Chapter 126 Steel vs. Steel (End)

Huajun flagship, Guangzhou.

"It is worthy of being the soul of the Russian Navy." Fleet Staff Xue Dingwu exclaimed, "Carry forward and personally inspire the morale of the fleet..."

"I'm afraid the Russian noble officers may avoid war, so the commander must rush forward." Fleet Staff Zhang Zhiwu sneered, "This veteran is indeed a competent commander, but unfortunately his subordinates can only be considered brave at most."

"Commander Makarov's flag is really an attractive spoil..." Xu Fan exclaimed a few times, his face full of expression, "Everyone has it, all cannons are fired."

"Full gun shooting"

In the shooting command post located at the top of the comprehensive bridge, the artillery chief Ling Feixue inputs the data sent by each speaker into the central fire control command disk. This simple mechanical computer quickly calculates the shooting elements based on the wind direction data of the four-corner wind measurement station of the battleship, the speed data of the ship's speed test station, the direction and speed data displayed in the rangefinder, and according to the stored data of the shell initial velocity, storage status, and the inclination of the ship.

Ling Feixue transmits the elements to the converter in the command launch channel, and the converter converts them into the data of each gun according to the orientation and height difference of each main turret, and sends them to the gun captain of each main turret.

The huge muzzle was aimed at the enemy ship that was coming from afar 14,000 yards away.

"No. 1 preparation"

"No. 2 is ready for convenience"

...

"shooting"

Ling Feixue issued an order to the speaker, and the lookout on the observation bridge pressed the button, four rounds, followed by four rounds, eight twelve-inch grenades chased each other and rushed towards the Duke of Kutuzov, who was 12,000 yards away.

The huge figure of Guangzhou was suddenly shrouded in violent muzzle flames and rising black smoke.

Almost at the same time, the roar of giant cannons resounded throughout the entire Chinese warship lineup.

The flagship of the Russian Pacific Fleet, the southern ship pilot ship Duke Kutuzov.

A shrill battle alarm sounded throughout the ship.

"Discover enemy ships... six o, warships... eight, ship type presumed by Guangzhou-class 2, American-made new warships 2, Cheetah-class 2, Guilin-class 2... heading 18 o, speed 18 knots..."

Inside the commander's tower, Admiral Makarov's hand, holding the telescope, trembled slightly.

"Is the south a bait... It's indeed a terrible Chinese. It seems that they have been waiting for us here for a long time. Since that's the case... the distance is still too far now. Our current angle is eight compass points. Chief of Staff. What about you?"

The face of Rear Moras next to him was also a little gloomy: "At this distance, it is too difficult to accurately observe the bullet points and shoot the school team. Although the Chinese may have made some progress in long-range shooting, it is not possible to fight our army at a distance of 10,000 yards. Our artillery training is a melee battle of 6,000 yards. At that distance, the enemy's armor is difficult to provide sufficient protection, and the secondary gun can also fully exert its power. The number and luck that determine the victory or defeat are always stronger than the current situation. Commander, we continue to approach the enemy at this angle and turn within 8,000 meters."

"Well," General Makarov turned to another combat staffer, "Alexander Vasilyevich, what do you think?"

"I agree with the Chief of Staff." Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vasilievich Kolchak bowed slightly, "But I suspect that the Chinese may have other reasons. Since they launched the shipboard early, I'm afraid..."

At this moment, as if he was going to annotate his words, the sound of the observer changing tone came from the sound tube: "The enemy ship opened fire and fired at a distance of 14,000 yards...all anti-impact preparations."

Makarov and others all changed their color.

When the Chinese warships that were 14,000 yards away, fifty-two three-five millimeter main guns exploded, and the junction of the sea and the sky seemed to instantly turn into violent volcanoes. The mixed lights of black, red and yellow colors, the rising smoke, and countless thunders, which made the Russian sailors who witnessed all this suddenly fall into a state of brain damage.

A critical strike of 14,000 yards away.

This is a terrifying shooting that has never been heard of in the history of naval warfare, and a intensive ship volley at extremely long distances.

The battleship of the Duke of Kutuzov, who was in the lead, was submerged in the dense artillery fire of the Guangzhou, Fuzhou, Wenzhou, Zhangzhou and four equipped patrol patrols, totaling 52 twelve-inch main guns.

I don't know if it was the latest "Dragon Wire" integrated fire control command system equipped with Guangzhou, or if it had some luck. In the first round of shooting, a twelve-inch high-explosion grenade hit the front deck of the Duke Kutuzov. In the violent explosion, the secondary gun on the front deck flew into the sky, the deck twisted, and the flying shrapnel caused a terrible killing on the deck and blood splashed. Then there was a raging fire, mixed with aluminum powder, iron powder and raw rubber powder and even gasoline rage on the deck. Wherever it went, there was a tragic scene. Many Russian sailors rolled in pain on the deck, but it was difficult to put out the fire.

However, the intensive shooting of the Chinese army at this moment was not all nightmare: the surrounding water columns of water that were nearly missing bullets were cleaning the deck of the German battleship back and forth, and quickly suppressed the fire.

It's a mess.

This 13,200-ton battleship is worthy of the crystallization of German naval shipbuilding technology. The strong Krupp armored steel, reasonable watertight division, thick horizontal steel plates, practical fireproof equipment, and the bravery of the Russian sailors, the combat power of the warship was not affected much.

Although the fire-raising firepower was maximized, it also brought great difficulties to the observation point of bullet shooting. The fifty-two main guns of eight warships caused water columns to rise and fog to evaporate. Although the Chinese warships filled the body of the bullets with dyed agents, it was still difficult for observers to accurately determine the bullet.

Duke Kutuzov seemed to have inherited the good luck of the Russian marshal. Apart from the original stroke of the Guangzhou voyage, the second round was almost unscathed.

When it came to the third round, Duke Kutuzov's luck began to reverse.

A long-range shell launched by the Guangzhou Army originally entered the water on the side of the Duke Kutuzov, but continued to move forward with a strange curve in the waterline with a slow and oblique curve, reaching the lower edge of the armor belt on the side of the Duke Kutuzov. However, fortunately, the Russians were the delayed fuse of the Chinese army armor-piercing projectile that required a certain thickness of armor trigger, which caused the unprotected part of the Duke Kutuzov underwater, which was even more strangely passing through, leaving two bullet holes that were penetrated.

The sea water surged in.

However, the good luck of the Duke of Kutuzov ended here. A high-explosive grenade hit the rear mainmast of the Duke of Kutuzov. The violent explosion and violent combustion almost broke the solid mast supported by the three-pole.

A scream.

The flying shrapnel bounced back and forth between the steel plates of the superstructure, and the Russian sailors who were meticulously stacking sandbags like the Chinese army were now bathed in a sturdy baptism.

Duke Kutuzov.

Inside the commander's tower, Admiral Makarov looked solemn: "The Chinese long-range artillery bombardment has reached this level. I didn't expect... With the command and guidance of the airship and such a high-level artillery observation, it seems that it is indeed a very dangerous enemy..."

Rear Admiral Moras's face turned pale: "Commander, at this distance, our eleven-inch German Krupp cannons or twelve-inch main cannons cannot effectively fight back. The enemy has seized the t-shaped head, and we must approach them diagonally... and turn to the left and then turn to the four prayer points, and how about sticking them diagonally?"

"According to the scheduled battle line, we should turn south and splice the column of Lieutenant General Witgeft to form a formation." Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak, the combat staff member on the side frowned, "If we turn left to fight against the Chinese army in front of us, what should we do if the Japanese team in the south? How can we complete the formation splicing with Lieutenant General Witgeft?"

"Alexander Vasilyevich, it's no longer the time to consider the plan." Moras said with a stern face, "The Chinese have set up a trap to massacre us... What we have to do now is to put it on as soon as possible and eliminate the Chinese people in front of us. If we turn left, we can gradually turn to the reverse direction with the Chinese people. On the one hand, we can draw closer in the distance in the diagonal direction, and on the other hand, we can gradually get rid of them and meet with the ship of Witgeft. As for this group of yellow monkeys, it's better to leave it to the Japanese to deal with them. Let us and Lieutenant General Witgeft eliminate the Chinese in the north together."

"Okay, let's follow the original plan." Admiral Makarov waved his hand, "Don't change the plan at will... By the way, what's the situation with Witgeft? In addition, send a signal to the destroyer troops immediately, so that they can launch lightning strikes quickly, disrupt the formation of the Chinese, and cover our army to accelerate the approach of the Chinese... and send a smoke screen to cover our team's assault."

At this moment, if we use one sentence to describe the mood of Lieutenant General Witgeft in the north, it is:

Эtoжeпpoctoyжacho (sorry)

The five ironclad ships of Witgeft were also traveling southeastward at a distance of 800 yards, namely the flagship Prince, the second ship Letevizan, the third ship Peresvet, the fourth ship Oslibya, the fifth ship Victory, and the sixth ship Navalin.

In the north, the four protective cruisers of the Second Defense Patrol Team, Svetrana, Diamond, Bao Yalin, and Novik, were defeated by the attacks of eight Chinese light cruisers and a torpedo team. The Novik could not dodge and was hit by a heavy torpedo and countless shells, which sank into the sea. The Bao Yalin was also seriously injured under the attack of the Chinese six-inch guns and was dying. The remaining ships had to retreat to seek support from the main force.

In order to cover the deployment of the main ships, the Chinese Light Cruise and the mines took advantage of the situation to carry out a torpedo attack on the Russian Iron Armored Column at a distance of 2,000 yards, and then turned around and left quickly. In addition to some minor injuries, there were only the old protective cruisers Mavericks and Horse Zhongchuang, and the two fog-class destroyers were damaged.

The Russian battleship column was very busy in the face of the dense torpedo attack. When they were rushing to turn their course again, and then heading southeast, they were stunned to find that in the faint sea fog, they were lined up in a row of steel ships in a horizontal formation, at the eastward direction, at the junction of sea and sky.

The six battleships in Lin Taizhe's battleship formation had already calmly developed their formation before.

Due to the backward observation methods and the lack of professionalism of the observers, coupled with the extremely light high-quality anthracite smoke belt burned by the Chinese army, the paint of the entire warship superstructure is also very convenient for concealment. In addition, the previous attention of the Witgeft fleet was focused on the lightning strike forces of the Chinese army in the north. When the Russian observers discovered the long Chinese warships facing each other, the cannons on the opposite side almost spit out flames at that moment.

The Prince battleship and the second ship, Letevizan, were submerged in the huge jungle.

The next moment, when the huge explosion, the mist and smoke dissipated, the two warships were safe and sound.

Obviously, whether it is the Hanoi class or the Haikou class, it cannot be compared with new ships such as the Guangzhou class, Wenzhou class and Cheetah class. Although some new observation and artillery command equipment are also installed, it cannot guarantee accurate shooting at a distance of 14,000 yards.

Witgeft breathed a sigh of relief. It was just four Hanoi class ships and two British majestic class modified. He had six battleships and six on the opposite side. Although his own quality was poor, it seemed that the warships on the opposite side were not as terrifying as Guangzhou and Cheetahs. In terms of speed... there was no advantage over the three fast Peresviats, and there was still a battle to fight.

Of course, the Navarrin, which has a maximum speed of only fifteen knots, not only does it not help much, but it will also drag down the speed of the formation. It seems that it is only...

Soon, the lookout of the Navarrin had received the light signal from the Victory ahead: "This team will accelerate to 18th quarter, please chase our team on your own."

Of course, even a Russian general like Witgeft who is superstitious about the advantages of white people from the bottom of his heart would not be so idiotic that he believed that he had these six battleships that were pieced together, and even three warships equipped with ten-inch instead of twelve-inch guns. He could eat the six opposite ships that were equipped with four twelve-inch guns and thick armored Chinese battleships on the central axis.

His countermeasure is simple: accelerate the southward journey, seek protection from the Makarov column, and reach an echo with the inevitable Japanese as soon as possible.

Soon, the Russian warships took a shocking move: a major turn in front of the enemy.

Waitgeft, eager to get out of the predicament, led the flagship to turn right first. The entire ship lined out an L-shaped shape on the water surface, turned four prayer points south, and accelerated to the southward direction to move closer to the Makarov formation.

Lin Taizeng was not too depressed on the slogan of the sea.

After modification, his fire control system was not as good as the Cheetah and Guangzhou, but it still had an advantage over the Russian-Japanese warships opposite. According to the test, its effectiveness had reached the actual combat requirements at a distance of about 10,000 yards. Of course, the four Hekou-class ships were much worse, after all, they were the earliest battleships, and the bridge was not modified in place.

The ships on both sides are approaching quickly at an angle of 45 degrees.

In the fourth round, the slogan of the sea forms a fork against the prince.

In the fifth round, Sanya also made a clamp fork.

The two ships entered the fight.

Due to the reasonable structure of the turret, the progress of automatic loading devices, and the well-trained sailors, the artillery technique also adheres to the British rapid shooting. In addition, the actual pressure caused by Russian naval guns is really limited. Despite the violent swaying of the warship caused by the main gun volley, the Chinese army's Haishu and Sanya still shot an amazing rate of fire every minute and twenty seconds in actual combat. Conversely, the old Russian ship opposite, although it was a ten-inch gun, had also undergone rigorous training by Makarov, and the Russian sailors also showed their greatest courage and diligence, but the near-lose bombing caused violent waves.

At this time, the ill-handling nature of the magic warship and the inclined side design caused by the inclined side design were obvious. French warships generally focused on protection, light navigation force, and had a high center of gravity. The protection extended from the waterline to the superstructure, resulting in a head-heavy and light foot. The inclined side armor made the deck narrow and very easy to wave. The 75-mm secondary cannon installed on the cannon was originally low, and the opening was large. In the huge* caused by the Chinese artillery bombardment, this legal warship swayed violently, and a large amount of sea water poured into the warship along the muzzle and the secondary cannon was washed back and forth by the stormy waves, and the operation was difficult to complete. The aiming and ammunition transportation of the main turret became extremely difficult and even dangerous.

The combat effectiveness of the Prince and the Letvizan is difficult to fully utilize due to various reasons.

It was not only because of the efficient artillery attacks of the Chinese army that the sea conditions around the Russian ships suddenly deteriorated, but also because the Russian lacked the unified command and fire control system of the main guns of the Chinese army. Instead, the artillery officers of each turret fought on their own, and the main guns in the ships lacked the sharing of fire shooting data, which greatly affected the efficiency of shooting.

This is not only a matter of tactical concepts, but also a matter of shipbuilding ideas, and even an understanding of naval warfare.

Although the Russian Navy had a defiant figure like Makarov, it was generally still stuck in the tactical ideological system of close-range bombing in the battle line of the sailing era. This not only affected the entire tactical idea, weapon equipment, and tactical training, but also affected the idea of ​​building ships.

Even Germany and France had not been aware of long-distance warships at warships to the level of Xu Fan and other travelers. Although the Russian army adopted the German-made nitroscopic cotton system, which greatly improved the residual problem of the artillery internal chamber and increased the rate of fire, the old tactical ideas and backward turret design, at least reflected on the Peresvith class and the Poltava, were slow in the rate of fire. Even the French-made Prince and the American-made Letvizan also fell behind the Chinese warships in the rapid deployment of firepower.

Chapter 126 Steel vs. Steel (End)
Chapter completed!