"Wow! We killed the 'motherland' and 'justice'!"

The cheers of officers and sailors on the deck sounded very strange. Lee Haydn couldn't help but smile. In front of the cannon, the so-called justice did sink to the bottom of the water.

The appearance of the Negovan fleet made La Perel completely desperate. He decided to give up three old-fashioned front-dreadnoughts, but in the breakout, the engine compartment of the "Dido" was penetrated by a 330mm near-burn loss, and the warship quickly stalled, and the French could only give up it helplessly.

The three French former dreadnoughts commanded by Lieutenant General Brees carried out tenacious resistance to hinder the Austro-Hungarian fleet's pursuit of their battleships. Lee Haydn ordered Negovan to lead the second battleship to continue pursuing La Perel, while he stayed to clean up the remaining "mixed fish".

After nearly an hour of resistance, Brees ordered the abandonment of the ship. At this time, several old battleships were already full of holes and devastated, and all the main and secondary guns had been destroyed. Although these former dreadnoughts were insufficient firepower, they were also rough and thick-skinned and still floated tenaciously on the water.

Before evacuation, the French opened the undersea water inlet valve and several warships began to capsize slowly.

Lee Haydn ordered the destroyer to search for the crew who fell into the water and captured the remaining French sailors and officers who fled in small boats. He limped on the small boat to visit the severely damaged Prince Eugen. Because a large piece of flesh was broken, he was wrapped in a thick bandage on his right knee, but fortunately he did not hurt his bones.

Colonel Holty and several officers stood on the side deck to welcome the arrival of the fleet commander. Li Haidn was shocked from the gangway to the deck: "Prince Eugen" looked like a huge garbage dump, and there were still embers burning after burning black smoke on the deck, and the sailors were clearing them one by one. The huge bridge had collapsed more than half, and it looked like a ruin made of steel. The starboard side was riddled with holes. An armor-piercing bomb fired by the French tore a large hole in the armor below the waterline. Two compartments had been filled with more than 1,200 tons of sea water.

The superstructure of the warship and all the secondary guns were almost destroyed. The front chimney collapsed halfway, and the back chimney looked intact, with holes of various sizes and shapes covered with holes of different sizes. The main turret No. 1 was lifted off a small half. Although the turrets No. 3 and 4 at the rear looked intact, the five barrels were twisted and hung low on the deck.

Only the No. 2 turret is intact. Thanks to the waterproof compartment design learned from the Germans, the "Prince Eugen" is still floating on the water surface and has three-quarters of the power.

Lieutenant General Negovan's fleet returned in vain. The British battlecruisers "Indomitable" and "Indomitable" led by General Milne and two armored cruisers saved La Perel's life. The two sides fought a fierce battle near Cape Matapan. As it was getting dark, the battle lasted only for more than half an hour. Negovan sank a British armored cruiser, but there was no way to stop the opponent from escaping. As night fell, the British and French fleets escaped Negovan's pursuit, and because it was dark, Negovan had no choice but to order the troops to withdraw.

In order to take care of the "Prince Eugen", whose speed has dropped to 15 knots, the entire fleet returned to Trieste at dusk on the third day. Lee Haydn and the crew members standing on the bridge and deck had already seen the lively scene of the Navy Pier, and more than a dozen hot air balloons hanging with ribbons rose in the port.

The senior officials of the empire, including Prime Minister Ticha, were waiting at the scene early. An inspiring maritime victory made the entire empire feel extremely happy, and even the elderly old emperor appeared again.

Although the battleships of the Imperial Navy were also covered in scars and smoke, the huge record of sinking four battleships of the "British-French Joint Fleet" and an armored cruiser was naturally the "triumphant return" after a big victory. Since the Battle of Trafalgar, no one dared to challenge the hegemony of the British Empire on the ocean, but the Austro-Hungarian fleet led by Lee Haydn did this and achieved success.

At the celebration ceremony held in Trieste, people intentionally or unintentionally ignored the fact that the Austro-Hungarian Navy was mainly fighting with the French fleet, and deliberately exaggerating the elements of defeating the British. Although Negovan's fleet only had a brief fierce artillery battle with the British, they sank a British warship.

That's enough, the British Empire Navy was defeated!

Those guys in the Admiralty who were taller than the sky in London were not sure what they would be angry when they saw this news.

"United Force" and "Prince Eugen" have become the hottest topics at the moment. As the flagship of the Austro-Hungarian Navy fleet, "United Force" naturally endured more halos, and the "Prince Eugen" who suffered heavy damage but struggled to return to the port has been promoted into a legend. The crew members on the "Unsinkable Prince" have all become heroes. Brigadier Holtie was not only promoted to lieutenant general but also received great honors.

Of course, there are many reasons for the Hungarians, and the Magyars will naturally promote their heroes.

However, Li Haidn did not give his sailors much time to enjoy honor. On the fifth day of his return, he ordered Lieutenant General Negovan to lead a fleet that had been under maintenance to go around the Mediterranean again, which scared the French to temporarily stop the withdrawal plan from North Africa to the local area.

The angry British sent four dreadnoughts and six old-fashioned former dreadnoughts to strengthen the Mediterranean fleet, and the French also sent four of their dreadnoughts, and the British and French fleets concentrated on the island of Malta and blocked the Otranto Strait.

After the war started, the British rudely detained two newly built battleships of the Ottoman Empire and refused to pay any compensation, which made the angry Turks join the Allies and the war expanded beyond Europe. What Lee Haydn felt a little confused was that in the eyes of the British, were the Turks not even as good as four million pounds?

Lee Hayden has always believed that the focus of this war is not on the French and German high seas fleets. Whether Germany and Austria can gain a favorable position in this war depends on the following three points: one, defeating the Russians and forcing them to withdraw from the war, two, closely linked to the Ottoman Empire, and three, competing for sea control in the Mediterranean and control of the Suez Canal.

If the above three points can be achieved, you will have enough resources and be invincible in this war.

Based on the above view, the actions taken by Germany on the Western Front were a huge mistake. Eighty percent of their troops were trapped in France. If they took a defensive position, it might be enough to invest only forty or fifty percent of their troops. If Germany could withdraw 30 percent of their troops, that is, 60 to 700,000 to 700,000 people, then the war would be easier.

Now most of the burden on the Eastern Front was borne by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. However, with the level of the imperial army, the prospects for fighting against nearly 1.7 million Russian troops with one million people were absolutely not optimistic.
Chapter completed!