In May 1915, the tenth month and six months after the outbreak of the war in Europe, the magnificent world war was still far from the end.

514, on the west coast of the Indian subcontinent, in the port of Mumbai, the battleship "Queen Elizabeth" raised the admiral's flag of the commander of the Combined Fleet of the Entente, Jericho.

On this day, Admiral Jericho officially began to take command of this super-powerful fleet that had never been seen before in the Indian Ocean.

Standing on the roof of the "Queen", looking around the harbor with its familiar and unfamiliar ships, Admiral Jericho was still uneasy, even though it had been two months since he had been ordered to set out from Sparka Bay.

The combined fleet, which was covered with 6,000 berths in the port of Mengmai, was no less powerful than the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet assembled at Scapa two months earlier.

The backbone of the fleet was 20 dreadnought-type battleships, including:

"Queen Elizabeth": "Lem", "War Wey" (main gun 8381 mm.

"George V": "Ajax" (10 gates, 343 meters, 21 sections);

Orion: Thunder (10 gates, 343 m, 21 knots);

"Giant" class 2: "Giant", "Hercules" (10,305 m, knots);

1 ship of the "Neptune" class: "Neptune" (10,305 meters, 21 knots);

French "Danton" class 2: "Diderot", "Condocet" (12 gates, 21 sections);

French "Kolbe" class 2: "Kolbe", "Ocean" (12 doors and 21 sections);

1 Dutch "Java" class: "Sumatra" (12305 meters. v. 21).

The above ships are organized into 4 battleship squadrons, of which the 4 Queen-class ships are classified as Pro +: squadrons, led by Vice Admiral Jericho; George V and Orion Class 8 were formed as Team 2, commanded by Lieutenant General Jeram; The Giant-2, Neptune, and Sumatra were organized as Team 3 and were commanded by Vice Admiral Bernie, the former commander of the Pacific Entente Combined Fleet; Fa 4 was organized into the 4th team, which was commanded by Lieutenant General Germ.

Also in the ranks of capital ships were 5 battle cruisers, which were:

"Lion": "Tiger", (main gun 8343 mm, 28);

1 ship of the "Indefatigable" class, namely the "Indefatigable" (8-door 305 mm, 27 knots).

The 5 was unified into the 1st Reconnaissance Squadron. Under the unified command of Lieutenant General Betty.

In the ranks of large ships and huge guns, Vice Admiral Hood's flat-topped fleet stood out in particular.

The 3 Hundred-Eyed Giant-class of the 1st Aircraft Carrier Squadron is equipped with 64 carrier-based aircraft, and the 3-seater class of the 2nd Aircraft Carrier Squadron is equipped with 6 seaplanes each, plus 32 seaplanes from the capital ship, and the entire Combined Fleet of the Entente should carry 242 aircraft of various types according to its establishment.

In addition, there were 8 British armored cruisers in the fleet, including:

1 ship of the "Drake" class, namely the Cape of Good Hope (14000. 23,2 234-meter guns. 1 gun of 152 meters, 03 completed);

"Edinburgh" class 2: "Edinburgh", "Black Prince" (11500, 22-knot, 69-point 2-inch gun, 106-inch gun, completed in 06);

1 ship of the "Devon Scher" class, namely the Rosenberg (10800, 22-23 knots 47.5-inch guns, 16 6-inch guns. 05 Completed);

"Monmouth": and "Lancaster" (9800 tons, 22-23, 14 guns of 152 meters, completed in 02-04).

and a total of 12 light cruisers belonging to Britain, France, the Netherlands, and the United States. They are:

"Chatham" class 2: "Dublin", "Southampton" (5400 tons, inch guns, 26 knots. 12 years to complete);

"Bristol" class 3: "Bristol", "Glasgow", "Liverpool", 4800 tons, 26-inch guns, 104-inch guns, 26 knots, completed in 10-11 years);

"Browder" class 2: "Browder", "Bletcher" (3350 tons, 43-pounder gun, 221-inch torpedo tubes, 25-26 knots, completed in 10-11 years);

1 French ship, namely "Annan" (2600~:.

Holland 2, namely "Batavia" and "Palembang" (2500 tons, 812 guns, 24 knots);

US 2, namely "Detroit" and "Marblehead" (2235 tons, 2 guns, 85-inch guns, 18 knots).

The above heavy and medium forces were supported by a total of 53 destroyers and 29 submarines from Shikoku.

Jericho understood that sixty percent of the Royal Navy's capital ships had already assembled here, and that Scarpa's "Grand Fleet" was already empty, and that soon even the glorious name of the "Grand Fleet" would have to be reluctantly given up and replaced by the awkward, languageless "Anglo-American Combined Atlantic Fleet."

The matter dates back to more than two months ago, at the Allied Strategic Coordination Conference in Casablanca, the British leaders finally made the Americans make concessions, changed the original "lion mouth" stance of asking the Royal Navy mobile forces to help counterattack Hawaii, and agreed to send a naval detachment, including capital ships, to the British mainland to assist the Royal Navy in continuing to blockade the German Ocean Fleet and dealing with the increasingly rampant German submarines.

In this way, although the British side failed to persuade the Americans to join the British-led Allied Pacific/Indian Ocean Combined Fleet against the East Asian Alliance~|more mobile forces to be put into the operation against the East Asian Army, it actually achieved its goal.

In addition, in mid-March, Italy announced that it would join the Allied side of the operation, which made the French Navy, which was originally in charge of the Mediterranean theater of operations, very relieved, and was able to draw four of the seven dreadnoughts on hand to join the combined fleet.

However, Jericho was not relieved by the "God-given" cobble-and-die fleet of a vast fleet, instead struggling to resist the constant heaviness of the assault ahead of the fall of Singapore and the dire attack on the bases in Colombo and Tingkomali by enemy carrier-based aircraft