Chapter 262 Hard battle!

Yakumo is a lucky warship, at least the captain and all the soldiers on board think so. Thanks to the French's narrow deck and small surface design style, in the four attacks, except for two second-class cruisers and torpedoes, it is the only warship in the fleet that has been hit less than ten times.

Another attack will face the indiscriminate bombardment of nearly 2,000 shells, and ten shells are like itching.

In addition to being lucky, the captain is also very proud, because the Yakumo and the sister ship Azuma are second only to the six battleships with two double 40x caliber 250 mm guns, even if they encounter the enemy's battleships, they are threatening enough.

So in the return of the fleet this time, the Eight Cloud has always been regarded as a pilot ship and rushed to the front.

The captain thought that after rushing out of the islands made up for Micronesia and entering the open waters, the disturbance would disappear because of the open vision, but he didn't expect that the other party would be chased back.

In order to reduce losses, General Yamamoto had to disband the navigation formation and disperse the formation as much as possible, so that the probability of being shelled was greatly reduced.

But no one expected that the abominable main force of the Pacific Fleet came as soon as the formation was transferred. The thick black smoke cloud also made the inexperienced captain know that it was at least eight warships that had a huge column of smoke columns.

Eight ships! If they are all warships that fire cannons like a hornet's nest, I'm afraid you really don't want to go home.

When the other party's capital ships jumped out of the water, Captain Yakumo was relieved, because the other side had only two battleships, and the rest were cruisers, four of which were only a little bigger than the second-class cruisers.

But when he began to deflect the bow with the eight clouds under the signal of the flagship and was ready to re-team the battle of the flagship, the firelight made his pupils suddenly shrink into a little cold star.

The other party fired!

The gun was fired at a distance of 10,000 meters!

The captain was so scared that he jumped up directly. When could the capital ship's naval gun fight so far?! Is their gunner accurate at a distance of 10,000 meters?

In fact, there are many people who have the same mind as Captain Yaun. The capital ship is not a cruiser, and the larger the caliber of the main gun, the slower the rate of fire. In this case, ensuring accuracy has become the first factor, so countries will set up a 5,000-meter war zone. Now the opponent is shelling so far away, which is a pure waste of shells.

It seemed to respond to the thought of Captain Yayun. The first round of sangulation shells roared and hit the front of the Japanese warship. The latest one was also hundreds of meters away. In addition to the scary sound, it made everyone relieved.

But the captain of the Yaun obviously did not know that a pair of eyes full of fanaticism and revenge ten thousand meters away had locked the left-deflected bow, exposing more than half of the ship's heavy patrol.

In the No. 1 turret of the Usuri heavily patrol, Chang Hai followed the Bayun through the observation window. Even the noisy bomber sizzled, it failed to make him blink.

As an old gunner of the former Beiyang Jingyuan ship, he was divided into artillery to form an internship artillery after joining the Pacific Fleet with Ye Zuyu.

At first, he didn't understand why a gunner like him didn't even give a full position, but when he saw a gunner assessment of the Pacific Fleet, he was deeply impressed!

Compared with the previous Beiyang, he is the real master of playing cannons. He practices diligently every day and evaluates every month, from 3,000 meters to 10,000 meters, and the cannonball falls within 20 meters to pass!

And you must master at least five kinds of different caliber naval guns, otherwise you will always hang the internship brand!

After astonishment and hesitation, the Beiyang gunners who came with him went into crazy training. If they didn't understand, they would ask. If they didn't know, they would learn. If they couldn't fight, they would continue to fight. They aimed at static targets when they had nothing to do during the day, and even practiced their eyes with mosquitoes when they slept at night.

Finally, after half a year of crazy training, and the old foundation was also relatively good, he finally stood out from many gunners, returned to Captain Ye Zukui, and became the main gunner of the Usuri.

When he came out this time, he came to revenge. In fact, it was not only him. Every Beiyang veteran who finally joined the Taiping Fleet had the same mind. Even if they were asked to go to the bottom cabin to shovel coal, they also hoped that the warship they were in could sink a Japanese warship. They wanted to tell the Qing Dynasty and tell them that Beiyang The bones are still straight!

"The muzzle is 21° degrees, and the left is 4°..."

The turret, which had been silent for a minute, was busy again with the shouting of the correspondent of the artillery group, and Changhai was also busy quickly. When the correspondent shouted the last word, a cannonball with a line of small words was suddenly stuffed into the gun with the help of a push rod.

"Fire!"

As soon as the unique harsh long sound in the telephone was made, Chang Hai roared. The huge triple main turret seemed to have been smashed by something. It was suddenly shocked by a loud noise. Dust and smoke were scattered all over the turret.

Even if a special earplugs were issued, the huge sound of the muzzle still made everyone feel dizzy. When the barrel was flattened and began the second loading, Chang Hai rushed to the observer's side. As soon as his eyes passed through the small window, his eyes suddenly straightened!

The bow of the Yaun, which had been aiming for a long time, exploded like fireworks. The huge explosion directly pressed the bow down and almost fell into the water!

"I hit it!"

Chang Hai shouted excitedly and waved his arm with all his strength. His enthusiasm immediately infected all the members of the gun group. Everyone wanted to see the scene where the Bayun was hit, but at this time, they must not leave the battle position. They must quickly complete the loading and then give the other party a few times!

"load!"

"Fire!"

"load!"

“....”

With every roar of the naval gun, Chang Hai also followed and shouted. Until the end, when the whole gun roared with the naval gun, the eight clouds on the sea were already flames! --

Yamamoto's eyes are red. Why can these damn Chinese people fire from 10,000 meters away? It can be so accurate! In the second round alone, the eight clouds were hit, allowing the first-class armored cruiser, which was about to return to the formation, directly turned around in the sea, and the bow was deflected again.

It's more than that!

But before he could come out of surprise and anger, the eight cruisers in the distance came out of fire again. When the rumbling gunfire filled the auricle, it had just suffered a heavy blow. The bow was tilted and was about to turn the rudder back to the formation. The eight cloud was targeted again. Dozens of columns of water rose up, and two shells were killed at the same time. After being hit by the rear bridge, it not only smashed all the surrounding secondary guns and equipment, but also tore a large hole a few meters in diameter directly on the rear bridge.

This is impossible!

On the British cruiser, Fisher jumped up and pointed to the heavy patrol of the Pacific Fleet, which fired in a volley again. The corners of his mouth twitched as if he had seen the New World, and he was speechless.

As the leading artillery warfare and artillery expert of the British Navy, no one knows the technical level of naval guns in today's world better than him. He has carefully studied the two new naval guns sold to Li Mo by Italy. No matter from the rate of fire, saft speed, gun kinetic energy and penetration ability, they are not as good as British naval guns. It only has a slight advantage in range.

When the Jinghai class appeared in front of him, he had a hunch that Li Mo might also improve the angle of fire of the Italian naval gun, increase the range, and change it to a triple installation method. So when the Vladivostok-class heavy patrol camel appeared in the telescope with two triple guns, he was only slightly surprised, but combined Honolulu's industrial and metallurgical capabilities, he does not think that Li Mo can effectively improve the efficiency of Italian naval guns.

You should know that the 152mm naval gun and the 203mm naval gun are completely different!

But what does he see now? Even if Honolulu can no longer slow down, and its kinetic energy and armor-piercing ability have been improved, the firing speed of these Italian-blooded naval guns can no longer be described as surprised. Even those triple-loaded ships of the same-caliber naval guns have maintained the same rate of fire!

Two times per minute!

Fittman looked at his pocket watch and frowned as well.

At this moment, the best naval gun technology must be the British Empire, but the fastest rate of fire of the same type of 203mm naval gun can only reach one shot per minute. Even the United States, which claims to be the most powerful country in industry, the rate of fire of the same caliber naval gun can only reach one and a half minute.

But now!

The fires bloomed from the flanks of the ships of the Pacific Fleet made their hearts sink more and more. Before following the fleet to depart from the Andaman Sea, they got the information that the Americans and Germans saw the Pacific bombardment of Manila. At that time, the other party's firing speed was only a minute.

Now it seems that Li Mo deliberately concealed the rapid fire at that time. He deliberately used the mouths of the two navies to spread false news, and finally spread it to the ears of the Japanese navy through his own people, so that they could paralyze and underestimate the enemy.

The only thing that is worthy of comfort is that the main guns of the two battleships of the other side are still fired every minute and a half, which is basically the same as the British guns. Obviously, Li Mo does not have the ability to improve these 12-inch guns for the time being. Otherwise, I'm afraid that the battleships built and rebuilt by the British Empire will be immediately declared scrap metal.

Boom.

Under the neat and uniform loud noise, the roar of forty 45 times caliber 203mm naval guns every half a minute is like thunder, shaking every heartstring!

When one flame after another burst from the poor Yakumo cruiser, Fisher's eyes had moved from the doomed irreparable cruiser to the strange cruiser that secretly attacked the warship in the middle of the shelling formation. The cruiser neither opened fire nor moved, and squeezed into the heavy fire. It seems very abrupt in the force formation. What on earth is he doing?

Not only does Fisher not understand that every national officer watching the battle can't handle it. What is the warship doing there? Is it to protect the formation from the attack of the fast and small Japanese warship? It's impossible. You should know that ten capital ships have at least more than 50 rapid-fire secondary guns. Not to mention that the two most important second-class cruisers have been entangled by its three partners and left the central battlefield, even if they are here, I'm afraid they can't carry out assaults in such dense firepower, not to mention those who have been entangled by the Pacific Fleet. The class cruiser monitored the torpedo ship.

So what the hell are they doing?

"Speed 15 knots, left yak 7°."

In the artillery bridge at the top of the Dinghai ship, the 15-meter-long rangefinder has put aside the burning Yaun, aimed at the last battleship Fuji, which was about to be inserted into the Japanese ship formation, and constantly reported the speed and angle of the Fuji to the fire control calculation team below.

Half a minute later, the shelling parameters and Zhu Yuan had been transmitted to the gun positions of the eight heavy patrols with the radio. Each group of gunners immediately adjusted the muzzle according to the new parameters and aimed at the Fuji, who was about to enter the team.

This is the relay fire control method conceived by Li Mo, because in the era of dreadnaught, all ships lacked effective fire control methods. Although their own system is still very simple, it is much more accurate than other countries that still rely on human eye aiming.

At a time when it is impossible to provide fire control aiming for all warships, one or more warships equipped with fire control systems are arranged into the shelling formation by radio, and the range and accuracy can be greatly improved by transmitting the shelling parameters by radio.

If the conning tower of the Antarctic Star is the head of the whole fleet, then the artillery bridge at the height of the navigation bridge has become the eye of the fleet.

Boom.

Another perfect volley. The targeted Fuji suddenly became the second unlucky. Three 203mm shells accurately hit the stern and the middle deck. The new type, driven by armor-piercing bullets, has long been able to penetrate the battleship anywhere except the main armor, not to mention This time, the thinner chimney armor in the middle was hit.

After the shell penetrated the 150mm armor wrapped in the chimney, it changed its direction and drilled directly into the No. 1 boiler tank below. The fragments after the explosion swept through several boilers. Suddenly, a large amount of hot water and steam gushed out, and more than a dozen unprepared sailors turned into steamed meat without any shouting.

The explosion of a boiler tank not only lifted a big opening of the middle deck of the Fuji, but also caused it to lose a quarter of its power. The speed immediately dropped from 15 knots to 12 knots. It can be said that unless the Japanese fleet can win back the victory and take it away, the battleship that has been launched for less than a year can only be accepted. The fate of being sunk.

Seeing the Yaun rotating deck in place and beginning to tilt, the explosion speed in the middle of the hull of the Fuji hull also decreased significantly. Ji Rushan only took a sigh of relief. From the beginning, he knew very well that if he used the one-to-one approach of battleships, it would be difficult to cause too much to the battleships even if the gun speed was faster. Threats.

So he used the light patrol to lead the Japanese ship and disperse the opponent's formation. He used the method of artillery to hit the Bayun in just the second round, and then used the high rate of the heavy patrol main gun to completely destroy the Bayun with five rounds and 200 shells.

After killing the Yaun, he took the last opportunity to hit the Fuji, causing the battleship to lose its most important speed.

In addition to the first round of shelling with test surnames and one-minute adjustment, a total of eight rounds of five minutes, resulting in the loss of combat effectiveness of a Japanese heavy patrol and a heavy blow to a battleship. This is already dazzling, making all countries watching the battle sweat in a cold sweat. But he was very clear that, except for the two light patrols who were beaten by the light patrols and could not be returned, the remaining eight capital ships and the heavy-stricken Fuji had been completed, and the hard battle was imminent.

Yes, hard fight!

Because Ji Rushan knew very well what card he was holding. Although the firepower of the whole fleet seemed to be very strong, in fact, the four determinations were old. The displacement of only more than 6,000 tons was increased by hundreds of tons after the modification, which suddenly dropped to less than 20 knots.

Although the four Vladivostok-class heavy patrols are equipped with triple artillery, the essence of the four Russian ships has not changed. They are all warships that have been in service for ten years. The hull structure and anti-sinking are not as good as the new generation of warships. No one dares to guarantee whether they can be supported in such a high-intensity naval battle.

Even the two battleships in their hands are not as good as the new ones. The only advantage is artillery, but as the two fleets get closer and closer, this advantage will gradually disappear.

In the distance, the fleet has been formed, and the bow began to deflect rapidly. When it gradually formed parallel with the fleet, the counterattack also became neat, unified and orderly.

We must draw the attention of the Japanese fleet as soon as possible, make myself jealous, and create opportunities for the heavy patrol! And if you want to do this, there is only the most effective way.

Find a cannonball magnet!

Ji Rushan took a deep breath, bit the Mikasa, which was in the front row, with the flagship flag, and suddenly clenched his fist. "Order Sirius to press in with my ship and shell Sanli with all my strength!"

"The rest of the ships continue to gather artillery in order!"

"press it in?!"

Behind them, all the officers had a sudden earthquake. They all understood what would happen to the two battleships if they took the initiative to close the distance. While hesitating, Ji Rushan had shouted again: "Execute the order!"

"Yes!"

After a loud answer, the Antarctic Star and Sirius took the initiative to leave the shelling formation, and the bows were constantly deflected against the Japanese fleet. At the same time, all eight main guns were aimed at the front Mikasa.

Boom!

Eight 305mm main guns fired in a volley, and immediately hit several huge water columns around Mikasa. In the face of the long-range high-speed attack of the Pacific Fleet, Yamamoto Quanbingwei, who was at a loss, saw that the other party took the initiative to approach, immediately turned red and immediately ordered Mikasa, Chaoyu, Hatsuse and Shikishima. Four new battleships temporarily let go of the farther heavy patrol and hit the two approaching battleships with all their strength.

Yamamoto's counterattack immediately caused a large number of water columns around the Antarctic Star and Sirius, while the two Arctic star battleships ignored the danger and took the initiative to attack with a large number of shells, and took on the task of dangerous artillery magnets.

The remaining eight heavy patrols also knew that at the most critical moment, the naval guns roared at a high speed of two minutes, and countless shells cut through the void and roared at the Japanese fleet.

Ten minutes later, the heavy patrol formation, which had an absolute advantage in rate of fire, finally reaped the results again. The sister ship of the Yakumo, the Azuma, was continuously penetrated through the side armor by more than a dozen shells, tearing open one crack after another. A large amount of seawater poured into the rear deck and immediately tilted. The captain was so scared that he did not even inform the flagship, so The line withdrew from the battle.

The temporary departure of the Azuma immediately reduced the pressure on the heavy patrol, and all the shells were concentrated on the remaining two heavy patrols and Changpan.

80 shells per minute, under the command of Dinghai, the hit rate can reach 15%, and each volley can pierce through several large holes in these two warships.

At two o'clock, under such dense fire, the most amazing scene finally appeared. After being damaged by several consecutive shells hitting the stern and damaging the steering gear, the bow of the Asama was deflected, and unexpectedly rushed to the muzzle of the heavy patrol of the Pacific Fleet at a speed of 16 knots, which immediately scared all the officers and soldiers of the Asama in a cold sweat. .

Three minutes later, when the Asama was less than seven kilometers away from the Pacific Fleet, the cold sweat stopped abruptly. A 203mm armor-piercing shell accurately drilled from the stern crack that had been torn apart. This time, without thick armor, it went directly into the interior of the hull and penetrated three decks in a row. Entered the ammunition compartment.

250 kilograms of armor-piercing shells were only ten kilograms, but under the violent impact and the explosion of TNT, the ammunition compartment was still ignited. While making an earth-shaking noise, the air waves directly lifted hundreds of tons of turrets to dozens of meters high, and the stern of the nearly 10,000 tons of first-class armored cruiser was directly The explosion is cut off. After tens of thousands of tons of seawater poured in from all over the place, the bow began to slowly rise until it formed a 90-degree right angle with the sea.

This scene is full of a strong visual sense, which stunned all the soldiers on the battlefield, especially the lack of experience. Obviously, the Japanese sailors who had never seen the explosion and scene of nearly 10,000 tons of warships forgot to fire, and all foolishly looked at the Asama sinking to the bottom of the sea little by little.

The Asama sank, the Bayun and the Azuma temporarily lost their combat effectiveness due to the tilt of the deck due to a large amount of water ingress. In this way, there was only one Changpan left in the four heavy patrols.

But it didn't take long for the soldiers of the Pacific Fleet to get excited, and a scene that made them worried also appear. The Antarctic Star, which was besieged by four Japanese battleships, was first shot. A 305mm shell accurately hit the main turret of the stern. Although it did not penetrate the modified armor, the huge impact force and explosion were still The two exposed barrel were blown up, and the strong shock wave also caused nearly half of the casualties of the gun.

All of a sudden, half of the firepower was lost, and the Antarctic Star was obviously a little out of support. At this time, Sirius was also hit hard. A shell fired by a 203mm secondary secondary gun hit the middle of the ship, causing two of the three chimneys to lose their function. Fang Jin had to order to turn off half of the boiler to reduce the exhaust volume.

Seeing this scene, Ji Rushan had no choice but to order the two battleships to distance themselves from the Japanese ship. Fortunately, the previous two ships were not completely fruitless. Experienced gunners made up for the gap between quantity and quality. First, the main armor on the side of the Mikasa was broken through several big holes, and the two secondary secondary guns were also completely dumb.

The other Hatsuse was not much better. The bow main gun was penetrated through three big holes. If it hadn't been for the short-range direct-fire shells, I'm afraid that the main battleship would have gone down like Asama.

At this time, on the battlefield, it became five Japanese battleships and one heavy patrol against eight Pacific troops, and the situation suddenly became more delicate.

2:40, when the two battleships had just withdrawn from a safe distance, the eight heavy patrols with concentrated firepower avenged them. The Fuji, which had been hit hard before, was fiercely shelled. A full five shells penetrated the Fuji superstructure in a row, completely flattening the front bridge and concommand, causing the loss of the Fuji. I went to the unified command.

In another round of volley half a minute later, the heavy patrol team, which was close to eight kilometers away, directly penetrated the shell through the shell and ignited the secondary gun ammunition depot. The explosion tore off the sideboard armor, which also completely lost the ability to move of the Fuji.

But at this time, the counterattack of the fleet also caused damage to the heavy patrol for the first time. A 305mm shell hit the bow of the determination at a distance of seven kilometers. The explosion tore off the armor of the bow of the determination. After a large amount of seawater poured into the bow, the determination tilted forward in less than a minute, and Liu Haitao could only stare. He called himself and ordered to withdraw from the battle.

Although the determination withdrew, it not only did not make the heavy patrol team panic, but also aroused the anger of all the soldiers. A shell hit the remaining Japanese warships like long eyes.

But no one expected that the final contribution was a few light patrols that had been restrained in the distance. After the three Jinghai ships hit two Japanese light patrols on fire, they used the battlefield to fill the smoke of gunp. When my attention was diverted, they suddenly launched a raid from the back at a high speed of 24 knots.

Hundreds of 152mm shells penetrated the superstructure of the Japanese battleship Yashima at a distance of less than 5,000 meters, and drilled in from the armor layer only 150 mm behind the rear of the main turret. The fragments produced by the explosion not only killed everyone in the turret, but also successfully detonated two refilled cannons. The violent explosion pushed the Eight Islands into the abyss.

Yamamoto Quanbingwei did not expect that the powerful Eighth Island would be defeated by the enemy from behind. Just as he was about to adjust his tactics, he was killed by the three light patrols that reopened the distance and destroyed the last hope. When the three light patrols and the remaining heavy patrols concentrated all the firepower on the Mikasa, the 345mm thick conzing tower four The fire broke out everywhere, and the deck seemed to have been swept by a hurricane. Most of the masts, chimneys, secondary guns, etc., as long as they could be seen, they were swept into hornet's nests.

In such a situation, not to mention sending a signal, even the officers in the command tower can't raise their heads.

At this time, Yamamoto Quan Bingwei suddenly woke up from the excitement of hitting the opponent's two battleships just now, and realized that the two light patrols were already bad, and the sinking of the Asama. In addition, Yayun, my wife and Fuji lost their speed and combat effectiveness in the water. Even if they could escape, they would definitely not be able to stay in China.

If you continue such a hard battle, even if you can sink several warships of the other party, your losses will definitely increase. What's more, there are still more than 3,000 nautical miles away from Japan. After losing all the coal-fired supplies, if you can't break through as soon as possible, I'm afraid that if you don't fight, it will become an iron coffin floating on the sea.

After thinking about it, Yamamoto finally issued a breakout order.

A few minutes later, the remaining Japanese capital ships began to release smoke and retreat one after another, but the artillerymen of the Pacific Fleet, who had already been red-eyed, were willing to concentrate all their firepower on the Yashima, which had lost the ability to fight back.

Ten minutes later, when the remaining five Japanese capital ships withdrew from the battle, the Eight Islands had become a piece of soreholed cheese and sank to the bottom of the sea little by little.

The nearly two-hour battle has cost both sides. Although one ship of the Pacific Fleet has not sunk, the injuries of the Resolution and two battleships are still a little worrying.

As for the Japanese fleet, it suffered heavy losses. Asama sank, Yashima sank, and a large number of Yakumo and Fuji could not escape. After the two captains had to order to open the remaining sea valve to sink. Only Captain Azuma saw several ships of the Pacific Fleet. After the patrol surrounded one after another, they were so scared that they forgot to open the sea valve and directly raised the white flag to surrender.

Miao Gao, Fusang's two light cruisers and four torpedo ships, had already been made into a sieve and ignited a raging fire. Finally, under irreparable circumstances, they were sent back to the bottom of the sea by several light patrol torpedoes of the Pacific Fleet at close range.

Three ships were seriously injured in exchange for the other party's five capital ships, two light cruisers and four torpedo ships, which is not a great achievement, especially when the ship's gun rate of fire still has a clear advantage.

Although the soldiers were a little depressed, Ji Rushan and the officers who knew the whole plan were full of smiles.

In the distance, looking at the Pacific Fleet that began to clean up the battlefield in the sunset, Fisher took a long breath and frowned again.

He knew very well that if the Pacific Fleet had two more battleships, or a few more 305mm guns that could penetrate the main armor of the battleship, or at the last moment, the last moment, the result would be completely different.

Obviously, it is impossible for the Pacific Fleet not to know the power of its naval guns, but they did not do so. Are they so willing to let the five Japanese capital ships return home?

Fisher shook his head. The Pacific Fleet is obviously not the kind of person who let the tiger go back to the mountain, and Li Mo will not let go of the five Japanese capital ships, especially four of which are the latest battleships!

Although the five escaped ships have been hit hard and need at least a month to repair, don't forget that there are still four capital ships in China. As long as the Uraga waterway is sealed with deed and the four capital ships and coastal gun defense, there will be enough time for these warships to restore combat effectiveness!

Is there a lack of power at hand, or is there a follow-up plan?

In Fisher's hard thinking, the last ray of sunshine gradually disappeared below the horizon, and the four Jinghai-class cruisers of the Pacific Fleet in the distance took the lead in leaving the fleet, as if to answer his doubts

(to be continued)