Chapter 237 Close War

[237] melee

Deng Shichang was ordered to appoint him as the commander of the North Sea Fleet, asking him to lead the North Sea Fleet to Qingdao for modification, and go south to fight to the death with the Chinese fleet of the Royal Navy. He thought he had heard it wrong and read the telegram repeatedly before he knew it was true.

Along with the combat telegram, Yao Fan's secret message was sent to Dagukou, Tianjin, which was personally handed over by the commissioner of the Intelligence Department.

Deng Shichang opened the telegram with only one simple sentence: "Prove your courage to the motherland, so that the motherland can rest assured to give you the fleet of the world."

Deng Shichang has seen the royal fleet in China's territorial waters and knows how powerful it is. He also thought about whether the new government would test his loyalty or use the British hands to eliminate the naval officers and soldiers left behind by the Qing Dynasty.

Deng Shichang quickly ruled out the latter idea.

Chen Weipeng, political commissar of the North Sea Fleet, was sent from Beijing by the General Political Department. Chen Weipeng is loyal and witty. He has studied private schools but has not been admitted as a scholar. He opened a lacquer shop at home. He came from a small handicraft family, used his enthusiasm for the Republic and his fanatical worship of Yao Fan to dispel Deng Shichang's care. Worry.

"Old Deng! Why do you feel sorry for your motherland?! The revolutionary army led by Chairman Yao was invincible and liberated the whole country! How arrogant the five-nation coalition forces that came to interfere in China's internal affairs are! Aren't you also beaten up? The Yangtze River Fleet met our revolutionary army and was beaten to pieces, and all six ships were fed to the bastard!"

Since Chen Weipeng came to the North Sea Fleet, he has taken dozens of people from his political office to keep educating sailors and officers. Deng Shichang understands that Chen Weipeng's people are now everywhere on the ship, and everyone is looking forward to a new China and new life promoted by political commissars and instructors of the Political Affairs.

The government has not adjusted the treatment of grassroots officers and soldiers of the navy. It is still the first-class sailor's silver in October and the first-class gunner's silver in 20 months, but the original income of senior officials of the navy has been greatly reduced. For example, the annual salary of the navy admiral plus the annual income of 8400 taels of the ship's salary was forced to follow the uniform salary standard of the whole army. It has been determined. Although Deng Shichang was brought to the position of commander of the North Sea Fleet from the "Haidongyun" gunship, his monthly salary was only 245 taels and an annual salary of 2940 taels, which did not increase much compared with his previous annual income of more than 2,600 taels.

But for grassroots sailors, the current salary is all paid in full and there is no deduction. It is completely paid by the Ministry of Political Affairs, which is equivalent to a double income.

Moreover, the political commissars sent by the new government have no airs to promote the new military discipline of equality between officers and soldiers on ships and bases all day long, never kowtow, and abolished all flesh punishments. Therefore, the new government is highly supported among grassroots sailors.

After more than a month of study of common rules, the North Sea Fleet has been trained in a special queue and emphasized military discipline every day.

Deng Shichang knows that the whole country is under military control at present. Even the original admirals of Beiyang Marine Division, Nanyang Marine Division, Fujian Marine Division and Guangdong Marine Division have been dismissed. Almost all the lay admiral generals who were transferred to the Marine Division were raided or assigned to labor camps. Only serious professional officers who graduated from Fujian Ship Administration School can be reused.

Now, among the three fleets adapted from the four major marine divisions, personnel changes are extremely drastic, and the "ship politics" is alone, rising rapidly with the poor "political department", and the Manqing bureaucrats and the army officers of the Hunan Army of the Huai Army who were installed in the navy were swept away. . Under such violent turmoil, Deng Shichang only hoped to protect himself and stay in his beloved navy and warships.

But the man heard about his Deng Shichang from nowhere and promoted him to the commander of the North Sea Fleet like a rocket!

Deng Shichang has never seen that person, but now there are portraits of him everywhere. On the portrait, he looks amiable, wearing a simple green military uniform like a soldier, but without a red collar or a military cap.

Deng Shichang read that person's work, and after reading it, Deng Shichang first became clear about the meaning of the word politics in his life. Deng Shichang was convinced by the various new textbooks secretly issued by the central government for the navy. I heard that these were also compiled by that person himself.

"Principles of Naval Ships", "Navigation and Ship Strength", "Navigation Analysis and Operations", "Basic Maritime Positioning", "Ocean Navigation Ship Maintenance", "Marine Mobility and Formation Regulations", "Navigation Psychology"... In principle, these textbooks are not allowed to board ships, and boarding must be guaranteed when necessary. Destroy it so as not to fall into the hands of the enemy.

Deng Shichang has been studying these secret textbooks provided to senior officers in the navy eagerly. The more he read it, the more profound he feels, and he admires that person even more in his heart. Even the British lecturers of the Ship Administration School have never taught them this knowledge.

At Qingdao Pier, Deng Shichang saw a machine called a crane for the first time. The long boom can lift dozens of tons of cannons away from the ship. Some workers took a strange big iron jar on the boat and cut off the artillery base of the bow with a kind of blue fire* like cutting tofu.

"I heard that this is the most advanced technology in the world." Political Commissar Chen Weipeng proudly said to Deng Shichang.

After watching the 8280mm recoilless land shooting performance, Deng Shichang was convinced.

"This gun is extremely powerful! I have never seen such a violent flowering bomb. If there is a shot in the wooden boat, even a thousand-ton ship can't stand it!

However, such a great power is so magical that there is no recoil, and the two can fire, which is really a military weapon!

This shell can actually wrap * in it without the need for artillery to be loaded into the barrel, which greatly saves the firing time. 5 to 6 rounds a minute is really incredible! It takes 3 minutes to fire the cannon of Daqing. I have never seen such a fast gun, and its power is so amazing!" Deng Shichang sighed repeatedly.

"Unfortunately, the range is not enough. If the barrel can be lengthened and thickened, and the shells can be filled with more gunpowder, it must be far away. Loading it on the ship will definitely make my Qing navy flourish in Asia!" Deng Shichang put forward a hypothesis.

"Lao Deng, we must try to fight in close combat. Although the recoilless gun is powerful, it can't reach far. Only by rushing within 2,000 meters can we beat the opponent." Chen Weipeng, the political commissar, urged.

"British naval guns generally fire at 4,000 meters, with a volley distance of 3,000 meters. If you have to rush to 2,000 meters, you have to have the courage to die."

"Lao Deng."

"Comrade Weipeng, don't worry, I, Deng Shichang, will live up to Chairman Yao's kindness."

In the spring of 1877, in the east China Sea, the east wind was secondary, and the boundary line of the water sky in the distance of the sea level loomed. The snow-white waves slapped the warship, accompanied by the huge sound of the steam engine, like a pan-life.

Deng Shichang's muscles were tense and ordered: "All warships rise to full sail and face the enemy in a one-word formation."

So when the Royal Chinese Fleet lined up in a single column to the west of the sea battlefield, the five warships of the North Sea Fleet lined up horizontally to pull the Royal Navy in T position to the west.

Is it a decisive battle? It seems that these yellow pigs have not learned respect in the several punishments given to them by the British Empire. Griffin looked disdainfully at the lonely and single figure of the five thousand-ton boats of the North Sea Fleet.

The flagship of the Chinese fleet of the Royal Navy, the Elekote, has a displacement of 4700 tons and 3550 horsepower, with a full power output of 12 knots and 15 knots.

A five-class battleship Cleopatra has a displacement of 2,380 tons and a full power output of 2540 horsepower.

The displacement of the two six-class ships, Pegasa and Abatros, are 1130 tons and 940 tons respectively, and the steam power is 940 horsepower and 830 horsepower.

Even two small gunboats have more than 500 tons of displacement and 500 horsepower.

Compared with the blockade fleet that rushed into the Yangtze River before, the main force of the Chinese fleet at sea at this moment is the embodiment of its real strength.

The flagship of the North Sea Fleet is Weiyuan, with a displacement of 1268 tons and 750 horsepower. It is the first and only iron keel warship in China. The iron keel for shipbuilding is purchased from France, the main engine is purchased from the United Kingdom, and the hull is manufactured by Fujian Ship Administration. In response to the increasingly siege of the city and land by the revolutionary army, the Fuzhou Ship Administration rushed to advance the warship that should have been launched in 1877 to the end of 1876, just in time for the revolutionary army to sweep the whole country. Therefore, after Yao Fan integrated the national navy with preferential treatment, the Weiyuan was Transfered to the north, he became the flagship of the newly formed North Sea Fleet.

These days, China can't even build a 750 horsepower marine steam engine, and a qualified iron keel will not be cast.

The only advantage of the Weiyuan is that when the sail is full of wind, it can drive 16 knots of high speed, the narrow hull and the structural stability provided by the iron keel, so that he can make better use of the wind.

The other four warships of the North Sea Fleet have an average speed of 9 to 10 knots, with no more than 13 to 14 knots.

With the full power of the North Sea Fleet, the British Royal Navy opened fire.

Seeing the enemy ship firing, Deng Shichang stared and ordered in the walkway: "Don't be afraid! Welcome up! Each ship recognizes its target and bites it to death. It must rush into a range of 2,000 meters. As long as it can hit a high-explosive grenade, it will definitely make the British pull the list!"

With the shelling of the British fleet, the rhythm of the waves seems to have intensified.

In order to improve the hit, the warship slowly pushed the waves around them into pieces and threw them into the sea. The Royal Navy, relying on the barrel caliber, began to fire 4,500 meters apart. The 1877 warship's main gun took 3 minutes to fire, and even some large-caliber guns took five minutes to fire, which gave the North Sea Fleet enough time.

Deng Shichang understands that according to the current average speed of 12 stalls of the fleet, it will take 8 to 9 minutes to close the distance from 4500 Mira to about 1500, which is about enough time for the opponent's naval gun to fire three times.

Griffin did not choose to shoot in his first shot at 4,500 meters. Each ship chose to fire in turn. A gun on the warship rattled and fired at the North Sea Fleet alone. What he wanted was that kind of continuous momentum. In this way, there was no interval for the fleet to fire, and there was no need to be Wait for a long time after shooting.

As a fleet independent from the East India Fleet, the Chinese fleet of the Royal Navy is small in size and of average warships. Except for the flagship Erecht, the other ships do not have long-range shooting of 5,000 meters to 6,000 meters. Therefore, it is generally used to flood the opponent with accurate and dense artillery fire after reaching 3,000 meters to 2,000 meters.

Grikin has sufficient confidence in his warships. With the strength of the warships of the Royal Navy, the solid artillery iron balls of the Qing Dynasty can't be shaken at all. As for the flowering bombs, the flowering bombs of the Qing Dynasty can only be broken into 4 to 6 pieces, and the lethality is extremely low. If it hits the thick oak shell of the British warship, about You can only blow up a black graffiti.

Grikin heard that Sir Huss, who participated in the second * war, said that China's navy is extremely cowardly, and the artillery range is extremely short, only about 1500 meters to 2,000 meters. Once it rushes to a distance of 500 meters, the dense artillery on the British warships will be enough to blow away all the courage of those yellow pigs. At this time Whether to choose to accept the surrender of the other party or simply break the other party into a pile of driftwood at close range depends entirely on the mood of the British navy.