Chapter 179 Target: Shikishima

At 14:52, the lookout of "Jingyuan" found a large column of smoke on the eastern sea level that was not obvious. Two minutes later, he began to recognize the British mast of the Japanese naval warship, which were the first team of the United Fleet, the battleships "Shikishima", "Asahi", "Fuji", "Hizen" and Chun. The armored cruiser is 16,000 meters away at this time.

The rapid whistle sounded on the deck of the Second Fleet. When the whistle sounded, after standing on the battleship Dingyuan and ordering to change the formation, Cheng Biguang took a cup of hot tea from the first mate, first tasted a sip of hot tea, and then held a teacup, all of which looked relaxed and complaziness.

"At a distance of 12,000 meters, the "Jingyuan" is used as the fire command ship. After a proofreading shot, the fleet concentrated its firepower to attack the "Shikishima"!"

As the commander of the Second Fleet, Cheng Biguang knows what he is going to face, and also knows the strength in his hands. In terms of tonnage and firepower comparison, the Second Fleet is at an absolute disadvantage, but this does not mean that the Second Fleet does not have the strength to fight. The electric drive ranging clock in the fire control command tower and the top of the command tower Two 3.5-meter Zeiss optical rangefinders installed, Barr? Strode's latest cutting-edge optical sight and altimeter.

Compared with the joint fleet with only a few 1.5-meter cursor rangefinders, the Second Fleet is ten years ahead of them in aiming and ranging equipment. Although the main ship of the Second Fleet uses a 10-inch main gun, which is inferior to the calibre and power of the Japanese ship, the rate of fire is three times that of the Japanese ship, and the soft steel is adopted by the cap armor-piercing bullet. To some extent, it makes up for the lack of power, and these leading points determine that the Second Fleet has an advantage that a combined fleet does not have.

Thanks to the excellent ranging aiming fire control system, the Second Fleet can hit farther and more accurately, and can shoot more shells in a shorter time. To some extent, this makes up for the disadvantages of tonnage and firepower, while the most fundamental disadvantage is the quality gap between officers and sailors.

And what we need to do now is to maximize the power in your hands!

"Command the first team to compress the distance of 350 meters and maintain a speed of 14 knots!"

Whether in Germany or during the voyage, the Second Fleet practiced the tactics of long-range shelling and multi-ships co-attacking the same target, in order to concentrate firepower in naval battles and attack one target, so as to achieve the tactical principle of cutting off the enemy. This tactical principle is actually very simple, that is, to compress the distance between multiple warships, take the middle one as the firepower command ship, and uniformly command the shooting, so that logically turn these warships into one, so as to achieve the purpose of destroying the enemy with overwhelming firepower.

Now, Lieutenant General Cheng Biguang is using this tactic, and the fire command ship is the No. 4 ship Jiyuan.

As long as one is sunk. After handing the teacup in his hand to the sailor beside him, Cheng Biguang muttered in the bottom of his heart. As long as one is sunk, the second fleet will be worth it!

"Order, take the three ships of Haisui, Haiyan and Hai'an as the pilot ships..."

4,000 meters, about 2.6 nautical miles, 7.5 minutes. In just 7.5 minutes, Cheng Biguang, as the commander of the fleet, kept giving orders to adjust the combat formation of the fleet.

"Rise the Z flag!"

After completing the team type conversion, Cheng Biguang gave the order to raise the Z flag. Since Nelson, this has been the tradition of the navy. Why use "Z"?

"Z" is the last of the 26 English letters, and then there is no more. If this signal fails, the fleet will no longer exist.

At the same time as the "Z" flag was raised, the flag bearer began to play the flag.

"40,000 people are looking forward to everyone's hard work!"

In the armored fire control room at the top of the mast of the USS Jiyuan, Cheng Kesong stared at his opponent in the distance with a physical distance measurement. At this time, he was extremely awkwardly observing with his eyes through the left and right eyepieces at the same time, while adjusting the adjustment button without turning. The image seen by both eyes at this time is the image of the same target at both ends of the rangefinder. He stared at the target in the distance, and at the same time, he kept moving the diamond cursor in the eyepiece back and forth.

It's done!

The moment he saw the diamond cursor coincide with the target, he immediately read out the latest distance number.

"Honor and life will depend on the upcoming battle of the sea!"

At the moment of loudly reporting the distance of the enemy ship, such a sentence came out of Cheng Kesong's heart.

"Captain, I found the [***] ship!"

14:59.

A powerful shout came from the voice of the lookout of the battleship "Shikishima".

The busy footsteps on the bridge of the battleship "Shikishima" lasted for about ten seconds. Now everything has calmed down, and the officers began to adjust the observator and telescope.

After picking up the eight-fold Zeiss telescope that can be recorded in history, and magnifying it eight times, Dongxiang can see that the second fleet of Zhenyang Fleet has set up the battle formation at this time.

The second fleet, which is faintly visible in the telescope, is divided into three parts. In front, three cruisers provide alert. Five battleships in the center and two armored cruisers follow up in a single column. Although the line of sight is very blurred, according to the information, Dongxiang still guesses that they are the flagship Dingyuan, Fuyuan. , Jiyuan, Jingyuan and Laiyuan, as well as Weiyuan and Pingyuan, of which the first five are Dingyuan-class warships, that is, the Wechelsbach-class battleships have a displacement of 11,770 tons, equipped with four 10-inch mm main guns and 18 150 mm secondary guns, with a maximum speed of 18 knots. As for Weiyuan and Pingyuan is an incompetent armored cruiser.

At the rear of the fleet is an inverted triangle of three cruisers.

"Middle rule..."

After Dongxiang finished speaking, he stopped talking. At this time, the distance was closer, and the sea level was as smooth as a mirror. The Second Fleet had completely exposed their shadows. Although the seven capital ships of the Second Fleet, which can be clearly seen in Dongxiang, were lined up in a single-word battle, the distance between them was very close, close to a few It will make people have the illusion that they are... At this time, on every warship in the battle of the Second Fleet, the already prepared gunners had already rubbed their hands. The thick armor-piercing bullets were filled into the gun barrel, and the turret began to rotate, and the barrel rose to the maximum elevation, maliciously pointing at the other party. The damage management team was already in place, and the medical officers who were also ready for the final preparations looked out from time to time and waited for the incoming wounded. Most of these military medical officers were from church hospitals in China. At this time, some of them even began to hold the cross between their necks and prayed silently.

Suddenly, the praying military medical officer of the battleship Jiyuan only felt a moment under his feet. The next moment, the deafening sound of gunfire came, and the long-awaited battle finally began!

"Rise the Z flag!"

The same order as the Second Fleet came from the mouth of Dongxiang, and the content of the flag language was the same as the naval battle against Malaysia seven months ago.

"The rise and abolition of the imperial country in this battle, everyone works hard!"

While raising the flag, the internal call system of all the ships of the combined fleet broadcast the flag together. This flag language is written, and ordinary sailors can't understand it at all. Anyway, it doesn't matter if they don't understand it. It means that they must have to play with their lives, otherwise everyone will tear it up.

At this time, gambling is at the last minute.

15:02, Dongxiang's right hand was raised high and split down. Chief of Staff Suo Shimamura shouted to Captain Ichihikojiro.

"Left full rudder".

Just like the sea battle against the horse, this time the joint fleet still adopts the tactic of fighting the T-shaped position before the battle. Indeed, this "T-shaped tactic" is an extremely dangerous tactic. The danger is the time to turn around in front of the enemy. Because the warships are doing relative movements, the time difference is one minute, and the distance is 1. 000 meters.

However, it took up to 6 minutes for the Shikishima to complete this formation change. In the sea battle against the horse, Rogerstwinsky did not grasp the opportunity. It was not until the Mikasa completed the turning movement that he woke up and ordered to fire.

Fate is sometimes so clever. In the last naval battle, there were only two 1.5-meter rangefinders among the four battleships and eight armored cruisers of the joint fleet. This time, seven months after the end of the naval battle against Malaysia, each capital ship of the joint fleet was equipped with a rangefinder, while absorbing the south. In the experience of naval and sea battles, the combat distance of the joint fleet jumped from 6,000 meters to 8,000 meters, and generally increased to about 12,000 meters before shooting. It was also the order to turn in front of Dongxiang at this distance.

"The distance is 12,000 meters!"

The moment the distance measuring officer sent out the distance reading, Dongxiang saw that in the Wangyuan ship, the fourth capital ship of the Second Fleet, vacated two flame regiments.

"The enemy ship opened fire!"

The dangerous surname changed before the battle. In the Battle of Mahai, Dongxiang had already had a deep understanding. Even if Roger Strinsky wasted 6 minutes, the flagship Mikasa did not fight back until the team completed the transformation, because it could not fight back, and the turning movement of the successor ship was not over. During this period, Mikasa suffered all the gunfire of the Russian fleet. In the first three or four minutes, more than 300 shells flew from the Russian fleet. In a day's naval battle, Mikasa was hit by 40 rounds on the starboard side and 8 rounds on the port side, most of which were hit in these 15 minutes. The command tower was all hit. The staff officer, Major Iijima Hisanao, the torpedo chief, Sugano, and the deputy captain, Colonel Matsumura, were injured, and the shrapnel even flew over only a dozen centimeters around Dongxiang.

But this time, fate seemed to have played a joke with Dongxiang Heihachilang. Almost at the moment when Dongxiang gave the order of Zuo Manduo, the Jiyuan, 12,000 meters away, opened fire first.

"That's great!"

From the 15 times magnification with the help of a 3.5-meter rangefinder, Cheng Kesong saw that the battleship "Shikishima" turned around while Jiyuan opened fire. He resisted shouting loudly. Just for this moment, he seemed to see the scene of the sinking of the "Shikishima".

"Good!"

Looking at the distance, the turning of the "Bumjima" only allowed Cheng Biguang to grasp the telescope with both hands. His heart was instantly raised to his throat. Within the next 6 minutes, the "Bulijima" was almost equivalent to the original target, a target that could not fight back at all. When the joint fleet completed the turn, it needed to 18 minutes less, what does it mean?

It takes 23.8 seconds for the 254mm shell to fly 12,000 meters. In the command tower of the battleship Jiyuan, Lin Baoyi held a telescope in his hand, next to him, and the young mate held a stopwatch to count. Finally, two columns of water exploded from the water about 100 meters away from the Shikishima in the telescope.

"There is one more chance!"

At this time, Lin Baoyi's heart was twisted into a small group. He knew that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. But once the combined fleet completed the turn, the next step, it must be the second fleet. The quality of the officers and soldiers of the second fleet was far less than that of the combined fleet. After all, there were too many novices here.

"The shells they use are different from ours!"

Looking at the two white columns of water rising quietly, Dongxiang Heihachiro thought from the bottom of his heart. At this time, he realized that he had made a mistake, or this was not a mistake at all. Just like seven months ago, he was psychologically prepared for the sinking of the Mikasa. Is it that he didn't do a good job this time? Are you ready to be sunk?

Just like last time, the reason why I dare to make up my mind is based on my full understanding of the artillery shooting rate of the navy of various countries, especially the artillery shooting rate of the Russian navy... Anyway, your artillery skill is not above the average level. Even if you reach the average level, you can't sink me. This is called fearlessness.

Only the staff with extremely clear understanding of business and technological development dare to make such a combat plan, and only the commander who has great trust in his staff dares to approve such a big gamble.

And why did you approve such a big gamble this time?

Dongxiang took a look at Akiyama Zhenzhi, who was also standing in the bridge, and remembered the reasons he said.

"If we are facing the First Fleet, we can't choose this tactic in any case. The Artillery of the First Fleet is far better than that of the Combined Fleet, almost not inferior to the Royal Navy. Although it is now full of a large number of supplementary trainees and should not be underestimated, the Second Fleet is different. Most of them are trainees, and even for merchant ships. The artillery is far inferior to that of our army. According to its possible hit rate, it is difficult to sink our ship during the turn!"

Now the facts also prove this point. The first calibration shot did not even constitute a near loss of ammunition, with a distance of more than 300 meters. According to this value, their hit rate is about 30% to 35% of the combined fleet!

The same calculation was also made from Akiyama Zhenzhi's heart. He said, "The water column is so big that it is definitely not an armor-piercing bullet, but a blasting bullet!"

This discovery is to loosen Akiyama's heart. As long as it is not an armor-piercing bullet, the armor-piercing bullet used by Chinese people is extremely powerful, but at this distance, distance should play a certain role.

"12,000 meters!"

In the inner wall of the command tower of Dingyuan, the wall light also said this value. This distance is very microseconds, and even some are just right. Compared with the navies of other countries, the Chinese navy pays more attention to some changes. The last change led to the failure of Beiyang, but this time, the Chinese navy will not ignore any changes. That's just the details.

For the Second Fleet, 12,000 meters, which happens to be in the medium-range immune zone, the 12-inch fleet of the combined fleet cannot form a cross-fire, its shells cannot penetrate the armored deck, and the old armor-piercing shells it uses cannot penetrate the side armor, and the fixed-range level of the 10-inch naval gun is used, although It is also impossible to form a straddle, but the trajectory of the ten-inch naval gun is more straight, and the cap-piercing shell can penetrate 10-inch thick Harvey nickel steel armor at a distance of 12,000 meters, while the Japanese warship is only nine inches.

"With the development of technology, everything in the naval battle has become extremely cold and mechanical. It will not be as bloody as land battles. There will be no bayonets, and there will be no short soldiers. There will be accurate calculation and calibration!"

Thinking of his advantage at this time, Cheng Biguang was secretly relieved, at least until now he is still in the advantage.

Cheng Biguang, who looked a little relaxed, once again explained each part of firing, and finally emphasized a sentence.

"At this time, any mistake will cause irreparable mistakes!"

staring at the flagship of the joint fleet in the distance, the battleship Shikishima. Now if there is a mistake, it is not only irreparable. Jane really holds a grudge for life. The second fleet is alive or dead. Let's see this time!

"Shoot with armor-piercing bullets!"

Relying on Jiyuan's two-wheel shelling calibration, when the gun of the battleship Dingyuan shouted angrily, the shells of Dingyuan's main and secondary guns came out like thunder. At the same time, the seven main ships of the second fleet, 24 10-inch main guns and 55 150 secondary guns sounded almost at the same time. This is the first round of the Second Fleet. S shot.

More than ten seconds later, the Japanese sailors on the deck of the battleship "Shikishima" and Donggo in the command tower saw the flash of tearing the sky in the air. The shells accurately fell around the "Shikishima", and nearly one-third of them formed a nearly lost bullet. At the moment when the white water column soared into the air, the port armor belt of the "Shikishima" There was a sound like the impact of a huge bell, which was as loud as a bell, but very harsh. The sound instantly overshadowed the explosion.

At the moment when the sound came to my ears, Dongxiang's expression changed, and the warship was hit... "Boom..."

Before he could have the next idea, the "Skishima" port No. 1 gun position, just below the command tower, there was a violent shaking. At the moment when the explosion came to his ears, the cloud of smoke of the explosion suddenly spewed out from the breach and the ventilation pipe.

The violent shaking caused by the explosion almost made Dongxiang fall to the ground. He grabbed the armrest and turned his head and saw that Akiyama Zhenzhi's face was pale. The hit rate of the Second Fleet can be seen at least from this round of sangulation, which was more accurate than they estimated. At the same time, the more violent explosions continued to be on the "Shikishima" It exploded near the port and port deck, and suddenly a column of water rushed into the command tower, which was the sea water thrown when a lifeboat full of water was blown up in mid-air.

(to be continued)