"Admiral, the Emperor of India reported being hit by a bomb and on fire!"
"Admiral, the Indian Emperor reports that the No. 2 engine room is damaged and the power loss exceeds 30%. Please leave the team!"
In the bridge of the King William IV, reports about the damage to the Emperor of India came one after another. William Baga's face turned green when he heard it. Before he could fight with the enemy's main fleet, there was a standard ship. The engine room of the 25,000-ton battleship was blown up! Although William Baga has as many as 41 battleships at his disposal, according to his own calculations, there are only 6 Indian Emperor-class battleships and 2 William IV-class battleships that can really fight against the Ming Dynasty's "Zhongwang-class" and above battleships. There are only 8 King-class ships in total, and now one of them is "lame". Then the Chinese battleships come up in groups, how can they fight?
Thinking of this, William Baga no longer cared about the ongoing battle between the "Old Battleship" (Monarch Class) and the "Beggar's Battleship" (Island Class), and quickly issued an order: "The Second and Third Teams have strengthened. Anti-aircraft, let the destroyer cast smoke to protect the warship!"
"But sir, if the second and third battles focus on air defense and let the destroyers let out smoke, we will not be able to support the first battleship detachment with the heavy artillery of the Indian Emperor class and King William IV class."
William Baga shook his head and said: "Isn't it just 12 modified old battleships? The 11 Sovereign-class ships of the First Battleship Division can't deal with them?"
As if to prove that William Baga's words were right, while his words were still lingering on his lips, a huge fireball suddenly rose on the stern deck of an "Island" class battleship of the Ming Army. This fireball It's so bright and dazzling!
"It was our Sovereign class that knocked out its turret!" William Baga raised his binoculars and shouted excitedly, "And the first battleship formation's roundabout will be completed soon. The battleship has bypassed the left side of the enemy's formation... Now we are going to win the next round!"
The front row of the first battleship formation, which turned out to be composed of the Sovereign class, has passed in front of the 11 Island class battleships. Two of the Sovereign class ships have completed the turn. Now they can use their own 12 9.2-inch cannons. Focus on bombarding the fragile stern of an island-class battleship - since they are "beggar's versions", of course they are not indestructible everywhere, otherwise this "beggar" would be too decent and too expensive.
When these beggar-style battleships were refitted, they focused on strengthening the protection of the bow and main gun turret, while the buttocks of the ship were relatively neglected. This is why Guo Xiaobao asked them to form a horizontal team and use the bow of the ship to confront the enemy.
But battleships, after all, you get what you pay for. This group of "beggar's edition" ships still can't compare with the expensive but powerful Zhongwang class, Shihuang class, and Da Zhou class. If they were replaced, they would not have concentrated the 24 320 main guns of 12 ships and fired more than ten rounds, but they still could not sink the Dignity... Although the Dignity was able to sink the Dignity in just a few minutes. It had already been hit by three more 320mm shells. The turret on the bow of the ship was blown off, and a hole was opened in the waterline amidships. The hull tilted seriously, but after all, it was still floating on the sea, and it was still leaning on another ship. Adding water to the side restored the balance little by little.
It has to be said that in peacetime, these Sovereign-class battleships built with the requirements of excellence in craftsmanship are still very capable of withstanding battles.
Seeing that his monarchy could still be maintained, William Baga emphasized his tone: "The key now is to protect the large battleships of the second and third battle groups...We must strengthen air defense and order the destroyers to release smoke, immediately !」
"Yes, sir!"
...
"Admiral, the two Sovereign-class ships have completed their detour!"
"Admiral, the distance is just right now..."
"Admiral, the flag signal of Pang Shiyuan is ready to charge..."
"Admiral, it's time!"
On the "Kongming" large light cruiser, Guo Xiaobao was taking a big breath, trying to make himself look less nervous, and beside him, the staff officers were loudly reporting and urging - urging him to give the order to charge!
The elite of the Ming Dynasty Navy on the "Kongming"
Ying is not an idiot. Of course he knows that 12 beggar battleships cannot defeat 11 monarchs... Even if 11 monarchs cannot hit their bows, they can still use their speed advantage to complete a roundabout and then attack. Their fragile sides.
Therefore, the monarch will rely on the tactic of quickly detouring to the flanks or even the back of the beggars' battleships. This is something that anyone with a brain can think of.
Guo Xiaobao's staff proposed a strategy that now seems crazy - using 4 "Kongming" class ships, 3 "Zhuangshi" class ships and 8 "Guard" class ships to form the first commando team, with 2 A "Hero" class ship, 3 "Strong" class ships and 8 "Guard" class ships formed the second commando team, and rushed in two batches to the Monarch class that was coming around to release torpedoes!
At the same time, the remaining destroyers are ready to release smoke at any time to cover the retreat of the "Island" class battleship.
In other words, four cruisers, including the Kongming, will launch a charge against the powerful firepower of the Sovereign-class triple-mounted 9.2-inch main gun turret... and the timing of this charge is very important and cannot wait. All monarchs must turn around the corner before charging forward, otherwise the Kongming will run into the fire net of more than 60 9.2-inch cannons!
Guo Xiaobao, who is also a member of the elite group of the Ming Navy, of course knows that now is not the time to be afraid, he must make up his mind!
Thinking of this, he gritted his teeth and said, "Kong Ming...charge!"
"yes!"
As the staff officers around Guo Xiaobao loudly received their orders, the "four military advisors" - the Zhuge Kongming, Pang Shiyuan, Zhou Gongjin, and Lu Zijing, who had already turned the steam turbine to maximum power, began to charge together. .
This is the big charge of the "Military Alliance"!
Although these four "big light cruisers" named after famous military advisors during the Three Kingdoms period only have a standard displacement of 13,000 tons, the total power of their steam turbines is greater than that of the largest British battleship, the King William IV class. The total power of the host is 50% greater!
Driven by the strong power of 46,000 horsepower, the "four military strategists" who were hiding behind the beggar's version of the battleship suddenly went crazy. In just a few minutes, they reached the fastest speed and headed towards the corner they had just completed. , the two Sovereign-class ships that were bombarding the heavy gunboat "Salmon Island" rushed towards them.
"Kong Ming, Shi Yuan, enemy ship No. 1!"
"Gongjin, Zijing...the enemy's second ship!"
"7,000-meter torpedo attack, 5 rounds per ship!"
At the shouts of the gunnery staff, a five-unit 630mm rotating torpedo launcher on the four cruisers began to turn and aimed at their respective targets. Hong Renkun, who was in charge of measuring the distance on the Kong Ming's mast, was doing two things. While silently reciting "God bless us, Heavenly Father" in his heart, he was announcing the distance loudly.
"9000 meters!"
"8500 meters!"
"8000 meters!"
"7500 meters..."
When Hong Renkun shouted the distance "7000 meters" into the phone receiver, the gunnery officer of the Kongming heard it and immediately gave the order to launch.
"Torpedo...release!"
His order was quickly conveyed to the torpedo launch squad through the ship's telephone, and then there were five muffled sounds of "bang bang bang bang bang bang". The five torpedoes were pushed out of the launch tube by the high-pressure air. After falling into the water, the propellers on the stern It began to rotate rapidly, and also expelled a string of bubbles, forming a white trail.
The two observers on the Sovereign level who had just turned the corner also noticed 7 cruisers and 8 destroyers rushing toward them like crazy, and quickly called the bridge to report. But it was already too late...these two monarchs didn't even have time to turn their guns to bombard the approaching "strategists". The "strategists" had already fired the first wave of torpedoes, which were a total of 20 630 mm torpedoes. A heavy steam gas torpedo, and it was fired at a distance of 7,000 meters. The two Sovereigns didn't even have time to turn their bows, and the torpedo was already in front of them!
The first one to be hit was the Terror. A 630mm heavy torpedo penetrated the waterline amidships.
The armored belt opened a large hole that can only be described as terrifying, and the huge explosion power also tore the power compartment of the battleship. I don't know how many tons of seawater surged in, and the damage control personnel had no time to do anything. This warship that once dominated the west and dominated the ocean capsized and sank in the vast Pacific Ocean.
Then came the Canopus. It was hit by two astonishingly powerful 630mm torpedoes, both of which hit the stern of the ship. The two big explosions destroyed the whole stern of the ship. The people on the ship didn't even have time to react. The battleship's The bow of the ship had already been lifted due to the large amount of water entering and sinking at the stern of the ship, and then it "bottomed down" and sank to the bottom.
And this was not all the disasters that the British fleet encountered in just a few minutes. The Dignity, which had been surrounded by 24 320mm cannons, also suffered a big explosion at this time. The 320mm shells seemed to penetrate its ammunition. library, triggering a big explosion, and the entire battleship instantly turned into a fire ship...
The drastic changes on the front line made William Baga, who was concentrating on air defense, so shocked that his jaw almost dropped. But before he could figure out what to do, someone around him shouted: "General, their main force, the Chinese The main force is here!"
