Bernard was so frightened that he broke into a cold sweat. He witnessed with his own eyes that his own battleship was hit by the enemy's artillery shells and burst into flames.
He could even feel his hands shaking, and he had begun to regret adjusting his course and allowing the No. 1 East Bay battleship to be hit by an enemy ship.
"Am I wrong?" He asked himself, blaming himself in his heart: "Does the God of War prefer brave commanders?"
He couldn't even wait for the report from the battleship Dongwan No. 1. He grabbed the telescope hanging on his chest and went to see the black smoke rising from Dongwan No. 1.
"How is East Bay 1? Is the damage serious?" He asked immediately, and his adjutant didn't know how to answer.
Because they don't know what happened to Dongwan No. 1, they are also looking at Dongwan No. 1, trying to get some clues.
At the same time, in the Mirage Kingdom's flagship bridge, a man from Mirage Sea twitched the corners of his mouth and almost laughed out loud.
He had already begun to despair. If he failed to annihilate the enemy fleet in this battle, it would be only responsible for the loss of more than half of the naval battleships, which would almost make him move his head.
But now, the battle situation has reversed. As long as he can continuously hit enemy ships, sink the three battleships of the Tang Army, and regain control of the sea, the situation will be different.
So he clenched his fists, cheered up and shouted loudly: "Beautiful! Well done! Keep firing! Sink the enemy ships! Sink them! Sink them!"
It is a pity that the main gun reloading speed of the battleship produced by Cyric cannot be accelerated with his shout. Otherwise, the Mirage Navy may be able to start the next round of salvo immediately.
Although he had just witnessed a miracle with his own eyes, the shells fired by his warship hit the enemy's warship, but the follow-up firepower was weak. Now Mirage Kazuo could only wait in agony, waiting for his warship to complete the next reload.
He hoped that before the next reloading was completed, the enemy warships would not continue to flee and widen the distance, making it difficult for his artillery to aim.
What Mirage Kazuo didn't know was that Bernard, who had been out of anger, had already begun to review his plan and was preparing to face the enemy's challenge.
In the command tower of the East Bay No. 3 battleship, Bernard revised his order. He gave up using tricks and decided to face the opponent in front of him in an upright manner.
Therefore, he reissued his order: "Stop turning! Change the course back to the previous state! Keep firing! Sink the enemy before they get close!"
"General!" The adjutant was slightly startled. He felt that Bernard seemed a little impulsive. This kind of behavior from the top is actually taboo for military strategists.
"Execute the order!" Bernard insisted on his idea: "I have already backed down once! The God of War punished me for my cowardice! Now I have decided to face everything with courage! Please protect me from the God of War! Long live your Majesty!"
"Long live your Majesty!" The adjutant stood at attention and saluted, and then loudly conveyed the fleet commander's order: "Stop turning! Change the course back to the previous state! Keep firing!"
"Stop turning! Restore course!" The helmsman turned the steering wheel and repeated Bernard's order loudly.
In the calculation cabin, the non-commissioned officers were very busy due to the continuous steering. The people above just talked, and they had to work non-stop to re-determine the firing parameters of the artillery.
This was a complex and boring set of actions. They couldn't see the enemy and could only vaguely hear the sound of artillery. They were sitting at their jobs, with a turntable filled with numbers and a scale densely packed with scales in front of them.
On the other side, on the battleship Dongwan No. 1, which was hit in the turret, the damage control personnel rushed to the hit place with the water pipe in a panic, only to realize that there was a false alarm.
The enemy's shells did not penetrate the armor on the main gun turret, but only left a horrific-looking scar on it.
It is estimated that the two 305 mm caliber main guns on this turret can no longer be used, and the lifeboats stacked on the top of the turret are also ruined.
However, the damage was not serious and did not even affect the speed of the battleship. The gunners in the three turrets were seriously injured, and the firing commander was pulled out of the turret with blood on his face.
Two loaders were killed, and seven others were shaken unconscious. However, compared with the shipwreck and casualties, these losses can only be said to be very slight.
So the damage control commander immediately found a nearby cabin with a phone and reported the damage. Even, because the loss was not big, his voice was full of pride when he spoke.
"Yes, yes! Captain! The turret was not penetrated. 11 people were seriously injured and 27 were slightly injured. There was no fire! No! It didn't even affect the drive shaft. Very lucky, yes, very lucky!" After the report, He hung up the phone and continued directing the maintenance work.
They had to put out open fires and check all corners to make sure nothing went wrong, especially the ammunition magazines directly under the main gun turret.
Soon, the good news reached Bernard's ears. The East Bay Battleship No. 1 was not seriously injured and could still keep up with the fleet and continue fighting.
Bernard breathed a sigh of relief. After learning the good news, he finally focused his attention again on the approaching enemy ships.
After a round of salvo correction, the Tang Army's main gun found its feeling again, and in the subsequent round of salvo, it directly produced astonishing results.
There is no way, as the distance between the two sides gets closer and closer, the ranging equipment becomes more and more accurate. As the accuracy of the data continues to improve, the accuracy of Tang Jun's sighting system is also improving crazily.
To be fair, if the enemy ship cannot be hit at this distance, then the advanced equipment Tang Mo has developed will really be just a joke.
For the Mirage Navy, this battle was both lucky and unfortunate. Fortunately, this round of volleys hit the Tang Army's flagship, but it was unfortunate that Mirage Kazuo saw this tragedy till the end.
At least three shells hit the advancing Cyric battleship, two shells hit the bridge directly, and another hit the main gun turret directly ahead.
The battleship had an earth-shattering explosion in an instant. Tang Jun's shells not only detonated the propellant of the main gun, but also blew up the battleship's boiler power system.
Like sharp knives melted with butter, three shells pierced the heart of the Cyric battleship, completely destroying this expensive maritime giant in just a moment.
The explosion and disintegration of this battleship seemed to be a wake-up call, which suddenly woke up the Mirage Kazuo who had just been dreaming of turning defeat into victory.
He stared dumbfoundedly at his own warship, which instantly turned into two pieces, and then suddenly turned into three pieces, without saying a word for a long time.
"Life, life, order...order...let, let, let, let the cruisers, and, and, and the destroyers...the fleet retreat..." Finally, he squeezed out such an order through his teeth.
He had not ordered the faster small warships of his own to retreat first because he still had the illusion in his heart that he could turn defeat into victory.
Now that his illusions were disillusioned, he also knew that no matter from any angle, he should do his best to preserve more things for Mirage.
He must do this, as a Mirage man, this is his mission! Even if only one battleship can escape, it will add a tiny glimmer of hope to the future of the Mirage Kingdom!
He couldn't stop stammering when he spoke, because he knew his fate was sealed. He was afraid of such an outcome, he was afraid of such an outcome.
"General! We have finished loading! Please continue to fire!" The adjutant came over and spoke to break the oppressive atmosphere.
Mirage Kazuo knew that this was their last chance. If they could hit the Tang warship, they might still have a chance at this distance.
Therefore, he couldn't wait to order: "Fire! Fire! Success or failure depends on this! For the Mirage! For His Majesty the King!"
"Boom!" Mirage's battleship opened fire, but to everyone's surprise, this salvo actually caused flames to burst out of Mirage's battleship, and even billowing smoke erupted.
Mirage Kazuo felt his feet shake, and he almost lost his balance. After swaying for two steps, he finally struggled not to fall.
When he saw his front deck through the porthole directly in front, his whole face turned white with anger.
One of his 302mm main guns exploded!
I don’t know if it was because Cyric was rushing during production, or for some other reason, but this artillery struck in the most annoying way when it was most important.
Mirage Kazuo, who was still counting on this salvo to save some face for the Mirage Navy, looked at the main turret that had been blown up by his own artillery, and even lost the strength to curse.
If there was a human advisor from Cyric standing next to him at this time, he would definitely push him off the bridge and throw him on the deck!
Mirage Kazuo even forgot to give the order to turn, because now the main gun in front of him seemed to be...unusable.
Whether he wanted to escape or continue fighting, facing the enemy aft was his only option at this moment.
This sudden change also shocked the Tang Army. All the artillery positions that were about to fire were stunned for a moment, and there was even a brief silence on the battlefield.
But soon, the gunners of the Tang Army remembered their responsibilities. They fired their artillery shells and enveloped the flagship of the Mirage Navy's main fleet with the densest rain of bullets.
Mirage Kazuo heard the sharp sound of the cannonballs cutting through the air. He looked to the sky, and then his bridge turned into a ball of flames.
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