Long live Joachim

Chapter 143: Deadly Life In the waters off San Miguel Island, as the main warships of the American and British fleets reunited, the Allied fleet was caught in a dilemma of ten main ships facing off against twenty enemy main ships. Admiral Baincke and his troops seemed to have no way out except to rely on a desperate battle on San Miguel Island. Watching the massive enemy main fleet assemble in the sea east of San Miguel, with the strongest North Carolina class and Great Britain class in the center, the slightly weaker Colorado class and Queen Elizabeth class on the right flank, and the more maneuverable Lexington class and Admiral class on the left flank, with a dense network of light ships guarding their positions, any Allied soldier would feel deeply worried about the fate of their own fleet. After drinking the second cup of bitter black coffee, General Bainke seemed to have a new understanding, and he issued a series of battle orders with a confident posture. His fleet began to slowly retreat, and Admiral Standley, the commander of the American and British fleets observing the battlefield situation from the temporary flagship, soon noticed that the German battleships were leaving his sight one after another, shyly hiding behind San Miguel Island. The North Carolina class and South Dakota class battleships in the US and UK fleet had high speeds of 28 and 27 knots, respectively. The Lexington and Admiral class battlecruisers were even more skilled runners, and with a fleet of destroyers like wolves and tigers, Standley was not worried about his prey running around. What really annoyed him was the enemy planes. In front of large warships weighing around 30000 to 40000 tons, those aircraft are as small as toys, but the bombs and torpedoes they drop pose a deadly threat to the giant ships at sea. Since the beginning of the Battle of Azores, the US and British fleets have lost 91 ships of various types, over two-thirds of which were donated by enemy aviation units. Among the 14 main ships sunk or heavily damaged, only 3 were the result of Allied warships. These terrible data are enough to show how despicable the Allied aviation units are. With the completion of the adjustment of the US and British fleet positions, the main warships once again bombarded the Allied fleet with dense and fierce artillery fire. Although the distance between the two sides was still over 25 kilometers, all the ships under Standley's command hit very accurately this time. The two trailing Bavarian class battleships were quickly surrounded by a forest of water columns, and according to this trend, it would not be long before they could be severely damaged. However, in a short while, their contours became closer to the coast, and the main guns of the Indiana stopped firing. Then the surrounding battleships also fell silent. Standing on the bridge watching the battle, Standley stared with bloodshot eyes as he looked around. Although he did not question, his calm and confident demeanor made his subordinates nervous. In a moment, General Yanal, the commander of the battleship fleet stationed on the USS Indiana, stepped forward and explained, "The target is out of sight, and we cannot aim at it. If we want to continue shelling, we must either relocate or send planes to observe. There is no other way Both American and British warships above the cruiser level can carry and eject seaplanes, but after experiencing multiple battles, the simple aviation facilities and equipment of multiple warships were damaged, which is not the worst. Nowadays, the land-based aviation units of the United States and Britain on Texel Island are still struggling to protect themselves and cannot spare any resources to support naval operations. The remaining energy of the three American and British aircraft carriers is all used to attack Allied aircraft carriers. In the waters of San Miguel, the battlefield air superiority is firmly in the hands of allied forces. The seaplanes carried by ordinary warships only have reconnaissance capabilities, and if they encounter enemy fighter jets, they can only escape for their lives. As expected, the two carrier based reconnaissance planes taking off from the US and British fleets had just taken off when German fighter planes taking off from the western part of San Miguel Island pounced fiercely. These two seaplanes immediately looked like mice seeing cats and fled in panic. In the end, they relied on the protection of the fleet's anti-aircraft fire to avoid being hunted by enemy planes. Aerial reconnaissance was not the only available reconnaissance method for the US and British fleets. Seeing that one plan was not feasible, the commander immediately dispatched two American destroyers to rush out from the front line. They bypassed the minefield in the southern part of San Miguel Island, using optical instruments to scout the movements of the Allied fleet, and then fed back their observations to their own main ship - the Allied fleet is sailing northward and maintaining a distance of about five kilometers from the coastline of San Miguel Island. On the bridge of the USS Indiana, Standley said to General Yanal, whom he had worked with for many years, "If I were an enemy commander, I would never retreat at this time, let alone have no way out Yanel stared into the distance and said, "I agree with your judgment. In fact, my intuition tells me that the enemy must be using San Miguel Island for some purpose Standley was lost in thought when he suddenly heard a thunderous roar in the distance, followed by several huge water columns rising near the two destroyers sent to scout the enemy's situation. So, he speculated, "Could it be that... the enemy is going to use San Miguel Island as a barrier to cover our eyes and launch an attack San Miguel Island is a strip-shaped island that is long from east to west and narrow from north to south. From the nautical chart, it looks like a simple individual shelter. The Allied fleet can hide on the other side of the island and launch a leapfrog shooting attack on the American and British fleets. The German troops on the island are their eyes. If the reconnaissance of seaplanes and light ships cannot be effective, the American and British fleets will be blindfolded and will only be passively attacked. General Yanel had not spoken yet when the rumbling sound of artillery came again. Although its momentum was far less than the simultaneous gunfire of the battleship fleet, for the two American destroyers that had left the fleet, such artillery sounds meant a terrible storm. In the blink of an eye, large and small water columns rose around them, and the drifting mist enveloped them. After holding up the telescope and observing for a moment, Yanel inferred, "At least two main ships are shooting at them Standley furrowed his brows and said, "The more so it is, the more it shows that the enemy's current intention is not to flee. They may be trying to use San Miguel Island as cover to continue fighting us, or perhaps another possibility - dragging us here and letting the bombers consume our power. When we are exhausted, they will rush out and take us away Yanal agrees with this and suggests, "Those two destroyers definitely won't last long. Should we send Admiral Hart's cruiser fleet up, bite the enemy's tail tightly, and let the battleship fleet move at full speed to bring the main force of the enemy fleet back into our sight Stanley said, "If the enemy is wholeheartedly circling around San Miguel Island with us, it may be difficult to catch up, but we can divide our forces into two routes to intercept and then form a pincer attack. What do you think In such a large-scale naval battle, the factors affecting the progress of the battle were chaotic and complex. Since Stanley, as the commander-in-chief of the coalition fleet, earnestly sought his opinion, Yanal had to carefully consider it. However, the situation on the battlefield was constantly changing, and the two American destroyers that had gone out for reconnaissance were in a precarious situation. So, he said awkwardly, "You make the decision Relying solely on subjective judgment to make such an important decision, Standley clearly hesitated. At this moment, the forward destroyer sent back a report that it was an enemy battleship cruiser and a heavy cruiser that fired at them, which was basically consistent with Yanal's previous judgment. Stanley quickly instructed his adjutant, "Order Hart to immediately lead the 1st Battle Patrol to suppress the enemy's rear guard ships Thomas Hart was a brave and skilled warrior in the United States Navy, serving as the commander of the Combined Fleet's cruiser fleet. He commanded six powerful Lexington class battlecruisers and nominally commanded the British Navy's battleship cruiser squadron. Before the outbreak of the Battle of San Miguel Island, four British battlecruisers sank and one was injured, and two Lexington class escorts returned to North America with heavily damaged aircraft carriers. Hart's cruiser fleet was greatly weakened, and in the first half of the battle, the Lexington class battleship cruiser "Constellation" unfortunately sank in enemy air raids. The British battlecruiser "Anson" suffered moderate damage, and there were four and a half American and British battlecruisers that could be put into battle, namely the American ships "Lexington", "Saragato", "Constitution", the British ship "Hao", and the wounded "Anson". Upon receiving battle orders from the flagship, Hart immediately led four cruisers, including the Lexington, Saragato, Constitution, and light and heavy cruisers, to accelerate westward. In front of this cruiser squadron, two American destroyers that were attacked by enemy ships are maneuvering at a speed of nearly 30 knots to avoid enemy fire. The enemy warships, which bully the small with their strength, seem to be not only trying to drive away these two annoying pursuers, but also venting their anger - although the distance between the two sides is far, the artillery fire from the direction of San Miguel Island is so dense and fierce that it soon severely damaged one of the American destroyers. Its speed slowed down due to its injuries, and then it suffered a catastrophic disaster. The violent artillery fire was like hitting a matchbox with a fist, easily shattering it into pieces. Compared to its unlucky companions, another American destroyer was luckier as it was rescued by the Hart fleet. As the figures of three Lexington class battlecruisers entered the firing range of enemy warships, the direction of the gunfire quickly shifted, and huge water columns began to appear around these white gray warships. The Lexington class, equipped with an 18 inch main gun, has unparalleled firepower, but they are still "strategic deterrence weapons" built in the mid-1920s. The advantages of military equipment and power are not enough to cover up their defensive weaknesses. If they were to face off against battle cruisers like the Count Tirpitz class in battle, their chances of winning would be very slim. The current situation is three Lexington class ships against one Mackensen class ship, and such a battle would not have too much suspense. General Hart was about to take this opportunity to avenge his past humiliation and raise the enemy's flag to establish his authority, but the situation before him underwent a dramatic change with the appearance of two phantoms - the other two Mackenzie class ships seemed to have emerged from the sea and appeared out of thin air near the previous Mackenzie class ship. The two cruiser fleets are now separated by nearly 20 kilometers, which is not conducive to the performance of heavy cruiser artillery. The real battle will be between the three Mackensen class and three Lexington class ships.