At the mouth of the bay, after the three Italian warships were sunk, the two sides of the bay mouth suddenly became lively, groups of soldiers in camouflage uniforms appeared, and small and light speedboats began to shuttle quickly and busily at the mouth of the bay, and one after another huge pitch-black mines, to be precise, anchor mines were dropped into the waters of the bay mouth.

Anchor mine is a new type of mine developed by Yuan Qixin, different from the mine floating on the water, anchor mine is a kind of mine that can adjust and control the depth of minelaying, that is to say, anchor mine can be laid under the sea surface, according to the draft depth of various warships.

The anchor mine under the sea surface has good concealment, it is not easy to be found, and the charge of the anchor mine is large, once it is hit and exploded by the waterline of the battleship, it will cause huge damage to the battleship, and the power is not worse than the torpedo.

The reason why Xiao Mingliang was so sure of annihilating the coalition naval fleet that entered the Gulf of Maputo was not only torpedo boats and submarines, but also this new type of mine.

"Tick Ring" The crisp telephone rang, and the regiment commander Yan Mingshan picked up the microphone and listened to a slightly nervous and excited voice from inside, "Observation Post No. 9 reports that the enemy fleet has begun to return and advance towards the mouth of the bay. ”

Putting down the phone, Yan Mingshan frowned, the time for the enemy fleet to return was a little faster than he expected, no one expected that the enemy fleet would leave four warships at the mouth of the bay to patrol, raised his wrist and looked at his watch, he said in a deep voice: "Order, speed up the speed of minelaying, after a quarter of an hour, the returning speedboat is not allowed to go to sea again." In addition, flags were sent to submarine groups, and the enemy fleet began to return home. ”

On the sea, on the flagship of the Qing fleet, the 'Jingyuan', watching the coalition fleet turn around and return home, Xiao Mingliang put down the telescope and ordered in a deep voice, "Follow up and keep a distance of three nautical miles." ”

Three nautical miles away from the range of most naval guns, relatively safe, and able to attack quickly if needed, all the Qing fleet had to do now was to bite the target like a pack of wolves, waiting for the opportunity to pounce on the target with its fangs bared.

Seeing the Qing fleet closely following behind, Du Bailei, the commander of the coalition navy, was not surprised, this was something that had been expected, he knew very well that the mouth of the bay was the battlefield, but he couldn't figure it out, what else did the Qing army have in the mouth of the bay besides submarines? Is it impossible to have a new type of naval warfare weapon?

Although the Qing industry started late, it has always been ahead of European countries in the development of weapons, from mini guns, rear-loading guns, automatic machine guns, mortars, rear-loading guns, artillery stationing and retreat, as well as torpedoes and submarines, Qing has always been one step ahead.

Fighting with the Qing army, the other party seems to be able to take out new weapons anytime and anywhere, and they are all powerful and lethal weapons, which is the most headache and frightening place, just like now, he doesn't know what kind of attack the fleet will face, and the unknown is the most terrifying!

At five o'clock in the afternoon, the sunset was full, and the huge coalition fleet was driven to the sea near the mouth of Maputo Bay like a flock of sheep. ”

In fact, he agreed with Bendeman's words, the Qing army could not easily let them break through, the sea in front of him seemed empty, but in fact it was extremely dangerous, at least he knew a little, under this sea there was a submarine that the Qing State could launch torpedoes, as for what other dangers were hidden, I don't know yet.

"It's going to get dark around seven o'clock, and it's not early." Heb reminded softly.

Du Bailei ordered in a deep voice, "Order, the first formation rushed out of the bay mouth at full speed." ”

Before the words fell, the communications officer hurriedly came over and reported: "Report, the Qing fleet that is following has launched an attack. ”

Hebu reacted extremely quickly, "This is intended to attract our attention and cover the submarine attack!" ”

"The fourth, fifth, and sixth formations were ordered to intercept, and the second and third formations were to keep a close watch out for submarines." After giving the order, Du Bailei immediately raised his binoculars to scan the nearby sea, compared with the surface ships of the Qing State, the submarines under the surface were a greater threat to them, because the torpedo attack from the submarine was more likely to cause panic among the officers and soldiers.

With the waving of the flag, the fifteen battleships of the first formation quickly accelerated and galloped towards the mouth of the bay, at the same time, the dull sound of cannons rang out, and the Qing fleet, which had been closely following, began to attack as soon as it launched, and could not wait to start shelling.

On the sea, two torpedo boat formations flying the golden dragon flag took the lead and rushed towards the coalition fleet at high speed, and the various types of warships that followed closely behind also advanced at full speed, as if launching a decisive charge.

Seeing this, He Bu couldn't help but remind: "There is a problem with the tactics of the Qing army!" This does not look like covering the ........ of a submarine attack. ”

"There's no such way to play." Du Bailei frowned, at such a close distance, the Qing warship ignored the full-speed impact, it was simply looking for death, why did the Qing fleet adopt this way of fighting? He instinctively sensed danger.

The advantage of torpedo boats is that they are fast and highly flexible and maneuverable, and the distance between the torpedo boats that charge at full speed and the three formations of the coalition fleet that meet the interception quickly shrink to two nautical miles.

For a time, the sound of artillery rumbled, the huge explosion sound was dense like firecrackers, and a dense column of water rose on the sea, and from a distance, more than a dozen torpedo boats seemed to pass through the rain of bullets, and in an instant, the dense column of water seemed to drown the figure of the torpedo boats, and soon, one by one, the torpedo boats pierced out of the water column, and carried out tactical evasion, as if they were wearing flowers on the sea surface.

Although the Allied warships were equipped with a large number of rapid-fire guns and were able to carry out rapid shelling, they were still somewhat powerless in the face of small, fast, and highly agile torpedo boats.

"Damn the Qing army, even the speed of the torpedo boat was hidden." Du Bailei said hatefully.

Hebu said with a solemn expression: "The speed of these torpedo boats is at least 25 knots or more....... Before he finished speaking, he opened his mouth in astonishment, "Torpedo, let's launch a torpedo!" ”

Du Bailei's pupils shrank instantly, and she could see very clearly from the telescope, one after another torpedoes were shot into the sea from the torpedo tubes on the torpedo boat, and the torpedo track was clearly visible, God, this distance was at least more than 1,500 meters! The range of the Qingguo torpedo has reached such an amazing level!

Seeing the clear torpedo tracks on the sea heading straight for the battleship, the allied warships responsible for intercepting them couldn't help but be frightened and evaded them one after another, after all, the power of the torpedoes was too amazing, and no one dared to be careless.

A huge explosion sounded, and a large area of sea water instantly rose into the sky, and a 3,000-ton cruiser of the second formation broke into two parts from the amidships.

Submarine! Du Bailei's face changed, and the submarine began to attack! Without his order, all the warships reacted quickly and hurriedly evaded.

"Boom-" Another huge explosion came, Du Bailei looked up, this time it was the battleship that was hit by the first formation that broke through to the mouth of the bay.

Immediately followed by a huge explosion, this time it was a battleship of the third formation that was hit, Du Bailei and He Bu's faces became extremely ugly, just after the battle began, they lost three battleships in succession, but they didn't even see the shadow of the submarine, He Bu said in a deep voice: "Rush forward, the number of submarines owned by the Qing army should not be much, and the number of interceptions at the mouth of the bay should not be much......." ”

Before the words were finished, there were two explosions in succession, and the two of them followed the prestige, and in the sea ahead, the two battleships of the first formation rose up with an old high mist.

Three battleships were hit one after another, but they didn't even see the shadow of the enemy, and the remaining dozen or so battleships of the first formation were in a deep panic at this time, and they no longer cared about the formation of the formation, and they all increased their horsepower and rushed around.

Mines are not a new thing, they have been used as early as the American Civil War, and the Russian army has also used mines in the Russian-Turkish War, but they are all floating mines, which are floating on the water, and anchor mines, which are laid under the surface of the water, are absolutely unheard of for the naval forces of all countries in the world.

The allied warships of the first formation did not realize that they had broken into the minefield at all, and they all had a preconceived idea that they had been attacked by a submarine torpedo, and in a panic, they increased their horsepower and ran wildly, and the sound of explosions on the sea suddenly continued, and in a short moment, six battleships hit anchor mines.

The sound of huge explosions one after another drowned out the rumbling cannons, and Du Bailei and He Bu watched this scene in amazement, but fortunately, Bendeman, the leader of the first formation, was not slow to react, and despite his lack of actual combat experience, he also reacted that this situation did not seem to be caused by a torpedo attack launched by a submarine from under the surface.

He shouted, "Herald! All battleships, back off! Go back the way you came! ”

Watching the warships retreat safely without causing an explosion, Bendman confirmed his previous suspicion that they had not suffered a submarine attack, but countless invisible mines laid in this area, and it was clear that the Qing people had laid mines below the surface of the sea.

After figuring out that the Qing army had laid a large number of mines below the surface of the water, Bendman secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and that mines were always easier to deal with than submarines, "Report to the rear that a large number of mines have been laid under the surface in the waters at the mouth of the bay. After a pause, he continued, "Fire." A carpet bombardment of the sea ahead! ”

Listening to the report of the communications officer, Du Bailei and He Bu couldn't help but look at each other, and there are mines that can be buried under the water? Watching the battleships of the first formation in front of her take carpet-like saturated shelling, Du Bailei was overjoyed, this is indeed a good way to clear mines.

Hebu also reacted, as long as he could clear the mines in the front channel, the fleet would be able to break through! Before he could speak, two loud explosions sounded not far away, and two more battleships were unfortunately torpedoed.

The joy on the faces of the two quickly faded, replaced by solemnity, and the Qing army's aggressive surface ships and unguarded underwater submarines were afraid that they would not be given time to clear the mines.

"Just put the second and third formations into battle, and create a melee situation, and the submarine will not dare to attack rashly under water." He Bu said softly: "Defeat the surface fleet of the Qing army, and then calmly deal with submarines." ”

Du Bailei nodded, "The first formation should also be withdrawn, otherwise it will be sunk by all submarines." ”

The main reason is that the Qing army's torpedoes not only have a large increase in range, but also carry a heinous number of torpedoes, especially the large capital warships, which are completely used as artillery, forcing them to avoid them anytime and anywhere.

In less than 20 minutes, three battleships were already torpedoed and sunk, but the Qing army only lost two torpedo boats, and what was even more frightening was that the Qing army, whether it was a torpedo boat or the main battleship, blindly rushed forward, with a very obvious intention, that is, to shorten the distance between the two sides.

However, they could not effectively stop it, there was the threat of torpedo boats, there was the threat of ultra-long-range torpedoes, and their battleships could not fully play the advantage of artillery, and could only watch the distance between the two sides getting closer and closer.

The closer the distance, the more deadly the threat to the coalition forces, a torpedo hit is enough to make a capital battleship lose its combat effectiveness or sink, and the main battleship of the Qing army will still not affect the battle even if it is hit by more than a dozen guns, and the two sides are not equal at all!

On the flagship of the Qing army, "Jingyuan", the other two formations of the coalition army rushed to reinforce, and Xiao Mingliang decisively ordered, "Retreat!" ”

In his opinion, the coalition fleet is already a turtle in an urn, and it is impossible to fight hard with the other side and win the battle nine times out of ten, and if the casualties are too large, it will inevitably be a fly in the ointment.

Seeing the retreat of the Qing fleet, Du Bailei was silent with a gloomy face, it was obvious that the Qing army wanted to grind them to death, if they turned back to clear the mines, the Qing army would definitely be entangled again, once it was delayed until dark, they would be slaughtered by the Qing army.

"Boom" Another loud explosion sounded, and the first formation that was heading back to the main fleet and landed at the rear, a battleship that floated up like a fallen leaf, and then fell heavily, and the stern of the ship was directly broken.

The remaining few battleships suddenly fled forward like frightened sheep, and Bendman's expression was very gloomy, this was definitely not hit by a mine, but was hit by a torpedo fired by a submarine, and he asked in a deep voice: "Didn't you find a torpedo track?" ”

Soon, the communications officer arrived to report that "the lookout posts of several warships have found no torpedo tracks." ”

A torpedo without a track? Bendman was speechless, a submarine equipped with a torpedo without a track, it was not that it could not be prevented, but that it could not be prevented at all, and it could not even be discovered, how could it be prevented?

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