James. Hood's confidence is not unreasonable.

Although he suffered considerable losses in previous battles...... But that should only be bad luck.

I can win obviously, but I don't know how to lose, and I lose quite badly!

However, Hood's capital is very thick. He still has as many as 22 cutting-edge battleships in his hands!

If the 12 battleships of the Ming Nanyang Fleet were not retracted to the Batam anchorage, but were led by the Blake to the western section of the Strait of Malacca.

James. Hood can completely rely on the advantage of the strength in his hands to defeat them!

However, it doesn't matter if you can't fight the main force of the Nanyang Fleet now, because the Nanyang Fleet of the Ming Navy has also divided part of its forces to bypass Sumatra and advance westward...... I don't know if I want to outflank the west entrance of the Strait of Malacca? Anyway, it's almost delivered to James. Hood's lips edged.

And according to the results of airship reconnaissance, this fleet has about five battleships and three airship carriers, and its strength can only be said to be quite average.

James. At first, Hood was a little suspicious that this fleet was a decoy sent by Guan Tianpei...... But after sending more than a dozen airships to reconnoiter repeatedly, he had already determined that this was a huge mistake made by Guan Tianpei!

So, he's ready to eat this fleet in one bite!

And Vice Admiral Hood does have such confidence, which not only comes from his 22 battleships, but also from the secret weapon in his hand - airplanes!

That's right, it's an airplane!

But James. The plane in Hood's hand is different from the plane in Zhuge Weidao's hand.

They are actually a triangular glider with a small rotary cylinder motor...... It is the kind of person who operates a guided gliding bomb with a motor and a propeller, so that it has a certain amount of power, can fly farther, and can also fly against the wind.

According to Dr. Kelly, a British air expert, this kind of guided glide bomb is operated by a man with a small motor...... It's actually a flying machine, and that's an airplane!

Compared to the aircraft that had landing gear (Dr. Kelly's team had already built a powered glider with landing gear), this aircraft was simpler and lighter, and could be folded into an airship and dropped from a high altitude for greater load and range.

An airplane dropped from an altitude of 3,000 meters can carry up to 200 pounds of bombs and fly more than 50 kilometers with gliding and the power generated by small motors!

In this way, the pilots who operate these planes can still use the remaining fuel to drive small motors and propellers and fly a considerable distance after completing the bomb dropping. This is enough for them to fly near their own destroyer and crash into the sea after the bombardment is over. The percentage of rescued and surviving will increase dramatically!

And a newest Kelly 4 carrier-based airship can carry six such aircraft and launch them from an altitude of up to 3,000 meters.

James. A total of 15 airships can be carried on Hood's 15 airship carriers, and each airship can carry 6 aircraft, so that is a total of 90 aircraft, or bombers!

This is the hard power of "airplane riding face", how can it be lost?

.......

In the waters west of Sumatra, the aircraft-carrying battlecruiser Shuzhongwang, the flagship of the Ming Nanyang Fleet's "First Voyage Battle".

Inside the bridge, Ma Xuchen, chief of staff of the First Navigation Battle, took a telegram he had just received and said to Zhuge Weidao: "Junmen, the telegram of the Hongwu Emperor, Guan Junmen has led the main force of the Nanyang Fleet to return home, and it is expected to arrive at the anchorage south of Batam Island this evening.

The statistics of the results from last night to today's day have also come out, sinking 18 armored cruisers, 10 shallow heavy gunboats, and more than 20 second- and third-class cruisers. About 40 ships in total...... This is an unprecedented victory!"

Zhuge Weidao stood in front of the chart platform, looking intently at the position of the main force of the Second Indian Ocean Fleet on the chart.

"Where is the British's Grand Fleet?" Zhuge asked.

"It's out of the Straits of Malacca." Ma Xuchen lowered his voice and said, "This is the result of the submarine investigation, there should be no mistake."

actual

When the 2nd Indian Fleet first entered the Strait of Malacca, it was already discovered by submarines lying in ambush there.

After Guan Tianpei got the news, on the one hand, he ordered the submarine to continue to monitor, and on the other hand, he canceled several airship reconnaissances. In order to make the Brit think that his position is still not exposed!

And Zhuge Weidao also learned about the existence and whereabouts of the Second Indian Fleet at the first time!

However, he did not know that this fleet also had 15 airship carriers and as many as 90 bombers!

The reason why it was not found was because those airship carriers did not follow the main activities of the Second Indian Fleet - the range of airships was much larger than that of airplanes, so airship carriers could hide in a very safe sea area and did not have to be close to the battlefield.

In addition, the operation of guided gliding bombs by such people of the British has been a top secret since the day of its birth.

The intelligence agencies of the Ming Navy and the Army did not find this kind of weapon that sounded very absurd...... Someone may have found some clues, but they gave up on tracking it because it seemed too untrue.

So Zhuge Weidao didn't know that the British came up with this alternative aircraft used in conjunction with airships.

Until now, he thought that only Daming had aircraft carriers and carrier-based aircraft!

"They're probably not going to return to India, are they?" Zhuge Weidao looked at the chart, frowned slightly, and said, "They are going to run away, and our aircraft carriers, planes, and battle cruisers will be useless."

"Impossible," Chief Staff Officer Guo Xiaobao said with a smile, "It is impossible for the British Grand Fleet to return to India...... They have placed more than 100,000 British and Indian troops in the Malay Peninsula, and they are preparing to fight with us, how can the navy return to India?"

Wang Wenye, the staff officer of the fleet aviation, said with a smile: "Baozi is right, the big fleet of the British is going to leave now, and the hundreds of thousands of troops in the Malay Peninsula will have to collapse...... They're going to lose badly!

Moreover, the Malay Peninsula has complex terrain, dense jungles and humid climate, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack. If you want to get it quickly, you can only go by sea and land.

The British fleet must hold the sea route by the British on the Malay Peninsula."

Wang Wen served in the South Sea Fleet for several years and was also very familiar with the situation on the Malay Peninsula. However, Zhuge Weidao knew very well that the terrain and climate of the Malay Peninsula could not stop the two Japanese divisions at all......

"Since the British fleet won't go," Zhuge Weidao smiled coldly, "then tomorrow is almost the time for a decisive battle...... We should fight a sea and air coordination this time, how are we going to fight? Have you figured it out?"

His question was addressed to Ma Xuchen, chief of staff of the First Air Warfare, Guo Xiaobao, chief staff officer of the fleet, and Wang Wen, chief staff officer of the fleet.

"I've figured it out!" Aviation staff officer Wang Wendao, "Junmen, they have many more battleships than ours, so we must avoid hard encounters. It is necessary to give full play to the superiority of the air force. You can send planes to blow them up first!"

"Bomb their battleships?" Zhuge Weidao said, "I heard that the British strategic ships were also equipped with a lot of anti-aircraft weapons during this time, I'm afraid it is not easy to blow up, right?"

"Don't bomb their battleships first, battleships are not easy to bomb." Wang Wen said with a smile, "Junmen, my idea is to blow up their supply ships and coal carriers!"

With a fleet as large as theirs, they must have taken with them a lot of supply ships and coal carriers when they attacked...... If we can find them and blow them all up, we'll be in for a win!"

"Good!"