kingnovel Chapter 279: Passing the Strait, John's Home Fleet's Main Forces Are All Out
Chapter 279: Passing the Strait, John's Home Fleet's Main Forces Are All Out
They regard Xizhou as their home ground, and the British Channel as the "highway" in front of their door.
The Eastern Fleet came from thousands of miles away with great momentum. If he, the host, did not react at all, how would the outside world view them?
It goes without saying what the direction of public opinion will be.
The invincible golden body built up by the John Empire Navy over two hundred years was destroyed and became a laughing stock.
"The Easterners' fleet has arrived, but John's Invincible Armada is still hiding in the harbor and dares not come out."
So this time John's fleet chose to deploy all the warships of the local fleet, totaling more than 200 ships.
In terms of quality, they themselves knew that they were no match for the Eastern Fleet.
Four 70,000-ton battleships, two 50,000-ton battleships, and two large aircraft carriers, a total of eight battleships.
And this is not the full strength of the ancient Chinese navy.
They also have two 50,000-ton battleships on their home turf.
As for whether there are any new ships hidden, no one knows.
Just like the previous four Wuyue-class battleships, two Kunlun-class battleships and the two newly appeared battleships, they all appeared suddenly.
Their home fleet currently has only 8 battleships, including five Queen Elizabeth-class battleships, two Revenge-class battleships, one Nelson-class battleship, plus one Hood battlecruiser and five aircraft carriers.
However, after taking a look at the tonnage of their own aircraft carrier, they did not list the aircraft carrier as a battleship.
Therefore, there are only 9 battleships in the current domestic fleet.
Only in the number of cruisers and destroyers do they have a significant advantage.
It was with this in mind that they prepared to use numbers to overwhelm others.
Set up a formation directly in the British Channel and make sure to be as powerful as the Eastern Fleet.
This is what the Navy’s top brass wants.
The fleet is led by Charles Forbes, the current commander of the Home Fleet.
As for the Minister of the Navy, he stayed at the headquarters to deal with any possible situation.
During this period, John's navy, army and air force all entered a level two combat readiness state.
After the Eastern Fleet sailed north along the Portuguese coastline, it did not turn to the Gaul coastline.
The two sides had already fought each other in the Mediterranean, so there was no need to go and humiliate them again.
This time the fleet came to Xizhou to show off its muscles, not to attack them in the face. There is a very obvious difference between the two.
The fleet headed straight for the British Channel.
Navy Commander Song Yang also knew that the last obstacle was just ahead.
A distance of more than 700 kilometers is only a day's voyage for the fleet.
When the fleet entered the British Channel, the sky was just beginning to brighten.
"Commander, the British Channel is ahead."
Song Yang glanced ahead and nodded, "Order the fleet to maintain a neat formation as it passes through the British Channel.
At the same time, be prepared for a first-level battle. We must be on guard against these Westerners."
Under level one combat readiness, the entire fleet must launch a counterattack as soon as the enemy attacks.
Moreover, all battleships are loaded with nuclear bombs, and among the aircraft carriers' carrier-based aircraft, at least four attack aircraft are guaranteed to carry two tactical nuclear bombs.
In this way, even if the enemy launches an attack, they can paralyze the enemy's combat effectiveness in one wave in the subsequent counterattack.
This is also the reason why Song Yang dared to lead the fleet through under John's nose.
How could he not be on guard against this group of shameless robbers?
The fleet entered the western waters of the British Channel, and the news soon reached John's home fleet gathered in the central waters of the Channel.
In the central British waters, warships are neatly anchored on the sea, densely packed at a glance, creating a strong visual impact.
Home Fleet Commander Charles Forbes was aboard the flagship, the battleship HMS Rodney.
"The Orientals are coming, they have entered the British Channel."
"Hold all warships to stand by, and do not load any guns."
They set up the formation so that everyone could see that the invincible Royal Fleet was still there.
In order to avoid accidental discharge, he had to give this order.
In this sea area, in addition to the local fleet, there are dozens of large and small fishing boats and cruise ships.
One of the cruise ships has a tonnage of more than 10,000 tons and is an ocean-going cruise ship.
As a nation of capitalists, they seized this opportunity keenly.
Watch the clash of the most powerful fleets from the East and the West live, with a ticket for just £50.
This price can be said to be ridiculously high.
If you buy a boat ticket, 50 pounds will get you two round trips across the Atlantic.
It only costs $40 to cross the Atlantic from John to the east coast of the United States.
If 50 pounds is converted into US dollars, it would be as much as 200 US dollars.
From this you can see how exaggerated the price of 50 pounds for a boat ticket is.
However, even with such an exaggeration, the tickets were actually sold out.
Watching the fun is human nature, regardless of the East or the West.
What's more, with this level of excitement, the middle class and upper class people don't mind spending 50 pounds to watch this excitement that will be recorded in history.
Of course, media reporters will also be there to watch the fun.
If it weren't for their publicity, how could these cruise tickets be sold at such outrageous prices.
On these large and small fishing boats are reporters from major media newspapers in Xizhou.
They carried various cameras and video cameras and set them up at high positions.
Some wealthy newspapers even booked the top deck of the cruise ship.
After all, the higher the position, the better the field of view.
With this level of popularity, if they can take great photos, they will be able to go viral.
The local fleet also turned a blind eye to these spectators off the field.
"The Orientals are coming!"
When dark shadows appeared at the junction of the sea and the sky, someone immediately alerted Fleet Commander Charles Forbes.
Some spectators outside the venue immediately noticed this scene, causing a sensation.
"Commander, John's people have set up a dragon gate formation in front of us."
Song Yang used a telescope to observe the fleet's silhouette in the distance, and said calmly, "It is indeed the Dragon Gate Formation."
Zheng Guangyun sighed, "No matter how glorious the empire was in the past, when facing us, it could only rely on the number of ships to form a battle array.
It seems they are also lacking in confidence when facing us."
Song Yang smiled and said, "This just illustrates the decline of Western Continent and the rise of the East."
It can be seen from John that the current Xizhou is no longer the prosperous Xizhou during World War I.
However, the failure of Xizhou does not mean that the entire West is in trouble.
They have never forgotten the existence of the United States.
In the eyes of the ancient navy, John was no longer a formidable opponent.
The size of the United States' fleet is not inferior to that of John's.
However, the United States has extremely terrifying industrial capabilities and is undoubtedly the world's number one industrial power.
It is also the most powerful opponent of the ancient country's rise, no doubt about it!
"The fleet maintains its formation and passes through. Ignore them."
Faced with the formation set up by John, Song Yang simply chose to ignore it and pass through.
As for setting up formations in a tit-for-tat manner, it is completely unnecessary and will actually be considered inferior.
Ignoring them is the best response.
The fleet was not traveling very fast and was still sailing at a constant speed.
This huge fleet was also shown to the Western media for the first time.
They only knew how many warships the Eastern Fleet had through rumors.
However, only when you watch these warships passing by in front of your eyes can you feel the shock of being there.
The 10,000-ton cruise ship they were on was like a child in front of the battleships in the front.
Everyone looked up at these giant battleships in shock.
This scene was also photographed by many people.
Soon the strongest fleets from the East and the West met.
The two Yamato-class battleships were still leading the fleet.
About 10 nautical miles to the left of the fleet were the John battleships with their guns raised.
Eight battleships plus the battlecruiser Hood were neatly lined up in a row at the front of the fleet.
Behind them was a long line of cruisers and destroyers, the fleet was neat and dense.
"This scene is like a general reviewing his soldiers."
This scene seemed funny to the media reporters no matter how they looked at it.
Then someone said this, which made them suddenly realize.
They understood where this sense of humor came from.
On one side was John's home fleet arranged in neat rows, and on the other side was the Eastern Fleet moving at a steady speed.
This scene seemed as if the Eastern Fleet was reviewing John's home fleet.
This also made the mood of this group of media reporters particularly complicated.
The Home Fleet represents the entire Western maritime power.
John even deployed their strongest fleet.
However, it seemed pale and powerless in front of four 70,000-ton battleships.
The difference in tonnage between the two sides is really too big.
Among the many battleships, the largest battleship, the Rodney, has a full load displacement of tons, a length of 216.6 meters and a beam of 32.3 meters.
The two largest Yamato-class battleships were 263 meters long and 38.9 meters wide.
You can intuitively feel how big the difference between the two types of battleships is just by looking at them.
The collision that the spectators and reporters outside the stadium expected did not happen.
The Eastern Fleet passed through the British Channel smoothly and gradually disappeared from their sight.
Commander of the Home Fleet, Charles Forbes, breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Return to port!"
At this time, all the fishing boats and cruise ships were heading towards the two banks at the fastest speed.
They had to develop the photos as quickly as possible and publish them on the front page.
Among the many photos, the most eye-catching one is undoubtedly the fleet "review" scene, which clearly shows the gap between the two fleets.
And the most explosive headlines can be imagined.
[The fleet from the East is reviewing John's fleet]
[This is a performance of a general reviewing his soldiers]
When John's senior officials and citizens learned about these things, they were immediately devastated.