Chapter 422: Outbreak of the Anglo-Spanish War

On July 20, 1904, the British fleet officially arrived at the port of Cádiz, Spain, and carried out more than ten hours of supply replenishment and rest, after which it continued to head south in a mighty manner, planning to pass through the Strait of Gibraltar.

When this fleet proposed to Spain to dock for rest, the commander of the fleet's flagship, Rear Admiral John, was still slightly nervous.

Because he was leading a temporarily assembled fleet, this fleet did not have a commander-in-chief, but rather he, the commander of the leading flagship, served as the temporary commander of the fleet.

Although the Rear Admiral was already in the ranks of generals, he was only the lowest-ranking general officer. Rear Admiral John had not served as a flagship commander for long, and for such an important mission, his heart was still very nervous.

As the temporary commander of the detachment, Rear Admiral John naturally understood what the true purpose of his fleet was. Although the British Empire's naval strength was more than twice that of the Spanish Navy, the one responsible for provoking Spain was not the entire Royal Fleet, but such a detachment composed of five battleships as the main body.

If Spain swallowed its anger, it would be fine; they could easily obtain supply replenishment and successfully execute the cruise mission to earn a merit.

If the Spanish were not willing to submit, as the commander of the detachment, Rear Admiral John needed to be prepared for war and meet with the Mediterranean Fleet as soon as possible to guard against Spain's unannounced attack.

Britain did not intend to retreat on the Portugal issue; after all, this concerned Britain's control over Gibraltar. If they retreated on the Portugal issue, then should they retreat on the Gibraltar issue?

Retreating again and again, where could Britain retreat to?

At this time, there was no interference from the Boer War, and Britain's heart-worry, Russia, had just experienced a miserable defeat in the Far East.

Under such circumstances, if Spain was not sensible, the British Empire didn't mind using its naval power to let Spain understand that the world's number one naval power was not a vegetarian (a Chinese idiom meaning not to be trifled with).

The previous multiple concessions to Spain had already reached Britain's bottom line; whether it was Portugal or Gibraltar, the British Empire absolutely could not give up.

If Spain insisted on pressing hard on these two issues, the British Empire could only fight a war with Spain and use their respective military strengths to decide the final result.

Leaving the port of Cádiz and heading south along the Spanish coastline, Rear Admiral John's mood was still quite relaxed.

Judging from Spain's performance so far, they would most likely choose to retreat a step. After all, the British Empire sent warships this time; in terms of naval power, Britain would not fear any country.

Even just the scale of this detachment plus the Mediterranean Fleet was enough to rival all of Spain's naval power.

Why could Spain compete with the British Empire in terms of the navy? Britain also possessed the Channel Fleet, the Home Fleet, the Atlantic Fleet, and a series of other naval forces possessing battleships.

Randomly dispatching a few battleships might be at least one-third of the naval power for the Spanish Navy. Under such circumstances, Rear Admiral John had reason to believe that Spain would choose to retreat; after all, not all countries were willing to compete with the British Empire, and the British Empire was the most powerful country in Europe and even the world.

When this British fleet sailed happily to the Strait of Gibraltar, they suddenly discovered something was wrong.

They entered the Strait of Gibraltar from Cape Malabata, the southernmost city of Spain, and the fleet sailed along the south coast of Africa, almost seeing Ceuta ahead.

Just when everyone thought they could easily pass through the Strait of Gibraltar, a Spanish fleet suddenly appeared ahead.

This Spanish fleet was flying the flag of the Kingdom of Spain, with a posture of "looking forward to it." After seeing the arrival of the British fleet, the Spanish fleet aimed its guns at the British fleet's warships, clearly with a posture of "those who come are not good" (a Chinese idiom meaning hostile).

"Shit, what are these Spanish people doing?" After hearing the report from the leading battleship, the fleet's temporary commander, Rear Admiral John, was a bit depressed and couldn't figure out what these Spanish people were doing for a while.

But for the sake of vigilance, Rear Admiral John still ordered the foremost battleship to use signal flags to communicate with the Spanish warships and ask for their purpose.

At the same time, Rear Admiral John ordered other warships to be ready for battle at any time and aim their guns at the Spanish warships.

Naval warfare was different from land warfare; being prepared and not being prepared were completely two situations. At the moment, the British warships were already aimed at by the Spanish warships, but if any accident occurred and the naval war started, the opponent's shells would fall on their side as if they were free.

If the British fleet had no preparation, it would be very difficult to effectively aim at the enemy's warships in the enemy's bombardment.

At that time, it would cause a terrible situation where British warships were crazily beaten while they could hardly hit the Spanish warships. Such a naval war could never be won, so before the war broke out, the British warships had to be prepared with all means.

On the Spanish fleet side, the one leading the warships to block the Strait of Gibraltar leading to the Mediterranean entrance was the Commander-in-Chief of the Spanish Mediterranean Fleet, Vice Admiral Roque Alvaderez.

"Commander, the British fleet is signaling to ask why we are blocking the Strait of Gibraltar, requesting us to open a passage, and they want to enter the Mediterranean." The messenger walked up and reported to Vice Admiral Roque Alvaderez very respectfully.

Vice Admiral Roque Alvaderez nodded and said indifferently: "Tell these British people that the Spanish Royal Navy Mediterranean Fleet needs to conduct naval exercises in the Bay of Algeciras, and we have already deployed a large area of sea mines, so this sea area is temporarily impassable.

Let them wait for 24 hours; after our naval exercises end and all these sea mines are removed, we will naturally leave a passage for them.

If they insist on passing through this sea area, then remind them that triggering the sea mines has nothing to do with us; it's them looking for it themselves."

What Vice Admiral Roque Alvaderez said was not a joke; the Mediterranean Fleet really deployed sea mines in a specific area of this sea.

If this British fleet ignored the Spanish Navy's advice, they would most likely drill into Spain's sea mine deployment area. At that time, there would be fun to watch; anyway, the Spanish Navy had already advised these British people in advance. If they insisted on passing through the Strait of Gibraltar, Spain would not bear any responsibility for this.

"Damn it! These Spanish people are clearly making things difficult for us; they don't intend to let us pass through the Strait of Gibraltar." After hearing the report from the messenger, Rear Admiral John immediately understood the purpose of these Spanish people.

Although the other side also said they were conducting naval exercises, why did they choose to exercise precisely when the British Navy was passing through the Strait of Gibraltar?

Besides, Spain did not have only this little coastal area. If they really wanted to exercise, they could exercise in the Atlantic to the west or the Mediterranean, why did they have to block the Bay of Algeciras between Gibraltar and the Mediterranean?

"General, what should we do?" Rear Admiral John's adjutant asked.

For the current British Navy, their options were already very few. Either ignore the Spanish Navy's advice and forcibly pass through the Bay of Algeciras.

If the Spanish really deployed sea mines in this sea area, in case of bad luck, this British fleet would lose a few warships.

Even if the British Navy accidentally hit a mine in this water, Spain had sufficient excuses to shake off its responsibility.

But if they were just blocked in the Strait of Gibraltar by the Spanish Navy, it would also be unacceptable for the British Navy.

Their purpose this time was to deter Spain; if they were blocked in the Strait of Gibraltar by the Spanish Navy, wouldn't that become being deterred by Spain instead?

If they were really blocked in the Strait of Gibraltar by the Spanish Navy, Rear Admiral John wouldn't need to be a general anymore; after returning to Britain, he would definitely become the biggest scapegoat for this incident.

After pondering for a moment, Rear Admiral John said: "Tell these damn Spanish people that we are executing an important military mission.

They must open a safe passage for us within two hours; they have no right to refuse our passage in the Strait of Gibraltar.

We will rest in place for two hours; if the Spanish cannot clear a path for us within two hours, we will head to the Mediterranean ourselves.

If our warships have any accidents during this period, this will all be the responsibility of Spain for holding military exercises in public waters without authorization, understand?"

Getting Rear Admiral John's order, the adjutant nodded quickly and conveyed the order to other warships.

Vice Admiral Roque Alvaderez, who finally got the news, didn't care about the British fleet's request. His main purpose was to delay time and block this British fleet in the Strait of Gibraltar for 24 hours.

If the British "jumped over the wall in a hurry," the two *Dreadnought*-class battleships 10 kilometers away would teach them how to behave. If the British were sensible, blocking the British fleet in the Strait of Gibraltar for a day would also make the British lose face instead.

Upon learning that the Spanish would not clear a path for them as they said, Rear Admiral John's face changed. ===== CHAPTER 423 =====