Gretel Strait.

A fat airship slowly flew over Sumatra and flew over the strait between Sumatra and the Andaman Islands, with two large binoculars poking out from the left and right in the four-seater cabin.

This is a Wyvern IV reconnaissance airship produced by the Ming Wyvern Company. Although the Wyvern has invested heavily in the development and manufacture of aircraft, it has not completely thrown the airship aside. After all, this airship is the current cash cow and profit source of the Wyvern Company. As a capitalist, how can Zhuge Feilong not get along with profits?

Besides, the current airship is not something that can be completely replaced by airplanes, and the ultra-long endurance of airships alone is beyond the reach of current aircraft. Taking the latest version of the Flying Dragon IV as an example, although the size of this airship has been reduced and the load has been reduced a lot, because of the use of the latest star engine and the increase in fuel tank volume, the endurance and maximum flight speed of the airship have increased a lot.

Without replenishment, the maximum range of this type of airship can reach 6,000 kilometers! And it can reach a maximum speed of an astonishing 120 km/h!

In addition, because the cabin of this type of airship is also designed to be more comfortable, better sealed, and has heating and oxygen supply devices, it can fly at high altitudes for a long time. Crews can even stay in the air for up to 10 days straight!

When the Malacca operation began, the Nanyang Fleet sent 18 Wyvern 4 airships for surveillance and reconnaissance, and the long range made it easy to fly to the west of the Strait of Malacca for repeated searches.

When the British Grand Fleet was spotted by submarines deployed at the western entrance to the Strait of Malacca, the Andaman Islands and the Gretel Strait became the focus of search for these airships.

The airship's four-seat cabin was similar to the front and rear seats of the sedan, with the captain/pilot, co-pilot/communications officer in the front seat, and two lookouts in the back seat, using two large binoculars mounted on windows to scan the sea warily.

Because the Anglo-Indian Grand Fleet had been discovered before, and the "First Voyage Battle" that bypassed Sumatra and maneuvered west of Malacca had also been encountering Anglo-Indian airships. So the next Battle of the Gretel Strait is almost a game of chess!

It was the Anglo-Indian Grand Fleet that sought a decisive battle with the "First Air Battle" by virtue of its numerical superiority, while the "First Air Battle" relied on its speed and air superiority to strike at the Anglo-Indian Grand Fleet.

So last night, the reconnaissance airships on both sides rushed to this part of the Grett Strait like crazy...... They all want to fly over the enemy fleet at the first time and stare at it to the death!

"Look, British airship formation!"

Suddenly, a formation of airships heading south over the Andaman Sea caught the attention of the lookouts. This airship formation was composed of a large airship that had never been seen near the Strait of Malacca before, with a total of 15 of them, forming two columns in the air, flying mightily. At a glance, you can see that this formation is going to bomb the Ming fleet!

The captain of this Wyvern IV airship hurriedly said to the co-pilot beside him, "Hurry up and send a power to the headquarters...... Discover a large formation of enemy airships, located over the Gretel Strait, number 15, sailing south!"

"Yes!"

The co-pilot answered, and then a tick-tock sound rang out in the cabin. Before the telegram could be finished, the lookout in the back seat shouted again: "The fleet of the British! Battleship one, two, three, four, five, six...... Ten! His grandmother's, ten battleships! The British have come up with their blood!"

The captain of the airship hurriedly stretched out his neck to look down, and he hadn't found where the enemy's battleship formation was? Someone in the back seat shouted again, "Lao Zhang, look at it, what kind of battleship is this?" It's not royal power, it's not unyielding...... Five turrets, one of which is still behind the chimney in the amidships!"

"It's a new battleship! The British have a new battleship! Captain, the British have a new battleship......

At this time, the captain of the airship also used his telescope to see the ten "Victory"-class battleships that were rapidly moving south in a double column on the sea!

The appearance of this type of battleship was very unique

, adopting a five-turret layout of "front three, middle one, and back one", it is obviously a new ship. And new battleships often mean more firepower and more power of the main engine!

This news must be reported to the airship headquarters of the South Ocean Fleet immediately!

......

Almost at the same time, the reconnaissance airship sent by the British had already discovered the formation of the "First Air Battle"!

The airship that discovered the "First Air Battle" is a 140-meter-long large airship, which belongs to the Royal Indian Navy Aviation, and is a so-called "command airship", that is, an airship that allows the commander of the aviation to directly ride on the airship to direct air strikes and even surface ship engagements - this idea looks quite strange, but at the moment, except for bad weather, there seems to be nothing that can threaten the airship flying in the air. Righteous Law and James. Hood looks pretty good.

So last night George. Yilu boarded this "command airship" overnight, and flew from a secret base in the Andaman Islands all the way to the south of the Terig Strait, hoping to find the Ming naval formation first and take a good look.

After searching for a while south of the Gretel Strait, George . The lookout post on the airship that the law firm was riding on really found the "First Air Battle" that was dangling on the sea. And then George. Yilu ordered the airship to fly near the Ming naval formation to take a good look.

And when you get closer, you find something strange.

"Commander, something strange has been discovered!"

"Strange thing?" George. Yilu was stunned, "What is it?"

"I can't be sure, it's just that they don't have airships on their airship mothership, and there are a lot of weird things that look like rack cars...... That's a lot!"

"Rack car?"

George. Yilu was confused, so he took a telescope and walked to the porthole of the airship to look for himself. When I saw it, I was immediately stunned.

"What kind of ship is this? There are two turrets in the bow, and the stern is covered with slabs, and there is a large protruding slab on the port side! On the tablet that's ...... What's that?"

It turned out that George. Yilu has seen the aircraft-carrying battlecruiser!

What puzzled him even more was the biplanes that had been lined up on the flight deck of this aircraft-carrying battlecruiser - these biplanes had folding wings, and now the folding wings have not been lowered, so they don't look like airplanes at all, but like a wooden frame car......

Of course, even if you put the folding wings down, George. Yilu may not be able to recognize that it is an airplane. Because the planes that have just appeared in Europe are all developed from the delta glider, that is, a delta glider on the top, a pod below, behind the pod butt is a rotary cylinder engine or an inline engine, and then a propeller is installed, if it is not an aircraft dropped from the airship, then a tail will be installed behind the delta wing...... That's basically it!

This kind of aircraft can of course also fly, but the speed and take-off weight and George. The kind of "wooden frame cart" like the plane that Yilu saw was not a thing at all. They simply could not take off from an aircraft carrier, and they could not carry many bombs, and the flight itself was a little difficult.

So George. The Royal Naval Aviation under the command of Yilu will use airships to drop "man-operated gliding guided bombs" instead of serious carrier-based aircraft to drop bombs.

George. Yilu had already come to his senses at this time, and said to the people around him, "Quick, send a telegram to the Victory, and tell them that we have discovered the formation of the Ming Kingdom. There were 4 battleships we'd never seen before, and 3 airship carriers...... There is also 1 strange battleship that I don't know if it should be counted as a battleship or an airship mothership. Plus, their airship seems to have taken off!"