On the morning of November 9, Graf Spee spotted the Harewood fleet approaching at high speed on the sea on radar. Almost at the same time, the "Exeter" located in front of the Harewood fleet also raised its signal flag.
Peihao is equipped with a DT-Great mine
The sea search radius is about 15 nautical miles. Although the British have more advanced shipborne radars than the Germans, they only just completed the replacement of warships on the mainland before the war, while the warships on duty overseas have radars.
Performance is not much better than the Germans.
Even decades later, due to transportation costs, the speed of merchant ships will generally not exceed 23 knots. The fuel consumed by ships when traveling at high speed is three times that when cruising. It is easy for both parties to determine from the speed.
The opponent was a military ship. Although the Graf Spee was equipped with six 11-inch main guns and theoretically would not be afraid of any British heavy cruiser, Langsdorff still ordered the warship to escape to the southeast with all its strength.
Theoretically, the Spey can run at a speed of 29 knots, but this warship has been drifting at sea for more than two months. The many parasites attached to the hull have greatly slowed down the ship's speed. In fact, this German armored ship
The ship was operating at full speed at this time and could only reach a speed of a little over 26 knots.
The situation of the British was slightly better, and they could run at a high speed of 30 knots, but this situation could only last for six or seven hours. After a daylong chase, Harwood's fleet narrowed the distance between the two sides to the point where it could be observed with the naked eye.
To the opponent's level, but still outside the artillery range of both sides.
At the same time, the two heavy cruisers London and Hampshire deployed by the British at the Cape of Good Hope also left the port and intercepted southward. The British built a total of four London-class heavy cruisers, but the "London-class heavy cruisers" of the same class
HMS Sussex and HMS Shropshire were sunk in Changi Naval Port. The Republican Navy had little interest in these two heavy cruisers with very weak defenses. After being salvaged and repaired, they were incorporated into the escort fleet and carried out
Escort mission between Southeast Asia and the mainland.
As night fell, the Graf Spee had sailed into the southern African waters. The sea was very rough and the waves were very strong. The sky was gloomy and there were no stars in the sky. The warship was sailing forward aimlessly in the dark night.
More than ten nautical miles away, Harwood's fleet was struggling to catch up. In this era, radar could not work all the time and had to shut down every three hours to let the equipment cool down. The "Ajax" and "Ajax"
Neither the two light cruisers "Calius" were equipped with radars, so Harwood could only let "Cornwall" and "Exeter" use radars alternately, paying close attention to the whereabouts of the German warships ahead.
Everyone hopes to personally deal with this evil-doing German attack ship. It has brought too much trouble to the British. In order to avoid this damn German armored ship, hundreds of British transport ships have taken shelter in Montevia.
, Rio de Janeiro or ports in East Africa, waiting for the Royal Navy to deploy precious warships for escort.
"Where is Colonel MacLeod's fleet now?" Commodore Harwood entered the command room from the dark bridge and asked the communications officer.
"The position two hours ago was 21 East, 17 North, General!" the communications officer replied. Colonel MacLeod was currently on the route from Cape Town to Melbourne with two heavy cruisers.
"How long will it take for them to arrive?" the brigadier asked again.
The navigational officer checked the chart with his two-foot compass and said, "It will take another 11 hours. They are expected to arrive in front of us around 8 o'clock tomorrow morning."
"Inform Colonel MacLeod of our position every hour. Except for those on duty, the combat status is now lifted!" Brigadier General Harwood issued the order. He expected that the battle would begin during the day tomorrow, and before that, the final battle was
It's better to let the crew rest. As long as they keep an eye on the damn Germans tonight, they will be trapped in a trap tomorrow.
Song Shijie's fleet is currently in the sea area about 220 nautical miles southeast of Madagascar. The summer weather in the southern hemisphere is not good, and there is light rain in the sky. Half an hour ago, the Li Jing received a rescue telegram from the Graf Spee. This German ship
The armored ship has been closely watched by a British fleet.
In the Li Jing's operations room, the operational staff were nervously calculating the positions and headings of both sides on the charts, and the news of the dispatch of the British Cape of Good Hope Cruiser Fleet from the Naval Staff made the interior even busier.
"We must rush to the battlefield at full speed, otherwise the Germans are likely to be in danger." Operations staff Yu Shicheng raised his head from the chart table and reported the situation to Song Shijie.
"Order Dihua to protect Jiangxi and Poyang Lake and continue to move forward at the current speed. Li Jing and Li Guang accelerate to 30 knots. We must rush over as soon as possible." Song Shijie thought for a moment and decided to abandon his aircraft first.
Ships and supply ships, he led the Li Jing and Li Guang to the front as quickly as possible.
The current sea conditions are very unsatisfactory, and the aircraft carrier is currently of little use. It is very likely that the carrier-based aircraft will not be able to take off for combat tomorrow. However, by doing so, he is taking a great risk, in case the Jiangxi is in bad weather.
When encountering the enemy's heavy cruiser fleet, the Dihua alone is absolutely unable to cope with it.
But he also had his reasons for doing so. Even if the Jiangxi participated in the war, it would definitely remain more than 100 nautical miles away from the battlefield. In one night, the two sides were actually separated by exactly this distance.
After the order was issued, the chief of staff reported the order to the Jiangxi via a wireless intercom, and the captain of the Jiangxi temporarily commanded the air fleet on his behalf. The two heavy cruisers Li Jing and Li Guang began to accelerate. As the signal lights flashed, the two heavy cruisers
The warships gradually left the formation and headed forward quickly.
On November 10, it was almost 5 o'clock in the morning. With four British warships following closely behind, the crew of the armored ship Graf Spee was on full alert and galloped toward the northeast at a maximum speed of 25 knots.
The wind on the sea is very strong. Although it is early summer, the air is still biting on the warship. The crew members wear various coats and stick to their posts.
Captain Langsdorff stayed up all night, the ashtray in front of him was filled with leftover cigarette butts, and the British fleet following behind him kept him uneasy. He drank the coffee in the cup in one gulp, then stood up,
Holding a cigar in his mouth, he came to the bridge. It was still gray outside. Looking up, the front deck was blurry and could not be seen clearly. However, the sky in front began to turn white, and in the distance,
At the waterline of the horizon, a ray of light shone.
The Graf Spee changed its course to the north twice during the night. Langsdorff knew that there was a receiving fleet from the east in that direction. Every time he got closer to that direction, he would feel safer in his heart. But he didn't.
What he knows is that the consequence of his doing this is that he will get closer to the British fleet coming out of the Cape of Good Hope.
The sky became brighter, and the black sea surface began to show some blue. The thin morning fog restricted the sight of the lookouts. At this time, even with the help of high-power telescopes, the observation range of the naked eye was limited to
About 15 kilometers.
The alarm bell on the warship suddenly rang, and Langsdorff quickly returned to the war room. "What's going on?" the colonel asked.
"Sir, the radar room reported that a large surface ship was found 15 nautical miles ahead on the left." The combat staff quickly reported the situation to him.