The sea breeze swept, the waves swayed gently, and an extremely large fleet was moving forward slowly on the vast ocean. A pair of blue-white Saint Andre's flags drooped weakly on the mast, like a dead corpse in the twilight years; the rolling coal smoke rising from the chimney polluted the originally white clouds into gray-black, and it seemed so disharmonious in the clear blue sky.

On the flagship "Duke Suvorov", Rozerjestevensky stood quietly in the command tower, wearing a lieutenant general's uniform, clean and tidy. However, when you look closely, his originally beautiful face now has a yellow face, his eyes are sunken, and his face is as haggard as an old beggar. And under the influence of his clothes, his body is even thinner than half a year ago. Looking back on the long journey of 30,000 kilometers, Rozerjestevensky felt the glory of a smooth arrival and a little pride in creating unprecedented history; however, there were endless bitter tears, as well as worries and confusion about the future path.

Since Tangier, West Africa, near Gibraltar, set off with fuel, the Russian fleet has hardly lived a stable day; the raging coal ash and high temperatures have seriously damaged the body and mind of the Russian sailors, and frequent mechanical failures have added countless troubles to the entire fleet's expedition. The long-term severe overloading voyage has caused frequent failures in the mechanical components of the warship, such as steel plates falling off, steam leakage, pipeline bursting, and mechanical stuck... All kinds of problems emerge one after another; the power is even more severely scaled by the water pipes and severely reduced heat transfer efficiency. In addition, the inferior coal provided by the German company, the real effect can only be described as terrible. In order to alleviate this situation, Luori

Jestervinsky tried every effort to find a port where the Russian fleet could dock and rest. However, Britain and France both closed the door to the arrival of the Russian fleet. When the fleet arrived at Gabon, the French betrayed the French even more explicitly. They actually forbidden German coal ships from adding coal to the Russian fleet on the high seas outside their ports! Even Rozjestervinsky, known as the "most polite gentleman" in front of his subordinates, could not help it at this moment. After cursing the evil French in front of his "sarcastic words of extreme hatred", the miserable Lieutenant General Roz could only leave the French's sight in shame. He silently added coal in a corner and wiped his humiliating tears in grievance.

In the Dayu Bay, a port of Angola, the Portuguese colony in the southern hemisphere, the Russian fleet suffered an unprecedented shame. Facing the Russian giant ship that was like a mountain outside the port, the Portuguese gunboat with a displacement of less than 100 tons, which was responsible for the port's warning, was like a dying mangrove dog with hair drawn all over his body; however, even such a slag with a negative combat force actually put out the tough flag saying "It is strictly forbidden to enter, otherwise the consequences will be born" and blocked the waterway! The Portuguese gunboat's fearless arrogance made the irritable and perverse Luo Rizhong's eyes burst. There is no doubt that behind the vulgar and tricky Portuguese people, the shadow of the British Empire is revealed everywhere, and the Russian fleet also depends on the owner to fight dogs!

Although the Tsar's German cousin was still loyal and opened the German colonial port of Angola Pek, which was adjacent to South Africa, to the Russian fleet, this was just a drop in the bucket and could not solve the series of problems caused by the Russian fleet's expedition. When Rozjestervinsky's main fleet and the Flksham fleet who took the Suez Canal set off from Madagascar, the real difficulty began.

Because it would be too far to go north along the African continent. Rozjestvinsky ordered a direct crossing of the Indian Ocean to the Strait of Malacca. This time and road were greatly saved, but the problem of logistics supply was instantly highlighted. The Russian fleet sailing in the deep sea will be difficult to detect by German coal ships, and the frequent and severe weather of storms further compressed their supply space. In addition, sailing in the fierce and stormy waves is also a great test for the machinery on the ship. It is worth the Russians' "lucky" that the long-term voyage has trained Russian sailors into

Coal replenishing experts, the sailors of the Duke of Suvorov can maintain a speed of adding 120 tons of coal to the warship for a long time. It has far exceeded the world record of 102 tons per hour set by the British before. As soon as the German coal transport ship arrived, these guys could pack a large amount of loose coal and coal into their warship warehouses with extremely skillful operations. Through this ultra-long-range sailing, the Russian sailors also developed a good repair ability. They were so skilled in the maintenance of machinery and troubleshooting that they were extremely skillful. It was difficult for ordinary faults to stump these sailors who deal with machinery on the ship all day long!

In the next three weeks, Rozjestevensky tried his best and finally dragged the fleet through the hellish Indian Ocean. The difficulty of the rendezvous searches, mechanical repairs, sea coal replenishment and material supply during this period was beyond imagination. At this time, France's attitude towards the Russian Expeditionary Fleet gradually softened for various reasons. The Russian Second Pacific Fleet was able to move north from the South China Sea area and staggered into the French port of Cam Ranh Bay in Vietnam. When Russian warships covered with thick sea plants at the bottom of the ship slowly sailed into the French port. Observers, reporters and reporters from all over the world,

The spies and their friends were shocked; there was no doubt that the Russians created an unprecedented ultra-long-range expedition in the history of human naval history, and the route and difficulty were not the same as those of the American battleship Oregon, the lone wolf, who detoured the Magellan Strait in 1898 and then went north to fight for the war! If Rozjestvinsky died of illness at this time like his deputy Flksam, his name would be enough to be recorded in the history of the Russian and even the world navy; it was a pity that this guy had a good physical foundation, but he was only slightly mental and physically destructive. This was destined to give him a tragic old age with no reputation.

Just as the Rozerjestervins Gene Fleet entered Cam Ranh Bay and relaxed, disastrous news suddenly came from the north. Dalian fell, Fengtian was defeated, and the country was filled with revolutions to overthrow the government. The Tsar government telegram told him to take "bold and bold actions" to achieve brilliant victory in the naval battle to save the entire unfavorable situation. Such a heavy burden suddenly pressed on him, which increased the burden on the newly promoted lieutenant general who had only been promoted in recent years. Originally, he wanted to abandon the Tsar sent to support him.

The "sinking ship" of the Three Pacific Fleet went to the destination alone, and then met Makarov before considering taking offensive actions. However, this idea is obviously no longer possible. St. Petersburg's meaning is clear, it is to gather all the naval forces to conduct a fancy frontal showdown on the Japanese fleet, and use a real victory to extinguish the boiling revolutionary flames in the country. Although the Third Pacific Fleet is of no help to win the naval battle, they can at least share the shells for the main fleet!

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On May 9, the "floating iron" of the Third Pacific Fleet finally met in Haiphong, Vietnam. Unlike the disaster-stricken Second Pacific Fleet, this Russian fleet was smooth sailing in the previous voyage. If it were in peacetime, it would be worth it to take out such a smooth far-sea voyage. Since these "automatic sinkers" have been sailing for a long time, the maximum speed can only be barely maintained.

In the 12th quarter, Rozjestervinsky had completely given up his plan to quickly cross the Tsushima Strait without breaking out of battle. Unlike the history of not having any fantasies about defeating Japan, although Rozjestervinsky in this plane also had considerable concerns about the future, he was not completely desperate; because the lineup after the two Russian fleets met was quite strong, with a total of 14 main battleships, and he already had the strong power of the Japanese Navy in the battle.

The core strength of the Russian fleet is 7 new main battleships of the third-class. Among them, the Duke of Suvorov and Orel belong to the Borodino class, with strong firepower of 4 12-inch and 8 10-inch guns and a large area of ​​7.5-inch armor. In the pre-fair era when the armor-piercing bombs were not born, they were the most powerful battleships in the world. The other two Bayan and Palinda are equipped with the same level of patrols, with a permanent displacement of 11,000 tons, a speed of 22.5 knots, equipped with 4 10-inch main guns and 16 6-inch secondary guns, the waterline armor is as thick as 7 inches, and the fire protection speed is all over the world. The only drawback is that this

Some warships have stalled for more than 3 knots due to long-term lack of maintenance, completely losing their original design intentions. In addition, the Russian fleet also has glory. Pavel I and St. Andre three battleships built by the Prince, imitating the Prince. The tall superstructures with large angles inclined in the hull all reveal a strong French style. Their performance is roughly the same as the Prince: a displacement of 13,500 tons, a speed of 17.5 knots, 4 12-inch main guns and 7.5-inch thick armor. However, due to the severe overload of coal, only a small part of their main armor was exposed on the water surface, which will become their fatal flaw in the subsequent battles.

Although only 7 main battleships in the Russian fleet have real combat power and the other 7 are slag-level waste, Rozjestvinsky did not lose confidence in defeating the Japanese fleet. Because Vladivostok, far away at the northern destination, Makarov also has 3 battleships and 2 armored cruisers, which is enough to contain a large part of the Japanese Navy's strength. As long as the two Russian fleets in the north and south cooperate with each other, it is very likely to defeat the Japanese Navy!
Chapter completed!