The sky is filled with stars, lights are shining in the strait, and the endless fleet of ships forms a lighted ocean current traveling along the narrow strait.
Occupying the center and deepest channel area of the strait is the Russian Expeditionary Fleet as far as the eye can see. The Tsar was willing to go all out for the Far East. The main fleet in the Baltic Sea was almost all deployed, and the newly renovated iron-clad battleships were pulled up before they were tested. the battlefield.
East Asia is their actual combat training ground, Xiao Letian is their whetstone, and the Far East is an important outlet for Russia to strive for Pacific interests and must not be lost.
Flagship St. Peter, captained by Lieutenant General Stefanski, commander-in-chief of the expeditionary force. This wooden shell is covered with an iron-clad warship, with a displacement of 3,800 tons and a thickness of 180 mm. In the eyes of the Russians, this is an iron turtle that no one can bite.
In order to save boilers and coal consumption, the St. Peter retained the front and rear masts, and the double-headed eagle, the Russian national emblem, was painted on the white sails.
It has to be said that Russian engineers also know how to keep pace with the times. The artillery settings of the St. Peter have been greatly improved compared to before.
Abandoning the old routine of smoothbore cannons that rely on quantity, St. Peter's Hao has four rifled breech-loading cannons on each side of the ship, with a caliber of 180 mm, and all use fixed ammunition. Compared with previous artillery, the power is simply incomparable. And words.
The eight guns are mounted on sliding mounts and can be easily adjusted within 180 degrees. You can imagine such a powerful steel turtle riding the wind and waves to rush into the enemy's military formation, and then bloom left and right, punching through the enemy's soft belly and then piercing the intestines and stomach. What a refreshing feeling it would be.
This kind of shooting thinking of the Russians was actually the mainstream thinking of European warship designers at that time. It was a small upgrade that extended from the shooting thinking of the sailing battleship era.
This is a delicate balance between new technology and old traditions. Although it is not as disruptive as the Reach, it is not easy for a huge empire as old as Russia to achieve this.
Behind the St. Peter is the No. 2 flagship Diamond, captained by Rear Admiral Vinya. The hull displacement is 2100 tons. The wooden shell is covered with iron armor. The artillery layout is the same as that of the St. Peter. It is also 180 caliber, but the number is smaller. There are three doors on the left and right.
But the Diamond abandoned sails and chose pure steam power, so the modern atmosphere of this battleship is stronger.
Followed closely was the Svetlana, captained by Hermansky. The battleship had a displacement of 3,400 tons. It still had a wooden shell covered with iron armor, retained the sails, and had four main guns on the left and right, with a caliber of 160.
The average tonnage of the remaining nine main warships is between 3000-3300 tons, and the caliber of the guns is between 120-160. They are all divided into left and right parts, and the wooden shells are covered with iron armor craftsmanship.
A total of twelve main warships stretched out a long line in the strait. The sailors at the bow could not see the tail of the fleet. The huge scale shocked all the merchant ships along the way.
Not only were there twelve main battleships, there were also fifteen frigates guarding the left and right of the line of troops.
Volga, captain Dmitry. It has a displacement of 1,800 tons and a maximum speed of 15 knots. The caliber of the artillery is 85, with eight guns distributed on the left and right.
Polar, Captain West. It has a displacement of 1,600 tons, a maximum speed of 16 knots, a gun caliber of 85, and eight guns on the left and right.
The tonnage of the remaining warships is mostly about 1,500 tons, and the caliber is basically below 100 mm.
Between these main battleships and frigates, there are a total of 18 light gunboats and torpedo boats. These small battleships are only small compared to the main battleships, and their respective displacements have exceeded 500 tons.
Molière was very surprised at first. He didn't know why the Russians brought these small warships to fight across the entire earth. Aren't these small warships just cannon fodder on the battlefield?
But after chatting with General Stefanski later, he realized how huge the Russian ambitions for the Far East were.
The purpose of the main battleships is to carry out strategic deterrence. The appearance of the twelve latest main battleships in the Pacific can break the dominance of the British. The Russians are not really stupid enough to engage in a Pacific naval battle with the British, but so many battleships are harmful to the British. The deterrent power of people must be very huge.
As long as this kind of deterrence is maintained, Russia can get an extra piece of cake in East Asia. Even if the British are unwilling to do many businesses, they have to let the Russians mix it in. There will always be a few more bowls of broth.
The fifteen frigate warships are actually the protagonists of the battle. These iron-clad warships of about 1,500 tons are definitely not enough to deal with Britain and France, but they are enough to deal with Xiao Letian, Japan, North Korea, and the Qing Dynasty. .
These warships can teach disobedient barbarian peoples a lesson at any time, thus demonstrating the power of the Russian Tsar.
As for the eighteen small warships, they are used for offshore defense. Vladivostok cannot let the main warships guard. In the end, these small warships still have to do the important task of defense.
Patrolling along the coastal waters, driving to the Yangtze River Basin, Haihe River Basin, Heilongjiang River, and Ussuri River Basins in the Qing Dynasty to travel and scare local officials. These small gunboats are really useful.
The formation of three echelons into a task force is indeed chaotic from a military perspective, but from a political perspective and from the perspective of East Asia's grand strategy, the formation of these three echelons has reflected the tsar's very clever strategic thinking. .
Alexander II deserves to be a hero in Russian history!
Such a huge task force sailed in three rows in parallel in the middle of the Strait of Malacca. The white sails in the sky covered the clouds, and the sprayed black smoke covered the sky and the sun.
All merchant ships and fishing boats along the way had to give way to them. Even the two British ships stationed in the Lion City had to give way at this moment and even sent out friendly greetings in advance.
The Russians were crazy. The Russians were driving Xiao Letian crazy. The Baltic Fleet was almost completely depleted. Such terrifying combat power was deployed in East Asia. The British were frightened and kept mobilizing warships from the Indian subcontinent to reinforce Hong Kong and Shanghai.
Of course, this kind of reinforcement is not for combat, but just to increase the deterrent effect. To put it bluntly, this is like a second-year middle school student learning how to seize territory in the underworld.
"You wait, I'll send someone to go..."
"Don't leave, don't leave if you can..."
In the end, both sides gathered a group of people to cheer for each other, but most of the time they would not fight. At most, they would scold each other twice, "What are you worried about... What are you doing... Just look at one more person and try... Just give it a try..." Try..."
In order to avoid conflicts or accidental collisions between Russian ships and local ships, two British sailing battleships were at the front of the team, one on the left and one on the right, to help the Russian flagship separate the channel, and all merchant ships had to go around from both sides.
Because of the close distance, the British soldiers could clearly see all the semaphores and light signals of the St. Peter.
"Look! St. Peter has hung up the light signal, and the flagship has summoned all the captains for a meeting!"
"Something important must have happened. Why did the Russian fleet hold an emergency meeting in the middle of the night? Quick, quick... notify the commander immediately, notify the Governor of the Lion City..."
