In the waters of San Miguel Island, as the main battleships of the US and British fleets reunited, the alliance fleet fell into the dilemma of using ten main battleships against twenty enemy battleships. Admiral Bainke and his subordinates seemed to have no way out except to fight against San Miguel Island.

Watching the powerful enemy main fleet gathering formations on the east sea of ​​San Miguel, the strongest North Carolina and Great Britain class are in the middle, the slightly inferior Colorado and Queen Elizabeth class are on the right wing front, the powerful Lexington and Admirals class are arranged on the left wing front, and the dense light ships defend their positions. Any alliance person will be deeply worried about the fate of their own fleet.

Drinking the second cup of bitter black coffee, General Bainke seemed to have a new understanding. He issued a series of combat commands in a confident manner. His fleet began to retreat slowly, and General Stendley, the commander of the US and British fleet, who were observing the battlefield situation on the temporary flagship, soon discovered that the German battleships were leaving his sight one after another, and shyly hid behind San Miguel Island.

The North Carolina-class and South Dakota-class battleships in the US-UK fleet have high speeds of 28 and 27 knots respectively. Lexington and Admiral-class battlecruisers are even more racing experts. In addition, the group of destroyers like wolves and tigers, Standley is not worried about the prey in front of him. What really annoyed him was the enemy's planes. In front of large warships that cost 30,000 tonnes, those aircraft were as insignificant as toys.

Small, but the bombs and torpedoes they dropped brought a fatal threat to the giant ships at sea. Since the Battle of Azores, the US and British fleets have lost 91 ships of various types, more than two-thirds of which were due to the enemy's aviation forces. Among the 14 main battleships that were sunk or severely damaged, only 3 were the results of the Allied warships. These bad data are enough to show how hateful the Allied air forces are.

As the position adjustment of the US and British fleets was completed, the main warships bombarded the Allied fleets with dense and fierce artillery fire again. Although the distance between the two sides was still more than 25 kilometers, this time, all the ships under Standley fought very accurately. The two Bavarian-class battleships that were dragged behind were soon surrounded by forests of water. According to this trend, it would not take long to deal with them. However, after a while, their outlines were getting closer and closer to the coast, and the main guns of the Indiana stopped firing, and then several battleships around were silent.

Standley, who was watching the battle on the bridge, stared at his blood-covered eyes. He looked around. Although he did not question, his uneven and powerful aura made his subordinates nervous. After a while, General Yanel, the commander of the battle fleet in the Indiana, stepped forward and explained: "The target is out of sight, and we cannot aim it. If we want to continue shelling, we either change our position or send an aircraft to observe, there is no other way."

All US and British warships of cruisers and above can carry and eject seaplanes. However, after many battles, the simple aviation facilities and aviation equipment of many warships were destroyed, and this is not the worst. Now the US and British land-based aviation troops on Texel are still struggling to protect themselves and cannot spare any hands to support naval operations. The few remaining energy of the three US and British aircraft carriers is used to attack the Allied aircraft carriers. In the waters of San Miguel, battlefield air supremacy is firmly in the hands of the Allied team. Seaplanes carried by ordinary warships only have reconnaissance capabilities, and they can only escape when encountering enemy fighters.

As people expected, two carrier-based reconnaissance aircraft that took off from the US and British fleets had just taken off the air, and the German fighter jets that took off from the west of San Miguel Island rushed over with ferocious viciousness. The two seaplanes immediately saw a cat like mice, fled in panic. In the end, they relied on the protection of the fleet's anti-aircraft artillery fire to avoid the hunting of enemy planes.

Aerial reconnaissance is not the only optional reconnaissance method for the US and British fleets. Seeing that the plan failed, the commander immediately dispatched two American destroyers to attack from the front. They bypassed the minefields in the southern part of San Miguel Island, used optical instruments to reconnaissance the movement of the Allied fleet, and then reported the observations to the fact that the Allied fleet was sailing northward, and maintained a distance of about five kilometers from the coastline of San Miguel Island.

On the bridge of the US ship "Indiana", Standley said to General Yanel, who had worked with him for many years: "If I were the enemy commander, I would definitely not retreat at this time, let alone there was no way out."

Yanel looked into the distance: "I agree with your judgment. In fact, intuition tells me what the enemy is definitely using San Miguel Island to do."

Standley was thinking hard when he suddenly heard a thunderous roar from a distance. Then, several huge water columns rose near the two destroyers sent to reconnaissance the enemy situation. So he guessed: "Can the enemy use San Miguel as a barrier to attack!"

San Miguel Island is a strip island with long east and narrow north and south. Judging from the chart, it is like a simple single bunker. The Allied Fleet can hide on the other side of the island and launch a leapfrog shooting against the US and British fleets. The German troops on the island are their eyes. If the reconnaissance of seaplanes and light ships cannot work, the US and British fleets are like blindfolded, and they can only be beaten passively.

Before General Yanel could speak, the rumbling cannons came again. Although its momentum was far less than the fire of the battleship group, such cannon sounded like a terrible storm for the two American destroyers leaving the fleet. In a blink of an eye, water columns of all sizes rose around them, and the drifting mist enveloped them.

After picking up the telescope and observing for a moment, Yanel inferred: "There are at least two main battleships shooting at them!"

Standley frowned: "The more this happens, the more it means that the enemy's current intention is not to escape. They may want to use San Miguel Island as cover to continue fighting with us, or maybe it is another possibility to drag us here and let the bombers consume our strength, and wait until we are exhausted, and then rush out and clean up us."

Yanel agreed with this and suggested: "The two destroyers will definitely not last long. Should we send Lieutenant General Hart's cruiser to the enemy, firmly grasp the enemy's tail, move the battle fleet at full speed, and bring the main force of the enemy fleet into our sight."

Standley said: "If the enemy is devoted to the circle of San Miguel Island, it may be difficult to catch up, but we can divide our troops into two groups to block them and then form a pincer attack. What do you think?"

In such a large-scale naval battle, the factors that affect the combat progress were complicated. Since Standley, as the commander-in-chief of the coalition fleet, solemnly solicited his opinions, Yanel had to consider it carefully. However, the battlefield situation changed rapidly, and the two American destroyers that were reconnaissance were in danger. So, he said with an embarrassment: "You make a decision!"

Standley was obviously hesitant to make such an important decision based on subjective judgment. At this moment, the outpost destroyers sent back a report and bombarded them with an enemy battlecruiser and a heavy cruiser, which was basically consistent with Yanel's judgment just now.

Standley quickly ordered the adjutant: "Order Hart to lead the 1st Battle Patrol team immediately forward to suppress the enemy's frigates!"

Thomas Hart is a brave and good warrior of the US Navy. This time he served as the commander of the cruiser fleet of the coalition fleet, with six powerful Lexington-class battlecruisers under his command, and nominally commanded the British Navy's battle cruiser. Before the Battle of San Miguel Island broke out, four British battle patrols sank and one injured, and two Lexington-class escorts back to North America. Hart's cruiser strength was greatly weakened. In the first half of this naval battle, the Lexington-class battlecruiser "Constellation" unfortunately sank in an enemy air strike. The British battle patrol "Ansen" was moderately injured. At this point, there were four and a half US and British battle patrols that could be put into battle, namely the US ships "Lexington", "Saragato", "Constitution", the British ships "Ho" and the injured "Ansen".

With the battle order from the flagship, Hart led four USS Lexington, Saragato, Constitution and light cruisers without hesitation to accelerate westward. In front of this cruiser detachment, two US destroyers attacked by enemy ships were maneuvering to avoid enemy artillery fire at a speed of nearly 30 knots. The enemy warships that bullyed the small seemed not only to drive away these two annoying stalkers, but they seemed to be venting their anger. Although the two sides were far apart, the artillery fire from the direction of San Miguel was so dense and fierce that it was severely damaged one of the US destroyers. Its speed slowed down due to injuries, and then it was hit by a catastrophe. The violent artillery fire easily smashed it into pieces like a matchbox with a fist.

Compared with the companions who suffered bad luck, another American destroyer was more lucky. It was rushed to the Hart fleet to rescue the siege. As the figures of three Lexington-class battlecruisers entered the firing realm of enemy warships, the artillery fire quickly shifted direction, and huge water columns began to appear around these white and gray warships.

The Lexington class equipped with 18-inch main gun has unparalleled firepower, but they are "strategic deterrent weapons" built in the mid-to-early 20s. The advantages of military equipment and power are not enough to cover up their protective weaknesses. If they face combat tour killers like Count Tirpitz in battle, their chances of winning may be very slim. The situation in front of them is that three Lexington class fight one Markenson class, and such a battle will not be too suspense.
Chapter completed!