Chapter 1004 Encounter 2
Chapter 1004 Encounter 2
The count rubbed his face with his hands to calm himself. He began to analyze the current situation. According to the intelligence sent by Schulz just now, according to the information provided by the submarine force, at least at five o'clock this morning, the French fleet was still anchored at the original anchorage, so it would only be 3 to 4 hours at most. The average speed of the French fleet is about 16 knots. If it sets off from Crete, it can travel about 60 nautical miles. That’s less than 120 kilometers, so we can’t reach here!
Well then…. Then the count's idea suddenly dawned on him, yes, the French fleet can't get through! The time is wrong! If he can't get through, then the earl is still scared! Who are you? It can’t be the British Grand Fleet anyway! The biggest one is the Japanese fleet! I now have 4 fast battleships in my hands, and the Austro-Hungarian fleet also has 2 fast battleships, if we can meet them! It would be strange if I can’t blow it up!
"Holding the grass, I scared myself..." The count wiped away a cold sweat. "If the French are not smart enough to use a fake fleet to fool us, then we might have something else to gain this time." The count said with a smile. However, this time the Count's estimate was a little optimistic. At this time, they were still about 100 kilometers away from the signal source. If they sailed at the fleet's current maximum speed of 21 knots, it would take 2 hours to arrive in the best case. ! Fifteen minutes later, the Austro-Hungarian fleet had sent information that they had fought against the Japanese fleet!
"It's a little early!" the count said helplessly. Now it takes about two hours, and the Austro-Hungarian fleet is about to face the Japanese fleet. If Su Xiong is leading the fleet, then the count is not worried. After all, Su Xiong fought Thomas for more than two hours and still occupied the same area. Excellent. But if it were the Austro-Hungarian fleet, the situation would be difficult to say.
"This position is not good! The speed of the Austro-Hungarian fleet seems to be faster than expected." Kato Nobuyoshi put down the telescope in his hand and said with slight dissatisfaction. At this time, the position of the Japanese fleet entering the battlefield was not very good. The fleet was almost due north of the Austro-Hungarian fleet. Judging from the expected route, the Austro-Hungarian fleet would pass right in front of it. A huge T-shape is directly to the north of him...
It is not difficult to break the opponent's plan, but it requires two Fuso-class battleships to break away from the team and accelerate forward, and then block the Austro-Hungarian fleet in front. The British fleet behind them looked for opportunities to insert themselves into the opponent's formation and fight. How should I put it? It's a bit like a retro entry tactic. There are certain risks.
But if this is not done, the position of the British and Japanese fleets will be very passive. Even if the fleet quickly turns to the northeast, then the fleets of both sides will sail in parallel, and a good interception battle will lead to a pursuit battle. And if this is the case, the result will not be very good, because being dragged down by the two British Dreadnoughts, the speed of the British and Japanese fleets seems to be slower than the other party...
In fact, this is easy to understand. After all, the King Edward VII and the battleship Nelson followed them all the way from the Indian Ocean.
Fuel can be replenished, but mechanical fatigue cannot be helped. And they just came out of the Adriatic Sea, and compared to the British fleet, they are only a door-to-door distance away...
At the same time, the Austro-Hungarian fleet also discovered the unintentional British and Japanese fleets. Lieutenant General Niegovan picked up the telescope in his hand and observed his opponents in the distance. There were two large and two medium ships, a total of four battleships, and himself. The number here is about the same. The next two ships should be British Dreadnoughts. And the two ships in front? It seems that I have never seen it! And according to rough calculations, the length of this ship is a bit large!
"We have encountered an opponent. We are preparing to implement Plan 3. At the same time, we will contact Count Spee and hope that he can quickly bring his fleet to support!" Lieutenant General Negovan said. Although you didn’t plan to fight when you came out this time? But it would be too fake if you don’t prepare a few plans! And this time it came in handy! The so-called Plan No. 3 is the plan when the strength of both sides is almost equal.
As the order was issued, the Austro-Hungarian fleet began to change its formation. Under the cover of 6 destroyers, 7 transport ships began to break away from the battle line and accelerated towards the scheduled assembly point agreed with Count Spee. According to the Count's call back, this time By that time, the Allied Mediterranean Fleet had arrived at the predetermined sea area. If nothing else happened, the transport fleet that left alone would join the Spey fleet in an hour. And the Austro-Hungarian fleet, which has abandoned its burden, can also compete with its opponent. The opponent has 2 super-dreadnoughts and 2 pre-dreadnoughts. On our side, we have 2 super-dreadnoughts and 3 pre-dreadnoughts. I feel that at least my side is not losing. ! Coupled with the prestigious reputation of the Helgeland-class battleships, a kind of BUFF called self-confidence has been added to the Austro-Hungarian fleet!
Under the cover of the Austro-Hungarian battle fleet, the transport fleet began to speed away, and the Japanese fleet was also ready. The two Fuso-class battleships finally fired their first shot on the European battlefield!
"The fleet is processing at full speed, heading to the 2 o'clock direction, we will overtake them!" Kato Sadayoshi ordered! At this time, fighting was inevitable. The excitement and tension before the battle made the Japanese Navy Vice Admiral highly concentrated. He now felt like a machine and began to execute the pre-war plan step by step! Now, the first thing the Japanese fleet has to do is to accelerate, and then move to the front of the Austro-Hungarian fleet, then turn north and cross the opponent's route to form a T-shaped head. At the same time, its own fleet will be backed by the rising tide. The sun interferes with the opponent's ranging!
All the boilers of the Fuso and Hyuga were operating at full capacity. The stokers sent large pieces of Welsh anthracite to the boiler warehouse. When the temperature and pressure inside the boiler reached a certain level, the fuel injection port at the top of the boiler began to turn black. Brown heavy oil is injected into the boiler, and the blower blows air drawn from the outside into the boiler. The fuel oil and coal inside begin to burn in an oxygen-rich environment. The continuous boiler water is turned into water vapor here, and then sent to the gas turbine room located at the rear of the boiler house through dozens of kilometers of gas pipelines. The four turbines roared with sufficient gas supply!
"The output of the power system has risen sharply!" "46,000 horsepower, speed 22 knots." "65,000 horsepower, speed 23.3 knots." "76,000 horsepower! Speed 24.8 knots" "83,000 horsepower! Speed 25.2 knots!" About 15 minutes later , Fuso and Hinata have almost reached their current top speed!
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