, the battleship will not use pressurized ventilation to increase its speed!

Looking at the solemn and angry look on the captain's face, Hans took back what he wanted to persuade and simply turned around to convey the order!