April 5, 9 a.m., in the waters off the Bahamas.

"Lieutenant General, telegram from the Americans."

On board the Royal Oak, the flagship of the Caribbean Fleet of the British Royal Navy, William was enjoying a hearty French breakfast in the officers' quarters. Vice Admiral Baga suddenly heard the voice of the communications staff officer.

I only saw the famous British admiral who led the Indian Malacca fleet in the "Battle of Malacca", and successfully held out until his own armored cruisers came to the aid (although the battle failed, but William. Baga still has merit) put down the knife and fork in his hand, slowly picked up the napkin and wiped his mouth, picked up the coffee cup and took a sip, before he asked under the gaze of a group of Royal Navy officers who were eating breakfast with him: "What did the Americans say?" Have they now returned victorious? ”

"They haven't been bombed yet!"

William. Baga took a sip of coffee and pondered, "As expected, those planes that took off from the small sampan could not stop the more advanced enemy fighters at all. Otherwise, the Americans would have made a big fuss about it in the telegram. What else did they say? ”

"They inflicted two heroic losses on the Mexicans!"

"Is it just a hard hit?" William. Baga raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, yes, just a hard hit!"

William. Baga frowned again: "6 United States-class ships should be able to sink 2 Hero-class ships quickly, if they can't, then they must be bombed badly by enemy planes!" ”

His analysis is well founded, and while the Hero Class is a very good battleship, it is also an object for all nations that can build battleships to imitate and surpass. And because it is a foreign trade ship, all his data is public. And the motherboard victory level of the United States level is developed for the hero level, whether it is firepower or protection, it can press the hero level! Although the United States class could only run 18 knots without strong pressure due to the purchase of substandard steam engines, the 6-2 advantage was enough for them to sink the enemy battleship in a very short time.

If the Americans did not succeed in sinking the heroes, they were either blind and unable to shoot, or the battleships that lacked air cover were half-blown by enemy aircraft.

"Lieutenant General, they also said that they would fight to the end, and that if we arrived in time, the victory would belong to the Anglo-Saxons."

William. Baga nodded: "What a brave American. Well, pass on my order, and the ships of the Caribbean Fleet immediately raise the Royal Navy flag! ”

"Vice Admiral, you said raising the Royal Navy flag?"

One accompanied William. The British lieutenant commander of the Royal Navy, who was having breakfast with Baga with him, hurriedly reminded: "But we are now being ordered to impersonate the American Navy, and if we want to join the battle, we don't need to raise the Royal Navy flag at all." ”

William. Baga glanced at him and said with a smile, "Lieutenant Commander, our mission is that if the U.S. Navy wins the battle of surface ships, then we will join in the hunt for the remnants of the Combined Mexican-Texas Fleet!" If the U.S. Navy faces irretrievable defeat, then we are just passing by the British Royal Navy. ”

"But is the situation really that grim now?" Then the lieutenant colonel said, "Maybe the Americans can save a little." ”

William. Baga shook his head and said, "Salvation is something that God is going to do, not something we are going to do. We are soldiers, we are soldiers of the British Royal Navy, and the duty of a soldier is to defend the interests of the country and win the victory for the country. If we are now involved in a battle that is about to be lost, then instead of bringing glory to our country, we will bring her the shame of defeat. Moreover, our 4 Victory-class, 2 Indomitable and 6 Crécy-class are very valuable assets and cannot be buried in vain. They should not be taken to the risk until we have planes that can rival the advanced fighters of the Ming Dynasty. ”

"I see, Your Excellency, Lieutenant General."

William. Baga nodded, and said to the communications officer: "Go and call the Americans back, just say. We're heading north at full speed and will definitely be there around 3 o'clock in the afternoon! ”

"Yes, Lieutenant General."

"Damage management!"

"Leather tube, leather pipe, pull the leather tube up!"

"Move fast, turn on the faucet!"

"Quick, cool down the battery!"

"Boom"

"Oh God, ambulance!"

"Extinguish the fire!"

When Major Johnson, the communications officer of the United States, came out of the telegraph room with a copy of the telegram, there was a cacophony in his ears. The naval battle is really fought! But William. Baga guessed correctly, the Americans really bombed the enemy's planes quite badly, although not a single United States-class was sunk, but all six battleships had already been bombed by one or two waves, each of which had been hit by four or six 100-kilogram bombs.

This level of bombing is neither big nor small, and it is not fatal for the United States to strengthen the deck armor and the armor on the top of the turret. However, after all, the United States class only has such a small tonnage, and it is impossible to turn itself into a big iron lump, so it can only take the method of key protection to keep the important places, but the small part, only light and thin armor protection. So each of the United States class ships was blown out of several holes, and some of them even caught fire, and the fire burned fiercely. However, due to the relatively effective damage management of each ship, the situation is basically still under control.

At the same time, the 2 Heroes that fought against the 6 United States-class ships were also severely damaged. The bow batteries of the Bolivar-class had been damaged, the barrels of the two 280-mm cannons had been blown crooked, and other parts of the hull had been shot in several places. The situation of Agustin I was also quite bad, the superstructure caught fire in many places, and the bow was broken by 12-inch shells, which entered a lot of water, and now it looks a little sinking.

But Daming's ship-building technology is indeed very reliable, although the two heroes were beaten all over the body, but they still maintained a certain combat effectiveness, and the speed did not slow down significantly.

As Johnson walked down the stairs to the Command Tower, another 280-millimeter shell from the USS Augustin I hit the USS United States, which coincidentally hit the cover of a 6-inch secondary gun on the starboard side of the USS United States, causing not only a direct blow to the latter, but also several 6-inch shells in succession, causing a series of explosions that blew up the starboard side of the USS corpses.

Johnson, who was climbing the stairs, fell down a few steps without standing firmly, and his knee was knocked by the steel steps for a while! However, he did not dare to delay at all, gritted his teeth and stood up, continued to climb, and finally walked into the strongest and safest place on the whole ship-the command tower.

"Admiral, Lieutenant Admiral Baga's telegram, he said that his fleet was moving north at full speed and that one would arrive as soon as possible"

As soon as Major Johnson was halfway through his words, he noticed that the admiral in front of him was lying on the window of the command tower and looking out, as if he had not heard his words at all, so he could only lean in, and just as he wanted to say it again, he heard the admiral speak in a deep tone: "Here they are again!" ”

"Who? Who's coming? ”

"Airplanes! The planes of the Chinese are here again . This is the third wave! This is less than an hour after the end of the last wave of air strikes! "David. "This shows that their aircraft-carrying warships are not very far from us. If the grinding British had arrived by now, they might have been able to find those aircraft carriers and launch a round of attacks. ”

"But they'll have to wait until 3 p.m."

"That means there are still 6 waves of air strikes!" David. Potter shook his head, "We can't hold out that long, and when the British arrive, it's time to collect our bodies!" It seems that we can only pass on my orders on our own: United States fleet, all assault! Tell everyone: America rises and falls, strike at it! ”

(End of chapter)