"Slow down! Slow down to 12 knots..."
Seeing the armored cruiser Blake, which was less than 12,000 meters (13,000 yards) ahead, begin to turn, Chen Jian immediately issued an order to slow down to 12 knots. The reason why we need to slow down is because if the speed is too fast, the boat will be unstable, and if the boat rocks too much, the cannon will not be able to fire accurately. The reason why he didn't simply stop was to continue to close the distance between him and his target. Twelve thousand meters is still too far. Although the accuracy of the 210mm main gun equipped by the Guogong class is not bad, relying on the current artillery sighting technology and the stability that a 3,000-ton warship can provide, the two 210mm cannons installed on the bow of the Guogong class ship can hit one You can still be somewhat accurate when hitting targets five or six thousand meters away. It would be ideal if you could hit targets three or four thousand meters away. Therefore, the eight Duke-level ships under Chen Jian still had to maintain a certain speed and neat formation.
This is easy to say, but really difficult to do.
It is very difficult to keep eight 3,000-ton steamships in an orderly formation in a "high-speed sailing" of more than ten knots on the undulating ocean. Now they have to slow down by four knots together, and they have to slow down during the process. It is too difficult to keep the line neatly aligned after deceleration is completed. It not only tests the level of boat handling, but also tests the integrity of the equipment. It even tests whether the bottoms of the eight Guogong-class boats are clean and whether they are covered with barnacles that make one's scalp numb...
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Only a navy that is truly well-trained, has sufficient funds, and has a large number of shipyards and docks to utilize can perfectly follow Chen Jian's orders to slow down and maintain the formation.
If you can't keep the queue neatly during the deceleration process, or the entire queue will be twisted before decelerating. Then the ships may block each other's main gun firing range, and the firepower will not be fully exerted.
However, these eight 3,000-ton armored cruisers of the Ming Navy performed perfectly in maintaining a horizontal formation and decelerating in unison, which made Captain Jervis in the bridge of the Blake armored cruiser feel a little nervous.
The horizontal team is so difficult, and they all play so well. I'm afraid this artillery skills... I don't know who they will target to focus their fire? You shouldn't be using Blake, right? The Blake is in a bad position and is not easy to hit.
"Target, the third ship of the enemy formation, Blake class, distance is 8,600 meters!"
If Colonel Jervis heard the words shouted by Sergeant Lu Benwei, he would definitely be relieved... They are going to fight the Waterloo.
"Distance, 8600!"
A sergeant next to Lu Benwei then picked up the phone receiver and reported the results of Lu Benwei's observations to the bridge. Then he turned the knob used to adjust the distance clock - the distance clock is a clock dial that looks a bit like a dial. A disc with numbers and hands on it. However, what is displayed on this disk is not the time, but the distance to the target. The purpose of this distance clock is to let the artillery below know the distance when the ship's phone or microphone fails. In addition, you can also let nearby friendly ships know your observation results, making it easier to "copy" each other's work!
At the same time, the atmosphere on the bridge of the Cao Guogong was extremely tense. The navigator continued to report the distance between the ship and the target, while the gunnery chief was holding a phone headset and giving orders to the bow armor turret below - according to the plan, only the bow armor was the focus of fire on the target ship. The two 210mm main guns of the No. 1 battery will participate, but the 155mm secondary guns on the turrets on both sides will not. This is of course also to avoid unnecessary shaking of the ship when the secondary guns are fired, thus affecting the firepower of the main guns.
In other words, the armored cruiser Waterloo will face the bombardment of 16 210 mm guns later!
The time of firing was when the Waterloo began to turn to the right.
On the flagship Wei Guogong, Chen Jian listened to the captain's report while holding a telescope and staring at the Waterloo - the distance between this ship and the eight Guogong classes when it turns will be very critical!
If the distance is close enough, the 16 210mm cannons can fire hundreds of rounds without any problem. If eight out of ten are hit, the Waterloo will have to be driven back to the Hindustan Shipyard in Mumbai even if it does not sink. Go and repair it for a few months (is a few months enough?)!
Moreover, the British only have three Blakes in the Indian Ocean (there are three in total at this level). One of them was destroyed, and the remaining two can only cover its retreat. They will never dare to confront the Ming Navy fleet again... .
Because if the collision continues and the other two are paralyzed, then the Indian fleet will not be able to fight even the breakup and counterattack... As long as there is no Blake class, relying on the Guogong class 16 The 18 and 19 knots of the Marquis class are enough for the Persian Gulf Fleet of the Ming Navy to travel across the Arabian Sea. There are 18 ships in these two classes! It’s not a breakup of friendship, but a direct blockade war!
"Sir, the enemy's No. 3 ship has turned!"
The captain of the Wei Guogong suddenly shouted.
Chen Jian also saw that the 9,000-ton ship began to turn around, so he hurriedly shouted: "Report the distance!"
"6200 meters!"
Not ideal, but that's all.
"Target, enemy ship No. 3, hit me hard!" Chen Jian roared, and the veins on his forehead popped out.
After receiving the order, the gunnery commander immediately raised the phone, reported the calculated shooting numbers to the bow turret, and then roared: "Fire!"
When his order was transmitted to the turret, the gunner who received the order suddenly pressed the firing button. Almost at the same time, the gunners in the bow turrets of the other seven Guogong-class ships also pressed the firing button with all their strength.
The 16 210mm naval guns roared almost at the same time. Orange-red fireballs bloomed from each muzzle. The huge recoil pushed the 3,000-ton Guogong class back violently, leaving Lu Benwei, who was measuring the distance on the mast, felt as if he was pushed by someone and almost fell down. Fortunately, the deputy observer beside him was prepared and gave him a hand.
Before he even had time to say thank you, he put his eyes to the eyepiece of the rangefinder again. When he looked again, he found that countless water columns suddenly appeared around the 9,000-ton ship, and the ship seemed to be hit head-on. Into the storm.
"The cross shot in the first round...well played!" Lu Benwei couldn't help but cheer when he saw this scene. He was not cheering for the gunner, but for himself!
Cross-fire shows that the observations and calculations are correct. Next, as long as some adjustments are made on this basis (the ship is moving), it can ensure that the shells are dispersed in the "danger zone", so that hitting the target is only a matter of time.
"Distance!" the deputy observer on the side shouted. Only then did Lu Benwei remember his responsibilities and quickly observed the distance.
At the same time, Chen Jian was staring at the Waterloo from the bridge of his own ship, the Wei Guogong, and also witnessed the straddle shot just now. About forty or fifty seconds after the first salvo, the 16 210mm cannons fired a second round of shells.
This rate of fire... is indeed fast enough!
Another cross shot, and it was a near miss! More shells landed in the "danger zone" and exploded countless water jets.
Then came the third salvo, and the interval between it and the second salvo was also forty or fifty seconds. Less than ten seconds after 16 210mm shells were blasted out of the muzzle again, the armored cruiser HMS Waterloo in the distance A huge fireball suddenly burst out.
Hit!
Amidst the smoke, Chen Jian only saw the smoke billowing from the bow of the Waterloo and the flames blazing, as if a big hole had been punched out!
"Good job!" Chen Jian patted the railing in front of his body with excitement. However, what he is praising now is not the gunners, observers, and calculators, but the technicians responsible for improving the picric acid z-drug formula and fuse! In the previous battle of Jiyin Waterway, the Ming Navy's artillery shells exploded upon contact, so they all exploded on the surface of the enemy ship's hull, instead of exploding after drilling into it.
And this shell obviously penetrated the steel plate of the enemy ship's bow, penetrated inside, and then exploded!
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