Two days later, at 10 noon on the 26th, we were 20 nautical miles west of Chongniao Reef.

Ten battleships of the Japanese special attack fleet were arranged in two battle formations, with two light cruisers on the periphery for reconnaissance.

"Are you sure?" Ijuin Goro's expression was extremely complicated.

:.,

"It is confirmed that the Tsarist Russian fleet is staying outside Okintori Island. It is suspected that the Russia has been stranded. This can also explain why the Tsarist Russian fleet is unwilling to leave." said the fleet staff.

"Please give me the order!" Hearing this, the captain of No. 8 Cloud bowed and urged.

Ijuin No. 5 remained silent, looking in the direction of the Tsarist Russian fleet.

"Even if it is the Russia, the entire fleet should not be put on the gambling table." Ijuin Goro was a little scared.

This incident is weird from beginning to end. The Tsarist Russian fleet should have run away long ago. Even if it ran aground, it couldn't be rescued in two days, and it would be the same in two months. It would be better to leave it somewhere.

After all, this is not on the route, so the possibility of a single warship being discovered is very small. Even if it is discovered, only one warship will be lost.

"Your Excellency?" the fleet staff officer asked softly.

Ijuin 5ro came back to his senses and looked at each of his subordinates in the headquarters.

There is no doubt that most military officers from all over the world are hawks. This is an innate decision.

Japan is the same, but there are differences - Japanese culture has a clear distinction between superiors and subordinates, which has given rise to a culture where the lower class dominates the upper class...

Ijuin Goro does not want to feel dominated by this kind of "honor", otherwise even if he wins, he will be left out in the cold and may be retired.

If you win, the lower class gets the credit, but if you fail, you have to take the blame!

Ijuin Goro fell into self-pulling back and forth again.

"Your Excellency, the fleet only has 45 fuel left. Please decide how to act." The captain also keenly noticed the problem, and the eyes of the lower-level staff officers and gunnery officers had changed.

"The armored fleet is in front, and the protective fleet is assisting from the side. The fleet speed has been increased to 16 knots. Each ship is preparing for battle!" Ijuin Goro sat back on the captain's chair. The current situation was no longer enough for him to think too much.

No matter what happens, Japan will move forward. He can give orders and control the direction.

…………

At Chongniaojiao, the Tsarist Russian fleet also discovered the arrival of the Japanese fleet, but in order to complete its strategic purpose, the fleet still stayed in place and pretended not to notice it.

On the flagship Wisdom Goddess, Grom was sending electricity to the main fleet 50 nautical miles away.

"Call General Makarov. The fish has been hooked. The main fleet should immediately sail due west, and the cruise fleet will sail east. We expect to see you in two hours. Long live victory, long live the Tsar, Hurrah!"

"Prepare the boilers to pressurize, prepare the entire fleet for battle, check weapons and equipment, discard all debris, victory belongs to the Russian Empire! Hurrah!" Grom gave the battle order.

The Tsarist Russian fleet began to concentrate, with the bows of all ships facing the east, with two armored cruisers on the north side and seven protected cruisers on the south side.

At 10:40, the Tsarist Russian fleet spotted black clouds over the Japanese fleet.

"Pressure the boiler and increase the speed to 12 knots!" Grom ordered.

Thick smoke came out of the chimneys of the Tsarist Russian fleet, and the warships slowly moved under the propellers.

Even with the boiler pressure maintained, it took the Russian fleet more than ten minutes to reach a speed of 12 knots.

…

"Enemy fleet found, 1, 2, 3...9! The enemies are all here!" Lookout post No. 8 Cloud issued a hysterical voice unique to Japan.

"Yoshi! Expand according to the established battle formation, with the armored fleet in the center and the protective cruiser fleet surrounding them from the south!" Ijuin Goro looked at the slowly rising smoke and the slowly launching Tsarist Russian fleet, and felt a little relieved.

.

"The enemy's speed is 12 knots and the distance is 7500. Do you want to attack?" the captain asked.

"No!" Ijuin Goro rejected this idea.

At this time, the speed of the Japanese fleet was the bow of the ship facing the enemy. At this distance, only the forward main gun could work.

Moreover, the speed is too fast, and under the turbulence, it is not easy to hit the target, and the speed must be reduced.

"Increase the speed to 18 knots and approach to 5,000 meters." Ijuin Goro made the decision.

Logically speaking, when the Tsarist Russian fleet found that it could not run, it should stop and fight Japan, but Tsarist Russia did not, but quietly increased its speed.

"Distance, 5000 meters!" The captain looked at Ijuin Goro.

"Start fighting!" Ijuin Goro nodded.

"Start the battle! Repeat once, start the battle!" The captain excitedly hugged the sound-transmitting copper tube.

Ijuin Goro made an estimate and found that the enemy was two 10,000-ton armored cruisers versus six, and the number of protected cruisers was six versus seven. The advantage was all on Japan's side.

"Raise the Z-flag." Ijuin 5th Commander ordered.

body

The z-flag was used in the Battle of Trafalgar. Nelson had hung the z-flag before the war. The meaning at that time was that England needed everyone to fulfill their duties.

That battle was called the Royal Navy's greatest victory, shattering Napoleon's idea of ​​conquering Britain and consolidating Britain's position as maritime supremacy.

"The rise and fall of the empire depends on this!" Ijuin No. 5, holding on to the railing with one hand, looked at the Russian fleet that was escaping in embarrassment.

boom!

The first shell was fired from the 254mm single front main gun of the Kasuga armored cruiser.

A water column rose from the left side of the Tsarist Russian fleet, and the gun missed by more than 100 meters.

Boom boom boom...

The 203- and 152-mm forward main guns and forward-firing artillery guns on other ships also began shelling.

…………

"The fleet speed will be increased to 18 knots, and strong pressure ventilation will begin in half an hour." Grom looked at the rapidly approaching Japanese fleet and gave the order.

p

"Is it possible to fight back?" the captain asked.

"Load the artillery and start bombarding, don't waste time." Grom nodded.

boom!

One 152 and a small number of 203 mm artillery pieces from the Tsarist Russian fleet began to fight back. Both sides ran and fought, and the distance was controlled at more than 5,000 meters. Both sides suffered losses, but the overall losses were not significant.

At 12:14, a 203 mm artillery shot from the Rijin hit the rear main gun mount of the Varyag. The high temperature of 3000°C ignited the propellant in the turret, and the Varyag's rear main gun was completely destroyed.

Fortunately, due to the American turret design and the fire door closing automatically, no greater damage was caused.

At 12:23, Kasuga's 254mm main gun hit the No. 1 main turret on the rear side of the Warrior. The German warship's idea of ​​thickening the armor saved him. The armor was not torn to pieces, only the turret was damaged.

At 12:31, a 203mm shell from Russia's rear main gun accurately hit Kasuga's forward main gun. Although the shells had been replaced, it still failed to penetrate the front armor of the 254mm main gun.

However, the violent TNT explosion caused a mechanical failure of Kasuga's 254mm main gun, rendering it completely useless in the battle.

Overall, after an hour of fighting, the Japanese ships had more guns and larger calibers, which gave them an advantage.

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Within 1 hour, 12 Japanese warships hit 9 Tsarist Russian warships with 131 shells, but apart from the above two results, the rest were nothing more than killing a few sailors and opening a few holes in the upper layers of the ship's hull.

Describe it in 4 words - harmless.

"Strong pressure ventilation! The fleet will turn 5 degrees to the right." Grom looked at the time and gave the order.

A large amount of air enters the combustion chamber, the coal begins to burn violently, the boiler burns red, and the air pressure reaches the threshold.

Driven by the strong air pressure, the steam engine made a loud roar and released huge energy. The speed of the ship gradually reached and exceeded 20 knots.

"The enemy is accelerating again!" the Japanese lookout post shouted in a hoarse voice.

At this time, the Tsarist Russian fleet had increased its speed to 20 knots, and the distance between the two sides was slowly widening.

"It's strange, the Russia should not be traveling so fast." Ijuin Goro frowned and said in confusion.

"Could it be that the enemy is running the main engine at full power? It is normal for the cruiser's speed to be around 20 knots," the fleet staff hypothesized.

"If it's to escape, this doesn't make sense." Ijuin Goro shook his head.

Full power operation places high demands on the machine, and the enemy's speed can even reach over 21 knots, so it is impossible to last long.

If it is an escape, the mechanical reliability of the host must be considered.

"What should we do?" The fleet staff also suspected that there was a problem, but the current situation was very embarrassing.

"What else can I do? Order a retreat now? When I don't see the enemy? I don't want to humiliate myself." Ijuin Goro shook his head bitterly.

No matter how you look at it, the Japanese army is now the dominant side in advancing rapidly. At this time, it ordered to stop the pursuit and return home. Not to mention the problem of a sharp drop in morale, Ijuin Giro was not sure how many ships would listen.

Including the 8-cloud number at your feet!

"Run at full power, try to close the distance." Ijuin Goro could only order, because some Japanese ships were already emitting huge smoke, and they had obviously begun to increase their power.

In the next half hour, the two sides basically chased each other. Since the Japanese army was so late in time, the distance between the two sides gradually widened to as close as 6,000 meters.

At 13:07, Grom made a more cruel order.

"Reduce speed, turn the fleet to starboard, and prepare to open fire on the broadside."
To be continued...