"General, the situation is very bad! The range of the enemy's guns far exceeded ours, they used the range to bombard, a steam-gunboat was already damaged and was about to sink, and the "Calcutta" was also hit with three shells, so I asked for an order, and all the warships quickly approached the enemy ships and cut into battle! The assistant's anxious words sounded in Xima's ears, and Xima noticed that the enemy's Nanyang Fleet had changed from the original wedge-shaped formation of rushing vertically to an intermittent wedge-shaped formation that was advancing side by side with its own combined fleet, and began to fire fiercely on the side of the warships of the combined fleet, either left or right.

Although they were six or seven hundred meters apart, Sima knew in his heart that the accuracy of the opponent's artillery was very high, even if it was six or seven hundred meters, there were still a small half of them that could hit the target, and the only thing he hoped for was that the kind of rifled guns equipped on the opponent's warship could be less, especially the terrifying rear-loading rifled guns.

However, this is the way it is, and the things that are often worried will appear!

Although the two ships led by the enemy were only cruisers, although the number of guns was small, only 12 guns, half of the guns were rifled guns. Standing on the deck of the "Elekta" next to the "Calcutta" that was being shelled, West Malaysia could perceive that the size of the shells that bombarded the "Calcutta" were damn large-caliber shells, far more than 32 pounds, and West Malaysia could estimate that it should be the 10-inch standard caliber set by the damned Americans.

However, those rifled guns were surprisingly accurate, and each time they fired, two shells landed accurately on the "Calcutta", and suddenly, in just a few minutes, the "Calcutta" was covered by nearly six or seven shells and hit, both on the mast and at the gun door on the side of the ship.

And the "Chesapeake" not far away has completely sunk at this moment, only leaking a little deck on the water, and even the lifeboat has not had time to put it. Hundreds of British soldiers who had not yet fallen into the water were either huddled on the deck or climbed up the broken mast and shouted for help to the nearby Calcutta. It's just that the "Calcutta" is too busy to take care of itself, how can it still have the ability to save them?

It can't go on like this! Sima hurriedly ordered all warships to approach the enemy ships and cut into battle! At the same time, let a frigate in the back go to rescue the British troops who have fallen into the water and are about to fall into the water.

As soon as the order was given, the naval officers of the British East India Fleet were well-trained, and quickly cut into the battlefield and narrowed the distance between them and the South Sea Fleet. In fact, West Malaysia still has the same idea as the previous battle with the Nanyang Fleet, risking a few shells to be bombarded, and then firing closer. After all, the East India Fleet had many guns and strong firepower, but they were all front-loading smoothbore guns, and they had to be very close to the target for shelling, about four hundred yards to be most effective.

However, what made West Malaysia angry and panicked was that those enemy ships actually formed in pairs, cooperated with each other, and constantly adjusted the distance between them and the warships of the Combined Fleet, preferring to maintain a distance of eight or nine hundred meters, unable to fight, rather than getting too close to the warships of their own side. The whole fleet was like a plate of scattered sand, and they were separated from each other. However, Sima was horrified to notice that although the opposing warships were scattered on the surface, they cooperated very well in pairs, sandwiching their own fleet in the middle, one in front of the other or one on the left and one on the right.

As a result, the entire battlefield was in chaos, and in addition to commanding its own flagship and a frigate next to it, as well as two steam gunboats, two-thirds of the warships of the entire combined fleet lost their command and each became entangled with each other. But Sima's heart sank to the bottom:

A steam gunboat not far from the rear was hit by three shells in succession, a large hole was made in the stern of the cabin, and the pouring sea water cocked the bow of the ship, and it looked like it was about to sink.

And the "Chesapeake" has been completely sunk, the small gunboat warships next to it are far away, afraid of being overturned by the sinking whirlpool, a frigate is busy salvaging and rescuing the Royal Navy soldiers who have fallen into the water, but the soldiers on the hateful Dutch cruiser that is about to sink somehow actually dying and struggling, using something similar to fire and oil, not only the cruiser was ignited, but also the rescue frigate, the sails on the sea were raging and burning, and the whole frigate was already billowing smoke, and there was no way to save it, pity those soldiers, I am afraid that they will either die in the fire or drown in the sea. It's so damning!

Rao is West Malaysia's 40-year naval career, and he also feels that this naval battle is extremely dangerous. Even if you win, you will lose a lot! Even if three warships were sunk last time, not many soldiers died, but this time it was a big loss, and the British Royal Navy Combined Fleet had never killed so many soldiers in the East Indies for so many years.

What stunned Sima even more was the "Calcutta" not far away, and at this moment, the enemy's two main cruisers were already bombarded one after the other, and one after another large-caliber guns hit the hull heavily, and several gun doors were blown through in succession, and the guns and gunners in the cabin were also overturned one after another, causing heavy losses. The "Calcutta" tried to return fire, but because the distance was somewhat long, the range of the artillery was insufficient, and more than 30 guns fired in two consecutive rounds, but only one or two shells hit the opponent, and there was not much damage at all. The "Calcutta", a third-class battleship, was actually beaten by two cruisers and could not fight back. Naturally, the "Calcutta" had already turned around, left the fleet course directly, rushed towards the two enemy ships, tried to get close to each other, and then returned fire with the heavy artillery fire of the British Empire, but the two enemy ships shamelessly dodged to the side, and slowly led the "Calcutta" away.

The same is true of all other warships. The whole battle was in chaos, not only was the enemy commander unable to command his fleet, but also the combined fleet, and the battlefield was in shambles, except for the roar of artillery fire and the sound of shells hitting the hull or the sea.

When Sima had no choice but to command his flagship to rush to the "Calcutta" and rush to the enemy flagship and another capital cruiser in the artillery battle.

However, the two enemy ships kept dodging to the side and, trying to get out of the approach of the Calcutta, returned fire with their tail guns. After more than ten minutes of approaching, the "Calcutta" finally approached the two cruisers, but it was hit five or six times in succession, the bow gun position was blown to pieces, and even the ship's planks were broken into a huge hole.

However, the captain of the "Calcutta" felt that it was very worthwhile. He believed that as long as he got close to the enemy ships and came into the effective range of the "Calcutta", with the firepower of the battleships and the fact that the flagship "Alekautte" had arrived to help in the battle, he would definitely be able to defeat the two enemy ships.

Just as the Calcutta was positioning its hull and preparing to aim its side at the enemy cruiser, the other side opened heavy fire first. The large-caliber gun in the cabin opened fire first, and the air seemed to roar across the sea with a boom, and the British troops on board the Calcutta saw an unforgettable scene: a cannonball the size of a bucket slammed into the very center of the deck, and then exploded violently, tearing the ship's board and sailors apart, and the blood and wood chips were raised high. The other four shells then accurately hit the Calcutta, two of which hit the side plank, making two large holes in the plank.

The captain of the "Calcutta" hurriedly ordered a change of direction, and at the same time ordered to block the hole with all possible supplies on the ship to prevent further damage from being hit, but before it could be time, another cruiser suddenly opened fire, and although only two of the five shells hit, one of them hit the middle of the hole just now, and went straight to the inside, only to hear a loud noise, as if something had been torn, and in an instant the "Calcutta" leaned over and slowly leaned down.

"Calcutta" suffered a fatal blow and the hold was flooded! Just as the captain of the ship desperately gave the order to lead people to urgently plug the leaking hole, several more shells hit, and the "Calcutta" could not resist at all, and the second hole began to appear, and the water in the bilge entered even more rapidly. The whole "Calcutta" shook violently a few times, and then tilted even more, and then it sank slowly and noticeably.

At this time, the "Ellecourt", which had quietly approached one of the cruisers, was also under the order of Sima Ma, and before it had time to completely adjust the angle, it opened fire violently, and thirty or forty guns opened fire at the same time, and the power was amazing, and the sea around the cruiser (Nanyang No. 4) was full of columns of water stirred up by the falling shells, and the waves and smoke that were stirred up by the sea water, as if the whole sea was boiling. And several of the shells directly hit the side and stern deck of the cruiser, and they were immediately scarred, and many of the ship's planks were instantly broken.

The captain of the "Calcutta," who was still busy sinking, had red eyes, and while the sea water was still full of guns, he ordered all the guns to open fire fiercely at the wounded cruiser like a gambler, and suddenly, the cruiser of the South Sea Fleet was damaged on both sides, the two gun emplacements were severely damaged, and more than 20 gunners in the company cabin were blown to a blur of flesh and blood, and they died on the spot.

Seeing that the situation was not good, the cruiser hurriedly withdrew to the side and wanted to withdraw from the battlefield, but the "Alekaut", under the command of the experienced General Sima, followed it tightly, and was bound to sink and not give up.

In the distance, two gunboats and a frigate of the South Ocean Fleet had just sunk a steam gunboat of the British Combined Fleet, and they hurried to this side of the battlefield, but they were intercepted by another British capital cruiser next to them, and nearly twenty guns in the side gun positions opened fire violently, one of the gunboats hit three shells, and the ammunition in the aft compartment was ignited and exploded, and it sank quickly. The remaining gunboats and frigates turned to avoid them and used their range advantage to entangle them. The warring sides come and go, and it's chaos!

Of course, it was more of a heavy shelling from both sides, which damaged each other.

More than half an hour passed, and by this time, the artillery battle between the two sides had been more than an hour, and just when everyone thought that the balance of victory was slowly tilting in favor of the Nanyang Fleet, the "Nanyang IV" was also smashed through the bilge and began to sink under the flanks of the "Calcutta" and "Alekaut," which were about to sink. The war is back in a stalemate.