At the same time that the Retvizan hit the Yashima, the swollen part of the hull of the Victory at the stern of the team was also hit by the Mikasa, and a large explosion suddenly occurred, and the side of the hull was suddenly broken, and the situation was extremely tragic.

This class of warships, known as the fast battleships of the pre-dreadnought era, is actually more like an armored cruiser, the 9.5-inch main armor belt is not weak, but there is no upper armor, and the swollen parts are densely mounted like hedgehogs, and the 152mm rapid-fire guns and 11-pounder rapid-fire guns make the Victory have strong rapid-fire firepower while the protection here is like tissue paper.

The French-style superstructure is tall and majestic, and the side projection looks like a wall, which is simply a target in battle, and the Mikasa took out the four 11-pounder rapid-fire gun emplacements on the upper and lower sides of the Victory's hull with a single shell, and many people were injured on the 152-mm rapid-fire gun emplacements next to the guide, and the shooting was temporarily stopped.

Makarov also knew that the combat performance of the Peresvet class was difficult to compete with the main battleships of the Japanese Navy, but he underestimated the gunnery of the sailors of the Japanese Combined Fleet, and it was really unexpected that the Victory would be hit so quickly.

But at this time, Makarov had no way to adjust his tactics, and could only hope that he could take out the Yashima as much as possible, and the two Peresvet-class ships at the end of the team could hold out a little longer.

Although the Yashima was a battleship that was started 10 years ago, it was a masterpiece of the British Royal Navy at that time, and even in the face of two cutting-edge battleships, it was not easy to be sunk, and Makarov's plan was destined to be unrealized.

The Yashima was flanked by the Crown Prince and Letvizan, and was hit by nine 305-mm shells and dozens of 152-mm shells. The upper part of the thinner chimney in the rear was missing, and the side guns were all dumb, and it looked like it was going to be finished at any moment.

However, the Hachishima still refused to be as honest as Makarov had hoped. The four main guns were still returning fire, and one 305-mm shell from the Crown Prince was also hit. Pierced through the 145 mm of armor at the front of the upper part of the main armor belt, but fortunately did not cause more damage other than the violent shaking that made the entire ship stand unsteadily, the tooth-inducing sound of armor tearing, and the horror of being hit.

At this point, the Victory could not hold on, and she was in even worse condition than the Yashima, using a 1.3-meter Bal-Stroud rangefinder. Combined with the primitive fire control device and the hard training of the gunners, Mikasa finished the Victory with accurate fire. Hit by 12 rounds of 305 mm shells from the Mikasa, the deck was almost leveled, and the Shimose gunpowder ignited everything on the deck that could burn, and the Victory almost became a fireball.

And two 305-mm shells smashed on her main armor belt, although they did not penetrate, but the huge impact caused the riveting to break, the entire armor plate was torn from the armor belt, and the raging sea water poured into the hull through the crack. Quickly caused the hull to tilt.

The flames burning everywhere made the rescue work of the damage management team completely undeveloped, and the result of the Victory being burned into a ruined ship was irrevocable, and the captain had no choice but to order the ship to be abandoned.

Seeing that the Victory had abandoned the ship. The deck was densely packed with Russian sailors who were ready to flee, and many people jumped directly into the sea to escape, and Heihachiro Togo ordered to turn the gun to deal with the Peresvet in front, and the Japanese also formed a two-on-one situation at the end of the line.

The Peresvet was not the Yashima, and it became even worse than the Victory under the attack of two Shikishima-class ships, as a 305-mm shell hit her front main turret and exploded after penetrating the turret. The resulting munition detonation shattered her bow, and sea water poured into the hull faster than the Victory.

And the Peresvet, with its power in good condition, sailed like this. While the bow of the ship was inserted into the water, it sailed and disappeared into the water.

2:0。 The Japanese made a near-perfect start, and just as Heihachiro Togo was almost ecstatic to order Mikasa and Shikishima to join in the bombardment of the Poltava, the Hachishima was finished.

The blow of 14 rounds of 305 mm and 52 rounds of 152 mm shells made her no longer able to support it, the side side was tilted into the water, and the other side was filled with water in order to keep the hull stable, and the water used to extinguish the fire was full of holes flowing and gathering everywhere, and Yan zhòng increased the weight of the hull.

When the sea water poured up the bow deck of the Yashima, the Japanese knew that their precious battleship could not be saved, and the captain of the ship, Sakamoto Ichisa, ordered to abandon the ship, and after sending a message to the follow-up ships that "this ship is out of the battle line", he personally steered the ship, drove the Yashima to give way, and was the last to leave the ship.

At 2:1, the Russians regained a city.

The number of capital ships is 5:5, and it seems that everyone is back on the same starting line, but the difference in the performance of the battleships and the gunner's skill level makes the situation start to develop in the direction of the Russians.

While the Crown Prince, Letvizan and Petropavlovsk began to attack the Fuji, the Poltava was also destroyed. Much better protection than the Peresvet class, the Petropavlovsk-class battleship lasted longer, but it still could not escape the fate of being sunk.

At this time, the fleet had lost nearly half, and Makarov, realizing that it would be difficult to win if he continued to fight, decided to disengage, so he ordered the Thunderstrike Fleet to launch a surprise attack on the Japanese fleet to cover the withdrawal of the main fleet.

The destroyers and torpedo boats of the Japanese Navy also quickly caught up with them, and the two sides immediately became a mess, and the mine-striking ships and destroyers on both sides were basically built or copied by German shipyards, and the basic performance was not much different.

Neither side had much accuracy in moving at high speeds, and the standard 75mm Ghanaian guns on the Russian mine-striking ships had a faster rate of fire in the hands of the sturdy Russian sailors than the Japanese with 88mm Krupp guns, so although the number was slightly smaller, it seemed that you were evenly matched for a while.

The Japanese destroyers had one less torpedo tube than the Russian mine-striking ships, but they used more powerful 450-mm torpedoes, but this time these more powerful torpedoes were not useful, but brought disaster.

In the melee, it is not known which Russian mine-striking ship fired a shell that hit the torpedo tube of the destroyer Akatsuki, causing the torpedo to detonate, and the stern of the 360-ton destroyer Akatsuki was directly blown off, and disappeared into the sea after just two minutes.

However, the Russians did not have a good time, and after breaking through the interception of the Japanese destroyers, the 14 Russian mine-striking ships were immediately blocked by the secondary artillery fire of the remaining 5 battleships of the Combined Fleet. The Sturgeon was hit by the Idese's secondary guns, the steam engine room was blown up, and it collapsed on the surface of the sea, and was then besieged by Japanese torpedo boats that surrounded it like sharks smelling of blood, and then sank. A huge hole was punched in the side of the Trout's hull, and it had to withdraw from the attack and get out of the battle circle.

The 12 Russian mine-striking ships that finally came into range did not pursue a hit, and after aiming slightly at the Japanese fleet, they fired all their torpedoes, and the Japanese were terrified to see the trajectory of 36 380-mm torpedoes

The Combined Fleet was forced to evade, the previously neat battle line became crooked and twisted, and the accurate artillery bombardment of the Russian fleet was no longer there. The Fuji, which was originally besieged by three ships, was hit by a torpedo fired by the Battle, although the power of the 380 mm torpedo was not great, but it was not lightly injured, and the Fuji, which had no underwater protection at all, could withstand it, although it was rescued, but the Fuji finally sank after 6 hours.

At this time, it was already approaching dark, and the Russian fleet, which had been slowly distancing itself, could get out of the sight of the Japanese and go to Vladivostok as long as it held out until nightfall, although the fleet suffered heavy losses, but as long as the remaining battleships could reach Vladivostok, then Makarov still won.

But maybe God really abandoned Russia, due to the maintenance ability of Port Arthur, the place where the crown prince was injured by the sneak attack before was not completely restored, but simply repaired, and the armor plate support frame of the crown prince in the previous artillery battle also had problems, and the 254 mm side armor plate appeared loose, which led the crown prince to enter the water, and the speed suddenly dropped to 2 knots.

This time the crown prince could not leave, and then the Sevastopol, which had been seriously injured before, also said that its ship condition could not support Vladivostok. However, Makarov was not Wittgoft after all, and he immediately decided to let the crown prince and Sevastopol queen, attract the Japanese fleet, and return to Port Arthur as much as possible. And the rest of the ships continued to break through to Vladivostok.

However, a shell put an end to Makarov's idea, and the design of the observation slit of the command tower of the French battleship had a strict flaw, after a shell hit the command tower of the crown prince, the fragments passed through the observation crack, causing many people in the command tower to die on the spot, and Makarov himself was seriously injured and immediately lost the ability to command.

The commander of the fleet, Makarov, was seriously wounded, and the deputy commander of the fleet, Rear Admiral Vtomsky, sank to the bottom of the sea with the flagship Peresvet, and the Russian fleet was leaderless at this time, and the Retvizan, which followed the crown prince, decisively hung out the banner of "take over the command of the fleet and follow me".

It is impossible to know what Makarov had in mind, and the captain of the Retvizhan saw that the most important capital ships in the fleet were not capable of reaching Vladivostok, so he decided to keep the fleet, so he then took the fleet and turned around and returned to Port Arthur.

The Russians lost outright. (To be continued)