If the situation cannot be opened at this time, then with the gradual loss of these covering forces, the ironclad ships in East Africa will also face a situation where they will be unable to support themselves.

At this time, the Second Fleet, which had high hopes from Vice Admiral Kerry, was also facing its own dilemma, and the British had an advantage in the number of ships, which forced the Second Fleet's encirclement tactics to be terminated just halfway through.

"Rear Admiral Anton, the enemy ship has stopped our direction, what should we do now?"

Rear Admiral Anton did not speak, but carefully observed the battlefield, at this time Vice Admiral Kerry's First Fleet had gradually fallen into disadvantage, so the Second Fleet had to take greater responsibility.

Seeing such a disparity in strength between the two sides, Rear Admiral Anton carefully analyzed the problem he was now facing, that is, it was impossible to continue to implement the encirclement plan, and returning to the First Fleet to support Vice Admiral Kerry would not be ineffective, but would delay the fighters

"All warships, drive to the maximum, attack to the right, break through the enemy blockade, each ship is in its own unit, there is only one goal, that is, to attack the central area of the enemy's main fleet, no matter what means you use, I only want the result." Anton ordered.

Following the split of power by Vice Admiral Kerry, Rear Admiral Anton was again divided, and this time the Second East African Fleet was truly independent.

However, Rear Admiral Anton's strategic goal was very clear, that is, to disrupt the British army's conventional offensive posture at all costs, to relieve the siege of the First Fleet, if the First Fleet was destroyed, then the Second Fleet would have only a dead end.

With a total displacement of about 6,700 tons, the Hamburg is the second largest ironclad ship in the Second Fleet after the Trieste, and after receiving the new order, the captain of the ship, Spurg, did not hesitate to order: "The speed of the ship is increased to the maximum, and it is going all out to the southwest for more than 30 directions, and the artillery is aimed at the British ships in front of it, and a bloody road is killed!" ”

Almost at the same time, the Second Fleet began a state that was unimaginable to intercept the British, that is, the East Africans went crazy!

The British gunner on the Grey Fox asked, "In which direction should I shoot now?" ”

After the decentralization of the command of the Second Fleet in East Africa, the ironclad ships of the Second Fleet, including the gunboats, showed their own magic and disorder, which made the three British ironclad ships responsible for intercepting instantly not know which target to strike first.

"Attack the armored ships first, and deal with those gunboats, pick a big fight!" The Grey Fox commander said.

But at this time, three East African ships took the lead in firing, all aiming at the Gray Fox, and they thought the same as the British at the first time, that is, to pick a big fight.

After the decentralization of command, many ships chose their own opponents or strategies to achieve their own goals, of which the Pace was the main force, its target was the Gray Fox, and the other two were gunboats.

Although the gunboat is easy to be sunk and the defense is not high, the firepower is not weak, and it is called a mobile battery.

A shell from the Greyfox hit the Pace directly, but the East African gunboats Herman and Pace hit the Greyfox at the same time, and the gunboat Margaret took the opportunity to drill less than 200 meters to the left of the Greyfox, and successfully penetrated the Greyfox's side armor.

Its 305 mm main gun successfully penetrated the hull of the Gray Fox, and this shelling directly led to the suspension of the Gray Fox, and the internal power system suffered a huge impact, and then the three ships continued to exert firepower, and the Gray Fox announced its withdrawal from the battle.

At the same time as the Second Fleet in East Africa made a contribution, other British warships also inflicted heavy losses on the Second Fleet, and the Second Fleet has so far lost two gunboats, both of which have been sunk.

However, in contrast to this loss, East Africa finally opened a gap on the left flank of the British Navy, and the Trieste and Hamburg dragged the two British ironclads that intercepted, while the other four warships of the East African Second Fleet took this opportunity to enter the hollow area on the left side of the British fleet.

The ironclads dragged by the Hamburg and Trieste could not be reinforced, and at this time the main force of the British fleet was trying to beat the reservoir dogs against the First Fleet of East Africa.

The influx of four East African ships led to the cutting off of the main British combat order, and at this time the Second East African Fleet could completely eat the flank of the British Navy, but because of the previous order of Rear Admiral Anton, it was necessary to start shelling directly to the center of the main force of the British Navy at all costs, and at the same time, in order to prevent being hit, these four gunboats came in the direction of the British army at great speed, and the route was disorderly.

The turmoil in the rear of the British army instantly attracted the attention of Vice Admiral Kerry, who knew that the Second Fleet must have played a role.

He immediately ordered: "Don't attack the British head-on again, the remaining ships are divided into three directions, each looking for an attack target, and completely disrupting the British rhythm." ”

So the command of the First Fleet was also delegated to various ships, at this time the East African Navy was completely out of order, and the disintegration of the First Fleet also made the British fleet feel unprepared, plus there were four East African "flies" in the rear to make trouble, and now the British front began to be chaotic.

The commander of the Royal Navy Expeditionary Force Grafton had sensed that something was wrong, but it was too late to make adjustments.

He could only order the British warships to rearrange and combine with the Giant as the center, but after the order was given, the effect was not good.

The East African ships played the trick of "King Qin circumambulating the pillars" with the British on the sea, and they fought their own battles, with the British ships as the main body, and attacked wantonly.

At this time, the British army and East Africa had become a complete mess as a whole, and under this close contact, if the artillery was fired, it was possible to hit not the enemy, but friendly forces.

Of course, the British ship is large and strong, and it can completely choose to collide with the East African ship, but the East African Navy still chooses artillery as a means of attack even at such a close distance, and now the East African Navy cannot distinguish between friend and foe, that is, it grabs the big ship for artillery bombardment.

And the British ships are large and numerous, and they are mixed with East Africa, so they are naturally easy to hit, and it is not easy for the British to counterattack these East African warships that are "running around".

Moreover, at this time, the British had already passed through the sea for several days, and had only rested in Somaliland before, which can be described as exhausting.

In this state, the combat effectiveness of the soldiers of the British Expeditionary Force plummeted, especially the mental activity obviously could not keep up, and after successfully disrupting the war situation in East Africa, everyone was finally pulled to the same level.

Fast forward to about ten o'clock in the morning, when the war finally ended with the arrival of East African reinforcements.

Archduke Ferdinand led the remaining main forces of the East African Navy from his home port of Bagamoyo, by which time both the British and East African navies were exhausted and unable to fight again.

After seeing the East African reinforcements, Commander-in-Chief Grafton did not hesitate to give the order to evacuate, but the reinforcements still bit the tail, leaving the British cruiser Hyderabad.

At this point, the Battle of Lamu was completely over, but both sides suffered heavy losses, almost a quarter of the East African navy was destroyed in this battle, two ironclad ships were sunk, six gunboats were lost, the rest of the ironclad ships were basically wounded, and the Friedrich, although not sunk, is probably about to be decommissioned.

The British Expeditionary Force also had three sunk, four seriously wounded, and two captured, which meant that half of the combat ships of the Expeditionary Force were wiped out in East Africa, especially the two warships that were captured, which made Commander-in-Chief Grafton very unwilling.

(End of chapter)