"Fire, fire, fire!"

With Helweig's almost hoarse shouts, more than 10 guns of all sizes on the side of the Amsterdam were activated and launched a fierce return fire on the Qingzhou and Yizhou, and at this time, the other warships of the Dutch fleet also completed the turn and fired with all their might. For a time, water columns around the Qingzhou and Yizhou were all around, almost covering the two warships.

It was only then that Hervig breathed a sigh of relief, for in any case, he had completed the turn and was the first to grab the "T" crosshead, and now he could give full play to the numerical superiority and broadside firepower of the warships to turn the tide of the battle that had just been unfavorable.

And through the porthole, Herwig saw that the two warships of the other side had not turned yet, and were still rushing towards the column array of the Dutch fleet in a straight line, and he couldn't help but feel very relieved, and the feeling of winning before the battle just now seemed to have returned.

"The speed is 19.5 knots, the distance is 4.27 kilometers, you need about 10 minutes or so, just get through. ”

Zhang Wei said: "Don't worry, we can get through." Keep accelerating. ”

It was only then that Scheer somewhat understood the tactics used by overseas Chinese. It turned out that from the very beginning, Zhang Wei did not think about fighting with the Dutch fleet on the battle line, but planned to use the seemingly backward horizontal team tactics to rush straight into the opponent's array.

If it was before the war, Scheer would have disdained this set of tactics, and even rebuked the people who formulated this tactics for not knowing naval warfare, because Scheer was a typical academic, but he had never participated in actual combat, so he regarded everything in the textbook as a golden rule, and everything that did not fit in the textbook was heresy. The Battle of the Midday Naval Battle seven years ago had already proved that the tactics of horizontal formations had long since become obsolete, and the tactics of columns and lines were the mainstream of naval warfare.

But at this point in the battle, Scheer also had to admit that at least so far, this set of tactics is still effective, and after all, Scheer is not a dogmatic and inflexible person, but he lacks actual combat experience, so he also began to seriously analyze the advantages and disadvantages of overseas Chinese tactics in using horizontal teams.

Compared with the Dutch fleet, the disadvantage of the overseas Chinese navy lies in the small number of warships, and the power of the main guns is not as good as the other side, although the two warships of the overseas Chinese have a total of 16 main guns, but the caliber is 155 mm, which can only be regarded as a medium caliber in the navy, while the Dutch fleet has a total of 240 mm main guns and 7 210 mm main guns, and in terms of caliber alone, the Dutch fleet undoubtedly has a clear advantage; while the advantage of overseas Chinese is that the speed of the warships is fast, the number of guns on a single ship is large, and they are all German guns used, the rate of fire is fast, the fire delivery density is large, and the main guns in the front and rear are more, and the firepower is relatively strong。 It can be said that the two warships of overseas Chinese were designed with the bow of the ship in mind against the enemy.

According to the advantages and disadvantages of both sides, if the overseas Chinese and the opponent carry out a battle line bombardment, the Dutch fleet can give full play to the advantages of many ships and powerful main guns, and the winning rate is extremely low. The use of horizontal tactics can first give full play to the advantage of the strong bow and main guns of overseas Chinese warships and strike first at the beginning of the battle, and after the Dutch fleet completes its turn, it can give full play to its speed advantage and quickly cut into the array of the Dutch fleet, disrupt the formation of the Dutch fleet, create chaos, and form a one-on-one engagement in a local area, so that the advantage of the large firepower density of a single overseas Chinese ship can be brought into play.

It should be said that although this set of tactics is somewhat risky, and there are too many uncertain factors, the odds of victory are indeed much greater than the battle line bombardment, and from the current battle situation, although the battle has been going on for less than 20 minutes, the overseas Chinese have undoubtedly taken the advantage, hitting the Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Tilburg before and after, especially causing greater damage to the Rotterdam and Tilburg ships, but they themselves have not been hit, which has also proved that up to now, this set of tactics has been effective.

Of course, Scheer's hit rate on the two warships was quite high, and he was quite surprised, because Scheer came here from Germany with the ship, and he had seen the training of the People's Army Navy along the way, but he did not have such a high hit rate, generally speaking, the hit rate in actual combat was lower than that in training, but on the side of overseas Chinese, it was the opposite, and this phenomenon also made Scheer puzzled, he naturally did not know that the People's Army had helicopters in the air to command, and provided detailed data, so that the hit rate of the artillery bombardment would of course be greatly improved.

However, the advantage gained in the front is just an appetizer, and the next stage is the critical moment of this battle, it depends on whether these two warships can quickly cut into the enemy's array and disrupt the enemy's position. If the two warships were able to cut into the Dutch fleet at the right time, then victory was in sight, and if they were severely damaged by the Dutch fleet in the process of cutting, not only would the advantage of the previous stage be wiped out, but the battle would also end in defeat.

At this time, the distance between Qingzhou and Yizhou is about 80 meters, and they are advancing in unison, rushing towards the Tilburg, which is ranked third in the Dutch fleet, and Rotterdam, which is ranked fourth, which is the middle of the Dutch fleet. The Rotterdam shooting, the helicopters in the air were also constantly providing the two warships with the parameters of the shooting, as well as the distance from the Dutch fleet, the time required, and so on.

However, at this time, the Dutch fleet had all completed the turn, so the side fire was fully opened, and launched a crazy attack on the Qingzhou and Yizhou, with the roar of cannons, the smoke of gunpowder, and the fierce firepower, which was completely different from the passive situation just now.

In just a few minutes, the Qingzhou and Yizhou were shot continuously, and the side sides, decks, and headquarters were all hit, and the water columns on both sides of the warship almost never stopped. Fortunately, although Qingzhou and Yizhou have been positioned as protective cruisers by the People's Army, if the standard is relaxed a little, it can be regarded as an armored cruiser, whether it is the side or the headquarters, or the defense of the turret is not bad.

The number of large-mouth naval guns of the Dutch fleet is not much, and the rate of fire is also slow, and the Qingzhou and Yizhou are all moving at high speed, so the hit rate is extremely low, but the Qingzhou was hit by a 210-mm shell, and a large gap was blown up in the left portside of the port, blowing up the turret of a twin 100-mm gun, and the other guns were all small and medium-sized guns, although the two warships were each hit by more than 20 shots, but there was not much damage, and the power was not lost, and the speed did not slow down at all. Moreover, as the Qingzhou and Yizhou approached the Dutch fleet, the firing angle of the Dutch warships became smaller and smaller, and the number of naval guns that could fire was gradually decreasing.

At the same time as being beaten, the Qingzhou and Yizhou will not be idle, but will fight back, not only the guns in the bow of the ship continue to fire, but also the distance is shortened, the firing range of the two warships is getting bigger and bigger, some of the side guns can also be fired, the strength of the counterattack is also constantly strengthened, and there are helicopters in the air to guide, and provide shooting parameters, so the hit rate is significantly higher than that of the Dutch fleet.

However, the targets of the Qingzhou and Yizhou were mainly on the two warships Tilburg and Rotterdam, so in the fierce firefight, the Tilburg and Rotterdam were each hit by more than 10 shots, and the side and deck were hit in many places, and a fire broke out, and they obviously suffered a lot of damage.

"The Utrecht reported that their front main guns had no angle of fire. ”

"The Tilburg reported that the enemy ships were within 1,000 meters of them. ”

"The Rotterdam reported that the port side was hit by a bullet and cracked into the water. ”

At this time, Helweig on the Amsterdam was already in a hurry, and by this time, he had fully understood the opponent's tactics, that is, to cut in a straight line, but the speed of the opponent's two warships was too fast, and his own naval guns were getting less and less, so he couldn't stop the opponent's advance at all. And he knew better what the consequences would be after the other party cut into his array, and would split his fleet into two, split into two sections, and it was difficult to take care of the end of the end, but he was helpless, and there was no way to deal with it; now Helweig's mind was also blank, and he muttered: "How do these yellow-skinned monkeys command? They don't know how to fight naval battles at all, so there are such random fights." ”

Fortunately, Linkwich's mind was still sober, and he didn't pursue the stupid words of his commander, and said, "Commander, quickly give the order to turn." ”

Hervig didn't come back to his senses yet, and said blankly, "Is it useful to turn now?"

Link Vicch smiled bitterly and said, "If we turn now, we may be able to save the battle, but if we don't turn again, we will lose." ”

After hearing this, Helvig cheered up a little and said, "Okay, order all ships to turn around with the flagship." ”

However, it is not so easy for the Dutch fleet to turn at this time, first of all, the speed of the Dutch fleet is now raised, reaching 13 knots, so that the radius of the turn is larger, and this time it is a 180-degree turn, so it will take at least 10 minutes to complete this turn.

"Attention Qingzhou, attention to Qingzhou, the enemy's No. 1 ship is turning, it seems that I want to kill you one of them, you have to deal with the No. 3 and No. 4 ships as soon as possible. ”

"Qingzhou understands, Silver Eagle, please keep me informed of the location of ship No. 1 and ship No. 2. ”

After replying to the helicopter, Zhang Wei immediately ordered: "Order the Yizhou, concentrate firepower, and attack the No. 4 ship with all your might, and we will attack the No. 3 ship." ”

While Herwig was hesitating, the Qingzhou and Yizhou finally managed to cut between the Tilburg and the Rotterdam, cut the Dutch fleet into two sections, and each concentrated its firepower to aim at its own target, while the flagship of the Dutch fleet, the Amsterdam, also began to turn, and the battle entered a white-hot stage.