Tatsuto Iwasaki smiled bitterly, what he was most worried about still happened, but when he decided to give up the Akashi, Tatsuto Iwasaki was also prepared for the worst, because now the speed of the Akitsuzu is almost two knots slower than the Suma, so if the other party catches up with the Akashi and refuses to stop, or separates a warship to chase the Akitsuzu and Suma, then the Akitsuzu can only be sacrificed again, after all, between the Akitsuzu and the Suma, it is obviously more likely that the faster Suma will escape. And now the Suma has exceeded the position of the Akitsuzu by about 500 meters.

So Tatsuto Iwasaki calmly lifted his military hat and said to the adjutant: "Send a flag to the Suma, let them go at full speed, leave us alone, and immediately report today's battle situation to the country after arriving at Dagukou, which is very important." After a pause, Tatsuto Iwasaki said in a deep voice: "Turn 90 degrees and meet the enemy ship,

The herald immediately gave the order to the signal and asked the standard-bearer to give the order to Suma, and Tatsuto Iwasaki took a deep breath, looked at the other Japanese officers in the command room, and said, "Everyone, let's be ready to be loyal to His Majesty the Emperor." As he spoke, Tatsuto Iwasaki raised his arms and shouted, "Your Majesty the Emperor, long live." ”

The other Japanese officers and soldiers in the command room also raised their arms and shouted together: "Your Majesty the Emperor, long live." ”

Although Japan in this era has not yet reached the level of all-round militarism when it launched the war of aggression against China, the nationalist sentiment in the country has been very strong, because it defeated the Qing court in the First Sino-Japanese War, and the confidence of the Japanese people has swelled, and the Japanese navy, which played a decisive role in the First Sino-Japanese War, is full of belligerent fanaticism, making meritorious contributions to Japan, opening up territory, and being loyal to the emperor. Therefore, although the Japanese officers and soldiers in the command room knew that Tatsuto Iwasaki had decided to sacrifice the Akitsuzu in order to ensure that the Suma could escape back to the mouth of Dagu, and everyone knew that they would die if they turned around and fought with the enemy ships, Tatsuto Iwasaki took the lead in shouting "Long live the emperor", which successfully aroused the martyrdom-like fanaticism of the officers and soldiers, everyone was full of fighting spirit, the gunner was in position, the helmsman steered and turned, and even Tatsuto Iwasaki walked out of the armored command room and came to the open bridge to direct the battle.

It is a very dangerous thing to command a battle on an open-air bridge, although there are favorable conditions for a wide field of vision, but there is no protection facility at all, once an accident occurs in the commander, it will lead to confusion in the command of the whole ship, affecting morale, in the battle of Dadonggou, the commander of the Beiyang Naval Division, Ding Ruchang, the commander of the Beiyang Naval Division, was on the open bridge to direct the battle, as a result, the Japanese ship's artillery shells hit and shattered the bridge deck, Ding Ruchang's left leg and foot were injured by ironwood, and his right face, head and neck, and right arm were burned by flames. Although Ding Ruchang has been sticking to the deck in the battle, he can no longer command the whole army to fight, and in the subsequent battle, the Beiyang Naval Division fought without unified command, which is also one of the reasons why the Beiyang Naval Division was defeated in the first battle of Dadonggou.

Although there is another theory about Ding Ruchang's injury in the war: it was due to the disrepair of the bridge and the recoil collapsed when the Dingyuan ship's guns were fired, either way, it shows that it is obviously too dangerous to command the battle on the unprotected open bridge, so after the First Sino-Japanese War, the navies of various countries stipulated that the captain of the ship must direct the battle in the command room. At the same time, in the later design of the warship, the command room with armor protection is designed to meet the field of view as much as possible.

And now Tatsuto Iwasaki has come to the bridge to direct the battle, showing that he has made up his mind to die, and it is also to boost the morale of the officers and men of the ship.

The hull of the Akitsuzu slowly turned, and Tatsuto Iwasaki, who had just boarded the bridge, and the other Japanese officers and men accompanying him all saw a scene that they would never forget.

Although the vast majority of them died in the battle, a few survived, as Second Lieutenant Ono Tozaburo, who was serving on the Akitsuzu at the time, wrote in his diary:

"At that time, we had already made up our minds to stop the Yueyang from catching up with the Suma, and when the captain boarded the bridge, the Yueyang was only more than 5,000 meters away from us, and the weather was very good that day, so I could see very clearly. On the front deck of the Yueyang ship, a large amount of smoke suddenly came out, at first I thought it was a sudden fire on the Yueyang ship, but then I saw a cone-shaped front end, a long cylindrical thing rising from under the front deck of the Yueyang ship, it looked like some cannonballs, but it was much longer than normal shells, and after all of them were raised, a long orange flame came out from the end, which flew up into the sky, and then ran in a parabola, flying over our heads, hitting the Suma in front of us, which looked a little like a cupola in fireworks。 Those of us on the deck and on the bridge were so stunned that it was as if we hadn't heard the huge explosion of the Suma's hit, what kind of weapon it was, that the shells could not be fired out of the chambers, and that the tail was still spewing flames. Although no one spoke for a long time afterward, everyone realized that such an opponent was too terrible for us to overcome. ”

Ono Tozaburo just recorded everything he saw truthfully, but he didn't expect that a few years later, his diary would be published by chance, and it would become a very important material for researchers to study the history of the crossing of the fleet.

Of course, Ono's diary is also full of controversy, and many opponents believe that Ono's diary is untrue, suspecting that it was forged by later generations, or that Ono Tozaburo was wrong in the fierce battle at that time, because according to Ono Tozaburo's records, this weapon was a missile that could never have appeared at this time.

The fact that was covered up was that the Yueyang ship launched a Haihongqi-16 missile and sank the Suma.

Although Wang Hailong decided to let the Xiangyang ship stay to deal with the Akashi, the Yueyang ship made a detour to continue the pursuit of the Qiujinzhou and Suma. But Wang Hailong also took into account that although the other party's speed was not as fast as his own, he had two warships, and he only had one, if the other party's two warships escaped separately, or sacrificed one more warship to protect the other, it would be a bit troublesome, and the Yueyang ship could not sink a Japanese ship first, and then chase after another Japanese ship. So after Wang Hailong consulted the headquarters, he finally got approval, and in this case, missiles can be used.

After receiving the command of the command, the officers and men on the Yueyang ship were naturally excited, because this was the combat method of the Yueyang warship, and what was the use of only artillery? It was just that the command headquarters of the Yueyang ship had to decide what missiles to use.

Both the Yueyang and Xiangyang warships are equipped with two types of missiles: anti-ship missiles and anti-aircraft missiles. The two ships are equipped with the same anti-ship missiles, which are YJ-83 light anti-ship missiles launched by two quadruple oblique arms. And the anti-aircraft missile is the biggest difference between the two ships in addition to the radar and electronic systems.

The Xiangyang ship is equipped with an eight-pack Haihongqi-7 short-range air defense missile, which is launched with an oblique arm, with a total length of 3 meters, a diameter of 156 mm, a wingspan of 0.55 meters, a total weight of 84.5 kg, a warhead weighing 14 kg, a maximum range of 13 km, a maximum combat altitude of 6,000 meters, and the ability to intercept sea-skimming anti-ship missiles, with a maximum speed of Mach 2.6. Only some air defense capabilities are available.

On the side of the Yueyang ship is 32 Haihongqi-16 medium-range air defense missiles, which adopt the most advanced vertical launch method, with a total length of 5.5 meters, a diameter of 0.34 meters, a total weight of 0.7 tons, a warhead weighing 65 kilograms, a maximum range of 40 kilometers, and a maximum combat altitude of 25 kilometers.

A warship like the Yueyang can monitor a range of 260 kilometers in diameter and be able to carry out air defense protection within a diameter of 50 kilometers. Coupled with the advantages of anti-submarine capabilities and radar and electronic systems, the comprehensive combat capability far surpasses that of the Xiangyang ship, in addition to the naval guns, of course.

To be able to use missiles in combat, it is naturally the first choice to use the YJ-83, because the YJ-83 itself is an anti-ship missile, and the warhead is also much larger than the Haihongqi-16, with high accuracy and great power.

However, after a brief discussion between Wang Hailong and the commander of the Yueyang ship, he believed that the previous commander's consideration was not unreasonable, the artillery power of the crossing fleet was seriously insufficient, and the protection of the warship itself was quite weak, so in this era, the operation mainly relied on missiles, but the entire crossing fleet carried a limited number of missiles, far less than artillery shells, and even fewer anti-ship missiles, only the Yueyang ship, the Sanya ship, the Xiangyang ship, The Huaihua ships are each equipped with eight YJ-83 anti-ship missiles, and it is indeed not cost-effective to use YJ-83 for a small ship like the Suma.

Taking the Haihongqi-16 as an example, the Yueyang, Sanya, and Kunming warships each have 32 rounds, so it is better to use the Haihongqi-16, and the YJ-83 is still reserved for targeting with greater value. In addition, the use of Haihongqi-16 is also quite experimental, and if the anti-aircraft missile can effectively hit the ships of this era, then there will be more options for crossing the fleet, because the Kunming ship is also equipped with 32 more powerful Haihongqi-9 long-range anti-aircraft missiles.

Although the Haihongqi-16 is an anti-aircraft missile, it is equipped with the ability to intercept sea-skimming anti-ship missiles, so it can actually be used to attack non-missile targets on the sea surface. And considering that the electronic countermeasures and jamming capabilities of this era are basically zero, it is completely more than enough to use the Seared Flag 16 to attack the Suma.

However, the command of the Yueyang ship also made two preparations, if one Haihongqi 16 was not enough to sink the Suma, then use another one, and if the Haihongqi 16 failed to hit the Suma, it could only use the Eagle Strike 83.

Sure enough, after the Haihongqi-16 missile was launched, it crossed a huge parabola from the air, jumped over the head of the Akitsushu, fell from the sky, and accurately hit the Suma.

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