Another World: Naval Storm

Chapter 120 First Contact in the Dark

At 13:35, in the northeastern waters of the North Sea, four Drake warships formed a column formation, led by the battlecruiser Moltke and the armored cruiser Broad at the rear, moving forward at full speed.

"Commander! Urgent telegram from the Naval Intelligence Department!" The intelligence staff officer of the Moltke looked a little panicked and handed the hot potato-like intelligence in his hand to Leo.

"Why are you panicking? Oh? Liam's First Battlecruiser Squadron was dispatched? And then the main force of the Grand Fleet was also dispatched? The situation is indeed urgent!" After Leo finished reading it, the telegram began to circulate in the command room.

"What is the intelligence department doing? Such important intelligence is only being delivered now? This is dereliction of duty and delays the opportunity to fight!" Captain Koro of the Moltke said angrily. At 10:30, Liam's first battle patrol squadron was dispatched. Up to now, they have not found any trace of them for three hours. At their speed, they may have caught up.

"Don't blame the intelligence officers. They probably don't want this to happen. There is no doubt that Liam and his fleet are coming for us!"

"That big fleet?" asked Dawson with a worried look on his face.

"You're right. The great fleet must be following Liam!"

"Then should we retreat directly?" Captain Lawrence asked the key question. The officers in the command room were waiting for Leo's order.

After pondering for a long time, Leo suddenly asked, "How long does it take to get to the southwest side of Shipwreck Bay from here?"

"More than 80 nautical miles, if the fleet travels at full speed, it will only take four and a half hours to arrive!" A navigation staff officer spit out a number without even looking at the nautical chart.

"Lieutenant General Leon just called and said that they are about to cross the Skalolak Strait again and head towards the North Sea!" Leo thought for a moment and asked again, "How long will it take them to get from Heligoland Bight to Shipwreck Bay?"

"One hundred and seventy to eighty nautical miles, if we travel at full speed, it will take more than eight hours!"

"Double the time, at least four hours? At least four hours!"

Leo thought, Liam, you are really fast. He must withstand the attack of Liam's fleet for at least four hours, and the large fleet may join the attack at any time.

"Liam, Liam, are you ready to fight to the death? Then come on!" Leo gave the order, "The fleet's destination remains unchanged at Ship Burial Bay, keep moving forward! Tell Admiral Apewen and Vice Admiral Leon that our troops will fight the enemy in Ship Burial Bay, and have the First Battleship Squadron provide full support! The Ocean Fleet must also be dispatched!"

Standing on the bridge of the Moltke and looking at the cold and ruthless North Sea, countless lives will be buried here soon. It is unknown how many of the nearly 4,000 officers and soldiers in the entire fleet can return to Drake's homeland after the war.

At 1916:12 on the afternoon of December 19, 17, after a long voyage, Liam's battlecruiser fleet finally arrived at the waters northeast of Shipwreck Bay.

"I miss the destroyed Harden fleet now. Without them, our reconnaissance capabilities are extremely scarce!" Liam sighed.

"Split the troops?"

"This is the only way. Otherwise, it won't be so easy to catch Leo in the vast Shipwreck Bay. Disperse the four light cruisers of the Second Cruiser Squadron and the seven pre-dreadnoughts of the Third Battleship Squadron. Tell them not to attack actively when they encounter Leo's fleet, but to hold them back and wait for support from the main fleet!" Liam led four battlecruisers and three dreadnoughts to search sea areas in other directions.

"Alex, how long does it take to get from Port Delis to Shipwreck Bay?"

Alex immediately started working on a nautical chart, and after drawing a number, he replied, "Dries Port is about 80 nautical miles southwest of Shipwreck Bay, a four and a half hour sailing distance."

Different from her sunny and cool appearance in Xunyang, Liam now looks more gloomy.

"Time flies. Leo once said that our friendship would last forever, but today it will end!"

Talen Kingdom, Foggy City, 10 Downing Street.

The owner of the Prime Minister's residence, Hoqiu Jis stood blankly at the window sill, watching the time on Big Ben move by little by little.

"Prime Minister, Liam's first patrol squadron has arrived at Shipwreck Bay." Secretary Carton knocked on the door and came in, whispering beside him.

"Liam, may God bless him and the Royal Navy!" Hochukis lit a cigar and started smoking without saying a word.

Drake Empire, single room in the office of the commander of the ocean fleet at the naval headquarters.

"A large fleet is being dispatched? Even the turtle Jericho has to come out of his hole! In that case, I will stick with you to the end!" Admiral Apewen's voice became increasingly stern when he returned to the naval headquarters.

The Second and Third Battleship Squadrons of the Ocean Fleet had already left their anchorage earlier and headed for Shipwreck Bay.

At 17:30, four warships flying the Drake Iron Cross and Black Eagle flags sailed into the southwest waters of Shipwreck Bay. The smoke columns floating in the sky slowly disappeared into the dark night of Shipwreck Bay.

The four giant ships that strictly enforced the blackout were like assassins lurking in the dark, ready to deliver a fatal blow to the enemy at any time.

Everyone in the fleet was feeling uneasy. It wasn't because they were cowardly, but they were a little nervous before the battle. After all, Commander Leo informed them that the First Battle Patrol Squadron and the Grand Fleet of the Talens had already headed south, and they were their target.

Everyone was keeping to their posts, and most of them did not use the break before the battle to write any suicide notes. They believed that under the leadership of the naval heroes they could achieve victory and return home in triumph.

[Alert! Report to the commander, enemy ships spotted ahead.] Leo, who had been focusing on the God's perspective, finally heard the voice he had been waiting for for a long time.

[Alert! Report to the commander, enemy ship spotted to the left front]

[Alert! Report to the commander, enemy ships spotted in the right front] Looking at it from a bird's eye view, this is a search formation. The warships are not too far apart, and Leo's fleet can no longer hide.

"Tell the rest of the warships to prepare for battle. The main and secondary guns of the Moltke should listen to my orders and enter the specified parameters..." Leo calculated various data as the four warships approached Talen's second light cruiser, the USS Hundred John.

At 17:45, the patrolling light cruiser USS Byrd John spotted several moving dark shadows in the distance under the moonlight. The reckless light cruiser sent a secret signal from the Talen Navy to those dark shadows.

Captain Koro of the Moltke looked at Leo in surprise as he held a strange encrypted telegram sent from the telegraph room.

"The Talens' secret order, the quality of the Royal Navy is sometimes not as high as we thought!"

"Now that they are here, let Moltke entertain them!" The light cruiser Byjohn was not worth a 280mm hit, and Moltke's 150mm naval guns and 88mm rapid-fire guns would eat up this dish delivered to the door with a fierce rain of bullets.

At 17:49, the first 150mm armor-piercing shell was fired from the battlecruiser Moltke, and the first battle in Shipwreck Bay began.