Watch as the five twin 150 guns on the Chinese warship turn their guns in unison, spitting flames at the British warship. Vice Admiral Pope, aboard the flagship Agincourt, narrowed his eyes. The vice admiral, who had been adrift at sea for most of his life, understood the purpose of this design in an instant.

Although it did not know about the new warships of the Chinese Navy, the British Navy knew that the Chinese warships had been radically adopted by pure steam power. The foredeck of China's South China Sea Fleet ironclad ship is equipped with a gun that can rotate 360 degrees, and this design is nothing special, but it is just a workaround of the bow gun.

The British Navy was conservative in these respects, and they insisted on sail power. As for the design of the center line layout, the British have long had corresponding ideas, but this involves a problem, the power source of moving the muzzle. Do you rely on manpower to move more than a dozen or twenty tons of artillery? This is obviously a joke. Is it mechanically driven? It is more likely that the complex drivetrain was faulty and the gun was in trouble. The European Navy, which does not have a clear idea of the future development of the Navy, is also trying to think about it for a breakthrough, and at this stage, conservative and radical exist at the same time.

Seeing the design of the Chinese warship, Vice Admiral Pope has determined that the layout of the center line is feasible. The Royal Navy no longer has to argue about such things. What we need to see now is how effective China is in this layout. At this time, all the technological accumulation and naval warfare concepts of both sides have been solidified into actual warships, and the warring sides can only exert all their forces under the conditions that have been decided.

The first to be shot was the Chinese fleet, a 12-pounder shell hit the side of the Chinese warship, and the shell hit the armor of the Chinese warship and was ricocheted off, causing no damage at all. After another moment, a spherical shell of a 7-inch gun hit the Chinese warship, and this time from the telescope, it can be seen that the shell of the Chinese warship has smashed more obvious marks. But the shells failed to penetrate the armor of the Chinese warship, let alone stop the Chinese warship from approaching the British warship. The Chinese warships opened fire and continued to approach the British fleet without hesitation.

"Quite a qualified soldier!" Lieutenant General Pope calmly gave an evaluation. He had expected that the Chinese Navy would take some evasive action under such a fright, and that evasion was actually the most stupid choice. When the enemy can hit you, it means that you can hit the enemy too, and the best way to keep yourself safe is to sink the enemy first.

The dull sound of the shell hitting the armor made the officers in the command room change their faces, and Ding Ruchang sat down next to the command platform without saying a word. It should have been said a long time ago, before the fleet engaged, after Ding Ruchang and other political commissars finished the mobilization work of "defending the homeland and defending the country", they once again said that "the brave wins when they meet on a narrow road!" Then he sat down at the command podium, calmly looking at the charts and listening to the report of the battle situation.

Looking at the commander's calmness, the officers, whose faces had changed, felt that their mood had calmed down a little. From the moment they saw the British Grand Fleet, the young soldiers felt their hearts beat violently. The number of artillery that the Chinese Navy can use is 30 twin turrets and 60 guns. The British Grand Fleet on the opposite side had to have at least 300 guns against the Chinese navy. Those thick muzzles range from 6 inches to 9 inches, and if they are hit by a single shot, humans will not be spared.

"Keep up to 1,500 meters and engage the British." Ding Ruchang continued to order. The order was immediately communicated and executed, and the British navy was closing in, hoping to take full advantage of their total number of guns. The Chinese Navy does not even need to deliberately get close to the enemy, as long as it slows down its speed away from the enemy.

Deng Shichang, the commander of the shelling on the Wuzhou, was next to the direct-aiming telescope in the shelling command room, and a shell hit the armor next to the observation room. At this time, Deng Shichang's attention had been on how to try his best to hit the enemy's warship, of course, he knew that he might die in the artillery battle, and his flesh and blood could not resist the shells no matter what. The strong attraction of the artillery battle to Deng Shichang had outpaced the attention to death, and after a while, Deng Shichang completely forgot about the warship being shot.

Vice Admiral Pope lowered his binoculars, and the Chinese navy on the other side showed more combat experience than he could have imagined, and when the British Grand Fleet pressed the Chinese fleet, the Chinese fleet moved slowly and calmly. Vice Admiral Pope has seen at least five shells hit the Chinese warship, the cannonballs were not of a large caliber, and without exception they were bounced off the armor of the Chinese warship. However, the shelling of the Chinese warships did not become fierce because of this, and the warships still held on to the initial rate of fire, and they fired one cannon at a time without hurry. Is the Chinese Navy on the other side an extremely calm veteran, or a group of rookies who have been so frightened that their hands and feet are sore, and they can't raise the rate of fire at all?

"Our ship hit a British warship!" When the artillery commander heard the news, the officers in the command room cheered together, and when the cheers ended, Ding Ruchang's calm voice sounded, "Concentrate on fighting and continue to fight!" "The officers' faces were slightly red, and how many times did they say during the training that even if they hit the enemy's warship, they should be treated calmly. But everyone still couldn't hold back.

The bow of the British warship Arranse was equipped with a 300-pounder Armstrong gun, and the warship, which was located in the diagonal rear of the Chinese fleet, was the first to hold back, and seeing that the angle was not bad, the Arranse accelerated and rushed out of the battle column, adjusted the bow, and tried to bombard the Chinese warship with the huge cannon in the bow.

Deng Shichang's Wuzhou was shooting in the direction of the Yalans, and when they saw the Yalans rushing up, all the naval guns determined the target at the same time. Not only the Wuzhou, but the Chenzhou behind the Wuzhou also chose the Yalansi as the target.

A 150-gun high-explosive shell hit the deck of the British warship Arrans. After more than four years and thousands of experiments, it was determined that the shock electric detonation fuse played a stable role, and the impact after the impact cut off the fuse, and the heating wire inside the lei tube instantly reached red heat, and the lei tube exploded and detonated five kilograms of T.N.T. The exploding fireball swept across the deck in an instant, blowing up the deck of the warship.

Under Lieutenant General Pope's stunned gaze, five of the dozen or so shells that flew in unison towards the Arrans hit, and one cone whistled through the chimney of the Arrans before exploding inside. The deck of the Arranse had been beaten to smoke, and now that the chimney had been destroyed, the British warship, which had rushed towards the Chinese fleet, immediately slowed down.

"The Arranse is out of battle!" The communications staff officer said to Lieutenant General Pope. Even with the loss of warships, the British Navy was far less emotional than the Chinese Navy. Having seen too many winds and waves, this army did not panic because of losses.

"Those guns are too flexible!" Lieutenant General Pope couldn't help but say. The British gun emplacements were located on the shelling deck of the ship's side and were able to adjust at very limited angles. The Chinese turret is arrogantly located on the center line of the deck, and the elevation angle cannot be too large, but the horizontal range of movement is not at all comparable to that of the British naval guns. Warships can take course in accordance with the command of the fleet, which has a limited impact on the range of shelling.

As soon as the words fell, a second unlucky British warship appeared. Behind Arrans was the Charlotte, a 4,200-ton armored ship converted from a traditional battleship. Like the Arrans, there was also a large cannon in the bow and two cannons on the foredeck. After the Arranse rushed out, the Charlotte also rushed out.

The warship was shelled by two rounds of shelling from the Wuzhou and Yongan in just one and a half minutes. Forty shells flew towards the Charlotte in two sorts. Charlotte's luck was too bad, and it was precisely on the parameters of the Chinese warship's shelling of the Yalance. Five shells hit the deck one after the other, and the deck was opened by the first round of explosions, and one of the two shells in the second round flew into the opening, and the explosion swept across the shelling deck below, and smoke billowed and flames rose. Without even waiting for the Charlotte to raise its flag, Vice Admiral Pope knew that the Charlotte was also going to be withdrawn.

In the era when exploding shells were completely unreliable, the proportion of exploding bombs that could explode after the British fleet was fired was about 30%, which was already an extremely high explosion rate. But naval battles cannot be counted in this way, because the hit rate of shells at a distance of 1500 meters is about 3-5%. That is, the British fired a hundred bursting shells, capable of one or two explosions after the hit. This is not as lethal as it is with solid armor-piercing shells.

The 6-inch guns of the Chinese Navy on the opposite side did not use armor-piercing shells at all, and all of them used burst shells in combat. It is true that there are shells that do not explode, but the number of shells that explode is much higher than that that that does not. As soon as you take a shot, the deck is a mess. The mast was damaged, and the rigging was destroyed by the flames and waves of the explosion. The people on the watchtower are basically not likely to survive.

Looking at this jaw-dropping hit rate and explosion rate, Lieutenant General Pope was speechless. But deep down in his heart there is a hint of excitement that only a navy soldier has, and many of the technologies that have been questioned a lot are perfectly viable, as the Chinese Navy has proven. As for the temporary superiority of the Chinese Navy, Vice Admiral Pope did not lose confidence in the Royal Navy of the British Empire. In the hundreds of years of history of the Royal Navy of the British Empire, there were navies that surpassed the British Empire as a whole, navies that surpassed the British Empire in some parts, and navys that were very vigorous and capable of fighting, which caused a lot of trouble to the British Empire. Hundreds of years have passed, and it is the British Empire that has the last laugh. To mature, a navy needs to stand up unswervingly from failures and setbacks again and again, and turn failures and setbacks into nutrients for its continued growth.

All the more so, the current British fleet is far from the point of defeat.