"What? What did you say?"
"Sir Chen, the telegram from Admiral Zhuge said that when we meet on a narrow road, the brave will win. The advantage is mine!"
"The advantage...is on me? He, has he forgotten how powerful the Blake-class is? That is a large armored cruiser on the same level as our County King-class armored cruiser!"
On the bridge of the old-fashioned armored cruiser Wei Guogong with a standard displacement of 3,000 tons, Colonel Chen Jian, the Persian Gulf Fleet chief of staff who temporarily served as the admiral of the armored cruiser formation, already had the urge to drag Zhuge Weidao over and let him see the mines for himself. What a K-class armored cruiser looks like!
Although both the Blake class and the Duke class are called "armored cruisers," if we use tonnage as the standard classification method, the Blake class with a standard displacement of more than 9,000 tons is a first-class cruiser, while the standard displacement is only 3,000 tons. The Duke-class can only be classified as a third-class cruiser.
Not only does the former have far greater protection capabilities than the latter, but it also has an overwhelming advantage in firepower!
The Blake class has a twin-mounted 9.2-inch naval gun turret (located at the bow), a single-mounted 9.2-inch naval gun turret (located at the stern), 10 6-inch rapid-fire guns, 16 3-pound rapid-fire guns, and Several temporarily installed anti-aircraft guns.
The Guogong class only has a twin 210mm forward main gun turret, a single 210mm rear main gun turret, two 155mm secondary guns on the side turrets, two 75mm anti-torpedo boat guns, and four 50mm mm rapid-fire guns are also equipped with some anti-aircraft guns.
What's even worse is that the speed of the Blake-class is far higher than that of the Duke-class! Although the Blake-class is an "old ship" that appears at the front and rear of the Sovereign-class, the British's original intention of designing it was to break diplomatic relations. Therefore, its host power is quite powerful, even more powerful than the Sovereign level. It can reach 13,000 horsepower under normal ventilation conditions and an astonishing 20,000 horsepower under forced ventilation conditions!
Driven by the powerful main engine, the Blake-class speed can even exceed 20 knots (up to 21.8 knots), far exceeding the 16 knots of the Guogong-class.
So when the Duke level meets the Blake level, "the brave one wins", he can't even run away!
"Sir Chen, we have no chance of winning. We have more ships than they do!"
Immediately, a first mate of Wei Guogong pointed out his own advantages!
It turns out that the Ming Navy's side is not entirely without the possibility of "the brave prevailing". Chief of Staff Chen Jian and Chen Da have 8 Duke-level pieces in their hands, while the opponent only has 3 Blakes - 8 to 3, which is a huge advantage!
Moreover, these 8 national-level ones are all equipped with radio stations, which can focus fire! The firepower layout of these 8 ships is also quite unique. The front main gun and the secondary guns on the turrets on both sides can be fired forward, which means that 2 210 guns and 2 155 guns can be concentrated on the bow of the ship to attack the enemy. The eight ships added together are 16 210mm guns and 16 155mm guns... which is still very powerful!
In addition, the main fleet commanded by Zhuge Weidao is arriving quickly. Although the two hero-class ships have left the team, Zhuge Weidao still has 8 battleships, 8 third-class cruisers, and 4 king-class ships, for a total of 20 battleships.
As long as Chen Jian can hold on until Zhuge Weidao's main force arrives, 28 against 3... If those three Blakes run slower, they may be wiped out!
Thinking of this, Chen Jian had no choice but to grit his teeth and loudly ordered: "Sound the battle alarm, change formations, and form a horizontal formation. From left to right, they are Liang Guo Gong, Cheng Guo Gong, Ying Guo Gong, and Ding Guo Gong. No., Wei Guo Gong, Yue Guo Gong, Wei Guo Gong, Cao Guo Gong!
Also, raise the bloody red flag! "
"Yes, sir!"
...
"This is... a battle formation? Are they crazy? They only have 8 third-class cruisers. They should disband the formation and run away!"
On the bridge of the armored cruiser Blake, Captain Andrew Jervis of the Royal Navy saw eight third-class cruisers of the Ming Dynasty on the opposite sea forming a bow-to-enemy formation, and he felt a little suspicious that he was dazzled. .
The advantage is obviously on his side!
He also had three powerful Blakes and three Surprises, which were used as reporting ships. Although the other party has 8 A-class cruisers... but they are only the 3,000-ton Guogong class, not the 10,000-ton County King class. Why are they so impressive?
Could it be...a fraud?
Thinking of this, Colonel Jervis immediately asked to the left and right: "Have you found where their main formation is?"
There are two terrifying Hero-class ships in the main formation of the Ming Army... Not to mention running faster than the Blake-class, each Hero-class has 12 280mm main guns, which is simply the nemesis of the Blake-class. !
"Sir, nothing was found."
"Sir... Under normal circumstances, the A patrol formation is the vanguard of the main formation, and their main formation should not be far from us!"
"Sir, the Ming Army's armored patrol must be equipped with a radio, so their two hero-levels must be coming at full speed, so we..."
When someone mentioned the radio station, Colonel Jervis's expression turned bitter.
The enemy has a radio station, but we don’t! The disadvantage here is too great. He doesn't even know where his main force is now? And it was impossible to summon them right away. Even now, he doesn't know if there is a war between Ming Dynasty and Britain?
Everything can only be guessed, which is too passive.
"Sir, the enemy seems to have raised the bloody red flag and is rushing towards us at full speed!"
While Jervis was guessing, a first mate next to him started shouting loudly.
"What? We're really going to fight..." Jervis quickly raised his telescope and took a look, and found that the eight Guogong-class ships on the opposite side had been lined up and started to accelerate. And on the top of every national-level mast, there is a bloody red flag hanging.
After all, Colonel Jervis was an old colonel who had fought with Nelson in the French Navy. He had quite a lot of actual combat experience. He calmed down and asked loudly: "What's the distance?"
】
"About 20,000 yards!" the captain replied loudly.
Jervis took a breath and said: "Let the two reporting ships stay away, and the three Blakes form a single line, in order: Blake, Blenheim, and Waterloo!"
"Yes, sir!"
While the formation was adjusting, Jervis raised his telescope again, looked uneasily at the Ming Navy formation in front, and whispered: "It seems that the two hero-class ones are nearby... .”
The first mate of the Blake on the side came forward and said: "Sir... we can retreat. We are faster than them. If we want to retreat..."
"We are going to retreat," Jervis nodded. "The Blake class is designed according to the standards of a destroyer. A destroyer is supposed to hit and run... So before retreating, we have to We should fight and at least severely damage one Guogong-class vessel!"
"Sir, which Guogong-class ship do you want to severely damage?"
"On the right, the enemy's rightmost ship... we can charge towards the center of their horizontal formation first, and when we are 13,000 yards away, we can then turn left and focus our broadside firepower on the enemy's right wing. The first battleship! After severely damaging or sinking it, immediately head south at full speed and retreat along the Indian coastline!" Colonel Jervis thought for a while, "Okay, that's it, announce the plan to Bren in a semaphore. Heim and Waterloo.”
"Yes, sir."
...
"Sir, the enemy is charging straight towards us in a single column! It seems that they want to cut our horizontal column into two sections!"
In the bridge of the Wei Guogong, the captain of the Wei Guogong was loudly reporting the enemy situation to Chen Jian.
"No," Chen Jian shook his head and rejected the first officer's analysis, "Their three Blakes are very valuable. If we want to land in India or the Gulf of Aden, these three Blakes will pose a great threat to our logistics line. We can't afford the loss. So the British must not be willing to let us severely damage one of their ships... because if they are severely damaged, they will become heroic prey, but they will be gone!" He paused, "Their true purpose It's a line of government that hits our flank. It hurts eight of our fingers, so it's better to cut off one! So they will definitely turn after approaching my formation... Send the order, pressurize the air, move forward at full speed, and wait for the enemy's formation to turn. Immediately slow down to 12 knots, so target the last ship in the enemy formation and fire a salvo!"
"Yes, sir!"
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