What really made Satsummerville desperate was not the torpedo capture of the "War Weathing" and "Warrior", but the near-perfect performance of the opponent's five "New Provincial Capital" class warships in the next hour! That is, the battle in which Chang recommended the new fleet to concentrate its firepower on the three battleships in the rear of the British battleship formation.

At 3:36 a.m., the "Nanning" fired its first salvo, but this round of shelling did not have any effect, and the distance between the two sides exceeded 12 nautical miles, and the battleship was still turning, so there was nothing to hope for in terms of the accuracy of the shelling. By 3:40 a.m., the "Nanning" had completed four salvos, and at this time the battleship had completed the adjustment of its course, and at the same time the speed had also decreased, and the gunners seized the time to recalibrate the firing parameters of the main guns.

At the same time as the battle, the lookout on the "Nanning" judged that the enemy ship No. 6 was the "Iron Duke" by the muzzle flame emitted by the enemy ship when it opened fire. The "Iron Duke" was the only battleship among the eight British battleships at that time with five turrets and a total of ten main guns, and it was through this point that the lookout judged the identity of the No. 6 enemy ship.

After receiving the lookout's report, Chang Jianxin was also secretly surprised, and at the same time felt that his luck was indeed good. The "Iron Duke" was the weakest of the enemy fleet, and it happened that the "Nanning" was selected. Before, he was still worried that if he dealt with the "Queen Elizabeth" class or the "Nelson" class battleship, it would be difficult for the "Nanning" to defeat the opponent in a relatively short period of time, giving the opponent a chance to counterattack, but now the "Nanning" is fighting the most vulnerable "Iron Duke" alone, then the situation is naturally different.

For the officers and men of the "Nanning", it was definitely a good thing to fight against the "Iron Duke". The Iron Duke-class battleships were built by the British before the First Global War, although several major improvements were made during their service, and even the original 135-inch guns were replaced with 15-inch guns. However, this battleship is already very backward, and it is impossible to fundamentally improve the performance of the battleship, especially the protection capability. The "Iron Duke" uses a comprehensive defense technology, that is, the entire battleship is wrapped in armor steel plates, which makes the armor thickness in key areas not enough to block the impact of heavy armor-piercing shells, and the thickest part of its main armor belt is only 12 inches. Moreover, the armor steel plates used were forged before World War I, and their protective capabilities can be imagined.

The Type 25 armor-piercing projectile was able to penetrate the main armor of the battleships of the First World War at a distance of 20,000 yards, while the latest Type 26 armor-piercing projectile was able to pose a lethal threat to the old battleships at a distance of 25,000 yards. The level of protection of the battleships built by the British Navy in the First World War was the worst, the distance of 12 nautical miles was roughly equivalent to 22000 yards, therefore, at this distance. It was impossible for the main armor belt on the "Iron Duke" to block the heavy armor-piercing shells fired by the "Nanning".

Soon, the power of the Type 26 armor-piercing projectile, as well as the protective capabilities of the "Iron Duke", were confirmed. At 3:40 a.m., the sixth salvo of the "Nanning" finally received the results. Nine shells fired from the nine main guns formed a straddle fire, and one of them accurately hit the two chimneys of the "Iron Duke". Because of the long distance, the armor-piercing shells fell almost vertically, and the horizontal armor at this point, which was only 3 inches thick, could not block the vertical attack of the Type 26 armor-piercing shells. The shell, after passing through the horizontal armor deck, also penetrated down through at least four decks before exploding inside the ship. The Type 26 armor-piercing projectile has a charge of less than 20 kilograms, and although the power of this explosive is quite limited, when the shell explodes in the hull, the main destructive effect is not caused by the explosive itself. Rather, it was caused by the shock wave generated by the explosion, as well as the high temperature and intensity generated when the fire ignited the flammable items inside the battleship. (Fastest update: n).

The hit point was extremely critical, and under the chimney was the boiler room of the battleship, and the shell exploded under the boiler room. If the land for the "Iron Duke" had been an oil-fired boiler, then this shell would have been enough to finish the battleship. The fire caused by the explosion did not ignite the coal burning on the battleship, but it ignited some other items, such as rubber on the watertight hatch, some life-saving equipment, and so on. Meantime. The shock wave generated by the explosion directly damaged several boilers above it, and a large amount of high-temperature water vapor leaked out, and all the British officers and soldiers in these boiler compartments were steamed to death! The "Iron Duke" was also relatively lucky, this "old ship" did not use four or eight high-power boilers like later battleships, but used more than 20 small boilers, so this shell was not able to completely knock out the power system on the battleship. It only killed more than a hundred British officers and men, and at the same time reduced the speed of the battleship "Iron Duke" from 16 knots to 12 knots.

The fire inside the battleship soon spread to the ship's surface. The lookout on the "Nanning" quickly reported the situation back, and at the same time accurately measured the distance from the enemy ship. The parameters of the shelling that the lookout had visually measured were certainly much more accurate than those mapped by the radar at the time. The "Iron Duke" was like a torch floating on the sea, and after the lookout provided the shelling parameters, the nine main guns on the "Nanning" were fired more accurately.

At 3:48 a.m., the ninth salvo of the "Nanning" hit the target again. This time the flash of the explosion was noticeably weaker, and the lookout judged that the armor-piercing shell had landed on the sea outside the starboard side of the enemy ship, and then hit the enemy ship below the waterline. That's the real critical hit. Unlike later battleships, battleships built before World War I such as the "Iron Duke" class did not pay much attention to underwater defense, mainly because the threat of torpedoes was not great at that time, and in addition, the distance of the artillery battle was very close, and it was difficult for shells to hit below the waterline of the battleship. That is, the "Iron Duke" has almost no underwater armor, and its non-subordinate defense capability is almost equal to zero! The Type 26 Zero Bullet can easily penetrate the inside of the hull after passing through a few meters of seawater. This kind of blow is fatal, even if the shell does not explode, the huge crack torn in the underwater part of the battleship is enough to cause the battleship to be seriously unable to enter, and when the shell explodes in the hull, the powerful shock wave generated can almost tear a large hole in the hull with a diameter of several meters, and even directly blow up the keel of the battleship!

Indeed, the Type 20 armor-piercing projectile exploded about a quarter of the length of the ship from the bow and tore a large hole in the right side of the battleship with a diameter of more than 5 meters, and such damage could not have been repaired in battle, and no warship had such a huge leak plugging device. Rapid influx of seawater into several of the chambers there. This may have been fortunate for the Iron Duke, because the hit part was only a partition away from the ammunition compartment under the main gun A, and if it were not for the rapid influx of seawater, the ammunition compartment of the main gun would have been detonated!

After the second shot, the "Iron Duke" began to tilt to the right, and its speed was reduced to about 10 knots. The British naval officers and sailors did not give up firing back. After only a minute, the Iron Duke's return fire finally had some effect, and one of the 10 huge shells fired in the fifth salvo hit the frontal armor of the "Nanning" B turret.

The "Nanning" shook violently, and many officers and men in the command cabin did not stand firmly, and Chang Jianxin quickly grabbed the handrail next to him before he fell. The lights in the cabin flickered a few times, then returned to normal, and then, Chang Jiexin heard the deafening sound of a new salvo of the battleship's main guns.

"Where did you get shot?" Chang Jianxin looked very calm, but he was also a little nervous, after all, a 15-inch caliber armor-piercing bullet was not a gadget.

"It's turret B, it's shot head-on, and the gunnery officer is rushing over."

Chang Jianxin frowned slightly, and now he felt that there was nothing to worry about. There were several parts of the battleship that had the thickest armor, and the front of the main gun turret was one of them. In an artillery duel, both warring sides choose to aim at each other's main gun turrets to fire, so the chance of the main gun turret being shot is quite high. The armor thickness of the main gun turret of the "New Provincial Capital" class is more than 400 mm, that is, almost 16 inches, which can block 16-inch caliber armor-piercing shells fired by American battleships from 10 nautical miles away, and naturally can cope with 15-inch armor-piercing shells fired by British battleships from 12 nautical miles away.

"General. There was no damage, only a few gunners were damaged. In addition, the No. 2 main gun of the B turret had a malfunction, and the gunners were organizing personnel to try to eliminate the fault, which should be able to continue the operation after ten minutes. ”

"Let the B turret temporarily stop shelling, conduct a comprehensive inspection, and make sure that there are no hidden dangers before continuing the operation." Chang recommended the new Korean operations staff officer to look over, "Also." Have the other departments on the ship check it out to make sure that nothing else has been shot. ”

At that time, turret B still had two main guns that could be used normally, but for the sake of insurance, or for the battle with other battleships later, Chang recommended that this turret be temporarily stopped. This decision was wise, as the "Iron Duke" had already suffered heavy losses and its speed had dropped to less than 10 knots, even if several of its main guns were still in service. But as the distance widened, it was impossible for the battleship to exert much power on the battlefield. In addition, both sides are slowing down, and the accuracy of shelling will steadily increase. As long as you hit the target two or three more times, the "Iron Duke" will definitely be finished. Then, even if only six main guns remain, the "Nanning" is still sure enough to take out the "Iron Duke".

The battle continued, and at this time the "Rodney", which was originally behind the "Iron Duke", fired seven volleys. Presumably, the battleship also took advantage of the dense firepower composed of three "new provincial capitals" class and accelerated out of the range of crossfire. By 4:12 a.m., the "Iron Duke" was again exposed to the guns of the "Nanning".

In the battle against the "Rodney", the "Nanning" fired a total of 42 armor-piercing shells, and in the results recorded at that time, it was not mentioned that the "Nanning" had hit the "Rodney". In fact, of the 42 armor-piercing shells, at least 3 hit the "Rodney", but these three results were later counted on the "Guangzhou" and "Guiyang" lands. It was also after the "Nanning" joined that the "Rodney" suffered a devastating blow, so that the "Guangzhou" and "Guiyang" cleanly eliminated the battleship named after the famous Marshal Rodney in the history of the British Navy in less than ten minutes of battle.

When the "Iron Duke" was reexposed to the guns of the "Nanning", it was already in the position of the No. 7 ship, nearly 14 nautical miles from the "Nanning". It stands to reason that at this time, the "Guiyang" should be used to deal with the "Iron Duke", while the "Nanning" and "Guangzhou" in front should concentrate their artillery fire on the "Rodney" in front. But at that time, the battle was already very fierce, and the captains of each warship were preoccupied with directing the battle. The gunners also accumulated a large number of shelling parameters in the front shelling, if the shelling target was temporarily changed. Instead, it will delay the fighters. Even at a distance of 14 nautical miles, the Type 26 armor-piercing projectile can still easily penetrate the main armor of the "Iron Duke"! In addition, at this time, the "Nanning" Shangdi B turret has been repaired, and nine more main guns can be used, and the fire density has been increased by half!

At 4:18, the seventeenth volley fired by the "Nanning" against the "Iron Duke" was also the fourth salvo after the re-exchange, and two of the nine armor-piercing shells hit the "Iron Duke" at the same time. Judging by the records of the lookouts at that time, one of them hit the bridge of the commander of the "Iron Duke", and the other hit the area between the second chimney and the rear turret. Both of these parts were key parts, and the 11-inch-thick armor steel plates on the bridge of the commander of the "Iron Duke" had no effect, and dozens of officers and men inside were all blown to pieces. What really made the "Iron Duke" finish was the armor-piercing bullet that hit the back of the No. 2 chimney. The armor-piercing projectile fell almost vertically, penetrating the horizontal armor and destroying the engine room below, only to explode when it reached the bottom bilge of the battleship.

With only four shells, the fate of the "Iron Duke" was determined at this time, and in the face of the cutting-edge battleship, the "Iron Duke" did not even have the strength to fight back. From 3:26 to 4:18, in less than an hour, this battleship, which once made the British proud, was marked with the end of fate.