As a matter of fact, the initial information that Wen Desi received about the "confrontation between the British and American fleets in the waters off Scarborough Shoal" was not accurate, and the latest information was delivered less than half an hour.

Not only the British and American fleets, but also the warships of France, Germany, Italy, and even Spain were involved. Well, according to the British and American fleets, they came to "mediate" this Sino-Japanese "conflict". As for why to "mediate" with a whole fleet, that's another matter.

"Damn, these British guys are really too deceitful," Xie Moshi, commander of the Luzon Squadron of the South China Sea Fleet, looked at the British Far East Fleet not far away, and asked through gritted teeth

This morning, the frigate Longchang, which was conducting daily patrols in the South China Sea, showed traces of the British Pacific Fleet, and Xie Moshi became nervous at that time. Now you're pinching Japan tightly, what are you thinking about?

But Commander Xie was also very helpless, because he was not worthy of the name of the commander of the detachment, but he was better than the commander of the light pole. The Luzon Squadron is a newly formed unit that was formed after China bought the Philippine Islands from the United States. According to the principle of centralized use of new ships, all good ships and new ships were handed over to the Pacific Task Force, and the rest of the soup was also given to the Three Seas Fleet, and very few fell to the Luzon Fleet.

At present, the largest ships of the Luzon detachment are a Xuguo-class seaplane carrier "Weiguo", and a Chenguo-class airship carrier "Tengguo", and then a Wuchang-class frigate, a He'an-class destroyer (formerly the American Bainbridge-class destroyer), a Jie-class large torpedo boat, and two trade wind-class torpedo boats, as well as some auxiliary vessels.

Therefore, the total number of combat ships is less than 20,000 tons, and the largest "Weiguo" and "Tengguo" are all equipped with seaplanes and airships, which are mainly used for reconnaissance and patrolling, and have low combat effectiveness. It's okay for such a fleet to be used against pirates, escort and protect fishing, but if you want to count on them to fight, it's better to save it.

The Far East Fleet that came from Britain this time had a battleship, a battlecruiser, an armored cruiser, 3 protective cruisers, and 18 destroyers. Although those battleships were all former dreadnoughts, they were not something that Commander Xie could deal with. If there was no tropical storm, Xie Moshi could still use the Luzon Air Force and HNA airships to deal with it, but now the airships can't take off, and if the British really turn their faces, their own belongings will not be enough to plug their teeth.

But no matter out of military discipline and national law or national pride, Xie Moshi can't be coaxed, such as pretending not to see the Niu Niu fleet like the Yuan Inspector of the Ming Dynasty, and letting the other party "sneak through Luzon". Therefore, Commander Xie had no choice but to bite the bullet and take the small Luzon detachment out of the port with the tragic mood of "the wind is sluggish and the water is cold" and stopped the Far East Fleet in the area of Huangyan Island.

However, things were not as pessimistic as Xie Moshi thought, and the Niuniu fleet did not turn against the small Chinese fleet in front of them. What are you kidding, the Anglo-Japanese alliance is a cow and a cow and a cow and a dog in Japan, but it is not a father of Japan, and they are asked to go to the fire for Japan with the festival of opium cows, hehe, the weather is so good today

Besides, the British also know very well in their hearts that if this war is fought, even if the Chinese Navy cannot bear it, there will be absolutely no problem with the 6th Army and the Air Force. If you turn your face with the Chinese, and the guy Wende Si is in a hurry, what will happen if the million-strong army goes south? Do you want the "jewel in the queen's crown"? The British are not crazy, and they don't want to test China's bottom line at this time when the European war is imminent.

So they did come to the Far East Fleet for "peace mediation" this time, whether you believe it or not, anyway, Niu Niu himself believed it. It's just that what kind of mediation method depends on the expressions of both parties. Skills such as "those who see have a share", "falling into the well", etc., are all too familiar to the opium cow who has been a-stirring stick for thousands of years.

Although Niu Niu said this, he was not stupid, how could he really believe it. Declare that this is a war zone and insist on not letting them pass.

Just as the two sides were negotiating, the U.S. Pacific Fleet arrived, and they also had a battleship, and there were dreadnoughts in it, the USS Utah and the USS Arkansas. As soon as they arrived at the scene, they directly joined the Chinese side and confronted the British Far East Fleet.

Of course, the Eagle Sauce fleet also claimed to be here for "peace mediation", whether Niu Niu believed it or not, Eagle Sauce believed it himself anyway.

As soon as the Yankees arrived, Niu Niu became nervous, originally they were trying to put pressure on China to let it go, but now they were not in the mood to play, they directly put aside the main owner of the Chinese fleet and concentrated on confronting Eagle Sauce.

Although this situation seems strange, it is also normal when you think about it, and both Britain and the United States are preparing to pull the strings this time.

For Britain, it would certainly be best if Japan could abolish China's maritime power, so that Far Eastern affairs could be handed over to Japan as a watchdog, and the Far Eastern Fleet could be transferred back to its homeland to strengthen its advantage over the Allies.

As far as the Americans are concerned, on the contrary, if China, the younger brother who can fight, can take the opportunity to destroy or severely damage the Japanese navy, then they will be greatly relieved and concentrate on the direction of the Atlantic.

And each of them has an exclusive agreement with both warring parties, and if a third party joins, then they also have to go to war. If you violate the agreement and don't go to war, your face will inevitably look a little bad. Although Niu Niu has always been shameless, he cheated Japan once during the Russo-Japanese War, but the situation was different at that time. Now is the time when the wind is surging in Europe, if you don't keep your promises, it will inevitably make the little brothers feel cold, and when the time comes, you will have a lot of fun if you don't work hard.

And the United States has a similar idea, they now have China, a "little brother" that can fight, whether they can cover the "little brother" is a matter of ability, but whether to cover it or not is a matter of attitude. If I don't show it this time, how will my rice country mix in the future? How can I continue to dig the corners of the cows?

But for the two countries, it would be absolutely reluctant for them to actually enter the war. Therefore, this situation is the best for Britain and the United States at the moment, and we are pretending to be confrontational here, not only to show our support to our younger brother, but also to show other countries how honest and trustworthy we are, and how many representatives we are. In this way, you don't have to really mix yourself in, and you can also take the opportunity to show your muscles to the world, which is simply a beautiful thing to count in one fell swoop.

So the atmosphere was just tense, but in fact both sides were very restrained. For example, although the British and American fleets both laid out battle lines and aimed their guns at each other, the two sides tacitly did not remove the gun plugs, and the guns were not loaded in the chambers.

Their confrontation had not lasted long, and the warships of France, Germany, Italy and other major powers arrived, of course, these countries were purely here to be onlookers, and the largest ships sent were only light cruisers. As soon as they saw this formation, they quickly reacted to what was going on.

Soon, representatives of several countries began negotiations on the seaplane carrier "Patriot". Finally, the representative of Italy made a generally acceptable suggestion that each country should send one warship to the battlefield as an observer mission, while the rest would remain there. It is also the current international practice for neutral countries to send observer missions to the warring parties, and the Chinese side also agreed to this opinion after consulting Wuhan. However, there is no problem with the requirement that the warships acting as observer missions should not overtake light cruisers (protective cruisers).

As a result, Britain, the United States, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain each sent a light ship to the East China Sea to serve as a crowd of onlookers. Among them, the French ** ship carried Russian officers, and the German ** ship also carried Austro-Hungarian officers, so this was an eight-nation observation mission. As for whether they can catch up with China and Japan, that's another matter, anyway, it's just a meaning.

For China and Japan, this is just a small episode, and the real focus is on the main decisive battle in the East China Sea.

Republic 254 (1913), April 9 at B.W., Ryukyu Sea.

At this time, the aircraft carrier Yu Chao was cruising around with two Zhuhai-class destroyers, and they were ordered to go out to reconnoiter and search for the whereabouts of the Japanese Combined Fleet

Originally, there were early warning airships watching over the Japanese Combined Fleet, and there was no need to send ships to reconnoitre, but this time, the tropical storm that arrived ahead of schedule seriously affected the work of the early warning airships. Airships are far less wind-resistant than airplanes, and they are the most afraid of windy climates, and when a tropical storm comes, they can only avoid it from afar. Moreover, the radar performance of the current Chinese equipment on the airship is far inferior to that of the early warning aircraft radar of later generations, and the distance is shortened, coupled with the disturbance of the tropical storm, the Japanese fleet will be lost near Kume Island.

Of course, China does not only have the line of early warning airships, China has dispatched 18 submarines in one detachment in the East China Sea and arranged two cordons for reconnaissance and early warning. But also because of the impact of tropical storms, the submarine's reconnaissance capabilities have also been greatly reduced. Despite the fact that they are also equipped with radars, so far none of the submarines have had a live target.

Although the Japanese Combined Fleet is very large, it is difficult to find it if it is placed on the vast sea, like throwing a few sesame seeds into a pond.

You must know that now is the critical moment for Deng 6 Taiwan, if there is no current target, let the little devils take advantage of the loophole and sabotage the Deng 6 operation, it will be troublesome. Now because the storm planes cannot be dispatched, except for the Pacific task force, the air force of the 6th Army cannot take the Japanese Combined Fleet, and if they are allowed to run to the 6th field to come to the 6th field for a few rounds of artillery bombardment, it will be a heavy loss.

Therefore, the focus of this operation is to intercept the combined fleet outside Taiwan's waters. Gao Yujie, commander of the Pacific task force, had no choice but to send some non-capital ships out to search.

As for why the aircraft carrier was sent out for reconnaissance, it was because the Yu Dynasty was the fastest warship in the entire fleet, and its original design maximum voyage was -1 knot, but in the construction process, better boilers and steam turbines were used, and now its actual maximum degree has reached 3 knots, and during the sea trials, it even soared to a height of 34 knots, which is shocking. You know, this is not a destroyer, torpedo boat or anything like that, it's a 10,000-ton aircraft carrier

If you put it in 2 years, this degree is nothing, but at the moment it is a very perverted degree. At least in the Pacific task force, it is the fastest, and even destroyers can't catch up. At present, in the entire Chinese Navy, only that one torpedo boat can run faster than it.

In addition, in addition to running fast, the Yu Dynasty's sea radar is also the best gear, and it is of the same level as battleships and heavy cruisers, much stronger than those light cruisers and destroyers, and its reconnaissance ability is also much stronger than those light ships in this bad weather. Moreover, Commander Gao also had an idea, that is, if this storm ended quickly, he could let the carrier-based aircraft of the Yu Dynasty show his hand and see how the effect was. Even if the attack is not effective, there is always no problem with the investigation.

"Damn, hasn't this radar been repaired yet?" asked Yue Youyuan, the captain of the Yu Dynasty, through gritted teeth.

The Yu Chao was more unlucky this time, it entered a thunderstorm area not long after it came out, encountered a heavy storm and thunderstorm, and the radar on the sea was blown out of order by the strong wind

"Captain, the electromechanical team is hurrying to repair it. They said it was because the cover was damaged, the circuit board was flooded, and there were more damaged components......" Gong Xuetu, assistant to the captain, reported with some embarrassment.

Yue Youyuan shouted angrily: "The cover will actually be blown by the wind? How can this be true, the performance of this kind of radar is really too poor! The person in charge of the manufacturer should be sentenced."

The political commissar persuaded beside him: "This, Lao Yue, the radar manufacturer is the focus of the central government, how many of them dare to release water in terms of quality? I think this is probably because they did not expect such a bad environment...... You see, this radar is usually fine, and if it weren't for this kind of ghost weather, this kind of thing wouldn't happen

Yue Youyuan dissipated a little breath, and still said angrily: "Hmph, anyway, I must report it to the top when I go back, this kind of key equipment will cause a big deal if it drops the chain at a critical moment......"

"Hey, even if the radar is not bad, the effect of this kind of thunderstorm and windy weather will be greatly reduced now......" the political commissar smiled.

I don't know if it's because of Yue Youyuan's crow's mouth, but half an hour later, when the Yu Chao just sailed out of the thunderstorm area, it ran headlong into the main force of the Japanese Combined Fleet.

During the thunderstorm, the two destroyers that were originally opening the way in front fell behind the Yu Dynasty due to the influence of the storm and the high waves, and their radars also did not appear in front of the Combined Fleet due to the influence of the weather. The lookout on the Yu Dynasty also did not appear in advance because of the obstruction of vision. For the same reason, the Japanese side did not appear in time.

As a result, the two sides collided head-on in such a daze, and the distance between the two sides at this time was only less than ten kilometers.

China and Japan appeared on each other almost simultaneously

"Report, now the main force of the Japanese Combined Fleet has confirmed a battleship and a light cruise......r," the lookout of the Yu Dynasty reported in an anxious tone

"Report to the chief, this is a large warship in Presentchina......" The lookout of the protective cruiser Tone, who broke ahead, carefully identified it, and said, "There are no other ships in Presentchina......

Tips: The new domain name "biquge.info" has been launched by Biquge, and the original domain name is about to be discontinued. Please tell each other, thank you!