In the busy North Atlantic, the freighter Crucifera is sailing leisurely,

"Captain, look, where is what? It seems to be a fleet, or a large fleet of ships. Jack, the lookout of the freighter, said as he looked at the puffs of black smoke rising from the distance.

"What a fuss." Captain Bass picked up the binoculars in his hand and looked into the distance, only to see two huge figures in the distance driving towards this direction at high speed, and there were eight smaller figures behind them. However, that is only compared to the previous two behemoths, and overall, it is still a lot bigger than his 6,000-ton Crossflower.

"That's a lot of speed, they should have 15 knots."

"They don't seem to be merchant ships. It's a warship! "The two giant ships are getting clearer and clearer in Basko's telescope! The huge turret of the ship made his heart tighten. "This is certainly not an American battleship." A thought popped into his head.

The first mate said with a calm face. "This is certainly not an American battleship, and the British and French did not have such a huge battleship in the Americas."

Now everyone knows that the warships of the US Navy have basically been concentrated in the south. Half a month ago, the Crucifix was leased by the U.S. Navy to transport munitions.

"Damn, it's the Spanish flag! It's the Spanish fleet! ”

At this moment, Jack, who was on the lookout, had already confirmed the identity of the other party.

"God, let's get out of here, Zuo Manrudder, let's get out of here!" Buzz said in a panic. This is a 6,000-ton merchant ship, and almost all of his worth.

"Captain, it may be too late, they want us to stop the ship!" Jack said in despair.

"Leave them alone, they can't be here for us, they may not catch up when we leave the main channel. Then let's go back! "On the orders of Captain Basko. The Cruciferous began to turn slowly, but the heavy load made the ship clumsy.

Captain Basko was right. It is true that the Spanish fleet did not come for looting.

But again, they would never let go of any merchant ship they encountered, and in order to ensure the concealment of their movements, the Spanish fleet did not go in a straight line, they left the busy shipping lines as much as possible, and had to intercept all the American merchant ships they encountered. Unfortunately, the Crossflower ran into the Spanish fleet trying to conceal its whereabouts.

"A futile move."

He shook his head as he looked at the Crossflower that was evading in the distance.

I saw a destroyer rushing towards the other side, and after easily catching up with the other party, two shells from the 102 mm main gun made the 6,000-ton big guy honestly stop.

"We are civilians, and you can't do this to us." After being pressed onto the boat, Captain Basco exclaimed.

"Wars are all reciprocal, you can blockade Cuba, and we can blockade the east coast of the United States." The Spanish officer said with a sneer. "You are now our captives, and that poor merchant ship will be scuttled after we have taken some of the necessities."

The Crucifera wasn't the first unlucky one, and definitely not the last. During the long voyage of nearly 1,000 nautical miles, the Spanish fleet sank more than a dozen large and small transport ships. More than three hundred American sailors became prisoners, and the US Navy knew nothing about it.

It is no wonder that most of the US naval forces have already reached the south. In the eyes of the U.S. military, the immediate priority of the Spanish fleet must be to enter Cuba first, then complete the rearmament, and then start a decisive battle with the U.S. fleet, or first start a break-up operation and then a decisive battle.

But the Americans may have forgotten that movement warfare has always been the choice of the weak, and the American fleet has used it to break the engagement. The British Navy was more passive. This time, the Spanish fleet had the same strategy, but it was a little bigger.

It would also be incorrect to say that the Americans were not at all guarded. Although the ocean-going fleet has all gone south, it still has a certain amount of defensive strength in some important military ports.

For example, at the Navy's Hamilton Naval Harbor, the Americans left behind the 6,000-ton coastal defense ironclad USS Texas, the 6,000-ton shallow water heavy gunboat USS Puritan, the 4,000-ton shallow heavy gunboats USS Fear and the USS Monterey, plus two torpedo boats, TB2 and TB3, to guard the Hamilton Military Port and the adjacent Navy Newport News Shipyard.

In the early morning of 18 September, when Vice Admiral Cedra and his fleet saw land, Captain Juriti, who had been hired for a good salary, shouted. "We're at the southern tip of the Delaware Peninsula, just over 40 nautical miles from Newport News, which is pretty close."

And Captain Giulity's words lifted the spirits of the Spanish officers and men on board, and it seemed that the goal was not far away.

More than two hours later, looking at the warships quietly docked in the military port in the distance, and the Newport News shipyard opposite, Vice Admiral Cedra and all the officers and men of the fleet showed ecstatic expressions, and the enemy was actually defenseless.

It cannot be said that they were defenseless, two torpedo boats rushed out of the military port, although they knew that they were bound to die, but in order to protect the military port and the shipyard, they rushed over without hesitation.

In addition, the battery on the hill outside the military port has finally opened fire, but this old front-loading gun is more for its own courage. At the same time, the battleships such as the USS Texas and the USS Puritan in the military harbor finally began to start fires, but unfortunately if you want to make the battleships move, there is no warm-up time of two or three hours, so you can't do it at all. And will the Spanish fleet give them three hours?

"The ships obeyed the order, prioritized the enemy ships, and then shelled the shipyards as well as the harbor."

Under the orders of Vice Admiral Sedra, ten large battleships began to move. The two torpedo boats did not even catch half of the secondary artillery fire, and there was no sound.

Next, the battleships such as the Texas and the Puritan, which could not move, were completely attacked by the Spanish fleet as fixed targets that could not fight back. Dozens of large-caliber guns spewed tongues of fire at them, and the orange flames and gunsmoke at the muzzles of the guns were even more connected.

Countless shells rained down on the American warships in the harbor, and in less than one minute, the Texas was hit by at least 10 large-caliber shells, and each large-caliber shell continued to hit the vulnerable hull of the Texas like a heavy hammer.

Some lucky Americans really experienced what it means to live like a year, no one knows how long they can live, and everyone is afraid that a shell will penetrate the next door of the cabin not far away. And those unfortunate were killed directly by explosions, shrapnel and flames. In just a few minutes, the entire battleship was passed through by a dense cannonball! The entire superstructure turned into a flaming torch, and yellow-green flames spread across the deck, devouring everything that came its way!

The Texas was still struggling in the flames and smoke, and the Dreadful on his side didn't even have a chance to struggle, with a displacement of more than 4,000 tons, it actually had one twin 305 mm main gun and one twin 254 mm secondary gun, plus 330 mm main armor.

The data on paper is excellent, but the Americans know very well what level it is. The reserve is extremely buoyant, the freestring is extremely low, and the main armor belt is so narrow and short that it is almost non-existent. Coupled with the excessive weight of the armament, the stability and redundancy of this ship are really poor, although it was not taken care of, but it was still beaten by the two Venetian-class armored cruisers at the tail of the team.

A 254mm high-explosive shell slammed into the bow of the Dreador like a hammer. The entire battleship shook violently, and then a bright yellow flame burst out at the bow of the ship, and the huge explosion force directly opened a large hole of more than ten square meters in the bow of the ship. The entire bow then sinked, and a large amount of sea water poured into the bow, causing the Dreadship to cap badly.

At least three more 254-mm shells followed, leaving the Dreadful in a scarring situation. The raging fire spread on the ship, and the people in the bridge were either killed or injured, and the fire quickly developed in the direction of getting out of control, and the ship was finished.

As for the counterattack of the Americans, the military port was suddenly attacked, many of the crews were not on board, and in the case of insufficient manpower, sporadic counterattacks did not cause any damage to the Spanish fleet at all.

In the next half hour, the Dread, Monterey, and the Puritan sank, and only the Texas had not sunk, but it was already as motionless as a dead fish, and even the guns for the counterattack were gone.

Then a destroyer approached the USS Texas, and a torpedo shot took out this opponent. After the warships in the harbor were cleared, the two Venetian-class ships were left to bombard the harbor facilities, and the other warships headed for the Newport shipyard across the harbor, where two conspicuous ships were still waiting to be destroyed.

While the military port was devastated, the Americans were not idle, although there were no batteries and artillery there.

But taking advantage of this precious time, the small boats coming from Hamilton Harbour quickly laid a small number of mines on the main channel. Under the command of the officer, the shore personnel arranged smoke canisters to cover the two huge ships that were being outfitted.

Faced with this situation, the Spanish fleet did not dare to get too close to the target, after all, its own fleet did not bring minesweepers, and in case of a collision, it would be worth the loss.

Just raised the elevation angle of the artillery and fired at the shipyard in the distance. If a fleet engagement can still be called a battle, then now it is pure torture. Shells streaked through the air in curves that heralded destruction, and with a screeching sound that pierced the air, they fell into the battleships under construction and nearby factories kilometers away.

Shells exploded around the target, and the violent explosion sent the entire Newport people into a panic. The two huge ships under construction silently endured the bombardment of the cannons, they were not finished, there were no armor plates and no guns, like two targets.

The first to be hit directly was the Kentucky, a 356 mm shell smashed directly into the Kentucky's gun ring, after a loud bang, the prototype's gun ring was directly blown off nearly half, and even more deadly was the flames spread through the flammable materials in the cabin to the interior of the hull. Later, the power compartment of the ship's hull was hit by a 356-mm shell, which blew apart the pipes and power system that were being installed inside.

Although because of the smoke and distance, there are not many shells that hit directly. But for these two unfinished warships, which are not finished, have no armor protection, and have no damage, such a blow is already quite fatal.

The materials and flammables in the hull became accomplices in the burial of these two warships. A large amount of air poured in from the gun mounts and other holes, allowing the flames inside the hull to get enough oxygen. In the scorching flames, the two battleships, which were supposed to be completed in 1900, were completely reduced to a pile of scrap metal. At this moment the US Navy is crying.