The abnormal movement in the American fleet immediately attracted Yan Shiqi's attention. The "Canton" was at the forefront of the battleship formation, so its radar was the first to appear, and the four "South Dakota" class battleships began to turn and rush towards them.

The hull of the "North Carolina" class is larger than that of the "South Dakota" class, and this is mainly because the US military has reduced the length of the "South Dakota" class in order to strengthen the defense of the battleship, which is equivalent to reducing the range of defense that needs to be defended, and thicker armor can be used in key parts. On the radar screen, there is a difference between the four "South Dakota" class and the two "North Carolina" class, although the Tang Imperial Navy has not had a radar comparison image of these two battleships before, and it can be easily judged from the difference between the six "flashpoints" who is the "North Carolina" class and who is the "South Dakota" class.

The North Carolina class was designed to withstand only 14-inch (about 356 mm) armor-piercing shells, so it was weak in attack and defense. The U.S. Navy was not satisfied with this, so when the construction of the "North Carolina" class began (and therefore the last two ships were reduced), a new requirement was immediately put forward, that is, to develop a battleship capable of withstanding 16-inch (about 4o6 mm) armor-piercing shells while keeping the displacement of the battleship unchanged and the basic tactical performance unchanged as much as possible, and this is the origin of the "South Dakota" class battleship.

On the basis of the "North Carolina" class, engineers shortened the length of the battleship's waterline, reduced the weight of the structure, and at the same time reduced the useless equipment on the battleship as much as possible, removing unnecessary weight. In addition, the bulbous bow was adopted to reduce drag, and the new power system was used to increase the output power (because the aspect ratio was reduced, the resistance of the battleship increased a lot), ensuring the voyage of the battleship. In addition, the thickness of the horizontal armor plates was thickened, and the broadside armor belts with greater angles of inclination were adopted (up to 19 degrees). Strengthened the armor defense of the main parts. In this way, the defense level of the warship was improved, and the requirements of the US Navy were met.

The main structure of the two battleships is basically the same, the biggest difference is that the "South Dakota" class uses a single chimney design, while the "North Carolina" class uses a double chimney design. In addition, the position of the secondary guns was raised, and the length of the battleship was shortened. Because of these improvements, the South Dakota class was considered the finest battleship designed during the treaty. It is the most powerful "treaty-type battleship", and its performance surpasses that of the "Dignity" class battleships of the Tang Empire (several years late in service. This factor is important).

Huge bombs from American battleships kept falling around the "Canton," and because of the distance limitations, the "North Carolina" and the "Washington" were both concentrating on shelling the "Canton." Yan Shiqi did not panic at all, and from the landing point of these shells, he had already judged that the US ship did not use the radar aiming system, or that he had not yet entered the range of the other party's radar shooting. Seeing the four "South Dakota" class ships rushing over, Yan Shiqi unhurriedly issued another order to sail to the new land. The fleet remained 31 knots high. Make a left turn along the path of the U.S. battleship and keep the distance between the two sides between 1o and 12 nautical miles. At the same time, he also ordered the fleet to adjust its operational objectives. Focus on striking the two "South Dakota"-class battleships in front of the opposing side. Abandon the two North Carolina-class battleships that have already eaten the shells.

At this time. Both sides were actually making a left turn, but in order to ensure that all three turrets were able to aim at the target, the turning angle was not large. At this time. Yan Shiqi's 4-section degree advantage is too obvious. If Kincaid doesn't give up the tail gun, then it will be difficult for him to close the distance, and if he does not give up the tail gun, then the fleet will lose at least a third of its firepower, which is a very painful choice. And when closing the distance. The opponent can calmly fire the shells, while it is difficult for a battleship to accurately shoot the shells at high sails. In this way, he will have to survive at least ten minutes of beating, and the opponent can turn again after closing the distance, and pull the distance away, making it difficult for him to swing the power of the main guns on the battleship at all times.

Yan Shiqi's strategy is also very simple. Even if you want to fight hard, you must first kill the opponent's two battleships, and at least force the opponent's two battleships out of formation. Otherwise. When the distance is reduced to within 1o nautical miles, and both sides are capable of delivering a critical hit, he does not have the advantage in the number of battleships, and the possibility of defeat is very high. Therefore, from the very beginning, he put four battleships against two "North Carolina" classes, and while the four "South Dakota" classes of the opposing side rushed up.

Yan Shiqi immediately turned the muzzle of the cannon and still conducted an artillery battle in a two-on-one manner.

The "Guangzhou" and "Kunming" were still working together against the "Indiana" behind the "South Dakota," while the "Guiyang" and "Chengdu" were shelling the "South Dakota" with all their might

Number. At this time, the degree of the "Washington" had been reduced to 22 knots, which was the maximum degree it could maintain, and the "North Carolina" could have kept up, but Kincaid did not let the battleship follow the turn, but continued to fire at the "Guiyang" that had been in a previous artillery battle with it, hoping to drag down the turning degree of the Tang Imperial fleet.

The first round of shelling of the "Guangzhou" and "Kunming" against the "Indiana" began at 2:25 a.m., when the distance between the two sides was about 123 nautical miles. At the same time, the two battleships are also turning quickly, and the distance between the two sides is shortening one step closer, but this is only temporary, when the turn of the 31 battleship formation is completed, the distance between the two sides is only 1o nautical miles, and this distance will be widened again. In fact, both sides are rotating in a counterclockwise direction, with a turning radius of around six nautical miles to five nautical miles.

In the third round of shelling, at least two of the 18 shells fired by the two battleships nearly missed, and one hit the bow deck of the "Indiana", almost grazing the seam between the main armor belt and the horizontal armor on the side of the battleship, less than 2o meters from the ammunition depot of the A turret. Although the main ammunition depot was well protected and the ammunition depot was not threatened, the shell bit a huge hole in the bow level deck of the battleship and blew up the personnel compartment in the bow.

In the fifth round, the "Indiana" was hit by two more shells, one of which hit the secondary group on the left rear side of the B turret and landed between the two secondary turrets, completely blowing the two secondary guns into dumb. The other hit under the bridge of the commander's ship, which was not able to penetrate armor up to 14 inches thick. It was just that all the officers and men in the commander's bridge were shaken away, and dozens of American officers and men, including the captain, were all wounded, and the battleship lost command within five minutes and missed the opportunity to fire two salvos.

At the time of the seventh salvo, the "Indiana" was about 1o.5 nautical miles from the "Guangzhou" and about 1o.6 nautical miles from the "Kunming". And in this round of salvo, one shell from each of the two battleships hit the "Indiana". Among them, the Type 23 armor-piercing shell fired by the "Guangzhou" hit the side of the ship, which was about a quarter of the length of the ship, and the shell hit the battleship below the waterline. The shells barely passed through the side armor of the battleship. However, it was not able to cause much damage, it was not able to threaten the engine room inside, and the water ingress of the battleship was immediately controlled. The "Kunming" shell hit the side armor belt at the battleship's B turret, but the shell still failed to penetrate the 14-inch main armor, and the shock wave from the explosion temporarily rendered the "Indiana's" B turret temporarily incapacitated.

At this time, the battles between the "Chengdu", "Kunming" and "South Dakota" also entered a white-hot state. The initial distance of the three warships was 13 nautical miles, and in fact, at this distance, neither side could do much to take advantage of the opponent, and not only did it depend on luck to penetrate the opponent's armor. Even hitting the opponent is a matter of luck. The first three rounds of shelling of the "Chengdu" and "Guiyang" all failed. Not a single of the 54 shells fell within 2oo meters of the South Dakota.

The return fire of the "South Dakota" was even farther away, and the 18 shells fired did not even touch the shadows of the two battleships. However, this stalemate ended by the fourth round of shelling.

At the time of the fourth round of volleys. The No. 2 gun of the "Guiyang" armor turret made a combat exploit, and an armor-piercing shell directly hit the base of the "South Dakota" B turret, although this shell was not able to penetrate the 439 mm armor, but it made the American gunners in the turret dizzy, and did not return to normal for more than ten minutes, and blew up the upper deck on the left side of the B turret. Then, during the fifth round of shelling, the Type 23 armor-piercing shell fired by the No. 3 gun of the "Chengdu" B turret hit the rear auxiliary gun group on the port side of the "South Dakota", detonating dozens of shells from the second gun. Although the U.S. damage control personnel extinguished the fire within five minutes (in the night battle, the fire on the battleship was a target for the enemy. So the fire extinguishing work is the first priority), but within these five minutes, two more batches of shells will arrive.

At 2:55 p.m., the "Chengdu" caused the "South Dakota" to eat two shells, while the "Guiyang" caused the US flagship (Yan Shiqi did not judge which was the flagship of the US army at that time, or even the order of the four "South Dakota"-class battleships) to suffer three shells. Although none of these five shells were able to hit the "South Dakota"

How much damage it caused, but Kincaid already knew that if he couldn't slow them down, this evening would be the most humiliating night for Task Force 32.

The situation with the "Indiana" was even worse. The "Canton" ground shelling was a little too accurate, hitting the "Indiana" five in twelve volleys, and the "Kunming" also caused the American ship to eat three shells. Of the eight shells, the one that caused the most damage was the one that hit the battleship below the waterline, and the one that exploded under the commander's bridge. Although the Indiana was still holding out, as the distance between the two sides returned to about 12 nautical miles, there was always a shell that could hit the battleship in the vital part of the battleship, and then pass through the main armor belt, causing fatal damage.

In fact, during this half-hour artillery battle, the four battleships of the Tang Empire were also at great risk. A shell from the "South Dakota" landed 15o meters on the port side of the "Guiyang", and if it deviated a little further, the "Guiyang" would have eaten the shell. Although the "Guangzhou" was close to being missed, although there was no threat to the battleship, Yan Shiqi was also worried, and if the Yankees were lucky enough, then the next shell would fall on the "Guangzhou."

The most important thing is that the four "South Dakota" class battleships were already engaged in battle at this time, and the shells of the "Massachusetts" and "Alabama" were all directed at the "Guangzhou", even if these two battleships were still more than 13 nautical miles away from the "Guangzhou", even if they hit the "Guangzhou", it was impossible to penetrate the armor on the battleship, but they still posed a certain threat.

At the same time, the commanders of both sides noticed a point and went around for half an hour, at this time the four battleships of the American army were south of the 31 battleship formation, and the "North Carolina" and "Washington"

At this time, the ship had also turned its direction, to the southwest of the 31st battleship formation, and the cruisers and destroyers in the American fleet were between the two groups of battleships, and the 33rd cruiser formation in the third task force and the 329 area were engaged in a ship-by-ship formation, while the 34th cruiser formation was closely following the right rear of the 31st battleship formation, ready to go forward at any time to deal with the rushing American destroyers for the battleships.

The battle had reached this point, and the only chance for Kincaid to win was to slow down the four battleships of the Tang Empire. Yan Shiqi is also very aware of this, degree is the only condition for him to guarantee victory, keep a good distance, he can defeat the opponent, at least scare the opponent away. But the problem is that now that the two "North Carolina" class battleships are in the way, Yan Shiqi has to ask the fleet to reduce the turning angle, if he turns to deal with those two battleships, Kincaid can seize the opportunity to shorten the distance.

Kincaid first thought of the destroyers in the fleet, and it was time for the destroyers to attack, and it was necessary for the destroyers to hold the opponent back. And Yan Shiqi also thought of the eight destroyers in his hand at the same time, if he could use these eight destroyers to kill the other party's two battleships that had broken away from the formation, at least make them incapacitated, then he would have the capital to fight a hard-fought decisive battle with Kincaid! Almost at the same time, the two gave the order for the destroyer to use the torpedo attack, but the two chose different targets.