Of course, this slowdown is not just about reducing to the end, and going to die directly! After all, this is too fake, and no one is willing to die. He just keeps the speed within a range, making the Americans feel that they have the opportunity to chase, but they are not able to catch up! This requires the acting talent of the best actor! As for what if he is really hit by a shell and slows down? Major General Moore's answer is very simple. This is war, and sacrifice is inevitable. If it is really not possible, just lose it... What else can it be?

"Start" The Seafog battleship, which was ranked last, was ready to complete its mission, and then handed over its life to the God of War to decide! With a dull explosion, a huge pillar of smoke rose on the rear deck of the Seafog, mixed with fire! From a distance, this was obviously a case of being hit by a heavy shell!

"Damn it? What's the situation? Which battleship hit the target?" In the distance, the smoke column suddenly rose in the night was so conspicuous that many people saw it. At this time, at least three battleships were designing for the target, namely New Mexico, Tennessee and New York. Who hit it? I don't know, it hit it anyway! This hit made the Americans feel very good at Leslie Cheung! But they then became happy because the last battleship that was hit seemed to slow down?!

"Hiss Commander, we hit an enemy fast warship! It slowed down!" An officer reported to Benson excitedly.

"Very good, catch up and kill it!" Benson nodded with satisfaction at the smoke pillar rising at the stern of the ship in the distance, and his mood also improved. If he could sink another fast Japanese Navy battleship, the situation tonight would be roughly tied.

"The fleet accelerated again!" Benson thought for a while and added another order. However, with the issuance of this order, some warships in the US fleet stopped doing it!

"Captain, the boiler is already overloaded, and there are some problems with the steam pipeline. The strange sounds coming from time to time from time to time make me feel uneasy." An officer reported to Captain Daniel of the New York battleship.

"Persevere, if we reduce the steam supply of the boiler at this time, the warships will slow down. We will be thrown away by the main fleet." Colonel Daniel frowned and said. Just two minutes ago, Benson issued the order to accelerate again. This made the American battleships that were previously serving in the New York feel huge pressure. After all, the previous battleships in New York used steam engines!

If the standard for a real dreadnought is the unified large-caliber main gun and steam turbine as powered by the large caliber, then the German Nassau-class battleships and Helgolan-class battleships in history are not very qualified. After all, they use steam engines. And the Americans, the New York-class battleships with the first-class super fearless name of the US Navy also use steam engines! This makes this class of warships a little embarrassed! You can understand the feeling of equipped with two J79 turbojet engines for the F15 fighter!

Now, it has been floating on the sea for more than a month, and the maintenance situation is not good. After the previous long high-speed chase, the power system has been extremely exhausted. If you persist, not only the boiler and steam engine cannot stand it, but people can't stand it anymore. Because of the lack of maintenance of the machinery and the lack of removal of marine organisms attached to the bottom of the ship, American furnace stewards need to work harder to run at a higher speed! During the war, both the British and German navies had furnace stewards killed by fatigue, and the Americans are naturally no exception. On the New York, four furnace stewards had fainted from exhaustion, and two of them were in a very bad condition!

This is the case with the newly put into service warship, let alone other warships earlier! So unexpectedly, something reasonable happened. A steam pipeline of the USS Wyoming battleship finally caused the pipeline to be damaged due to excessive air pressure. A large amount of high-temperature and high-pressure steam poured into a cabin, killing two of the US Navy personnel, resulting in an irresistible decline in speed. The captains of the early American dreadnoughts, who already felt something was wrong, began to warn Benson through telegrams and flags!

"The warships behind can't stand it anymore. Due to maintenance and technical issues, battleships using steam engines are not suitable for participating in this continuous high-speed chase." Majifen said to Benson.

"What warships are there? Damn it, at the most critical moment, our warships fell out. I really don't know what the Admiralty did!" Benson was very unhappy when he heard the news. This time, he also scolded the U.S. Admiralty.

"The battleships before the New York class are not suitable for continuing to pursue. If you want to be more insured, then add the Oklahoma, which is the last battleship for us and the nations to use steam engines." Majiffen said.

"If this is the case, our main battleship will only be 7 left." Benson was in a dilemma. His fleet had only 13 battleships, of which 3 were dreadnoughts, and there were 3 super fearless ships using steam engines, which would be 6. If these warships were to temporarily withdraw from the battle, then he would have only 7 ships, almost 1v1 to the opposite side. And under the same number, the Americans would not dare to fight against the Japanese! Because the Fusang class was too strong!

"I feel that we should stop chasing. We have been chasing too far. The situation has begun to exceed our expectations. From the time we met the enemy, we have been chasing for more than 2 and a half hours!" A sense of uneasiness surged into Majiphin's heart.

"Stop the pursuit? Just 3 hours ago, we lost a complete squadron. A dreadnought and three former dreadnoughts were sunk, and the transport ships and army positions were also bombarded. We have only destroyed two former Japanese dreadnoughts. If we can't work harder, then this battle is obviously a failure. I am not worried about the loss of the fleet and my personal reputation, because the strong industrial ability of the nations can make up for the war. What I am worried about is the blow to the morale of the nations tonight." Benson sighed and said.

"This is the first time with all the nations to engage in a large-scale naval battle with powerful countries far away from their homeland. No matter how difficult it is, we must persist, because if we fail, then we will leave a considerable psychological shadow with all the nations and we will lose our ambition to compete for the world! Do you understand what I mean? What we need to face now is not a simple military issue, but a political issue!" Benson said earnestly.

Two updates today~! Please subscribe and reward~~~!!

I recommend a new book by Si Zhe, the author of the same group, which is rare to write about Portugal's foreign historical novel in the early stages of the Great Voyage. Interested readers can read it~~~!
Chapter completed!