November 20, 1831, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, Mobile Anchorage.

In the office of the commander of the United States, the flagship of the Atlantic Fleet, standing in front of the window, he saw the large and small warships moored in Mobile Bay. Vice Admiral Porter was also a little excited, the old American Navy could have been here!

There were six battleships alone, and all of them were brand new United States-class! The ships are named USS United States, USS Washington, USS South Carolina, USS Michigan, USS Delaware, and USS North Dakora.

There were eight armored cruisers, and in addition to the six brand-new Pennsylvania-class, there were also two old cruisers, the USS Maine and the USS New York.

In addition to the six Chester-class protective cruisers, as well as the protective cruisers New Orleans and the USS Orba purchased from the United Kingdom, as well as five airship carriers and thirty other destroyers, gunboats, minelayers, and minesweepers, he already has more than ninety percent of the combat strength of the US Navy!

This is the strength of the United States, which likes to speak according to the rules of strength, although it started late, but relying on the strong potential given by the east coast of North America and the central Great Plains, the United States, which was founded only more than 50 years ago, has grown into an industrial country that is only in the Ming Dynasty, Britain, France, Prussia, and Austria, and is on a par with the Slavic empire Rakshasa in eastern Europe.

However, considering that the growth rate of the United States is only a matter of time before it surpasses that of Britain, France, Prussia, and Austria, and it will not even take until the end of this century for the United States to climb to the third place in the world in another two or three decades.

At that point, the U.S. Navy will be more powerful than it is today...... It's a pity that Ming imperialism didn't give the United States a chance to develop and grow at all, and it began to pursue a policy of suppressing and containing the United States at an early stage.

Looking at the Grand Fleet moored on the sea, David. Lieutenant General Potter took two deep breaths before retracting his gaze and returning to his desk, looking at the information he had just received, his face a little solemn.

This information was sent by cable cable from the British, who were entrenched in Port of Spain, Trinidad, about the situation of the Japanese Texas Maritime Self-Defense Force who were currently resting in the port of La Guaira, Republic of Colombia...... Only three Austronesian-class transports, two old 10,000-ton sail battleships, seven Guogong-class armored cruisers, which were equivalent to third-class protected cruisers in terms of tonnage, and a few other armed merchant ships carrying coal, supplies, and ammunition were found.

Compared to the last discovery of the airship station in the Falkland Islands (Falklands), there are 2 fewer large warships and 5 patrol ...... These 7 ships are the real workhorse, right?

Because they were worried that there would be aircraft-carrying warships in the naval self-formation, the British airships did not dare to get too close at all, and could only observe from a distance, so the airships sent by the Frank Islands did not find out the specific situation of the maritime self-formation. And the briefing in Port of Spain this time came from British spies in the port of La Guaira.

So David. Potter now has no idea what the 2 large ships that disappeared are exactly what they are?

He could only guess now that one of the two large ships should be an aircraft-carrying battleship that had shown its might in the Battle of Terrag Sound, and the other was probably a fast battleship.

David. The reason why Porter has such an opinion is because in the war games made by the US Navy itself, the coordination of fast battleships and aircraft-carrying warships is the most powerful!

During the exercise, the fast battleship was held up in front, and the aircraft-carrying battleship was deployed in the back to drop bombs. Then, when the carrier-based aircraft blew up the enemy's battleship formation, the aircraft-carrying battleships entered the battle group and bombarded the wounded enemy ships with naval guns together with the fast battleships on the front line.

This kind of fighting method of bombing first and then artillery, no matter how you look at it, is advanced!

So including Davy. Naval experts from Western countries, including Porter, have become "aircraft-carrying battleship factions" - now there is no "battleship faction" and "aircraft carrier faction", but the two factions are one!

Under the impetus of these "two-in-one factions", although Britain and the United States did not have usable combat aircraft, various plans for the construction of aircraft-carrying battleships and aircraft-carrying cruisers were launched one after another.

The United States, of course, is no exception, a carrier-carrying armored cruiser "Enterprise" class, developed on the basis of the Pennsylvania-class armored cruiser, has now completed its design,

The Bath shipyard in New York is working day and night, and sea trials should begin by June next year.

By that time, the US Navy should also have its own carrier-based aircraft!

A new era - the era of aircraft-carrying warships across the oceans will soon come.

In fact, before and after the Battle of the Gretel Strait, engineers who loved flying in Britain, the United States, France, Prussia and other countries had already built airplanes that could drive propellers with internal combustion engines.

However, due to the lack of powerful internal combustion engines, the range and load of these aircraft were too small to be put into military use.

However, the technology of internal combustion engines has advanced rapidly, and it is not an exaggeration to describe it as changing with each passing day.

So by the time the USS Enterprise began sea trials, the U.S. Navy would probably already have a usable aircraft (aircraft).

But now, Davy. Porter had no aircraft-carrying armored cruisers or aircraft, so he had to rely on the speed of the Pennsylvania-class armored cruisers and the U.S. Navy's familiarity with the Caribbean Sea to fight night battles with the Texas Sea Fleet......

But the problem is that in order to seize the opportunity to fight a night battle with the fleet of the Texas Sea, it is necessary to determine the location of the Texas Sea Autonomous Ship first.

But where is the main force of the enemy?

David. Potter was worried when there was a knock on the door.

"Lieutenant General, just received a telegram from Port of Spain." This is the voice of Major Farragut, communications staff officer of the Atlantic Fleet.

"Come in, little David." David. Potter's tone seemed kind. Because of this Dave outside the door. Major Farragut, his adopted son, joined the U.S. Navy at the age of 8, working his way up from sailor to current major, and recently learned to fly an airplane.

David. Potter planned to wait for the Enterprise to enter service before Major Farragut became the commander of the Enterprise's flying wing.

By this time the door of the commander's office had been pushed open, and a naval major in his early 30s, a little short, and very shrewd-looking, stepped in, gave a military salute to Vice Admiral Porter, and then reported: "Vice Admiral, a Japanese cruiser in the port of La Guaira left last night, and at noon this day, the airship found it passing through the Strait of St. Lucia into the Atlantic.

In addition, the Texas Sea has informed the authorities of the port of La Guairah that they will be leaving the port around dusk today!"

"A cruiser went into the Atlantic?" David. Potter immediately went to the chart desk and searched for St. Lucia, which was between St. Lucia and Martinique, two of a chain of small islands between Trinidad and Puerto Rico that resembled a necklace of pearls. Out of this chain of islands, there is the vast Atlantic Ocean.

Looking at the island chain on the chart, David. Potter was lost in thought, and after a while, he was heard muttering, "Why did the Japanese divide their troops into two lines? Do they want to launch a breaking engagement in the Atlantic with the main force of their fleet, to draw us to attack, in order to cover the passage of their convoy through the Yucatan Strait?"

"Lieutenant General," David. Major Farragut said, "It's very likely! But we must not allow their convoy to pass through the Yucatan Strait...... This escort fleet consisted of three 25,000-ton troop carriers and two 13,000-ton sail ironclads - according to intelligence, the Chinese converted their old sailing ships into landing ships that could transport troops and support landings! If these five ships are all landing troops, there will be at least 20,000 people! If they land in Texas, then the United States will lose Texas!"

David. Potter nodded and said, "But we can't let go of the so-called main force of Texas Haizi...... We're going to block the Yucatan Strait and searching for their aircraft-carrying battleships in the Atlantic!"