"Brother Lu, rush with me!"
As a young trainee officer shouted, Senior Sergeant Lu Benwei Lu, who had already got down from the mast and put on his asbestos fireproof suit, had no choice but to bite the bullet and rush into the boiler room holding the water pipe.
Now the Cao Guogong no longer needs observers to help aim its artillery, because the two Blake-class ships are now using their bayonets to fight and rush to a close range of less than 2,000 meters from the Cao Guogong. There is no need to measure the range at this distance, just aim the muzzle and shoot. However, the two British "big patrols" are also very cunning. They have now circled behind Cao Guogong, using 6 9.2-inch cannons and 10 6-inch cannons to hit "Cao Guogong's butt". There is only one 210mm cannon at the stern of the Cao Guogong with a good firing range, while the 155mm cannons located on both sides of the turret near the bow have a very small firing range when firing backwards due to the obstruction of the ship's hull. It's very inconvenient to fight.
So in order to hold on for a while longer, the captain of the Cao Guogong, Lei Teng, had to organize all the personnel he could spare into the damage control team, and focus on rescuing the boiler room - as long as a little power can be restored, the Cao Guogong can still survive!
Lu Benwei is a "senior veteran" who has received strict training. Not only can he observe, but he has also received damage control training and rescue training, so he was incorporated into the damage control team as soon as he got off the mast. After rushing into the boiler room with a leather pipe in his arms, Staff Sergeant Lu immediately felt the heat coming towards his face. He didn't care about the heat. He quickly pointed the leather pipe in his hand at the heat wave in front of him and turned on the faucet. , just a burst of excitement...
...
While the sailors on the Cao Guogong were doing their best to save their armored cruiser, the fire on the Waterloo of the Indian Grand Fleet was getting bigger and bigger! Moreover, the news reported to the bridge by the damage control team was more terrible than the last.
The voice of an Indian officer speaking curry-flavored English came from the phone receiver held by the captain, Lieutenant Colonel Davis: "Your Excellency, the fire in the sailors' cabin and officer's lounge was too strong. We have to protect ourselves from the fire." The ammunition depot at the stern of the ship had to be filled with water urgently..."
"Your Excellency, Captain, the fire on the bow of the ship is almost reaching the turret... We are doing our best to water the turret to lower its temperature, but it can no longer fire!"
"Your Excellency, Captain, the No. 3 chimney was blown off and the steam pipes were broken in many places. There was boiling steam everywhere in the engine room and boiler room. There is no way to repair it..."
"Your Excellency, Captain, a big hole may have been blown by a shell near the waterline of the bow. Sea water is pouring in. There are two waterproof doors that cannot be closed. We had to abandon two more cabins! So the bow of the ship is sinking seriously! "
"Your Excellency Captain... We are short of manpower, many people are injured, and three people are dead. We have no choice..."
Captain Davis listened to the Indian Navy lieutenant under his command who always said words such as "Sir, everything is fine", "Sir, no problem", "Sir, it is a great honor to serve you". The panicked voice made him feel the urge to kill!
This veteran British navy who had participated in the Napoleonic Wars and fought hard with the Emperor's French Navy in the English Channel, the Atlantic, and the Mediterranean for many years certainly knew that his Waterloo had not suffered a fatal blow... If If it were not for the failure of those clumsy Indian officers and Indian sailors to control the damage in time, things would not have become so serious at all.
If we had known this, there should not have been an Indian in the navy of the Indian Empire!
But this matter is not up to him. This is the will of Emperor William - His Majesty the Emperor believes that since India has become "independent", there should be a certain proportion of Indians in each department of the Indian Empire! Otherwise, how can we embody India’s independent spirit?
In addition, when His Majesty the Emperor asks for money from the various princes below, those princes will also propose to arrange for their children to serve in various ministries, navy, and army of the Indian Empire...
Just as he thought of this, the Waterloo seemed to be hit by something again, and a ball of fire instantly rose from the deck. It turned out that several shells from another salvo fired by seven Guogong-class ships of the Ming Navy hit the Waterloo.
Because the waterloo's stern main gun could not be fired due to the water filling in the ammunition depot, the bow main gun also lost efficiency due to the fire, and its firepower dropped a lot. At the same time, the damage to the boiler room and chimney caused it to lose more than half of its power, and its speed dropped to less than 10 knots, making it almost a living target.
However, the Waterloo is still very strong. Although it is constantly hit by 210mm armor-piercing shells, it is only injured but not killed. It can continue to persevere... as long as the Blake and Blenheim sink the ship. The very tenacious Duke-level will then spank the other seven Duke-level butts, and the Waterloo will be out of danger.
"Lieutenant Colonel...they, they are almost reaching the 1,200-yard line!"
"What? 1,200 yards? They are going to..." Lieutenant Colonel Davis, who had barely remained calm just now, suddenly showed a panicked expression.
Because this "1,200-yard line" means that Ming's ships will soon launch "thousand-meter torpedoes"!
The so-called kilometer torpedo is a compressed air torpedo with a maximum range of 1,000 meters and a speed of 7 knots. Compared with future steam gas torpedoes, the range and speed of this compressed air torpedo are not worth mentioning, and can only be used for sneak attacks or attacks on enemy ships that have suffered heavy damage.
However, the current Waterloo seems to barely meet the second condition of being sunk by a torpedo - it suffered more than moderate trauma, and its power system was damaged, and its speed dropped to 10 knots...
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What's even more frightening is that seven Guogong-class cruisers equipped with four torpedo launch tubes are about to rush within 1,000 meters of the Waterloo!
Lieutenant Colonel Davis turned his head and saw on the sea to his right, about 1,200 yards away, seven Ming Dynasty Guogong-class cruisers lined up, accelerating towards him, and two of them had already been hit. bombs and thick smoke billowing from the deck. But their speed did not slow down because of the scary smoke!
"Fire, fire quickly, block them!" Davis raised his finger and pointed at the approaching "Seven Dukes of the Ming Dynasty" and shouted. In a somewhat hysterical voice, everyone on the bridge knew that something was wrong.
It seemed that the gunners on the Waterloo heard Davis's cry. The seven cannons that had been firing weakly just now roared at their loudest, and the shells were fired concentratedly at one of the Duke-class ships that was smoking thickly. The 3,000-ton armored cruiser immediately seemed to be hit by something. The hull jumped suddenly, and then a ball of fire emerged from the bow of the warship. The bow of the warship was suddenly enveloped in fire.
But the remaining six Guogong-class ships were still undaunted. They no longer fired cannons, but accelerated to their fastest speed and rushed towards the Waterloo, almost treating themselves as torpedo boats.
"Quick, zigzag to avoid!"
Davis yelled again and gave orders to the first mate who was maneuvering the ship. He knew that with the Waterloo's artillery, it was impossible to stop the six crazy Dukes. So we can only hope to avoid it. If that doesn't work, the Waterloo will encounter "its own Waterloo"!
...
"Sir! 500 meters!"
In the bridge of the Wei Guogong, Chen Jian, who was sweating all over his head and face, finally let out the loudest roar as the navigator roared: "Launch! Launch torpedoes! Shoot out all the torpedoes!"
Each Guogong-class ship has two twin-mounted 450mm torpedo launch tubes, hidden under the bow deck. When launching torpedoes, the bow must be aimed at the target, so the correct way to use them is to use a few At the official level, a horizontal team was formed to fight "Pig Tu". He sacrificed one or two of the Duke-level weapons in exchange for sinking a high-value target.
And the Waterloo is this high-value target!
Chen Jian has now paid the price of two heavy losses at the Duke level, and he has to sink a Blake no matter what...so he no longer holds back and chooses Stud!
According to his order, the "six princes" each fired 12 compressed air torpedoes in the shortest possible time, and a torpedo sea composed of a total of 72 torpedoes slowly "swam" towards the Waterloo.
If the Waterloo's power system is intact, no, it just needs to be managed more effectively to allow it to move forward at a speed of fifteen or sixteen knots, then it can safely leave the battlefield and go to the Hindustan Shipyard in Mumbai for repairs... ..then nothing will happen.
but now......
"Boom boom boom!"
With a series of explosions, at least three powerful compressed air torpedoes were mounted on the stern and amidships of the Waterloo. The ship was tortured by the firepower of the Ming Dynasty and the damage of the Indian pipeline to only half a life. The large armored cruiser finally sank slowly into the Indian Ocean full of unwillingness.
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