Just when the main force of the Magiffin fleet was being held back, Tycho, with his desperate need for survival and numerical superiority, suppressed the Allied fast fleet and successfully severely damaged the Malaya and Amsterdam! Everything seemed to be reversed. Some even

The Allied fleet officers believe that as long as there is another half hour, Tycho's fleet can successfully crush the opponent! It doesn't matter even if Magiffin catches up!

"Concentrate firepower and sink the Amsterdam!" Looking at the Dutch fast battleship in the distance that had been severely damaged and its hull tilted severely, Tycho was also a little carried away. He seemed to have forgotten that there was a powerful fleet behind him that could catch up at any time!

The torpedo boats accompanying the Italian fleet rushed forward like sharks smelling fishy smell. Both sides were maneuvering at high speed. The Amsterdam, which had lost half of its power, was naturally unable to keep up with the fleet, so it became the best target for torpedo attacks!

A total of 8 destroyers from the two detachments tried to intercept the opponent's lightning strike, but before they could meet the opponent's destroyer, the Vittorio's main and secondary battery fire came in full force! One destroyer was directly hit by a 350mm shell.

, the artillery shell weighing more than 600 kilograms directly cut the battleship in half like a giant axe. In less than a minute, the several-hundred-ton destroyer jumped from the sea

Disappeared. Another destroyer was hit by 150mm artillery consecutively, destroying the east-west system and could only drift with the tide. Although the remaining warships were lucky to survive this wave of bullets, they were immediately divided and surrounded by the Allied destroyers that rushed up, and the dense rain of 75mm bullets

The fire net covered the surviving Allied destroyers. Another group of destroyers rushed towards the Amsterdam not far away!

In the end, the second-generation fast battleship Amsterdam, the Dutch Navy's first super-dreadnought, was hit by three torpedoes. One of the torpedoes hit just near the engine room, causing the entire wound to grow rapidly. A large hole with an area of ​​at least 20 square meters.

Appeared near the engine room of the Amsterdam. This made all rescue efforts ineffective, and the fate of this battleship was sealed. It would sink into the sea within a quarter of an hour.

However, the sacrifice of the Amsterdam was not worthless. Just when the Italians concentrated their firepower to attack the Dutch fast battleship, the Malaya once again used its 15-inch gun to severely attack Eugen at a super close range of less than 11km.

The Prinz came! After the shell penetrated the side armor of the Prinz Eugen, it hit the boiler room and exploded violently.

It directly blew four boilers into pieces, and the water vapor released by the ruptured pipes killed almost all the people in the cabin. The Austro-Hungarian battleship, which could only barely keep up due to a damaged drive shaft, finally slowed down.

Down, after losing two-thirds of its power, he had no chance to return to the Mediterranean port. The direct distance between it and the fleet was quickly widened.

"Save the Prinz Eugen. He has participated in two naval battles and made great contributions to the empire." Faced with the Austrian's request, Tycho did not agree. It was impossible for a battleship whose power was severely damaged to return.

.The result of leaving to cover it is to be dragged to death. The loss of the Prinz Eugen sounded the alarm to Tycho. This is not a place to stay for a long time. If you don't leave, it will be too late!

The Magiffin fleet finally caught up, but what was left to them was the floating Prinz Eugen and the scarred Malaya and Seven Provinces. After ordering the torpedo boat formation to destroy the abandoned battleship

, Ma Jifen knew that the war was over. "A very good strategy. But the tactics are terrible!" Ma Jifen wrote in his diary afterwards.

Ma Jifen wrote this. Ma Jifen successfully made his opponent fall into a trap. But what he didn't expect was that with absolute superiority, his fleet would fight so hard. Originally, he thought that even if he could not completely destroy Tycho's fleet, he would be able to defeat it.

Half of its capital ships were sunk, but the result was 1 for 2, with a fast battleship replacing a super-dreadnought and a dreadnought.

"Our naval officers and soldiers have a lot of problems in actual combat. The gunners are only the most basic. There are serious problems with damage control and the control of the warships. The Allies' air strikes are more like harassment than attacks. We can only

Lucky me. If the opponent's attack capability is as good as that of the Royal Navy, only 60 attack aircraft can cause a huge blow to my fleet. Our air defense operations are simply terrible.

It can be described as terrible. And when we evaded it, the entire fleet was in chaos! We wasted a lot of time and even caused the allies to lose a crucial fast battleship. Although we occupied the top spot this time

Peak, but also let the other side see our weakness. We must strengthen training, after all, not every time we can be at an absolute advantage!" Ma Jifen wrote in a report to the Navy Department.

Faced with this report with too many review elements, the U.S. Department of the Navy believed that this report could be circulated internally. Although there were various problems in tactics, at least the Allied Atlantic Fleet achieved success under the command of Magiffin.

Victory? And this is enough. As for the problems, can they be slowly corrected? The US government believes that it is necessary to publicize this matter with great fanfare to boost morale!

The direct battle between Magiffin and Tycho has ended, so someone should ask what happened between Count Spee and Thomas in the end? In his telegram to Count Spee, Tycho mentioned that the other party only had three Queen-class battleships, but

In the end, Earl Spey still did not fight his opponent. The reason was very simple. Tycho's fleet had been defeated, and Thomas could have merged with Magiffin's fleet.

, the so-called hit-and-run tactics are simply unrealistic. As long as there is a confrontation, you will be injured. Under the pursuit and interception of the opponent's superior fleet, Count Spee does not think that his injured warship can bypass the entire Africa and return to the Mediterranean. So after receiving

After the news of the defeat of Tycho's fleet, Count Spee decided to immediately go south and circumnavigate the Horn of Africa. At the same time, he asked Tycho to provide transport ships as planned.

After Thomas and Magiffin reunited, they did not choose to continue the pursuit, but decided to return to France to make corrections. This change surprised the Spey fleet, which had been preparing for the "Long March". The opponent gave way to the passage at the critical moment, which was something they could not ask for.

What a good thing! This move is very stupid in the eyes of some people, but if you think about it carefully, Thomas's choice is not wrong.

Although the Magiffin fleet won, almost all the battleships suffered varying degrees of damage. Except for the two Tennessee-class battleships, the remaining three American battleships were unable to get out of the dock for 2 months. Malaya, who was responsible for the interception,

The No. 7 and No. 7 Provinces were even more scarred. There were many holes in the sides of the ships.

The damage was very serious, and some of the main guns also needed to be replaced. The French were lucky this time and sank a dreadnought, and their own losses were not great. But they also need repairs and maintenance. More importantly, if

If the branch stays in the waters near Gibraltar, it will inevitably be attacked

Magiffin was not afraid of repeated attacks by submarines and aircraft when the fleet was at its peak, but in this situation, retreating was undoubtedly the best choice. In other words, Magiffin's fleet would not be able to fight again in a short period of time.

Then the only one in the entire Allied Atlantic Fleet

The only one that can fight is the Thomas fleet, and after the Magiffin fleet leaves, if the other party gets the news and chooses to fight, then Thomas, who only has 6 fast battleships, will be under great pressure from the Spey fleet joined by the Longxiang.

It’s very big, and it’s not certain whether we will win or lose in a real fight!

Magiffin's idea was very realistic. Since he had already made a small profit in this battle, he should not have any more surprises at the end. As for the plan to chase the Spey fleet around Africa, Magiffin and Thomas

None of them paid much attention to it. The Spey fleet was indeed exhausted, but at the same time the Thomas fleet was not in good condition, and Magiffin really couldn't find a fast battleship that could be used to support Thomas. Such an action became meaningless. The pursuit

If you can't get there, you still have to prevent the other party from biting back, so what's the point of chasing after you?

As a result, due to a strange combination of circumstances, with the Allied Atlantic Fleet actively retreating, Count Spee was able to successfully return to the Mediterranean through the Strait of Gibraltar. When he returned to Taranto, the base camp of the Allied Mediterranean Fleet, he saw a depressed Tycho.

and the dilapidated fleet in his hands. "In the future, the only force we can rely on in the battle with Magiffin is the fast fleet. We have lost the ability to engage in a main force duel with it!" This is what Tycho saw when St.

Count Peregrine's first words besides greetings.

Tycho was right. Originally, the strength of both sides was in a delicate balance. The Allied Atlantic Fleet was stronger, but its strength was limited. But now, although it is only a small loss, it has completely tipped the balance in favor.

Magiffin, it can be expected that unless external forces intervene, judging from the current strength, the Mediterranean Fleet is no longer suitable for a decisive battle.

"The German High Seas Fleet must take action, at least let the British queens return to the North Sea. Only in this way can we continue to fight. As long as the British can mobilize the two fast battleships, then we can gain an asymmetric advantage. We

There are 7 fast battleships, as well as the powerful Julius Caesar, and if the opponent only has 6 ships left, we will have a chance." Tycho said this to Count Spey more than once in private.

"But the Anglo-American combined fleet in the North Sea is very powerful, and it is very dangerous to act rashly. However, I think Marshal Tirpitz and Admiral Scheer will consider your suggestions themselves." Count Spey understood what Tycho meant very well.

He wanted to convince Scheer to take action. But

After all, war is not a joke. Is the German High Seas Fleet willing to take major action in this situation? Count Spee is not sure, but he knows that if he does not act now, when Magiffin completely consolidates his advantage in the Atlantic, the North Sea will

It has really become a place of death!
Chapter completed!