Chapter 20: Decisive Battle at Sea (3)

The sun is very bright over the Arabian Sea, and the sky is a blue and transparent.

Mark, Major General Ai, was watching the distance route, looking forward to taking a prey. After three days of his arrival, Major General Ai took another squadron and achieved good results. He successfully attacked a Chinese caravan and sank four Chinese merchant ships, but the expected pursuit of the Chinese fleet did not appear.

This fleet consists of three battlecruisers with a speed of up to 22 knots, six cruisers and 10 destroyers. To be precise, the fleet led by Major General Ai is a bait. His mission is to constantly appear in the waters in this area and lure the Chinese fleet to pursue it.

"Report to the General! Youxian discovered the fleet, about 8 nautical miles away. The number is unknown at present." The sailors on the watchtower keenly captured the thick smoke rising above the ships in the distance and made a general judgment.

"Continue to observe! Notify all ships and prepare for battle!" Major General Ai also stood at a high place and carefully observed the direction of the right string with a telescope. Both sides slowly approached, and for half an hour, the distance was only 5 nautical miles.

A fleet slowly entered Major General Ai's vision, and the leading leader was actually a light cruiser. Through judging the shape of the smoke, the fleet was not large, at most about 10 ships. Judging from the speed, it should not be the fleet of the Chinese Navy, but the merchant fleet with warships escorted. In any case, although it is not a Chinese warship formation, it is reasonable to not make a fortune when meeting the merchant fleet.

"Notify all ships to advance at full speed and sink these merchant ships!" Major General Ai issued a combat order with confidence. Generally, the merchant ships are not fast, and within 6-8 nautical miles, there is no way to escape the pursuit of the warships.

The British squadron's ships immediately began to accelerate and rushed towards the merchant fleet. At this time, Major General Ai could clearly see that the Chinese fleet had only 4 escorted warships, but there were 12 merchant ships, and they were escorting two light cruisers and two destroyers. They could not be the opponents of the squadron, unless they gave up the merchant ship and fled now.

The front main guns of each warship had been aimed at the merchant fleet, and the fleet also clearly discovered Major General Ai's fleet. The merchant ships had begun to turn rudders, but the four escort warships came up.

The fighting spirit of the Chinese navy has always been the most admired by the Royal Navy. Although it is at an absolute disadvantage now, these four warships still rushed towards the British fleet without any hesitation. Major General Ai couldn't help but sigh again, how did the Chinese naval officers and soldiers train? Where did their fighting spirit come from? The actions of escorting warships are obviously unwise. Four warships can at most drag three battlecruisers and will be quickly sunk, and those merchant ships still cannot escape the pursuit of other warships.

"This is a group of unyielding warriors, worthy of the Royal Navy's learning!" When Major General Ai praised his prey with emotion, a bad news came over.

"Report to the General, at 6 nautical miles on the port side, we found about 20 large Chinese warships." After hearing the words of the watchman, Major General Ai's cold sweat immediately came down. How could this be possible? How could it be that he could only find a Chinese warship at such a distance of 6 nautical miles? Major General Ai thought he had heard it wrong, so he immediately picked up the telescope and looked towards the port side. That's right! It was a Chinese fleet, but the smoke emitted by these warships was not that thick, and it was difficult to see clearly from the distance of the personnel with the naked eye.

"Damn it! What did the Chinese warships burn? Order all the warships, all the rudders are full again, and get rid of the Chinese fleet at full speed." Major General Ai immediately issued an escape order. But it seemed a little too late at this time. The first volley of the Chinese fleet had begun. Several shells fell into the middle of the fleet that was trying to turn the rudder and escape. The huge column of water rose into the air with the explosion.

The tragedy was soon born. A cruiser was hit by a huge shell and immediately made a muffled sound, which broke into two pieces in an instant. Major General Ai saw it and his eyes closed involuntarily.

"Immediately notify General Evans that we have encountered a large fleet and are now retreating quickly towards the main fleet." As soon as Major General Ai's order came down, another destroyer was concentrated by several shells. The terrifying artillery fire of the battleship immediately shattered the destroyer. The ship was filled with flames, and it was probably not enough to last long.

In just 10 minutes, two warships were immediately sunk when the British squadron turned around, thanks to the clever hidden approach tactics of Chinese warships. The British squadrons were surrounded by four battleships led by the Feiyang, 10 battlecruisers, and 8 destroyers. The merchant fleet was used as bait, aiming to eliminate several British squadrons attacking merchant ships. These warships were all new warships powered by diesel, with a speed of up to 28 knots, but there were not many warships equipped with new diesel engines in China. However, the advantage of this new power is that the speed is faster than before, and the smoke generated is much smaller than the original burning of coal, so it is more difficult to find it in a distance.

Major General Ai's squadron accelerated desperately and fled westward. The ambushed Chinese fleet was chasing closely. At this time, the four warships responsible for escorting were still bombarding British warships with artillery fire. Another destroyer was hit by the escort cruiser, but fortunately it did not hit the key point. The ship's speed was not greatly affected. While commanding the fleet to escape, General Ai sent a telegram to notify General Evans, and ordered each warship to bombard the four tightest original escort warships with tail cannons. A shell landed on the escort cruiser that rushed in the front. A cannonball was shattered on the fore deck, and several soldiers were immediately blown up. The ship immediately ignited a fire and its speed slowed down.

The "Feiyang" battleship, the most powerful battleship with the largest tonnage, fastest speed and most violent artillery fire, once again reduced a British cruiser. The former main gun fired at a salvo, and then another British warship turned into a sea of ​​fire.

"Good fight, chase me up. Sink them all! Watchman, pay attention to observe, report the situation immediately!" Deng Shichang personally directed the ambush fleet to fight, and this battle can be said to be a chain of traps.

The news that the British fleet was dispatched was discovered by the submarine responsible for monitoring the British fleet in the Gulf of Aden. After discussing with Liu Buchan and Lin Qisheng, the three of them unanimously believed that there was something tricky here. But they couldn't figure out what the British wanted to do for a while? So they formulated such a combat plan, using merchant fleets as bait to attract British navy to attack, and then formed an ambush formation with diesel-powered warships. Once the British warship was discovered, it could be eliminated, and even if it encountered the British main fleet, it would run faster. To prevent accidents, Liu Buchan and Lin Qisheng led the main fleet and followed far away 40 nautical miles east of Deng Shichang's fleet. Once the British main fleet was discovered, Deng Shichang's fleet immediately led the British fleet and launched a decisive battle.

Perhaps both sides had the same abacus. 30 nautical miles west of General Ai's squadron, General Evanth was leading the special mixed fleet of the British Royal Navy toward this side.

Because the squadron led by Deng Shichang had the upper hand in speed, General Ai's squadron could not get rid of Deng Shichang's fleet anyway. Moreover, another British warship was patrolled by the former main gun of the Feiyang, and another cruiser caught fire and began to infiltrate water, slowly sinking.

In order to protect the three more important battle cruisers, Major General Ai immediately ordered that the "Pioneer" cruiser and the "Discoverer" cruiser were left to block the Chinese fleet and cover other battleships to meet with the main fleet. At this time, Major General Ai's fleet was still 20 nautical miles away from General Evans's main fleet.

The Pioneer and the Discoverer dexterously dodged the shells fired by the Chinese warships, and suddenly turned the rudder in the rain of bullets. This rudder completely exposed the side to the Chinese fleet. Of course, such a good opportunity cannot be missed. Deng Shichang ordered the entire fleet to concentrate firepower and sink the two warships first. At this time, Deng Shichang had realized that the British main fleet should be nearby, and it was time to stop when he saw it.

The two cruisers responsible for cover were extremely lucky. The dense artillery fires fired by the 20 warships did not hit the vital point. Only a few 305mm caliber shells landed on the front end of the Pioneer, causing a fire, but it did not seem to affect the flexible operation of the Pioneer. Under the attraction of these two cruisers, other British warships had barely reached the distance from the Chinese fleet. Half an hour later, the middle section of the Pioneer cruiser was hit by a shell. After a huge explosion, a thick smoke rose and the Pioneer broke into two pieces. Only 10 minutes later, the Challenger was hit by four shells by the Feiyang's former main gun company, and swayed and sank in the continuous explosions.

"All warships continue to chase me, but be careful to keep a distance! Once you find the British main fleet, please inform me!" Deng Shichang had a strong sense that the British main fleet was nearby and was determined to take a risk.

At this time, Major General Ai finally took a breath. Seeing that the Chinese fleet was still pursuing, Major General Ai finally felt relieved. If the Chinese fleet gave up the pursuit, then the cost of this bait plan would be too high. Three cruisers and four destroyers had been sunk. If the Chinese fleet could not attract them, it would be a big loss.

"Report to Master, the report from Shunfeng in front of me was found, and a large area of ​​smoke was found!" After hearing the report, Deng Shichang immediately picked up the telescope and looked forward. Sure enough, he found a large area of ​​smoke. If there was no error in the estimate, it should be the main fleet of Britain.

"Please take care of all ships, turn the rudder immediately! Control the speed and keep a distance from the British!"

The ambush fleet immediately made an overall steering movement on the sea surface. When the General Ai in front discovered this situation, he immediately ordered the fleet to turn the rudder and chase the Chinese fleet.

"Report to Master! I found the British warship at 8 nautical miles of the right string!" Deng Shichang was shocked when he heard this. He didn't expect that the British would still be ambushed here. Fortunately, the rudder was turned in time, otherwise he would really suffer.

The ambush fleet completed the rudder rotation in just 8 minutes and fled towards our main fleet. At this time, the ambush fleet of the British Right Sing had already fired at 7 nautical miles, and the shells exploded with water columns. Fortunately, it did not cause any damage!
Chapter completed!