When Guan Tianpei was stroking his beard and pretending to be Guan Gong in the command tower of the Hongwu Emperor, his number one favorite general, Zhang Bao, the commander-in-chief of the Second Battleship Group of the Nanyang Fleet, who was riding on the battleship "Huo Jinghuan", was staring with bloodshot eyes. Staring at the twenty Edgars who were turning to escape.
Zhang Bao was 100% sure that it was impossible for these more than 7,000-ton Edgars to escape from the muzzles of the four hero-class cannons he commanded. Although he doesn't know how fast these Edgar-class machines, which are known for being "cheap and high-quality", are, he does know how powerful his hero-class power system is!
The hero class has a main engine power rated at 22,000 horsepower, and can easily run a top speed of 20 knots even without turning on forced ventilation. When the strong pressure is turned on, the hero-class main engine power can reach 26,000 horsepower, which is enough for the hero-class with a standard displacement of 18,500 tons to run at a high speed of 23 knots!
This power is definitely worthy of the foreign trade price of 8.88 million silver dollars, and it is definitely not comparable to the cheap Edgar class of 370,000 pounds!
"Turn on the forced ventilation!"
"Notify Li Jingwu, Yuewumu, and Xu Wuning that their first engagement targets are the fourth, fifth, and sixth ships from the right respectively!"
"Notify the First Drive Patrol Team, the Second Drive Patrol Team, the Third Drive Patrol Team, and the Fourth Drive Patrol Team... to follow the corresponding battleships closely to prevent enemy light ships from approaching!"
After issuing a series of orders, Zhang Bao looked at his watch. It was almost time. The pressure of the boiler should have been increased. Then he leaned forward, held the armrest, and said loudly: "Rush up and let those British people take advantage of it." Let’s see how awesome our heroes are when they arrive!”
"yes!"
Following Zhang Bao's order, the "Huo Jinghuan" named after Huo Qubing instantly seemed to turn into an erupting beast. The hull of the ship, fully loaded with more than 20,000 tons, suddenly shook, and the steam boiler in the power cabin emitted With waves of roaring, driven by high-pressure steam, the three steam engines started to rotate crazily, increasing the speed of the battleship to the maximum in just a few minutes.
At the same time as the "Huo Jinghuan" suddenly erupted, the Li Jingwu, Yuewumu, and Xu Wuning also transformed into roaring behemoths. They opened their bloody mouths and exposed their sharp claws, attacking the 20 ships that were still there. The Edgar-class armored cruiser rushed over in a panic.
At the same time, the observers and gunnery officers of these four hero ships have already identified the target and measured the distance. Following the orders of the gunnery officers of each ship, each hero ship has four double-seaters. The battery turret rotated rapidly. Suddenly, as the hull of the "Huo Jinghuan" shook, eight 280mm heavy guns with a caliber of 45 times began to roar at the same time, and clusters of flashing firecrackers continued to explode on the side of the battleship.
The four Heroes that suddenly jumped out caught the "Edgars" of the British and Indian Navy a little unprepared. Although they were all ships of more than 7,000 tons, they could only travel at a speed of 20 knots when the forced ventilation was turned on. How could they run away? Rushing to the "hero" level of more than 23 knots in a while?
And when these four hero classes suddenly sprang out from behind Luba Island, these Edgar classes were still chasing the hero class with their heads covered! The process of turning around after they discovered something was wrong also delayed some precious escape time, so that the four hero levels were able to reach Edgar with a 280-meter cannon hammer at once.
The shortcoming of the Edgar-class having too few main guns was revealed at this time. A large ship of more than 7,000 tons only has two 9.2-inch main guns, which can threaten the strong armor of the Hero-class. As for the 6-inch which has a relatively large number of equipment Cannons, it cannot be said that it is almost zero for the heroic level, it is only a level that scratches the itch.
Facing the Hero-class with 12 280mm heavy cannons, the Edgar-class is completely helpless... and it can't even run away!
As an armored cruiser known for its speed, it is now running 3 knots slower than a Hero-class battleship. How can it survive?
In just three salvoes, the "Huo Jinghuan" had already fired its first straddle shot, and then a 280mm armor-piercing projectile successfully penetrated the stern of an Edgar-class ship. The improved delay fuse and The further passivated picric acid explosives fully exerted their power at this time. The thin 76.2 mm-127 mm armor could not stop the tearing of the 280 mm armor-piercing projectiles. The shells not only broke through the main armor belt, but also continued all the way down. After breaking through two compartments, he finally got into the most important power compartment.
10 kilograms of picric acid exploded from the center of the shell, and the huge force produced shattered the thick shell of the armor-piercing bullet in one fell swoop. The scattered shrapnel swept across a huge reciprocating steam engine, instantly destroying the complex and fragile parts of the steam engine. The entire engine crew was also scrapped, and this seemingly powerful armored cruiser lost half of its power.
After seeing the Edgar-class ship hit by a bullet and on fire, Zhang Bao did not adopt the traditional naval battle tactic of "killing you while you are sick", but quickly took aim at the other Edgar-class ship, and once again concentrated on the ships that could be attacked. Six 280mm cannons fired from the front.
As the distance continued to get closer, the shells began to hit more and more accurately. After five rounds of shelling, the "Huo Jinghuan" had made another achievement. At a distance of 4,000-5,000 meters, it sent three 280mm shells into the armored cruiser. The middle part of the hull. One of them even exploded its boiler room!
The big explosion in the boiler room not only killed the British and Indian sailors in the area and disabled the power of the armored cruiser, but also tore a shockingly large hole in the hull of the Edgar-class ship. A huge amount of Sea water poured in instantly, and the ship began to tilt rapidly, although it was prevented from capsizing by injecting water to the other side. But this heavily damaged Edgar-class has basically lost the ability to continue fighting... Like the previous Edgar-class that was severely damaged by the "Huo Jinghuan", it will soon be turned around and killed. The returning Haohan class and 8 Great Emperor class ships under Guan Tianpei's personal command were sunk!
The mission of the four Hero-class ships is not to directly sink these Edgar-class ships, but to leave as many Edgar-class ships as possible... Although these Edgar-class ships are vulnerable when encountering the Hero-class ships, But their price-performance ratio is still very high, and they must be very efficient in escorting and breaking up relationships, so they must be destroyed as much as possible!
Therefore, these four speeds, firepower, and armors are all powerful heroes. In today's battle, they acted as "heavy cavalry on the sea." Their mission was to scatter and crush their opponents, completely reducing them to "Emperor" level. And the "hero" level lamb under the muzzle!
The ongoing massacre at sea was also seen by Rear Admiral Cochrane on the Blake, and he also saw a huge Hero-class crashing through the waves and rushing toward the Blake he was on.
Although he really wanted to rescue the Edgar-class ships that were being massacred, the Blake was also an armored cruiser. Although it was much stronger than the Edgar-class ships, it could never defeat a Hero-class ship. If the Blake or Blenheim he was traveling on had not been "repaired" by the Indians, I'm afraid it would have been...
Thinking of this, Major General Corcoran's heart trembled, and the last bit of fighting spirit completely disappeared, so he loudly ordered: "Full left rudder... full speed, forced ventilation!"
He was just halfway through issuing the order when he suddenly remembered that the Blake's forced ventilation was broken... so he couldn't escape!
"Major General!" At this time, a voice full of surprise suddenly rang, "The engine reported that the forced ventilation has been repaired and we are saved!"
What? It's fixed?
A strange thought suddenly popped up in Major General Corcoran's mind: "This ship... has made the Indians perfect, right? It was broken when they were fighting, but it was good again when they were escaping..."
Thinking of this, he asked again: "Where is the turret? Has the turret been repaired?"
"No...Major General, the turret seems to be missing some key parts. It needs to be returned to the Hindustan Shipyard for overhaul!"
