Zhuge Weidao held on to the telescope tightly. In the lens, there were several black spots that were almost invisible and roared towards the Lushun. He didn't know whether it was eight seconds in ten seconds. The flight time seemed very short, but he was looking forward to it. The moment when the enemy's shells were empty seemed extremely long.
"Boom boom boom..."
The first wave of artillery shells fired by the British and Japanese formations fell. Of course, none of them hit, but one of the artillery shells actually landed forty or fifty meters on the starboard side of the Port Arthur, followed by a violent explosion, which exploded instantly. A column of water more than ten meters high rose into the sky, and the broken waves reached the deck of the Port Arthur.
Looking at the water column and spray, you can tell that the shells cannot be 4-inch or 5-inch shells. They are at least Sovereign-level 13.5-inch shells! Moreover, the warhead of the cannonball should not be filled with black powder or nitrate cotton, but the famous picric acid... Otherwise, it would not be so sensitive, and a big explosion would occur immediately if it hits the water!
If this hits...
Whether it was Zhuge Weidao, the officers and soldiers of the Ming Navy on the deck of the Lushun, in the bridge, on the observation post, or the officers and soldiers of the other three Ming warships following the Lushun, they were all "nearly hit" by this missile The Port Arthur's shells startled her.
Although these people are the best naval officers and soldiers and have received the best education and training, their actual combat experience is nothing more than fighting pirates and chasing a boat.
Compared with that kind of battle, this real showdown between steam battleships is the real decisive battle at sea!
The scene of dozens of cannons firing fiercely was like a landslide!
Zhuge Weidao, who seemed to have everything in mind just now, was so nervous at this moment that he couldn't even speak. However, Military Advisor Zhuge still had to maintain his airs... He still maintained an impeccable stance as usual, holding up his binoculars and watching intently as the British fleet fired the second salvo in front of him. In the eyepiece, gleaming fireballs lit up one after another, and several more black spots roared in. Finally, they landed on the sea fifty to one hundred meters away, exploding several water columns into the sky.
Still missed...
"Haha, the artillery skills of the British Royal Navy are not very good either." Amidst the rumbling sound of cannons, Wang Wen, Zhuge Weidao's chief staff officer, was the first to react. He licked his mouth, as if he felt that it was not satisfying enough, and said with a smile. : "It looks like it can get a little closer."
"Closer?"
Zhuge Weidao took a breath, and then visually checked the distance. It seemed that it was very close. The British old man's next salvo would not...
"Boom boom boom..."
Raindrop-like shells fell again, and dozens of thick water columns rose up outside the starboard side of the cruiser Lushun. The one closest to the Lushun seemed to be twenty or thirty meters away!
But the Lushun was still rushing forward with the Vladivostok, Xinchang, and Xincheng at a high speed of 24 knots without firing a single shot. The reason for not firing a single shot was, of course, to maintain speed. Because the Lushun class also has a lot of small guns, if the tactics of salvo firing from one side are adopted, there will be 10 155mm rapid-fire guns that can fire at the same time. The huge recoil will push the ship sideways. If the speed does not decrease, the hull will shake for a long distance. Not only is it very dangerous, but the hit accuracy will also be greatly reduced.
In order to grab the T position as quickly as possible, the four cruisers and destroyers of the Ming Dynasty can only rush forward with their heads covered!
"Are you trying to grab the T-position?"
George Yilu was not stupid, and he immediately guessed the opponent's intention - although naval battles in this era had two routes: bow against the enemy and side against the enemy, the Ming Navy obviously bet on the side against the enemy route. . Therefore, the warships of the Ming Dynasty did not collide with corners, and the main guns were also arranged in the center line of the bow and stern. The speed was generally high, which was very suitable for grabbing the T position.
Although the speed of the British fleet was nearly 10 knots slower than its opponents and it was impossible to seize the T-shaped position, George Elliot would not give up the T-shaped position easily.
"Left rudder 15!" After having a premonition that his opponent was about to turn left, George Yilu said "turn first" as a courtesy and turned the rudder to the left first!
When he turned, Zhuge Weidao could no longer turn left. Because once Zhuge Weidao turned left, he had to say goodbye to George Yilu's formation. Moreover, the Lushun could not turn left, otherwise it would have to take the formation to Osaka.
"Right rudder 15!"
Zhuge Weidao saw that the lead ship of the British fleet began to turn left, so he had to order a right turn, preparing to use his faster speed to get ahead of the British fleet.
"Left rudder 15!" George Yilu soon discovered that the Mingship formation was also turning with him, so he gave the order to continue turning right without hesitation.
After two left rudders, the course of the British fleet was facing the Pacific Ocean. And the distance between them and the open battleship formation has also been shortened to three to four thousand meters... This is already the distance where the 6-inch rapid-fire cannon and the 155mm rapid-fire cannon exert their best power!
If the Ming Dynasty naval formation continues to adopt the tactic of running at full speed to seize the T position without firing, then the 6-inch secondary guns of the British fleet will have to show off their skills!
Moreover, the British fleet now has the advantage of being in the inner circle and can use the method of turning in circles on the sea to keep the T position intact... It must be said that the Royal Navy of the British Empire is not a weakling.
"Sir, it seems that we can't get the T position, so let's slow down and start the artillery battle!" Wang Wen had already made a judgment at this time, "The formation of the British ship formation is relatively long. If it turns around on the sea, the ships at the rear of the formation will The artillery will be blocked by the friendly ships in front and will not be easy to use. But we can still focus our fire to bombard the Sovereign Class."
"What's the speed?" Zhuge Weidao asked.
"Reduced to 16 knots." Wang Wen said, "This way we can still force the enemy to keep turning left by trying to seize the T position."
"Okay!" Zhuge Weidao nodded, "Let's flag Vladivostok!"
"Yes, sir."
Almost at the same time, Li Chenghui on the bridge of the Vladivostok also knew that this T-position was a bit difficult to grab.
"Sir, the Port Arthur requests to abandon T-position tactics and slow down to 16 knots to start bombardment!" The signal officer's voice rang at this time.
Li Chenghui nodded: "Slow down, 16 knots, target, monarch level... hit me hard!"
On the bridge of the Port Arthur, Zhuge Weidao also issued almost the same order: "Target, Sovereign Level... hit hard!"
After receiving the order, the gunnery commander immediately raised the phone and shouted an order: "Target No. 1, Sovereign Level! Concentrate fire!"
There are telephones on each gun position of the Port Arthur class. The gunnery commander can directly give orders to each gun. When his orders are transmitted to each gun position through electric current, all 155mm cannons that can be aimed at the Revenge battleship have been Point the muzzle at the target. The squad leaders of each artillery squad immediately gave the order to fire, and the gunner pressed the firing button. The 24 155mm guns on the Lushun, Vladivostok, Xinchang, and Xincheng roared almost simultaneously. Orange-red fireballs bloomed from each gun port, and the huge recoil pushed more than 5,000 tons into the air. The Lushun and Vladivostok moved several meters to the other side, and the hulls also swayed violently. Zhuge Weidao in the bridge felt as if he had been pushed hard, and almost fell over. Fortunately, he One hand had already been placed on the railing, and he quickly grabbed it with all his strength, and then stabilized his body.
Zhuge Weidao's other hand was still holding the telescope and raising it to his eyes. It only took a few seconds from the time the shells were sent out to the time they reached the target three or four kilometers away. Before he had time to focus his eyes, a wave of shells had already arrived. Countless water columns exploded around the Revenge, making the most powerful warship in the British Empire seem to have fallen into a violent storm.
But before the water mist from the first round of shelling dissipated, just twenty seconds later, 24 155mm guns fired a second salvo!
Although this speed does not reach the combat rate of fire of 4 rounds per minute, it is still faster than the rate of fire of the opposite British ship's secondary gun. And more importantly, the Revenge and Indomitable, which are currently the best in the British fleet, have few secondary guns at all... Among them, the Revenge only has 10 6-inch guns, and only 5 on one side.
The Indomitable was even worse, with only 6 guns, and because the Indomitable was an old ship, it was launched during the Napoleonic Wars. There were no 6-inch rapid-fire guns at that time, so it installed a 20-pound breech-loading gun (87 mm). Later, With the 6-inch semi-rapid-firing cannon, the Indomitable was modified and replaced with six 6-inch semi-rapid-firing cannons.
So now the Sovereign and Indomitable ships only have a total of eight 6-inch guns that can attack the Port Arthur. Three of them are still half-speed guns, and their firepower density is simply not comparable to that of their opponents. Although the three British second-class cruisers have many 7-inch and 6-inch rapid-fire and semi-rapid-fire guns, they are somewhat unable to reach the Lushun and can only direct part of their firepower at the other three Ming warships. Once the firepower is dispersed, the probability of hitting will naturally be lower.
Therefore, an unexpected scene appeared on the sea. The British and Japanese formations, which clearly had an advantage in strength, were at a disadvantage in terms of firepower output. They could only concentrate at most 8 6-inch guns, 4 13.5-inch guns, and 2 18-inch guns, a total of 14 cannons to bombard the Port Arthur, but the Ming army could concentrate 24 cannons to bombard the Revenge, and the latter's rate of fire was still low. Much faster!
Seeing the enemy's cannonballs coming like raindrops, but there were very few cannonballs fired back, George Elliot immediately felt that something was wrong... The British Empire's ships seemed to be "wrongly built", how could this happen? manage?
Before he could think of a solution, the floor under his feet suddenly began to vibrate as if a magnitude 7 earthquake had occurred. He was knocked to the ground before he could stand, and his eyes were covered with stars as he fell. The glass windows of the control tower were also damaged. It was shattered into pieces, and hot air waves rushed in from the window, carrying broken glass and flying wildly inside the bridge. It also cut many officers and soldiers in the control tower, and screams of screams could be heard one after another.
"You were actually hit?"
As soon as this idea came into George Yilu's mind, the bridge floor under his body shook violently again, and a huge fire ball suddenly burst out outside the bridge, and then it was hot and choking. Agricultural smoke pours in from the window...
