In the eyes of ordinary people, King Joachim I of Ireland was a legendary figure before the age of 26, and from the age of 26 to 30, he was the great Irish monarch. After the age of 30, he spent most of his time accompanying his family and enjoying life. He neither took charge of military and political affairs nor played an important influence in international relations. He seemed to be weak in power and retired to the countryside. In fact, he just restrained his edge and chose a way that was more in line with the historical development trend to deal with changes in the world. In addition, he paid special attention to the development of science and technology education and the livelihoods of poor people.

, guide social concepts by leading the way and consolidate his status and image in the minds of the Irish people; externally, he closely monitored the changes in political concepts and folk thoughts in various countries, and assigned special personnel to collect and classify articles and patents in the technical field, making it an objective basis for his judgment on the strategic and tactical levels. Therefore, when some German senior officials were still worried about his success, as the "Frederick-Caiser" escort fleet lured prey, the S people were gradually completing the last few blocks of the grand battle layout.

Whether a combat plan is successful depends not only on whether its plan is reasonable, but also on whether it has grasped the weak links of the enemy. This must be based on understanding of the enemy's situation. Since the coup in Portugal and the German forces forcibly attacking the Azores, the estrangement between the Allied camp and the United States and Britain have deepened, and military exchanges through normal channels have basically been cut off. Understanding the other's military information mainly relies on the spy and collection of intelligence personnel, and each other's defense makes this method like a blind man touching an elephant. At the beginning of the Battle of Azores, the US and British troops failed to successfully seize air supremacy and almost lost the overall situation, which is that they lack understanding of the air defense system of the Allied team on Texel Island. After the Battle of Flores, many German naval generals were still struggling with whether US and British ships were generally equipped with radar equipment, which was also a manifestation of insufficient grasp of the enemy's situation.

Compared with the German naval commanders who are highly regarded by themselves, Xia Shu's advantage lies in his understanding of objective laws. Any military technology does not appear out of thin air. It must be based on the dual basis of scientific research and industrial technology. Based on long-term observations of the academic research and technical application fields of the United States and Britain, Xia Shu inferred that the opponent currently has the ability and conditions to use radar equipment on a large scale, but the radar detection accuracy should not exceed the latest equipment of the Irish Navy, which means that they are not yet able to achieve radar fire control.

In view of this, Natsuki dispatched seven destroyers to form a lightning strike formation, and asked him to launch a torpedo attack on the enemy fleet before dawn.

Under the guidance of the "Ruger", five German destroyers and two Irish destroyers rushed straight ahead of their opponent's route. As Natsuki expected, the US and British fleets discovered these invading ships early, and many light ships quickly turned to face the attack to prevent enemy ships from approaching their own large ships.

Soon, the lights of flares, searchlights and artillery flames rose and fell on the sea, confusing people's eyes. The seven Allied destroyers rode the wind and waves and walked proudly. Under the guidance of the leading ship, they divided into two groups, using naval guns and torpedoes to strike the enemy's light ships that were being deployed in a hurry, and deviated from the enemy's flanks. They launched two torpedo attacks on the enemy's three large warships at a distance of about 4,000 meters. The flying torpedoes immediately disturbed the enemy's fleet formation.

When attacked by the Allied destroyers, the US and British fleets had already discovered through radar that their opponents had three large warships sailing towards them. Thomas Hart asked the ships to avoid them carefully while preparing for the battle. His combat flagship "Lexington" was built as a miracle of modern industry. In the 1930s, it was still a super giant in the navy, but the shortcomings and advantages of this giant were as prominent. During the Battle of Azores, six ships were shipped by the six ships during the Battle of Azores.

The defense system, which has been criticized for three sinking and two severely injured, has indeed become their life gate on the battlefield. The level of vulnerable protection in long-range artillery warfare and air defense operations is particularly fragile. In view of these painful lessons, the U.S. Navy has decided to carry out the second major modification of the two Lexington-class ships that have been returned to China for overhaul, greatly enhancing their protection capabilities at the expense of speed. The modification of the "Lexington" has naturally been put on the agenda.

Since the "Lexington" is not good at fighting tough battles, the two Queen Elizabeth-class ships that were traveling alongside were also a little old. Hart decided to avoid the enemy's edge, use his speed to deal with it, and wait for the main fleet to arrive before attacking.

Someone once asserted that the daytime naval battle has the final say, and the nighttime naval battle has the final say, although this is too absolute, it does make sense. Progress, maneuver, lightning strike, and retreat, the seven Allied destroyers launched a typical lightning fast attack. Although five of them were equipped with radar and projected a full 42 torpedoes in the battle, they only sank one American destroyer, and the three large warships were not even next to each other, and two of them were beaten torpedoes.

The seven Allied destroyers retreated smoothly, and the US and British light ships that were fighting with them did not follow and pursue them because they received clear instructions from the flagship. In a moment, a trace of whiteness appeared in the horizon. The current battlefield situation is that the US and British fleets are located in the west north and the fleet formation is scattered, and it will take time to re-form. The Allied fleet is located in the east south and the fleet is in a neat formation. Three battleships are arranged in a "slide" oblique column. According to the traditional style of the German Navy, the "Hesse" leads, the "Election Emperor" is at the right back, and the "Carl Great" is at the end, and the US and British fleets are in front of their port side, so the front main gun points to the target, and the rear main gun is in the extreme state of clockwise turning.

At this time, the sight at sea was still blurry, and the impact of the positions of the two sides on optical ranging and aiming was not different. When it was 29,000 meters away from the enemy's large warship, that is, 31,700 yards, the Hesse was the first to roar.

“What’s going on?”

Seeing the slim ship shadow at the end of his sight flashing with dazzling light, but the scene was silent. Thomas Hart suddenly felt incredible. Does the enemy think that this distance is possible to hit the target?

Since the enemy ship had opened fire, the "Lexington" sounded as usual to guard against artillery damage. Except for the combatants on the open-air artillery position, the deck quickly became empty. 20 seconds, 30 seconds, and 40 seconds. The shells had fallen at this time, but this time, even the roar of the shells had not appeared. During the long wait, the scream finally came. Then, two huge columns of water suddenly rose on the sea about 500 meters to the starboard side of the "Lexington".

Although the shells landed in that position were not threatening to the Lexington and its crew, many smart officers, including Hart, realized that the situation was not good. A moment later, the enemy warship located at the sea and sky communication flashed again, and the number doubled.

Before the shells broke through the air, an officer from the staff reported to Hart: "Sir, the enemy fleet has a total of 25 ships. Judging from the radar detection situation, there is only one large warship, three medium warships, and the rest are all small guys. The distance is too far now, and we cannot judge the model of the enemy warship through optical observation."

Obviously, this report made Lieutenant General Hart feel much more relaxed. No matter what type of enemy's large warships are, if they fight against the three main battleships on their side at the same time, it may be difficult to see a win.

"Prepare to open the fire!" he ordered calmly and confidently.

The second round of artillery fire from more than 20,000 meters away from the Lexington was still more than 200 meters away. Apart from the splashing water waves, these shells pose no threat to the US war patrol. However, the cautious people have already vaguely seen the real threat. In such a long-range artillery battle, the shells fell at a very high angle. Once they hit, there is a great probability that they will penetrate the horizontal deck from top to bottom. The damage caused to the hull by such a blow may be greater than the three or four shots hitting the side.

With the rising waves of water falling down, a brief silence appeared on the sea. On the three American and British main ships, "Lexington", "War-weary" and "Palermo", the crew were watching and calculating through optical rangefinders and mechanical calculators, thereby guiding their main guns to attack the enemy ships in the distance. The Allied warships are also doing the same, but they can refer to them through the previous bounce point, and the accuracy of the next round of shooting will be better.

On the battleship bridge with a wide field of vision, Lieutenant General Hart held the telescope with both hands and focused on observing the shadow of enemy ships on the sea. As expected, the hazy sea surface once again showed stars and flashes, but this time the number of flashes was much more than before. Hart's expression suddenly became ugly. According to the usual understanding, the so-called medium-sized warships refer to heavy cruisers with displacement of more than 10,000 tons and strength was one level lower than that of battleships and battleships. Although the Limerick International Naval Treaty is regulated.

The main gun caliber of fixed-weight cruisers must not exceed 8 inches. In fact, there are still many heavy cruisers that have been in service or secretly built that exceed this standard, with the largest reaching 11 inches. For various considerations, the Germans who have historically valued the rate of fire and efficiency of naval guns, only use two main guns of 8 inches and 9.4 inches in nearly 20 heavy cruisers of their four levels. All the heavy cruisers of the Irish Navy of both levels use 8 inches naval guns, and the effective range of such naval guns should not exceed 24,000 meters.

In other words, the scene in front of us means two possibilities. One is that the enemy has greatly improved the performance of the naval gun, so that the 8-inch or 9.4-inch guns can attack targets close to 30,000 meters. The other is that the staff members have misjudged judgments. The three medium-sized battleships are not real medium-sized battleships, but are early built, relatively small battleships or battle cruisers. Their standard displacement is about 20,000 tons, which is very close to those heavy cruisers with displacements of 15,000 or even 17,000 tons. They are equipped with 11 or 12-inch main guns. Appropriate technical modifications can increase their effective range from the early level to a state that meets the current naval combat requirements.
Chapter completed!