"17,000 meters!"
At 5:38, when Hong Renkun, the observer on the Kongming, shouted out the number that Guo Xiaobao had been waiting for, on the sea a few hundred meters away, the double-mounted 320 on the bow of the "Beggar's Battleship" "Chongming Island" The 45mm cannon opened fire first. The violent vibrations caused the 8,000-ton standard platoon and 10,500-ton full-platform battleship to tremble violently. Dark red flames were sprayed out from the muzzle, making every Ming sailor hold hands in excitement. They tightened their fists, but the British sailors on the Dignity opposite had their hearts in their throats.
Many of them had participated in the Battle of Malacca and the Battle of Great Strait, and knew how powerful the Ming Dynasty's navy was! Moreover, the "Chongming Island" was only the first to fire its guns, not the only "beggar's battleship" to fire its guns. The Ming Navy has long mastered the method of concentrated fire, so the 24 320mm cannons equipped by the 12 "beggar's battleships" on the sea are all aimed at the leading battleship "Dignity".
Only 2 minutes later, a dense rain of bullets enveloped the huge body of the Dignity - this was a straddle shot! At the same time, the Tiaojunquan class that had completed the turn and those that had not yet completed the turn began to fight back with their 10-inch cannons. The sea was suddenly filled with smoke and the sound of cannons was rumbling!
Just when the leading forces of both sides began to exchange fire, something suddenly happened in the sky. A fleet of more than 90 fighter planes passed through the clouds in a dark mass and rushed toward the British battleship formation on the sea that was turning in formation.
"Damn plane!"
William Baga, who was excitedly waiting to see his Sovereign class, Indian Emperor class, and William IV class violently defeat the Ming Dynasty battleship, was filled with hatred! I wish I could just put on my own wings and fly up to pull out all the Ming Dynasty pilots sitting in those small planes and bite them to death one by one.
"Air defense! Pay attention to air defense!"
William Baga dare not ignore the small wooden planes in the sky... The British Empire has suffered enough from these small planes!
Following his order, the originally neat formation of British battleships began to twist on the sea. As soon as the ship twisted, the shooting accuracy immediately dropped. But there is nothing we can do about it. Who dares to be bombed now?
However, the targets of the more than 90 incoming aircraft were not the Sovereign-class ships that were having an artillery battle with the Ming Dynasty's beggar-class battleships, but the 6 Indian Emperor-class ships and 2 King William IV-class ships that followed the 11 Sovereign-class ships. ...after all they are the real big fish!
At the same time, the three aircraft-carrying armored cruisers that had returned to William Baga's large formation also began to "fly pigeons" - although these "pigeon aircraft" cannot defeat the Sea Dragon 2, they are not the opponent of the Ssangyong 2. But it's not completely useless. At least it can force Ssangyong 2 to abandon its bombs, and it can also pose a certain threat to the less flexible Thunder Dragon torpedo bombers.
Fighters from both sides soon started fighting in the sky above 6 Indian Emperor-class ships and 2 King William IV-class ships!
The Ming Army's Ssangyong 2 and Thunder Dragon aircraft had suffered a little loss at the hands of the "Pigeon Aircraft" before. This time they did not dare to get close to them, so they had to wander far away, but the Sea Flying Dragon 2 was not afraid of them... ..This is a professional fighter jet with strong firepower, strong maneuverability, and fast speed! Even if a 100 kilogram bomb is attached, the "pigeon machine" can be turned into a "sieve machine"! ….
But Feilong 2 is a biplane after all, and it still takes some time to deal with the "pigeon plane" in the sky.
And just as the fighting and strangulation began in the air, the shelling on the sea became more and more intense!
At 5:48, 10 minutes after the confrontation between 12 "Beggars' Battleships" and 11 "Sovereign"-class battleships, with a loud "boom", a ball of fire rose up amidships of the Sovereign-class battleship Dignity. A 320 mm caliber armor-piercing projectile hit the superstructure amidships. Although it did not hit any vital points, the huge 10,000-ton ship trembled a few times, and then six 10-inch 45-caliber cannons also fired. Neighing and roaring, like an enraged beast.
However, the anger of the Dignity cannot buy it higher artillery accuracy. In order to avoid the cruisers and destroyers following the Ming army's "beggar's version of the battleship"
After launching a torpedo attack, the distance between the British first battleship formation and the "beggar's battleship" was far... It was indeed a bit far for the six 10-inch guns of the Sovereign class. But for the "Island" class 320mm cannon, this distance is just right.
The reason for this is that in addition to the fact that the 320mm cannon can shoot farther than the 10-inch cannon, the optical rangefinder used by the Ming Navy is better than that used by the British army, and the artillery staff and calculations of the Ming Navy They are better at mathematics. Not only do they have stronger mental arithmetic abilities, but they also have a "manual intelligence" calculation tool - the abacus! No matter how difficult the calculation is, there is no need to count your fingers...
The Ming fleet also used radio stations for unified command earlier, and its ability to focus fire was stronger. Although it only had 24 320mm guns, it was able to overwhelm the British First Battleship Formation with 66 9.2-inch guns. No disadvantage at all.
In addition, although the 11 Sovereign ships of the British Royal Navy have 66 cannons, they cannot achieve the required rate of fire because they adopt an immature triple turret design... This Sovereign class, The bad luck lies with the main gun!
First, the 13.5-inch retractable cannon was almost useless because the rate of fire was too slow. Now after replacing it with the triple 9.2-inch cannon, the situation is better, but the six cannons can only fire at the rate of four cannons at most, which is not very high. allow……
At 5:50, the Dignity, which was targeted by 24 320mm cannons, finally received its second shot among its "shipmates"!
This time it was the waterline armor belt at the bow of the ship that took a heavy hit!
320mm armor-piercing bullets are no joke! Let alone a classic ship like the Sovereign, even a visit from the King William IV would be enough.
With a loud noise, a huge hole was blown out of the bow of the Dignity, and sea water poured in as if it was free (it was not free in the first place). After a while, its bow sank significantly.
Although the bow of the Dignity did not continue to sink after sealing several compartments, the balance of the ship's body was no longer there, and the three 9.2-inch cannons on the bow also lost their accuracy due to the tilt of the hull.
In addition, due to a large amount of water entering the bow, the speed of this battleship also dropped from 20 knots to 17 knots... and gradually became a backward entity!
Just another minute later, the salvo of 12 "Island" ships hit the Dignity again. This time, a 320mm shell directly hit the bow turret of the Dignity-class ship, directly penetrating and hitting it. burst!
In just ten minutes, the battleship HMS Dignity, which was at the forefront of the British battle formation, had already received a "shot in the head" and lost most of its combat effectiveness.
However, the British army's unfavorable start has just begun! The next unlucky one was the "Emperor of India", the first ship of the Emperor's battleship.
As more and more pigeon planes are shot down, the shielding provided by the pigeon planes has lost its effectiveness.
At this moment, a group of Double Dragon reconnaissance bombers finally broke through the air defense network of the "Indian Emperor" and sent a heavy armor-piercing bomb into the middle of the "Indian Emperor".
After a violent explosion, a very large and fatal hole was blown out behind the middle chimney of the "Emperor of India" and on the rear deck...
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Daluoluo
