The proposition of fighting artillery shells as missiles may seem absurd, but technically speaking, it is completely feasible.

The caliber of artillery in this era is much larger than that of later generations, such as 305 mm caliber and 234 mm caliber artillery shells, which are actually about the same size as the small missiles of later generations, such as the diameter of the Eagle Strike 83 missile is 360 mm, and the diameter of the Haihongqi 7 missile equipped with the Xiangyang ship and Huaihua ship is only 156 mm.

The initial speed of artillery in this era is generally 700-750 m/s, about Mach 2.2-2.3, and the terminal velocity is about 500-550 m/s, which is about Mach 1.5-1.6, while the YJ-83 is a subsonic anti-ship missile with a terminal velocity of about Mach 1.3, while the speed of a general supersonic missile is Mach 2, and the terminal velocity is about Mach 3-4, so it is not far from the speed difference. The trajectory of artillery is relatively gentle, and it can also be regarded as a missile flying over the sea, so it seems completely reasonable to regard the large-caliber artillery shells of this era as missiles in theory.

Of course, there is also a clear difference between the two; generally the location of the missile launch is relatively far, at least more than 100 miles, while the phased array radar has an extremely wide monitoring range, which can reach 400 to 500 kilometers, so it can detect the missile in advance and gain enough time for the fleet's anti-missile operation; and now the distance between the two sides is only about 10 kilometers, and the speed of the shells in this era, after flying this distance, is about 15-20 seconds, so there is not much time left for the fleet to resist the missile.

However, generally speaking, the air defense and anti-missile system of modern air defense warships is divided into four levels, and the Kunming ship is a typical example:

The first layer is long-range air defense, which is 40-150 kilometers away or even farther; it is completed by Haihongqi 9, which generally intercepts 5 to 60 percent of the missiles;

The second layer is medium-range air defense, at a distance of 20-40 km, which is completed by Haihongqi-16, and then intercepts five to six percent of the remaining missiles;

The third layer is short-range air defense, at a distance of 5-15 km, which is completed by Haihongqi-10, intercepting the remaining missiles after the first two layers of air defense;

The fourth layer is close defense, within 5 kilometers of the distance, which is completed by the close defense artillery to intercept the last fish that slip through the net;

In order to intercept artillery shells at a distance of about 10 kilometers, the first two layers of air defense and anti-missile systems are obviously not used, and they can only rely on the rear two layers of air defense and anti-missile systems, and the main thing is to defend at close range, and every warship that crosses the fleet is equipped with extremely fast anti-aircraft guns to intercept missiles at close range with dense firepower.

The Kunming ship is equipped with an H/PJ-7 7-barreled 30 mm anti-aircraft gun (referred to as the 730 close-in anti-aircraft gun), with a rate of fire: 1200-5800 rounds / min, and a range of 2500 meters against missiles and 3500 meters against aircraft.

Because the Yueyang and Sanya ships are only equipped with Haihongqi 16 medium-range air defense missiles, and are not equipped with long-range and short-range air defense missiles, they are equipped with a more powerful H/PJ-11 11-barreled 30 mm naval gun, which can lock more than 40 targets at a time, and the maximum firepower can reach 11,000 rounds per minute. And in the crossing fleet, it can be used as the main force of close defense.

Due to the long age of the ships and the relatively backward weapons, the Xiangyang and Huaihua ships are only equipped with Haihongqi-7 short-range anti-aircraft missiles, and the close-in defense weapons are four Type 76F twin-mounted 37mm 63 times the diameter fast guns, with a rate of fire of 800 rounds per minute per gun. Although it is inferior to the close defense guns on the Kunming, Yueyang, and Sanya ships, it also has good close defense capabilities. Moreover, even the Changbaishan ship is equipped with four AK-630 6-barreled 30-mm anti-aircraft guns.

The six ships combined, coupled with the phased array radar monitoring of the Kunming ship, the close defense capability of the entire crossing fleet is still quite considerable, and considering that the artillery of the eight-nation coalition fleet is basically impossible to aim at at this time, the probability of actually being able to hit the crossing fleet is extremely low, and at most only one or two shells can hit the crossing fleet, so with the current close defense capability of the crossing fleet, it is completely capable of intercepting it.

First of all, the defense of the fleet was done, and Xia Bohai ordered the Kunming, Xiangyang, and Huaihua ships to open fire to attack the warships of the Eight-Nation Alliance anchored at the dock, and the Yueyang and Sanya warships were responsible for close defense and intercepted the fleeing warships.

After the order was given, the Kunming ship opened fire first, and the target of the attack was the still struggling Sisoy.

Although the command judged that the Sisoi had basically lost its combat effectiveness, the Russian soldiers on the ship did not give up and were still struggling to rescue the warship, so although the warship was slowly sinking, the Sisoi had not yet been fully sentenced to death. And for the crossing fleet, for the sake of safety, it is better to give it a few more cannons and completely sink the Sisoy.

The distance of 10 kilometers is a suitable distance for the H/PJ38 single-barreled 130mm naval gun assembled by the Kunming ship, and the hit rate can reach more than 80%. Of course, there is no difference between day and night.

The Kunming fired five shots at the Sisoi, and as a result, two shots were missed, all of which hit the deck of the Sisoy, and two more missed, only one missed.

Although the Sisoy's broadside armor was up to 400 mm thick, the armor of the buildings on the deck was not strong, except for the headquarters and turret, it was generally below 100 mm, not to mention two large gaps in the deck. As a result, after these two shells hit the Sisoi, they immediately killed and wounded the Russian soldiers who were busy on the deck, and the stumps and broken arms flew around.

The other two near-miss bombs hurt the Sisoi even more, because there were already many water seepages on the side and bottom of the Sisoy, and the near-miss bombs exploded in the water, and the squeezing force of the water caused damage to the warship, and the damage area was mainly below the waterline, so it was naturally even worse for the Sisoi. As a result, the water seeped faster, and the efficiency of the rescue personnel was greatly reduced after the shelling, and the Sisoi naturally sank faster.

The water at the pier was not deep, so soon the Sisoi touched the base beach, unable to move, and the sea water almost flooded the deck of the Sisoi, and the captain of the ship, Colonel Volkov, had to order all the soldiers of the ship to evacuate the warship.

The Kunming ship was beating the water dogs, while the Xiangyang ship and the Huaihua ship were also not idle, and they opened fire and bombarded their own targets.

The main engine of the Kunming has already assigned targets to the two ships, and the first target of the Xiangyang is the US warship Newark, which is a large warship with a displacement of 7,000 tons, and in terms of tonnage alone, it is as good as three Xiangyang ships, and among the warships of the Eight-Nation Coalition at the mouth of Dagu, it is second only to the Sisoi and the Russian, and it is firmly in the third place. However, although the tonnage of the Newark is large, it is only a protective cruiser after all, and the armor is mainly arranged near the waterline, and the armor of other parts is not strong, or even none.

Although the power of the Xiangyang's twin 100-mm guns was not as powerful as the Kunming's 130 guns, it was enough to fight a protective cruiser like the Newark, so the Xiangyang fired ten guns in one go, and as a result, five shells hit the Newark, three missed, and two were all over. The Newark's side was blown open by two gaps four or five meters wide, dozens of soldiers in the cabin were wounded and killed, and two guns were also hit on the deck, causing more than a dozen soldiers to be killed and wounded, and two secondary guns were destroyed.

However, the Newark was a large protective cruiser after all, although it took a few shots, but it did not cause fatal injuries, and the captain Colonel Smith had no way to deal with it at this time, so he had to urge the boiler room again and again to quickly boil water to start the steam engine, in fact, the soldiers who blamed the boiler had worked hard enough, and the coal was shoveled into the furnace with a spade, and it never stopped for a moment, and the soldiers who were blowing the wind were also desperately blowing the wind, all of them were sweating profusely and their faces were covered with soot.

It's just that to drive a 7,000-ton ship, it needs about 12,000 horsepower, and the boiler is huge, and it is not possible to boil the water in the boiler in a short time.

The other Huaihua ship was participating in actual combat for the first time, and the first target assigned was the French ship Pascal, a protective cruiser with a displacement of less than 4,000 tons, which was not strong in armor or firepower, and even the waterline was only 150 mm. The officers and men of the Huaihua ship were very excited, aiming and firing meticulously. Because the Pascal could not move, the captain Zhang Guangzhi ordered that the ship's guns should not be fired in bursts, but one cannon at a time, striving to ensure the accuracy of each gun. As a result, the Huaihua ship's hit rate was surprisingly high, with seven shots and seven hits, all of which hit Pascal.

The Pascal was able to withstand such a blow, and was suddenly hit in many places on the hull, two large gaps were blown open on the side side, and the deck was also a mess, a fire broke out, and countless casualties were killed, and a large amount of sea water poured into the hull, rushing the French soldiers who were rushing to repair the damage to the ship, and it was impossible to plug the gap. Seeing this, the captain of the ship, Hahn, also completely dispelled the idea of saving himself, and had to order the soldiers to abandon the ship and escape.

As a result, the Pascal became the third warship in the coalition fleet to be sunk.

At this time, the Kunming ship had sunk the Sisoi, and the next target was two British ships, the Orlando and the Alola, although these two warships were not large, with a displacement of only 5,600 tons, but they were armored cruisers, with waterline armor reaching 254 mm, and equipped with 1 twin 234 mm caliber guns, which can be said to be the two warships that pose the greatest threat to the crossing fleet in addition to the Sisoi and the Russians. Therefore, in the plan, both warships were handed over to the Kunming ship to deal with.

The first two guns hit the side of the Alola, but the thick armor played a good protective role and did not cause great damage, and at this moment, the Orlando, which was moored next to the Alola, suddenly "boomed" and opened fire, and the shells flew over a distance of several thousand meters and fell into the sea, stirring up a water column more than ten meters high. The guns on the Alola also opened fire.

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