Chapter 153 The sound of gunfire in the Gulf of Polomerania

In September 1905, the day in the Gulf of Polomerania became shorter. The slight cold in the morning not only did not make people feel cold, but made people feel very comfortable. Looking from the Gulf of Polomerania towards the Gulf of Szcicin, the coast was against the horizon, like a slender black line. The breeze was blowing, and the Gulf of Polomerania There are ripples on the sea, and the sky is bright and sunny.

On a small fishing boat, German fishermen had a smile on their faces. Good weather often meant a good "y harvest". Suddenly, a few black smoke appeared on the sea level. The next quarter of an hour, the fishermen were surprised to see a fleet sailing out of Szcicing Bay. The fleet was getting closer and closer. When the leading warship entered their sight, the first First of all, let the fishermen be surprised to see the fleet of seven warships. Their hulls are painted inconspicuous dark gray, and the golden "monster" bow badges of the ship shines in the sun. Although the dark gray warship painting is not conspicuous, it also makes the warship look particularly elegant and beautiful, and it also reflects It's so murderous.

When the fleet approached again, the fishermen were surprised by its huge size. The armor of the warship and the superstructure on the ship were all painted dark gray. The bow and stern had huge double turrets, and the sides of the east and west were full of rapid-fire guns. The muzzles of these cannons made people feel a terrible power.

On the deck of the warship, there are continuous shouts of people, the sound of the flute of the sailor, the sound of the bells of iron, and even a group of sailors in brand-new military uniforms, with sandbags on the command tower, all ready to fight.

"Is there going to be a war?"

Looking at the fleet of fishermen muttering in their hearts, but the next moment, when the stern appeared in front of them and saw the German merchant flag flying on the stern, they finally took a breath. It was originally the Chinese fleet!

This is the Chinese fleet. In the past few days, they have heard that this Chinese fleet is an old warship purchased by the Chinese from the Royal Navy at a high price. Those old warships have been renovated and maintained at the Volkhang Shipyard.

When the fishermen looked at the fleet with strange eyes, on the conning tower of the Dingyuan ship, Cheng Biguang with a telescope hanging on his chest held a stopwatch in his hand. Whenever the first mate made a report, he always pressed the stopwatch, frowned and tightened.

At this time, several German naval officers beside him muttered softly there.

"This is a trial, which is clearly an exercise!"

"It's true. From the speed to the preparation of the gun, maybe they can still fire..."

"I will definitely shoot. Today's subject has a gun test!"

The German naval officer's shrug was only a slight frown. Now he has no interest in chatting with those people. He knows that he has no time to chat with the 3,612 officers and soldiers in this fleet.

Although officers and sailors have been mastering and understanding the seven warships under the guidance of German instructors for the past month and a half, he has been very dissatisfied with everyone's performance since he sailed out of the wharf of the Szcaching Volkhang Shipyard.

They really tried their best!

Thinking that in the past month and a half, the officers and soldiers almost got off the train and went to the warships still parked in the dock. When the workers repaired and remodeled the warships, they began the imitation training. Their training almost reached the point of sleeplessness. They ate and rested for 8 hours a day, which was like training 10. Hours, six hours of paper training, everyone was working hard, but when the warship was sailed out of the military port, they encountered all kinds of problems.

Warships and soldiers need to run in!

Although they are making excuses in the bottom of their hearts, everyone can see the dissatisfaction shown in Cheng Biguang's expression.

At this time, everyone in each warship is busy. On the lookup tower on the conning tower, a 3.5-meter rangefinder has been rotated. The 3.5-meter rangefinder was entrusted by the Admiralty to the German Carl a year ago. Zeiss is designed and manufactured by a precision bearing drive like an artillery, and a rangefinder with two-ear headphones on his ears and a telephone phone hanging around his neck. Every time he reads a reading a reading, if he looks down from the armored tower where he is, he can see that the front and back two seats have been replaced. The turret of the Armstrong MK7 ten-inch naval gun also began to rotate.

When the turret locked the firing boundary, several young officers sitting on the table in the armored castle of the conning tower, also wearing special double-ear headphones and hanging a telephone microphone around their necks, lying on the charts, holding a ruler to calculate the target position, calculating the advance according to their speed, while several on the other side have the same "loading" The young officers of "Bi" held the shooting logarithm and logarithmic table in their hands, and calculated it with the shooting ruler and shooting table according to the number reported by their colleagues. While calculating the loading, shooting angle and shooting boundary, the numbers were said one by one from their mouths, and to be accurate, they roared.

The next moment, the electric turret began to fine-tune the firing range, adjust the firing angle, and began to load the projectile. When the fire control chief standing in the center heard the firing preparations from each turret, the simple fire control platform showed that the four main guns representing the two turrets and the five 150mm guns on the simple fire control platform changed from red to green. In an instant, press the electric start button to complete a full shot of the main and secondary gun.

This seemingly complex process, in fact, the whole process only takes 20 to 25 seconds, which is exactly the same as the rate of fire of the main gun of the warship.

Of course, although a full-ship volley was completed, there was no gunfire or gunpowder smoke, because it was only a drill. To be precise, after leaving the port, they were constantly conducting corresponding drills.

"Order, the Amikir sailed southeast at full speed!"

In the command tower of the fleet's flagship "Dingyuan", Cheng Biguang, who had always been slightly unhappy, opened his mouth and gave an order.

Amyquil is a tow target ship belonging to the German navy, but it is now hired by the Chinese navy for naval gunnery training.

As the target ship "Amikil" towed the target ship was getting farther and farther away from the fleet, the officers and soldiers on the fleet began to get nervous. They knew that today they would sound the Chinese navy's naval guns again in the Gulf of Polomerania.

When the Amygel sailed in the direction of the command, on a German light cruiser sailing slowly in the distance, the German naval officers and soldiers also witnessed the fleet. They most of them looked at the "Chinese fleet" equipped with curious eyes, looking curious and complicated.

"seven great distances!"

"Eight Great Far..."

most of the German naval officers and soldiers on the side said this fleet in a curious tone, which is the name of this fleet.

In 1887, when a fleet appeared in the east, the whole world was surprised and even called it "the hope of the rise of the Far East". The navy - Beiyang Mariners and its "Dingyuan", "Zhenyuan", "Jiyuan", "Jiyuan", "Jingyuan", "Comefar", "Zhiyuan", "Jingyuan" and "Pingyuan" The eight "yuan" ships are also known as the "eight great distances" of Beiyang. These eight warships constitute the main lineup of the Beiyang Marine Division and are the essence of the whole army.

Later, this Beiyang sailor, known as "the first in Asia", turned into history in the smoke of the Yellow Sea, and the Chinese people's road to the ocean was interrupted.

For various purposes, in the mouths of officials and politicians, the defeat of Beiyang has become "officers and soldiers [***]", "afraid of death", "unskilled skills" and so on the Beiyang navy, so as to cover up the incompetence and short-sightedness of the court and officials, which led to the defeat, and the lies are always lies. Words.

But in any case, defeat is always defeated, and the "Eight Great Far" that once fascinated all Chinese people has also turned into history with the dissipation of gunpowder smoke, and the "Eight Great Far" as the main force of the Chinese fleet can really be said to be a combination of honor and disgrace.

Today, "Eight Great Far" appears on the ocean again, but today, when the Dragon's fleet set sail again, Eight Great Far became the top ten far. The Zhiyuan-class battlecruisers occupied the two names of Zhiyuan and Jingyuan. At this time, the seven warships sailing in the Gulf of Polomerania were "Dingyuan" and "Fuyuan" in turn. "Jiyuan", "Jingyuan", "Comefar", "Weiyuan" and "Pingyuan" 7 ships.

At this time, the seven distances of sailing in the Gulf of Polomerania looked majestic. The thick smoke spewed out by the fleet were permeated in the air, and the faint soot in the sky seemed to feel unknown, as if to blame the Chinese for choosing the unspeakable ship name.

"The distance is 12.5 kilometers!"

When the eldest officer reported a distance, Cheng Biguang's eyebrows tightened and immediately opened his mouth and ordered.

"The fleet turns left! ......"

This is an order to change the battle formation.

"Fleet turn left..."

With the repetition of the order, the Dingyuan, which originally sailed at a speed of 14 knots, immediately began to adjust its course. At the same time, the rangefinder officer in the armored castle on the tower has begun to constantly adjust the optical rangefinder and report readings. Each optical meter with a cost of up to 215,000 yuan gives full play. His surname is Neng. It almost perfectly approaches the "enemy ship" 12.5 kilometers away. At the same time, it accurately measures the distance, speed and direction of the enemy ship.

"Target enemy flagship Shikishima!"

As soon as he opened his mouth, Cheng Biguang reported that the joint fleet flagship Shikishima. Originally, the joint fleet flagship was the "Mikasa" warship, but more than a dozen days ago, everything changed. Perhaps it was extremely sad. The flagship of the joint fleet "Mikasa" battleship, which had made great achievements in the sea battle against Malaysia, was in the port on September 11th. During the mooring, there was a major accident after the explosion of the ammunition depot. The warship sank into the sea, and almost all 300 people on the ship died. The only regret is that Dongxiang was not on the ship at that time.

Naturally, in this training, the enemy ship's flagship will become to participate in the Shikishima.

"The direction is 312, the distance is 11590, the speed is 10 knots..."

And in the starboard side gun position, it was already busy. The moment the armored magazine was opened, the gunners were busy.

"Test-fire marker projectile."

The officer with headphones and the phone shouted, and the shells were put into the fire.

"Pray..."

With a long roar, the deafening gun sounded. The port No. 1 and No. 6 secondary guns sounded first. At this time, the "Dingyuan" ship had not yet completed the turn, and the main gun could not fire the gun. However, in the main gun turret, the bomb lifter had raised 500 pounds of high-explosive bombs into the turret. In the roar of the bomb lifter, the heavy gun The bomb entered the gun, the benchmark bag began to be loaded in turn, and the gunpowder bag was stuck into the turret. All the work was carried out in an orderly manner.

Dozens of seconds later, in the ranging armored castle of the observation tower, the observer clearly saw two huge columns of water and black smoke rising one after another near the gun target. At this time, the rangefinder, like a hunter, tried to catch the target at a glance, and finally read more accurately from the distancer's mouth. Read it out.

At the same time, the rangefinders on the seven warships that unfold in turn are trying to catch the target and get the most accurate target. When the Dingyuan ship changes its formation, the fleet is also changing its formation in turn.

"Okay! Dingyuan is going to fire!"

A few minutes later, when the Dingyuan ship completed the changing formation, the German [***] officials observing in the distance all thought that the main gun of the Dingyuan ship that completed the formation change would fire. The distance measurement had been completed, and the formation had been changed. According to reason, the gun should be fired, but to their surprise, one minute, two minutes... Dingyuan still did not There was a gunfire, but the formation of the fleet changed in turn.

"What are they going to do?"

All those who witnessed this scene and believed that the Chinese navy was using artillery test fire for artillery drills would be confused by the "silence" of the fleet.

Dingyuan's main gun did not ring, and the main guns of "Fuyuan", "Jiyuan", "Jingyuan", "Dingyuan", "Weiyuan" and "Pingyuan" that changed their formation in turn were also "dumb".

One minute, two minutes, just when everyone was surprised, the German naval officers and soldiers watching in the distance suddenly burst into laughter. They could clearly see that the formation of the Chinese fleet may be because they were not skilled enough, resulting in the front and back distance of the ships too close, even less than 100 meters, but in them. When he shook his head and lamented the "greenness" of the fleet, he saw another amazing scene. When a warship at the end of the fleet changed its formation, because it was too close to the front ship, it made emergency avoidance to avoid being hit by the front ship.

"That's the Pingyuan!"

Pingyuan is an armored cruiser, the former German Navy's "Prince Heinrich" armored cruiser, with a standard displacement of 8,857 tons and a full displacement of 9,806 tons, equipped with 2 single 240mm main guns, 10 150mm secondary guns, 10 88mm guns and 4 450mm fish. Although his speed is only 19.9 knots, it is the fastest armored cruiser in the fleet.

After being sold to China by Tipilz, the armored cruiser Prince Heinrich was modified at the Volkhang shipyard. At first, the navy preferred to replace its main gun with a double 8-inch turret, but after some discussion, considering that the transformation was time-consuming and it was too late, so it finally referred to The transformation of the "class battleships replaces the 240 naval guns with an elite 10-inch naval gun to obtain the same firepower as the warships for centralized fire control.

I felt the strange eyes of the German [***] officials around him. The expression that had just stood firmly in the Pingyuan ship's command tower was slightly embarrassed, but the regret was less than three seconds, and then a few spit out of his mouth.

There is still time to regret there, but he knows that from now on, the Pingyuan ship may not be able to raise its head in the whole fleet, and everything is fine on paper, but once he really drives the warship, everything has changed.

"Damn it!"

The report of his subordinates made Cheng Biguang scold in the bottom of his heart that there were too many young officers in the fleet. Although the Pingyuan ship had studied in Mawei for 7 years, he was sent to the United Kingdom to study for only one year. When he was appointed as the captain, he did not even have the experience of commanding a warship. If he had a choice, of course he knew The officers under his command are all... Looking around the young officers around, Cheng Biguang sighed in the bottom of his heart. This is just a fantasy. Can strange warships, young officers and young sailors win this battle?

"The fleet completes the formation transformation!"

Suddenly, a voice interrupted Cheng Biguang's thoughts. He first looked at the stopwatch. Six minutes had passed since he gave the order. If it was on the battlefield, his "Dingyuan" might have been hit hard.

"Target Shikishima! Open fire!"

With an order, the silent fleet finally roared, first Dingyuan, followed by "Fuyuan", "Jiyuan", "Jingyuan", "Comeiyuan", "Weiyuan" and "Pingyuan".

In a flash, the sky of the Baltic Gulf seemed to be torn by a giant cannon, and the deafening sound of cannons echoed in the sea space. The interval between the main guns of each warships may be only one second, or even shorter. In just one or two seconds, 24 10-inch guns on seven warships aimed at a target and rang at the same time.

In fact, although the Chinese naval fleet is only initially built, it is not as "inefficient" as the outside world thinks. In view of the limited number of its own ships, in order to seize some advantages, since the establishment of the Chinese Imperial Sea Guard Navy, it has practiced the tactics of long-range shelling and multi-ship collaborative attack on the same target. The picture relies on quantity to make up for the lack of quality in the naval battle.

This move was even earlier than the British Royal Navy thought, and at this time, the world's navies did not even have this concept. In order to avoid the inability to judge the landing point of the ship when multiple warships attack the same target, it is difficult to correct the aiming. After many trials, the tactical principle adopted is actually very simple, that is, to compress the distance between multiple warships, take the middle one as the fire command ship, and uniformly command and shoot. In this way, logically, these warships are turned into one, so as to achieve the purpose of destroying the enemy with overwhelming firepower.

This time, now, Cheng Biguang uses this tactic in the test launch. His designated fire command ship is the second ship Fuyuan.

When the smoke on the sea dissipated, everyone was stunned by the previous scene. At least two shells in the first salvo of the Chinese fleet accurately hit the target, 500 pounds of heavy shells, and directly tore the wooden target into pieces.

Looking at the disappearing target, Cheng Biguang sighed in the bottom of his heart. Looking at the young officers around him, the excitement on their faces made him full of worry, "I hope..."

(to be continued)