"Torpedo launch completed!"
The shout of the gunnery officer of the Maya rang out again.
"Fire the main gun on the bow!" Seiichiro Tani immediately gave the order for the main gun on the bow to fire.
"Boom, boom, boom, boom..."
Before Otani finished speaking, four dazzling fireballs had already lit up from the side of the armored cruiser USS Pennsylvania that had just completed its turn. Four 8-inch shells had already flown out of the gun barrel, roaring towards the Aoba armored destroyer that had just exposed its target.
"Fire!" Nobuto Otani yelled again.
"Boom, boom!"
The Maya's two 210mm 35x caliber main guns also made two loud noises, and then the 210mm main guns of the other five Kokugong-class armored destroyers on the sea also began to scream.
The 210mm main gun of the Duke-class seems to have a very large caliber. It is actually larger than the 8-inch main gun of the 13,000-ton Pennsylvania class opposite! However, the latter has a larger diameter, a more complete artillery servo system, a naturally greater rate of fire, and protection... Needless to say, the protection of the Kokugong-class main gun is much better.
However, no matter how outdated the Guogong-class 210 mm gun is, it is also a 210 mm caliber cannon, and it is also a rapid-fire gun. Although the rate of fire cannot be compared with the new rapid-fire cannon, it is quite sufficient compared to the displacement of more than 3,000 tons of the Guogong-class.
Although Nobuto Otani had previously ordered free fire, the 12 210mm main guns on all six Kokoku-class ships were aimed at the Pennsylvania without exception. Lieutenant General David Porter, who was standing on the bridge of the USS Pennsylvania, saw a flash of fire more than 4,000 meters in front of him, and was immediately startled... These were 12 200mm class cannons. He's firing in his direction!
But before he could figure out how to respond, 12 210mm shells had already roared over the Pennsylvania. Although the main gun of the Guogong class is very powerful, a common problem with small boats carrying large guns is that they cannot fire accurately, and the 210mm gun of the Guogong is certainly no exception.
In fact, when the Guogong class was designed, the recognized combat distance between ironclad ships was still two to three thousand meters - this was the distance for daytime combat, not the distance for night artillery combat.
If you switch to the 240mm gun of the Hero class or the 155mm gun of the Warrior class, at a distance of 4,000 meters, you can achieve a 10% hit rate even in a night battle, and a first-round hit is very possible.
"Straddle shot!"
Cheers suddenly erupted from the bridge of the Pennsylvania.
It turned out that just when David Porter was feeling lucky that the enemy's cannon had missed the target, his own side had already fired a cross-fire...but it was not fired with an 8-inch main gun, but a 6-inch secondary cannon. The results of the cannon - because the sighting of naval guns in this era mainly looked at the position of the water column to determine the impact point of the cannonball. So when the main and secondary guns are fired together, it is often difficult for observers to distinguish who the water columns belong to? Therefore, the tactic of taking turns firing the main and secondary guns emerged.
However, David Porter and his men were not happy for long, and the situation suddenly changed again.
"boom......"
Inside the Pennsylvania, all the sailors felt the hull of the ship shake suddenly, and then a ball of water exploded between the second and third chimneys, and the speed also dropped suddenly.
"Is everyone okay?" David Porter didn't pay attention, and he slipped due to the shock, but someone immediately rushed over and helped him up.
Before he could say thank you, he felt his feet shaking again and there was another "boom" in his ears.
Immediately afterwards, another ball of water exploded from the bow of the Pennsylvania, and the bow of the armored cruiser immediately sank a lot!
This time David Porter was prepared, so he did not fall, but he already realized that something was wrong - his Pennsylvania had just been hit by two torpedoes!
This is the enemy attacking his own armored cruiser with a long-range torpedo!
"Torpedoes...there are torpedoes, turn on the searchlight!"
Now he could no longer remain calm, because when the Pennsylvania-class design was finalized, torpedoes were not a particularly dangerous weapon, and correspondingly, this class of armored cruisers did not consider mine protection much. So these two torpedoes...
"boom……"
Then there was another explosion, and the Pennsylvania's unfortunate hull trembled violently again, as if it had been hurt by continuous torpedo attacks.
"Damn..." Lieutenant General Porter cursed, just about to order the helmsman to take an avoidance route.
The phone in the bridge suddenly rang, bringing two pieces of bad news to Vice Admiral Porter.
The outer wall of a boiler room in the middle of the hull was hit by a torpedo, causing a large hole. Seawater was pouring in, and the boilers in the boiler room could no longer be used. This caused the Pennsylvania's speed to suddenly drop to 16 knots, and it continued to decrease!
In addition, a large amount of seawater poured into the bow of the ship, causing the bow to sink seriously. Water must be injected as soon as possible to maintain balance.
Before the damage report from the ship was finished, the Pennsylvania's already scarred hull began to shake again.
"boom……"
The fourth torpedo hit this 13,000-ton giant!
This time it hit its fragile stern. The explosion of the 450 mm caliber torpedo directly blew off the Pennsylvania's rudder and opened a big hole in its butt. Sea water rushed into the punctured cabin at the stern of the ship.
This time there was no need to fill the stern with water.
However, the Pennsylvania, which had lost its rudder, could no longer turn.
In other words, this armored foreign ship has not really exerted its power and is no longer able to continue fighting.
As a last resort, Vice Admiral David Porter had no choice but to raise the flag of disregard and at the same time ordered each ship to move freely. And he himself followed the flagship Pennsylvania towards the coast of the United States...
However, the Pennsylvania was not the only US warship hit by the "torpedo sea" fired by six Duke-class ships.
The Maryland, which was behind the Pennsylvania, also became a victim of the "torpedo sea". It accidentally hit three 450 mm steam gas torpedoes!
All three torpedoes hit the middle of the Maryland, blasting three terrible holes. Cold seawater surged into the boiler room and steam engine room. The armored cruiser instantly lost most of its power, its speed dropped to only 5 knots, and the hull quickly tilted to the left.
This armored cruiser, which was almost losing power and had a severely tilted hull, immediately became a live target for several Guogong-class 210mm main guns on the sea.
At least ten 210mm cannons aimed at it and blasted it, firing dozens of shells in an instant and hitting eight of them! Turn this unfortunate armored cruiser into a fire ship!
Still, the Maryland was quite tenacious. Even though it was hit by three torpedoes and eight 210mm shells, it still stayed afloat on the water and struggled hard.
However, the fire and the severe tilt of the hull had caused the armored cruiser to lose all combat effectiveness.
The suspense now is whether it will sink?
In the blink of an eye, the winner of this night battle seemed to have been decided.
On the American side, the Pennsylvania was severely damaged and withdrawn from the battle, and the Maryland was even more severely damaged and lost its combat effectiveness...
The losses suffered by the Dezhou Sea were only a few 6-inch shells hit by Maya and Aoba, but because they were all duds, they were not serious.
The U.S. Atlantic Fleet armored cruiser detachment, which theoretically had an absolute advantage, actually suffered incredible losses within about 10 minutes of the battle. The loss of nearly 1/3 of the combat effectiveness also cast a dark shadow over the hearts of every US Navy officer who participated in the war.
Everyone can't help but wonder, has God abandoned the United States? North America...is it really going to be swamped by the Yellow Peril?
