My Italy

After the U.S. Navy renegotiated its countermeasures, more ships were wandering around in the Caribbean and the Atlantic.

These ships appear all over the sea, especially in the Bermuda Islands, and there are several ships wandering around every day.

These ships wandering around were like a tight net, trying to net the Spanish fleet out.

Not to mention, the big net spun by the U.S. Navy this time was really effective. Within three days, news about the Spanish fleet's appearance in Puerto Rico immediately reached the ears of the U.S. Navy.

After receiving the news that the Spanish fleet had appeared in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Navy immediately dispatched additional patrol ships to grasp the traces of the Spanish fleet.

Sometimes the magic of money is so great. After the United States increased its efforts to spread money, the Caribbean Sea was filled with various ships, leaving the Spanish fleet with nowhere to hide.

"Lieutenant General, it seems that it is impossible to sneak into the Port of Santiago. I suggest you just go there openly."

On the flagship Queen Sabel, Colonel Leifer looked at the various ships escaping in the distance and said helplessly to Lieutenant General Sedra. "This will also speed up the installation of the boiler for the Christine Princess as quickly as possible."

Well, there were too many benefits from concealing their whereabouts before, so this time the Spanish fleet hopes to rush to Cuba in a concealed manner.

On the one hand, although two N-3 heavy-duty boilers were obtained, the three days in Bermuda were not enough to install these two boilers into the Princess Christine. Therefore, after leaving Bermuda, the only way to recover was to go to Spain's own shipyard. Currently, the only shipyards capable of repairing the Princess Christina are Havana and Santiago on the island of Cuba.

On the other hand, it has been almost two months since the fleet came out and has traveled nearly 10,000 kilometers. The officers and soldiers are very tired from the high-intensity work. In order to allow the fleet officers and soldiers to rest and maintain the ships, they must also be repaired in the port.

Due to these various reasons, the Spanish fleet could only dock in Cuba. Although they also knew that this would cause a lot of dangers, there was nothing they could do about it.

It is precisely because of this that Lieutenant General Cedela hopes to rush to the Port of Santiago quietly. After all, the Port of Havana is too close to the United States and is too unsafe.

But since Colonel Leifer said so, after some consideration, Lieutenant General Sedra spoke.

"In this case, we will no longer hide it and rush to Santiago at full speed."

Following Lieutenant General Cedela's order, the Spanish fleet, which no longer concealed its whereabouts, rushed all the way to Cuba in full view of the public.

The news that the Spanish fleet was heading for Cuba fell into the hands of the U.S. Navy within two days.

After receiving the news that the Spanish fleet was heading to Cuba, the U.S. Navy also did not dare to neglect and immediately held a meeting to discuss the matter.

"Everyone, our efforts have finally paid off. The Spanish fleet is currently speeding all the way to Cuba. We have reason to believe that this time we have caught the tail of the cunning Spanish fleet. For this reason, how should we encircle and suppress this fleet next? The fleet that is causing trouble on the east coast and taking Cuba away from Spain will be the next task of our navy."

"Everyone, I think the Spanish fleet is now heading towards Cuba. This is a good opportunity. We should immediately send the fleet back to the Jacksonville naval port. After the enemy's foothold is found, we can surround or eliminate it."

Brigadier General Dewey put forward his own opinions and suggestions from the beginning.

"Isn't this too hasty?" Although they knew about Dewey's relationship with Secretary Roosevelt, some people still opposed this direct all-or-nothing approach. Major General Samplin continued.

"Now that we know that the Spanish fleet is rushing to Cuba, we can of course return to the Jacksonville military port, but I suggest that before returning, collect all the unused mines in each port. We do not need to forcefully break into the enemy's port, we only need to know that the enemy is there Which port was carried out."

It was obvious that although Major General Samplin had not yet said a specific method, there were all experienced senior officers present, so they would naturally think of a method from the items he mentioned. Yes, mines are a good thing. They have both offensive and defensive capabilities and are very suitable for the current situation of the U.S. Navy.

That's right, rather than aggressively attacking, wouldn't it be better to use something as good as a mine to block the enemy somewhere? You must know that the warships currently in the hands of the U.S. Navy cannot be said to be able to completely defeat their opponents. A score of 30 to 70 is a private estimate of the U.S. Navy.

It can be seen from here how insufficient the confidence of the U.S. Navy is. Lock the enemy in the port and coordinate with the army for landing operations.

"In addition, I hope that in addition to bringing mines, torpedo boats and shallow-water heavy gunships will also be brought this time."

Rear Admiral Samplin's words made the other generals look stunned, and also made Secretary Roosevelt's face change slightly. If you want to pull most of the naval warships over, this can easily lead to topics. To this end, Roosevelt, as Secretary of the Navy, asked. "Do I have to bring it with me?"

"Yes, Your Excellency Minister, I cannot guarantee that we can win in the battle with the Spanish fleet, so I need every warship to play its due role, which will increase our chances of winning."

That's right, for Rear Admiral Samplin, after the unexpected loss of the support fleet headed by the Iowa, the U.S. Navy currently does not have an advantage. Damn the Italians, why are they selling so many battleships?

Every battleship in hand now is valuable, let alone a shallow-water heavy gunship.

The U.S. Navy has three 4,000-ton shallow-water heavy gunships. These three shallow-water heavy artillery ships, numbered bm2, bm3, and bm5, are equipped with four 254 mm 30-caliber main guns. The main armor belt is 224 mm thick, the gun mount armor is 260 mm, and the turret armor is 180 mm.

This data looks good, but because it is very early, these armors are all steel-faced iron armor, and their protection level is still far from enough. As for the speed, it could reach 12 knots when it first entered service, but now it can reach 10 knots which is pretty good.

But anyway, there are still 12 10-inch guns on these three battleships, right? At this juncture of preparing for a decisive battle, these three shallow-water heavy gunships were brought onto the battlefield, used to attack the forts and consume the opponent's fleet.

"Do we have to bring three ships?"

"Having them increases the fleet's chances of victory."

"Then take it with you."

After the U.S. Navy made up its mind, it began to take action. Warships distributed in various ports in the Northeast began to move to Jacksonville Naval Port. In addition, ammunition supplies and other materials are also being transported to the Jacksonville Military Port.

Of course, the most important thing is to detect the location of the Spanish fleet, how long it can stay there, and what the reason for staying there is.