When the battle order to attack the Japanese ships reached the Yueyang and Xiangyang ships, the officers and men of the two ships were all excited, and in the wheelhouse of the bridge, there was even a burst of cheers, and some soldiers even took off their military caps and threw them into the sky.

Because China was generally in a peaceful era before the crossing, there was basically no large-scale war, so a large modern warship like the Yueyang ship, but almost did not even have a chance to fight, although China has escorted the Gulf of Aden and normalized the fight against piracy, but the strength of the pirates is indeed too limited. Counter-terrorism and other areas have been given some limited opportunities for actual combat. Like this evacuation operation, after the marines went ashore, they fought several battles with terrorist organizations, but the Yueyang ship, which had strong combat power, could only stop in the harbor and do nothing.

And just now Luo Yue led the troops ashore, and immediately fought a solid battle with the Russian army, killing more than 40 Russian soldiers in the first battle, the news first reached the Yueyang ship, although the officers and men on the ship were happy, but more envy, like this opportunity to participate in the actual battle, is something that every officer and soldier on the ship has been looking forward to for a long time, when can they be like the landing troops, a good battle. Now that the opportunity has finally come to us, can the officers and men on the two warships not be excited! Not to mention that this time it is a fight against a Japanese warship, and the Chinese army has never had to be mobilized.

Wang Hailong, the captain of the Yueyang ship, thumped heavily on the operation table of the bridge, and said loudly: "Let's go, let's go fight the little devils, all departments will cheer me up, let the little devils know how powerful we are." This battle must not only be won, but also won by the beautiful ones, and we can't let the Marines compare with us. ”

Political Commissar Cai Ning said: "Captain, don't be careless, don't forget, the command has an order that we can only use naval guns to engage enemy ships, and we can't use anti-ship missiles unless we have to, so our advantage will be greatly reduced, and our combat effectiveness may not be as good as the Xiangyang ship." ”

Chen Xiaojiang, deputy of the fleet, said: "Yes, I can't figure out why the headquarters gave such an order, if we use missiles, we will stop here and not move, and we can kill the little devil's ship by launching missiles directly." ”

Wang Hailong said: "All actions are subject to command, the headquarters has the consideration of the headquarters, we just have dozens of missiles, one shot will be one less, to deal with these small ships, it is too wasteful to use anti-ship missiles, it must be reserved to fight big ships, there will definitely be a chance in the future, naval guns will be naval guns, and we can finally fight a happy battle, so don't have any complaints." ”

Cai Ning said: "Yes, this battle is just an appetizer, since we have traveled to this era, we don't have to worry about not fighting, try it with naval artillery first, and then the headquarters does not mean that you can't use missiles, but you can save a little." ”

Wang Hailong nodded, turned to the radar work area, and said, "Where is the little devil's fleet, how far away is it?" ”

The radar observer was Liu Sitong, a female soldier, and said: "Report to the captain, the enemy ship is in our southwest direction, with a straight-line distance of 23.8 kilometers. ”

Wang Hailong said: "Turn immediately, the speed is 18 knots, the target is the Japanese fleet, all departments are ready to fight, tell the Xiangyang ship, let them keep up, and also prepare for battle." ”

According to the customary practice of the navy, when a battleship formation consisting of two or more warships does not designate a flagship or formation commander, the commander of the formation is automatically the commander of the formation with the highest rank among the two captains. Wang Hailong, the captain of the Yueyang ship, is a colonel with the rank of regiment, while Xie Fuzhan, the captain of the Xiangyang ship, is a lieutenant colonel with the rank of deputy regiment, so when the Yueyang ship and the Xiangyang ship form a temporary formation, Wang Hailong, the captain of the Yueyang ship, automatically becomes the commander of the formation.

The two warships turned in an arc on the surface of the sea, one in front of the other, and headed in the direction of the Japanese fleet.

At this time, the distance between the two sides was only more than 20 kilometers, and the speed of 18 knots was almost 33 kilometers an hour, so in less than half an hour, the distance between the two sides was shortened to within 10 kilometers, and during this time, the Yueyang and Xiangyang warships were also ready for battle, the gun jackets and bullet armor on the main guns, secondary guns, anti-ship missiles, and anti-aircraft missiles were all removed, and the fire control radars of the naval guns were also turned on to aim at the enemy ships.

At this distance, as long as the visibility on the sea surface is not bad, they can basically be found by the naked eye, not to mention the telescope, so the lookouts on the Japanese warships have already discovered the Yueyang and Xiangyang ships. Immediately report to the captain of the Akitsuzu, Tatsu Iwaji, Osa, that an unfamiliar ship has been discovered.

Although the Akitsuzu was a meritorious battleship for Japan's victory in the Sino-Japanese War, due to the rapid development of naval technology in this era, the Akitsuzu was indeed outdated at this time, and in 1898 it was listed as a second-class cruiser by the Japanese Admiralty.

The commander-in-chief was Vice Admiral Yamaguchi Sotomi, commander of the Fifth Division, and the navy dispatched a huge fleet of 12 warships, including Vice Admiral Heihachiro Togo, commander of the standing fleet, the armored cruiser Tokiwa, as the flagship, and the protective cruisers Takasago, Kasasaki, Chitose, Yoshino, Akitsusu, Suma, Akashi, the notification ship Tatsuda, and the shallow gunboats Atago, Jinna, and Jinbebe.

However, although the Japanese fleet is the largest in terms of quantity alone, except for the Joban, the rest of the warships are the second and third class warships in the Japanese fleet, among which the shallow water gunboats Zhenzhong and Zhenbian are still the warships of the Beiyang Naval Division captured by Japan in the First Sino-Japanese War, and they were directly incorporated into the Japanese fleet without even changing their names. This is mainly because the naval strength of the Qing court is too weak, and it is not worth sending the main warships at all. The other three warships of Britain, the United States, and Russia were not very numerous, but they each sent a battleship.

At this time, the Eight-Nation Coalition had invaded Beijing, the Empress Dowager Cixi and the Guangxu Emperor had fled from the capital, and the current Qing court had no power to resist, so the Eight-Nation Coalition also thought that it was done, and had achieved a complete victory, and the remaining thing was just how to punish the Qing court at the negotiating table and ask for more compensation, so the main warships of various countries also left Dagukou one after another, leaving only some small ships to anchor in Dagukou.

In the early battle, the Japanese army also looted a large amount of money and materials, and it was useless for the huge fleet to stay at the mouth of Dagu, so Togo Heihachiro decided to lead five warships, the Joban, the Takasago, the Kasaki, the Chitose, and the Yoshino, to escort the money and materials back to China, leaving the Akitsuzu, Suma, Akashi, Atago, Tatsuda, Zhenzhong, and Zhenbian to continue to anchor at the Dagu Pass. Because among the remaining warships, the captain of the Akitsuzu, Tatsu Iwasaki Osa, had the highest military rank and seniority, so the remaining fleet took the Akitsuzu as the flagship, and the Iwachi Tatsu Osa, who had just taken over as the captain of the Akitsuzu, was very fortunate to become the commander of this temporary fleet.

However, although at this time, the main warships of the Beiyang Naval Division, the "Five Seas", fled to Shanghai and participated in the "Southeast Mutual Protection", it still left certain hidden dangers for the Eight-Nation Alliance. Although the "five seas" are all protective cruisers and their combat effectiveness is not very strong, they are new, fast, and familiar with the terrain of the sea area, so they cannot be underestimated; what if the "five seas" come to attack suddenly? Therefore, the warships of the Eight-Nation Alliance take turns patrolling the waters of Dagukou to guard against accidents. And today it is Japan's turn. Due to the long age and slow speed of the two shallow gunboats, Zhenzhong and Zhenbian, they were not brought with them on this patrol.

After receiving the lookout's report, Tatsushi Iwasaki Osa couldn't help but be in good spirits, and immediately picked up the monocular and looked in the direction indicated by the lookout.

It turned out that although Tatsuto Iwasaki had just become the captain of the Akitsuzu, he had great ambitions to add glory to this meritorious battleship. This time he came to China with Heihachiro Togo, and Tatsuto Iwasaki very much hoped that he could fight another battle with the Beiyang Fleet, and like the predecessors who participated in the First Sino-Japanese War, he would make another contribution to Japan, and at the same time accumulate capital for his own promotion.

It turned out that in 1896, Japan had already formulated a "ten-year plan for naval development" known as the "66th Fleet," that is, it was to build its main warships with six battleships and six armored cruisers as the core within 10 years. As early as before the First Sino-Japanese War, in order to fight against the Dingyuan and Zhenyuan ships of the Beiyang Naval Division, Japan ordered two of the latest 12,000-ton battleships from Britain: Fuji and Yashima, but because the order was too late, at the beginning of the First Sino-Japanese War, these two battleships were not completed, so they did not catch up with the First Sino-Japanese War, and it was not until the end of 1897 that these two battleships were delivered to Japan and became the first batch of warships of the "66 Fleet".

In 1896, Japan ordered two cruisers Asama and Joban to the British, which were delivered at the end of 1899, and the battleships Shikishima and Hatsuse, of which Shikishima had just been delivered at the beginning of the year, and Hatsuse was still under construction.

In addition, Japan ordered one armored cruiser from Germany and France each, the Yakumo and the Azuma. He also ordered two battleships, the Asahi and Mikasa, and two cruisers, Izumo and Iwate, from the British. In this way, the "66th Fleet" has been assembled, and Japan has already received five of them, and seven more are still under construction, which will be gradually delivered to Japan in the next two or three years.

The captains of the ships who participated in the First Sino-Japanese War five years ago had all been promoted, the commander at that time, Yuko Ito, had already entered the Admiralty, and the captain of the Naniwa, Heihachiro Togo, had already served as the commander of the standing fleet, and the worst was also the commander of the subfleet, so the captains of the "66th Fleet" were all selected from among the captains of the later ranks.

And the captains of the remaining seven capital warships are naturally selected from the current captains of second-class cruisers, and Iwasaki Tatsuto certainly hopes that he can win a spot, after all, commanding a 10,000-ton warship and commanding a 3,000-ton warship naturally feel very different.

However, if you want to compete for these seven places, you naturally have to come up with a little dry goods, the most convincing thing is the record, but unfortunately the fleet has been driven from Japan to Dagukou, and has not encountered a warship of the Qing State, and only after arriving at Dagukou did you know that the Beiyang Naval Division had fled to Shanghai, so it made Iwasaki Dazuo very disappointed, fortunately, before Togo Heihachiro left, Iwasaki Tatsushi was appointed as the commander of the Japanese fleet stationed at Dagukou, so that Iwasaki Tatsuto got some comfort, after all, to be able to become a fleet commander, even if it is only a temporary fleet, it is not easy。

Although Iwasaki Tatsuto still hopes that the Beiyang Fleet can fight back, but he himself knows that this hope is almost impossible to achieve, but he didn't expect to find a strange ship on this trip, so Iwasaki Tatsuto is also thinking in his heart, it is difficult that the god of sunshine heard his prayer and really let the Beiyang Fleet fight back.

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