After the Italian fleet continued sailing for more than an hour, an uninvited guest appeared on the horizon.
"This is the Italian fleet."
Captain Nakano, who personally boarded the lookout post, looked at the warship in the distance with a surprised look on his face.
"Those three warships are very big. They should be the Turin-class ships, the Turin, the Palermo, and the Bari. The last two, which look smaller, should be the Venice and the Brescia. There are also one, two,
Three, four, five...nine other warships,"
Nakano Ikki excitedly talked about everything he saw with the telescope, and several other officers at the sentry post were equally excited.
"Let's retreat quickly before the enemy notices us. If we are discovered, we will be in too much danger."
"Yes, if the news cannot be sent back, Lieutenant General Ito will miss the opportunity."
Don't blame these officers for saying this, because although their Yaeyama is fast, there is no guarantee that there may be faster warships in the Italian fleet. As a qualified naval officer, he naturally knows the best way to detect the target.
Their only choice was to send the news back quickly. They were absolutely not worried about their own reasons, it was all for the United Fleet.
Although other officers were eager to serve the country, as the captain, Ikki Nakano could not let go of this good opportunity for investigation.
"No, we can't leave yet. We need to get closer. We need more information."
Nakano Ikki, who had more of a desire to serve his country than those officers, completely ignored the danger and ordered to approach the Italian fleet to observe closely.
Following his order, the officers and soldiers on the Yaeyama also gradually approached the Italian fleet in fear.
Since Nakano Ikki wanted to observe closely, it would be very easy for the Italian fleet to spot him. Before he could take a closer look at the Italian warships with the ship identification chart, he was immediately discovered.
"Your Excellency, Lieutenant General, a Japanese warship is approaching."
When the messenger informed Lieutenant General Alvaro of the discovery of the Yaeyama, the lieutenant general also saw the Yaeyama's figure through the telescope.
"Immediately order the Balut and Gasco to drive out the enemy warships."
The Barut and the Gascon are the two faster cruisers in the Italian fleet. The Barut in particular has the second highest speed after the Eagle. It can run up to 21.7 knots and can drive away even one cruiser.
The thousand-ton Yaeyama is not a piece of cake.
Lieutenant General Alvaro did not want to see this Japanese warship approaching him, so he had to drive it away first. Although he also knew that this would expose the position of his fleet, he could not let the Japanese see his next actions.
Lieutenant General Alvaro knew that his first priority was to escort the 1st Guards Division to Weihaiwei, so he had different requirements and different methods.
On the Yaeyama, Captain Nakano, who was looking at the two Italian warships approaching with great momentum, wanted to observe them for a while, but with the attention of all the officers and soldiers on the ship, he could only order to leave quickly.
But fortunately, Yaeyama found the target, and it was not a loss at all to regain his life.
Compared with the cautious officers and soldiers on the Yaeyama, the officers and soldiers on its rival Eagle behaved much more arrogantly.
"Boom, boom, boom!"
Several naval guns roared, and the shells they fired were directed at a speeding battleship.
The kinetic energy of the propellant caused the shell to rush towards the enemy at a speed of eight or nine hundred meters per second. However, after eight or nine seconds, the shell, which had exhausted its kinetic energy, could only glance at the warship that was still eight or nine hundred meters away.
Plunged into the sea, huge splashes bloomed.
On the Eagle, watching the water splashing from the Japanese ship's shells naturally aroused a burst of ridicule from the officers and soldiers.
"They still want to hit us from so far away. Do they think they are gods?"
"I think the officer who ordered the firing is definitely not in his right mind today. This is good news."
If Hayate, Heihachiro Togo and Colonel Sadao Nomura on the Takachiho hear this, they will definitely vomit blood. Don't they want to get close to the Eagle and have a higher accuracy before firing? This is not because the Eagle is too fast and the combined fleet is the fastest.
The ship was also more than three knots behind the Eagle. To get the opportunity to fire from this position, the Eagle had to take a detour on its own and want to harass the combined fleet. Otherwise, everyone would just be disappointed.
Besides, we are all old sea dogs, and no one knows the advantages of a three-knot speed.
"Captain, do you want to fire back?"
Facing the first mate's question, the captain, Major Pez, shook his head. "Relax, my lord, first mate. This is just a warning from the enemy that we are too close to them. There is no need to fire back. We will continue to stick to them."
Just keep sailing. Don’t be nervous, young men. Let’s continue to test the quality of our opponent for the Lieutenant General.”
Following Major Pez's order, the Eagle completely ignored the two ships, Hayami and Takachiho, and continued to circle around the combined fleet.
Faced with the Eagle's behavior of treating the Combined Fleet as nothing, it naturally aroused the anger of the Japanese ship's officers and soldiers. Japanese curses with their own accents were blurted out. If Major Pez stood in front of them, he would definitely be able to wash their hands of each other.
bath.
Of course, when the officers and soldiers of the Combined Fleet expressed their anger towards the Eagle, some people also had different emotions.
As the commander of the combined fleet, Yuhiro Ito looked at the mighty Eagle with a sad look on his face.
"Deyu, let's talk about this Italian eagle that appeared."
Facing the commander's words, the chief of staff, Colonel Shigehiro Dewa, immediately said, "At 10:48, the Italian warship Tsukuba appeared in front of us, and at 10:59, the battleship Tsukuba was sunk in front of us.
After the Italian Eagle sank the Tsukuba, it did not fly away, but followed our fleet, which forced our fleet to maintain sufficient vigilance."
Ito Yuhiro was very satisfied with Colonel Dewa's answer, and then he continued to ask, "Do you think the behavior of the Italian Eagle is abnormal?"
Facing Commander Ito's question, Colonel Dewa nodded and replied. "It is indeed abnormal. Logically speaking, the Italian Eagle should have returned to report after discovering our fleet, but the Italian Eagle stayed around us.
Never left. Could it be that we didn't have time to discover that there was another Italian warship that brought us news?"
"I hope so!"
Although he affirmed Colonel Dewa's analysis, Vice Admiral Ito was a little unconvinced. The United Fleet had so many lookout posts, but they failed to detect any Japanese warships. So many of their own lookout posts were so incompetent. Of course, Yuhiro Ito
Don't believe it.
In fact, he still had an idea in his heart, that is, the Italian Eagle must have notified its fleet through a method unknown to him, so it followed him so confidently.
Of course, in his heart, he still hoped that his own lookout post had made an oversight, rather than his own inner speculation.
And if the Italian fleet could still communicate at such a long distance, think about how terrifying it would be. This would make the Italian fleet even more powerful, and would also make it more difficult for the already disadvantaged United Fleet.
"I hope I'm overthinking it."
Ito Yuhiro's sudden words made Colonel Deha next to him feel a little confused.
"Your Majesty Lieutenant General, what did you say?"
Ito Yuheng pointed to the Eagle in the distance and said, "I say our Plan A is not feasible, so we should consider Plans B and C."
Previously, Dewa Shigetō and his staff formulated three plans. Plan A is the plan that the combined fleet must first discover the enemy before it can be implemented. In fact, the three plans are all formulated based on the different situations the combined fleet encounters. Plan A is the plan that the combined fleet must discover first.
As for the enemy, number B means that both sides discover the opponent at the same time. Number C is the least advantageous and the enemy discovers them first.
Now there is no need for Lieutenant General Ito to remind him, Colonel Dewa also knows that Plan A is completely useless.
Next, it depends on whether the warships sent out for reconnaissance can bring back news about the Italian fleet.
Just when the two of them were having a headache over this, they suddenly heard a shout from the lookout post. "A warship was spotted in the distance, it seems to be the Yaeyama."
