"Retreat! Now the position of acting commander of the fleet." The 7th Fleet of the United States did not have a chief of staff. All power was in the hands of McCain. So much so that after he died, no one came to command the entire fleet.

The captain of the "Practical" Brigadier Schroeder, the captain of the entire fleet, has relatively old qualifications. Moreover, this time he stood up to resist McCain's crazy decision. Therefore, he stood up as the acting commander of the fleet, and no one raised any objections, and he was convinced by everyone.

Under Schroeder's order, the 7th Fleet of the United States dragged the broken fleet and began to retreat slowly. In this battle, they were defeated miserably. Two of the four main battleships sank, and one was severely damaged, and only one was intact. Six "South Carolina-class" warships sank, and one was severely damaged. Ten "Washington" class light cruisers also lost 4. Twenty "Franklin" class warships lost more, twelve were sunk, and three were severely damaged. They paid a very heavy price to drag the French destroyer formation. In their drives and the French

When the ships were twisted into a ball, eight "Light Cavalry" class destroyers of the French South Atlantic Fleet attacked them violently, and they suffered heavy losses. In the end, they failed to complete the order issued by McCain, resulting in the "Faith" and "Apostle" being sunk by the French destroyer formation. [bsp;    From the entire battle situation, the US 7th Fleet suffered a heavy loss. Almost lost 70% of its combat power. Moreover, it is only 5 pm now, and there are still two hours before dark. The French South Atlantic Fleet obviously will not allow them to retreat calmly. It is not particularly clear how many warships can escape.

"General! The Americans are about to escape!" said the captain of the "Garon" loudly.

"Of course, it would be strange if they didn't escape if they suffered such a heavy blow!" Bennett's face was already full of victorious smiles. Obviously, the South Atlantic Fleet won this battle. At a very small price, it severely damaged the 7th Fleet of the United States.

Now, the French South Atlantic Fleet has only suffered the damage to the Vienna, but it still has combat effectiveness. It was sunk a Heavy Cavalry class cruiser, two of which were damaged, but it still has most of its combat effectiveness. The Light Cavalry class light cruiser is all intact. Fifteen Bayonet class destroyers were sunk 3 and seriously injured two. Fifteen Dolphin class destroyers were sunk 2 and severely injured two. The entire fleet also preserved more than 80% of its combat effectiveness.

"General, what should I do now? Do I want to pursue it?" asked the captain of the "Garlong" but the flashing expression of war in his eyes fully expressed his intentions.

Bennett looked up at the sky. It was only 5 o'clock now, and South America was in the chun season at this moment, and it was dark until at least 7 o'clock. Therefore, they still had plenty of time to attack the 7th Fleet of the United States.

"Leave a few light cavalry-class light cruisers for search and rescue, and the other warships will chase the 7th American Fleet with all their might until dark!" Bennett issued an order to continue the attack.

On the sea, because many warships were sunk, there were many soldiers on both sides who needed rescue. For these people, the war was over. Therefore, they should be rescued. The remaining few light cruisers of the "Light Cavalry" class will do their best to search and rescue. After the soldiers on their side will be rescued, they will be uniformly assigned to the ships that personnel need to be replenished. The soldiers of the 7th Fleet of the United States need to be detained until the end of the war.

The 7th Fleet of the United States fled south frantically. They were in Sao Paulo and had a base to rest. However, at this time, the French South Atlantic Fleet had already begun to chase and kill, and it would be difficult for them to escape.

At this time, the shelling of both sides was not very fierce. Therefore, the 7th Fleet of the United States escaped with all its heart. All boilers were operated due to the maximum output power, and they didn't care that doing so would greatly reduce the practical life of the boiler. The most important thing is to escape first.

"Order the destroyer formation to focus on attacking the 'Practical' and 'Saints', and they cannot escape!" Bennett issued an order again. These two main battleships pose the greatest threat to the French fleet. If they can sink in one fell swoop, it would be the best. Even if they cannot sink, they must do their best to deal with them. It will prevent them from participating in future battles. Moreover, there are no large shipyards in South America. If they need to repair it, they will have to return to the United States. At that time, the outcome of the war was probably laid.

Under Bennett's order, teams of destroyers drove at full speed and rushed towards the "Practical" and "Saint". The main battleships were obviously unable to compare with the destroyers in terms of speed. At this moment, the most powerful "Practical" and "Saint" undoubtedly dragged the entire fleet back. Apart from the two battleships with damaged power, their speed became the slowest in the entire fleet.

Schroeder was helpless and issued an order to order the remaining warships to protect the "Practical" and "Saint". There is no way, the "Practical" and "Saint" are the hopes of the 7th Fleet. As long as they are there, the 7th Fleet will still have the strength to threaten the US fleet. Without them, the 7th Fleet would be dead in name only.

The other battleships of the 7th Fleet were all surrounded by the "Practical" and the "Saint". While heading south, they launched fierce shelling on the destroyer formations of the French South Atlantic Fleet cruising around. This made the destroyer formations of the French South Atlantic Fleet unable to find a favorable opportunity to attack the "Practical" and the "Saint".

There were two "Dolphin" class destroyers who wanted to break into the defense circle composed of American warships, but they were beaten up by the escorted American warships. One immediately sank, and the other was also blasted and caught fire, and had to withdraw from the battle.

Fortunately, the main battleships and heavy cruisers of the South Atlantic Fleet arrived and launched a fierce shelling of the 7th Fleet, suppressing their arrogance. At the same time, it also created an opportunity for the breakthrough lightning strike of the destroyer formation.

Destroyers launched the most fierce assault, and then released the torpedoes and quickly escaped. However, because the "Practical" and "Saints" were well protected, some destroyers even stepped up to block the torpedoes for them. At the same time, it was difficult for the French destroyer formation to launch a group attack, and the results were very small.

Time passed by minute by minute. The sun slowly sank into the sea. Although it finally launched a fierce attack on the US 7th Fleet for more than an hour, the effect was not very large. It only sank a few heavy cruisers, light cruisers and destroyers, the "Practical" and the "Saint", and only suffered a few shells and did not suffer much casualties.

As night was approaching, the destroyer formation of the South Atlantic Fleet finally caught an opportunity and gathered 6 "Battle" class destroyers to attack the "Saint".

Their assault was furiously attacked by the 7th Fleet of the United States. During the assault, three destroyers were shot and withdrawn from the battle, but the other three destroyers rushed to a place only 3 kilometers away from the Saints and released 6 torpedoes.

The Saints made an emergency evasion, avoiding five of the torpedoes, and finally hit the stern of the ship, which was hit by a torpedo, was penetrated by a large dong near the waterline, causing the speed of the Saints to drop by 5 knots.

But at this time, the sky was completely dark. The French South Atlantic Fleet lost the opportunity to wipe out the US 7th Fleet. Of course, they could follow the US 7th Fleet all the time and launch an attack after tomorrow. At that time, the US 7th Fleet, which was severely damaged, would undoubtedly die. However, time did not allow them to do so. In the north, there was still a large-scale naval battle waiting for them. If there was no chance to participate in the decisive battle in the north because of these broken ships of the US 7th Fleet, no one would agree.

After dark, Bennett issued an order to return. Anyway, there were no more warships left in the 7th Fleet of the United States. The "Practical" and "Saints" were both severely hit, and there was no dock in South America for repair, which made them lose the strength to threaten the French fleet.

After an afternoon of fierce naval battle, the French South Atlantic Fleet ended with a complete victory. In the end, the US 7th Fleet did not have many warships left, and they were already dead in name only. The French South Atlantic Fleet still retained most of its combat effectiveness, enough to participate in the subsequent fierce battle.

"Send a report to the headquarters that we have severely damaged the 7th Fleet of the United States. The entire 7th Fleet has been in name only. Moreover, the combat effectiveness of the fleet is basically undestructed. At this moment, the fleet has headed north and is ready to cooperate with the Straits Fleet to encircle and annihilate the American Fleet south." Bennett issued an order with a smile on his face. The entire bridge of the "Garron" was full of joy. This naval battle was the first large-scale battle since their establishment for the French South Atlantic Fleet. But they undoubtedly gave an extremely excellent answer.

Unlike the joyful French South Atlantic Fleet, the 7th Fleet of the United States was completely dead. Leaving the entire fleet of St. Paul, there are only a few broken ships left, and even the fleet commander committed suicide. It can be said that they were completely defeated in this battle.
Chapter completed!