1825 My New Daming

Chapter 239 Encounter on a narrow road, let's see who escapes first? (Please subscribe, please collect)

After staring at the chart for a while, Lieutenant General Codrington still couldn't imagine where the Ming fleet that broke into the Indian Ocean went?
Not Ceylon, not Male, not Chittagong, and not the port of Chennai on the east coast of India. They don't want to go to the Gulf of Aden to block the Suez Canal, do they?

At the end of the analysis, Lieutenant General Codrington came up with an answer that was closest to the truth!
But then he was frightened by his own idea, because the United Kingdom and the Indian Empire have been preparing for war with all their strength in the past two years, and all the old ships have entered the factory for refurbishment.Therefore, the Royal Indian Navy's large fleet is just in a period of low strength. Not only is the main fleet of the fleet stationed in Mumbai insufficient, but the strength of the four squadrons stationed in Malacca, the Gulf of Aden, Chittagong, and Ceylon is also very weak, which is not enough at all. Resist the attack of such a huge main formation of the Ming Navy
And once the Ming army occupied the Gulf of Aden, the shortcut from India to the British mainland would be controlled by the Ming navy.This is really unfavorable to the Royal Indian Navy, which is far away from the British mainland!
Although the formation of the Ming Navy that broke into the Indian Ocean is much stronger than his own formation, Lieutenant Admiral Codrington still decided to give it a try. He is not without a chance of winning. Although his ship is not as good as his opponent, there is Hindustan Shipbuilding behind him factory in Mumbai.

Therefore, if his warship is damaged in the battle with Ming, he can immediately return to Mumbai for repairs.Once the warship of Ming Dynasty is damaged, it can only go back to the Borneo Shipyard of the Ming Navy in the east of the Strait of Malacca for repairs.

Judging from the previous experience of the Kii Waterway Battle, it is not easy to sink a battleship or an ironclad ship, but it is relatively much easier to injure it.So whoever has a better repair shop has an advantage.

Thinking of this, Lieutenant General Codrington seemed to have made up his mind, and turned to ask the staff around him, "Where is the vanguard formation of Colonel Jervis?"

The so-called vanguard formation is a leading formation composed of 3 Blake-class fast armored cruisers aged 6 and 7 years and 3 Surprise-class notification cruisers.

The task of this formation is to carry out reconnaissance and search in front of the main fleet, and cover the large formation to launch an attack or "oil the bottom of the ship". This is a bit like light cavalry on land, but in the age without radar and aircraft, it is also This is the only way to scout out the enemy.

And in the fleets of various naval powers, it is often the fastest armored cruisers that carry a few fast cruisers that can serve as notification ships.

The so-called notification ship is actually a "ship that ventilates the letter."

This is because wireless telegraphy has not been popularized these days—the ships on Da Ming’s side are all equipped with wireless telegraphy, and it is said that the British side has also built a prototype of a radio station, which is why Da Ming began to sell radio stations with the ship.However, the radio station in the UK has just started to try mass production, the output is very low, and the product quality is not stable.Therefore, the Navy has not yet equipped a large number of radio stations, and only a few ships are on trial.In the Indian fleet, there is not a single ship equipped with a radio station.

Therefore, the Royal Indian Navy can only rely on fast and light cruisers and destroyers as notification ships.Utilizing its own high speed, it travels back and forth on the sea surface to report messages.

And this efficiency is of course very touching!

Now there are three surprise-class notification ships in the vanguard formation serving as the vanguard of the fleet. This kind of notification ship has a displacement of only 3 tons, and the power of the main engine can reach 1650 horsepower under natural ventilation conditions, allowing this ship to run at 2000 knots. Under strong ventilation, the power of the main engine can reach 16 horsepower, and it can run at 3000 knots.

This speed is far inferior to that of the South Island-class passenger ship. It is conceivable that the technology has progressed so fast in the past few years!
"The semaphore announced an hour ago that they have arrived near Goa."

Lieutenant General Codrington returned his gaze to the chart. Although Goa was a Portuguese colony, due to the traditional friendship between Portugal and the British Empire—the two sides have been allies for hundreds of years, British warships and airships all use Goa. A facility.

"Send a Surprise class to Goa, first give Colonel Jervis an order to lead the entire formation to the Gulf of Aden.

Then let the Surprise send a message to the airship base in Goa, asking them to send an airship to search the entire Arabian Sea. I have a hunch that the formation of the Ming Navy is somewhere in the Arabian Sea! "

"Yes, sir!"

Lieutenant General Codrington really guessed right!
The Ming Navy Persian Gulf Fleet led by Zhuge Weidao was sailing cautiously in the Arabian Sea far away from the coastline of India at this time.

The reason why Zhuge is so careful is to walk around the Indian subcontinent far away.Of course it's because... I'm scared.

The two hero-class battleships that had escorted his large formation through the Strait of Malacca before had left the formation and left on their own—they were all battleships sold to the Raksha Kingdom, and Nicholas I had already "fuelled".

Since they will join the Rakshasa's Mediterranean fleet as soon as they arrive in the Mediterranean, Ali Pasha, who is loyal to the Ottomans, has decided to refuse them to pass through the canal.

Therefore, the two ships can only go around Black Africa.

After the two heroes left, there were only eight battleships left in Zhuge Weidao's large formation, and they were all quite old battleships.

So he should stay away from the Indians... And in order to ensure that his large formation would not directly collide with the main force of the Indian Royal Navy whose home port is Mumbai, Zhuge Weidao also sent eight light armored patrol boats under his command to approach the Indian mainland to take charge Alerted.

"Baozhi," Zhuge Weidao, who was a little restless inside the bridge of Tang Wang, suddenly called Guo Xiaobao's name, "Is there a telegram from Wei Guogong?"

Wei Guogong is a 3000-ton light armored cruiser and the flagship of the armored cruiser unit of the Persian Gulf Fleet. It is currently sailing close to the west coast of India led by Chen Jian.

"Sir, I just sent a telegram half an hour ago." Guo Xiaobao replied with a smile, "They are almost in Goa..."

Before he could finish his sentence, the fleet communications officer suddenly shouted: "Sir, the Wei Guogong has an urgent call... three Blake-class armored cruisers have been found! The location is off the coast of Goa!"

"Why did you find three Blakes? That's a big ship with a displacement close to [-] tons!"

"Sir," Guo Xiaobao said, "It is reported that the Royal Indian Navy has only three Blakes in total...they have a large displacement, and they should not be easily dispatched. I guess there must be the main force of the Royal Indian Navy nearby!
What should we do?Is it war?Is it to avoid? "

"What should we do?" Zhuge Weidao was thinking, "Now there are only eight prince-class ships left, and the strength seems to be a bit lacking! However, we can't avoid it now, and the brave one wins when we meet in a narrow road!"

"Admiral, we haven't declared war yet... Theoretically, our fleet is still sailing on the high seas." Guo Xiaomao reminded, "Three Blakes are stronger than our Eight Dukes!"

"It doesn't matter, they probably don't know that the two heroes have left. So they should be afraid, not us." Zhuge Weidao seemed to have made a big determination, "My order, get rid of the eight machines. With the exception of the battleship Sail and all auxiliary ships, all turned towards us off the coast of Goa!

Then tell Chen Jian that he must have the determination to hit the first shot.If two armies of equal strength meet on a narrow road, then the brave will win...not to mention the advantage lies with me! "

"Yes, sir."

(End of this chapter)