Chapter 283

Ferocious (please vote for me!)

Although in the Japanese Navy, the "Settsu" battleship, which is a Kawachi-class battleship, is called a "Nuda-class" battleship, which is also a Western dreadnought. Although this class of ships is uniformly equipped with a 305mm caliber main gun, it is called "

"Japan's first-class dreadnought", but it is actually equipped with 45 times the caliber mk

x and 50x caliber mk

xiThe two 305mm main guns with different barrel lengths are contrary to the "all-big-gun" concept adopted by the Dreadnought battleship. The barrel lengths of the guns are inconsistent, which will inevitably affect the correction and concentration of firepower during combat.

, Therefore, in the eyes of naval experts from various countries, the qΒ5 "Settsu" is the same as the "Kawachi", they are just quasi-dreadnought battleships.

But even so, at least for now, in the waters of the Far East, both the "Settsu" and the "Hanoi" are considered the most powerful battleships in Asia. The "King Kong" with more powerful firepower is a battlecruiser, and the "Fuso" class

"Still on the slipway, so this crown is well deserved.

At this time, the "Settsu" battleship, which was the flagship of the first team, opened the sea with its scissor-type bow that was being tested and cut off the white waves. It led the "Kawachi", "An Yun" and "Satsuma"

Heading towards mainland China, the first battle fleet is the battle fleet of the Japanese Navy, and it is also the most powerful battle fleet in the Far East.

At this time, in the eyes of any soldier in this fleet, the task that this powerful battle fleet is currently performing is undoubtedly an overkill. It is really an overkill. The place they are about to attack with artillery is not even connected.

There is not even a pitiful 150mm mobile fortress cannon, but even so, they still take this task seriously. In their view, this may be an extremely rare live-fire drill of gunnery, which requires their training.

In China, only a few dozen rounds of live ammunition are fired a year. Most of the time, it is just a simulated gunnery drill.

"Private Ohta Akizawa, memorize the firing list now."

Main gunnery chief Yokomura Taichi suddenly issued an order. Like any naval gunnery chief, or any naval officer, he has strict requirements for his subordinates, but also strict requirements for the officers and soldiers of the Japanese Navy.

For them, their life is constant training, constant training, carrying shells, installing fuzes, measuring range, and firing.

"A hundred cannons that can hit one hundred shots and one hit are not as good as one cannon that can hit one hundred shots and one hit every time."

The words of Marshal Togo Heihachiro have long been engraved in the bones of the Japanese Navy. In the Battle of Tsushima, it was a small number of cannons that were always accurate, which defeated the Lucia Second Pacific Fleet, which had more artillery and more warships. To obtain the cannons that were always accurate,

, there is no other choice but to train and train hard.

It seems that he was born into the world just for naval battles.

As a private on the battleship "Kawachi" of the First Division of the First Fleet, Ohta Akizawa, who has served for three years, has long been accustomed to the Navy's routine and the Navy's model. The Navy has no holidays and the Navy trains day and night. As a veteran

, he has already memorized the shooting table by heart.

"Ota Akizawa, our ship's firing range against the enemy is 18,000 meters."

"When entering the shooting, it is 18,000 meters, the speed is 15 knots, the middle part of the shooting is 15,000 meters, the shooting is 25 minutes, and the exit is 6,000 meters."

"Using bullet type and firing angle?"

"Type 38 Yiji high-explosive bomb, Type 2 air-burst bomb, time fuze, Type 36 shrapnel, time fuze..."

Regarding the types of ammunition, Mingze memorized them in one breath, and then he even memorized all the required artillery data in one breath. For him who had attended high school, this data was really nothing. In fact, other people

It is said that they are high school students, even if they are just graduates of the national high school, they will not be able to face the Navy's extremely demanding training, and the officers who often push them off the hammock and force them to recite the experience of shooting Zhu Yuan.

Instead of memorizing these boring numbers as much as possible and engraving them in your brain, the key to the accuracy of the cannon depends on the skill of the gunner.

And only after they memorize it all as proficiently as the name, will they enter the next step of training. Day and night, they will load the solid training shells into the barrel like a machine, then take them out, and load them again.

Going in, this kind of training can be said to be the only thing they need to do every day, and the purpose of this training is to enable the "Settsu" battleship to sink enemy warships in future battles and spread the power of the empire over the sea.

Thousands of miles away.

At this time, the First Fleet of the Japanese Navy's First Fleet, known as "Asia's Most Powerful Battle Fleet," was heading towards Arashiyama under the cover of six cruisers and destroyers. As it got closer and closer to the mainland

, the water began to turn from blue to yellow. The water in the Yellow Sea is very shallow. In the deep water area closer to the coast, it is only more than ten meters deep.

However, the forty-four-year-old Colonel Kawahara Kasho Taro led this battle fleet. As far as his original intention was concerned, he did not agree with sending Begui's battleship to the offshore China to perform such an old-fashioned ship to complete the task. Although it was not

It is worth mentioning that the China Navy has become "outside and neutral", and Lianyungang does not have any weapons that can threaten the battleships.

However, this method of using battleships to bombard army positions is not in accordance with the laws of naval warfare. However, the Naval Staff Headquarters strictly ordered the First Fleet to do this, and the wording was extremely strong. The reason for the Naval Staff Headquarters is very simple. If the main force of the Japanese Navy stays in the theater,

In addition, if they do not destroy the positions of the Chinese army, then if the army suffers setbacks on the mainland in the future, they will shift all responsibilities to the navy. Now the reputation of the navy can no longer withstand any torture.

"This operation has made the Navy the center of attention for all Japan. We must completely defeat the China Army. Do your best, Kawahara-kun." Commander Tomosaburo Kato said as the First Fleet divided into two groups and headed towards their respective goals.

He had warned him like this, and it seemed that the whole of Japan was paying attention to this bombardment without any suspense.

The army also had high hopes for the bombardment of the battleships, especially Chief of Staff Genjiro Akashi, who was full of expectations for the bombardment. He once told him personally.

"Your battle fleet is worth a thousand field guns. I wish you success."

What if it might not be successful? It's just a bombardment of an army unit that has no ability to fight back. It is said that their troops are pitifully small, but even so, the navy's warships will still launch a bombardment there for more than twenty minutes. In this

During the process, nearly a thousand twelve-inch artillery shells worth thousands of yen will fall on Chinese soil.

An hour before dark, the first battle group had sailed into the sea area east of Arashiyama, which was only a few dozen kilometers away from Arashiyama East. At 4:20 on October 19, following the order of Colonel Taro Kawahara Kasukasho.

"Advance at high speed and enter the waters of the artillery area"

Approaching the mainland. The first battle group then abandoned the merchant fleet transporting the main force of the Army's Second Army and approached the mainland from the northeast at a speed of 15 knots. When the black mountain shadow of Arashiyama was on the starboard side of the "Settsu" ship

, Mingze, who was in the turret, only felt a burst of excitement, and cheers rang out throughout the turret.

Coming, coming

At the foot of Lanshan Mountain, the officers and soldiers who arrived from Hunan saw the warships for the first time. Looking at the warships vaguely visible at the end of their sight, they did not seem to feel threatened, only a few officers looked slightly pale.

, showing their worries about the battleship.

"Well, you only have one life to serve your country and then die."

When he made such a decision in his heart, Ma Weijun glanced at the people beside him. The Japanese Navy probably wouldn't light up the battleship's cannons for these poor few hundred people.

Standing in the bridge, Colonel Kawahara Kataro looked in the direction of Arashiyama and then issued the first order.

"Left rudder 50, speed 14 knots."

The first team immediately began to turn the ship around. Because the average water depth in the waters near mainland China does not exceed 20 meters, special precautions must be taken when sailing.

He picked up his binoculars and looked towards Arashiyama. According to the fleet's gunnery officer, that hill, which was not too tall, was the first correction point for the fleet's bombardment.

"Prepare to shoot, Type 38 high-explosive bomb."

When the gunnery officer issued the order, Colonel Kawahara Kasho Taro once again issued the helm order.

"Left rudder 75, all guns are ready to fire."

In the turret, the bomb hoist sent a heavy Type 38 high-explosive bomb into the turret, and in front of the twelve-inch shell, the Yiji-type message tube, which was more than ten centimeters long, was very conspicuous. This kind of Yiji

The centralized message fuse is a high-sensitivity fuze specially developed in the 38th year of Meiji to defeat the Japanese fleet. Originally, the Shimose explosive was an extremely sensitive bomb. In order to increase the power of the near-missile bomb, Ijuin developed this long-term fuse.

Fuze, thus protecting the shell from exploding before entering the sea after being deflected.

This kind of artillery shell is only for special needs, but when it is used in land warfare, its power will be doubled. It is highly sensitive and has a twenty-centimeter-long fuze, which causes it to form a mid-air explosion the moment it touches the ground. Its power is far more powerful than ordinary high-explosive shells.

.

After the shell entered the turret, Mingze habitually rubbed the body of the shell with his thumb. It was very good and clean, without any trace of protective oil. Then, the shell entered the chamber. The next thing that needed to be done was to calm down.

Waiting for the bombardment order.

During this waiting, the first battle team turned again, and this time, the fleet really entered the shooting angle. All the officers and soldiers of the entire battle team were as excited as if they were drunk, and they looked at it with red and fanatical eyes.

Looking at the land, it seemed that the entire continent had turned into a floating warship in front of them. Their mission was to sink this seemingly unsinkable continent, and they would never doubt that they could do it.

"15200 meters,"

Captain Iwano, who was wearing earphones, suddenly shouted loudly,

"Charge No. 3——"

At the same time as the order was issued, the bomb hoist had already lifted the propellant package into the shell. Mingze and others immediately sent the propellant package into the barrel of the twelve-inch cannon, and the gun bolt closed with a "click".

"fire"

Although the gunners in the turret did not have the authority to fire, they still shouted almost at the same second.

"Fire the cannon, fire the cannon"

The 20,000-ton battleship "Settsu" suddenly shook violently. A twelve-inch caliber cannon on the No. 2 turret first sprayed out a long blinding flame and spit out steel projectiles. The eight-hundred-pound projectile exploded in the air.

It traced an arcing trajectory in the air and landed several kilometers away from the coast, immediately erupting into a huge flame.

This was a calibration fire. Tens of seconds later, the explosion sound came from the direction of the mainland. At this time, the observation platform on the "Settsu" battleship had already measured the deviation of the bullet impact point and immediately reported it to the gunnery command room.

Data. Minutes later, after each ship made corrections based on this data, the first row of salvos began following the order of Colonel Kawahara Kasho Taro.

The fleet sailed slowly and kept firing. The sound of cannons echoed on the sea. At one point, the entire sea was completely enveloped in red cannon flames. At this moment, it seemed that only the violent vibrations of the artillery fire were left in the world.

On the warship, the army soldiers who were waiting to board the ship were also stunned by the scene in front of them.

In the direction of the mainland, the ground burst into flames one after another, and the flames connected into one piece, and the bright light of exploding artillery shells flickered in the flames. The flash and flames were like fireworks in China, and countless bright fire points splashed into the air, and the fire was raging,

Even the earth and sky glowed red.

The sailors on the warship and the army soldiers on the troop carrier all cheered for the navy at this moment.

"Banzai, Banzai"

In their cheers, the secondary guns on the side of the battleship also fired. Countless shells flew towards the mainland, drilling into the sea of ​​fire, burning the fire more intensely, and at this time the sailors fought even harder
To be continued...