The Navy is a branch of the military that has a lot of foreign affairs activities, and often has activities and tasks of going out for exchanges, visits, and participating in military exercises, so it has high requirements for foreign languages. Most of the officers and men of the Chinese Navy are able to conduct ordinary daily conversations in English. There is also a considerable number of officers and men who have mastered two or three foreign languages. In addition to English, the largest number of officers and soldiers can speak Russian and Japanese.

In European countries, you can communicate in English. Before the escort fleet crossed, Sino-Russian relations were in a very good period, and the military exchanges between them were very close, and military exercises and training were often held jointly, so many soldiers learned Russian in order to have better exchanges with the Russian military. Unlike Sino-Russian relations, which have gradually improved, the Sino-Japanese border can be regarded as the worst time since the establishment of diplomatic relations, and many of China's military operations are aimed at Japan as an imaginary target, and learning Japanese can better understand the situation in Japan and help prevent Japan's provocation. In the crossing fleet, there are many soldiers who are relatively proficient in Japanese.

The Yueyang ship is equipped with two lifeboats and eight rubber boats, which are used as life-saving equipment, and each lifeboat can accommodate up to 25 people. Wang Hailong ordered two lifeboats to be lowered, each with four soldiers, and except for the driver, the other three soldiers all carried a Type 95 rifle and a Type 92 pistol to rush to rescue the Japanese soldiers who had fallen into the water. The Yueyang and Xiangyang ships completed a 180-degree turn, drove at full speed, and chased in the direction where the Akitsuzu, Akashi, and Suma had fled.

Because it was an escape, the three Japanese ships did not maintain the formation of the column, and the Akashi and Suma, one on the left and one on the right, drove side by side behind the Akitsuzu, and the three warships formed a triangle.

At this time, on the Akitsu Autumn, Tatsuto Iwasaki had already received a report from the lookout, knowing that the Yueyang ship and the Xiangyang ship had completed the turn and were chasing him, so Tatsuto Iwasaki immediately ordered the lookout to measure the distance between the two sides.

After a while, the lookout reported: "Sir, the enemy ship is about 13.2 kilometers away from us. ”

After hearing this, Tatsuto Iwasaki was also a little relieved, after all, it was more than ten kilometers away, and it was not easy to catch up. So Tatsuto Iwasaki said, "What is our current speed?"

The officer in charge of the driver said, "Sir, it's Section 15.2." ”

Tatsuto Iwasaki nodded, the maximum speed of the Akitsuzu is 19 knots, while the maximum speed of the Akashi and Suma is 20 knots, but in the battle just now, the three cruisers were damaged to varying degrees, which naturally had a certain impact on the speed, and the Akitsuzu and Suma were better, one of the boilers of the Akashi was damaged, and the cabin was flooded with more than 60 tons, and the speed dropped significantly. Although the water inlet was basically blocked after the intensified repair by the soldiers who were damaged in the pipe, and a lot of water inlet was pumped out of the hull, it could still only be forced to drive at a speed of 15 knots.

Tatsuto Iwasaki silently estimated in his heart, thinking that at the current speed, it would be enough for his three cruisers to escape from the pursuit of the other party and escape back to Dagukou. Because in this era, the speed of battle cruisers was 16-18 knots, the speed of armored cruisers was 18-20 knots, and the speed of protective cruisers was generally about 20-22 knots, such as the speed of Japan's meritorious warship Yoshino in the First Sino-Japanese War reached an astonishing speed of 23 knots, in this era, it was already a rare high-speed cruiser.

Even if the speed of these two warships reaches the same speed as the Yoshino 23 knots, it will take about 40 minutes to catch up to about 5,000 meters away from them, and this time is enough for the three Japanese warships to sail within a 10-mile range of the port of Dagukou, so that they can get the support of warships of other countries anchored in the port。

But at this moment, I heard a report from the lookout platform from the microphone: "Sir, the distance between us and the enemy ship is now 12.1 kilometers. ”

Iwasaki Tatsuto was stunned, how much time has passed? I'm afraid that even five minutes later, the other party has caught up with more than 1,000 meters, although Iwasaki Tatsuto has not had time to calculate what kind of impact such a speed will bring to himself, but there will definitely be no good results, because the other party does not have to completely catch up with him, just now the opponent's artillery has been firing from 7,000 meters away. Therefore, Tatsuto Iwasaki immediately said, "Measure the speed of the other party immediately?"

After about two or three minutes, the lookout replied: "Report to the commander, the speed of the enemy ship should be between 25 and 26 knots. ”

When Iwasaki Tatsuto heard this, he couldn't help but be shocked, the speed of 25-26 knots, this is simply impossible, at least in Iwasaki's cognition, he didn't know that the warships of that country could reach this speed, so it seems that the country or factory that built these two warships not only has advanced artillery and aiming technology, but also has developed a more advanced steam engine. So what other technologies will these two warships have that they don't know about?

Just when Iwasaki was stunned, the observatory reported that the distance between the two sides had been reduced to 10.5 kilometers.

At this time, Iwasaki Tatsuto was a little breathless, and immediately ordered: "Strong pressure and ventilation, drive at the fastest speed, inform the Akashi and Suma, both drive at the maximum speed, and escape back to Dagukou." ”

In this era, warships and ships were fueled by coal, and the use of strong pressure ventilation could strengthen the combustion value of coal, thereby generating greater power to obtain high speed, so when warships used strong pressure ventilation, they were often able to travel at a speed that exceeded their maximum speed. However, after all, strong pressure ventilation is to overload the warship, and the maintenance time cannot be too long, generally not more than an hour, and the wear and tear on the power system of the warship is great, which will reduce the service life of the power system, and even cause failure and damage. Generally speaking, when it is not the time to do so, warships will not use strong pressure and ventilation to drive.

And now it was the time when he had no choice but to do so, so Iwasaki Tatsuto also ignored the wear and tear of the power system, and asked all three ships to drive under strong pressure and ventilation in order to achieve maximum speed and escape back to Dagu as soon as possible.

However, now that the power of the Akashi is damaged, it cannot be quickly ventilated even with strong pressure, so if each ship is now moving at its fastest speed, it is very likely that the Akashi will be thrown off. But at this time, Tatsuto Iwasaki couldn't care much about it, and it was better to throw down one warship than to leave all three warships here. The top priority now is to rush back to Dagukou and spread the news back to Japan.

After the order was given, each of the three Japanese warships sailed at the maximum speed they could and fled for their lives. In less than ten minutes, the difference in speed showed that the speed of the Akashi could not increase by 15 knots, and it could only be gradually thrown down by the Akitsuzu and Suma.

Although the front deck of the Suma was seriously damaged, and even the front main gun was blown away, the power system was basically intact, and the front main gun was blown up to reduce weight, so after using strong pressure ventilation, the speed soared to 21.8 knots, and although the Akitsuzu also used strong pressure ventilation, the speed was always limited to 20 knots, and as a result, the Suma not only threw off the Akashi ship, but also caught up with the Akitsuzu. Of course, the Japanese officers and men on both ships are now praying for Amaterasu to protect the gods, and at this time the steam engines and boilers must not fail, and this kind of thing is not uncommon in the case of strong pressure ventilation.

Both the Yueyang and Xiangyang ships were powered by two diesel engines, and their maximum speed was 27 knots, and both pursued the fleeing Japanese ships at a speed of 25 knots.

The first to catch up was naturally the Akashi that was left behind by the Akitsuzu and Suma. However, Wang Hailong could also see that the Japanese fleet was obviously planning to abandon the Akashi to ensure that the Akitsuzu and Suma could escape from the battlefield. However, this time the mission was to sink or capture all the Japanese ships, and none of them could be let go, so Wang Hailong immediately made a decision and ordered the Xiangyang ship to deal with the Akashi that remained behind, while the Yueyang ship bypassed the Akashi and continued to pursue the Akitsuzu and Suma in front.

In fact, at this time, the Yueyang ship and the Xiangyang ship were less than 6,000 meters away from the Akashi, and only more than 10,000 kilometers away from the Akijinzhou and Suma in front, so after the Yueyang ship detoured and left, the Xiangyang ship immediately opened fire on the Akashi.

After four rounds of continuous shelling, first of all, the tail of the Akashi was hit three times, and the 152 mm main gun in the stern was destroyed, so that the Akashi basically lost its ability to resist, and then another shell hit the bridge command room from the rear of the hull side, although on a warship, the armor of the command room was the thickest, but the armor of the command room was basically concentrated in the front and both sides, and there was no armor protection behind it, as a result, it exploded in the rear of the command room of the Akashi, and countless casualties were killed, and a near-miss bullet fell into the sea water about three meters away from the tail of the Akashi, and after the shell exploded in the seawater, it caused a huge impulse force and damaged one of the propellers of the AkashiAs a result, the speed of the Akashi suddenly dropped to only about six or seven knots.

Although he did not see the end of the Akashi with his own eyes, Tatsuto Iwasaki was able to guess that the Akashi would definitely not be able to escape, and he only hoped that the sacrifice of the Akashi would not be in vain, and that he would be able to buy enough time for himself to escape back to Dagukou. However, before Tatsutsu Iwasaki could redeem the fate of the Akashi, the observatory sent him a report that the larger of the two enemy ships had bypassed the Akashi and caught up, and was only about nine kilometers away from the Akitsuzu.

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