"South Africa is abandoning ship?" Betty looked at the telegram from South Africa and said with some surprise. At this time, he really paid attention to the battleship, which was struggling in third place on the battle line, the main gun in the bow was almost submerged by the sea, and the large amount of water ingress and hull losses had made it impossible for him to keep up with the actions of the fleet, and even the operation was very difficult. With the exception of the stern gun, which occasionally fired a few shells, the remaining 6 guns were all destroyed. If the war had ended by this time, there would still be a chance to rescue, but now, it is clear that the other side will not give up this opportunity to beat the water dogs.

"Damn, it's only been less than 20 minutes, what the hell is going on?" Betty angrily looked at the Julius Caesar, who was showing her might! By this time, he had not yet seen that this battleship was not a foreign trade warship of Huaxia, but an upgraded version of it. On a battlefield full of bullets, the explosion of shells and the jets of water made it even more difficult to distinguish the Julius Caesar from other ships.

"Get the South Africa out of the battle column, and we'll cover it." Betty really didn't want to end her first battle in the Mediterranean...... At this time, he still had a hint of fantasy, hoping that he could save the battered battleship. A group of destroyers and light cruisers on standby rushed up, and they began to release smoke and torpedoes to cover the fleet's retreat, but it was clear that the Allied fleet would not let the other side go so smoothly, and the auxiliary warships of both sides soon became entangled, and the secondary guns of the capital ships began to attack the ......... of the opposing mine-striking ships.

"The South Africa is too slow right now, they're going to drag us to death." As the captain of the Australia, Rear Admiral Moore said anxiously. Although the South Africa can still maneuver, its speed is less than 15 knots, and the opponent can easily catch up with it. You can't beat 4 to 4, and 3 to 4 is even more difficult!

"How far is Admiral Thomas's main fleet?" Betty ignored Major General Moore and asked.

"It's going to take at least 1 hour to get there!" The staff officer replied.

"An hour?" Betty hesitated. Obviously, this is a bit of a long time, and it is difficult for the South Africa to hold on for such a long time. Just as he was about to make a move, there was another loud bang on the South Africa!

This time the shell hit the power compartment of the South Africa, and at a distance of 15 meters from the South Africa, the 15-inch shell fell into the water. And as he continued to move forward, he began to sink, and when the shell hit the side chord of the South Africa like a torpedo, he had avoided the protection of the main armor belt, directly tore through the hull, and easily penetrated several layers of lightning protection walls, and finally broke through the underwater protection of the power compartment and plunged into the port side boiler room, and exploded in the power compartment! In a very short period of time, five boilers were destroyed one after another, and the bound high-temperature and high-pressure steam instantly filled the entire engine room, and the sound of explosions came and went. Deadly steam reaps the lives of the crew. At the same time, the energy generated by the explosion further tore the breach in the hull, under the action of strong water pressure. Tons of seawater poured into the cabin. In a short time, the power compartment of the warring side was completely flooded. Let the water ingress of this battleship increase even more, and at the same time lose half of its power! . …。

"The battleship has suffered a serious left and head tilt, and has lost its general power and almost all of its power supply, and we have no power to recover. Again request to abandon the ship. Soon, Betty received a second telegram from the South Africa requesting to abandon the ship. Under the successive blows, the South Africa has completely lost its chance of survival, the battleship's water ingress is uncontrollable, and the power compartment is half destroyed, even if the war is now suspended, the probability that the battleship will return alive is not large. What's more, there is a group of warships attacking frantically behind.

"The fleet withdrew at full speed. Give up the South Africa! Betty gave the order to retreat decisively, but this time, it seemed to be a little late, because the sinking of the South Africa was a foregone conclusion, and the Julius Caesar aimed its guns at the Canada in fourth place, just before Betty gave the order to retreat. A dense rain of bullets has covered the Canada! Together with the Gnaisenau, the Julius Caesar rained down deadly bullets on the ship. …。

Despite the cover of torpedoes and smoke, the Canada was still hit hard a few times during the retreat, and a 15-inch shell hit the rear turret, this time because of the good angle of the distance, the frontal armor of the turret successfully blocked the shell. However, the fragments from the explosion of the shell destroyed 2 main guns, one of which was directly broken in two by a fragment, while the other was also seriously damaged. Two shells also hit the Canadian's side chord and stern, the one that hit the side chord was hit by the tank, and the one that hit the stern caused a certain amount of water ..........

The battle between the two sides lasted only more than half an hour, and Betty lost a capital ship in a daze, which is a real confusion, Betty still hasn't figured it out, the warships used by both sides are brothers, why is the gap so big? The details of the damage to the South Africa could not have been told to Betty by telegram, so Betty never understood why the other party's warships were so strong. Three times five divided by two scrapped the South African number? It's incomprehensible! But I don't understand it...... Betty didn't know exactly how the South Africa sank, but she still reported to Thomas, and the three capital ships were each damaged, and the South Africa sank. On the side of the Allies, it was similar, except for the battleship that was in third place, and the situation of the other three battleships was half as good as that of the British fleet.

"It's greasy!" After receiving Betty's telegram, Thomas immediately smelled a hint of conspiracy, compared with Betty, Thomas's biggest advantage is that he can comprehensively analyze all aspects of intelligence, and he is very familiar with the performance of Australia-class fast battleships and quite confident. According to the follow-up intelligence, there were not many bullets in the Australian class, although the situation was more tragic and many shells were smashed on the bow of the ship, but even the damage caused by the heavy artillery would not cause such a heavy damage to such a battleship, and he also noticed two key points. One is the horizontal armor at the top of turret No. 2 that is penetrated, and the other is .........the side chord that is suspected to be penetrated.

The foreign trade warships of the Huaxia Republic are very conscientious. The protection is very good, especially the turret protection, both horizontally and vertically, and although it may be disabled by a 350 heavy gun hit, it will definitely not be easily penetrated. In the same way, based on the situation at the time, the distance between the two sides was relatively far, and the lateral chord armor should also be in the immunity zone, and there should not be a suspected breakdown. If there is only one time, it can be explained by chance, but if it appears twice, it can only indicate one problem, the other side is not using heavy artillery, but more powerful weapons!

And judging from the combat situation, the performance of the other 6 warships can be described as decent in the end, although some have a slight advantage, and some have suffered a little loss, but the gap is not large. Why is this battleship so combat-effective? Go up and turn your head and beat the South Africa half to death? It can be found after comparison. Compared with other warships, this battleship is not at all a grade in combat effectiveness!

"There is only one warship in the Allied fleet that has the ability to defeat the South Africa in a short period of time!" Thomas said in his heart. "And this battleship should be an expanded version of the South Africa from a pedigree." "They are very similar in appearance, and if they are disguised, they will not be visible at all during the engagement! Or that no one thought that the Italians would give the best ships in their hands to the Germans! ”。 …。

"It's too insidious! When did Tycho and Spee become so cunning? Thomas finally figured out why Betty was losing so badly. The battleship has been dropped! There is a lion hidden in a pack of wolves, and the South Africa just happened to be right with this lion, so it's no wonder if it wasn't beaten! That's the guy who hit the New Mexico hard! Obviously, Betty was unlucky enough to be pretended to be a pig and a tiger! …。

"It's bad luck to lose a capital ship at the beginning." Thomas glanced at the calm sea and said, but no matter how bad it is, the battle will still go on, and it can be expected that the main fleet of the Allies will also come this time, and the fate of the Mediterranean, and even the trend of the war will be seen in this battle! Although Thomas is steady, he can definitely stand up to it when he should be desperate!

The destruction of a capital ship at the beginning made Thomas's situation a little awkward, in order to deal with the Julius Caesar and 4 other fast battleships...... If Thomas wants to gain an advantage, he must hand over two R-class battleships to Betty, the two capital ships named Revenge and Royal Oak are equipped with 8 15-inch naval guns, but in terms of performance, the same 15-inch carrier, the Revenge class is not as good as Caesar the Great, and in the battle with Hipper, the two Queen-class battleships and two Dutch battleships fought together for nearly an hour to sink the two German Super Dreadnoughts. So in Thomas's opinion. Even if both Vengeance battleships are in Betty's hands, a 5-5 situation is a tie. The R-class is stronger than the super-dreadnought, and the Julius Caesar is stronger than the R-class battleships, and the overall battle situation is likely .........to be a stalemate.

Thomas soon joined Betty's fleet. Look at the huge fleet that appears in the distance. Lin Yongsheng also had no idea of continuing the pursuit, and moved directly in the direction of the main fleet. The first wave of contacts took place, and the Allies had a strategic advantage by stratagem. According to previous estimates, the other side has at least 16 warships, so now the two sides are finally equal in numbers. But there is still a certain gap in quality, after all, there are 3 Dreadnoughts on your side, and only 1 on the other side! And the other side also has 2 15-inch capital ships. There is also the advantage of the opponent's auxiliary warships, overall, your side is still at a loss, and if you are not careful, you will be doomed!

Thanks to the book friend zhouyu1976 for the reward, and the book friend's monthly pass support ~~~