"Colonel, the bow of the USS Waterloo was shot!"
Colonel Jervis on the Blake heard the news he least wanted to hear in his life!
He led three Blake-class ships to pass in front of the Ming Navy's line, just to fight for several rounds of concentrated fire to grab a favorable position. Because his Blake class is fast, as long as he grabs a good position, he can always occupy it, and then focus on nine 9.2-inch cannons and 15 6-inch secondary guns to attack the Ming army's Guogong class one by one.
The Guogong class is called an armored cruiser, but it is actually an old-fashioned break-up cruiser with strong firepower and weak armor... The reason why it is an "old-fashioned break-up cruiser" is because its speed of 16 knots is higher than that of large armored cruisers and large armored cruisers. Nowadays, the speed of some battleships can exceed 20 knots, which is really too slow. If you are not careful, you will be captured by a large armored cruiser like the Blake class.
If you catch it, you should be able to sink it!
But I didn’t expect that catching too many at once would be a bad thing!
Although the Duke-level armor protection is not good, the three 210mm cannons are worthy!
In addition, because when the Guogong class was designed, it was popular internationally to use the frontal appearance of battleships to criticize others, so the Guogong class also followed the trend to a small extent. Not only were two lugs built a little further back on both sides of the twin main guns, but two 155mm cannons were also installed.
Moreover, when their bow main guns fire forward, the hull can remain relatively stable, so these two cannons are particularly accurate when firing forward...
As a result, the Blake class, which was supposed to be a hunter, is now the prey.
But Colonel Jervis didn't withdraw either. It was impossible for him to turn around with the Blake and Blenheim and go back to block the shells for the Waterloo. Wouldn't that involve himself?
"boom!"
At this time, with a loud noise, another fireball suddenly rose amidships of the Waterloo.
"Sir, the amidships deck of the Waterloo was hit by a bullet and on fire..."
Jervis quickly turned his head to look, and he found that one of the Waterloo's four large chimneys seemed to have been blown off - this meant that the Waterloo's power system had now been damaged!
Seeing this scene, Colonel Jervis had no choice but to grit his teeth and order: "Sign a signal to the Blenheim and order it to follow the flagship closely and maintain speed..."
The actual meaning of his order was to temporarily abandon the Waterloo, whose power system was damaged, and let the ship attract enemy firepower to cover the Blake and Blenheim's roundabout return to position.
"Yes, sir!"
.......
"Sir, the enemy's No. 3 ship seems to have been abandoned!"
At this time, Chen Jian on board the armored cruiser Wei Guogong also noticed that the two Blake-class ships had abandoned the third Blake-class ship, which had slowed down after being shot in the chimney, and were still detouring towards their right wing at an extremely fast speed.
"Damn..." Chen Jian cursed in a low voice.
He knew that his right wing was about to be in trouble!
However, he could do nothing but continue to concentrate his firepower to bombard the single injured Blake-class ship... If he could sink it, even if he damaged two or even three Guogong-class ships, he would not be able to do anything. That's enough.
"Boom boom boom..."
At this moment, a string of artillery shells landed one or two hundred meters in front of the Wei Guogong. Chen Jian looked up and saw that the lone Blake-class was firing. In order to maintain high speed and stability, it moved forward with its head covered and did not fire at Ming's ships.
Now this 9,000-ton ship was hit by a bullet and caught fire. It also damaged the power system and its speed has dropped to fifteen or sixteen knots. With its displacement of more than 9,000 tons, it can already maintain this speed while concentrating three 9.2-inch guns on one side and five 6-inch guns to fire together.
Seeing the eight shells fired by this "big armor patrol" in one salvo, Chen Jian was really filled with hatred and greed! What I hate is that my formation will soon be damaged. What I am greedy for is of course the "body" of the "Da Jia Xun".
The Ming Dynasty also had such ships, including the "Prefecture King" class and the "Hero" class... I will definitely ask Zhuge Weidao to "get" one for fun.
But the enemy's "big armor patrol" in front of us must be killed!
"Send the order," Chen Jian said loudly, "the target remains unchanged, continue to focus the fire, hit me hard! Even if you rush up to release a torpedo, you must sink it!"
"yes!"
Another wave of shells flew towards the armored cruiser USS Waterloo, and soon many water jets were shot around the "large armored cruiser". Suddenly, another huge fireball appeared on the stern deck of the more than 9,000-ton ship! It seems that the 210mm shell penetrated the thin deck armor and set the sailor's cabin or the officer's room on the stern of the ship on fire - the charges of armor-piercing and high-explosive bombs in the Ming Navy now have a certain arson effect. Picric and sour. Once you break into any flammable cabin, it is easy to cause a fire.
Although burning the wardroom and sailor cabin will not cause the battleship to sink, it may not even cause serious damage. But if the fire keeps burning, something will happen. So it had to be extinguished as soon as possible... But the problem was that the Indian damage control team of the Waterloo, which was supposed to take effect quickly, didn't know what it was doing?
The fires amidships and stern were burning more and more fiercely, with no intention of extinguishing them...
...
Just as the fire on the Waterloo was getting hotter and brighter, its two sister ships finally completed their detour and ran to the right side of the eight-piece Guogong-class formation, which was also the right side of the Cao Guogong.
Lu Benwei, who was staying inside the mast of Cao Guogong, also discovered that two beast-like Blake-class armored cruisers had arrived on his right side... It was going to be over now!
He quickly picked up the phone and reported to the bridge: "Two Blakes have circled back to the right wing of our ship, 5,000 meters away..."
"Boom boom boom..."
As soon as he finished speaking, the six 9.2-inch cannons and ten 6-inch cannons of the two Blake-class armored cruisers roared together and sent a wave of shells directly over.
The shells landed on the front, rear, left and right sides of the Cao Guogong - this was also a straddle shot!
There's no way, the distance is too close! Moreover, the observers, gunners, and calculators of the Royal Indian Navy are all experienced English veterans, and the guns they fire are equally accurate.
In addition, once the 9,000-ton hull slows down, it is stable enough and is a pretty good firepower platform. The 9.2-inch and 6-inch guns mounted on this platform would hit Cao Guogong within a few rounds.
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"Send a signal to the flagship. Our ship is under attack. Please leave the team to avoid bombs..." On the bridge of the Cao Guogong, Captain Lei Teng was already steering the ship himself while giving orders to the communications officer beside him.
After giving the order, Lei Teng did not wait for Chen Jian's reply and ordered: "Forced ventilation, full speed... let's lead the enemy away!"
Lure away...or run away!
In this situation, for Cao Guogong, being able to escape is victory!
The steam engine of this 3,000-ton armored cruiser suddenly roared, and then began to output power crazily, and the speed quickly soared to 18 knots!
But now it's too late to escape, because no matter how fast the cruiser is, it can't outrun the cannonballs. Just as the boiler room of the Cao Guogong was trying to speed up the coal-burning furnace, a 9.2-inch shell suddenly hit it!
This is a solid armor-piercing bullet, just an iron lump. But it is enough to deal with the 3,000-ton "Small Armor Patrol" Cao Guogong. The shell directly tore through Cao Guogong's thin armor protection belt, crashed directly into the boiler room, and finally plunged into a burning coal stove. The burning coal stove suddenly shattered, and the fragments of the stove and the burning coal fire were scattered in the narrow boiler room. The boiler soldiers inside were both dead and wounded... Just one shell, The boiler room of the Cao Guogong was destroyed. The firepower of this Blake class is indeed fierce.
The Cao Guogong, which had just increased its speed, lost most of its power in the blink of an eye, and could no longer escape from the two Blake-class guns.
Now, it is impossible to escape victoriously, but it is still possible to fight for a victorious sinking - just struggle a little longer before sinking!
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