Chapter 134 on the horse

On May 27, it happened to be the commemoration of the accession of Nicholas II and the queen. At 8 a.m., the flagpoles and two s of the sterns of the first warship of the Second Pacific Fleet of Russia were raised.

The sailors looked particularly happy and also became talkative. Some people played chess in a secluded corner, some were reading, and another group of people were talking about the funny things of a colleague. It is almost hard to believe that these sailors are about to participate in a naval battle where many people are about to die. Maybe there is a little bit of bravery in their pretending to care about danger.

Why do they have such an attitude? The only indication is that the sailors are tired of this voyage. From last year to now, they have sailed on the strange ocean for almost eight months, with few opportunities to land, bad food, tropical poisonous sunshine that is not adapted to in high latitude countries. In a word, almost everyone has achieved the goal of human patience. It's the limit.

Since leaving Libari, almost everyone has been worried about the attack of the Japanese fleet all the time. After Madagascar, they have become more and more panicked. After a short break in Sandu Australia, as soon as they went to sea, the situation became more serious, and everyone was worried about the night attack of the Japanese torpedo team every night.

Now, all the troubles have passed, and the end is near: for some people, it is a tomb of the ocean, for others, they will return to their hometowns, and there will always be some people in the fleet who can reach Vladivostok!

At this time, Lieutenant General Roger Stevins had an idea in his mind about how to show his humility and loyalty to His Majesty the Tsar. Although the enemy fleet may have gathered on the horizon and is preparing to intercept the fleet that made a "great voyage", Roger Strzewinsky did not forget it. On this day, today is the coronation of the Tsar, and the fleet should raise colorful flags to commemorate it.

On the battleship "", the whistle blew, and the officer on duty shouted.

"Pray!"

"The body fleet prays!"

After the order was given, the sailors prayed on the main deck. The priest on the ship had already put on the holy clothes and stood in front of the icon. The priest's fiery red, unmodified beard looked a little messy, and his dull eyes were tired, which showed his unsteady mind.

He even prayed in an unethical manner, showing that his thoughts might be starting to work. People's faces were gray and cold. Some people were motionless, while others drew crosses there. Finally, all the sailors sang "God Bless the Tsar" and finally dispersed.

When the prayer was carried out, the fleet was changed to a new formation. The armored cruisers of the first and second teams sailed forward at full capacity to lead the warships of the left vertical array. The transport ship stayed behind the right column and was covered by the cruisers. In addition, the five torpedo ships of the second team were escorted by the cruisers, which was The navigation formation has been changed to a battle formation.

At this time, the Second Pacific Fleet has given many Japanese sentries the opportunity to observe in detail. The code telegrams sent by the sentry constantly clearly told the telegraphers in the Russian fleet that they were constantly reporting information about the fleet, but for the Russian naval officers and soldiers in the Second Pacific Fleet In other words, they all don't know where the main force of the Japanese army is, how close or how far it is.

At this time, the Tsushima Strait is shrouded in a layer of fog. Maybe they can rush out of the fog at any time. What should we do if we encounter an attack?

Thousands of sailors of the Russian navy are thinking about this problem. Finally, four enemy ships appeared in front of the left ship 60 chains, one of which had two chimneys, and the other three had only one chimney. After a long period of observation, Kanovikov, who stood on the warship, recognized these warships as "Hashidate", "Songdao", "Yukushima" and Zhenyuan.

"The one with two chimneys is the Zhenyuan that I seized from the Chinese!"

Put down the telescope, Kanovilikov said to the chief engine Markov beside him, and Markov nodded.

"They are all second-class warships, old and slow, with a displacement of 4,000 to 7,000 tons!"

Just as Markov was speaking, the "Suvorov" issued a "ready to fight" whistle, which finally made Kanovilikov laugh.

"Our commander-in-chief finally gave the order. If he is right, he should send the fastest warship of the second team and our most powerful cruisers, such as our Oleg and Aphrole. These four warships will be sunk by us before the reinforcements arrive..."

But this emotion only lasted for a while. When the Oleg asked for further orders, the Suvorov issued the banner of "waiting for further orders".

"Damn Roger Strinsky, he will definitely be sent to the gallows, and his stupidity will destroy the entire Russian navy!"

Looking at the order, Kanowikov cursed loudly, while the previously silent Markov looked at the last Zhenyuan of the departing enemy ship and said.

"I may wait until the war is over, and there will be a few more Russian [***] ships in the Japanese fleet!"

Markov has no confidence in what kind of victory or quietly passing the horse.

"I hope we are still alive when we get there! I hope that the captains can be brave at that time and give the order to sink when the situation is not good, at least... at least to maintain the honor of the Russian navy. I don't want to tell my son that there is also the warship "Oleg" in the navy, which is captured by the horse.

At 9:00 a.m., Kuantaro Suzuki, who led the four destroyers belonging to the Fourth Destroyer Team of the Second Fleet, led Asagiri, Chunyu, Asashio and Baiyun to the Tsushima Strait and found the Russian fleet.

"Discover the Japanese fleet!"

With the sound of the alarm bell, the whole Second Pacific Fleet was boiling. Then the sailors saw the four Japanese warships outside the fortieth chain. The fleet's cannons immediately aimed at them. While the gunners targeted the enemy ship, they were surprised to find that the commander-in-chief had not ordered the firing.

"...?"

Kantaro Suzuki on the destroyer Asagiri looked at the Russian fleet with a telescope while sailing close to the Russian fleet. He couldn't see the Russians' way at all.

"Command! Each ship sailed at full speed to the front of the Russian fleet, and turned right to the starboard side of the Russian fleet!"

An order was given from the mouth of Kantaro Suzuki.

"Your officer?"

The officers in the bridge all stared at the commander incredulously.

"Execute the command!"

After repeating the order again, he may be aware of everyone's puzzlement, Suzuki Guantaro explained.

"I can't see the way of the Lu people on the side of the Lu people's fleet, so I have to rush to the front of the Lu people to look at the Lu people!"

Although the captains of Chunyu, Chaochao and Baiyun even thought that they had heard the order conveyed by the signal soldiers, they still executed the order.

If Shinano Maru and Izumi are stupid and bold, then Suzuki Guantaro Nakazo is undoubtedly crazy. The four destroyers, Chaowu, Chunyu, Chaochao and Baiyun, are fast enough to drive 29 knots, while the Second Pacific Fleet has only 12 knots at this time. An hour later, after surpassing the Second Pacific Fleet, they made a cross-cutting movement and ran from the port side of the Russians to the starboard side.

This cross-cutting movement shocked Roger Strinsky, who was standing on the bridge of the Duke of Suvorov and had been observing the four destroyers from a distance.

"The destroyer is throwing mines on the road ahead!"

With a shock, Roger Strinsky will no longer dream of being a "great admiral", and he has to dream of living.

"Immediately raise the signal and order the ships to turn right 90 degrees at the same time and change from a column to a horizontal team!"

Although he is a general from the court, he has also read in the Naval School. In the face of the mine array in front of him, Rogerstwinsky gave the order according to the textbook.

"Turn 90 degrees to the left to form a column to avoid the "miner mine array" scattered by the Japanese destroyer."

There seems to be nothing wrong with the standard textbook-like avoidance order, but there was something wrong with the first left turn. Alexander III, who followed behind the flagship, missed the signal and followed the flagship's buttocks without turning around. The subsequent warship immediately suspected whether it had read the wrong signal, and everyone could only follow. Go ahead.

However, the second and third fleets behind did not misread the signal and completed the right turn together. After the two turns, in just ten minutes, the battle column became a two columns for several days.

"Damn Solenwowski!"

The scene in front of him made Rogerstwinsky scold, and ordered the signal to be raised again.

"The two-way column is changed to the one-way column."

But the fleet is not just a collection of warships, but a collection of well-trained officers. It's not easy to talk about the two ways. First of all, the First Fleet needs to speed up, and the second, the almost parallel Second Fleet and the Third Fleet need to slow down, but now everyone knows that the war is in front of us. They are anxious to go faster, and no one wants to slow down.

An hour after the signal was issued, in front of the reality that the fleet still maintained two columns, Roedstwinski had no choice but to recognize the formation of the two columns.

At this time, the Russian Second Pacific Fleet has more than two columns, and a cruiser formation escorting armed merchant ships on the right. The working ships and so on are roughly divided into three columns, but in fact, it is not clear how many columns should be counted.

At this time, the entire Russian Pacific Fleet's cannons were aimed at the four destroyers, but it was surprising that the commander-in-chief still did not give the order to fire. Suddenly, a cannon broke the silence at sea. Due to the gunner's carelessness, the Orio left A six-inch gun in the turret opened fire, and everyone was shocked, and the shell landed near the bow of the second Japanese destroyer.

With a gunshot, the other ships of the whole fleet took this as a signal, and then fired together. The deafening gunfire echoed all over the sea. It was said that I also began to fight back, and the shells fired directly at the nearest Russian [***] ship, and Makarov was surprised to see the Japanese shell almost They all exploded in an instant when they were close to the surface of the water, not only blowing up a huge column of water and black smoke, but also flames on the sea after the explosion. This is said to be a test projectile and ranging bomb that I used to aim accurately by the school government.

"New shells?"

"Their shells can be burned on the sea, and they should use shells filled with explosives. Ten years ago, the Beiyang Fleet of the Qing Dynasty was defeated by this kind of shell, but ten years later, half of our shells still used black gunpowder, just like the Beiyang Fleet!"

When Kanovlikov complained, the inferior warship had withdrawn at a high speed. The battle lasted for ten minutes, and none of the shells on both sides were hit.

When the Japanese warship withdrew, the "Suvorov" raised its flag.

"Don't waste cannonballs!"

On the ship Oleg, many sailors boasted about this small-scale encounter as a big victory. Sayam, the chief sailor on the upper deck, sneered and looked at the direction of the Japanese warship's disappearance.

"We have asked those who said that we are awesome. They have met an opponent who is much stronger than the Lushunkou Fleet."

Warrant Officer Volbekov nodded in agreement.

"As long as we don't meet Shuixuan, nothing else will be a problem. As for firing, we will definitely have a good meal!"

Listening to the comments of the big guys, Markov said.

"It's impossible for them to throw mines here. When it comes to gunners, gentlemen, you must admit that their gunners are also good, and they have lost a lot of bullets!"

Volbekov listened to his words and shouted immediately.

"Nar, don't praise them, you didn't hit them even if you lost the bullet!"

Let's not hit it, and we didn't lose a few bullets at all. Although he thought so in his heart, Markov didn't say anything and expressed his respect for his colleagues in silence.

"The flagship sends a signal to let the soldiers take turns to eat!"

After a short "fighty battle", perhaps to encourage morale, the lunch on the battleship "Oregg" was very rich. The bowl of bean pork cooked from fresh pork supplemented from Sanduao was accompanied by bread and red cabbage soup, and even everyone even handed out a cup of red wine made in China. After dinner, everyone was very accurate. There is a short break.

"Just enough to take a nap!"

Kanovilikov, who found a comfortable open space under the deck turret, lay there lazily stretching. It seemed that there was nothing more comfortable than this, while Marco Fu lay there with a cigarette in his mouth. After lighting the cigarette, he looked at the magnificent sea, and his face was full of indifferent.

"Do you know?"

"Huh?"

"When I left Sandu Australia, I specially wrote a letter to Natasha. I'm very glad, because..."

"Because of what?"

"Because that's the last letter I can send alive!"

(to be continued)